Like Icarus flying dangerously close to the sun, Loren McMurray was an all-too-bright flame in the nascent field of jazz recordings. Dead at only 25, and having made records for just two years, “Mac” was a genuine musical pioneer. His trailblazing sides offered many listeners their first real taste of jazz saxophone, and his signature performance style revolutionized dance music. Today, his recordings provide an unparalleled glimpse into the saxophone’s transformation from just-another-voice in the band to a signature sound of jazz. Featuring 2 CDs with 50 selections and an 80-page booklet by Grammy-nominated authors Colin Hancock and Mark Berresford, The Moaninest Moan presents the story and sounds of Loren McMurray, from his early days of making music in Kansas to his final sides recorded in New York.
| Tracklist: CD 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Don’t Take Away Those Blues | Eddie Kuhn’s Dance Specialists | 1920 | |
| 2. | Rose of Bagdad | Eddie Kuhn’s Dance Specialists | 1920 | |
| 3. | Fair One | Eddie Kuhn’s Dance Specialists | 1920 | |
| 4. | Fair One | Eddie Kuhn and His Orchestra, Kansas City, Mo. | 1920 | |
| 5. | Persia | Eddie Kuhn and His Orchestra, Kansas City, Mo. | 1920 | |
| 6. | You’re Just Like a Rose | Eddie Kuhn and His Orchestra, Kansas City, Mo. | 1920 | |
| 7. | Right or Wrong | Markels’ Orchestra | 1921 | |
| 8. | April Showers | Markels’ Orchestra | 1921 | |
| 9. | Muscle Shoals Blues | Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra | 1921 | |
| 10. | How Many Times (intro Mamma Whip! Mamma Spank!) | Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra | 1921 | |
| 11. | I’ve Got My Habits On | Bailey’s Lucky Seven | 1921 | |
| 12. | Gypsy Rose | Markels’ Orchestra | 1921 | |
| 13. | Virginia Blues | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 14. | Arkansas Blues | Lanin’s Southern Serenaders | 1921 | |
| 15. | Eddie Leonard Blues | Lanin’s Southern Serenaders | 1922 | |
| 16. | High Brown Blues | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 17. | High Brown Blues | Bar Harbor Society Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 18. | Georgia | Bar Harbor Society Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 19. | Georgia | Moulin Rouge Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 20. | Poor Little Me | Bailey’s Lucky Seven | 1922 | |
| 21. | Doo-Dah Blues | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 22. | Lonesome Mama Blues | The Virginians | 1922 | |
| 23. | Lonesome Mamma Blues | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 24. | Lonesome Mama Blues | Original Memphis Five | 1922 | |
| 25. | Just Because You’re You, That’s Why I Love You | Eddie Elkins’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| Tracklist: CD 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Just Because You’re You, That’s Why I Love You | McMurray’s California Thumpers | 1922 | |
| 2. | Haunting Blues | McMurray’s California Thumpers | 1922 | |
| 3. | Blue (I) | McMurray’s California Thumpers | 1922 | |
| 4. | Blue (II) | McMurray’s California Thumpers | 1922 | |
| 5. | Oogie-Oogie Wa-Wa (I) | McMurray’s California Thumpers | 1922 | |
| 6. | Oogie-Oogie Wa-Wa (II) | McMurray’s California Thumpers | 1922 | |
| 7. | Say It While Dancing | Eddie Elkins’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 8. | Dancing Fool | Bailey’s Lucky Seven | 1922 | |
| 9. | Strutting at the Strutters’ Ball | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 10. | My Honey’s Loving Arms | Jazz-Bo’s Carolina Serenaders | 1922 | |
| 11. | Deedle-Deedle-Dum | Original Memphis Five | 1922 | |
| 12. | Nobody Lied (When They Said that I Cried Over You) | The Virginians | 1922 | |
| 13. | Nobody Lied | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 14. | Truly | Knickerbocker Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 15. | Hot Lips | Eddie Davis Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 16. | Those Longing For You Blues | Bailey’s Lucky Seven | 1922 | |
| 17. | The Sneak | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 18. | Are You Playing Fair | Eddie Elkins’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 19. | Homesick | Bailey’s Lucky Seven featuring Cliff Edwards (“Ukulele Ike”) | 1922 | |
| 20. | Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town) | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 21. | Burning Sands | Harry Raderman’s Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 22. | I’m Just Wild About Harry | Lanin’s Southern Serenaders | 1922 | |
| 23. | I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate | The Virginians | 1922 | |
| 24. | I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise | Markels’ Orchestra | 1922 | |
| 25. | Who Cares? | Eddie Elkins’ Orchestra | 1922 | |