Pete Kelly's Blog

Ziggy Elman- The Bluebird Sessions

2012-01-15T10:51:00.001-08:00

Ziggy Elman (1914-68) was one of the outstanding trumpeters of the Swing Era. A brash, powerful player he was adept at lead, jazz or sweet facets of trumpet. Elman really made his mark with the bands of Benny Goodman (1936-40) and Tommy Dorsey (1940-3 and 46-7). This post will concentrate on the sides he made for Victor's Bluebird label. These sides show the Elman horn at it's best in a tasty, chamber setting. The sides were billed as Ziggy Elman and his Orchestra and recorded in New York.

Ziggy was born Harry Finkelman in Philadelphia and grew up in Atlantic City.(his professional name came from a combination of Ziegfield and Finkelman) Along with trumpet he was also proficient on trombone and the reeds. He broke in with the Alex Bartha band, favorites at Atlantic City's Steel Pier. He made his first recordings with Bartha in 1932 as a trombonist. (available on The Old Masters CD).Goodman heard him in 1936 on trumpet and hired him for his band. Along with Harry James and Chris Griffin, Ziggy became a member of one of the greatest trumpet sections of the era. All three men shared the lead work. Ziggy also had the Jewish Klezmer influence in his playing whether sweet or hot which made his trumpet sound unique.

Harry James left Goodman in late 1938 and Ziggy became the primary trumpet soloist. His popularity led to the series of Bluebird sides. The instumentation was Ziggy's trumpet along with the wonderful Goodman sax section and rhythm. Lead saxist Noni Bernardi did the arrangements which featured Ziggy's horn, sometimes voiced with the saxes. All the sax solis on these sides are beautifully written and played. On the first three sessions Jess Stacy's piano is an added bonus along with the tenor work of Jerry Jerome, Babe Russin and Art Rollini.

The first session of December 28, 1938 gave us Fralich in Swing, Bublitchki, 29th and Dearborn and Sugar.
Fralich is the predesesor to And the Angels Sing, based on an old Jewish folk melody. The format is familiar except for the vocal (to be added when the Goodman band recorded it). Ziggy's high flying Klezmer passage and swing rideout became an instant classic. (He would later use the arrangement with Dorsey and his short lived Big Band.
Bublitchki is another old Jewish piece reworked by Ziggy as a slow swing ballad with Ziggy's horn jumping from Klezmer sweetness to Louis-ish jazz cries. The sax soli is a gem.
29th and Dearborn is a straight ahead blues riff with nice tenor (Jerome or Rollini), some of Jess' patented blues work and some passionate blowing by Zig. The outchorus has nice trumpet and sax voicing.
The old Maceo Pinkard favorite Sugar gets a lightly swinging treatment with more horn/sax voicings and Jess' tasty fills and solos. The tenor is probably Jerome and Ziggy drives the band but not as bombastic as in the Big Band setting.

The next session on June 8, 1939 gave us You're Mine,You, Let's Fall in Love, Zaggin' with Zig and I'll Never be the Same.
You're Mine became another signature tune for Ziggy (he re-recorded it with his 1947 band). A lovely Johnny Green tune gets a tender melody statement by Ziggy with saxes on the bridge. Jess has one of his great trumpet-like choruses followed by mellow tenor (probably Rollini) then Ziggy digs in with Louis-ish jazz over stops and nice glisses on the outchorus before going up high over drum kicks.
Let's Fall in Love gets a tasty treatment by the little Big Band with Ziggy at his bombastic best.
Zaggin' a medium swing riff also became an Elman staple (he would reprise it with Goodman and his own band). The saxes state the theme with Zig on cup mute bridge(his cup sound was very Harry James like). After Jess and Jerome split a chorus Ziggy punches out two driving ride choruses over the saxes before finishing up high a la Louis.
I'll Never be the Same by Frank Signorelli and Matty Malneck has Ziggy's prety lead up front with mellow spots by Jess and tenor before Zig turns on the heat going up.

The third session was on August 29,1939 and featured You Took Advantage of Me, I'm Yours, Am I Blue and I Have Everything to Live For. The tenor solos on this session were by the wonderful Babe Russin.
Rodgers and Hart's Advantage has a percussive Ziggy intro with saxes taking the lead and Zig on cup mute bridge. Ziggy contributes a driving solo and there is more Stacy and Babe's booting tenor. Zig rips off some Louis-ish high ones on the rideout.
Johnny Green's pretty ballad I'm Yours (also recorded by Artie Shaw) has Zig playing it sweet and splitting with the saxes. After Jess and Babe ,Zig goes into some nice stoptime stuff ala You're Mine and finishes up high.
Am I Blue gets a nice medium ride with a lovely Stacy intro. There's more of Zig's cup mute on the bridge and a brash,strutting open solo. After swinging spots by Jess and Babe, Zig is off with more trumpet fireworks over the saxes. An alternate take exists with different solo spots and Ziggy equally firery and punchy on his solos.
I Have Everything to Live For is a nice but obscure ballad. Zig gives us more of his sweet side and Babe gets into a Lester Young groove. This was Jess' last session with the group before joining Bob Crosby, his solos thruout are gems.

The fourth session was on November 27,1939. Milt Raskin,another fine pianist had taken over for Stacy and Jerry Jerome was back on tenor. The sides were What Used to Was used to Was, Bye 'n Bye, Love is the Sweetest Thing and Deep Night.
What Used to is another Jewish flavored ballad with Zig's pretty Klezmer horn starring and a lovely sax soli-a bit like Bublitchki but nice to have.
Bye n' Bye is not the New Orleans favorite but a pretty medium ballad. Raskin and Jerome gets nice solo spots before Zig enters wailing for an interlude and rideout.
Ray Noble's Love is the Sweetest Thing has more of Zig's pretty horn and an alto spot by Toots Mondello. Zig modulates into a lovely rideout and coda.
Rudy Vallee's Deep Night (a lovely tune) has tight voicing with the trumpet and saxes. Zig gets in a mellow cup mute chorus and Raskin and Jerome precede his strong rideout over stops and the saxes.

The final session was on December 26,1939 with the same personell. The titles are Forgive my Heart, Tootin' my Baby Back Home, I'm Thru with Love and Something to Remember You By.
Forgive is a Ziggy original in a minor Jewish mode. There are pretty saxes with nice fills by Raskin. Ziggy goes into a fralich and swing finale ala Angels Sing.
Tootin' is another riff similar to Zaggin' with the same format-cup mute on bridge and Zig wailing over the saxes on the rideout. A bit familiar, but some great blowing by Ziggy.
Malneck and Kahn's great standard I'm Thru with Love has more pretty horn by Zig and that great sax section. After a modulation for Milt's piano, Zig takes the interlude and a close-voiced rideout.
We close with another classic, Dietz and Schwartz's Something to Remember You By. There are two sweet horn spots for Zig, more of Toots' alto and a driving Ziggy rideout.

These sides do follow into a set pattern but show Ziggy off to great advantage. The gorgeous sax section and solo spots bt Stacy,Raskin and the tenors give Ziggy nice contrast.
He graced many other free lance sessions including Teddy Wilson,The Metronome All-Stars, Mildred Bailey and Lionel Hampton(try out his wild blowing on Gin for Christmas). These Bluebird sides,give us the most complete look at Elman, the consumate trumpeter.

In 1940 Ziggy moved over to Tommy Dorsey's band and became one of his star soloists with standout solos on sides such as Swanee River, Blue Blazes, Hawaiian War Chant, Halleleujah, Blue Skies and the classic trumpet battle with Chuck Peterson on We'll Git It.
In 1943 he was called up for service duty and he played with an Army Air Corps Band in the Long Beach,California area. Ziggy rejoined Dorsey in 1946 and stayed for a year. He tried two attempts at his own band in '47 and '48 and made some wonderful sides for M-G-M. (some utilized the Dorsey band with Tommy's permission). Ziggy's post 1947 period was mostly as a studio musician on radio and recordings. He also recorded with Jewish clarinetist and humorist, Mickey Katz.

Ziggy kept busy during the 50s although his health started to decline. He contributed awesome solos to Jess Stacy's Goodman salute on Atlantic in 1954 (I believe the session is still on CD). Some reports had his lips bleeding at the session's end, he worked so hard.
Ziggy appeared in The Benny Goodman Story the next year,performing And The Angels Sing during the Carnegie Hall Finale. He was ill at the time and his trumpet work was dubbed by the great studio man, Mannie Klein.
Thruout the 50s and 60s,Ziggy kept playing and gave trumpet lessons(one of his students was Herb Alpert) and opened a music store.
Alchololism and heart problems took him in 1968.

Ziggy's work thru the years showed him to be a fiery,passionate jazzman and a consumate big band trumpeter. All his work is worth hearing, but we highly reccomend the Bluebird sessions for pure Elman.
The Bluebird sides are available on Classics CDs. Ziggy's M-G-M sides are on a Jazz Band CD and Circle CD has some live material by his own Big Band. His work with Goodman and Dorsey is readily available on CD and Youtube has a generous Elman section.

Ziggy's long gone but we can still keep Zaggin' with Zig thanks to his many outstanding recordings.

Some Jazzy Stocking Stuffers

2011-11-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Following our previous Christmas jazz posts, Ira Ironstrings plays Santa Claus and Christmas with Louis Armstrong are some favorite jazz Christmas albums from the Pete Kelly collection.
An early 10" lp with delightful jazz holiday music is Urbie Green's A Cool Yuletide recorded in 1954 for RCA's subsidiary X label.
This is nice cool mainstream with some boppish touches, not unlike the Dave Pell Octet.
The personnel is Urbie, Joe Wilder,trumpet- Al Cohn,tenor- Al Epstein, baritone (a nice surprise) -Buddy Weed,piano-Mundell Lowe,guitar-Milt Hinton,bass and Jimmie Crawford and Don Lamond splitting up drum chores.The arrangements are by Charles Shirley. All these men are top studio players and great jazzmen.

The ensembles are tightly voiced and Joe Wilder's clean,boppish horn is a highlight thruout. Some of the highlights are a neat version of All I want for Christmas with a Northwest Passage riff on the intro and coda. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa has a bit of the Jimmie Lunceford 2 beat before breaking into 4/4 for solos. Urbie's sweet Dorsey-ish horn is featured on White Christmas and Christmas Song with some nice spots by Lowe's guitar. Winter Wonderland is played at a medium swing with Joe getting in some Cootie-like plunger spots. Santa Claus is Coming has a bit of the Birth of the Cool sound with some tasty piano by the underated Weed.
The lp has been long out of print and not yet restored to CD but you can try ebay or youtube. It's worth the search.

Fans of Glenn Miller will really enjoy Christmas Serenade-In the Glenn Miller Style , a 1965 Columbia lp reuniting Tex Beneke, Ray Eberle and Paula Kelly and the Modernaires.
The studio band was arranged by Alan Copeland (a former Modernaires vocalist-he may sing on this session). There are some of the Miller reed and doowah brass sounds but the band has more of a swinging Les Brown sound.
Tunes from the original Miller book are It Happened in Sun Valley and Jingle Bells. Tex's vocals are a joy thruout and Merry Christmas Baby is tailor made for him. His tenor work on the album is exellent and he gets some mellow spots on Christmas Song and Snowfall (a nice chart). Sleigh Ride is given a nice swinging ride with more of Tex's tenor and the Mods have many nice moments with Tex and Ray Eberle (Ray sounds a bit creaky on his solo spots).
I noticed a curious arranging passage. The vocal coda on Christmas Song was later used on Herb Alpert's version on his own Christmas Album. Perhaps vocal arranger Shorty Rogers remembered it and worked it into his own chart!
This session came out on lp and later on cassette(I still have my copy) and has made the transfer to CD.

One of the classic jazz Xmas albums is Hark the Herald Angels Swing! (World Jazz-1972) by The World's Greatest Jazz Band.
This is one of the band's best lineups with Yank Lawson and Billy Butterfield,trumpets- Ed Hubble and Vic Dickenson,trombones- Bud Freeman,tenor- Bob Wilber,clarinet and soprano-Ralph Sutton,piano-Bob Haggart,bass and Gus Johnson,drums.
Bob's Bob Crosby-like charts abound and all the soloists excell in a very happy session.
Highlights include the title tune, a real swinger with Billy wailing up high on the out chorus. Yank and Gus turn Little Drummer Boy into a neat jazz conversation. (Yank using his trusty Harmon mute). Silent Night is turned into a bluesy but sacred outing and Vic and Gus get in some good humored vopcalizing on Jingle Bells and Rudolph. Ralph shows off his own Fats Waller piano and vocal chops on I'll be Home for Christmas. Christmas Song features the pure pretty Butterfield fleugelhorn. Every track is a gem. This is the kind of jazz album that even non-jazz fans will respond to.
As of this writing the lp hasn't been transferred to CD-It certainly should. You can get a copy on ebay and sample tracks on Youtube. Here's hoping someone puts it out on CD soon.

For Trad Jazz fans here are two tasty treats. In 1984 World Jazz released another standout Christmas album this time by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Jim's band from San Antonio has been a fixture on the trad scene for 50 years and this edition of the band is an excellent one.
"Tis the Season to be Jammin' features Jim on cornet, Randy Reinhart,trombone-Allan Vache,clarinet-John Sheridan,piano-Howard Elkins,banjo/guitar- Jim Johnston,bass and Ed Torres,drums.
The tunes range from a scorching Sleigh Ride to a Basie-ish Christmas Waltz in swingtime with a mellow Elkins vocal. We also get bluesy,sacred takes on O Holy Night and Ave Maria. Vache's hot clarinet takes honors on God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen and Randy's feature on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas gives us shades of Teagarden. There's a nifty Santa Claus is Comin' with a Hot 5 style ensemble and merry band vocal. John Sheridan takes a stride feature on Nutcracker Rag. This is a wonderful album, expertly played and full of jazz joy.
It's available on CD from Jim Cullum's Landing. (the CD has bonus tunes not on the lp).

The great Turk Murphy and his San Francisco Jazz Band put out a lovely Xmas lp recorded in 1984 and 86. The lp was issued on the Merry Makers label and sponsored by See's Candies who also sponsored Turk's weekly radio shows from the Fairmont Hotel.
Songs of Christmas features several Turk originals along with favorites such as Silver Bells,
Santa Claus is Comin' and O Christmas Tree (alias Maryland,my Maryland). From the trad repertoire are Chimes Blues, At the Christmas Ball, Santa Claus Blues and a fun oldie, The Storybook Ball (also recorded by the Castle Jazz Band). There's also a great caricature of Turk on the cover by Ward Kimball of Firehouse Five fame.
Personell is Turk, trombone/vocal- Bob Schulz,cornet- Lynn Zimmer,clarinet/soprano- Ray Skjelbred,piano-Bill Carroll,tuba and John Gill on banjo, drums and vocal. This is one of Turk's best later bands and the album is full of great trad jazz sounds. I don't think it's been transferred to CD but you can check ebay for lps.

Back to swing sounds and a real sleeper that came out in 1986, Christmas in Jazztime by Glenn Zottola and his group. This album released on the Dreamstreet label has an instrumentation similar to the Urbie Green session and features tightly voiced ensembles and great soloists. Leader Zottola is a very versatile trumpeter with a clean, swinging sound capable of ranging from boppish runs to Louis-ish riffs and high notes. The wonderful Maxine Sullivan is a special guest on Jolly Old St. Nick, White Christmas and Jingle Bells.
Personell is Zottola, George Masso,trombone (I'm sure he did some of the arranging) - Phil Bodner, clarinet/alto/piccolo- Joe Temperly, baritone/ soprano/bass clarinet- Derek Smith, piano- Milt Hinton,bass and Butch Miles, drums.
There are many wonderful moments including a swinging Let it Snow featuring all the soloists. Winter Wonderland gets a nice bossa nova feel and Silent Night has a bluesy Duke feel with electric piano. On White Christmas, Glenn gets into his Louis bag with a classic Pops cadenza.
Joe's big sound on bari is featured on Christmas Song (he followed Harry Carney in the Ellington band). Greensleves gets a cool shuffle treatment and on Santa Claus there is more of Glenn's nod to Pops with a high note climax. All the soloists are tops but I should single out Masso's fluid but muscular bone work and the great clarinet spots by Bodner (a top studio reed man). The great rhythm section swings all the way thru.
The album has yet to surface on CD but do look for it on ebay and Youtube.

I'd also like to mention some compilations. Big Band Christmas on Columbia features Duke(Jingle Bells), Woody Herman(Let it Snow),Les Brown(We Wish you the Merriest), Jimmy Dorsey(Dixieland Band from Santa Claus Land), Les Elgart(Greensleeves), Claude Thornhill(Snowfall) and a lovely White Christmas by Bobby Hackett. It's been on cassette but perhaps not CD yet.
Jingle Bell Jazz also Columbia has been around for a while and is on CD. The tunes have been re-shuffled over the years from the lp days. The constants are Duke's Jingle Bells, Hamp's White Christmas, Brubeck's Santa Claus is 'Comin' and Chico Hamilton's Winter Wonderland. The lp originally had the Dukes of Dixieland playing Frosty the Snowman.
A Swinging Big Band Christmas on Laserlight CD features Lombardo, Krupa, Nichols, L. Brown, Larry Clinton, Bob Crosby and a lovely Christmas medley by Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. The highlight is Jack Teagarden's vocal/trombone feature of The Christmas Song recorded in 1954 and hard to find.

In closing , here are some random favorites that are out there on compilations or Youtube. The Firehouse Five plus Two's joyous rendition of Jingle Bells on Good Time Jazz(1950). Tommy Dorsey's Santa Claus is Comin' (1935) and March of the Toys (1939) on Victor. Dick Robertson's I Want You for Christmas (1937) Decca with a young Bobby Hackett. For more lovely Hackett check out his change of pace version of We Need a Little Christmas (Epic 1966) with pianist Ronnie David on The Swingin'est Gals in Town (Collectables CD). Louis Prima's composition What Will Santa Say? (When he finds Everybody Swingin') is a fun novelty from 1936 on Vocalion and there's that great duet of Jack Teagarden and Johnny Mercer with Paul Whiteman on Christmas Night in Harlem (Victor 1934). And lest we forget the amazing re-interpretation of the Nutcracker by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on Columbia CD.
Here's hoping all these Jazz Christmas goodies bring you Happy Holiday Listening.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year. We'll be back with more blogs in 2012.

Dixieland A la PeeWee Hunt

2011-09-07T10:21:00.001-07:00

Trombonist/Vocalist Walter "PeeWee" Hunt is known primarily for his long association with the Casa Loma Orchestra and his cornball version of 12th St. Rag , however his Capitol lps contain much good jazz and dance music-the subject of this post.
PeeWee was born in 1907 in Mt. Healthy,Ohio. He started as a banjoist, adding trombone when he attended Ohio State University as an Electrical Engineering major. He studied music at the Cincinnatti Conservatory and started working with local bands in the mid 20s. In 1928 he joined the popular Jean Goldkette Orch. and eventually became part of a Goldkette unit, the Orange Blossoms who morphed into the Casa Orch. PeeWee was a key member of Casa Loma from 1929-43, his capable jazz trombone work and affable vocalizing were featured heavily into the swing era when Glen Gray fronted the band. PeeWee even duetted with Louis Armstrong on the band's 1939 Decca recording of Rockin' Chair and Lazy Bones.After a wartime stint as a disc jockey, followed by service in the Merchant Marine, leading a big band , a V Disc survives of the group and it's a fine swing band.PeeWee formed his own small combo working out of the Hollywood area. His sides of the late 40s were made for small labels such as Savoy and Regent, but when he switched to Capitol in 1948 he achieved his biggest success.

The 1946 sides give a good indication of things to come at Capitol. The sides feature crisp dixieland ensembles, a few arranged passages, good solos and PeeWee's solid trombone and affable vocals. Standards such as Muskrat Ramble, Royal Garden Blues and After You've Gone are given lively tratments. The boys recall Louis' Hot 5 outchorus on MuskratSunnySide , Basin St.and The Preacher and the Bear(a Phil Harris favorite) are nice vocal features for PeeWee. Although a midwesterner, he had a nice drawl to his singing a la Teagarden.This session featured Frank Bruno on trumpet, formerly with Muggsy Spanier's big band and a tasty player along the lines of Charlie Teagarden. Also aboard is Matty Matlock,clarinet-Carl Fisher,piano(soon to be Frankie Laine's music director- Harvey Chernap,bass and Glenn Walker on drums complete the group. This may have been a working group, I'm sure Matty was sitting in. PeeWee really hit it big with his Capitol sides starting in 1948. A 1950 photo of the band shows Bruno and Walker along with Red Dorris,clarinet and PeeWee's old Casa Loma buddy Joe Hall on piano.

PeeWee's biggest hit came about by accident. At the end of a 1948 Capitol session the boys were fooloing around with 12th St. Rag playing it very cornball. The tune was released and became a surprise hit complete with Doo-Wacka-Doo horn passage , tack piano and Rosy MacHargue's Ted Lewis-ish clarinet solo which became a part of the tune. PeeWee had to do similar corny followups but still played a high quotient of listenable, daneable jazz. His other hit was Oh! (1953) a mellow dance tune with tightly voiced horns, unison piano and a tasty cup mute solo by PeeWee. This is a format PeeWee used on many of his dance sides. Most of the early Capitol sides were issued first on 78, then 10" lp and eventually transferred to 12" lp.
The flip side of 12th St. is an old Bert Williams favorite, Somebody Else-Not Me with a fun vocal by PeeWee.

Capitol rarely listed personnel for the Hunt albums, but two standout players are Andy Bartha on cornet and clarinetist Lee Cummins. They are heard on most of the sides from the early 50s on. Bartha had a edgy Wild Bill Davison-like sound and played a nice lead, Cummins was a fluent soloist with a nice round tone. The lp Dixieland Classics collected many of the 78s and 10" sides. Favorites such as Jazz Band Ball, Royal Garden Blues, That's a Plenty, So. Rampart St., Fidgety Feet and Dixieland One-Step are all given the Hunt treatment.
Swingin' Around is a mixture of dance tunes and dixieland favorites including Mama's Gone,Goodbye, Spain, Ida, Somebody Stole my Gal, Please don't Talk about Me and Peg O' My Heart.
Another standout lp of early sides is Dixieland Detour featuring such trad classics as Stomp Off, Let's Go, Copenhagen, Panama, Boneyard Shuffle and old favorites like Red Hot Mama and Between the Devil and Deep Blue Sea with a nice PeeWee vocal. PeeWee didn't really look the part of his nickname. He was of medium height and stocky build with a professorial look of glasses and pencil mustache. He had a genial sense of humor that came out on his album covers.

Another fine lp was Blues A La Dixie (the start of that title series)-a mixture of traditional blues tunes and standards with "blue" in the title. The album dates from the late 50s.
The personnel is actually listed here- Hunt, Andy Bartha,cornet- Lee Cummins,clarinet- Jack Condon,piano- Gene Dragoo,bass (he later worked in Bartha's own band) and Cody Sandifer,drums(a veteran of Glenn Miller and Bob Crosby). Bucky Pizzarelli was added to the session on guitar. Most of these players were on subsequent lps.Sid Feller (former trumpeter and arranger for Jack Teagarden's big band)is listed as arranger, most of the Hunt lps had some aranged passages but many were just free blowing.
Highlights include a nice take on Basie's Swingin' the Blues, Limehouse Blues, Wang Wang Blues, Wabash Blues (with some of the trademark "corn")and St. Louis Blues. There are also nice danceable versions of Good bye Blues and I get the Blues when it Rains .

In 1956, Capitol teamed PeeWee's band up with popular honky tonk pianist Joe "Fingers" Carr for the lp, PeeWee and Fingers. Carr was actually studio pianist Lou Busch who found a hit format in the style of Big Tiny Little and Johnny Maddox. This album was originally issued as Class of '25 and contained favorites such as Minnie the Mermaid,Five Foot Two, The Sheik Hula Lou and The One I Love.

Dixieland Kickoff is an album of college fight songs-a populat theme for dixieland lps, Bob Scobey and The Dukes of Dixieland made similar albums. Bill Stegmeyer,an exellent reedman and arranger (also formerly with Miller and Crosby) handles the charts on this lp, he may have done other Hunt albums.
This was an early purchase for yours truly and as a grade school trumpeter I was knocked out by this dixieland"take"on college tunes. Years later, it's still pleasant but more predictable. However PeeWee's rousing takes on Our Director, The Victors and Notre Dame still sound good ,many years later.

One of the best PeeWee Capitols is PeeWee Hunt's Dance Party (1960?). This album is a mixture of old favorites and danceable pops. Most dixieland and big band albums of this period were made for dancing and this lp is perfect for the feet or ears. On Love is Just around the Corner and Sweet Georgia Brown , PeeWee and the boys stretch out with an extra "ride" chorus giving us a good idea of how they sounded in person. Bartha and Cumins get in some nice solo spots along with the leader. PeeWee gives us some of his engaging vocal work on Alexander's Ragtime Band(one of PeeWee's early Casa Loma records), Way Down yonder in New Orleans and Carolina in the Morning. On the mellow side we have OH!, Swingin' down the Lane, It had to be You and a lovely Sentimental Journey with nice guitar obliggatos (Bucky?). This is the Hunt band at it's best.

The " A la" series continued with Classics a la Dixie, Rodgers and Hammerstein a la Dixie(not available for listening) and Cole Porter a la Dixie.
The Classics album is a cute idea, familiar classical themes in Dixie style with gag titles. However the format gets pretty routine after a few tunes. Cole Porter is a nice album, his tunes work well in Dixie format (who could forget Wilbur deParis' classic album?) . Porter favorites such as Begin the Beguine, Anything Goes and What is this thing called Love? get the swinging Hunt treatment. Capitol also issued a Best of PeeWee Hunt lp featuring tunes from various albums and singles.

The last two Hunt Capitol lps were A Hunting We Will Go and Saturday Night Dancing Party from about 1961 or 2. Dick Baars had taken over on trumpet, he was a young Midwestern musician who had worked with Gene Mayl and The Stanley Steamers. He has a cleaner,tastier style than Bartha and worked the plunger well(sort of a clean Mugsy Spanier), he also drove the ensembles well with a little more modern approach.
A Hunting is full of old favorites and warhorses as Muskrat Ramble, Royal Garden Blues and Indiana. PeeWee sings on Put on your Old Grey Bonnet (another Casa Loma item), Mack the Knife, Ain't Misbehavin',Am I Blue? and Doodle Doo Doo. The One I Love is done in a nice dance tempo a la Dance Party A fine album.

Saturday Night Dance Party is sort of a follow up to Dance Party except the theme of songs with girls' names is used (a common concept album for pop and jazz albums).
The band swings out on jazz standards Blue Lou, Honeysuckle Rose and I Found a New Baby.
PeeWee gives us 6 vocals (always welcome) including 2 oldies, Bessie Couldn't Help It(an early Capitol side) and How Could Red Riding Hood along with favorites Dinah, Margie, Coquette and Mary Lou. Linda is done up in the Oh! dance style and Marie gets a nice Dorsey tribute by PeeWee on open and muted solos. Baars and Cummins contribute stellar solos thruout.
'

PeeWee kept performing into the '70s, I recall a picture of him in a Getzen instruments newsletter looking hale and healthy with his trombone. He eventually retired to Plymouth, Mass.
where old boss Glen Gray was living. PeeWee died in 1979.
Although PeeWee made many "cornball" tunes after his 12th St. Rag success, the bulk of his Capitol work features fine, swinging dixie and tasteful dance tunes expertly played.
Sad to say there isn't a PeeWee Hunt CD available as of this writing. There are plenty of Hunt lps on Ebay and many of his selections on Youtube.

Happy Hunting!

The Sterling Trumpet of Mr. Bose

2011-06-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

In the history of jazz trumpet there are many unsung and underated players who left a great legacy of work but are mostly known to musicians and aficiandos.
One such player is Sterling "Bozo" Bose (1906-58). Like many great jazzmen, Sterling's career was ruined and cut short by his addiction to alcohol.
Sterling Belmont Bose was born in Florence, Alabama on Feb. 23, 1906. He spent part of his youth in New Orleans where he absorbed the city's jazz sounds and played with hometown bands such as trombonist Tom Brown.

In 1923 Sterling was in St. Louis where he worked with the Crescent City Jazzers and the Arcadian Serenaders at St. Louis' Arcadia Ballroom. He made his first recordings with the Serenaders in late 1924. The group has a similar sound to early jazz bands such as the Wolverines and New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Sterlings' style is influenced by Bix Beiderbecke but also has a bit of the "sock" style of early trumpeters Paul Mares and Phil Napolean, a driving rhythmic type of playing. His work on the old favorite Angry is especially good.

After his St. Louis stint Sterling worked his way to Detroit where he joined the Jean Goldkette Orchestra in late 1927. This was a new edition of the band after Paul Whiteman stole many of Goldkette's stars such as Bix, Frank Trumbauer, Steve Brown and Bill Challis.
His recordings with the band still show the Bix influence along with more of the "booting" rhythmic horn that would be his trademark.

On the side My Blackbirds are Bluebirds Now, Bozo's horn is a standout. He also gets a nice solo on Just a Little Kiss and swaps fours with another Bix influenced player Andy Secrest on Here Comes the Showboat. (see our earlier Secrest post).This Goldkette band enjoyed a long stay at Kansas City's Pla-Mor Ballroom.
After Goldkette, Bose who was a good reader spent a few years with the house band of Chicago's WGN. In Novemberof 1930 he joined the great band of Ben Pollack.

Besides his regular Pollack recordings, Sterling appeared on numerous sessions with Pollack musicians appearing under a pseudenem. He also became fast friends with bandmate Jack Teagarden. They teamed up on many delightful recordings during the early 30s.
Hello Beautiful is the Pollack band released under Gil Rodin's name. Bose swaps lively fours with Teagarden and adds a pretty coda, his work here is very Bix-like.
I Just Couldn't Take it Baby is a Teagarden studio session featuring Jack's vocals. Bose has two nice, relaxed choruses with a bit of the Bix flavor. He also contributed fine solos to Jack's recordings of You, Rascal You, Loveless Love and Ol' Pappy.
A Teagarden studio band of 1931 featured Fats Waller, Matty Matlock and Adrian Rollini. An unissued version of China Boy has Bose with two strutting, melodic spots.
One of his best solos with Pollack is on Two Tickets to Georgia (1933). He still had some of Bix's touches but had developed his own personal style. This punchy, rhythmic approach became his trademark. It's a great jazz sound and Sterling exelled on small group lead and hot solos.

Sterling was quite a character. He and Teagarden enjoyed many crazy adventures together. They both shared a love for liquid refreshment and used this to enhance such pursuits as midnight fishing trips and flying lessons! Bose was a fine reader and soloist but his penchant for barleycorn caused him to pass out on the bandstand on numerous occasions!

