Perry’s 78′s

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:45:54 +0000

It’s funny how life unfolds, and some things which seemed unimportant at first, years later have a great impact. This is precisely the case with a project I worked on for Perry over a quarter century ago. Long after the days of 78’s, and on the verge of CD’s, Perry asked that his son Mike and I copy a substantial stack of Jazz 78’s to cassette. A lover of early Jazz, Perry had amassed a distinct assortment of some of the best ragtime and New Orleans Jazz. Over several weeks, I cleaned up the 78’s and duplicated them to a modern day format, keeping a copy for our own music libraries.

While I had an appreciation for Jazz, a true passion for these early 1920 and 30’s recordings did not really surface until years later. As we stepped into the 21st century, swing dancing had made a big come back. Mike and I started a swing dance, and many of the songs from these 78’s were popular among the dance community. As we attended more dances, it became apparent that the college age swing dancers really had a deep passion for these tunes, and dozens of them were often played by the DJ’s.

Looking back, I can directly thank Perry for sharing his library of 78’s, his love for Jazz will always be remembered by me for the rest of my life.

Wesley Derbyshire, Jan 17, 2012

Perry John Davis

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:37:55 +0000

November 17, 1932 – January 14, 2012

PerryDavis.net

Perry’s 78′s

Perry John Davis