!!!VICTOR GRAND PRIZE One Sided Record 78 rpm 153 A BUNCH OF RAGS Vess Ossman
V+ Visually graded. Record plays through with mild to moderate surface. Please check images thoroughly.
Fascinating (and shocking) story behind this historically important artist, who was part of a group of performers who made the first recordings of so-called ragtime music. He began recording in the early 1890s and was the dominant banjoist in the minds of the new record-buying public for at least a decade after that. His nickname "The Banjo King" was well-earned, and he continued recording through World War I.
He was involved in a series of recordings featuring various permutations of Vess Ossman's Banjo Orchestra for the Gennett label, cutting provocative titles such as "Paddle-Addle Fox Trot" or "Go To It Fox Trot." But actually, as far as provocative titles go, some of Ossman's would be a bit too much for more modern times. Despite the language used in their own recordings, it is hard to imagine black rap artists (or anybody) in the 21st century approving too highly of Ossman numbers such as "A Coon Band Contest," originally recorded in 1901, "Darkies Awakening," cut during the heavy social consciousness of 1904, or the worst one of all, "All Coons Look Alike to Me."