Bose remained with Pollack until May of 1933. He worked off and on with Eddie Sheasby in Chicago and did studio work for Victor Young and others. In the spring of 1934 he joined the great band of Joe Haymes. Haymes was a pianist and arranger who had done great charts for Ted Weems and led several exellent units of his own thruout the 30s. Like Bose, his downfall was the booze. During this time, Sterling did a lot of freelance recording including Chick Bullock and the Mound City Blue Blowers. Two 1935 sessions stand out.

A May '35 date with drummer Vic Berton for Brunswick produced some fine sides. Featured in the band were Matty Matlock, trombonist Art Foster and bass saxophonist Spencer Clark. Sterling's prominent lead and punchy solo is a highlight of the pop tune A Smile will Go a Long,Long Way. His lead work is a standout on Ja Da and the tricky chart of Dardanella.
Another intersting date was the Little Ramblers session of Nov. 1935. Most of the players were former Haymes men and now with Tommy Dorsey. The band has a sound quite like Dorsey's Clambake 7. These sides were offshoots of the California Ramblers and produced by Ramblers' manager Ed Kirkeby, who makes the mistake of singing 3 tunes! Along with Bose, we get nice work from Sid Stoneburn,clarinet and Adrian Rollini sitting in on bass sax.
Cliff Weston sings on A Little bit Independent which has some great driving Bose including some Louis-ish touches. Bose's lead work shines on You Hit the Spot and Life Begins at Sweet 16. On the forgetable pop, I'm the Fellow Who Loves You, our boy gets two tasty solo spots. A nice session for Bose-afiles.

The Haymes band made an exellent session for Bluebird in Feb. 1935. Two of the beat sides are The Lady in Red and Honeysuckle Rose. The Lady features Weston's vocal, Stoneburn's hot clarinet, the Bud Freeman-like tenor of John VanEps and a short,spirited Bose spot.
Honeysuckle is an exellent Haymes chart. Sid and Van Eps are joined by Bose on two stellar spots. He gets in a Bix like rip along with his driving jazz musings. The horn sections play several patented riffs some by Fletcher Henderson and some by Haymes. One can see why Tommy Dorsey decided to take over the band in the fall of 1935, following his split with brother Jimmy.

When Tommy Dorsey assumed leadership of the Haymes band in Sept. of 1935, Sterling was an important part as trumpet soloist. He has several standout solos on Tommy's full band and Clambake 7 recordings of the time. On the band's first session of Sept. 1935 he has high flying solos on Weary Blues and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Old Haymes buddies Stoneburn and VanEps are also featured. Sterling really shines on the Clambake 7 sides, Tommy's dixieland band-within-a band. Two Dec. 1935 sessions stand out. Bose's leadwork and solos on The Music goes 'Round and 'Round are a highlight, he also gets in some fun dialog with his charming southern accent prevalent. Bose,like Muggsy Spanier had a natural drive using an economy of notes that really swung a group. His work on the pop tunes, The Day I Let you Get Away and Rhythm in my Nursery Rhymes are perfect examples.
Sterling stayed with Dorsey until early 1936. The story goes that on a band busride he got in his cups and began putting down Dorsey, who threw him off the bus in the middle of nowhere! At any rate Sterling just moved over to the top band of Ray Noble.

The Noble band was a star-studded group put together by Glenn Miller who played trombone and arranged for the band. The only holdovers from Noble's British band were his drummer Bill Harty and the popular vocalist Al Bowly. Sterling joined such stars as PeeWee Erwin, Johnny Mince, Bud Freeman, Will Bradley,George VanEps and Claude Thornhill.
The band played at New York's swanky Rainbow Room and on several occaisions Sterling collapsed from drink before making the bandstand! However his booting horn shines on sides such as Big Chief DeSota, Slumming on Park Avenue and One,Two Buckle Your Shoe. On Big Chief, we get one of Sterling's engaging vocals with that Southern accent.
PeeWee Erwin enjoyed working with Bose and in his story This Horn For Hire as told to Warren Vache Sr., he remarked of Sterling's great jazz playing despite his occasional alcholic lapses. We don't know a lot about Bose's personal life but in PeeWee's book there is a photo of Sterling and his attractive wife of the time.

After leaving Noble in the summer of 1936, Bose briefly played with Benny Goodman's band in August and September,leaving due to ill health.
He left a great solo on Benny's version of St. Louis Blues(a wonderful Fletcher Henderson chart).
Bose gets two strutting blues choruses-quite unusual foe a Goodman record-most trumpet soloists with Benny were lucky to get a single chorus. Bozo makes the most of his extended spot.

After some free lancing, Sterling joined Glenn Miller's new band in early 1937. This was Miller's first attempt at leading a band of his own. This band was known as "The Band that Failed". Although a fine musical unit, Glenn was still a few years away from coming up with the formula that would make him America's most popular swing band. Sterling was with Miller thru most of '37 (save for a few dry-outs). The Decca session of March 1937 gives us an idea of where Miller was going at this early juncture

Glenn used PeeWee Erwin and Mannie Klein to bolster the brass and future Miller stars Hal McIntyre and Chummy MacGregor were aboard. Glenn's friend, Metronome writer George Simon sat in on drums. Moonlight Bay is a catchy Miller chart with a band vocal and one of Glenn's repeated riffs and rideouts-a favorite devise, Bose has an exellent, tangy jazz spot. On Anytime, Anyday Anywhere we get one of Bozo's fun vocals backed by the Tune Twisters trio (including future Miller guitarist Jack Lathrop) and a nice trumpet spot. The trumpet solo on Sitting on Top of the World (a tasty McIntyre chart) is probably by Klein or Erwin. This first band eventually disbanded, the 1938 edition would be more succesful and lead to Glenn's breakthru in 1939.

Sterling freelanced some more then joined the great Bob Crosby band in August 1938. Yank Lawson and Charlie Spivak had been lured over to Tommy Dorsey so Billy Butterfield was now playing a lot of lead and jazz. Sterling came aboard to lighten the load with the full band and BobCats. He had two outstanding records from his time with the band. Bob Haggart's chart of I'm Prayin' Humble was written with Yank in mind, however Bose gives a very personal plunger solo in the Spanier mode. On the BobCats' Loopin' the Loop, Bose spells Butterfield and his driving lead is a highlight of the side.
Matty Matlock recalled a humorous anecdote of Bose. A call girl was working at the hotel the Band was staying at and she was posing as a hosiery saleswoman. Sterling was crused to find he had missed her-not for her sexual favors, he really needed a pair of socks!

After leaving Crosby in early 1939, Bose worked at Nick's in NYC and had a short spell with Bobby Hackett's ill-fated Big Band in the spring. This was a band full of promise, but Bobby wasn't leader material and the was full of too many drinkers(PeeWee Russell, Eddie Condon and Bose to name a few).
In the summer of '39 Bose joined up with former Crosby pianist Bob Zurke and his new big band.
Like Hackett's this was another group of heavy drinkers especially leader Zurke, a brilliant pianist. Many of the arangements were by Fud Livingston, despite the eratic personell this band was an exellent musical unit. Sterling was heavily featured in a lineup of fine soloists including Chealsea Quealy, Sid Stoneburn, Ernie Caceres, Mike Doty and Artie Foster.Here are some highlights from their Bluebird recordings.

I Found a New Baby shows the Zurke band at it's best in a great Fud Livingston chart. Driven by Stan King's drums, Sterling gets a full, hot chorus. Zurke's piano shines and the band gets a very Bob Crosby-ish sound.
On Peach Street Blues, Bose gets in oneof his engaging vocals and some nice plunger horn (shades of Muggsy) in a driving big band blues chart. Bozo also sings on Between 18 and 19th on Chestnut St. a popular novelty of the day covered by Charlie Barnet and Bing Crosby. Our boy also has a nice open horn spot. Nickel Nabber Blues and Zurke's showcase Hobson St. Blues have nice plunger spots by Bose. The pop tune Hap, Hap Happy Day has a Bixlike spot by Bozo and on the exellent chart Everybody Step he has a nice albeit brief solo. Pinch Me, an Orrin Tucker-Bonnie Baker hit has a short Bose spot and Evelyn Poe's vocal has shades of Wee Bonnie.
This was an exellent band and despite it's short life it left some truly, remarkable sides, happily available on the british Hep label.

Bose left Zurke in April 1940 (the band would soon break up) and he spent six months with old pal Jack Teagarden's big band. He led his own trio in Chicago (1940-1)and worked with Bud Freeman's big band for a while. In early 1943 he had a spell with George Brunis at the Famous Door in New York followed by a stint in the Bobby Sherwood big band. From late 1943 thru the summer of '44 he was at Nick's in New York with Miff Mole and Art Hodes. During 1944 he recorded with Miff Mole and Rod Cless. Cless' session for Black and White has excellent Bose including a soulful Make me a Pallet with some of his plunger work. One of his last recordings was on an Eddie Condon Town Hall concert during the summer of '44. Sterling is heard on a driving version of Jazz Me Blues in the company of PeeWee Russell, Benny Morton, Gene Schroeder and Ernie Caceres. His lead work and solo are of the usual high order.

Bose had a short stint with Horace Heidt in August 1944 then began a long period of free lancing in Chicago, New York and Mobile before making his home base in St. Petersburg, Florida.(He had a few stints with Tiny Hill's band during this time). From 1950-7 he led a band at the Soreno Lounge in St. Pete. We have no recordings or much info on his activities, but assume his playing was still at a high level.
Sterling's brother Neil had commited suicide some years earlier and Bozo said if Neil could do it-so can I. After years of alcoholism and ill health he shot himself in June of 1958.

Sterling Bose was one of those consumate jazzmen who wasn't a household name. Although influenced by Bix, Louis and Muggsy he developed a very personal and engaging jazz trumpet sound.
One of the few recent tributes to Bose was on the late Ray Smith's Jazz Decades show on PBS Radio. His program of January 31, 2010 featured a full hour of the Bose horn running the gamut from the Arcadian Serenaders, Goldkette and Pollack to his Big Band work with Miller, Dorsey, Goodman, Crosby and Zurke and ending with the Cless and Condon sides. A very fitting tribute to a most deserving jazzman.

Besides the Zurke Hep CD, many of Bose's recording are on various compilations under the leader's names. Amazon and World's records are good places for a search.

Happy Listening!

Stooge Stalwarts:Christine McIntyre -First Lady of Stoogedom

2011-04-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the many outstanding comedy pros that populated the Columbia shorts of the 3 Stooges and other Columbia comics. One of the most consummate and attractive actresses of this group was the delightful Christine McIntyre. Miss McIntyre was a lovely petite blonde with a beautiful face and figure along with great comedic abilities and a gorgeous singing voice. She became a regular part of the Stooges' stock company and worked with many of the other Columbia comics. The Stooges worked with many lovely and talented ladies including Dorothy Appleby, Lorna Gray, Jean Willes,Mary Ainslee, Greta Thyssen and even a young Lucille Ball, but Christine was the standout female support of their series.Here are some highlights of her career.

Christine (1911-84) was born and raised in Arizona. She developed her singing talents early and studied classical voice at Chicago musical College. Following a short run on radio she found work in films of the late 30s. Her debut was in an RKO feature Swing Fever. She also worked in several westerns including those of Buck Jones and Ray Corrigan. Christine had a small singing role in 1939's Blondie takes a Vacation (Columbia) and appeared in some soundies featuring her lovely trained soprano voice. In most of these films Christine was a brunette.

In 1943 she began her contract with the Columbia short subjects department. Her first appearance was in a Slim Summerville short, Garden of 'Eatin' (1943). At first she was used strictly for her beauty but as time went on the studio saw what fine comic gifts Christine had. She could play the helpless heroine but also turn around and play a vamp or villainess. Her beautiful singing voice was also used on occasion. Christine would soon become one of the most versatile of the Stooges' company. Before discussing some of her standout Stooge roles , here are some highlights from other Columbia comics.

Christine was in several Hugh Herbert comedies. Herbert a veteran comic noted for his "hoo hoo" trademark went back and forth between domestic comedies a la Leon Erroll and scare comedies (where he was teamed up with black funnyman Dudley Dickerson). In Wife Decoy (1945) Christine really gets to shine. In a remake of a 1939 Charley Chase comedy, Christine plays Hugh's wife who changes her hair color to blonde in order to "come on" to Hugh at a nightclub and test his fidelity. The comedy of errors with Christine delighting at Hugh's attention make this a top comedy. Not only does Christine look good but she shares the film's screen time with Hugh. She played Hugh's wife in several other shorts and had a small role in one of the scare shorts, Tall, Dark and Gruesome (1948).

Christine also had many fine outings with Shemp Howard (before he rejoined the Stooges). Society Mugs (1946) is a remake of the Stooges' Termites of 1938 and has Shemp teamed up with Tom Kennedy. They play pest exterminators who are mistaken as escorts for Christine at a society party. Like many of the Stooges "crashing society" films this one uses tried and true gags with Christine looking lovely and taking her share of comic abuse along with Stooge regular Vernion Dent as Lord Wafflebottom!

Bride and Gloom (1947) is one of those Leon Erroll styled domestic comedies with Shemp getting into numerous embarrasments with Christine while his fiancee, Jean Willes, fumes. Perennial Stooge foil Dick Curtis plays Christine's husband, a tough boxer who meets up with Shemp. Chris looks gorgeous and has many fine comic moments with Shemp.

Another standout Shemp short is Where the Pest Begins (1945) with Chris and Tom Kennedy playing Shemp's new neighbors. Shemp's attention to lovely Chris gets his wife Rebel Randall on the warpath and Kennedy is on the receiving end of the physical gags.

Christine also lent her talents to the shorts of two future Stooges, Joe DeRita and Joe Besser. DeRita with a full head of hair is a decade away from playing Curly Joe. He comes across as a poor man's Lou Costello. Slappily Married (1946) is another domestic comedy with Christine moving out on Joe, resulting in his comic mishapsat the Hotel Amazon! Wedlock Deadlock (1947) has newlyweds Joe and Chris dealing with freeloading relatives. Chris looks great in these shorts and shows fine comic timing even if she's more decorative here than comedic. She was in one of Besser's best comedies, Waiting in the Lurch(1949) as a fiance who has to put up with a fire chasing boyfriend.

In an earlier post we covered the underated team of Gus Schilling and Richard Lane. Their Columbia series was one of the best non-Stooge series. Christine starred in several of their top notch entries. Pardon My Terror (1946) is a curio as itwas intended as a Stooge short but given to Schilling and Lane when Curly Howard took ill. A classic spook comedy with Gus and Dick as clutzy private eyes gives Chris the femme fatale role. (It would be remade by the Stooges as Who Done It? in 1949).

Another top Schilling and Lane comedy is Two Nuts in a Rut (1948). The boys play movie producers trying to enjoy a Palm Springs vacation. Chris plays a gorgeous hotel guest who gets into acomedy of errors with Lane, his wife and her wrestler husband Dick Wessell. The old "hide the man in your room from your husband" bit is expertly played by Chris and Lane.

Christine also found time to grace the series of Harry VonZell, Vera Vague, Andy Clyde, Bert Wheeler, El Brendel and Harry Langdon. Her character in Brendel and Langdon's Pistol Packin' Nitwits (1945) a comic western would be reprieved in the Stooges' Out West (1947).

It was with the Stooges that Chris really blossomed as a comedienne: here are some of her many Stooge highlights. When Christine started working with the Stooges in 1944 the combination was Moe, Larry and Curly. By early 1945 Curly's health would deteriorate and he would eventually leave the team-for the time being he was fine. Chris' first short Idle Roomers(1944) is a classic scare comedy with the boys as hotel bellhops dealing with an escaped "wolfman!" Chris plays the wife of showman Vernon Dent who intends to use the wolfman in an exhibition-her role here is more decorative although she has a cute scene where all the Stooges fall over her with attention.

No Dough Boys (1944) is one of the Stooges' many hilarious wartime propaganda films. In this outing our heroes are modeling as japs for a photographer and eventually wind up at the home of Nazi spy Vernon Dent and his three lovely female spies, including Christine. Chris has a hilarious bit with Curly trying out a judo move and getting the upper hand on Curly.

Three Pests in a Mess (1945) gives her more comic material. She plays a shady gal helping some crooks fleece Curly when they think he's hit the lottery. Chris has a classic "coming on " scene with Curly until she realizes he's broke. The rest of the film is a spook sequence in a pet cemetery, not involving Chris.

Micro -Phonies (1945) is regarded as one of the best Stooge shorts. Despite Curly's flagging energy he puts in a great performance. The short utilizes Chris' singing talents as a fledging radio vocalist who helps the Stooges out of a jam when they are taken for operatic stars and forced to perform at a swanky party. Chris looks gorgeous in an evening dress she wore in Society Mugs(Columbia was always looking for ways to save money) and plays off the boys beautifully. The classic moment comes when Curly(as Senorita Cucaracha) has to mime to her rendition of Voices of Spring. This was the first Stooge film directed by Ed Bernds who would become one of their top directors.

One of Curly's last films Three Little Pirates (1946)was one of his best with the team. The boys play shipwrecked sailors posing as wayfarers and get to do their classic Maja routine. Chris plays Rita, a beautiful subject of governor Vernon Dent who helps the boys. She has some great reactions during the Maja bit and gets in the middle of the closing melle at Black Louie's pirate den. A classic short.

When Shemp rejoined the Stooges in 1947, Chris got some of her funniest outings with the boys. Her beauty and comic timing was at it's zenith during the late 40s/early 50s period. Out West (1947) is a reworking of Pistol Packin' Nitwits (featuring Chris) and Chris reprises her saloon gal role as Nell- a damsell in distress. Her boyfriend, The Arizona Kid, is played by Jock Mahoney, the great stunt man who takes many hilarious falls. Chris gets to sing The Last Rose of Summer while the boys are making classic mayhem in attempting to free the Kid from a jail cell.

Brideless Groom (1947) is one of Shemp's best comedies. Moe and Larry try to marry off Shemp so he can collect an inheriance. Chris plays Miss Hopkins, a lovely new neighbor who Shemp tries to recruit as a future wife. Chris thinks Shemp is her long lost Cousin Basil but quickly changes her tune when she finds out otherwise. The scene where she levels Shemp with a haymaker is a classic. Shemp himself told the story of how he had to talk the lady like Chris into letting him have it- and she really delivers!

Another 1947 release All Gummed Up gives Chris ample screen time. The Stooges play druggists who come up with a youth serum. They use it on old lady Mrs. Flint and turn her into the gorgeous Chris! Chris and the boys also share a fun sequence eating a cake that contains bubble gum with the usual outcome!

1948 was a banner year for Chris and the Stooges. Shivering Sherlocks was a classic spook comedy with the boys encountering crooks at a haunted mansion. Chris plays their friend Gladys and gets some good scenes in the mansion with the machete-wielding goon, Angel!

Squareheads of the Round Table is another classic costume comedy. Chris plays Princess Elaine who loves Cedric the blacksmith (Mahoney). The boys help Mahoney win the fair Elaine. Chris gets to sing a classic parody on the Sextet from Lucia backed by the boys. (remember Sextet from Lucy in Micro-Phonies?).

The Hot Scots, another classic Shemp entry has Chris as Lorna Doone, who along with fellow employees Angus and MacPherson try to steal the treasures of the Earl of Glenheathe Castle. The boys are would be detectives who try to break up the ring. This film breaks the classic line by Shemp: "Hi Lorna, How 'ya Doin'.

Crime on their Hands rounded out 1948 with Chris as a tough moll Bea, she excelled in these roles. The boys are reporters trying to find the whereabouts of the Punjab diamond and run into villain Kenneth Mac Donald (another great Stooge suporting player), bea and Muscles (Cy Schindell).

1949 and 1950 were banner years for the Stooges and Christine. Who Done It?(1949) is a remake of the aforementioned Pardon My Terror and one of the boys' funniest. The Stooges are inept detectives sent to protect Old Man Goodrich (Emil Sitka in a hilarious performance) from his vampy niece (Christine) and two cohurts along with Nikko the Goon(Duke York). Chris really hams it up as the sexy niece and has a classic scene with Shemp when she slips him a mickey and slyly reacts to Shemp's convulsions.

Fuelin' Around (1949) is another memorable entry with the boys as mistaken scientists forced to perfect a super rocket fuel for the State of Anemia. Chris plays the lovely daughter of real Professor Snead (Sitka) and is mostly decorative but has a cute "come-on" scene with jailer Jock Mahoney. Vernon Dent is also aboard as an Anemian general.

Vagabond Loafers (1949) is a remake of the classic A Plumbing We Will Go with the boys working for Emil and frequent foil Symona Boniface. A subplot involving art theives Kenneth MacDonald and Christine is added. Chris has some good vampy moments.

1950 had more plum roles for our lovely first lady. Punchy Cowpunchers (1950) is one of the best of the Stooges' comedy westerns. Once more Chris is saloon gal Nell and Jock Mahoney is Elmer (a variation on the Arizona Kid), clutzy as ever. Chris has one of the film's best gags as she punches out every bad guy that enters the room only to pass out on the divan afterwards. ("I'm just a poor, weak woman!).

Hugs and Mugs (1950) has Chris as a shady lady crook with two girlfriends who come to the Stooges Upholstery Shop loking for a valuable, stolen necklace. Bad guys enter and a wild mellee ensues with Chris and galfriends falling for the boys.

Dopey Dicks (1950) is another classic horror/detective spoof with the boys trying to rescue client Chris from a household of madmen led by mad scientist Phil VanZandt.

Three Hams on Rye (1950) is a cute backstage comedy with the boys as stagehands who get to act in a play. Chris plays their leading lady and we get the old "potholder in the cake" routine with everyone coughing up feathers!

Chris' last 1950 release was Studio Stoops. The boys play publicity agents who arrange a phony kidnapping for star Dolly Devour (Chris) only she gets kidnapped for real! There are plenty of great gags as the boys attempt to rescue Chris from Kenneth MacDonald and Co.

Chris continued working at Columbia thru the 50s but wasn't with the Stooges in 1951 or 52. The studio was now doing many remakes of earlier Stooge comedies. Again, Columbia decided to save money on the shorts by doing frequent remakes.Chris was called in for several 1953-5 entries to add some new scenes to existing material. Most times she had to wear her original costume to match up with the stock footage.

In Bubble Trouble (1953), a remake of All Gummed Up, she is seen only in stock footage and a double is used in one new scene.

Pals and Gals (1954) is a re-working of Out West, this time Chris' two sisters are held captive and some new scenes were shot allowing the boys to romance all the girls.

Knutzy Knights (1954) a remake of Squareheads of the Round Table has Chris in some new opening scenes and a new ending with Cedric. She looks lovely as ever as the princess.

Scotched in Scotland (1954) is a remake of Hot Scots and has some new scenes of Chris as Lorna, she even gets a sabre in the derriere!

Of Cash and Hash (1955) a remake of Shivering Sherlocks has Chris back as Gladys for some new scenes and she gets to interact with the boys on several cute bits. This was her last appearance in new footage with the boys. The other 1955 release Hot Ice (alias Crime on their Hands) has Chris just in stock footage.

The 1956 releases with Chris only have her in stock footage. Scheming Schemers (1956) was singled out in our post, The Case of the Fake Shemp. It's an amazing patchwork of various comedies revolving around Vagabond Loafers. Once again Christine is doubled in a new scene.
By this point Chris had married radio writer/producer J. Donald Wilson and had retired from films.

She appears in one Joe Besser entry, Fifi Blows her Top which uses the sequence of Chris and Moe from Love at First Bite.

Her non-Stooge work during the 40s was at Monogram mostly in westerns.She had a lead role in the Bowery Boys feature News Hounds (1947) but it was strictly decorative.

In the post Stooge years Chris led a quiet life in California dabbling in real estate work. Wilson passed on in early 1984 followed by Christine in July, she had been battling cancer. Christine was not only a beautiful lady and consumate actress but was able to hold her own with Columbia's comedy pros along with contributing her own comic bits.

For a detailed look at Christine's career and a wealth of photos I highly recommend Bill Telfer's site, The Wonderful Christine McIntyre. Christine's Stooge shorts are available on Sony's Three Stooges Collection starting with Vol. 4. Her non-Stooge Columbias are hard to find but Ebay and private collectors are your best bet.

Till next time- Keep Stooging!

What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years by Ricky Riccardi

2011-04-05T09:53:00.001-07:00

This is our first book review at Pete Kelly's Blog and it's a monumental one. Ricky Riccardi's new book is an indispensible profile of a most neglected period in Louis Armstrong's career-his years with his All-Stars (1947-71). Louis' years with the All-Stars and his shows were often the victim of derogotory reviews by critics. They seemed to think that Louis had deserted jazz in 1929 when he started recording popular tunes. Louis' trumpet playing was also written off by most so called aficianados when he was still in full command of his horn. Ricky has done the world of music a great service by righting a terrible wrong in the history of Louis Armstrong and American jazz

Ricky is a 30 year old masters graduate of Rutgers University. He is an accomplished jazz pianist and has created an excellent blog on Louis- The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong- He is also Project Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House Museum. We met via the blog and have become fast friends, Ricky is a passionate archivist on Louis' entire career but has concentrated on the All-Stars period for this book. He writes with passion, humor and great detail and care-the young man really knows his stuff. Many of Ricky's chapters and examples have appeared in the blog, the book would be the size of a bible if Ricky had his druthers but even in it's edited form there is a wealth of knowledge for both the veteran Armstrong fan or novice. When Louis switched from Big Band to combo format in 1947 he was looked as "coming home" to his roots. However the All-Stars were never a Revival band but mixed Louis' classic jazz pieces, his hits, current pop tunes and features for his sidemen- all wrapped up with the dynamic Armstrong personality up front.

We meet such early All-Stars as Jack Teagarden, Barney Bigard, Sid Catlett, Arvell Shaw and Earl Hines along with such later standout performers as Edmond Hall, Trummy Young, Peanuts Hucko, Billy Kyle, Mort Herbert, Tyree Glenn and Danny Barcelona.Riccardi also gives due to other All-Stars who didn't get the notoriety they deserved- players such as Russ Phillips, Mary Napolean, Big Chief Moore, Eddie Shu and Joe Muranyi. Louis' female vocaists Velma Middleton and Jewell Brown also get their innings.

Ricky is a master at dissecting key recording sessions and live performances during Louis' All Star days. He gives us plenty of musical highlights and examples of the genius of Armstrong's horn and voice. He never gets too technical and the book is always an enjoyable read.We also learn a lot about Louis the person. Yes he was a lovable, amiable consumate entertainer but nowhere the "Uncle Tom" he was labeled as. We see the human side of Louis' personality and find out that he wasn't browbeaten by manager Joe Glaser, but could be a very clever manipulator when he wanted his way regarding money, sidemen or material.

Every chapter is like spending 4 or 5 years in Louis' company. Pops' last engagement at the Waldorf Astoria is poignantly told. We truly feel for Louis and his need to keep playing and entertaining even while staring at death.This is a "Wonderful Book" and should be on the bookshelf of any serious musician, educator or fan.

What a Wonderful World is published by Pantheon Press and will be available in June of 2011. It can ordered thru Amazon and should be available at Barnes and Noble and Borders.

Enjoy the truly Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong and his All Stars.

To Fred Astaire with Love: The Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet

2011-02-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

This delightful album has always been a personal favorite. Produced in 1975 for RCA Records, it is a very short (30 or so minutes) lp obviously tailored for radio play. The music however is sublime and beautifully played by one of the most unique and outstanding chamber jazz groups of all time.

Co-leaders Ruby Braff (1927-2003) on cornet and George Barnes (1921-77) on guitar were both masters of their instruments and well respected and represented in the traditional and jazz swing world. The group had a short run from 1973-5 and recorded for Chiarascoro, Concord and Improv.

Braff was a very original soloist with roots in Louis and Buck Clayton ,but with his own flowing,imaginative lines enhanced by his exploration of the cornet's lower register. Barnes too had a unique guitar sound and was a master at single string solos. The rhythm guitar of Wayne Wright and bass of Michael Moore gave the two soloists outstanding support and Barnes' harmonized lines with Ruby's cornet gave the group a bigger sound than it's four pieces. The group's arrangements were tasty but gave plenty of blowing room for the co-leaders. This album caught them in prime form-here are some highlights.

Cheek to Cheek- George's weaving riff intro takes us to Ruby with a swinging melodic statement. George continues the riff and harmonizes with Ruby's lead. This trademark gave the quartet a bigger sound than 4 men. Ruby and George playfully swap leads before a fugue-like bridge and return to the riff as a coda.

They Can't Take that Away from Me- Ruby starts with a tasty theme jumping all over the horn's range. George has the bridge and a bluesy full chorus. Ruby's next chorus is full of his great low register and smears. George returns to the lead joined by Ruby and a nice ascending coda a la String of Pearls.

Easter Parade- From Holiday Inn and the film of the same name. Nice interplay between Ruby and George leading to a modulation for the last half and a retard followed by a Louis-ish coda.

Shine on your Shoes- From The Bandwagon. A nice medium swing tempo with a closely voiced first chorus. George picks up Ruby's last lick for his chorus going down low. Ruby's strutting half brings us back to the close voiced coda. A nice track.

I'm Putting All my Eggs in One Basket- Recorded by Louis in 1936 and a favorite of this writer. More tight voicings from the co-leaders, a wailing Ruby going down to low register growls. George's swinging chorus leads to fours with Ruby before a harmonized rideout and a half step jump up to the coda.

They All Laughed- Our co-leaders lead off in close voicing before George takes a swinging spot with humorous touches. Ruby uncorks a lovely, winding solo before the out chorus with a neat Ruby/George voiced run on the coda.

Be Careful, It's my Heart- Also from Holiday Inn. Ruby's great use of the cornet's low register is a highlight on the intro and coda. In between George has a pretty lead picked up by Ruby. Mike Moore's closing bass arcos are a standout.

I'm Old Fashioned- The great Kern classic has George's highly personal sound on the lead picked up by delicate runs by Ruby. Ruby goes up high a la Louis before coming down low for the pretty coda.

Isn't this a Lovely Day?-Ruby and George trade leads with dancing runs around the melody. Ruby uses great rhythmic placement on his notes (another Armstrong hallmark). George gets off a classic, percussive chorus followed by a tasty Braff/Moore duet. Ruby jumps octaves on his horn effortlessly before Moore's acrobatic run to end the clever track.

Top Hat- A clever arrangement using the bridge as an intro. Ruby gets in some nice high register smears and George has a strutting, darting chorus. Ruby's next spot has some latin rhythm back ups and the out chorus returns us to the intro ending on a dissonant chord. A great finale to a classic album.

Despite the short running time of this album, it's a great example of this wonderful chamber group at their best. The solid support of Wright and Moore can't be ignored as they give Ruby and George the freedom to improvise and play off each other with leads, fours and close voicings.
I'm happy to say that the RCA lp is available on CD along with the group's first Chiarascuro lp.
You can go to Amazon and find it on 101 Distributors.

