Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Ted Lewis and His Band Milenberg Joys (2:50)
2. Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra Dinah (3:06)
3. Jelly-Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers Black Bottom Stomp (3:13)
4. Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra My Pretty Girl (2:42)
5. Bobbie Leecan's Need-More Band Wash-Board Cut Out (2:57)
6. Sam Morgan's Jazz Band Bogalusa Strut (2:59)
7. Sam Morgan's Jazz Band Down by the Riverside (3:12)
8. Charles Pierce and His Orchestra Bull Frog Blues (2:53)
9. Charles Pierce and His Orchestra China Boy (2:23)
10. Thelma Terry and Her Playboys Voice of the Southland (2:35)
11. Thelma Terry and Her Playboys Mama's Gone, Goodbye (3:09)
12. Halfway House Dance Orchestra I'd Like to Go Back to That Old Pal of Mine (2:59)
13. Mart Britt and His Orchestra Goose Creek-Stomp (2:40)
14. Jimmie Rodgers Waiting For a Train (2:48)
15. Frenchy's String Band Texas and Pacific Blues (3:08)
16. Dallas String Band with Coley Jones So Tired (3:17)
17. Joe Turner and His Memphis Men Freeze and Melt (2:53)
18. Ed Lang and His Orchestra Hot Heels (3:02)
19. Sonny Greer and His Memphis Men Beggar's Blues (3:20)
20. Taylor-Griggs Louisiana Melody Makers Where the Sweet Magnolias Bloom (2:40)
21. L'Orchestre Antillais En Sens Unique S.V.P. (2:27)
22. Walter Page and His Original Blue Devils Squabblin' (3:04)
23. Jones and Collins Astoria Hot Eight Duet Stomp (2:54)
24. Luis Russell and His Orchestra Poor Li'l Me (3:23)
25. Luis Russell and His Orchestra Panama (3:18)
26. Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra Chinatown, My Chinatown (3:00)

Disc 2:

1. Dixie Four Kentucky Stomp (2:26)
2. Dixie Four Saint Louis Man (2:27)
3. State Street Ramblers Endurance Stomp (2:48)
4. State Street Ramblers Tuxedo Stomp (3:00)
5. State Street Ramblers Brown Skin Mama (2:41)
6. State Street Ramblers St. Louis Nightmare (2:57)
7. State Street Ramblers Tell Me Cutie (2:49)
8. State Street Ramblers Some Day You'll Know (2:48)
9. Junie C. Cobb and His Grains Of Corn Endurance Stomp (take A) (2:35)
10. The Midnight Rounders Shake Your Shimmy (3:03)
11. The Midnight Rounders Bull Fiddle Rag (take A) (3:26)
12. Junie C. Cobb and His Grains of Corn Shake That Jelly Roll (2:59)
13. Junie C. Cobb and His Grains of Corn Don't Cry, Honey (3:17)
14. "Banjo" Ikey Robinson and His Bull Fiddle Band My Four Reasons (2:53)
15. Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation He's Got His Eyes on You
16. Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation I'm In the Battlefield
17. Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers She's Coming 'Round the Mountain
18. Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation I'm Pressing On (2:49)
19. Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation No Night There (3:03)
20. Chippie Hill I Ain't Gonna Do It No More (2:49)
21. Chippie Hill Pratt City Blues (2:46)
22. Bill Johnson's Louisiana Jug Band Get the "L" On Down the Road (2:57)
23. Bill Johnson's Louisiana Jug Band Don't Drink It In Here (2:53)
24. Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone (2:49)
25. Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band Come On Mama Do That Dance (2:51)
26. The Midnight Rounders Bull Fiddle Rag (take B) (3:07)
27. Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra Sepia Panorama (aka Night

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144702 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-28
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set

Album Description
This three-CD box set, the first ever anthology of the upright bass, explores the earliest recorded history of the instrument.

Kevin Whitehead, Fresh Air, December 18, 2006
Variety and a sense of fun make 'How Low Can You Go?' a painless history lesson.

Amanda Petrusich, Pitchfork Media, January 16, 2007
The first collection devoted solely to the giant, awkward string bass, How Low Can You Go? is a mind-blowing assemblage of bass-centric (and mostly jazz) tracks from 1925-1941. With three discs (the first two were recorded predominantly in New York City, the third in Chicago) and an impressive book of liner notes (sections are subtitled with phrases like "Basses vs. Tubas, Tubas Lose"), How Low Can You Go? is both impossibly informative and stupidly fun.

Customer Reviews

A must have for upright bass players!
Pretty essential stuff here. Amazing how many bass players used the slap technique, and how good they were at it!

A Bass Player's Dream
Wow! What an excellent historical overview of the string bass-an instrument that doesn't always get the attention it deserves. This anthology is a wonderful resource for my course about the jazz masters of the bass. Bravo!!