Charles P. Lowe

Charles P. Lowe was a popular vaudeville and concert performer, appearing occasionally as a soloist with Sousa’s band. He is the first xylophonist to record for Edison’s National Phonograph Company beginning in 1896. By 1901, he had recorded 21 titles – mainly of polkas, gallops, waltzes, and popular songs – on the standard two-minute wax cylinders. Although Lowe was the only xylophonist recording for Edison until 1902, he also recorded for many of the other cylinder companies, including the United States Phonograph Company, the New Jersey Phonograph Company, the Bettini Phonograph Laboratory, and the Reed and Dawson Company.

The PAS Gerhardt Collection also includes six xylophone solos recorded by Charles P. Lowe before 1903 on eight 7” one-sided disc recordings. Two recordings of The Mockingbird are available on the Berliner label (3259 and 5270, Columbia “Little Wonder” Records) and one on the Zonophone label (G9090). Other recordings are Dancing in the Sunlight (Victor Record 216), Robin Adair (Zonophone G9091), Pretty Dark Blue Eyes (Zonophone G9086), Pickaninny Polka (Victor Record 215), and Galop Brilliant (Berliner 2364).

This information is taken from Tim Brooks’ A Directory of Columbia Recording Artists of the 1890’s. Reprinted in the Journal of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Vol. 11, Nos. 2-3 (1979): 118. See also William Cahn, The Xylophone in Acoustic Recordings (1877 to 1929). Bloomfield, NY: Cahn Publishing, 1996.