Charles P. Lowe – Lenora Waltz (1897) First Recording Superstar Of The Xylophone

Charles P. Lowe made several important xylophone recordings for various companies between 1892-1905. He is probably the earliest person to record the instrument, and certainly the most prolific, especially after 1897 when he made the first xylophone records for the Edison Cylinder company. Lowe also made recordings for Columbia Cylinders, Victor Records, and Zonophone.

A few of Lowe's pre-1900 cylinder recordings have survived including this one, Lenora Waltz, recorded in 1897 for the Edison compoany. Notice how the xylophone "cuts through" the scratchy surface noise of the phonograph needle plowing through the hill and dale groves of the cylinder. Since the instrument reproduced well in the acoustic age of recording, Lowe opened the floodgates for a rash of xylophoine recording artists over the next twenty five years (look for a future blog on the topic of acoustic recordings).

Another 1897 cylinder recording for Columbia has not survived. A catalog published in 1897 by Columbia listed a Charles P. Lowe cylinder entitled The Charleston Blues. It's a shame that no copies of the recording are known to exist because it was probably the first with "blues" in the title. Whether or not Lowe's Charlestown Blues was a traditional 12-bar blues, the title suggests that the blues was already well-known beyond the boundaries of the Mississippi delta before the turn of the 20th century.