The Black Manhattan Trilogy –
Three Volume Set:

Volume 1

Volume 2.

Volume 3.

Volume 1 : 

• “The Castle Perfect Trot” (1914), James Reese Europe – Ford T. Dabney.
• “Carolina Fox Trot” (From the Ziegfeld Follies of 1914), Will H. Vodery.
• Overture to In Dahomey (1902/03), Will Marion Cook.
• “Deep River: Old Negro Melody” (1916), arr. Harry T. Burleigh.
• “Sambo: A Characteristic Two Step March” (1896), Will H. Tyers.
• “When the Band Plays Ragtime” (song,1902), Bole Cole & the Johnson Brothers.
• “Castle House Rag” (1914), James Reese Europe.
• “Smyrna: A Turkish Serenade” (1910/1914), Will H. Tyers.
• “Ballin’ the Jack & What It Takes to Make Me Love You” (medley fox trot, 1914),
  Chris Smith & James Reese Europe.
• “Meno D’Amour” (intermezzo, 1906), Will H. Tyers.
• “Hey There! (Hi There!)” (one step, 1915), James Reese Europe.
• “Tar Heel Blues Rag” (1915), J. Tim Brymn.
• “Congratulations” (“the Castles’ Lame Duck Waltz,” 1914), James Reese Europe.
• “Strut Miss Lizzie” (fox trot, 1921), J. Turner Layton/arr. Will Vodery.
• “Panama: A Characteristic Novelty” (1910/1911), Will H. Tyers.
• “The Clef Club March” (1910), James Reese Europe.
• “Under the Bamboo Tree” (song, 1902), Bob Cole & the Johnson Brothers.
• “Cocoanut Grove Jazz” (1917), J. Tim Brymn.
• “Swing Along!” (1902/1912), Will Marion Cook.

 Volume 2 :

• Shuffle Along Overture (1921), Eubie Blake – Will H. Vodery.
• “Nobody” (1906), Bert A. Williams.
• “That’s Got ’Em — Rag” (1919), Wilbur C. Sweatman.
• “Honey Lamb” (ballad, 1914), Al. Johns.
• “Brazilian Dreams” (tango-intermezzo, 1914), Will H. Dixon.
• “Down in Honky Tonky Town” (one step, 1916), Chris Smith.
• “Returned: A Negro Ballad” (1902), Will Marion Cook – Paul Laurence Dunbar.
• “The Bell Hop Rag” (1914), Frederick M. Bryan.
• “Black Patti Waltzes” (1896), Will Accooe.
• “Goodnight Angeline” (song, 1919), James Reese Europe.
• “The Castle Walk” (one-step, 1914), James Reese Europe – Ford T. Dabney.
• “Aunt Hagar’s Children Blues” (1921), W.C. Handy.
• “Valse Angelique” (1913), J. Tim Brymn.
• “At the Ball, That’s All” (1913), J. Leubrie Hill.
• “When the Moon Shines” (from the 1904 revival of In Dahomey), James J. Vaughan.
• “Oh! You Devil” (rag, 1909), Ford T. Dabney.
• “Breath of Autumn” (concert waltz, 1913), Will H. Dixon.
• “Pine Apple Rag Song” (1910), Scott Joplin.
• “Fizz Water” (one step, 1914), Eubie Blake.

Volume 3 :

• “Pork and Beans Rag” (1913), Luckey Roberts.
• “I’m Just Wild About Harry” (one-step from Shuffle Along, 1921), Eubie Blake.
• “The Dancing Deacon: Clef Club Fox-Trot” (1915), Frederick M. Bryan.
• “Jewel of the Big Blue Nile” (song from the Lafayette Theatre production Baby Blues, 1919), Luckey Roberts / Alex C. Rogers.
• “We’ll Raise the Roof To-Night” (cakewalk, 1904), Sidney L. Perrin.
• “Chant” from Bandana Sketches (1921), Clarence Cameron White.
• “Dear Old Southland” (foxtrot from , 1921), J. Turner Layton.
• “Wall Street ‘Rag'” (descriptive, 1909), Scott Joplin.
• “Oh Dem Golden Slippers” (minstrel song, 1879), James A. Bland.
  – Featuring the Paragon Minstrel Band –
• “In the Baggage Coach Ahead” (ballad, 1896), Gussie L. Davis.
• “Love Will Find A Way” (song from Shuffle Along, 1921), Sissle & Blake.
• Overture to My Friend From Kentucky (from the 1913 Lafayette Theatre production), J. Leubrie Hill.
• “Royal Garden Blues” (1919), Spencer Williams & Clarence Williams.
• “The Tremelo Trot” (one-step, 1914), Luckey Roberts.
• “Just One Word of Consolation” (ballad, 1905), Tom Lemonier.
• “After You’ve Gone” (one-step, 1918), J. Turner Layton.
• “Delicioso: Tango Aristocratico” (1914), Will H. Dixon.
• “The Zoo-Step” (from the Smart Set Co., 1916), Clarence G. Wilson.
• “The Slow Drag Blues” (1919), Q. Roscoe Snowden arr. William Grant Still.
• “Ianthia March” (1902), Al. Johns.
• “I’m Going Home” (Spiritual setting, 1921), Clarence Cameron White.
• “Lift Every Voice and Sing!: National Negro Hymn” (original 1900 score),
  James Weldon Johnson & J. Rosamond Johnson.

“…a truly spectacular package that performs a great service to
the advancement of the study of American Music.”

– Black Grooves

“Want wings anybody? They’re yours for the asking, thanks to these splendid performances by Rick Benjamin and his Paragon Ragtime Orchestra…
This release is delectable…”

– FANFARE

“Black Manhattan…offers the most representative sampling of composers and songwriters active in the New York African American entertainment scene during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Moreover, the recording remains particularly useful to jazz educators because it presents in clear audio fidelity the artists and music that helped establish the foundation for big bands in the 1920s and 1930s.”

– AMERICAN MUSIC

“If PRO is not already labeled a national treasure, it should be. This disc is treasurable. The soloists are equally accomplished. Benjamin’s notes are more than informative;
they’re invaluable…. Black Manhattan… is a must.”

– FANFARE

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