Ruby and George were both too strong willed to co-exist for more than two years but we treasure the wonderful recorded legacy they left us.
To Fred Astaire-With Love is the perfect starting point to re-discover this magical group.

Some Grace Notes on the Hal Roach Fun Factory

2011-02-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

The recent (Jan. 2011) Hal Roach Festival on Turner Classic Movies brought a renewed interest in these wonderful comedy shorts and features that have been so dear to me for many years.
In addition there were many new additions and surprises to the Roach output. Here is a fond overview of that festival and the featured series.

Of course, we always think of Laurel and Hardy in discussions of Hal Roach comedies and they were well represented by all their talkie shorts and some selected features. Roach was a veteran actor, producer and gag man who developed a rival comedy studio to Mack Sennett, eventually eclipsing him in the early 30s. His studio boasted not only top talent such as Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang, Thelma Todd, Charley Chase etc. but top writers, directors, cameramen and one of the finest stock company of comedy actors. Roach's salad years were from the early 20s to the mid 30s when he started concentrating on feature films.

First up were the Our Gang silent comedies. I've only seen a few of these over the years and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining they still are. As a die hard fan of the talkie gang comedies I thought I'd be disappointed in these early (1922-8) efforts. They have much of the charm and energy of the talkies. The mainstays of the cast Mary Kornman, Mickey Daniels, Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb and Sunshine Sammy Morrison were all natural young performers and it's a treat to see talkie regulars Mary Ann Jackson,Wheezer Hutchins and Jean Darling pop up in the 1928 entries. Several episodes were either remade or refashioned for the talkie gang.
Uncle Tom's Uncle(1926) with it's play within the short was later used in Spanky. Love My Dog(1927) had the perennial bad guys out to put away the gang's pet pup( remade as The Pooch). The Fourth Alarm(1926) has the gang as junior firefighters and would return as Hook and Ladder. One Wild Ride(1925) with Farina's jalopy careening down hills recalls many of the talkie thrill comedies. High Society(1924) has a common theme-the gang thrown into a swanky adult part and Shivering Spooks(1926) gave us a scare comedy-a theme the gang would frequently revisit along with every comic from Chaplin to the Bowery Boys. Good Cheer(1926), a funny Christmas entry had fun gags with a store Santa Claus and snowballs catching various foils in the kisser!

Some of the gang members came and went but Mickey, Farina, Mary, Joe and Sammy were regulars who continued at Roach as young adults. The silent series was produced and frequently directed by Robert McGowan who guided the series right into the talkie era. Also contibuting were director Anthony Mack and some of the many talented Roach writers and gagmen such as Charley Rogers, Felix Adler, Lloyd French and James Parrott (brother of Charley Chase). In addition the gang was enhanced by the great "adult"Roach stock company including Charlie Hall, Edgar Kennedy, Anita Garvin, James Finlayson,Charley Chase, Baldwin Cooke and even Oliver Hardy who appeared in two silents.

The Our Gang talkies were also well represented. I only watched a few, seeing I have the wonderful complete DVD set put out by Genius Entertainment. These shorts of 1929-37 are the classics so many of us grew up with on Saturday morning TV.
The early shorts featured holdovers Wheezer, Farina, Mary Ann along with favorites such as Stymie, Chubby, Jackie Cooper, Dorothy and of course Spanky!
I have to single out some favorites including Pups is Pups (1930) a charming short combing Wheezer's adventures with his puppies and the gang invading a pet show at a swanky hotel. Who can forget Chubby "primping" his pet pig and society violinist Charlie Hall finding a pet frog at the end of his bow!
Helping Grandma(1931) is another standout combining high melodrama (even by 1931 standards) and classic Roach slapstick as the gang gets revenge on Grandma's evil stepson out to swindle her of her bonds. The gang's attack on meanie William Gillespie is something. This is a great cast of kids including Jackie Cooper, Mary Ann, Dorothy, Chubby and both Farina(growing into a teenager) and the new scene stealer, Stymie Beard.
Birthday Blues(1932)is another standout. Spanky was now aboard as Dickie Moore's kid brother.
The gang makes a giant birthday cake full of prizes to raise money for Dick's birthday present for his mom. A classic scene has the oven huffing and puffing with a bizarre "foghorn" type noise that would pop up again in other Roach comedies. We would be remissed if we failed to mention lovely June Marlowe as Miss Crabtree, the gang's pretty teacher who figured prominently in several classics. Of course, the mid 30s cast of Spanky, Alfafa, Darla, Buckweat and Butch was one of the best groups and made many classic shorts. I love the Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937), a beautifully produced takeoff on Hollywood musicals with Alfafa shunning Spanky's show to sing opera. Spanky becomes a succesful clubowner with Darla and "Cab" Buckwheat the stars of his show. A young Annie Ross makes a cameo singing a swing version of Loch Lomond.

Next up were the talkie shorts of Laurel and Hardy. These 1929-35 films are classics of American film comedy. It was a delight seeing them again. We won't try breaking down the whole series but some personal favorites deserve a mention.
Hog Wild (1930) has some great slapstick as Ollie (with Stan's "help")tries to install a radio aerial atop his house with disatrous results. Ollie winds up clinging to a ladder aboard Stan's car careening thru the streets. Them Thar Hills (1934) and Tit for Tat (1935) have the memorable encounters with Charlie Hall and wife Mae Busch. Them Thar Hills was so succesful, it warranted a sequel. I've always been very fond of Me and My Pal (1933) , a standout short with bridegroom Ollie and bestman Stan getting so involved in a jigsaw puzzle that they forget to atend the wedding. The confrontation with father of the bride James Finlayson and a cop, butler and taxi driver result in a comedic free for all. Not every L & H was a classic, Be Big (1931) spends far too much time on a scenr trying to put Ollie's tight boots on for a loge meeting. The early talkie Berth Marks (1929) has an endless upper berth scene but these misfires are rare. With the great Roach stock company, writers and directors and the breezy melodies of Leroy Shields and Marvin Hatley you can't go wrong.

Three features Pardon Us (1931) , Pack up your Troubles (1932) and The Bohemian Girl (1936) were added following the shorts. Pardon Us, the boy's first feature is a fun prison comedy with the bonus of Ollie's lovely vocal, Lazy Moon accompanied by Stan's great dancing(a throwback to his music hall days). Pack Up is a lively feature staring with WW1 highjinks followed by the boys' misadventures trying to find the granparents of a comrades little girl.
The Bohemian Girl is one of L & H's best costume operettas. Darla Hood from Our Gang plays their adopted daughter. Thelma Todd died during the filming and only one opening scene features her. She was a great beauty and her comic timing enhanced all her Roach work. More on her coming up.

The next group of shorts by Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, The Boy Friends and The Taxi Boys are quite rare and haven't been much on commercial television.
The Harry Langdon series of 1929-30 was a comeback attempt by a comic who just a few years earlier rivolved Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton. Langdon's attempts at running his own productions were his downfall. Roach took a chance on him and the results are interesting if not great. His voice was fine for the talkies and he was still an engaging performer with that "babyface" innocence his trademark.
The Fighting Parson (1930) a comic western has good moments and some of Harry's vaudeville dancing. The lovely Thelma Todd has a small part,she would star in several of Harry's shorts lending her beauty and comic charm. The King (1930) is a cute costume spoof with Harry a lecherous monach with his eyes on queen Thelma and courtesan Dorothy Granger (another comedy pro best known as Leon Erroll's wife in his long running series). Some shorts like The Head Guy (1930) are pretty labored, Harry worked on some of Laurel and Hardy's Roach features as a writer and kept active in shorts at Columbia until his death in 1945. He was a consumate comic who could have gone much farther in the movies.

The Charley Chase shorts have also been woefully forgotten over the years. He was a great talent who also wrote and directed many of his own comedies and those of other Roach stars. Charley went back to Mack Sennett and had much comic experience by the time he got to Roach studios in 1921. His character was a brash but likeable go getter who usually got the girl despite his comic misadventures. He also loved to sing and most of his shorts featured his pleasant tenor voice in a song.
Thelma Todd again added her charm to several Chase comedies. The Pip from Pittsburg(1931) is one of his best with Charley looking his worst for a blind date and then doing his comic best to correct things when his date turns out to be lovely Thelma. His antics on the dance floor trying to change clothes with a buddy are classic.
Two Three Reelers High C's (1930) and Rough Seas (1931) make a nice short feature. The story is set in WW1 and folows Charley's misadventures with his barbershop quartet and French girlfriend (Thelma). Rough Seas has some fun gags as Charley tries to smuggle Thelma aboard ship. Fallen Arches (1933) is a top notch comedy with Charley hitting the road as a budding salesman and getting into some great automobile gags en route. Four Parts (1934) is a clever comedy of errors with Charley's girlfriend (Betty Mack) running into his three identical brothers during the course of a day. Also a standout is the Tarzan take-off Nature in the Wrong (1933) with Charley believing himself a relative of Tarzan complete with comic flashback.
We should mention several standout leading ladies such as Muriel Evans, Joyce Compton and Rosina Lawrence, a charming Roach protege who also played the teacher of Our Gang in the mid 30s.(she and Charley perform a neat song and dance in On the Wrong Trek(1936) also featuring a fun guest spot by Laurel and Hardy.)All the Chase comedies have their moments as did his later series at Columbia.

The Boy Friends series of 1930-32 deserves greater recognition. This fun loving group of colloge age kids was an extention of Our Gang including two alums, Mickey Daniels and Mary Kornman.
Also aboard were Grady Sutton as slow moving Alabam and Dave Sharpe, a great stuntman who always took some amazing falls and tumbles. Dorothy Granger and Gertie Messinger also were regulars and future Our Gang director Gordon Douglas appeared in some of the shorts.
Like Our Gang, the kids got into sticky situations always involving plenty of slapstick and many of the Roach regulars. The famed director George Stevens worked on most of the shorts as writer/director.
Love Fever (1931) is a charming comedy with Thelma Todd hamming it up as an actress rehearsing her scenes and running into each of the boys who try to woo her. She then vamps things up to get them back with their girls. The short is a delight and showcases Thema's beauty and comic abilities. Air Tight (1931) is a classic with the gang starting up a glider club and the misadventures of Alabam as he winds up going for a wild ride in a runaway glider. The sight gags are fantastic with many hair raising gags and standout performances by Sutton and Charlie Hall.
You're Telling Me (1932) is a fun situation comedy with Mickey and Grady driving Gordon's "dad" Billy Gilbert crazy during an extended visit. The series ended shortly thereafter but deserves to be enjoyed again. Thanks to Turner for resurrecting it.

Even rarer is the Taxi Boys series featuring Billy Gilbert and Ben Blue. Leonard Maltin in his exellent book, The Great Movie Shorts forewarned us that this series was one of Roach's weakest. Gilbert and Blue as bumbling taxi drivers are pretty lame and their characters quite obnoxious,however there is great slapstick thanks to director Del Lord. Lord, a former Keystone regular (he was the driver of the Keystone Kops' car) excells in the many auto and steet scenes.
The short What Price Taxi (1932) without Blue and with Clyde Cook and Franklin Pangborn added has some incredible gags involving the Taxi boys and runaway autos careening thru the Hollywood hills. Thundering Taxis has Billy Bevan and Cook as the principles and comedy veterans Bud Jamison and Stanley Blystone both appear as bosses of theTaxi Boys.
Not a classic series but certainly worth a look for some great gags.

The shorts continued with a sampling of the wonderful series of Thelma Todd and her partners, ZaSu Pitts and Patsy Kelly. As we've already seen Thelma was an integral part of the success of the Roach shorts. She worked so well with all the Roach comics (also did several turns with the Marx Bros. and Wheeler & Woolsey). Her female Laurel and Hardy series was a natural for her beauty and comic gifts and both partners were talented cohorts. ZaSu specialized in fluttery ,bewildered characterizations where Patsy was more bombastic. They both played off the poised straight woman Thelma beautifully.
Highlights included Catch as Catch Can (1931) an early short with a boxing theme and a fun finale at the arena involving ZaSu's misadventures with a hat.Asleep in the Feet (1933) is a personal favorite. The girls take jobs as taxi dancers at Billy Gilbert's establishment and run afoul of pushy suitors and stodgy dancehall inspectors. ZaSu's attempts at getting "hot "are a riot and there is an interesting excerpt of Duke Ellington's Jubilee Stomp on the soundtrack. If any jazz or film buffs know how this got into the short please contact me. The Bargain of the Century (1933) is one of the girls' best comedies directed by Charley Chase. The plot involves a quirky cop staying with the girls and Billy Gilbert doing his patented German who's mistaken for a police chief. Lots of Roach slapstick and fun here.
Patsy Kelly took over in late 1933 and the series didn't skip a beat. Backs to Nature(1933) is a predictable but fun entry wth the girls roughing it on a camping trip. This short has a 3 Stooges feel to it and uses tried and true gags. Top Flat (1935) one of Thelma's last shorts is a classic. Patsy thinks Thelma has crashed high society (she's actually working as a maid) and visits her "penthouse" with two rowdy boyfriends. The ensuing chaos when Thelma's employers arrive is classic. A slapstick highlight are the "water bombs" the boys throw off the penthouse balcony and the expected results on passerbys.

Thelma's untimely death in December of 1935 put a sad end to the series (it remains one of Hollywood's great mystery deaths). Roach was obliged to put out three more shorts, first he teamed Patsy with Pert Kelton in Pan Handlers (1936). Miss Kelton was a fine comic but was forced to play staight lady. The last two 1936 shorts paired Patsy with Broadway entertainer/comic Lyda Roberti.This partnership had potential, Lyda played a naive but engaging foil for brassy Patsy and she could sing and dance well. Their first short At Sea Ashore was a good into as Patsy attempts to met Lyda at the immigration dept. of the harbor with comic results. Lyda gets to sing and dance, backed up by the Avalon Boys (including Chill Wills). The final short Hill Tillies was another roughing it comedy but more on the staid side. The film does have a rare appearance by sports great Jim Thorpe as an Indian (what else!). The girls appeared in one more film, the feature Nobody's Baby (1937) a fun musical comedy also featuring Rosina Lawrence and the Avalon Boys again. It showed how much potential the girls had but alas, Lyda also died young in 1938.

The finale of the Roach festival featured various features along with some tried and true favorites. Three Laurel and Hardy favorites, Way Out West(1937), Sons of the Desert(1934) and Bonnie Scotland(1935) were fun to revisit. I haven't seen Bonnie Scotland in a long time and it holds up as an exellent addition to their costume/military comedies a la Beau Hunks and Flying Deuces. It was nice to see Zenobia (1939) again, a curio made during a Laurel contract dispute with Hardy going solo in a genial Southern themed comedy. Although Ollie shares scenes with Harry Langdon, they were not a team in this film although Langdon has a nice character role as the old circus man. Another comedy of the Old South is General Spanky (1936), the only Our Gang feature and a showcase for Spanky and Buckwheat with Alfafa, Porky and the gang in support. Darla was absent, probably filming Bohemian Girl with L & H. The lovely Rosina Lawrence was also cast as a friend of the gang.Miss Lawrence was also featured in Pick a Star (1937), an all star production involving a young starlet's adventures in Hollywood including Lyda Roberti, Patsy Kelly, James Finlayson, Jack Haley and many of the Roach regulars including Laurel and Hardy in two funny cameos.

The other features were some of Roach's mainstream fare such as Topper, There goes my Heart, Merrily we Live and Captain Fury. A curio was the film Broadway Limited, a Victor McLaglen comedy that featured Thelma Todd's partners ZaSu Pitts and Patsy Kelly teamed in some scenes. We should also mention the wonderful music of the Hal Roach comedies. These delightful "Hot Dance Band" sounds were a staple of the early films and enhanced the enjoyment of the comedies. Even casual listeners know them as the "Our Gang" music.
Most of the stock music was composed by LeRoy Sheild who joined Roach in 1930. Marvin Hatley was the Roach music director from 1930-9 and composed his own share of short and feature scores. He also added some mid 30s music to some of the early shorts that didn't have a score. The Beau Hunks Orchestra of Holland have used much of the Sheild/ Hatley material for their repertoire and have lovingly recreated the scores for full orchestra on CD and in concert.

What a treasure we have in Turner Classic Movies. Where else can you enjoy festivals aimed at Comedy Buffs along with Classic Cinema, Great Musical and Shorts and Guilty Pleasures such as The Bowery Boys, Andy Hardy, Joe McDoakes and Brown and Carney!
Long May they Wave!

Hal Roach continued producing and directing films into the Television age and lived to the ripe age of 100, passing on in 1992.
He left a huge and enjoyable legacy of some of America's greatest Film Comedy. So far not much of the Roach product is available on DVD. Even Laurel and Hardy have seen scant attention. There is a huge box set available from England. (in a different form of playback).
That makes Turner's contributions all the more valuable.

Till our next post-Keep Laughing!

The Trumpet of Tommy Dorsey

2010-12-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

Tommy Dorsey's standing as a trombonist and bandleader is known to any fan of jazz and big band music. His work as a trumpet player, mainly in the late 20s isn't too widely known and is an amazing surprise to fans of his trombone work.
Both Tommy and brother Jimmy were taught trumpet first by their father Thomas Sr., a music teacher and concert bandsman. They eventually concentrated on trombone and reeds respectively.
Jimmy, himself played a fair horn and recorded a few times, his sound had a Bix Beiderbecke influence to it(Jimmy and Tommy worked and recorded with Bix frequently).
Tommy's trumpet sound came from the hot, driving influence of Louis Armstrong. Both Louis and Bix influenced countless musicians of the 20s.

Tommy gave us lots of fine jazz trombone recordings in the 20s, especially in the company of Bix, Phil Napolean, Paul Whiteman and his own bands co-led with Jimmy. As a trombonist one can hear the influence of Miff Mole and Bill Rank, two of the era's finest players. Right from the beginning Tommy had that beautiful, pure sound and remarkable control. That's why it's so unusual to hear his reckless, hell- bent- for leather trumpeting.

The first recorded example of Tommy's trumpet comes on a Paul Whiteman recording of Aug. 1927, It Won't be Long Now. Both Tommy and Jimmy were recent additions to the Whiteman Orchestra (Bix and Frank Trumbauer would join up in late Oct.).
On this DeSylva-Brown-Henderson pop tune, Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys and Jimmy are also heard. Tommy takes an opening spot on trombone then returns for some brief but effective trumpet spots with straight mute. The Louis influence is there and Tommy delivers a hot coda to the recording. If one didn't know that it was Tommy, the solo could have been taken for any fine hot jazzman of the era.

On the many Okeh Dorsey Bros. recordings of the late 20s, Tommy occasionly took a trumpet solo. One of his best is on My Melancholy Baby (4/24/28) . Tommy belts out a Loui-ish verse and takes a solo reprieve later in the tune. His solo on Forgetting You has also been singled out as a stellar hot chorus.
Tommy recorded two sessions for Okeh featuring his trumpet with rhythm accompaniment. The first on 11/10/28 featured Artie Schutt on harmonium, Jim Williams,bass, Eddie Lang,guitar and Stan King on drums. It's Right here for You and Tiger Rag showcase his hot,slashing horn much under the Armstrong spell. The verse to It's Right Here is played pretty and Tommy gets in a hot double time passage. The session of 4/23/29 billed as Tom Dorsey and his Novelty Orch. have Lang, King and pianist Frank Signorelli. You Can't Cheat a Cheater and Daddy Change your Mind contain more standout Dorsey horn.

Another exellent example of Tommy's trumpet work is on the Cotton Pickers session of 3/27/29 and 5/16/29. This was a Brunswick studio group usually made up of members of Phil Napolean's Memphis Five. Along with Tommy and Jimmy are Schutt, King, Joe Tarto on bass, Perry Botkin,banjo and Glenn Miller,trombone. The first session features two takes of Rampart St. Blues (one with a vocal). Tommy's lead and short solos are solid and Glenn Miller shows what a fine trombonist he was,with shades of Miff Mole and Bill Rank. St. Louis Gal has a pretty opening solo by Tommy, reminicent of Joe Smith. The doubletime finale allows him a wailing rideout. Kansas City Kitty is also a solid side with fine solos by all hands. Hoagy Carmichael may be one of the vocalists on this session.

The May session has Carl Kress,guitar, Signorelli,piano and the popular vocalist Dick Robertson.
No Parking (a Napolean original) is a lively, stomping instrumental. Tommy shows off some fast fingering a la Red Nichols. Sweet Ida Joy is a pleasant side with Dick's vocal and Tommy playing a sweeter lead horn. An exellent session, not only for Tommy's trumpet but for the underated Miller trombone.

Tommy's hottest trumpet work came on an Eddie Lang date for Okeh on 5/28/29. Along with Tommy on trombone and trumpet were Jimmy, Schutt,Lang,Tarto,King and Leo McConville,an exellent but underated Bix-like cornetist. (all the band members were frequent colleagues of Red Nichols). Freeze and Melt, an early Jimmy McHugh tune has Tommy on trombone only and features fine solos including a rolling,Bix-ish one by McConville. On Bugle Call Rag, Tommy starts out on trombone but switches to trumpet for the outchorus. He lets off a few slashing breaks,then joins McConville for a driving outchorus with some of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings passages uses as a riff. Jimmy is also inspired with some throbbing high notes over the band. The highlight of the session is Hot Heels, a Lang original with minor key solos in the style of Louis' King of the Zulus and Tight Like That. Tommy is really into his Louis bag here with a classic solo building up to some impressive high notes. (the solo also reminds one of the gifted but eccentric trumpeter Jack Purvis). Jimmy also gets in a hot clarinet chorus going up high ,too before the band rides home. Tommy's horn work here shows a hard blowing Armstrong disciple and certainly stands on it's own merits, even if one was unaware of his briliance as a trombonist.
By the way, Tommy's trombone on Freeze is exellent too, with shades of Miff Mole, one of his idols.

An intriguing session that may have Tommy on trumpet is the Blind Willie Dunn Gin Bottle Four date of 4/30/29 for Okeh. Dunn was a pseudonym for Eddie Lang who added the great bluesman Lonnie Johnson on guitar along with J,C, Johnson,piano and a drummer some credit as Hoagy Carmichael (and perhaps vocalist,too). King Oliver has been suggested as cornetist and it sounds like him, but Tommy has also been mentioned as a possibility. The two sides, Jet Black Blues and Blue Blood Blues have fine Johnson guitar and humorous percussion (including some close mike jaw pounding!). I think the cornet is Oliver, but Tommy was certainly capable of playing in this style. Tommy also played trumpet on a Seger Ellis Okeh date of Feb. 1930. He contributes a Louis-ish muted spot to Should I? with a "Dippermouth Blues" quote. Eddie Lang's great rhythm guitar is also a highlight.

Tommy continued to double on trumpet occasionly. He and Jimmy did some trumpet doubling with the Dorsey Bros. band of 1934-5. (the band had just one regular trumpet). Sometimes with his own band, he would like to grab a horn from the trumpet section and get a few kicks with a solo or two. The last recording of Tommy on trumpet is with his Big Band on a pop tune of June 1,1939,Back to Back. Tommy takes a driving straight mute solo up front, sounding a bit like Yank Lawson who was in his trumpet section at the time. It's the last recorded evidence of Tommy's trumpet work.

Tommy's trumpet work, different as night and day from his trombone shows another side of his musical genius, along with his love of Louis Armstrong and hot jazz. Although a capable jazzman on trombone, Tommy got to let his hair down as a trumpeter and explore a rougher, hotter side of his playing. The fact that he was doing this as a bit of a lark gave him that freedom and abandon that he couldn't attain as a trombonist. It's a fascinating aspect of one of our greatest musicians.

Is it gonna Be Long? and Back to Back can be heard on Youtube.
My Melancholy Baby and other early Dorsey Bros. sides are on Vol. 1 of The Old Masters series on the brothers.
The Hot Heels and Willie Dunn session is on the Classics Eddie Lang collection.
The TD trumpet solos are part of Stringing the Blues on Koch Records.
The Cotton Pickers session is on a Timeless Phil Napolean CD.

Christmas with Louis Armstrong

2010-12-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

One of the great tragedies in recording history is that Louis Armstrong never got to make a full Christmas album. Louis embodied all the joys, warmth and sacred beauty of the season.

Pops loved Christmas- one of the most famous stories is his fascination with a Christmas tree that his wife Lucille brought on tour. Louis insisted the tree stay up long after the season was over. I'm sure that Louis played many Christmas requests in person, but none seem to have been recorded. We do have some lovely singles Louis recorded for Decca along with a few other seasonal songs. This post will celebrate these joyous Christmas offerings.

Louis' earliest Christmas recording is the Clarence Williams Blue Five session of Oct. 1925 at Okeh records.He recorded two versions of Santa Claus Blues a tune written by Chicago bandleader Charlie Straight and Gus Kahn. On Oct. 8 the full band backs up vocalist Eva Taylor in a spirited version. Louis is already experimenting with the higher register of the horn and Buster Bailey on soprano is impressive thruout. (he would join Louis' All Stars in 1965). On the 16th Louis accompanied Clarence, Eva and Clarence Todd's vocal in a slow version of the tune with just Williams' piano and Buddy Christian on banjo. Louis' phrasing is typical of the wonderful blues accompaniments he took part in during this period.

We fast forward to September 22,1952 and a studio session at Decca records. Louis is backed by the studio band and arrangements of Gordon Jenkins. Jenkins was an unabashed admirer of Pops and created lovely and inspired commercial charts for Louis. Recorded at the session were the seasonal favorites White Christmas and Winter Wonderland. Louis doesn't play on these selections but his vocals are especially warm and well recorded. The vocal on White Christmas is fairly straight backed by Jenkins' lovely string writing. On Winter Wonderland Louis has a beautiful scat coda and Marty Napolean gives us some one finger piano melody (a Jenkins trademark). Napolean, Arvell Shaw(bass), Cozy Cole(drums) and Bob McCracken(clarinet) were members of Louis' All Stars of the time. (they augment the studio players). A lovely example of Pops'ability to combine simplicity with virtuosity.

The next Christmas session for Pops was on Oct. 22,1953 at Decca again. Backing Louis was the Commanders, a popular swing band led by drummer Ed Grady and here using an all star studio lineup including Billy Butterfield, Lou Mc Garity, Cutty Cutshall, Hymie Schertzer, Al Klink, Bernie Leighton and Carmen Mastren. The band had a brassy sound to it with 3 trumpets and 4 trombones, the charts were by Toots Camarata( he had backed up Louis with Jimmy Dorsey's band in 1936). The Christmas songs recorded were two novelties, 'Zat You,Santa Claus? and Cool Yule (written by Steve Allen).

'Zat You is a fun minor key novelty in the style of Old Man Mose and Skeleton in the Closet.There are some fun sound effects simulating the cold wind and knocking on Louis' cabin. Louis has a lot of fun and the band swings hard Cool Yule swings along in shuffle rhythm and another homage to Santa.There are cute lyrics including Santa taking a lick on a peppermint stick. Louis gets in some trumpet too and wails for a half chorus in great style, his stop time stuff on the bridge is classic Pops.This entire session had great Louis horn and vocals and Camarata's fine charts and a great studio band(that big bone section is very prominent on Yule) put the tunes over in fine style.

The next Christmas recording was back at Decca on Sept. 8, 1955 with a solid studio band arranged and conducted by the great Benny Carter. Louis' regular band (Trummy Young, Barney Bigard, Billy Kyle, Arvell Shaw and Barrett Deems) were also part of the studio band.
The two Christmas selections were Christmas in New Orleans (a novelty written for the session) and a Raymond Scott favorite Christmas Night in Harlem.
New Orleans is a cute novelty with Pops' having fun talking about a Basin St. Santa (the tune is a bit of a Basin St. clone)and barefoot choir, he also gets in a solid trumpet solo. Carter's charts are well crafted and swinging, as is his custom. Harlem (a Jack Teagarden-Johnny Mercer favorite) swings nicely with Louis getting in some great scat and a burnished,swinging horn solo. Trummy and Barney can he heard getting in some licks.
Also recorded at the session was Moments to Remember, a current hit for the Four Lads. It's popped up on some of Louis' Christmas compilations due to it's opening New Year's line. It's a lovely tune and Pops' vocal and horn are backed up by a pretty Carter arrangement.

We have to wait until may 26, 1970 for the next Christmas tune. While recording the Flying Dutchman lp Louis and his Friends, the selection Here's My Heart for Christmas was recorded for use as a single. The tune was written by George Weiss (composer of What a Wonderful World) and gets a tender reading from Louis with nice backing by James Spaulding(flute) and Frank Owens(piano). Oliver Nelson was the arranger/conductor. Louis was recuperating from a fatal illness and does not play trumpet on the session.

Louis' last studio recording was a delightful reading of The Night Before Christmas. Pops recorded the poem in his home studio on Feb. 26,1971. Although his health was still shaky, Louis was back to playing trumpet and in the midst of his last engagement.
Although there's no singing or trumpet, Pops' narrative is delightful and swings in it's own way. His 1938 Decca recordings of Elder Eatmore's Sermons show his talent as a monologist. He gets in some of his own phrases and personal touches. (he dedicates the reading to "all the kids").
The poem was released as a single by Continental Records backed by a version of The Saints from the 1968 BBC TV show issued on Brunswick. This is a lovely and charming coda to Louis' recording career. Some versions of the poem dubbed in some irritating music behind Louis.
There is also a nice version of Pops and the All-Stars playing Auld Lang Syne from a New Years' Eve broadcast of 1954 at the Down Beat in San Francisco. Louis plays the perennial with his beautiful solemn lead, it's nice to have this version. Another seasonal song that gets packaged in Louis' Christmas compilations is his duet with Velma Middleton on Baby, It's Cold Outside. This was a fun routine that wasn't recoded commercially but exists on many live releases.

The 6 Decca sides are available on the Hip-O CD, What a Wonderful Christmas. Along with Louis there are single sides by Louis Jordan, Peggy Lee, Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Eartha Kitt and Dinah Washington. It makes for nice Holiday listening.
The budget Laserlight label offers Christmas through the Years and includes Santa Claus Blues, Baby It's Cold, Nite before Christmas , Zat You and some non-Christmas sides by Louis.
Louis' great Verve duet with Ella Fitzgerald on I've got my Love to Keep me Warm has popped up on Music Choice TV a lot and most of the sides can be heard on Youtube.

Everyday is Christmas when you watch or listen to Louis Armstrong's music.
Happy Holidays from Pete Kelly's Blog.

Louis Armstrong: Thanks a Million/Thankful

2010-11-18T10:06:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving a few days away, this is a perfect time to review two timely classics from Louis Armstrong's golden Decca period.

