Most people, when asked to envisage a pioneering recording artist, would probably not come up with a clarinetist.   But why not?   The clarinet, like the cornet, produced a loud and relatively simple sound that was perfect for recording on the early phonographs.   Clarinetist William Tuson's name appears frequently, beginning in 1889, in the earliest extant phonograph recording logs from Edison's Laboratory, recording dozens of clarinet solos for Edison up through the mid-1900's.

To hear Heart Bowed Down   — For help playing these sounds, click here.

                                       

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