Sunday, February 7, 2016

Jasper Bisbee - complete issued Edison recordings


This post is by an artist often overlooked in the "old-time" music category as a pioneer. Jasper Bisbee is definatly an old-time fiddler, but not in the southern style. He is what I`d consider mostly a New England style fiddler. He has, to my ear, more of a jig fiddling style that I kind of associate with Scotch-Irish styles of fiddling. It`s a more precise style than most southern styles.
He was born in New York state in 1843, making him one of the oldest people to ever record, regardless of music style. He would have been 80 when he cut these sides! He also would have been one of the earliest country artists to record, as these sides were recorded November 24, 1923. Half of these tunes (Money Musk, Girl I Left Behind Me, The Devil`s Dream) are fairly common fiddle tunes, the other half (College Hornpipe, McDonald`s Reel, Opera Reel) are pretty much unknown to me. For further information on him, just do a google search as there are a couple of articles out there about him.
My discs are in pretty good condition except for just a few spots here and there, so sound quality is pretty good. Edisons recording style (sound recorded vertically in the grooves) was really superior to most all other companies at the time, so if you find a pretty nice condition disc, they usually sound good if you have the right equipment to play them on.


Jasper Bisbee - Edison 51278
Opera Reel / McDonald`s Reel


Jasper Bisbee - Edison 51381
Money Musk / The Girl I Left Behind Me - Medley


Jasper Bisbee - Edison 51382
College Hornpipe / The Devil`s Dream

Click here to download Jasper Bisbee - complete Edison recordings

3 comments:

  1. As he came to Michigan in 1858 and lived there the rest of his life, I think it would be more accurate to call him a "Michigan-style" or "Northern-style" fiddler, not "New England," where he probably had never been!

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  2. He was born in New York state, is that not considered in New England? Maybe not.

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    1. Western New York state (where he was born) is far from New England. But, again, he lived in Michigan, which is generally thought to be in the Midwest!

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