These wonderful sides of 1935-46 are now available from Mosaic records, I first encountered them on a wonderful Decca lp, Rare Items in the late 60s. At that time the Decca big band sides had been pretty much ignored. The Rare Items lp along with Dan Morgenstern's consumate liner notes helped to bring this prolific period of Pops to the jazz public. When Louis signed with Decca in 1935, he was leading the Luis Russell band and would continue to into the 40s. The band was full of many of Pops' New Orleans pals such as Albert Nicholas, Red Allen, Pops Foster, Paul Barbarin and Russell himself. Other standout players included Charlie Holmes, J.C. Higginbottom, Jimmy Archey and the great Sid Catlett (one of Louis' favorite drummers).

Louis' own playing and singing had reached a maturity combined with his earlier virtuoso side. This combination gave us some of Pops' most sublime sides, but he could still give the listener shivers with his uncanny phrasing and mastery of the trumpet's high register. His singing on ballads revealed that mellow crooning approach he started in the early 30s. These two sides are perfect examples of this type of playing.

Thanks a Million by Arthur Johnston and Gus Kahn comes from a 1935 Dick Powell film of the same name. Also featured were Fred Allen and Paul Whiteman's Orch. including the Teagarden Bros. and Frank Trumbauer.(Whiteman recorded his version for Victor in July '35) The tune was also recorded by Jimmy Rushing and was a favorite of Ruby Braff and Bobby Hackett. Bobby performed it at the 1970 Newport Salute to Satchmo.

Thankful by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin doesn't seem to have come from a film or show. I don't think anyone else has recorded it since Louis. Now on to Pops' beautiful renditions of the tunes.

Thanks a Million (12/18/35) No intro, Louis comes right in with his crisply burnished sound and a lovely exposition of the melody (nobody could caress a melody like Pops). On the second half chorus Louis goes up high but still keeps the serene mood.The band brings Pops into his vocal and sounds a bit ragged, it took the Russell band a while to click with Louis but they eventually became a crack backup band. Louis' tender, crooning vocal is backed by nice Russell piano, Pops throws in a "mama" and Russell modulates into Louis' last half chorus. This ending is full of his majestic, operatic sound with the classic high note ending. Great Stuff!
An alternate take exists and shows subtle variations on Pops' opening chorus. The vocal is still mellow and Russell's piano spots equally nice. When Louis starts his vocal you can hear him clear his throat. The ending is equally impressive. A nice contrast.

Thankful (5/18/36) The band sounds so much better and the intro is solid and clean. Louis' vocal is backed by nice horn figures. This vocal like Thanks a Million is very pretty and well recorded. Pops gets a few low scat figures in, the bridge is very attractive with it's descending line. Pops Foster's bass is also very solid thruout. The band modulates to some very inspired horn by Pops. His burnished tone finds time for some lovely passing figures and he really digs in with some impressive double time figures over band stops on the bridge. The last half chorus has Pops riding over the band with great authority and nicely placed high notes leading to another classic operatic finale. A Beautiful Performance!

We can be so "Thankful" that Louis Armstrong came along to change the course of American Music and give us countless musical gems such as the above selections. They are part of the excellent Mosaic Decca Collection-MD7-243.

Bobby Hackett with Tommy Dorsey's Clambake 7 (1950)

2010-10-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Cornet (and/or trumpet) of Bobby Hackett has been heard in many unique and varied settings over his musical career. Bobby was not only a master jazzmen but one of the greatest lyrical players of all time, who fit perfectly into more commercial and easy listening sessions. (see our earlier post-Bix session 1940).
This date in April of 1950 with Tommy Dorsey is an interesting footnote to his many outstanding jazz sessions.

Tommy had been using the Clambake Seven as a Dixieland alternative to his Big Band.(a la Bob Crosby's Bob Cats) The bulk of the band's sides were made between 1935-9. In the 40s Tommy only used the band on a 1946 date and it was more of a swing session. For this 1950 date, Tommy used an all star group, not players from his current big band. Tommy was nearing the end of his Victor contract and perhaps wanted to have some fun on this date. The results are top notch jazz and some stellar Hackett horn. First a bit about the lineup.

Tommy had solidified himself as one of the country's top bandleaders and he was one of the most brilliant trombonists of the era. He was a capable dixieland player as shown here. (on a future post we'll explore his Hot trumpet work of the 20s).

Bobby , who started out as a guitarist was playing better than ever. His earlier work with Eddie Condon, his own Big Band and Glenn Miller showed a gifted and lyrical improviser who was sometimes handicapped by poor embrochure. By 1950 he had studied his horn more and was playing stronger without losing his lyrical gifts.

Peanuts Hucko, clarinet had paid his dues with the Will Bradley and Charlie Spivak bands and became the star clarinetist with Glenn Miller's Air Force band. His Goodman influenced horn would grace the bands of Eddie Condon, Louis Armstrong and even Lawrence Welk in the early 70s.

Arthur Rollini, brother of Adrian was another big band veteran best known for his mid 30s stint with Benny Goodman. By 1950 he was doing a lot of studio work and his tenor work here, a cross between Eddie Miller and Bud Freeman is a highlight.

Gene Schroeder, piano was another Condon regular and later worked with the Dukes of Dixieland. He was a consumate pro with his own take on the Jess Stacy style of piano.

Jack Lesberg,bass was a solid pro comfortable in classical or jazz settings. He worked frequently with Condon, Hackett and Louis Armstrong. His solid bass workhighlights a strong rhythm section.

Buzzy Drootin from Boston was a solid timekeeper and another Condon favorite who also worked frequently with Bobby and fellow Bostonian Ruby Braff.
Now on to the music.

Way Down Yonder in New Orleans. The old Henry Creamer-Turner Layton classic gets a spirited reading by the Clambakers. A nice arranged intro using the lead notes of the melody and a rolling Hackett break take us into the band chorus. The tenor sax gives the band a sound similar to the Bob Cats and Summa Cum Laude band. Bobby also has some nice breaks on the ensemble. Rollini's tenor solo reminds one of Nick Caizza of the Muggsy Spanier Ragtimers. Bobby's solo is a gem of beautifully cascading phrases perfectly placed. Peanuts follows in his BG mode with the horns riffing behind him. A modulation takes us to the last half chorus reprised by the band with Bobby throwing off some Bix like octave rips and he takes a final break over the coda. A great side.

Original Dixieland One-Step- A classic ODJB composition, the opening ensemble uses the traditional routine with Bobby executing a nice break midway. Peanuts' swinging clarinet splits with Schroeder's tasty piano spot. Bobby's solo is full of melodic runs over the changes leading to Rollini's mellow half-chorus. The band stuts home for the last half with the patented 2 beat ending. (The last chorus band reprieve is the only predictable spot of the session).

Bright Eyes is the surprise tune of the session. It's the title tune of Shirley Temple's first film (written by Richard Whiting and Sidney Clare). The tune was pretty much forgotten in 1950 (Louis Prima recorded it in '34). Taken at a medium dance tempo the band opens with an arranged intro with shades of the In the Mood theme. The first chorus is relaxed with nice horn voicings. Tommy steps out for a chorus of the theme with arranged horn backup. He doesn't play high as usual but stays in the horn's middle register. Peanuts picks up the next chorus for a pretty spot with Bobby taking the second half with his lovely, flowing ideas. The band rides us home with Buzzy getting in a break before the coda. This is a tune that deserves to be heard more.

Tiger Rag- Another ODJB composition gets the Clambake treatment. T.D. slides us into the traditional first chorus with nice breaks for Peanuts. On the second strain Tommy handles the tailgate breaks and handles the Tiger smears on the chorus with Peanuts getting in a break. Boby's lead here is strong and swinging. Gene takes the first solo with his Stacy-like runs with Peanuts picking up for more BG like clarinet. Bobby's in great form with a Cirribiribin -like opening and Rollini finishes up with some Bud Freeman-ish tenor. The band swings the last half, Buzzy takes the tag and Bobby gets in some of his patented riffs on the coda.
The session is a terrific example of dixieland played by top pros and some of Hackett's finest playing in this idiom.

This session has bounced around a lot over the years, never being issued complete. As a kid, I had a Camden EP 45 of Bright Eyes and Dixie One-Step (the flip side had 2 Dorsey big band pops). Way Down Yonder popped up on a Camden lp, The One and Only Tommy Dorsey. In the late 70s, RCA issued a 2 lp Clambake 7 set with Dixie One-Step and Way Down Yonder included. Tiger Rag was only issued on 78. A recent Hep CD from England-Tommy Dorsey, It's Delovely features the late 40s band includes Way Down Yonder and Dixie One-Step. The Classics label has been issuing all the Dorsey Big Band sides and may get to the complete session.

Whatever way you get this session, you'll be in for some great jazz and another important footnote to the prolific recording career of the great Bobby Hackett.

Stooge Stalwarts: Emil Sitka

2010-09-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

This series of posts will celebrate the many contributions of the great supporting actors who worked for the Columbia Shorts Dept. and especially with the Three Stooges. Many of these players were comedy veterans going back to the silent studios of Keystone and Hal Roach; others were relative newcomers who got their chance to shine at Columbia.

One such player was Emil Sitka (1914-98), a talented and versatile actor who graced many Columbia shorts and became one of the Stooges' regulars. Emil's first Stooge short, Half Wits Holiday (1947) was Curly's last and he worked with Shemp, Joe Besser and Joe DeRita and just missed becoming a member of the team in the 1970s. (Moe and Larry, of course, were the constants).The photo shows the "Stooges that almost were"-Moe, Joe DeRita and Emil in 1975.

Emil was adept at a variety of roles. He could play character parts of his own age and then turn around and play mad scientists and old codgers with make-up and wavy white hair. He also had a great elastic voice that put over his various characters.

Emil (of Lithuanian descent) grew up in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania. He came from a catholic backround and got his early acting experience in local passion plays. During the depression he worked his way to Los Angeles where he worked as a laborer. He continued his acting in local theatre productions and got rave reviews for his performances. A talent scout from Columbia saw him in such a production and recommended him to Jules White, head of the Columbia shorts.

Emil's "audition" with White consisted of his reading some lines from a beat up Charley Chase script. Despite the rather unplanned reading Emil scored points with White and in 1946 he debuted in a Vera Vague comedy, Hiss and Yell.

Although best known for his Stooge roles, Emil worked in most of the Columbia comedy series including Hugh Herbert, Andy Clyde, Shemp Howard, Schilling and Lane, Vernon and Quillan and all of the Harry Von Zell comedies. (This series although currently unavailable has gotten high marks by comedy fans.) Emil's comedies with these players weren't available for review, so we'll concentrate on his many superior Stooge shorts.

Emil's first Stooges short, Half Wit's Holiday, gave him the part of Sneffington the butler. He has some fun byplay with the boys and is a key player in the film's climatic pie fight. He's great as he hands a dowager her drink and gets pasted, politely excusing himself.

During the Shemp era (1947-55), Emil really came into his own with many classic roles. Probably his best remembered is as Justice of the Peace, J.M. Benton in Brideless Groom (1947). In the film Moe and Larry try to marry off voice instructor Shemp to collect an inheritance. The only candidate is homely student Fanny Dunklemeir (Dee Green). The boys and Shemp are all set to be married by Emil when a gang of Shemp's previous invitees show up after hearing of Shemp's windfall. A wild brawl ensues with justice Benton on the end of much of the mayhew. The final straw is when Emil gets a bird cage off the head. With his whiny voice, professor glasses and classic line of "hold hands-you lovebirds" Emil almost steals the show from the Stooges (not an easy task).

Another 1947 release , All Gummed Up features the first of Emil's many "old codger' roles. He plays Mr. Flint, owner of the drug store where the boys work. The boys come up with a miracle serum that makes old people young. Flint goes wild when he sees what the drug does to wife Christine McIntyre (first lady of Stoogedom). The ensuing results with Emil trying the same serum are predictably hilarious. Although only in his thirties at the time, Emil's voice and makeup make him a perfect"codger", a role he would repeat many times. (By the way-this film was remade as Bubble Trouble(1953) a common practice at Columbia).

1949 saw Emil in two of his classic roles. Who Done It? is one of the best Shemp comedies. The boys play detectives summoned to the Goodrich estate. Mr. Goodrich (Emil) has dissapeared and his neice and a group of crooks are out to get his money. The film is a classic Stooge "scare" comedy and Emil as "Old Man Goodrich" has some hilarious moments. With his wavy white hair and whiny voice, Emil makes the perfect "old man". His reappearance later in the film as a Corpus is a hoot. Also neat is his regaling to the Stooges of his "torture"-they tied me to a chair and made me listen to singing commercials!
Vagabond Loafers has the boys as plumbers working at a swanky part hostee by the Norfleets (Emil and Symona Boniface-one of the Stooges' favorite dowagers). Art theives Kenneth MacDonald and Christine McIntyre try to steal the Norfleets' Van Brocklin painting only to be foiled by the Stooges. Emil is in the middle of much mayhem by the boys but somehow keeps a straight face thruout. The film is a reworking of A Plumbing We Will Go , a classic Curly short. It was in turn remade as Scheming Schemers(1956) -(see our post "Case of the Fake Shemp). With the many Stooge remakes in the 50s ,Emil was frequently called back to shoot some new scenes and even asked to dye his hair or lose a few pounds to match earlier stock footage. Another 1949 release, Fuelin' Around featured Emil in another "mad scientist " role. He played Prof. Sneed, inventor of a super rocket fuel. Larry is mistaken for him ("that magnificent head of hair") and captured by spies from the State of Anemia. Emil's role is pretty straight but it's always fun to see him in professor/scientist mode.

1950's Three Hams on Rye had Emil in a terrific character part as B.K. Doaks, a very off Broadway producer who employs the Stooges as stagehands and part time actors. His reactions to the boys' antics is classic. When the Stooges seem to ruin the play's finale ,it turns out to be a comedic success and Emil is lauded for his genius as a talent scout!
Scrambled Brains (1951) gave Emil a tried and true bit as a doctor (complete with coke bottle glasses) examining Shemp and hearing a "ma-ma" doll every time he uses his stethescope on Shemp! Hula-La-La (1951-see our earlier post) has Emil as studio boss Mr. Baines who sends the boys to a South Sea island to give the natives dance lessons. He tells the boys not to fall down on the job and gives us the expected pratfall when he misses his chair!

Gents in a Jam (1952) has one of Emil's greatest performances showing his mastery of verbal and physical humor. He plays Shemp's wealthy Uncle Phineas (back to the old man makeup) who has come for a visit. The boys think Uncle Phineas will bail them out of their back rent. Along the way they get caught up with a new neighbor, strongman Rocky Dugan (Mickey Simpson) and his wife. When the wife winds up in an uncompromising situation the slapstick reaches it's nadir! At one point Emil is bumped by all the Stooges, Rocky and for good measure gets Mrs. Dugan's high heel in the kisser! It turns out that the boys' mean landlady is Phineas' old sweetheart and so goes the boys' windfall and their health as Rocky tears out after them! Emil's whiny voice and great physical bumps are highlights of a classic short.

These are some of Emil's standout shorts. He had many small character parts and cameos during the Stooge series. Being a consumate pro he made the best of any part including reporters, butlers, chefs, military men or just friends of the boys. As we mentioned, the constant use of stock footage gave Emil repeat showings in Stooge films along with new sequences in the remakes. Stone Age Romeos(1955) was a clever remake of I'm a Monkey's Uncle (1948) with the boys as cavemen. In the new footage the boys show museum curator B. Bopper (Emil) their footage of "early man". (the scenes from the earlier film). The new scenes are clever and match up nicely with the original.

During his time at Columbia Emil also did freelance work in other films. He pops up in several Bowery Boys films of the 50s, usually in small cameos. Director Ed Bernds and writer Elwood Ullman worked on quite a few of the Bowery Boys films of the period using many Stooge-like situations and gags. In Private Eyes (1953) sequences from the Stooges' Monkey Businessmen (1946) are used. A sanitarium scene with Emil as a wheelchair ridden patient is reworked. Emil's short but sweet spot is a highlight of the film.

When Shemp Howard passed on in 1955, his place was taken by veteran comic Joe Besser. Emil continued with the series in a variety of amusing roles.His meatiest role of the period was in Outer Space Jitters (1957) once again reprising his mad scientist role. As Prof. Jones ,Emil and the boys land on the planet Zunev and contend with the evil Grand Zilch (Gene Roth) , High Mucky Muck (Phil VanZandt) and Goon (a pre- Bonanza Dan Blocker). This is one of the best of the Besser series. (see our separate post on the film).

When the Stooges shorts ended in 1958 , Emil continued working with the boys in features and other projects. Joe DeRita had come aboard as third Stooge. He was a Burlesque veteran who had a short-lived series of his own at Columbia. Emil can be seen in The Three Stooges meet Hercules (1962) in two cameos , in Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963) as a butler and The Outlaws is Coming (1965) in three roles. His biggest role was in 3 Stooges in Orbit (1962) reprising his mad scientist role as Prof. Danforth. Much of the earlier footage was taken from a TV pilot titled 3 Stooges Scrapbook with Emil in the same role. His wide eyed, whiny voiced professor was hilarious as ever and he develops a cartoon technique for the boys.
Speaking of cartoons, in 1965 the Stooges starred in their own cartoon series featuring their own voices and also appearing in 40 live action wrap arounds. These segments usually reprised old tried and true routines and Emil popped up in several as the boys' foil. The last Stooge film, Kook's Tour (1970) featured the boys as retired Stooges enjoying a vacation. Emil appeared via stock footage (from In a Daze) in the film's prologue.

On a personal note, Emil was married to Donna Driscoll from the 1940s to the 60s. He remarried in the 70s to longtime girlfriend Edith Weber who died in 1981. Emil had 4 daughters and 2 sons. Despite his success as an actor, he always worked a daytime job.Besides his work with Columbia and the Stooges he appeared in many feature films and TV shows from the 50s to 1970.

When Larry Fine took a stroke during the filming of Kook's Tour it looked like the Stooges' amazing run had come to an end. However in the early 70s an independant film project wanted the Stooges for a guest spot. With Larry's blessing, Emil was recruited to be the "3rd Stooge". This project quickly fizzled out but in 1975 another independent comedy called Blazing Stewardesses was produced with a role for this new Stooge combination. Emil was to play Larry's brother Harry and Emil spoke of him as being "consientious to the point of rediculousness." Promo pictures were shot of Moe, Joe and "Harry" (see cover shot) but that was as far as things got. Moe soon took ill and eventually passed on.- the Stooges' roles went to the Ritz Bros.(Larry died in Jan.1975 with Moe following him in May). It would have been fun to see Emil as a Stooge with his years of experience with the team and as a comic actor, I'm sure he would have made a great Stooge.

Emil kept busy in his later years, making many appearances at Stooge conventions and on several Stooge TV tributes .In 1986 he wrote the forward to the exellent reference book, The Columbia Comedy Shorts by Ted Okuda and Ed Watz.This book is must reading for fans of the Stooges and Columbia comedies.He also appeared in a 1986 comedy, The XYZ Murders.His last film was The Nutt House in 1992.
In June of 1997 Emil suffered a stroke and passed on in Jan. 1998. On his gravestone read his most famous line- "Hold Hands, You Lovebirds".

Emil's son Saxon has an exellent website at emilsitka.com , another good site is The Fourth Stooge. All of his work with the Stooges is available on the Sony Three Stooges collection (Vol. 5-8). Here's hoping that his non-Stooge Columbia shorts will surface. What I've seen of the other Columbia series are wonderful and deserve to be enjoyed.
We hope this post will bring much overdue appreciation to this comic genius.

Till next time- Keep Stooging!

Forgotten Heroes of the Big Band Era: The Ozzie Nelson Orchestra

2010-08-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

The name Ozzie Nelson is mostly remembered from his long running radio and TV series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and sons David and Ricky.However, Ozzie had a very successful musical career of his own and led a very musical band which could swing with the best of them.
The Nelson band which also featured Ozzie's wife Harriet Hilliard on vocals hit it's stride in the late 30s and early 40s. This post will hope to bring some well-deserved attention to this fine band.

Ozzie was born in Jersey City, N.J. in 1906. He was a star athlete and honor student at Rutgers. He was studying to be a lawyer, but his work as a singer and saxophonist proved to enticing and in the late 2os he formed a dance band. The band's success came quickly. In 1930 it began recording for Brunswick and was the first band to open the Glen Island Casino, where many of the nation's top band's made their reputation.
Harriet Hilliard (1909-94) was an attractive singer and vaudeville performer when Ozzie hired her as vocalist.She also appeared solo in several films including Follow the Fleet (1936). They married in 1935 and Harriet's solo vocals and duets with Ozzie were highlights of their programs. The early Nelson band was a pleasant dance band, but by the mid-30s it had developed a crisp swinging style and boasted some fine soloists. This version of the band will be highlighted in this post.

Two of the stalwarts of the band were saxophonist Charlie Bubeck and trumpeter Bo Ashford. Bubeck(a charter member of the band) played alto but specialized on baritone. He had a huge,full sound (he used a bass sax reed on his baritone) and was a good jazz player. His baritone gave the Nelson band it's trademark. The great Harry Carney admired the playing of Bubeck-high praise from the master of the baritone. Ashford, formerly with Casa Loma joined up around 1934. He played a pleasant Bix-like horn and was heavily featured on the band's swing tunes. The celebrated trombonist Abe Lincoln was with the band from 1934-7 and lent his fine jazz trombone work to the Nelson recordings. Elmer Smithers , also a capable jazzman (who worked with Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby) handled the trombone work after Lincoln's departure.

The band is well represented on record with Brunswick (1930-3 and 34-6), Vocalion (33-4), Bluebird (37-41) and Victor (41). An old Bandstand lp gave a good cross section of the band's swing style.
Two 1935 sides, Swamp Fire and Solioquoy have an earlier band sound (shades of Casa Loma and Isham Jones) with tuba still present. The old stock favorite Swamp Fire swings politely with good solos, Solioquoy is primarily ensemble, but nicely played (this was a Rube Bloom composition, also recorded by Duke Ellington). The 1936-9 period has many fine sides. Streamline Strut has Bubeck's baritone very present and good trombone (Lincoln?). Ashford's trumpet has some Louis-ish effects and there is nice tenor and ensemble work. There's also a bit of Sid Brokow's hot fiddle (he also doubled saxophone).
Two Larry Clinton favorites ,Whoa Babe and Satan takes a Holiday get swinging treatments. On Whoa, Ashford and Lincoln take nice spots and Bubeck's bari gives the band an Edgar Hayes feel (see our earlier post on him). There are nice dynamics on the out chorus. Satan was well covered by other bands (T.Dorsey, Clinton, Hayes) and the Nelson version is a good one. Ashford states the theme and gets a hot solo along with Lincoln and Bubeck way down low on bari.

The Wayne King favorite, Josephine gets a polite but swinging version. Ashford and Smithers split the melody and Ozzie takes a half-talking vocal, ala Ted Lewis. There's more exellent Bubeck and a good rideout. Queen Isabella another favorite of the day shows the band's light but swinging sound. The opening ensemble has a neat voicing of solo trumpet and reeds. Ashford is polite but gets in some nice rolling licks ( ala Nichols or Secrest) , there's good trombone by Smithers(an underated player) and Bubeck plays off the band not unlike Harry Carney with Duke. The Sheik of Araby has opening melody by bari and an arranged dixie passage. Ashford gets a couple of good Bixish rips and Smithers follows. The outchorus has a nice passage of reed melody with Loui-ish brass backing them. One of the band's best sides. Maple Leaf Rag is played at a nice medium tempo with short solo spots for Bubeck and Ashford and a standout ensemble rideout. Stompin' at the Stadium (1938), also rcorded by T.Dorsey and Bob Crosby is a nice instumental with Asford in his Nichols bag, Smithers and an especially good Bubeck spot.

There are some nice vocal features by Ozzie and Harriet from this period. Says my Heart was a popular Nelson side of the time with a pleasant Harriet vocal and nice solo spots for Bubeck and Ashford. That Sly Old Gentleman shows off the band's sweet side with a nice Harriet vocal and pretty trumpet-A good dance side. Jerome Kern's The Folks who Live on the Hill makes a charming duet for Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie was good on rhythm novelties, sounding a bit like Dick Robertson. Yes Suh! has some good Ozzie vocalizing answered by the band along with two hot Ashford spots,Smithers and our boy Bubeck on the rideout. I'm Breaking my Back (Putting up a Front for You) is another cute Ozzie/Harriet duet. When Harriet was on maternity leave, Rose Ann Stevens deputised. She and Ozzie have fun with The Man who Comes Around, supported by a band vocal and some cornball comedy. The best novelty however also takes the cake for title - I'm Looking for a Guy who plays Alto and Baritone(Doubles on Clarinet and Wears a Size 38 Suit). In this Lament, Ozzie gives us the perennial problem of a Bandleader in need of a sideman and Rose Ann gives the Female view in romantic pursuit of said sideman.

The swinging Nelson band of 1940-2 is nicely showcased on an old Hindsight lp.The cuts are fairly short, made for radio play. Here are some highlights. This band is larger and hits harder than the earlier unit. Most of the tracks are pure swing, but there are still some pleasant dance and vocal specialties. Ashford and Bubeck are still heavily featured, but there are some new soloists including two tenor men, one similar to Eddie Miller and the other more rough-hewn. There are some growl trumpet spots played by another trumpeter(not Ashford).
Jersey Bounce shows the brassier and more dynamic Nelson band. Charlie Bubeck's baritone is still very present. Moonlight Cocktail and Autumn Serenade, two popular dance hits show off the band's mellow sound with an Eddie Miller-like tenor on Moonlight and on Autumn, nice spots by alto,tenor and Don Ferris' piano. There is also a nice brass soli.
Harriet sings a pleasant vocal on Everyone But Me with nice clarinets and bones behind the vocal. Another swing favorite Idaho gets a nice swing with a Charlie Barnet styled tenor and a solid trombone soli. Somebody Else is Taking my Place is taken at a solid medium tempo with clean swinging saxes. Ozzie gives us a pleasant vocal followed by a trombone soli, Asford's horn and Bubeck on the rideout. Sir Walter's Serenade (also recorded commercially) is an easy swing riff a la Tuxedo Junction or Miller's Spirit is Willing. Ashford's trumpet is in a pleasant Red Nichols groove and there is a good growl trumpet spot. The low reeds led by Bubeck highlight the rideout.

I Don't want to Set the World on Fire was a big 1941 hit for Tommy Tucker. The Nelson version is on the sweet side with Wayne King style alto and an Ozzie/Harriet duet. Strictly Instrumental is a cover of a Lunceford/H. James hit. with more swinging tenor and a nice trumpet spot(not Ashford). Breathless ( also rec. by Shep Fields) is a cute novelty with Ozzie and Harriet sharing the tongue twisting lyric and some fun byplay with Charlie Bubeck. Jersey Jive and Central Ave. Shuffle were also recorded commercially. Jersey has a standout solo by Ashford (very melodic), some more Bubeck and nice dynamics on the rideout with good drum kicks. Central Ave. is another simple riff with more of the Eddie Miller tenor , Ashford with more Nichols-like horn, growl trumpet and boogie woogie piano. The Jimmy Dorsey hit, Tangerine gets a nice medium ride with melodic Ashford and more of thar unknown Miller styled tenor man. Broad Jump is a hard hitting riff with a nice trombone spot (Gus Mayhew?) . Cutting Classes has some forceful tenor a la Georgie Auld, a brash trumpet spot, clarinet and good interlay between brass and reeds. The piano spot is Basie influenced. Texas Jump is another Basieish riff (similar changes to Lady Be Good). There's more growl trumpet, Basie piano and a swinging rideout with Bubeck's bari up front. These sides show how much the band had grown musically and can swing with the best of them.

The Nelson band also appeared in several movies including Sweetheart of the Campus (1941), Strictly in the Groove (1942), Honeymoon Lodge (1943) and Take it Big (1944). At the moment, these films are not available for review. An early 40s soundie shows the band playing their version of Somebody Else is Taking my Place. The band swings strongly as they did on the transcription with Ashford and Bubeck very visible. By 1944 Ozzie decided to concentrate on his popular radio series with Harriet and the band was dissolved.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet became a huge hit on radio and transferred to TV in 1952. Sons David and Ricky joined the TV series and Ricky became a popular pop singer of the late 50s and early 60s. Ozzie became an astute businessman. Not only did he produce and direct the TV series, but he produced the hit TV series Our Miss Brooks and guided Ricky in his solo career.
When the series ended in 1966, Ozzie and Harriet guested on other TV shows and did regional theatre. They had a short lived series in 1973 called Ozzie's Girls where the Nelsons rent David and Ricky's rooms to two college girls. Ozzie passed on in 1975 and Harriet in 1994.

For those who only remember Ozzie Nelson as a mild mannered sitcom Dad, the Ozzie Nelson Band will come as a pleasant surprise. It provided top dance music and surprisingly swinging sides to the great Big Band Era. The work of Bo Ashford and Charlie Bubeck also deserve more hearings.

Till next time- Keep Swinging!

The Three Stooges: Merry Mavericks (1951)

2010-08-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Continuing our never ending chronicles of the Three Stooges is an exellent Shemp short, Merry Mavericks (1951). This short was written and directed by Ed Bernds, one of the boys' favorite and most accomplished writer/directors. This short is unusual in that it combines a comedy/western with spook/scare comedy, one of the Stooges' best and surefire gimmicks. As a matter of fact, this film has some of the boys' best Nnnnaahhs-their vocal reaction to spooks and scary goings-on. The boys also made numerous comedy westerns, it was one of their most popular premises.

The first half of the film is a reworking of a Curly short, Phony Express (1943).Some stock footage is used including a WANTED poster of the boys, this time with Shemp's photo in place of Curly's.
We get the bonus of seeing Bank President Victor Travers( a very underated member of the Stooges' stock company ) once again get pasted with Ink from a stray bullet- complete with his great groan. The plot is essentially the same as Phony Express. The boys have been palmed off as 3 tough Marshalls coming to "clean" up the town. They tangle with Red Morgan's gang, meet Clarence Cassidy, a somewhat inept cowboy and spend a night in a spooky house guarding the bank's money.

The supporting cast includes Don Harvey, a B movie/serial veteran as Morgan. Marian Martin(Gladys), a popular female foil with credits at Columbia and with the Marx Bros. She has the "Bad Girl" role, apparently Christine McIntyre was busy. (she exelled in all character roles). Also along for the ride is John Merton as one of Red's boys. He was a perennial heavy in many Stooge shorts of the 30s and 40s. Stooge stalwart Emil Sitka has a too short role as a jailer. Paul Campbell gets the Cassidy role. This part was obviously a take off on Jock Mahoney's Arizona Kid. Campbell looks and speaks quite a bit like Mahoney, it appears to be his only Columbia short. Like Mahoney's Kid, Cassidy comes off tough but never is any help to the Stooges.

