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Tracklist: CD 1
	1.	Sahara Rose	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	2.	Dance-O-Mania	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	3.	Waiting for the Sun to Come Out	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	4.	La Veeda	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	5.	So Long, Oo Long	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	6.	When Shadows Fall I Hear You Calling, California	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	7.	Wait'll You See	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	8.	Alice Blue Gown	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	9.	Jean	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	10.	A Young Man's Fancy	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	11.	Idle Dreams	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	12.	Scandal Walk	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	13.	Happy	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	14.	Kismet	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	15.	Koolemoff	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	16.	Sweet Woman	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	17.	Dreamy Paradise	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	18.	Japanese Sandman	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	19.	Wishing	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920

 

Tracklist: CD 2
	1.	Rose of Araby	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	2.	Lovin' Lady	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	3.	Jing-Bula-Jing-Jing	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	4.	I Love You, Sunday	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	5.	Avalon	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	6.	Fair One	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	7.	Sultan	Isham Jones Rainbo Orchestra	1920
	8.	Look for the Silver Lining	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	9.	Rose	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	10.	Whip-Poor-Will	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	11.	Do You Ever Think of Me?	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	12.	All She'd Say Was Umh Hum	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	13.	My Mammy	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	14.	I Never Realized	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	15.	Make Believe	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	16.	Underneath Hawaiian Skies	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	17.	Love Bird	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920
	18.	Siren of the Southern Sea	Isham Jones Orchestra	1920

Years before writing "It Had to Be You" and "I'll See You in My Dreams," Isham Jones honed his craft at Mann's Rainbo Gardens in Chicago—composing, arranging, and perfecting songs that he and his band performed nightly before the dinner-and-dance patrons. Jones' style, capturing elements of the social dance craze of the 1910s and anticipating the jazz revolution of the 1920s, offers a rare glimpse into the beginnings of the era of great American dance bands. This two-CD set presents remarkable restorations of all 37 sides Jones' Rainbo Orchestra recorded in 1920 and includes a 32-page booklet, with notes by Grammy-nominated author and trombonist David Sager, exploring Isham's earliest years, his gift for tuneful arrangements, and his importance as an architect of the American dance band.

A Musical Prodigy

Born in 1894 and raised in Saginaw, Michigan, Isham Jones showed his musical proclivity at a young age, even publishing his first composition by the age of 14. He played fiddle, piano, saxophone, and string bass. Two accidents—one of little consequence while he worked in a coal mine, the second a serious one while he was in the National Guard that fractured both his legs—told Isham that a career in music was the path he needed to follow. He left Michigan in the mid-1910s and headed to the Midwest.

Welcome to Chicago

Jones' reputation quickly became established. By 1918 he was directing an orchestra at the Green Mill Gardens on the north side of Chicago, and in 1919, The Gumps, for which Jones wrote the music, became a national hit show. Jones was now lured by impresario Fred Mann to headline at his new Rainbo Gardens, and the rest, as they say, was history. The bandleader, songwriter, and arranger would begin a period of musical dominance that would last for nearly two decades, starting with his first recordings, made in 1920.

First Brunswick Sides

Taking the band to New York in June 1920, Isham Jones and His Rainbo Orchestra set up at the Brunswick studios and recorded their first 14 sides, issued on the new label's "celebrity series," which bore the distinctively attractive purple labels so beloved today. The band consisted of Jones (C-melody and tenor sax), Carroll Martin (trombone), Leo Murphy (violin), Alfred Eldridge (piano), Charles McNeill (banjo), John Kuhn (tuba), and Joe Frank (drums). Fellow midwesterner and Brunswick executive, Gus Haenschen (aka "Carl Fenton") sat in on a couple of numbers playing a second piano, as on "Jean." Standouts include "Sahara Rose" and its bold minor verse; the jaunty pairing of "Wait'll You See" and "When Shadows Fall I Hear You Calling, California"; "Scandal Walk," with its chord-shifting "blue" effect; "Kismet," featuring Martin's trombone pyrotechnics; "La Veeda," sounding more beautiful than you've ever heard it; and, of course, "Happy," which speaks for itself.

Second Brunswick Trip

The initial releases were received very well, and Brunswick invited Jones back for more sessions. Adding R. N. Putnam (alto and soprano sax), the band went back to New York in October 1920 to do another nine sides. "Japanese Sandman" conveys more zip and energy than the hit versions by the orchestras of Paul Whiteman and Art Hickman. Two Jones numbers, "Sweet Woman" and "Wishing," appear, demonstrating his ability to produce simple, catchy tunes, while two others—"Dreamy Paradise" and "Jing-Bula-Jing-Jing"—capitalize on the fading Hawaiian craze, the former up-to-date with a prominent ostinato figure (a là the smash hit "Dardanella").

Final Sessions by the Rainbo Orchestra

Another three sides—"Avalon," "Fair One" and "Sultan"—seem to have been made in late October 1920, when the band added a second (unidentified) violin to the mix. They would return to New York for final work under the current lineup in December 1920. The Brunswick labels for these final 11 sides simply say "Isham Jones Orchestra," but it's the same personnel as on the Rainbo sides. An unknown trumpet (or cornet) is added, but this is not a lead trumpet, as would be the case when Louis Panico would join the band in 1921 and take it in a different direction. Instrumental versions of popular songs get treatment in this set, including "Look for the Silver Lining," "Make Believe," "All She'd Say Was 'Umh -hum'" and "My Mammy." Toward the end of the set you'll notice the Jones outfit conceding to some of the trends (or parodies) in jazz, the avoidance of which hitherto had marked Jones as unique. For instance, the trumpet starts to lead on "Underneath Hawaiian Skies," and the trombone smears all over the place on "Siren of a Southern Sea." By the way, "Siren," the final number, is the only selection on the set that was not paired with another Jones performance on its original Brunswick release (# 5059).

"Happy"—a Specific Time and Place

With one foot in the past of polite social dancing, and one foot in the new world of jazz, Isham Jones' Rainbo sides have long puzzled connoisseurs of early, hot dance-band recordings. This is why the recordings have been overlooked: the experts haven't known what to do with them. Our essayist, trombonist and jazz historian David Sager, fixes that; he has a keen appreciation for the development of musical styles, and in 32 pages he lays out a very convincing case for the historical importance of the Jones Rainbo outfit. Full of lively and tuneful melodies played by virtuosic performers, and arranged in a style that invited dancers rather than estranged or confused them, Jones' first 37 sides demonstrate his deep, blue-collar work ethic and his commitment to precision and excellence. You'll think you were back in Chicago in 1920. And you will be happy!

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