The Human Orchestra, which featured 16 tracks by pre-rock & roll black vocal groups from the 1930s and 1940s, was originally released as an LP in 1985 by a Swedish label. This two-disc set takes the original 16-track archival collection and adds 34 additional tracks from the same era to come up with a fascinating survey of jump and jive black vocal acts, many of which were capable of approximating an orchestra with their voices. Among the gems here (all recorded between 1932 and 1947) are sides cut by
the Mills Brothers,
the Ink Spots, the Five Jones Boys, the Four Blackbirds, the Three Keys, and the Four Clefs , among many others, and these exciting and revealing performances clearly prefigure the later street-corner harmonies of the doo wop era. ~ Steve Leggett