The comic sequences mainly take place in the saloon and at the creepy Horton place. Many of the original Phony Express gags are used at Morgan's saloon. It's fun to see Morgan and Co. trying to butter up the Stooges when they think they're tough "marshalls". Shemp gets to show off his fancy dancing with Gladys , followed by the old "cutting in" routine with Moe and Shemp dancing. Also reprised is Moe's spur getting Morgan in the rear. The Morgan gang turns nasty when they find the Stooges old Vagrancy poster. A comic fight ensues with the Stooges winning and Cassidy coming in too late with his mock bravado.

Once things move to the Horton place we get the usual "scare" situations which the Stooges were masters of. Morgan and gang try to scare the boys away with spook masks and cloaks. The "ghost" of the headless Indian chief also comes after the boys. Columbia got a lot of mileage out of those scare outfits. They were used in numerous Stooge shorts and those of Hugh Herbert, Andy Clyde and other Columbia comics.
There are loads of Nnnaahhs as the boys kep running into ghosts and spooks. All the Stooges were masters at these frightened yelps, but Larry uncorks a doozy when running into a cloaked ghost. There's also more Columbia" chicanery" as the boys' screams are constanly heard on the soundtrack even as we see individual Stooges featured.

There are many great verbal gags including Larry's definition of Vagrancy- "You take a flower and it smells good, that's Vagrancy." When Moe tells him it's a hobo or tramp, Shemp adds "we can't beat that rap". When Larry tells Moe he's "apprehensive", Moe asks for it's meaning-Larry's reply is "scared with a college education". Shemp has many great lines. When he tries to wiggle out of the Indian costume his retort is-"Now I know how a frankfurter feels". At the film's wrapup he threatens Gladys with "Get goin' sister or I'll knock your brains out!". When Moe tells him that's no way to treat a lady, Shemp removes his hat and repeats the threat as Moe responds "That's better".

Shemp saves the day when he switches places with the Headless Chief and saves Moe and Larry from Morgan and the gang. His Indian response is Ungawa!, the old all-purpose Tarzan term. Shemp could always be counted on with his own bits of business and "Classic Puss"-A true comedy great.
Cassidy arrives again too late to help but passes out when he sees a trickle of blood on Morgan!
The short closes with the old bit "Moe, what do we do with the girl?- throw her to the dogs" as Shemp and Larry howl and bark to fadeout.

Merry Mavericks is a fast moving and greatly entertaining short made during Shemp's salad years with the team. It is available on Vol. 6 of Sony's Complete 3 Stooges Collection.
Some scenes were filmed with the boys as dentists in a western town and were planned for Merry Mavericks, but used in their next short, The Tooth Will Out.

Till next time, Keep Stooging!

Wingy Manone- Dinner for the Duchess (1940)

2010-07-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Joseph "Wingy" Manone (1900-82) was one of the great characters of traditional jazz. Wingy, a New Orleans native played a rough and ready style of trumpeting and vocalising highly influenced by Louis Armstrong.

Like fellow New Orleans trumpeter Louis Prima, he included humor and entertainment as part of his jazz presentations. Wingy lost his right arm in an accident while still a youngster. He learned to play trumpet with a prothesis arm that didn't detract from his proficiency. Wingy learned his trade with many territiry bands of the 20s and 30s. By 1934, he had started a long and succesful series of small band recordings that were in the style and feel of those of Red Allen, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton .where rotating jazz greats supported Wingy's horn and vocals on jazz standards and pop tunes of the day.

The early Manone sessions were issued on various labels such as Banner, Vocalion and Columbia. By 1936, Wingy's sessions were recorded for the Bluebird label. The session of August 6, 1940 recorded in Hollywood has an interesting mixture of tunes and personnel.
Wingy was working on the film Rhythm on the River with Bing Crosby. (he was a frequent guest on Bing's radio shows).He had a good role as musician/sidekick to Bing. His band in the film also featured Bing's old Rhythm Boys partner, Harry Barris. Two of the tunes from the movie were recorded at this session which had Wingy backed up by some fine Hollywood studio men.

The band featured Bill Covey on clarinet, he had worked with Gus Arnheim and Spud Murphy.
Babe Bowman on trombone was primarily a studio man(he was on Artie Shaw's Frenesi session).
Pianist Stan Wrightsman would become a much indemand player for trad and swing dates around Los Angeles. He had already recorded with Santo Pecora, Spike Jones, Shaw (the Frenesi session) and was with Seger Ellis' band for a time. The other men, Bill Jones (bass), Dick Cornell (drums) and Russell Soule (guitar) were all studio players.

Rhythm on the River and Ain't it a Shame about Mame were from the film written by Johnnie Burke and Jim Monaco. In the film River gets a great treatment by Bing backed by Wingy's band. In the scene, Bing is bailing out the Manone band's instruments at a hock shop. Bing shows off some fancy work with drumsticks. (he started his musical career as a drummer).
Wingy's version starts with a Loui-ish intro over sustained chords into the ensemble with a crisp lead by Wingy. Cornell gets off nice rim shots and cymbal splashes thruout. Stan leads into Wingy's happy vocal. Covey gets a nice tangy clarinet spot followed by an arranged riff chorus and the descending riff used in the movie as a coda.

Mame, sung in the film by Mary Martin with the Manone band is an interesting major to minor pop tune with a rhumba passage as a bridge. The opening ensemble is again crisp, Wingy always played solid, swinging leads. Stan brings in Wingy's vocal. He does a nice job navigating the tricky melody. Covey gives us more solid clarinet followed by a band reprieve of the rhumba. The rideout has solid Wingy with a Louis-ish coda followed by a vocal coda with nice guitar chording.
A lovely side!

Dinner for the Duchess(Dale-Kaye) is the highlight of the session. The opening and closing has Wingy playing a catchy horn riff. He tells one of the boys that" he's blowin' for the Duchess."
The band plays a neat arranged blues riff leading into Wingy's vocal full of referances to food and jazz that please the "Duchess". The solos have Wingy's great comments (like Fats Waller, he a master at this). Covey has another reedy, driving solo. (this man played fine clarinet). Bowman gets off a nice percussive solo with some Jack Jenney touches. Stan's piano is very Bob Zurke-ish and gets a choice mention from Wingy. The swinging out chorus features some of Wingy's Up the Country licks( a favorite blues) and back to the trumpet coda. A minor classic!

When I Get You Alone (McCarthy-Goodwin-Fisher) is a simple but pleasant pop. It has a folk or cowboy feel to it. (not unlike some of vocalist Dick Robertson's Decca sides). After a band chorus Wingy gives us a fun vocal assisted by bassist Jones. (we assume so because the bass is silent during the comments). Covey and Bowman split a chorus (nice lip trills on trombone) and Stan has a nice stride solo a la Zurke. Wingy leads the band home with a nice repeated riff (shades of Dippermouth Blues).

This session is just one of many great Manone small band treats of 1934-41. Wingy continued recording thruout the 40s and 50s. He made albums for Decca, Roulette and Imperial and worked frequently in LasVegas. He made an appearance at the Newport Fest of 1966 (recorded by RCA) and toured Europe with Papa Bue's fine Danish band in the 60s. One of his last filmed appearances shows him with Toronto's Climax Jazz Band in 1976. (this has been on YouTube). Wingy is still full of fun and bows some nice horn passages. He left us in 1982.

The August 1940 session is available on Classics 1091 (Wingy 1940-44).
Till next time, keep Swinging and Winging!

Forgotten Heroes of the Big Band Era: The early Vaughn Monroe Orchestra

2010-06-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Vaughn Monroe(1911-73) was one of the most prominent personalities of the Big Band era. With his good looks and booming baritone, he made quite an impression. However, his band never got the credit it deserved, especially the early edition of 1940-2 , the subject of this post. First, some backround on Mr. Monroe.

Vaughn was born in Akron, Ohio but raised in Cudahy, Wisconsin. He became a proficient trumpeter and despite ambitions for an operatic career, concentrated on dance band work as trumpeter and vocalist. He broke in with the Austin Wylie Orchestra in the early 30s followed by the Larry Funk band with whom he made his first recordings in 1934. In the late 30s Vaughn worked with the Boston band of Jack Marshard, also a succesful booker. Marshard realized that Vaughn had the potential to be a top-flight leader and helped him put together his first band in 1940. Also in 1940, Vaughn married his high school sweetheart, Marian Baughman. They had two daughters, Candace and Christina.

The early Monroe band spent a lot of time in the New England area and boasted many fine players from that area. Key men were Bobby Nichols (trumpet), only 18 at the time but already a mature jazz player. Trombonists Joe Connie(an uncle of baseball great Tony Conigliaro) and Art Dedrick (a succesful stock arranger). In the sax section were Andy Bagni, an exellent lead alto, Frank Levinea good hot tenor in the Tex Beneke style and Ziggy Talent (tenor) who became a top attraction with the band with his comedy and novelty vocals. Another saxist, Johnny Turnbull also sang with the band. Pianist Arnold Ross was a fine jazz soloist and arranger who later made a name for himself. The female vocalist, Marilyn Duke a tall attractive brunnete, was a superb singer with a nice jazz flair reminicent of Mildred Bailey and Lee Wiley. Much of the early Monroe book was arranged by Johnny Watson, who had given the Jan Savitt Band much of it's succesful The Monroe band spent most of it's break-in time of 1940 in the New England area. During 1941 it began playing more national venues and gaing popularity. The band's 1940-2 Bluebird recordings have many fine moments. Here are some highlights.

On August 19, 1940 Vaughn recorded There I Go, one of his earliest vocal hits. This was a nice dance chart with a pretty alto spot by Andy Bagni. At the same session the old Allan Jones showpiece Donkey Serenade got the Monroe treatment. (Artie Shaw also had a great record of it). Vaughn's vocal is straight , without being melodramatic and the band swings nicely. Drummer Hy Levinson gets in some nice tom-tom licks. A good introduction to the swinging side of Vaughn Monroe.

On Dec.9,1940 Jerome Kern's classic, The Last Time I Saw Paris was waxed. This is an exellent chart with nice woodwinds on the intro and crisp muted brass on the theme. Vaughn gets in another pleasant vocal. (he would later get more boomy and dramatic). The band picks up the vocal with a swinging rideout and nice Levine tenor spot on the bridge.

The session of Jan. 13, 1941 saw three exellent swing sides cut. The old favorite Dardanella is given a pleasant swing treatment by Watson. A tasty alto spot opens and closes the side. Along the way we get Miller-like reeds and a Berigan-ish trumpet spot by young Nichols. Vaughn joined the trumpet section on a lot of these early sides. Take it, Jackson , a Watson original became one of Vaughn's most durable instumentals. A simple riff is offset by band vocal chant with solos by Nichols(in a Harry James bag), Levine and pianist Saul Skersey.Another oldie, There'll Be Some Changes Made is a delightful chart with an opening dixieland chorus leading to one of Marilyn Duke'svocals. She had a nice jazz feel and gives us some Lee Wiley-ish vocal glisses. (nice sax figures and piano under her). Bobby Nichols takes over for a hot half-chorus before Miss Duke reprises her vocal. A Wonderful Side!

On February 17, 1941 Vaughn recorded his famous theme, Racing with the Moon. He would re-record it many times thru the years. Also waxed was a cute duet by Vaughn and Marilyn, Requestfully Yours. The intro has shades of Jimmie Lunceford. (many of the early sidesare on a Lunceford kick). This is a good swinger with crisp band work and solo spots by Levine and Nichols. Miss Duke is especially solid on this track. She was a very underated singer. A solid riff instrumental Clam Chowder was also cut that day. (many of the Monroe titles had New England referances). G'Bye Now (3/31/41) is a medium swinger with another pleasant Duke vocal and Nichols trumpet. The Jimmy Dorsey hit Yours was covered on April 21. Vaughn later recorded a solo vocal but here it's Miss Duke's number. We get a differant verse and some nice trombones on a pleasant dance chart.

Arnold Ross had joined the band in the spring of 1941 and his piano and aranging talent would be a great addition to the band. On June 30, 1941 the band cut Love Me a Little (a pleasant tune also recorded by Artie Shaw with Lena Horne). Another Lunceford-ish intro brings on muted brass and reds for the theme. Another nice Duke vocal is folowed by a band rideout. Also cut that day was one of Ziggy Talent's best novelties Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long. When he relaxed he sounded a lot like Tony Pastor. He tended to overdo the comedy and freak notes. (he had a very elastic vocal range). Ziggy's just fine here with solid band backup and nice fills by Ross. One-Two-Three O'Lairy (8/15/41), another novelty has a cute Vaughn-Marilyn duet. (Vaughn wasn't a jazz singer ,but sounded fine when not going for the operatic sound). There are more Lunceford touches of staccato brass, Ross' piano and Nichols. Doodle-La-Do-Da is another novelty but shows the band at it's swinging best! The band chants the nonsense vocal with a nice bridge by Marilyn (in her Lee Wiley mode). We also get a chase by Bagni and Levine and solid brass figures. Ross gets in a neat piano spot and there are good drum breaks for swing veteran Harry Jaeger before the band gives us a swinging rideout.

On October 17, 1941 the band cut Tune Town Shuffle (also recorded by Count Basie). The intro is similar to Lunceford's Blue Heaven and the simple riff is played by the saxes with brass on the release. Levine is in his Tex/ Georgie Auld bag and Ross gets in a tasty solo. A baritone sax can be heard in the section. Tica-Ti(11/24/41) is a novelty in the style of TiPi Tin with a cute Duke vocal with band comments and a swinging ensemble. Pretty Little Busybody (12/18/41) is a pleasant medium tempo chart with a vocal duet by Marilyn and bassist Jack Fay. The saxes are especially good here.

1942 brought the band even more popularity and the band sounded better than ever. The January 15 session gave us Honey Dear an exellent side with more of the Lunceford influence. Bobby Nichols' trumpet spot is very Berigan-like and Miss Duke's vocal is solid with nice jazz glisses (Ross' piano fills are also tasty). Levine also has a good tenor spot.
Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry was a big hit for Helen O'Connell with JImmy Dorsey. The Monroe version features Ziggy Talent at his best. He sounds like a cross between Pastor and Prima and the band swings nicely thru several tempo changes. Ziggy hits one of his frak notes at the end. He could be a bit over the top. Check out his I Can't Dance from the 1944 film Meet the People. It opens the film and is pretty manic. (like Jerry Lewis with too much caffein). On February 24, the band cut one of their most popular instrumentals, Commodore Clipper (named in honor of the Commodore Hotel where the band was appearing). The Monroe-Watson original is based on the Lady Be Good changes and features nice muted Nichols, Levine a la Tex and Ross. Vaughn would revive this number several times.

In early 1942, Ray Conniff brought his trombone and arranging talents to the band. His Coming Out Party (3/11/42) is a solid riff with more of the Lunceford sound and good bones and saxes. There is an interlude similar to Sy Oliver's in Swanee River and high trumpets and tom-toms backed by the full band. Ross contributes a fine solo and the bones take the coda. All I Need is You (4/7/42) is a pretty dance chart with a lovely Duke vocal. The trombone intro and coda (a la Jack Jenney)quote a popular Monroe tune, I Ask the Stars. Vaughn also began doubling on trombone during this time.

Also worth mentioning are several titles taken from broadcasts. Harvard Square (another New England based riff) is similar to For Dancers Only and has a band vocal chant. The brass have solid staccatto phrases ( a favorite Lunceford device) and Ross and Levine get in solo spots. There's a nice drum brak before the theme reprise. The old Earle Hagen alto specialty ,Harlem Nocturne gets a great reading by Bagni who had become a top leadman. Boston Rocker is another swinging instumental. The theme sounds a bit like Hot Lips or Four or Five Times. There is nice muted brass, spots by Levine, Ross and a trumpeter (probably not Nichols). Ross' piano is very tasty in a Nat Cole style and the band has a solid rideout.

As Vaughn's vocals became more popular, the band 's specialties became less and less. Vaughn loved to feature instrumentals but the vocals would really put him over. The band carried on thru the 40s, adding a string section. Finally in 1953, Vaughn broke up the band, although he would still reform it for special occasions. The early Monroe band recieved so-so reviews. George Simon of Metronome was impressed with Vaughn, Duke, Talent and some of the soloists but felt the band was no more than a territorial favorite. Down Beat was more receptive and had many favorable reviews and print ads of the band. The 1940-2 Bluebird and Victor sides show a nicely swinging band with fine soloists and a greatly underated singer in Miss Duke. This band deserves a bigger chapter in the annals of Big Band history.

Vaughn dabbled in many aspects of entertainment in the 50s including acting in a couple of westerns and three TV series. His show of 1950-1 also had old buddy Ziggy Talent. Another variety show followed in 1954-5 and Air Time '57 featured Vaughn and Bobby Hackett's combo. He really hit it big as a spokesman for RCA Products in the 50s. He also had an interest in a Framingham,Mass. club, The Meadows (he occasionally appeared there).
In 1958, Vaughn made an exellent lp for RCA, There I Sing/Swing it Again in which he reprised many of his hits with a top-flight studio band. Arrangements were by Irv Kostal and Bill Stegmeyer. (we caught Billy Butterfield's horn on several tracks. )There are four instrumentals, Take it, Jackson, Commodore Clipper, Cape Cod Clambake(by Stegmeyer) and a new Boston Rocker by Kostal. The band is topnotch, I think it's the same house band that recorded under the leadership of Butterfield, Urbie Green and Peanuts Hucko.

Vaughn also appeared with a studio band on the 1960 TV special, The Swinging Singing Years and on a 1965 syndicated series, The Big Bands. On this show he did his hits plus instrumentals of Take it, Jackson and Cape Cod Clambake. Vaughn even joined the band occasionally on valve-trombone. He also led bands at Disneyland on ocasion. Vaughn's marvelous musical career ended with his death in May of 1973.

Although known as a vocalist and dynamic personality, Vaughn made a big contibution to those swinging years with his first band of 1940-2. The Old Moon Racer could really Swing!

CDs etc. There was an excellent import of the early band called Requestfully Yours. You could try Ebay or World's Records. The 1958 lp is available on Collector's Choice CDs and some of the instrumental sides have popped up on Best Of LPs. The Franklin Mint lp series on Big Bands had a side of early Monroe that is worth searching for.
The 1960 and 1965 TV shows were available on VHS. They may have made the transfer To DVD (try a search). Meet the People shows up on Turner Movie Classics occasionly.

Lee Castle: Trumpet King of the Castle

2010-05-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Big Band era produced many outstanding instrumental and jazz soloists. Many of the star sidemen became household names, themselves and many went on to be succesful bandleaders in their own right.

Such was the case with trumpeter Lee Castle (1915-90). Lee was an outstanding trumpeter comfortable in swing and dixieland settings and heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong. (what trumpeter of the era wasn't?) He worked for most of the major Big Band leaders (Shaw, Dorsey, Goodman, Miller, etc.) and is best known for his long stint as leader of the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. Lee was also a fine jazzman with a pure tone and driving approach to jazz. He knew his Louis and even wrote an exellent transcription of Louis' solos. This post will celebrate his illustrious career and landmark recordings.

Lee Aniello Castaldo was born in the Bronx and was inspired to study trumpet after hearing a Louis Armstrong record. Sound familiar? His brother, Charlie, also became a professional trombonist. By his teens he was working with local bands, the earlist being Paul Tremaine and Paul Bartell. In July of 1936 Lee made his first recordings with the Joe Haymes Orchestra. Haymes was an outstanding arranger and this band was made up of young, promising swing stars. On Haymes' adventurous chart of St. Louis Blues, Lee takes a nice middle register solo with a quote from Louis' Savoy Blues (the Pops influence was already present). On That's a Plenty, Lee takes a solid chorus and leads the dixieland ensemble. These short solos show an already mature jazz trumpeter.

After a short stint with saxophonist Dick Stabile, Lee joined Artie Shaw's band in the summer of 1936. This first edition of the Shaw band featured 2 trumpets, trombone, Artie's clarinet, Tony Pastor on tenor and a string quartet. It was a very musical band but didn't take off. Lee can be heard playing lead on Sugar Foot Stomp and Sobbin' Blues along with a nice open horn spot on Let's Call a Heart a Heart. Lee stayed with Shaw until July, 1937 then went with Red Norvo for a few months (no recordings).

In September of 1937, Lee began his long association with Tommy Dorsey.He would be with Dorsey on and off until early 1939 (and back for a short stint from Dec. 1939- Feb. 1940). He even spent a few months at the Dorsey farm in Pennsylvania studying with Tommy's dad, a respected brass teacher. Lee played mostly section work with Dorsey (Pee Wee Erwin and Yank Lawson were the primary jazz soloists during his stint) , although he took a respectable jazz chorus Dorsey's recording of I Never Knew in 1938. After a brief stint with Glenn Miller in early '39 (no recordings but some broadcasts may exist) , Lee joined Jack Teagarden's new swing band from April to December of 1939.

Jack had just finished a five year contract with Paul Whiteman and was eager to join the ranks of swing band leaders. Jack's big band never caught on with the public but this early edition was the finest Teagarden band. Trumpeter Charlie Spivak was a partner in the band and played lead. Lee handled the jazz solos ( young trumpeter Karl Garvin also played a few). Lee's Louis/Berigan like horn can be heard on Red Wing (a Bob Crosby styled chart), Wolverine Blues ,Beale St. Blues and Muddy River Blues to name a few. While with Jack, Lee took part in a memorable recording session that showcased his jazz abilities.

On June 26, 1939 Lee sat in with organist Glenn Hardman's Hammond Five. Hardman was a popular organist whose attempts at jazz are a bit muddy, however he brought along some of Count Basie's best men. Lester Young played tenor and added his lovely clarinet work along with rhythm men Freddie Green on guitar and Jo Jones on drums. Lee was a last minute replacement for Buck Clayton who had a strange mishap during a tryst with a married lady!
Whoever thought of Lee is not known, but he acquits himself admirarily and gives us inspired lead work and solos.
On China Boy, Lee's straight mute lead is strong and he gets in a fleet solo. The band does a walk-off retard for nice effect. Exactly like You has nice cup mute lead by Lee and a strong out chorus. Sunny Side of the Street has more Louis-ish open lead. Upright Organ Blues (how they got that one by the recording execs is amazing!) has a great 2 chorus spot by Lee with some Louis phrases right out of the Hot 5 and a classic rideout. Who has more cup mute and some nice playing with the time(another Louis device) plus a hot rideout. The old Bix classic, Jazz Me Blues gets a Scottish intro by Hardman and pretty lead by Lee, on the 2nd chorus he gets in some neat breaks. Hardman closes with a Turkey-in-the Straw quote. Lester of course is a tower of strength on tenor and his wispy, poetic clarinet is a delight. A very musical and fun session.

Lee was back with Tommy Dorsey briefly from Dec. '39- Feb. 1940, then he made the first of several trys with his own big band. Lee's fine playing, good looks and excellent musicianship made him a fine leader, but his bands of the 40s never caught on despite good reviews. (probably too much competition from Louis, Harry James, Charlie Spivak and Randy Brooks). In early 1941 he joined the excellent band of Will Bradley (co-led with Ray McKinley). Lee didn't get too many recorded solos but is very prominent on a dixieland combo called the 6 Texas Hot Dogs playing Basin St. Boogie. (Will and clarinetist Mahlon Clark are also featured). Lee gets in a gutty muted solo with quotes from Louis' Mahogany Hall Stomp. Lee also has a short solo on the full band version of When You and I were Young,Maggie.

In the summer of 1941, Lee re-joined Artie Shaw who had put together another exciting band. Hot Lips Page was the primary jazz soloist in the band, but Lee and Max Kaminsky got their share of blowing on live dates. Lee stayed with Shaw until March of 1942. After a short stint with Charlie Spivak he led his own band again. This Castle band made a few sides for Musicraft and V Disc(available on Youtube), but are hard to find. The Youtube track of Uptown Express(a majot to minor riff) shows what a swinging band Lee fronted. He gets a real Harry James feel here and also spots good tenor and clarinet solos. Lee even joins his drummer for a Sing,Sing-like duet-hopefully more sides will surface.In late 1942, Lee joined Benny Goodman for a year. The recording ban was on at this time, but Lee can be seen and heard with Benny in the film Stage Door Canteen and takes a hot solo on Bugle Call Rag. Lee was also with Benny in the film, The Gang's All Here.
This edition of the Goodman band also included Lee's brother Charlie on trombone, Jess Stacy, Louis Bellson, Miff Mole and Joe Rushton (bass sax). There are some broadcasts by the band , mostly on old lps.

During the rest of the 40s, Lee led his own bands and did some studio work. He also did some dixieland work. (he was a fine player in the traditional style). In 1950 he was back with Artie Shaw for a short stint. He was on some of Shaw's Decca sides of the time, including a Gramercy 5 session (not available for review). In 1953 Lee rejoined Tommy Dorsey who would soon be joined by brother Jimmy to revive the Dorsey Bros, band-it was actually billed as Tommy Dorsey and his Orch. featuring Jimmy Dorsey. Lee was a key player as trumpeter and assistant conductor. (he was very adept at conducting a band). The Dorsey band recorded several albums for Bell and Columbia at this time, along with many broadcasts from the Cafe Rouge and Statler Hotel. Charlie Shavers took most of the jazz solos, however Lee was always called upon for dixieland passages and occasional jazz solos. When the brothers started their Stage Show TV series(a replacement show for Jackie Gleason), Lee was very evident. Some clips have surfaced over the years. On Let's Have a Party, vocalists Lynn Roberts and Tommy Mercer are featured along with a swinging dixie chorus by Lee and the brothers. While Tommy and Jimmy talk to the audience Lee can be seen wearing headphones and conducting the band. (some of these clips are on Youtube).In 1954 Lee made a dixieland lp for the Jay Dee label (obviously sponsored by Jimmy with Lou McGarity, Peanuts Hucko, Dick Cary, Bob Haggart and George Wettling. (not available for review).

In 1955, Lee made a great session with Ray McKinley for the Grand Award label. Also present were Peanuts Hicko (clarinet and tenor), Deane Kincaide (baritone and tenor), Mickey Crane (piano), Trigger Alpert(bass) and Ray on drums and vocals. There are some nice arranged intros and interludes probably by Kincaide, an ace arranger. Ray's vocalizing is featured on Scrub me Mama (from the Will Bradley days), Hard Hearted Hannah ( a big hit for his own band), Cow Cow Boogie and Jeepers Creepers with a nice scat intro by Ray in tribute to Louis. The band also plays Royal Garden Blues and Sugar Foot Stomp. Lee's playing thruout is hot and driving. He handles the traditional King Oliver solo on Sugar Foot and also does some nice blowing behind Ray's vocals. Kincaide's baritone is also very strong and he trades some tenor fours with Hucko on Jeepers. A nice session- unfortunately long out of print.

Lee continued with the Dorseys, Tommy passed on in Nov. 1956 and Jimmy, ill with cancer tried to carry on with Lee's help. Jimmy had a surprise hit with So Rare in 1957. He had recorded three other titles for Fraternity Records ,but by the time an album was planned had passed on in June 1957. Lee finished the sessions in June with the Dorsey band. His old boss Dick Stabile was brought in to play four alto features ( he sounded a lot like Jimmy). Another old boss, Will Bradley sat in on the sessions and was featured on Speak Low. Many of the charts were from the last book of the Dorseys. Just Swingin', an Ernie Wilkins chart and Jay Dee's Boogie (a slightly altered version of Tommy's version) are highlights. Lee has some solo spots on Maria Elena, Amapola and Speak Low. The album was eventually released on Dot records. Lee also made some more dixieland sides for the small Joe Davis label in Jan. 1957. (long out of print).

Lee also played on four titles of a Miff Mole session for Steffany Records in 1958 (later reissued on Jazzology). Miff was still playing fine trombone and had old Memphis 5 colleagues ,Jimmy Lytell(clarinet), Frank Signorelli(piano) and Chauncey Morehouse (drums) aboard, along with Jack Lesberg on bass. A later session had Jack Palmer (trumpet) and Joe Dixon (clarinet). The tunes are For Me and My Gal, Exactly like You, Original Dixieland One-Step and a nice Mole original Dreaming by the River(recorded by several New Orleans bands). Lee's work thruout is crisp and driving with plenty of the Louis influence. There are some clever arranged passages and at times Lee sounds a bit like his old Dorsey buddy, PeeWee Erwin.

After Jimmy's death, Lee continued to lead The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. (Warren Covington had taken over Tommy's band). Lee spent the rest of his career as leader of Jimmy's band. He did a first rate job and played many of Jimmy's big hits along with some of Tommy's and his own book. The band was a working unit for many years until it became neccesary for Lee to use capable pick-up musicians along with a few key men. He did some recording with the band, but all of the lps are out of print. Included were several for Epic in 1960 and two Pickwick albums in the late 60s playing the music of Burt Baacharach and the Beatles. The last lp by Lee and the band was in 1987 on Atlantic-Dorsey Then and Now with vocalist Carole Taran.(some of these lps are available on Ebay).In 1984 Lee and the band filmed a concert at Disneyland for the Big Bands at Disneyland series. It gives an exellent example of Lee's programs with the J. D. Orch.

After the opening Contrasts played by Lee and lead alto Tino Esno we go into a big band chart of That's a Plenty. Lee's lead and solo work are excellent. He was approaching 70 years of age, but still had good chops-there are a few bad notes here and there,but many great moments.
The band appears to be California pick-up men (we spotted big band veteran Zeke Zarchy in the trumpet section), however they play the charts quite well. An instrumental version of Maria Elena follows (Lee has a nice spot) and there's more fine Castle horn on a more modern chart of Indian Summer (probably from Lee's own book).
Special guest Helen Forrest has two solo sets and Lee conducts her charts. One can see his talent as a conductor here and why he was a key man to the Dorseys. Next up is a Dorseyland Jazz Band version of Indiana (Jimmy had such a dixie group in the late 40s). Lee and a dixieland contingent get in a lively version. Lee's solid chorus has a nice quote from Isham Jones' What's the Use? This is followed by a Hits medley of both Dorseys-Lee had a right to feature Tommy's tunes,also.

Lee is interviewed by host Peter Marshall and he comes across as a personable, humorous gentleman. He talks about his history with the Dorseys,his real name and being taken for sweet bandleader Art Kassell along with using his own library to offset the Dorsey book.
What's New? is a nice showcase for his horn and another more modern chart. Jimmy's big hit So Rare is played well by Esno and we get a pleasant Sinatra-like vocal from Lee himself on All of Me. The show closes with a rousing J.D.'s Boogie featuring several crowd pleasing encores.
This is an exellent concert and perfect example of Lee's talents as a bandleader, trumpeter and host. The Disneyland series was available for a time on VHS, hopefully it will surface soon on DVD.

Much of Lee's Big Band work is available on CD , such as the Joe Haymes, Artie Shaw,Jack Teagarden, Will Bradley and Dorsey sides. The Miff Mole session is still on Jazzology Records. As always ,Amazon and Worlds Records are a good source for this material.
The two Goodman films are available , unfortunately many of the studio and broadcast lps we covered are long out of print. As we find them we will include an Addendum to this post.

Lee continued leading the Jimmy Dorsey Orch. until his health deteriated in the late 80s. He passed on from a heart attack in 1990 in Hollywood, Florida. Lee was survived by his wife, Virginia, 2 sisters and 3 brothers.For a time the band continued with other leaders including clarinetist Henry Cuesta, but has been inactive for some time.
Lee was a very talented musician and bandleader, equally home with traditional jazz and big band swing. We hope this post will bring him more of the regonition he so deserves.

Till next time- Keep Swinging.

Addendum- Since this post, I had a chance to enjoy a re-broadcast of Ray Smith's Jazz Decades radio show. Lee Castle was the subject of the hour and produced these new finds.-
From a 1943 V Disc session with Goodman a driving version of Henderson Stomp with fiery blowing by Lee. A 1950s studio date at RCA produced a lovely ballad feature for Lee's horn on Ellington's Morning Glory. The album and group name was not identified. Finally, a 1956 Dorsey Bros. broadcast from the Statler had Lee blowing great dixieland and a hot rideout on Panama.
More to come.

Forgotten Heroes of the Big Band Era: The Edgar Hayes Orchestra

2010-04-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

One of the finest and most overlooked black bands of the swing era was that of pianist/arranger Edgar Hayes (1904-79). Hayes, an exellent pianist had stints with Fess Williams and his own groups in the 1920s. From 1931-6 he was a key member of the Mills Blue Rhythm Band as pianist, arranger and sometimes musical director.Hayes, along with saxophonist/arranger Joe Garland had a lot to do with the success of the Mills band. In 1936, he left Mills to form his own band and took Garland with him among other Mills sidemen. Although the band was only active for 5 years, it became extremely popular and it'a recordings for Varsity and Decca show an excellent, musical unit.

The band had a crisp, light swinging sound with some of the Jimmie Lunceford two-beat feel. Garland frequently used himself on bass sax and Crawford Wethington on baritone to create a deep, low register reed sound. (this voicing had been used on some of the Mills recordings. The band had many excellent soloists, not household names but very capable jazzmen. Among the standouts were trumpeters Henry Goodwin and Leonard Davis(a very underated trumpeter, his work with Eddie Condon's Hot Shots is superb),trombonist Bob Horton(a marvelous plunger player),clarinetist Rudy Powell(best known for his 35-6 sides with Fats Waller) and drummer Kenny Clarke. Clarke would soon be one of the pioneers of Bop, his solid work on the tubs and vibes are a highlight of the Hayes recordings. Many other veteran jazzmen passed thru the band including Clyde Bernhardt, Jelly James,(from the Fess Williams band),Shelton Hemphill,Bernie Flood,Elmer James and Al Skerritt. All these men were solid pros with much experience in the Big Band style. Here are some highlights of their recorded legacy.

At the band's first session for Variety (3/9/37) they recorded two vocals by Orlando Roberson and an exellent instrumental, Manhattan Jam. The theme is a semi Tiger Rag clone and has fine solos by Goodwin, Horton and clarinet by possibly Garland. Clarke's drums are very prominent and the band ends with a walk-off-a retard meant to walk the dancers off the floor.

The rest of the Hayes sessions were for Decca. On May 25, 1937 several standout instrumentals were waxed. The Hayes version of Caravan is a good one with a mystic intro, bass sax (Garland) and Goodwin's growling trumpet. Also featured are Powell's raspy clarinet, Garland's tenor and Horton's Tricky Sam-like growling. The coda features more of the low reeds against plunger trumpet. Edgar Steps Out by Goodwin has Hayes' stride work up front, low reeds and clean, swinging brass. Goodwin's buzz mute solo is reminicent of Rex Stewart and Clarke gets in some tasty breaks. Joe Garland's Stompin' at the Renny is a nice medium swinger a la For Dancers Only(Lunceford). Goodwin, Powell, Garland and the boss take solos. The trombone spot may be by Jelly James or Clyde Bernhardt. (the band was very strong on trombonists).

On July 27 the band cut a nice version of Laughing at Life (previously recorded on May 25). Trumpeter Bernie Flood takes an amiable vocal backed by the band's glee club (a la Marie). There's a nice sweet trombone spot along with the low reeds and a break for Clarke. Larry Clinton's Satan takes a Holiday contains elements of the stock arrangement but gives the usual drum breaks to Clarke on vibes. There are some nice clarinet-led reeds along with Garland and the boss.

The band also fielded a combo within the band inspired by Benny Goodman's units. On Sept. 7 the Edgar Hayes Quintet (Powell's clarinet and rhythm) waxed three pleasant sides. White vocalist Bill Darnell took the vocals (he sang with Red Nichols and Bob Chester and later had a succesful solo career). There are plenty of spots for Clarke's vibes (not far behind Lionel Hampton), Powell's tangy clarinet and the bosses' piano. Guitarist Andy Jackson lays down great rhythm on these sides. So Rare, Love Me or Leave Me and Blue Skies are all lovely sides.

The session of October 11, 1937 featured the full band and quintet. Darnell sang with both units.
Queen Isabella by Chu Berry is a similar followup to his Christopher Columbus. The Hayes rendition is a smooth medium swinger with Goodwin getting in some Louis-ish horn, Garland's tenor and more of the low reeds playing against the brass. The Dick Whiting-Johnny Mercer novelty Old King Cole gets a unique reading by Hayes and Co. Garland's bass sax and Horton's growling trombone are prominent along with plunger brass and Darnell's amiable vocal. The coda returns to the bass sax/trombone combination. The quintet and Darnell returned for three selections. The highlight is the old favorite, When You and I were Young Maggie featuring Clarke's Hampton-like vibes prominently.

The next session on January 14,1938 is a strong one. Meet the Band, a Garland original features the low reeds against brass riffs. Powell, Hayes, a shouting Goodwin and nice Clarke rim shots are highlights with the bass sax on the coda. Fugitive from a Harem opens with approriate mystical sounds, the main theme has a Larry Clinton-like sound with clarinets prominent. Garland's tenor reminds one of Gene Sedric of Fats Waller fame and Goodwin has a potent spot.
Edgar's own Swingin' in the Promised Land is a brisk swing riff with low reeds backed by Clarke's drumming. Horton gets in some more growl bone along with some high flying trumpet by Goodwin or Davis(himself quite a high register man). The low reeds return for the out chorus.
Clarence Williams' Barbary Coast Blues is an exellent side, Earlene Howell's vocal is very nice with touches of Ella. The boss gets a piano spot, more of Clarke's vibes and a nice sax soli and ensemble before the vocal reprise.

The next session was on Feb. 17,1938 and featured two Hayes favorites. In the Mood, written by Garland was first recorded by Mills' Blue Rhythm as There's Rhythm in Harlem. This version has most of the Blue Rhythm routine. The saxes have the familiar lead strain and there are solos for Goodwin and Powell. The low reeds are featured on the out chorus with Hayes piano playing off the band on the coda. The familiar brass crescendo was added by Glenn Miller. When Garland went with Louis Armstrong's big band he brought this chart and added the Miller ending. The Hayes version is one of the best of this swing classic. Star Dust became a surprise hit for Hayes. It's a straight dance arangement with flowery Carman Cavarello-like piano by Hayes.It became a signature tune for Edgar and henamed his later groups the Stardusters.
Help Me has Goodwin's buzz mute horn sounding like Fats' Herman Autrey along with good vibes work. Without You has an exellent vocal by Clyde Bernhardt (sounding a lot like Lips Page). Clyde also gets a nice trombone spot along with a clarinet/drum duet. The session closes with Will Hudson's Sophisticated Swing. The chart sounds like Will's stock with a few changes. Muted brass and sweet trombone are featured on the ensemble and Edgar gets in some more of his florid runs. A pretty dance chart.

In the spring of 1938, the Hayes band toured Scandanavia. While in Stockholm, a small contingent recorded as the Kenny Clarke Kvintett. The personell was Goodwin, Powell and the rhythm section(Eddie Gibbs was now on guitar) with James Anderson the band's vocalist.
These sides are pleasant small band swing, sounding a bit like Adrian Rollini's swing groups with a touch of the Fats Waller Rhythm. Clarke's vibes are heavily featured. Sweet Sue an instrumental has fine solo work with an original outchorus riff. I Found a New Baby has Powell on Alto(his alto sound was very smooth), Gibbs' guitar chording reminds you of Fats' Al Casey, some nice stride by Edgar and a "Hold Tight" riff. Once in a While and You're a Sweetheart are nice medium tempo ballads. Anderson's vocals are very much in the Bill Kenny Ink Spots tradition. A very nice session.

Edgar kept the band going until 1941 (Dizzy Gillespie had a short stint with the band). He settled in California, leading and recording with his Stardusters group. In the 50s and 60s he concentrated on solo work around Southern California. He died in Riverside, CA. on 6/28/79.
The Edgar Hayes band was a very musical and swinging band, certainly deserving more attention than it got in it's day.The arrangements of Hayes and Garland along with the exellent array of soloists really make this group one that should be heard by jazz and swing fans. Here's hoping that this post will inspire more people to seek out and enjoy their fine recordings.

The Classics label has two CDS, # 730 and 1053 that encompass all the Hayes output, including his later sides.

The Three Stooges- Outer Space Jitters (1957)

2010-04-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

This Stooge post will take a detour into the "dreaded" Joe Besser period. Diehard Stooge fans hate these episodes, although with the passing of time I've found some redeeming episodes and even grown to enjoy some of Besser's performances. This short is one of the better of the 1957-9 entries and the funniest of their "sci-fi" trilogy. We will also celebrate the upcoming completion of Sony's Three Stooges Collection. In June of 2010, all the Stooges shorts will finally be available on DVD.

Joe Besser was a talented comic and his work with Abbott and Costello, Milton Berle and on the Joey Bishop Show bear this out. He was working at Columbia in his own "shorts" series when tapped to become the 3rd Stooge. His whiny "not so hard" sissy character never seemed to jibe with Moe and Larry's "stooge" characters.. The team seemed more like the Two Stooges plus Besser.
Besser had his own contract and had a clause written in prohibiting the usual "Stooge punishment" doled out by Moe. As the shorts progressed, Joe did take some slaps and bumps and eventually developed more chemistry with Moe and Larry. This breezy short is lots of fun and Joe doesn't detract from the fun, rather adding some good bits of his own.

The film benefits from a great cast. Just about all of the Stooge regulars of the period appear. (Such stalwarts as Vernon Dent, Christine McIntyre and Kenneth MacDonald had left Columbia). Present here are Emil Sitka playing his "professor" character, Gene Roth(Mr. Borch), Phil VanZandt and Joe Palma(the "Fake" Shemp) as bad guys, Diana Darrin, Harriet Tarler and Arline Hunter as the "babes" and a pre- Bonanza Dan (billed as Don) Blocker as the Goon!

The "Plot" has the boys as assistants to Professor Jones who land on the planet Sunev ( This planet was also used in Space ship Sappy) to study the planet and it's inhabitants. The Grand Zilch (Roth) and his henchman the High Mucky Muck (VanZandt) plan on developing a race of Zombies to destroy the world! (sounds like a familiar 50s sci-fi premise). Along the way the boys meet 3 Sunevian girls, eat a delicious meal of clam shell and battery acid, rescue the kipnapped professor and battle the baddies and the goon! (Blocker).

The film directed by the one and only Jules White and written by his brother Jack has a cute, breezy quality to it. The boys go thru their paces as only old comedy pros can and even the added "distraction" of Besser doesn't deter from your enjoyment. Comedy highlights include the boys' entrance with Emil wearing derbies on top of their space helmets (the boys are dressed in cute trenchcoats with bowties). When introduced to the Zilch we get one of their patented verbal responses- Bewithched-Bothered and Bewildered complete with pug for Pal Joey from Larry. (also a Columbia release). It turns out that the Sunevians survive on battery power and the Zilch shows Emil one of his Zombies (Blocker) along with his plans to destroy the world!

The boys are introduced to 3 Sunevian girls by the Mucky Muck. Their electric kisses charge Moe and cook up Larry's gift of popcorn and Joe's frozen chicken! The boys sit down to a meal with the Muck and the girls. Here we get the old bit of trying to eat the clam shells complete with goofy faces. When they are told of their fate, Moe gives the Muck a blast of his hot water bottle, shorting his circuit! Two of the girls, Diana Darrin and Harriet Tarler were regulars from the early 50s. ( fans will remember Diana as Miss Lapdale in 1952's He Cooked his Goose). Miss Hunter was a Playboy Playmate.

The boys take off in search of the professor who has been tied and gagged.Moe takes Joe by the hand like a little kid(which he was). We get the old running into the Goon bit complete with nnahhs. At one point the Goon is standing behind Moe and Larry and Joe's frightened yelps are mistaken for a game of charades. Moe quickly loses the boys again and after mistaking the goon's grunts for Joe and Larry ("Quick snorting down my neck"-"You should try Bicarbinate" reacts with a great scream and hair flying in the air (the old blow-dryer bit).

Finally finding Emil , the boys untie him and undo the rather long gag accompanied by Larry's stock quotes of Anaconda-ponder and Tsimmus Inc. (earlier we met Capt. Tsimmus) , fond bywords from earlier shorts. Emil and the boys proceed to destroy the Zombie machine giving Moe a chance to reward Larry's backswings with a hammer and plane to the head! (Joe wouldn't be a part of this). The monster is destroyed when his juice is turned off and Dan gets his one big line- a death groan! Joe inadvertadely conks te Zilch with a pantful of gold he is stealing from the Sunevians and Emil and the boys make a hasty retreat for their ship. (Joe is real whiny with his cries of Let's get outa here!).

The epilogue is a good one-The boys have been telling the adventure to their infant sons. (via trick photography-they did this a few times with Shemp). When the baby sitter arrives( and suggests a nice restaurant) she has a Goon face and buck teeth (like Blocker). When the boys get a look at her they do the tried and true nnaahh! and jump out the window! Moe gets in an extra nnaahh! for good measure before his leap!

Although the film is full of patented routines and takes it moves along nicely and Joe is fairly easy to take. Besser himself suggested the boys change their stock haircuts(a bad idea). In this one Moe retains his bangs but Larry slicks his back. Most of the Besser episodes were either complete misfires (the two"talking horse" entries , Joe's darling Fifi and Muriel Landers as Tiny hit the bottom of the barrell ) or like this one, bearable. Many Curly and Shemp comedies were remade with much stock footage. (and even some stock guest appearances by them!). I also enjoyed Guns a Poppin', a remake of Idiots DeLuxe with an added confrontation with bank robber Mad Bill Hookup . Quiz Whizz and Pies and Guys also are pretty decent. (the later makes use of several stock pie fights). Greta Thyssen, a former Miss Norway appears in the aforementioned films along with the final Stooges short, Sappy Bullfighters. She was a gorgeous, voluptous girl and had good chemistry with the boys. It appears that the studio was trying to create a new leading lady for the boys- a la Christine McIntyre. Although the Stooges shorts ended with the 1959 releases,(already filmed in 1957) they would soon gain new popularity with the release of the shorts to TV. Besser left the team (his wife was ill at the time) and veteran comic JoeDeRita tok over as Curly Joe. (he had made a few shorts for Columbia in the late 40s). DeRita was a more genteel Stooge (which suited the mood of the 1959-65 feature films by the "mature" Stooges) and was better suited to the role than Besser.

The Big news is that on June 1 of this year Sony will finish their exellent Three Stooges Collection with the release of Vol. 8.(consisting of the 1955-6 Shemps and 1957-9 Bessers) After years of collecting VHS and incomplete DVD sets ,we now have all 190 Stooges shorts on high quality digital disc. I myself spent years taping episodes off TV on VHS tape and what a pleasure it is to have the entire Stooge catalog at my disposal on DVD. I know I echo the sentiments of fellow Stooge fans and we all applaud Sony for sticking with the series and finishing it. (many VHS collections never got further than samplers).

Till next time- Keep Stooging, but Not so Hard!!!

Young Man with a Horn (1950)

2010-03-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Our latest installment in the Hollywood Jazz Movies series is a longtime personal favorite, Young Man with a Horn. As a kid getting into the trumpet and jazz music this film left a big impression.

As I grew older I could see the corny Hollywood treatment of a take on a Bix Beiderbecke-like trumpet star. However the film still holds up and has a wonderful musical score by Harry James, Doris Day and the talents of Ray Heindorf and his great studio orchestra.

The film's origins were first in a series of articles by Otis

Ferguson, one of the first writers to cover jazz. He wrote two pieces on Bix Beiderbecke for the New Republic titled Young Man with a Horn followed by Young Man with a Horn Again. Writer Dorothy Baker borrowed Ferguson's title for her 1936 novel of the same name. Her novel followed the triumphs and downfall of a Bix-like jazz cornetist named Rick Martin. The transfer to film was proposed several times but finally made by Warner Bros. in 1950. The original choice for the trumpet ghosting was Bobby Hackett. Bobby would have been perfect with his melodic , flowing style in the Bix tradition. The studio decided on the bigger name and went with Harry James who provides wonderful playing even if it's not very Bix-like. (Ironically, when Rick first plays with Smoke we hear some Bixish changes and runs from Harry. After that he sticks to his own style).

The film was produced by Jerry Wald and directed by one of Warner's top men Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) with screenplay by Carl Foreman and Edmund North based on the Dorothy Baker novel. Ray Heindorf was Musical Director and came up with some great orchestrations along the original song Melancholy Rhapsody. James was also listed as Musical Adviser and Trumpet Soloist.
The exellent cast was headed by Kirk Douglas as Rick, Doris Day gave a fine performance as vocalist Jo Jordan. Lauren Bacall plays the dark, troubled Amy North who is briefly married to Rick. Hoagy Carmichael plays Willie "Smoke" Willoughby, a pianist and friend of Rick's. Hoagy's casting is perfect as he was a close friend of the real Bix.(he narrates the story). Other key roles go to Mary Beth Hughes as Rick's sister Marge, Nester Paiva as clubowner Louis Galba, Jerome Cowan as bandleader Phil Morrison, Orey Lindgren as the young Rick and Juano Hernandez as Art Hazzard, Rick's musical mentor. The time line runs from the 20s to the 40s.

The story follows the life of Rick Martin who as a youngster has lost his parents . Rick is living with his sister Marge , who hasn't much time for Rick. An early incident mirrors the real story of Bix. Rick finds he can pick out tunes on a piano by watching a pianist playing hymns at a local mission. Bix himself showed an early talent for piano without any formal training.
While working as a pinboy at a bowling alley Rick hears the sounds of a jazz band at a nearby bistro. Here he meets Art Hazzard, a talented black trumpeter and a genial man who takes an interest in Rick. The Art-Rick relationship is not unlike the one that Louis Armstrong enjoyed with King Oliver. Rick loves the sound of the trumpet and Art buys him a used horn and teaches him the rudiments.(Fellow musicians love his warning of getting a Roll-bad placement of his trumpet embrochure) From there on Rick is sold on the life of a musician despite Art's own misgivings on the profession.

We follow Rick's progress as he works his way up from kid bands to carnival shows and jazz bands. Kirk Douglas steps in as the adult Rick who has been hired by Bandleader Jack Chandler(Walter Reed)..
Chandler's band is a typical "sweet" band of the period . Here Rick meets Chandler's pianist Smoke and Jo the female singer. Rick finds a fast friend in Smoke who knows Art Hazzard and loves to play jazz. Jo is also taken by the slightly wayward newcomer. Chandler isn't into jazz. At Rick's first rehearsal with the band he thinks he can ablib during Jo's vocal. This prompts Chandler to read Rick the riot act- No Blues or Low-Down Jive! Jo who has been dating Chandler is taken by Rick and a romance starts to blossom. Rick's stint with the band ends when he, Smoke and a few of the boys jam a tune in Chandler's absence. (a spirited Get Happy by Harry and some of his Boys). Althogh Smoke doesn't get fired he decides to stick with Rick and they job around the country. (these scenes are shades of Hoagy's midwest days with Bix).

Eventually Rick finds his way to New York City where he sees Jo, now a singing star. Rick asks about Art who is playing at a little club called Galba's. Rick meets Jo there who tells Rick that Art doesn't play like he used to. (the soundtrack horn by Zito is very Louis-ish-not exactly past his prime!). Rick sits in with Art and they have a happy reunion. Phil Morrison, a big name bandleader is at the club, he likes what he hears and on Jo's recomendation hires Rick for his large commercial orchestra. Rick gets Smoke a job in Morrison's band too and for a while things are fine. (Rick is featured with the band but not on pure jazz numbers). The Morrison character is based on Paul Whiteman who featured Bix heavily in his symphonic jazz orchestra.

Soon Rick is spending his free time at Galba's jamming with Art, much to Morrison's dismay. The club is packed and Morrison thinks Rick is keeping Hazzard's job for him. One night Rick runs into Jo and a girlfriend Amy North, a very attractive but dark and troubled girl.Despite Jo's warnings, Rick and Amy begin an affair and eventually marry. Here the dramatics get very heavy as the odd-couple marriage slowly deteriates with Rick out all night and Amy trying to find herself with various classes by day.( I love the scene of Rick playing his Art Hazzard records while Amy tries to sleep!) The job with Morrison starts to strain too. Eventually Rick starts drinking and forgetting about Art.Things blow up with Morrison and Amy and when Art tries to help a drunken Rick out(he's lost the job at Galba's) Rick lashes out at him. Art gets hit by a car trying to cross a street and Rick is devastated. Rick gets to the hospital too late but plays Art's horn at his funeral service. These scenes are a bit heavy handed but still effective.

The plot gets even heavier as Rick drowns his troubles in booze. At a recording session with Jo and Smoke Rick, gets hung up on a high note and keeps blowing and missing until he breaks down. (although played seriously, this segment is very funny!). The band members file out of the studio, one uttering "He's all Washed Up!". Jo and Smoke try to console Rick but he kicks them out and promptly breaks his horn over a table in a fit of rage!
Finally we get the required "pathetic" scenes of Rick wandering around the city in a stupor. He picks up an old battered horn at a hock shop-sort of a security blanket to have under his arm. Rick winds up in a seedy drunk hospital only to be rescued by his true friends, Smoke and Jo. We end with a happy postscript as Smoke tells us of Rick's recovery and new credo of not letting his horn overtake his life. In a return to the earlier record date ,Rick makes the note this time and we go out on that happy note.

The cast was an excellent one. Kirk Douglas gives his usual fine job with the right dose of intensity. (he's a little hammy at times, but that's the charm of these bios). Doris Day gives a fine performance as Jo. Along with her great singing she brings her All American girl image with a touch of vulnerability.She obviously loves Rick and we assume they will finally connect at film's end. Lauren Bacall has a tough part as the dark, unlikable Amy. She's very good and musicians will get a kick out of her breaking Rick's prize jazz records! Juano Hernandez is excellent as Art Hazzard. His humility and gentle manners score along with his obvious love for Rick. (Hernandez plyed a similar role of a veteran jazzman in 1961 on the Route 66 TV episode Good Night Sweet Blues. (a wonderful episode featuring Ethel Waters, Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins and Jo Jones). Hoagy Carmichael was a very capable actor, he excelled at playing the good-natured buddy( To Have and Have Not, Best Years of our Lives). His real-life association with Bix brings a touch of authenticity to the proceedings. Orey Lindgren did a nice job as the young Rick. (his career seemed to end after child roles). Nester Paiava as Galba was an old pro adept at playing crooks, buddies, policemen or here a clubowner.

Of course, the music is the movie's major selling point. Ray Heindorf, one of Warner Bros. best musical directors contributes a fine score. His Melancholy Rhapsody played thru out is a beautiful mood piece as is the Big City motive used at numerous intervals. Harry James, although not a Bix stylist brings his considerable talents to Rick's horn. He was at the peak of his powers and on the ballads and jazz tunes is huge. Favorites such as The Man I Love, Limehouse Blues, I Only have Eyes for You, Get Happy, Can't we be Friends and With a Song in my Heart all benefit from his great horn. His duet with Art (Zito) on You took Advantage of Me features great blowing by both trumpeters. (Art sounds pretty good for a Has Been). Doris also never sounded or looked better. Her pure, swinging sounds are heard on I May be Wrong, The Very Thought of You, With a Song and Too Marvelous for Words. Hoagy, a competent pianist was dubbed by studio pro Buddy Cole. An old 20s favorite, Lovin' Sam (the Sheik from Alabam) is sung by Smoke and Rick during the Barnstorming sequence. Another old favorite, Moanin' Low is played by Art when he meets young Rick. Some of Harry's band members pop up on the soundtrack including Hoyt Bohannon(trombone), Willie Smith(alto) and Corky Corcoran(tenor).
Other studio pros such as Babe Russin, Nick Fatool, Stan Wrightsman and Archie Rosate make contributions.

Despite the usual Hollywood gaffes and corny dialog the film holds up nicely all these years later.
Casual viewers new to jazz can appreciate the fine acting, atmosphere and music. Jazz musicians and collectors can enjoy the music of James, Day and the fine studio players. (along with the usual assortment of hackneyed lines).
The soundtrack album which goes back to 10' lps is still available on CD from Sony/Columbia and the DVD is available from Warner's.
Young Man with a Horn makes for fine musical and dramatic entrtainment.
Till next time- Keep a Song in Your Heart

Forgotten Heroes of the Big Band Era:The Eddie DeLange Orchestra

2010-02-28T10:22:00.001-08:00

This will be a semi-regular post here at Pete Kelly's. The Big Band Era of the 1930s and 40s produced countless exellent swing and dance bands. Many of these bands were grouped into the territory or second drawer title. Most of these bands produced exellent music and boasted fine musicianship, they just didn't get the big push or attraction of the likes of the Dorseys, Miller, Goodman, Basie or Ellington. I have had the pleasure of doing several presentations on these forgotten heroes and we'll start our survey with a very underated but deserving band, that of lyricist/vocalist Eddie DeLange(1904-49).

This band was an outgrowth of the earlier Hudson-DeLange Orchestra. This band was a collaboration between composer/arranger Will Hudson(composer of Moonglow, Sophisticated Swing and Organ Grinder's Swing) and the personable DeLange who fronted the band and sang. Eddie had written the lyrics to Moonglow and Ellington's Solitude and the band was handled by Duke's manager Irving Mills. Hudson-DeLange itself was a very workmanlike band that spotted many young musicians who would graduate to other more established bands. (sort of a Triple A teram). Among their lineup were future stars the likes of Gus Bivona, Jimmy Blake, Doc Goldberg, Ted Duane, Bus Etri, Steve Lipkins and two fine gal singers, Nan Wynn and Ruth Gaylor.

DeLange was an interesting character, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, worked as a stuntman in Hollywood and started writing lyrics in the early 30s. Along with Hudson and Ellington he also collaborated with Jimmy VanHuesen, Louis Alter and Sam Stept. One of his early tunes, I Wish that I were Twins was recorded by Fats Waller, Red Allen and Valaida Snow .His personality and experience in Hollywood made him a fine frontman and when Hudson decided to front his own unit, Eddie continued with a new band of his own featuring some fine young players and some surprisingly good swing and Big Band dixieland charts a la Bob Crosby.

The band had a short life of 1938-9, but recorded a couple dozen sides for Bluebird and appeared on the Phil Baker Radio Show along with the Andrews Sisters, along with the usual club, theatre and dance dates. The band's theme was Don't Forget and on radio they used Eddie's tune, At your Beck and Call (also recorded by Hot Lips Page). The band's girl singer Elisse Cooper had come over from Hudson-DeLange, she was very young but had a winning, vivacious style and later sang with Tony Pastor,Jan Savitt, Ben Bernie and Chico Marx (the band was run by Ben Pollack and also featured young Mel Torme on drums and vocals). Like with Hudson-DeLange the band roster was made up of mostly newcomers but the ensemble and soloists are very polished. Players such as Torg Halten (trumpet), Fred Ohms, Mort Bullman (trombone) and saxohonists Marty Burman and Joe DiMaggio had future credits with jazz and swing bands. Ohms was a capable jazzman and did some late 40s stints with Eddie condon, Muggsy Spanier and Billy Butterfield.

Although the band recorded it's share of novelties and pop songs, they cut a few classic jazz sides in a pseudo- Bob Crosby style. Such titles as Copenhagen, Muskrat Ramble, Willie the Weeper, Tight like That and Livery Stable Blues were not common fare for swing bands of the day. Here are some highlights of the DeLange band on Bluebird, from the few sides we own.

Pop Corn Man (Sept. 1938)- This novelty was also recorded by Hudson-DeLange the previous year. Perhaps as a tribute to Will the band opens with a bit of Organ Grinder's Swing which the boys pick up as a band vocal. Elisse does the vocal chorus and there's a nice trumpet spot. On the vocal reprieve the boys doa bit more of Organ Grinder's. A fun side.

New Shoes Blues (Sept. 1938). This is probably a band original. It sounds a bit like Crosby's Dogtown Blues and the trio of Jelly Roll Blues. The Dixieland feel is very prevalent with good spots for trumpet, tenor and clarinet with some nice clarinet-led reeds.

Willie the Weeper (Sept. 1938)- The old Louis Hot 7 favorite gets a new twist. Elisse sings the verses and the boys change key for a band vocal on the chorus with nice piano backup. There's more of that Bob Crosby feel and the band rides it home with a new, unrelated strain. Not sure who did the charts for DeLange, but there's some good work here. (some of the charts may have been leftovers from Hudson).

Copenhagen- Another jazz classic gets the Crosby touch (this may be a stock). There's a solid trumpet spot, probably by Halten who did some hot work with Gene Krupa. The exellent trombone solo is probably Ohms followed by clarinet solo and led reeds. There's also a nicely aranged dixie passage. (Red Nichols did a lot of these with his big band). This is the DeLange band at it's best.

He May be Your Man (But He comes to See Me Sometimes)- An old Red Hot Mama song recorded by Trixie Smith in the 20s. Elisse gets off one of her best vocals and there's more of that Big Band Dixieland sound (sound woodblocks by the drummer is a nice touch). Another good trumpet spot and a cute vocal reprieve by Elisse are highlights of a fine side.

Muskrat Ramble- Another classic gets a nice Big Band ride. The stoptime intro is novel and we get a roaring ensemble with sliding trombones. Solid solos by trumpet, clarinet, tenor and trombone (Ohms) lead to more stoptime and a swinging rideout. The band also recorded a novelty, You Can't Kiss a Fridgedaire with a Dixieland contingent called Eddie DeLange and his 8 Screwballs.

We hope to find more sides by the band to report on. As of this writing there isn't a DeLange Orch. CD. A good place to look is Ebay and perhaps a Big Band collector may download some of the other sides. My sides came from a good friend and collector, Ed Reynolds of Wakefield, Mass. I think the last time these sides were heard on the air was on the late Ray Smith's Jazz Decades show on PBS Radio. (more on Ray and his wonderful show later).

The band broke up in 1940 and Eddie concentrated on songwriting (save for a brief reunion with Hudson in 1941). He married model Marge Lohden in 1943. Two of his biggest song hits were associated with Louis Armstrong. Darn that Dream written with Jimmy VanHuesen was from the 1939 show, Swingin' the Dream with Louis and Maxine Sullivan. Do you know What it Means(to Miss New Orleans) was written with Louis Alter for the 1946 film New Orleans starring Louis and Billie Holiday. It has become a jazz standard. Other favorites with Eddie's lyrics include Deep in a Dream, Shake down the Stars, Just as Though You Were Here, Velvet Moon and The Man with the Horn.

It is hoped that this post will shed new light on a very deserving swing band of the late 30s. Eddie's talent as a lyricist is already appreciated, he left us much too early in 1949 at the age of 45. There will be more forgotten swing bands in future posts. Till then- Keep Swinging.

Louis Armstrong: Mame (1964-6)

2010-02-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

In 1964, Louis Armstrong scored an incredible hit with his recording of Hello Dolly, written by Jerry Herman for the Broadway show. Pop's last big record was Mack the Knife in 1955, although he had many albums that sold well. The success of Dolly gave Pops almost a second career as his already busy schedule was filled with demands for personal appearances and numerous TV variety shows. The recording knocked the chart-topping Beatles off the Top 10 for a few weeks and made Louis the oldest performer to score such a hit. Recording companies kept looking for similar show tunes for Louis to record in hopes of a sequel.

A lot of Livin' to Do , So Long, Dearie, Cabaret and Wilkommen all did well but

Mame(another Herman composition) came the closet in popularity and like Dolly warranted an album. The Mercury Mame lp has been forgotten a bit over the years. It was a mixture of 4 different sessions spanning the years 1964-6.(Louis was a free agent as far as recording labels go, so it took a while to produce an album) This post will take a detailed look at the album. First, let's give a breakdown on the sessions and personnel. All sessions were recorded in New York.

9/3/64: So Long,Dearie and Pretty Little Missy .
Along with Louis the lineup was Eddie Shu, clarinet- Russell "Big Chief" Moore,trombone- Billy Kyle, piano- Arvell Shaw, bass and Danny Barcelona, drums. Everett Barksdale was added on banjo.
Moore(1912-83) had joined the band in Jan. of 1964 replacing Trummy Young. He was a big band veteran (had worked in Louis' big band from 1944-7) and had played a lot of jazz sessions with the likes of Sidney Bechet, Ruby Braff ,Papa Celestin and his own groups He was a Pima Indian and a fine player and showman, he stayed with the band until Feb. 1965.
Shu(1918-86) was a former Gene Krupa sideman with modern leanings who adapted nicely to the All-Stars brand of jazz. He was a talented muti-instrumentalist , comfortable on tenor, trumpet and harmonica. He was with Pops from July '64 to July '65. (On the album, Joe Darensbourg is listed as clarinetist but this is a mistake).
Billy Kyle(1914-66) of John Kirby fame had joined up in Oct. of 1953 and stayed with Pops until his untimely death in Feb. of 1966. He was a consumate soloist and contributed some tasty charts to the band.
Arvell Shaw(1923-2002) was with the All-Stars during their maiden year of 1947. (he also played in Louis' big band from 1946-7). He had several long stints with the band , had rejoined in Jan. 1963 and stayed till May 1965.
Danny Barcelona(1929-2007), a Hawaiian discovery of Trummy Young signed up in Feb. 1958 and stayed 'till the end.
To get the Dolly sound, various studio banjoists were used. Everett Barksdale (1910-86)was an old pro and popped up on many of Louis' studio dates.

11/3/64: Bye N' Bye and Faith.
Same personnel with Walter Raim on banjo.

9/10/65: Short but Sweet/ The Circle of your Arms/ I like this Kind of Party/ The Three of Us.
Louis, Tyree Glenn, trombone and vibes- Buster Bailey, clarinet- Kyle, piano- Buddy Catlett, bass- Barcelona, drums. John Gray added on banjo and guitar.
Some new faces since the last session.
Tyree Glenn, veteran of Cab Calloway and Duke Elington bands. Exellent trombonist with beautiful sound who was very adept at plunger work and doubled on vibes. He joined in late Feb. 1965 and stayed with Louis to the end.
Buster Bailey went as far back with Louis as the King Oliver and Fletcher Henderson bands. He was a top clarinetist and spent many years with the bands of Henderson, Mills Blue Rhythm, John Kirby (he and Kyle were bandmates) and Red Allen.
Buddy Catlett had just joined up in May of 1965 and had worked prviously with Quincy Jones, Cal Tjader and the Count Basie Band.

April, 1966: When the Saints Go Marchin' In/ Cheesecake/ Tyree's Blues.
same personell with Marty Napolean, piano and Al Di Lernia, banjo.
Napolean had been with the band in 1952-3 and rejoined after the passing of Billy Kyle. He was a fine swing soloist with numerous credits to his resume including Gene Krupa, Red Allen and his uncle, trumpeter Phil Napolean.

May, 1966: Mame/ Tin Roof Blues.
Now on to the tunes as they were recorded.

So Long, Dearie- Also from the Hello Dolly score and a nice tune in it's own right. I'm sure that Mercury was looking for a follow-up hit to Dolly. There's no trumpet here but Pops really swings on the vocal. His great time really makes this version and the All-Stars swing nicely behind him.Louis must have liked the tune because he performed it on the Ed Sullivan show in Oct. 1964 then on Australian TV in Nov. While on tour in Czechoslovakiain March of 1965, a film caught him playing it at a casual rehearsal.(Eddie Shu is playing tenor at this session). He also played it on the Dean Martin show in Sept. 1965. After that, it seems to have disapeared from the repertoire. (Joe Muranyi recalls playing it at his first rehearsal with Pops- for more on the tune check out Ricky Riccardi's great blog, The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong).

Pretty Little Missy- This tune was in the All-Stars book since the 50s. Louis and Billy Kyle wrote it, it's based on a lick Billy used to use on his Perdido feature.(the changes are the same).This is a great version, Pops' chops were in great form during the 64-5 period. He really wails on this version batting out a dozen or so high Es on the bridge. The outgoing riff came from a Ralph Flanagan hit called Hot Toddy. The Chief and Shu also get short solo spots.

Bye and Bye- An old New Orleans spiritual that Louis first recorded with his Big Band in 1939, he also made a great recording with Gordon Jenkins in 1954.(issued on the Satchmo in Style lp).I can't recall the All-Stars playing it, although in later years Louis used the melody on the Ol' Miss out chorus.(again, the changes match up). There's more solid trumpet from Pops and he splits his vocal with choruses by Moore and Shu. The closing rideout is solid as usual.

Faith- This came from a short-lived Broadway show, I Had a Ball starring Buddy Hackett. It's a pseudo gospel tune and Pops always excelled at this type of tune.( His Decca lp Louis and the Good Book was one of his most popular albums). There's only room for a half-chorus of trumpet but Pops makes the most of it, really wailing including a scorching trumpet break A nice side.

Short but Sweet- A pretty original by Louis. Tyree opens with a vibes arpeggio on Pops plays a lovely 8 bar passage of the melody. Following a tasty vocal, Pops goes up high for the bridge and sings it home. That bridge, complete with Pops' patented shake is a masterpiece. John Gray's rhythm guitar is a plus.

The Circle of your Arms- Another pleasant medium-tempo tune. The intro by the horns has a bit of Memphis Blues in it. Louis trades some great scat with Tyree's plunger horn and then takes a sublime trumpet bridge before swinging home.

I Like this kind of Party- A semi-talking novelty tune, although not much of a tune, Pops has a lot of fun with it. Louis' half chorus on the A strain is a lovely improvisation full of typical Pops licks. Hughes Panassie in his book , Louis Armstrong singled out this solo.

The Three of Us- This side didn't make the Mercury lp, but was given some European distribution. Panassie called it Me, Myself and I (those words pop up in the lyrics) in his book, he was thinking of the Billie Holiday classic. Tyree gets some more vibes work in, trading with Pops' mellow muted horn and Bailey has some nice low register backup. This is a lovely side that deserves more hearings.

Louis didn't get back to the Mercury studios until April of 1966. His playing during this period is up and down, various physical ailments brought his chops down a bit since the fierce blowing of 1964-5. However, Louis could always state a beautiful melody and even at half speed sounds great.

When the Saints go Marchin' In-The Saints had long been a part of Pops' live shows(he first recorded it in 1938) and this version is pleasant, if not spectacular. Pops does some humorous banter up front then blows a cautious melody chorus. All the boys get to solo including "Brother" Al Di Lernia, the studio banjoist. A fun version, although fun from the best Saints in Pops' discography.

Cheesecake- A silly novelty co-written by Pops. Louis, like Fats Waller could make something of these trite tunes and he has a lot of fun on this number along with Tyree and his "Cheesecake "line.Pops gets in a quick trumpet trade with Tyree and Buster. He also performed it on the Hollywood Palace that year(with Bing Crosby getting into the act) and at a Chicago concert in December.(both trumpet spots are stronger).

Tyree's Blues- A straight ahead blues with Tyree's mellow bone up front , followed by a lovely scat vocal by Pops. Napolean and Bailey get a spot before Pops takes a sober lead out.

Mame- The album's title tune, also from a Jerry Herman show was a fairly sucessful follow-up to Dolly. It's mostly all vocal with Pops trading lines off of Glenn and Bailey. Pops swings mightily on his vocal , another tailor made tune for him. On the Grammy show of April 1967 and Tonight show of June 1967, Pops inserted a trumpet spot where he answered Glenn's melody. His other live versions are strictly vocal.

Tin Roof Blues- Another long standing All-Stars number. Here Louis plays the verse then sings a new vocal full of traditional blues lines. Bailey and Glenn get in some nice obliggatos to the vocal before Pops leads the traditional out chorus. His playing here is direct but devoid of the power in the earlier sessions.

Thanks to Armstrong aficiando Ricky Riccardi, I was able to sample studio outtakes from the lp. Here are some interesting highlights. On listening to other studio outtakes, I can tell that Pops did a consumate job all the time and never let fluffs or breakdowns effect his good humor. He rarely sounds miffed or impatient and that good work comes out in the finished product. Billy Kyle is always a big part of the recording sessions, setting tempos and devising riffs and routines.

So Long Dearie- This version sounds like a run-thru. Pops' vocal swings as hard as the issued version. In place of some missed words he scats a bit and fills a hole with the line "right in there".
The band swings along nicely. An interesting comparison with the original.

Pretty Little Missy- Louis' vocal mike is off, so this may be another run-thru. His opening chorus is a little more behind the beat than usual, but then his chops were getting warmed up. The vocal is distant so you can here the horns playing one of the "Perdido" alternate riffs. The Chief's solo is a bit off but Shu is right on and Pops sounds real solid on that out chorus, again nailing all those high Es. Another interesting alternate.

Short but Sweet- Quite a few of the issued masters have been edited and inserts used. On the first take Pops misses a few words and makes some goofs on that high register spot. (It's hard nailing those notes take after take). There are some more breakdowns including the vibes and vocal. (You can hear Pops testing out some high ones) The next take is pretty close to the album take although Pops has some trouble on the bridge, but laughs it off. They try a few inserts, the first being the album version. An interesting mixture to make up the final take.

The Circle of Your Arms-Before the first take we here some chatter and laughter, Pops kept things loose. After a breakdown another take is put down, Pops phrases the melody a little different (he's still getting comfortable) then has fun on the trombone/scat duet. (he closes with a patented vocal line). His trumpet bridge is relaxed and different from the master take. Pops sings it out a bit off mike. After a few warm up notes, another take is tried with a nice vocal despite some goofs. The duet with Tyree has some new scat lines along with the patented break and the trumpet solo is still subtly different. This time the vocal closes with an extra tag, as on the album. We hear Louis warming up the bridge again , the next take is a breakdown followed by a clean take with a great horn solo (as on the album) and a mixup on the length of the tag. An insert cleans that up and Louis makes the long tag with a voice crack on "For Me" which he laughs off. This last take and insert make the version on the album.

The Three of Us- Pops blows a bit during the warmup and the first take is smooth despite a goof on the vibes. Pops' solo is relaxed but different. The next take is good but Pops hits some bad trumpet notes. Take 3 sounds like the issued version although there is a vibes goof. (probably edited out). The obligattos by Bailey and Glenn on plunger trombone are lovely on all takes. That last trumpet solo is full of lovely middle register notes.

I Like this Kind of Party- A lot of work went into this rather forgettable novelty. The first take had some vocal goofs and the "Charlie Boy" piano lick was not used. Pops' horn solo is different but strong and includes a favorite quote of "Turkey in the Straw". The vocal out chorus is good with a great break. The intro Tyree and Buster play is tricky and it gets better with each take. Take 2 is pretty clean save for a few trumpet goofs but Pops redeems them going up high. Take 3 is a breakdown and on take 4 Pops blows a line mixing swim with spin and the take ends, but Pops keeps things light. Takes 5 and 6 are breakdowns and 7 has another vocal goof with more laughter. Take 8 is pretty much the album version save for a different vocal coda(the "Charlie Boy" piano bit is heard) . Take 9 has a few vocal goofs and a few missed trumpet notes but a good recovery with the closing vocal the version on the album. Finally after some studio chatter Pops does an insert for his horn spot which is solid but not used on the album. The final product is a mix of takes 8 and 9.

The Mame album is currently not available on CD although some tracks appeared on a Verve compilation, The Essential Louis Armstrong. The Three of Us was issued on a European CD.
Here's hoping the future brings all the tracks to CD. As always, Amazon and Worlds Records are the best sources. Despite the turnover in sessions and personnel , Mame is a very entertaining album and a good example of prime later Louis. Addendum- A recent CD release on Hippo Records entitled Hello Louis- The Hit Years (1963-9) has collected the Mercury sessions along with the Hello Dolly, Wonderful World lps and some singles.

Till next time, Red Beans and Ricely Yours.

Nat Gonella: A Real Gone Gonella

2010-01-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

Louis Armstrong's influence on music and musicians was immense. He was exceedingly popular in the British Isles as well in Europe and the States. One of his greatest British disciples was the talented trumpeter/vocalist Nat Gonella.

Nat took his own great talents as a trumpeter and vocalist and used Pops as basis for his style. He wasn't an Armstrong imitater, but always had the spirit of Pops in his playing and singing. This post will celebrate his story and talents.

Like Louis, Nat came from poor beginnings, being born in the Bow section of London on March 7, 1908. He learned trumpet in grade school and progressed to lead cornet in the school's brass band. Despite a severe case of glandular fever, by age 15 he had left school and was working as a professional musician. His first band was led by impresario Archie Pitt, the Busby Boys. In 1927 Nat heard Louis' Wild Man Blues and he was hooked-he became a lifelong fan and eventual friend of Pops.

Nat had a pure almost classical type of trumpet sound , however he had a real jazz feel and phrasing to his playing. The Louis influence was evident in his ability to play melodically in the higher register. He also developed his own personal vocal style with a nod to Pops- he had a cute Cockney accent coupled with a slight lisp and was also adept at scatting.

Nat quickly ran the gamut of top English dance bands starting with drummer Bob Dryden in 1928. (Bob would later work in Nat's band) followed by Andy Alexander, Billy Cotton (he made his first records with Cotton) and on to the popular Roy Fox band. Fox, himself a trumpeter was an American who had emmigrated to England. Nat scored a hit in 1931 with Oh. Mo'nah an old folk tune also made popular by Ted Weems. (It would be one of Nat's signature tunes). Pianist/arranger Lew Stone took over the Fox band in 1932 and it became one of England's top bands rivaling Jack Hylton and Ray Noble. Nat became so popular that he was given a band within the band called the Georgians. (Nat had recorded Hoagy Carmichael's Georgia on my Mind with Stone in 1932-it would become his theme song). In 1930 Nat married his first wife Betty, they had one daughter, Natalie.

Nat's first sides as a leader were made for English Decca in Sept. of 1932. Labelled Nat Gonella and his Trumpet, the sides feature Nat's solos and vocals backed by Ray Noble's rhythm section. Noble's popular vocalist Al Bowly plays guitar and is a solid rhythm man. I Heard features nice muted horn byNat, an engaging vocal and some impressive runs on the horn. I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me is played at a slow tempo with a muted chorus and double time passage before the coda. We also hear a bit of single stringing from Bowlly. A nice maiden voyage for Nat.

The sessions of Nov. 1932 and March 1933 produced more delightful sides with a heavy Louis influence. A trumpet, trombone and 3 saxes were added to get more of a Big band sound. When You're Smiling features the saxes along with Nat's vocal and some high register trumpet.obviously inspired by Louis' recording. Rockin' Chair has a nice muted intro and chorus by Nat, his vocal and another double time passage highlighted by glisses and a classic coda ala Louis. Sing (It's Good for You) has a tangy trumpet solo with tricky runs, a nice scat vocal, a bit of Bowlly's guitar and some nice arranged passages, The coda features some nice glisses and octave jumps. That's my Home, another Louis classic has muted horn, vocal with shades of Pops and a lovely solo going down low and using a No place like Home quote.

In 1934 Nat left Stone to form his own Georgians featuring his trumpet and vocals backed by a small combo of saxophone and rhythm. (Occasionally Nat's trumpet playing brother Bruts was added, along with an extra trumpet or sax) .Standout players in the group were reedmen Pat Smuts and Don Barrigo , pianists Monia Liter and Harold Hood (who joined Nat at the age of 16), basist Charlie Winter , drummer Bob Dryden and guitarist/vocalist Jimmy Mesene. The repertoire of the Georgians featured jazz standards, pop tunesof the day and many covers of Louis classics. They have that infectious 1930s small band feel of the Fats Waller, Wingy Manone and Louis Prima groups. Most of the sides were recorded for Parlophone.

There are many highlights from the 1930s Georgians series-here are a few. The Clarence Williams favorite E Flat Blues and Basin St. Blues both have engaging vocals by Nat along with his stirring horn work. The influence of Louis is apparent , but Nat goes his own way. He met Louis in 1932 when Pops toured the Isles , they became fast friends-Pops always referred to Nat as "My Man". Nagasaki would become a Gonella staple, he and the boys give it a swinging ride. Nat puts his own stamp on Tiger Rag but keeps Louis' dialog and high notes intact. For a lovely change of pace , try Ellington's Delta Serenade. The Georgians get that Dukish sound and vocalist Stella Moya impresses. (she would eventually marry Nat). The instumental Wabash Blues has a lovely solo by Nat , some arranged horn passages, a piano solo and closing spot by Nat. Square Face (previously recorded by Wingy Manone) has a tenor lead with muted backgrounds from Nat. Nat does the talking vocal and takes things home with a pure toned chorus and classic coda. Sweet and Hot has a tricky opening ensemble and on Nat's vocal various horn players make cute quotes. Nat goes up high on the out chorus with a semi- symphonic ending. I Want to be Happy (instrumental) gives a good idea of how the band sounded in person. A fast tempo uses a repeated horn passage to bring in all the solos. Nat eggs the guys on-a la Louis and Fats. All the soloists shine and Nat goes from low register to high in his outchoruses. He sounds a bit like the early Louis Prima here.

The 1935-8 period was a golden one for Nat and the Georgians. Along with Nat's standout horn and vocal work, the solos of Pat Smuts and Don Barrigo on sax and clarinet. pianists Monia Liter and Harold Hood and the solid contributions of brother Bruts made these sides so enjoyable.

We'd also like to mention Mr. Rhythm Man from Jan.1935 , an exellent side with some stoptime trumpet, piano, scatting by Nat and a high register finalw with a scat tag. Besides the Louis covers, Nat also recorded many current pop and swing favorites. I'm Gonna Wash my Hands of You (Jan.1935) is a nice minor theme in the style of You Rascal,You with Nat trading his vocal and horn spots with the other soloists. The Larry Clinton hit, The Dipsy Doodle (Jan.1938) fea tures Nat singing with a trio known as the Jackdaws and has a nice piano spot by Hood. Me, Myself and I (Feb.1938) a Billie Holiday favorite has some Harlem-like brass figures, a nice Nat vocal backed by Bruts and a short but sweet spot by Smuts. Now they call it Swing (April 1938), also waxed by Louis Prima highlights Nat's horn trading with piano and tenor and a standout vocal. Someone Stole Gabriel's Horn (Jan.1936) has Nat and the boys singing and some very inspired Louislike horn work, especially in the upper register.(Jack Teagarden and the Dorsey Bros. had previously recorded this title). An interesting session of Feb. 1936 had Nat recording a pre-cursor to Music Minus One. His versions of Tiger Rag and When You're Smiling. accompanied by rhythm section have the flip side open for a soloist to play on. Nat states the melody on each side and takes an exellent jazz solo split up by a piano solo.

In January of 1939, Nat visited the United States. He was a hit visiting and sitting in at Harlem nightspots, including a memorable jam session with Fats Waller. On Jan. 20 he recorded 4 sides for Parlophone with 6 excellent American pros including Benny Carter,alto, Buster Bailey,clarinet and Billy Kyle,piano. On Jeepers Creepers(introduced by Louis), Nat leads the ensembles,takes an engaging vocal complete with Pops-isms and takes the side out up high. The solos by Carter, Bailey and Kyle are first class. A pop tune of the day, Just a Kid named Joe became a regular part of Nat's repertoire. He sings it with great feeling and plays nice trumpet complete with a Loui-ish coda.

Back in England, the Georgians sides continued. The band was getting bigger and the sounds of the swing era were becoming more prevelent. A standout side is Tain't what cha Do(June 1939), made so popular by Trummy Young with the Jimmy Lunceford band. Nat sings it with help from the boys and the horn sections are real solid. Hood's piano and Nat's closing trumpet ride are highlights. Most of the post 1939 sides would be titled The New Georgians, as the band now was at full 12-14 piece size. There were new faces in the band, but Stella Moya continued as female vocalist. In Sept. of 1939, Nat, brother Bruts and pianist Hood were on tour in Holland. The oncoming war resulted in their making a quick trip to Stockholm where they recorded two sides for Odeon backed by Swedish players. Along with Frankie Carle's Sunrise Serenade, Nat cut another of his standbys, It's a Pair of Wings for Me.

The Big Band sound of the New Georgians features a very solid band with capable soloists and Nat's ever-dazzling solos and vocals. Like Louis, Nat was a natural in front of a Big Band. His personality and showmanship add to these sides. Also like Pops, Nat was the "real thing" off stage-a very warm and humorous man. Here are some highlights of their many English Columbia sides of 1939-42.

Along with re-recording staples such as Georgia, It's a Pair of Wings, Oh Mo'nah and Louis' That's my Home, Nat covered many of the current Big Band hits from the States. Tuxedo Junction(Sept.1940) features many of the original Erskine Hawkins' parts. Nat handles the familiar muted passage and adds a nice open chorus along with exellent tenor, alto and a swinging band sound. I Understand (May 1941) a Jimmy Dorsey hit shows the sweet side of the band. Guitarist Roy Dexter handles the vocal and Nat has a nice muted spot. His version of Sunrise Serenade (same date)also impresses with pretty band voicings and muted Gonella. Woodchopper's Ball (Oct. 1940)follows Woody Herman's chart quite faithfully with spots for tenor, clarinet and Nat himself. The Will Bradley Boogie Woogie hit, Beat me Daddy, Eight to the Bar (May 1941) features pianist Norm Stenfalt and some nice scat by Nat. Nat's version of In the Mood (Oct. 1940) is a good one. Besides the familiar Miller riffs, Nat opens and closes with a neat scat passage and lends a solid horn solo. Drummer Johnny Roland also gets some nice fills. Nat and wife/vocalist Stella Moyer also teamed up on some vocals, predating the Louis Prima/Keely Smith routines. If you Were the Only Girl (Feb. 1941) and Yes, my Darling Daughter (May 1941) are standouts. The last title is one of those popular minor/major Jewish melodies that were so popular in the 40s-Nat adds a bit of fralich horn. Other popular swing favorites covered by the New Georgians included Big Noise from Winnetka, Hot Mallets, Sent for you Yesterday, Jumpin' Jive and Johnson Rag.

In 1942, Nat was called into the service. He served with the Pioneers Corps and saw action in Africa. Following the war, he re-formed the New Georgians, but like in the states the Big Band era was coming to a close. He made a brief stab at be-bop then went back to leading a smaller band. By the start of the 50s he was doing a lot of music hall work, teamed with Leon Cortez then later Max Miller. By the end of the war, Nat and Stella had divorced. He met his third wife Dorothy in 1946, they had a very happy marriage until Dorothy's passing in 1996.

With the trad jazz boom of the 50s/60s in England, Nat got back to small group jazz with his Georgia Jazz Band, styled after the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. A 1958 session with clarinetist Archie Semple's group shows him in great form on trumpet and vocals. Semple was a devotee of Edmond Hall and his band gives Nat great support. He takes some fine vocals including a duet with Beryl Bryden on Ma,He's Makin' Eyes at Me. Nat's horn work is solid as ever on such standbys as Confessin' , Dinah, All ofMe, Ain't Misbehavin', Who's Sorry Now, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles and The Blues. He also made a session with his own band in 1960.(not available for review). Nat also appeared on the British version of This is Your Life. He didn't seem to reep the rewards of the trad boom like Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk, Chris Barber et al., perhaps the audience was more into the aforementioned youthful bands. Nevertheless, Nat was back playing his kind of jazz and sounding as great as ever.

In 1961 Nat made an excellent lp for EMI titled The Nat Gonella Story. The album was similar to Louis' Musical Autobiography on Decca. Nat took 14 of his landmark tunes and like Pops added his own colorful narration before each selection. (that's where we got the Gone Gonella line from). Nat was backed by a sextet for the Georgians-type tunes and a great studio big band including some of the top British players such as Tony Coe, Don Lusher, Phil Seaman , Jim Skidmore, Joe Temperly and Lennie Bush. The staples such as Georgia, Oh Mo'nah, Pair of Wings, Nagasaki and Kid named Joe are all there. Nat includes a great sextet version of Wild Man Blues to honor his introduction to Louis. Other favorites such as Bessie Couldn't Help It and Miss Otis Regrets from his early dance band days get nice up to date big band backup. Other favorites such as Honeysuckle, Them There Eyes and Stompin' at the Savoy are included. Nat's horn and voice are as stellar as always. This one is well worth searching for.

Nat continued to perform and record thru the 60s. The Beatles had usurped the Trad Boom, but there was still an enthuisiastic audience for jazz in England. Just when Nat was planning a semi-retirement from music he did some appearances and recordings with the Dutch trad band of drummer Ted Easton. Ted featured many visiting American stars such as Bud Freeman, Billy Butterfield, Peanuts Hucko and Ralph Sutton. He made several live recordings with Nat in the early to mid 70s along with a 1975 Christmas album. In 1977 Nat re-recorded his old standby Oh Mo'nah with Easton and it became a surprise hit on the Dutch music charts. This gave Nat a well-deserved career boost. Youtube has an exellent clip from this period of Nat doing Oh Mo'nah with the Easton band. He looks great and sings up a storm along with some nice trumpet fours with Easton's trumpeter Bob Wulffers. (we hope some more clips will surface).

By the 80s Nat and Dorothy had retired to the Gosport section of Hampshire. He stopped playing trumpet but continued to sing with local bands. 1985 saw a biography, Georgia on my Mind by Ron Brown published and a BBC tribute hosted by trumpeters Humphrey Lyttleton and Digby Fairweather with Nat himself contributing. Digby put together a New Georgians tribute band and Nat made many singing appearances with them. Nat lived a happy, comfortable life until his passing on August 6, 1998 at the age of 90.

Nat was a consumate musician who used Louis Armstrong as his model but also put his own talented take on the Satchmo style of trumpeting and singing.Like Louis, he was an inspiration to countless British jazz players. Here's hoping this post will help to keep his spirit alive.

Hip Hip to Brother Nat!

There are many European Gonella CDs available. Amazon and Worlds Records are a good starting point.

Highly recomended are Pavilion/Flapper 9750 by the Georgians of 1935-8 and Empress 804 "Naturally", a collection of the New Georgians Big Band sides.

Wally Brown and Alan Carney: B Movie Buffoons

2010-01-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

The amazing 1940s success of Abbott and Costello at Universal Studios inspired RKO pictures to create their own Abbott and Costello-like comedy team. Thus was born the team of Wally Brown (1904-61) and Alan Carney (1909-73). RKO had great success with the team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey from 1929-37 (they'll be the subject of a future post) and the Marx Bros. made a one-stop at RKO for Room Service in 1938. RKO was also the home of many short comedies headlined by Leon Erroll and Edgar Kennedy.

Brown and Carney were both ex-vaudevillians who happened to be working at RKO at the time.
Brown took the Abbott part-fast talking straightman who pushed his gullible partner around. Carney, chubby and dumb was the Costello prototype. Though not highly original, they were a decent team. (seeing they were manufactured by the studio). Their films while no classics are fun B pictures with good gags, pretty girls and music. (the perfect wartime anecdote.). This post will take a look at their output. (not all the films were available for review, but we're up for an addedum).

The first B & C comedy was Adventures of a Rookie (1943). This entry treaded on familiar ground as it did the RKO take on Abbott & Costello's Buck Privates. Wally and Alan play a nightclub entertainer and moving man who get drafted into the same unit along with a rich playboy (Richard Martin) whose uncle is the base commander. For some reason in most of the films their names were Jerry Miles(Brown) and Mike Strager (Carney)-not very funny or inventive , but this was RKO, not the Hal Roach Fun Factory. Director Leslie Goodwin helmed many of the RKO shorts

The minute the boys meet, they go into an Abbott & Costello like bit about A and B driving to Chicago. Of course we have the usual induction gags, drill routines and army maneuvers.Along the way the boys go awol, wind up at a party and get quarantined along with their unit. Like in Buck Privates , the boys and their rich buddy redeem themselves and become heroes with a patriotic ending. In one short scene Carney shows off his talent for mimicry, impersonating Edward G. Robinson and Charles Laughton. At a service hospital sequence we meet Claire Carleton , a cute blonde with great comic timing. She worked in a lot of RKO shorts and at Columbia popped up in the 3 Stooges short Fright Night and the Schilling and Lane classic, Two Nuts in a Rut .(see our Schilling and Lane post). She would be back with B & C for two more appearances. John Hamilton (Perry White from Superman) also appears as the base commander). All in all , this was a good introduction to Brown and Carney.

The next B & C entry was a sequel , Rookies in Burma (1943). Although not available for review the boys reprieved their army characters and met up with two USO showgirls , Claire Carleton and Joan Barclay. Most critics feel this is their best comedy, Leslie Goodwin returned as director.In 1944 Wally and Alan teamed up with George Murphy for a remake of the Marx Bros. Room Service. Murphy played Miller(Groucho) , Brown was Binion (Chico) and Carney took the Harpo role of Harry. Also along for the ride were Frank Sinatra, Gloria DeHaven and Adolph Menjou. It was a pleasant remake of the original plus songs.

