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Press, 1995). Likewise Brooks's chapter on Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette owes a great deal to the research and writings of independent researcher Doug Seroff, whose two articles on this group appeared in the JEMF Quarterly and the 78 Quarterly, which can be found in only a handful of college and public libraries. The real strengths of Lost Sounds clearly lie not only in having so much information in one volume, but also in the author's solid primary research. Although Johnson leads off the book, the chapters (short as they are) about Cousins and Moss, the Unique Quartette, and Daisy Tarpley provide three examples of the new research that make this book so rewarding. Even with my decades-long interest in the early recording industry, I learned that the Broome Special Phonograph Company based in Medford, Massachusetts, was the first black-owned record company, predating Black Swan's much acclaimed 1921 debut by about one year. I am also grateful to Brooks for renewing my interest in the early careers of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, both of whom recorded before 1920. The hesitations that I have in unreservedly recommending Lost Sounds are few and minor. The only real quibble that I have is that Brooks occasionally engages in unnecessary speculation when he might simply let the facts or primary or secondary printed sources do the speaking. One example relates to the death of Charley Case due to what was an apparent suicide. Rather than musing on the reasons for this accidental shooting, Brooks would have been better off quoting from the newspaper accounts and letting readers interpret the facts and draw their own conclusions. Such unnecessary speculation occurs only a few times in this book and rarely distracts from Brooks's excellent work.

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