Edison cylinder phonograph playing "Listen to the Mocking Bird"

This is a 1905 Edison Home Phonograph (model B) playing an Edison Blue Amberol cylinder (#1514) entitled "The Mocking Bird - Fantasia." This was recorded around 1912. The xylophone player was a well-known xylophone and bell player of the time, Charles Daab, who was featured on a number of Blue Amberol cylinders. This cylinder was one of the earlier Blue Amberol Cylinders (pre-1915) which are of note since they were still recorded acoustically directly to the master cylinder. From around 1915 until 1929 (when the last Blue Amberols were recorded), Edison would first record selections for his "Diamond Disc" product line and then dub them to the master cylinder. Thus, the later Blue Amberols were really a "by-product" of the Diamond Discs. Edison's new emphasis on the Diamond Discs was a result of his realization that the public was embracing the flat disc record much more so than the cylinder record.