The first two decades of the 20th century were a time of great change for jazz -- in 1902, ragtime was just beginning to be acknowledged as a force on popular music, and by 1923 the Jazz Age was in full flower. Although jazz did not debut on record until 1919 with the first recordings of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, there were many examples of popular syncopated music in a state of transition to jazz (a similar phenomenon to the birth of rock & roll, where Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" is the stated beginning of rock on record, but many songs of an earlier vintage sound very similar). The Timeless label deserves a lot of praise for this volume, packed as it is with rare and obscure performances by ragtime orchestras, late-period minstrels, society bands, classic female blues shouters, and a few bands leaping aboard the bandwagon of the ODJB. Highlights include Gene Greene's modernistic vocal on "King of the Bungaloos," an early version of "Shim-Me-Sha-Wobble" by the Emerson Symphony Orchestra, and "Old Time Blues" by Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds featuring a torrid solo from Johnny Dunn on clarinet. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide