All The Hits And More 1924-40

Cliff Edwards was a singer, musician and actor, who specialised in accompanying himself on the ukulele and acquired the nickname ‘Ukulele Ike’, which appeared on the record labels of most of his releases. His roots were in vaudeville and he specialised in jazzy renditions of vaudeville and pop standards, along with his stylised renditions of Broadway and Hollywood hits of the era, as well as pure novelty material. He also had movie roles, and is best-known for providing the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney’s animated movie “Pinocchio”. He had thirty hits during his career, which are all included in this 50-track 2-CD collection along with selected releases on the Banner, Pathe, Columbia, Brunswick, Vocalion, Melotone and Victor labels during these years, some where he accompanies himself on ukulele and others where he performs with his jazz group The Hot Combination, which on occasions including musicians like Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Adrian Rollini and Ray Bauduc. It features his No. 1 hits “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Singin’ In The Rain”, and other classics like “It Had To Be You”, “Paddlin’ Madeleine Home”, Dinah”, “Sunday”, “Mary Ann” and “When You Wish Upon A Star”, the last-named being his performance from “Pinocchio”, which was the final hit of his career. He was a highly individual and distinctive performer, and this collection offers an entertaining cross-section of his work.