2019_2019_06_02_Making music

My cousin Richard Downing recently told me that he used to enjoy listening
to Rhapsody in Blue but for some reason he no longer enjoys the music.
Not to torture but maybe to rekindle his appreciation for this remarkable
piece of Gershwin music I assembled this webpage. It tells how I go about
restoring old LP's, this one specifically purchased by our grandfather,
Dr. James Downing, sometime after 1949, probably in 1950. I made a short
video that goes through the steps I use to restore the listening quality
to Grandpa's old LP's. As a genealogist, I have rationalized this time
consuming process as just another type of genealogy. I suppose there are
some that would classify either endeavour as a waste of time. But, they
will regret that someday when the shovel is coming into view and nobody
is around to remember.

cover.jpg_6/4/2019_5:45 PM: This is the jacket for the disc that our grandfather
Dr. James Downing purchased. You can see where he wrote his name in the
upper right corner of the cover.

Des Moines Register, 01 May 1955, pg 57.jpg_: Our grandfather, Dr. James
Downing was listening to records with his HiFi system before the general
public had even heard of that term.

discogs.jpg_: I use a website called Discogs to get information about
these old albums. It gives the date the album was released. In this case
, 1949. It was the 26th LP that Columbia released.

Jim's_Disc_Cleaning.mp4: This video, about 8 minutes long illustrates
the process I use to restore the listening quality to old LP recordings.

If you didn't hear enough pops and clicks while watching the video here is a little more than a minute of Rhapsody in Blue right off the disc with no processing.

raw_Rhapsody_2xhp.mp3:

And, finally, if you want to listen to the entirety of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, here it is. Go for it Rich!

Rhapsody_2xhp-cr_edit_mono.mp3: