Much of what Isham Jones recorded in the 1920's has been either reissued on CD or is posted elsewhere on the Web - this one, recorded for Brunswick on July 1 1922, has remained obscure until now. The tune, written by Abner Silver (also wrote
"Mary Ann" and "Please Mr. Hemmingway") and Benny Davis (co-wrote "Carolina Moon", "Margie" and "Baby Face"), was recorded by the Jones orchestra within weeks of its publication. Isham was chiefly known as a songwriter, and will always be
remembered as long as people keep singing "It Had To Be You" (he wrote the tune to Gus Kahn's lyrics in 1924), but his orchestra was his crowning achievement at the time - his popularity in Chicago was comparable to Paul Whiteman's in New York.
This particular copy was played a few times, but not too heavily, and it didn't take much noise reduction to make it presentable. (More info and some further sound samples are at the
Red Hot Jazz Archive, and CDs of his work are found at Amazon.com and
"P & L Antiques".)
