Track Listing

1. Singapore Sorrows - Ben Pollack And His Californians
2. Chinatown, My Chinatown - Roane's Pennsylvanians
3. Oriental Illusions - Slim Lamar & His Southerners
4. China Boy - Mckenzie And Condon's Chinagoens
5. Hong Kong Blues - Hoagy Carmichael
6. China Stomp - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
7. Oriental Man - Chicago Footwarmers
8. Shanghai Honeymoon - Chicago Rhythm Kings
9. Nighttime In Old Shanghai - Whitey Smith's Majestic Hotel Orchestra
10. China Girl - The Casa Loma Orchestra
11. Limehouse Blues - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
12. Oriental - Friar's Society Orchestra
13. Oriental Strut - Louis Armstrong And His Hot Five
14. Shanghai Dream Man - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
15. Sing Song Girl (Little Yellow Cinderella) - Sleepy Hall & His Collegians
16. Shanghai Shuffle - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #499406 in Music
• Released on: 1995-10-17
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
"East is east and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." So it was said, and perhaps even believed, until the Jazz Age, when suddenly no old-fashioned cultural barrier was safe. Since the turn of the century, when the American empire first crossed the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and the Phillipines, Americans had cast a fascinated eye toward the Orient. From a distance, its cities were run by gangsters, its countryside by warlords. Here was a land, like the old West, where fortunes cound be made and then lost in casinos that never closed. It was exotic, mysterious, and best of all, a bit wicked. These were the elements of jazz itself. Already blending African and European musical styles, American jazz musicians had little trouble adding yet another ingredient to the mix. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, they capitalized on the country's fascination and topics to their music, until the reality of World War II brought an end to these "Oriental Illusions."