Next up was the musical comedy Seven Days Ashore (1944). This time the boys are merchant marines who get their leave in San Francisco and get involved in buddy Gordon Oliver's romantic problems -he's trying to balance girlfriend Elaine Shepard along with entertainers Virginia Mayo and Amelita Ward. For some reason the boys are Monty (Wally) and Orval (Alan), guess it had more of an Abbott and Costello ring to it. The boys are paired up with the two showgirls until Gordon straightens things out and we get another patrotic ending with the marines marching out on orders.

There's a lot of music in this film. Marcy McGuire, a cute teenager who RKO was building up sings some songs in a pseudo Judy Garland style. Also along is pianist Freddie Slack and his Band(including clarinetist Barney Bigard) and Freddie"Schnickelfritz" Fisher, a popular Spike Jones style comedy band. (future Jones star George Rock is very prominent). B & C and their dates enjoy the band's rendition of Poor Little Fly. Margaret Dumont makes a cameo as-what else?- a dowager and Claire Carleton has a cute cameo as a harried telephone operator. The boys only get to do a few routines including an Abbott & Costello like bit on oysters and some horseplay on the nightclub phone. All in all, a very entertaining little film, this time produced and directed by John Auer.

The next entry was The Girl Rush (1944) One of the boy's best comedies. This time our heroes(back to Jerry and Mike) are out west in the Gold Rush days getting mixed up with girls and outlaws. Westerns were always a surefire premise for comedy teams. The girls are headed up by vocalist Frances Langford and Barbara Jo Allen (Vera Vague), a popular radio comedieene and star of Columbia shorts. Also aboard was a young Robert Mitchum as a cowboy and Patti Brill from Adventures of a Rookie. The film was directed by Hal Roach veteran Gordon Douglas. The boys get to sing and dance (they were both capable performers) and perform the old vaudeville "shell game" bit,along with a wild stagecoach getaway and a melee in a saloon with Brown,Carney, Mitchum and Co. all in drag fighting the bad guys!

Next up for the funsters was Radio Stars on Parade (1945)-not available for review. This was a rather mediocre showcase for popular radio performers of the day. Our heroes play talent agent managers trying to help vocalist Frances Langford rid herself of gangster Sheldon Leonard. (typecast as always). Along the way the boys get mixed up with Ralph Edwards' Truth or Consequences show. (later a TV favorite). Also featured were Don Wilson, Tony Romano (Bob Hope's USO guitarist) , Skinnay Ennis and his Band, country comic Rufe Davis and the Town Criers vocal group. (the Polk brothers and sisters who sang with Les Brown). Robert Clarke (of the KIng family) also appears and Frances gets to sing two great songs- That Old Black Magic and I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night. (they must have been RKO property , like Columbia they reused footage and songs ad nauseum). From the reviews we have it seems like the boys didn't get enough to do in this one.

The last two films in the series were surefire material for the boys,horror and spook comedy-always a can't miss formula for slapstick comics. First up was Zombies on Broadway (1945)-what a great title! In this film , RKO borrowed from their own horror classic , Val Lewton's I Walked with a Zombie (1943). This time Jerry and Mike are press agents working for gangster Sheldon Leonard (who else?) and promoting his Zombie Hut nightclub. The boys are sent to the island of San Sebastian to bring back a real zombie! The island's zombie expert is Dr. Renault (Bela Lugosi).Bela had been sleepwalking thru most of his roles and this was no exception. Along the way the boys meet stranded entertainer Anne Jeffreys as Jean (a great beauty with vocal talent and comic timing, remember her in Topper?). Anne was an RKO contract player and had been aappearing as Tess Trueheart in the Dick Tracy series. Back from the original is native zombie Darby Jones and calypso singer Sir Lancelot. The boys go thru the usual jungle gags, get captured by Renault and Mike is injected with zombie serum! The trio gat away and back to their boat by joining Mike as zombies! Back at the club Mike comes out of the trance only to have Sheldon get the needle and turn into the star of the show! Before the happy ending Wally winds up getting zombie-fied too.
This is certainly a wild one and the boys rise to the occasion. Anne is a lovely plus-her song Que Chica was used in the RKO Kay Kayser film Playmates( resourceful RKO). The jungle scenes look authentic-they were shot at the Los Angeles Arboretum where Johnny Weissmuller was filming his RKO Tarzan series.Direction was by Gordon Douglas who helmed many of the Hal Roach Our Gang shorts. Certainly one of the best Brown and Carneys.

The last B & C comedy was Genius at Work (1946). This was a remake of a 1937 RKO comedy, Super Sleuth (1937) starring Jack Oakie. It also resembled Abbott and Costello's Who Done It? a bit. Directed by Leslie Goodwins , the boys played radio actors on a popular mystery show. Anne Jeffreys as Ellen is back as the show's writer and their sidekick. Lionel Atwill as Latimer Marsh is a famous criminoligist who turns out to be the "Cobra", a killer on the loose! Bela Lugosi is back in a thanless role as Marsh's butler and henchman. Also along for the ride are two cops , Marc Cramer (Anne's love interest) and veteran serial and shorts actor Ralph Dunn.There are plenty of scare gags at Marsh's house including a chamber of horrors and the boys almost get bumped off on their radio show. The finale has some "high and dizzy" gags-surefire comic stuff when the heroes are teetering on building ledges. Wally gets to do the old "my buddy is dead" crying bit when he thinks Alan has fallen off the ledge. He quickly recovers when he sees Carney hanging on a flagpole! This is a fun little comedy-thriller and a good capper to the series.

After this entry the Brown and Carney series was ended, the studio felt they had exhausted the possibilities. It's too bad the boys were'nt allowed to continue and develop their characters more. They were consumate pros and made the best of the obvious Abbott and Costello cloning.

Wally and Alan continued their separate careers in film and both made the transition to television.Wally popped up a lot on shows such as My 3 Sons, Perry Mason, I Married Joan and Wagon Train. He was also a regular on the George Montgomery western, Cimarron City in 1958. (Claire Carleton was also in the cast. He and Alan were reunited in the Disney classic, The Absent Minded Professor although in sepate roles. He was slated to appear in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (also with Alan) but passed on before shooting started.

Alan kept busy with roles on Jack Benny , Dobie Gillis, Have Gun will Travel and a short lived comedy Take it from Me (1953) starring Jean Carroll. He also became a regular in Disney comedies.The Brown and Carney comedies are not classics but still offer lots of fun and 1940s entertainment to the viewer. AMC ran them for a while , now they're popping up on Turner Movie Classics.Otherwise you might find them on Ebay or in a vintage film catalog.

Till next time- Keep Laughing!

Andy Secrest:Shadowing Bix

2010-01-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

This post celebrates the career and music of cornetist Andy Secrest (1907-77) , a very competent jazz and dance band musician who possessed a unique talent, an uncanny ability to sound like his idol, Bix Beiderbecke. This talent brought him into the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at the tender age of 21.

Although he has been unfairly labeled a Bix copier, he managed to carve out a nice career and later develop a mature style of his own. This post will explore that interesting career.

In the 1920s most trumpeters and cornetists were under the spell of Louis Armstrong for obvious reasons. However, Bix Beiderbecke had a large number of musical followers including Jimmy McPartland(who replaced Bix in the Wolverines and came very close to his sound), Sterling Bose, Leo Mc Conville, Bob Mayhew, Chealsea Quealey and Secrest. (to name but a few).

Like Bix, Andy was a midwesterner, born in Muncie,Indiana. From his teen years he worked with various midwest territory bands gaining great experience as a jazzman and dance band musician. He made his recording debut with a Hoagy Carmichael band session for Gennett in Oct. 1927. Hoagy of corse was a great friend of Bix and I'm sure appreciated Andy's Bixian tones.While with a group called the Indiana Royal Peacock Orchestra, he recorded for Victor under the name of Jean Goldkette, who Bix had worked for. This session in Dec. 1927 produced a side Here Comes the Showboat that featured some Bix-like trading between him and Sterling Bose. Secrest did further work for Goldkette in 1928 along with free-lancing. Word of his abilities reached Paul Whiteman who was looking for a temporary replacement for Bix who was rehabbing from his alchohol problems. (This was in Dec. of 1928).

Secrest joined Whiteman in Jan. of 1929. Not only was he a capable jazzman but he was a sure reader and section man, not a strong suit with Bix. Secrest, like many of the aforementioned players, never tried to copy Bix, but were so influenced by him that their sound was very similar to the master's. He didn't have Bix's great harmonic sense or jazz ideas but was a very capable player in the idiom and his Whiteman and Frank Trumbauer Orch. solos have fooled many historians who though it was Bix. (Bix had lost a bit of his luster due to drink and was still capable of producing great solos but sometimes would sound rather ordinary.)

When Bix returned to the Whiteman Orch. in Feb. of 1929, Andy was retained. Whiteman obviously appreciated his talents and wanted to have him in place in case Bix wasn't up to the rigors of the band's schedule. Bix, of course, resumed his work with Frank Trumbauer's recording units, although Tram used Andy too, most likely as a safeguard plus utilizing Secrests' abilities as a leadman. These Trumbauer sessions have caused confusion as to who is playing what, although Bix still had the bulk of the solo spots with Andy filling in here and there. In March and April of 1929, Bix and Andy were on 7 sides by the Trumbauer band. Bix still has the majority of solos but Andy also has some spots and their sounds are both very close at this point.
Baby, Won't You Please Come Home? (4/17/29) has caused the most confusion over the years. We now know that Andy plays lead and the verse and Bix backs Tram's vocal and takes the solo. After the April 30 session Bix dropped out of the Trumbauer sides to conserve his energy for the Whiteman band. Andy would take over the solo duties on the Trumbauer sessions.

Andy's work on the post Bix-Trumbauer(1929-30) sides shows a very capable jazz cornetist. Although not the brilliant improviser that Bix was, he holds his own on sides such as Nobody but You, Shivery Stomp, Turn on the Heat, My Sweeter than Sweet and especially on Hoagy Carmichael's Manhattan Rag. This selection obviously intended for Bix gives Secrest much to do and he rises to the occasion.

Bix continued with Whiteman until Sept. of 1929. He still produced classic solos such as China Boy, Oh! Miss Hannah and Reaching for Someone. After the session of Sept. 13, he returned to Davenport to rehab once again. Bix wouldn't return to Whiteman and Andy assumed the role of cornet soloist in the orchestra.

His work with Whiteman during the 1929-30 period also shows his solid and ever improving solo ability. For years the solos on Nobody's Sweetheart and Great Day were thought to be by Bix. The Great Day solo is very adventurous with some descending phrases and a neat shake, more from the Louis style. Andy also has nice spots on After You've Gone and If I Had a Talking Picture of You. He also appeared with the band in the film King of Jazz (1930); however, he had little to do musically. He continued with Whiteman until 1932. An Eddie Lang session of Oct. 1929 has one of Andy's finest solos on Walkin' the Dog(very Bix-like).

From 1932-3 Andy worked with the popular Ted Weems band. The Weems band of this time played a lot of hot music. At this writing we don't have any recordings from Andy's stay with Weems but hope to do an addendum when we locate some. After some work with Rudy Vallee, Andy drifted into the Hollywood studio scene. His flair for jazz and orchestra experience made him the perfect studio musician. He worked a lot for Victor Young and John Scott Trotter. Ironically, the Trotter association brought him into several Bing Crosby recordings and programs. Bing, of course, was a former Whiteman bandmate. Smarty, recorded with Bing in 1937, shows a more mature Secrest with hints of Bix, Red Nichols and his own tasty touches. On Basin St. Blues with Connee Boswell (1937) Andy gets off a lovely solo with some hints of Louis. (What horn man didn't love Louis?) A Bing version of Aren't You Glad You're You has a solo that sounds like Andy, too. (circa 1942).

Andy also had a short stint with the Ben Pollack band in the spring of 1938. Two Decca sides, After You've Gone and Looking thru the World with Rose Colored Glasses, feature his tasty solo work. Bio. information on Andy is sketchy. We don't know if he married or had a family. We do know that he had a stint in the Coast Guard during WW2. A 1/1/43 Down Beat shows Andy in uniform guesting on Ginny Simms' radio show. (She featured guest service musicians.)

Thanks to good friend and collector Ed Reynolds of Wakefield, Mass. I was able to hear a fascinating recording in the Secrest collection. A Hollywood producer and jazz fan named Boris Rose put together a private session around 1944 or 45. Along with Andy were fellow Hollywood studio pros Joe Yukl, trombone, Peyton LeGere, clarinet, Stan Wrightsman, piano, Ed Scrirerick, bass, and Nick Fatool; drums. The sides recorded were Samandy Stomp (perhaps a play on words for Andy?) and Jive for Jeeves. Samandy has a Jazz Band Ball type feel with Andy's Bix/Nichols-ish horn proudly leading the way. The surprise is Jeeves, a typical riff tune of the 40s. Andy does a cornet-drum duet with Nick right out of the Harry James book. This type of versatility must have made him a very popular studio man. In the fall of 1949 , Andy recorded a session at Capitol co-led by Nappy Lamare(banjo/guitar) and Marvin Ash(piano). Also in the band were Irving Verret(trombone), Eddie Miller(tenor), Country Washburn(tuba/bass) and Zutty Singleton(drums). Andy sounds more into his Red Nichols vein here, especially his proud, strutting lead on Washington and Lee Swing. On How Come You Do Me , he's more bluesy with a nice growl passage. Sweethearts on Parade has some of the Bix touch along with fine leadwork.

In the 50s Andy continued working the Hollywood studio and jazz scene. He popped up on a few of the Gene Norman dixieland festivals. (I believe one of his sessions was recorded by Decca).
By the late 50s he had dropped out of music and was working in real estate. He died in California in 1977. We wish we had more bio. info on Andy but highly recommend Tom Pletcher's In a Myth site devoted to Bix and his associates along with the Bixology Discussion Group. (There are several articles on Andy). Here's hoping this post brings some long overdue attention to a fine jazzman who overcame the Bix-copier tag and produced some wonderful recordings.

I'm sure Bix would approve.

CD- Notes:The 1927 Hoagy session is on Timeless CBC 1011
The post Bix Trumbauer sides and some by Whiteman are on The OLd Masters 107-9 , Frank Trumbauer. Mosaic also has an exellent Bix/Tram/Teagarden set with Andy's Trumbauer sides.
The Basin St. with Bing and Connee Boswell is on Decca Jazz- Bing and some Jazz Friends.
The Whiteman and Trumbauer sides with Bix are all on Bix Restored. (try Amazon). The 1949 Capitol session is part of the Mosaic Records' Capitol Small Group Sessions anthology.

The Gene Krupa Story (1959)

2010-01-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

Continuing our Hollywood jazz bios, we come to another personal favorite, The Gene Krupa Story. This 1959 Columbia release has the usual Hollywood cliches , unintentional laughs and the most historical gaffes of any of the bios. (Miller, Nichols , Goodman , et al).

However, the film gets high marks for a powerhouse per-formance from Sal Mineo as Gene. A drummer himself, he captures the technique and mannerisms of Gene to a tee. We also benefit from Gene's own soundtrack work and the contributions of Musical Director Leith Stevens and Arranger Heinie Beau. (both worked on The Five Pennies that year).

Gene(1909-73) of course opened the door for drums in jazz as a solo instrument. His great technique, swing and personality made him the perfect benchmark for drummers. (as Louis was to trumpet ,vocals and swing conception).). Gene also led one of the top bands of the swing era. His 1941-2 unit featuring Roy Eldridge and Ania O'Day was one of the era's finest.

The film was produced by Phil Waxman , directed by Don Weis with screenplay by the associate producer Orin Jannings. Mineo's co-star was lovely Susan Kohner. She gave an excellent performance as Ethel Maguire, Gene's girlfriend and first wife. (they were married for 20 years , she passed away in 1955). Susan resembled Natalie Wood a bit and had great chemistry with Sal as the long-suffering ladyfriend. She left acting early to marry menswear mogul John Weitz.

James Darren (of Gidget, Time Tunnell and T.J. Hooker fame) was a talented actor and singer. He plays Gene's buddy trumpeter Eddie Sirota (a fictional character). Susan Oliver plays Dorissa Dinell, a singer with a crush on Gene. (her character is a bit over the top but fun). Celia Lovsky plays Gene's mom and Gavin MacLeod has a small role as Gene's brother, Ted. (a few years before his TV fame). Lawrence Dobkin plays Gene's manager , Speaker Willis. (another fictional character- Gene's real manager was Leonard Gluskin).

Also cast was pianist Bobby Troup as Tommy Dorsey , he looked a bit like Tommy. (in the 5 Pennies he played pianist Artie Schutt). The great drummer Shelly Manne plays Dave Tough. (he played him in the 5 Pennies too). Red Nichols , who gave Gene a lot of work in the early days plays himself. (surprisingly , we see the Red of 1959 with silver hair and crewcut!). For some reason comedian Buddy Lester shows up in a party scene that also features a cameo by Anita O'Day. Gene himself had appeared in the Glenn Miller Story and had a meaty role in the Benny Goodman Story. Apparently budget-consious Columbia didn't make an effort to engage Benny Goodman.

The story opens in Chicago of 1927 as Gene is starting to make a name for himself with local Chicago jazz players. (no mention of the Austin High gang or any real musicians of the day). Gene's parents want him to be a priest (a real part of his life) , but his love for music is too strong. In an early jam session scene we hear a lively version of Royal Garden Blues. Gene has taken over Dave Tough's chair. (Dave was a great Chicago drummer who later played with many of the great Big Bands).

One of the first of many gaffes has Gene and the band at a clambake where Darren sings a very Sinatra-like version of Let There be Love. (very nice, but this is 1927!). At the clambake Gene is pursued by a comely socialite. (Yvonne Craig-later of Batgirl fame). Eddie's girl Ethel starts to fall for Gene and the romance escalates. After the death of Gene's father , he tries the seminary but quickly drifts back into jazz to the regret of his mom. During a speakeasy sequence we get a nice version of Way down Yonder in New Orleans. Gene and Eddie decide to seek their musical fortunes in New York.

At a jazz party Gene gets to sit in with Red Nichols and the Dorsey Bros.(played by actors). The version of Indiana is a good one with nice licks by Gene, Red and Heinie Beau (on the soundtrack). Red is impressed with Gene's work and promises him some work. In the film we see Gene get a pit job in the show Strike Up the Band which Red contracted. We also meet Darissa , a popular singer of the day who initially dislikes Gene then begins an affair with him. (she hangs around as Gene's band vocalist). At this point of the film Gene is briefly introduced to marijuana, soon to be a stumbling block in his career.

A corny but effective scene has Gene playing a club date and receiving a letter from his mother disapproving of his lifestyle. Gene puts the letter on his drum and starts a solo that builds up with the crowd chanting Go, Gene, Go. Gene cries out- Here that, Mama, They're yellin' for your Boy, They approve-- typical Hollywood, but a lot of fun. At this point Speaker Willis enters as Gene's manager and he and Ethel drift apart. A montage scene includes real bands Gene worked with in the early 30s including Bix Beiderbecke, Mal Hallett, Irving Aaronson, Russ Columbo, Buddy Rogers and finally Benny Goodman in 1934. There are no sequences of Gene with the Goodman band.

Next, Gene decides to start his own big band. (This occurred in march of 1938). Gene throws a party and we hear Anita O'Day sing Memories of You. However she doesn't join the Krupa band! Also at this party Bunny Berigan, Frank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke show up. (Bix had died in 1931!). At the party Gene puffs on a reefer to relax.

The next sequence shows Gene with his big band and is an excellent re-creation of one of his stage shows. During the version of Indiana the band members answer Gene's licks on small tom-toms attached to their bandstands. This was a real Krupa showstopper in the swing years.

Gene is riding high during the swing years but a marijuana possession wrap curtails his ride. (This was a real life low in Gene's career). He has to scrap the band and get legal representation. Darissa, who can help erase the wrap, bails out on Gene. There is a touching scene where Gene receives a call from his Mom offering her support. Gene has to serve a 90 day sentence. The real case got a lot of bad press and hurt Gene's career. In the film we get the usual Hollywood cliches of Gene playing with corny bands and in a strip joint. Ethel comes back into the picture to give Gene her support and suggest he try out with a new band Tommy Dorsey is forming. (In real life Gene made his comeback with Goodman (1943), then joined Dorsey for a while (thru 1944).

Gene met with Dorsey (Troup) who already has Dave Tough on drums. (He was actually with Woody Herman at this point). However, Eddie (conveniently playing with Tommy) suggests Gene be booked as a special guest for Tommy's Paramount Theatre opener. Gene gets mixed reaction from the crowd. We hear chants of Got a Reefer?, Hey Jailbird and Smoke One for Me. On Hawaiian War Chant Gene drops his sticks in mid-solo. Dave Tough gives Gene some support and the two trade passages and Gene recovers to give an electrifying solo getting the crowd yelling Go, Gene, Go! once again as the band seques into Cherokee for a fitting climax.

After a jovial reunion with the musicians backstage, Gene runs after Ethel. This time he's not going to lose her and the film ends on a happy note.

Gene himself left us with a great legacy of recordings and also appeared in many short films, features and TV shows.(Youtube has a large sampling) An interesting sidelight to the film was a Columbia promotional short called Jammin' with Gene in which Sal Mineo meets Gene on the set and trades drum licks with Gene. It's worth searching out on Ebay or Youtube. The Gene Krupa Story was available for years on VHS, has had some DVD distribution, but may be hard to find. (Try Amazon). Verve also issued a soundtrack lp which is long out of print. (again, try Ebay).

Special thanks to a good friend and great drummer, Steve Taddeo for his input. Steve is the keeper of the Krupa flame in New England. Check him out on Youtube under Seacoast Stompers. Despite it's flaws and innacuracies, The Gene Krupa Story offers solid entertainment and great music.

Until next time- Keep Swingin'

Laurel and Hardy-A Chump at Oxford (1940)

2009-12-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is our first Laurel and Hardy post. It has taken us a while to get to one of the greatest comedy teams of all time. Stan(1890-1965) and Ollie (known affectionately as Babe) (1892-1957) will be back for many more posts. Along with the 3 Stooges, they are personal favorites and I am proud to be a member of the Boston Brats chapter of the Sons of the Desert (the Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society).

A Chump at Oxford is one of my favorite L & H features and the penultimate made for Hal Roach studios, their home studio and scene of their best comedies. (the 1941-5 features made for Fox and MGM were sadly below average). In high school , I smartly used this film as an essay in English and recieved an A for it (one of my few As-it payed to review Stan and Ollie). While we have much of the patented L & H slapstick, we also get an interesting role for Stan as he gets to use a new persona as Lord Paddington towards the film's climax.

Before we sample some of the film's highlights , here are some backround points of interest. The film was originally released as a 42 minute featurette , then expanded to 63 minutes , (for European release) adding the pre- Oxford employment sequences. The creative talent involved was top-notch. In 1941 the full version was released in the states.
The director , Alf Goulding was an ex-vaudevillian who introduced Hal Roach to Stan's talents back in 1918. He was a personal friend of Stan , however this was his first directorial job with the boys.

The screenplay was by three comedy pros. Harry Langdon , a comedy superstar of the 20s now reduced to shorts and writing assigments had worked an 2 previous L &H comedies. Charley Rogers , was another comic/writer and a fellow countryman of Stan's. He had on many of the Roach films. Felix Adler was a veteran gagman and worked for years at Columbia with the 3 Stooges and other comics. The title was a takeoff on a popular Robert Taylor film , A Yank at Oxford.

The cast had many familiar faces. At Oxford , one of the boys' favorite foils Charlie Hall was aboard (as a student!) along with Forrester Harvey (their valet, Meredith) , a young Peter Cushing and Wilfred Lucas (the warden in Pardon Us) as the dean. In the earlier scenes two old favorites , Anita Garvin and James Finlayson returned as the Van Deveres , the boys' employers. (they both went back to the Roach silents and were comedy pros). We also had the bonus of the wonderful music of Marvin Hatley , always a highight in a Roach film.(a few touches of swing music pop up along with the usual breezy score).

We open with the boys riding in style in the back of a chauffeured limo. It turns out the chauffeur is giving them a lift. After a catastrophe trying to ride on the back of a water truck the boys arrive at the Employment office in the back of a wrecker. The only jobs available call for a butler and maid at the Vandevere party. Ollie grabs the assignment and Stan is recruited to play Agnes the maid as he did in Another Fine Mess (1930) which also featured James Finlayson. The boys are met with dubious reactions by the Vandeveres, but they're in a bind and decide to give them a try. The folowing sequences borrow from L & H's silent classic From Soup to Nuts using some classic kitchen and servant gags. Ollie's efforts at seating the guests turns into a mele while Stan makes the error of following Finlayson's orders to take those cocktails (he gets himself drunk) and serving the salad undressed (in his underwear!). Finally Fin can take no more and escorts the boys out of the house with his rifle-his shot hits an unsuspecting cop! (L & H regular Harry Bernard).

The boys' next job is as sanitation workers. As they take a lunch break outside a bank , Stan's errant banana peel causes a bankrobber to trip during his getaway , making the boys heroes. (this is a great way of using one of the oldest gags in the book). Their reward is an education at Oxford and here is where we start the original film.

On arriving at Oxford , the boys are put thru a series of pranks by the aforementioned "students". First they are sent thru a maze of shruberry that leads to their quarters. The maze provides some fun gags and of course a "spook" appears to scare them off and we get the old extra hand gag (the spooks' hand lighting up Stan's pipe, twiddling thumbs, etc.). Finally the boys find their quarters , only it turns out to be the Deans' rooms. The boys have some fun with a seltzer bottle , trying to squirt the Deans' picture only to have the real Dean step in. A fight with the Dean ensues climaxing in a pillow fight and the "students" getting found out for their pranks on Stan and Babe.

The students promise to get revenge on L & H , who finally get their proper rooms. Their valet , Meredith regonizes Stan as Lord Paddington , the schools' greatest athlete and scholar who dissapeared years ago. Ollie gets a good laugh over this! When the students come after the boys Stan gets conked on the head by his window and in his daze assumes the persona of Lord Paddington! He quickly dispatches the nasty students out said window including Ollie who leaves a sizable hole in the ground - the Dean winds up in the hole with Ollie.

The last part of the film has great acting from Stan as he gets to ham it up as the stuffy , sarcastic Lord. Ollie has been made his "lackey" and the Dean fusses all over the return of his Lordship. Ollie's exasperation is classic! When the Lord gets to critical of Ollie's abilities and double chins , Ollie prepares to leave for the states. When Stan gets conked on the dome once more he returns to his simple character , much to Ollie's delight! The last shot has Ollie laughing in delight ,embracing Stan and checking his chin! These moments show the wonderful humility and lovable characters that were Stan and Babe. This is what made their films so special.

After Saps at Sea (1940) , L & H left Roach. Roach had been downsizing his comedy roster and was concentrating on features. Stan and Babe wanted to form their own production company.

Sorry to say they were eventually signed up with Fox and MGM for some dismal films without the care and love that Hal Roach gave them. These assembly-line comedies treated the boys as pure simpletons and had none of the humility of the Roach films. Thankfully , the bulk of their films were made for the Roach banner and contain their best work. There will be more to come.
A Chump at Oxford is available on DVD from Amazon. Sad to say , not many of the Hal Roach product is available on DVD , let's hope that will corrected in the future.

Till next time , Keep Laughing.

Ira Ironstrings plays Santa Claus (1959)

2009-12-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

This Christmas post will celebrate a personal favorite Christmas album and a wonderful series of recordings by the infamous Ira Ironstrings on Warner Bros, Records.
This series featured great jazz playing and clever swinging arrangements with a touch of Spike Jones' comedy. For years the identity of Ira Ironstrings was unknown but now we know that it was Big Bandleader/Guitar Great Alvino Rey doing some moonlighting. Rey was under contract to Capitol records and created the Ironsides persona as a way to make these fun, swinging albums. (Alvino had a great sense of humor). Alvino plays banjo on these sides , the rest of the players are unknown but have to be a core of the Hollywood studio pros-the musicianship is superb! Warren Barker handled much of the arranging and I suspect guitarist Jack Marshall might have also had a hand- some of the charts sound like his work for other albums.

There's a lot of dixieland, swing ,banjo and plenty of slap-mallet vibe work.(Whoever the player was, he got a workout on the sessions-Emil Richards, a top studio pro has been suggested) . The comedy is subtle but still in the Spike Jones' style-It really comes into play on the Christmas album.(Subtitled-Christmas Music For Those Who Have Heard Everything). I first discovered this album during a stint at a local music store. The owner loved this album and played it during the holidays-I borrowed it and made a cassette copy and now am delighted to have the CD from Collector's Choice Music. Dave Kapp's exellent liner notes echo his own childhood fascination with this album.

The original cover is reproduced with Santa tied down ala Gulliver by irate citizens! The original liner notes are also here-they were always a highlight of the Ironsides series. Despite the humor and bogus persona we get a lot of great jazz and amazing playing by Alvino and his studio pros.
I'm sure some of the usual suspects would include Mannie Klein, Shorty Sherock and John Best-trumpets , Si Zenthner,Abe Lincoln and Moe Scneider-trombone , Skeets Herfurt, Babe Russin, Matty Matlock (who also contributed some of the arrangements) and Gus Bivona-reeds , Ray Sherman or Lou Busch,piano(Lou produced this album-better known as Joe "Fingers" Carr, he guested on another Ira lp) , Morty Corb, bass and perhaps Nick Fatool or Alvin Stoller, drums. If anyone has info. on the personell (especially the mystery vibes man) I'd love to hear from you.

Now on to some of the many musical highlights:
Let it Snow-We get off to a swinging start with a neat riff on the familiar melody. Next is a Dixieland passage (the soprano sax sounds a bit like George Probert from the Firehouse 5) followed by the vibes (a fixture of the Ira sound) , with swinging backround, some growl trumpet, bass clarinet , back to the unison and a dixie ending.

Jingle Bells Stomp-The dixie group opens up followed by bass clarinet backed by sleigh bells, slap vibes, more dixie and back to the bass clar. and bells.

Skater's Nightmare (Waltz)-This is one of the wildest cuts and has popped up on Music Choice on Cable channels. We start with trombone lead backed by tricky piano noodling and growl trumpet. Alvino's banjo handles the verse , a band interlude brings on the vibes(always swinging in 4/4) , unison banjo/vibes on the verse with more trumpet growls and a wild drum break. An all-out band chorus brings back Alvino for the verse, a touch of tympani and dixie finish. All in 2 and a half minutes!.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus- Shuffle Rhythm opens with trombone lead and wa-wa trumpet. Next is the dixie band and vibes followed by a mellow trumpet (or flugelhorn) solo. A bit of growl trombone, soprano and dixie finish with a Lawrence Welk ending!

Christmas is for the Birds!-An original , probably by Alvino and/or Barker. Lots of sleigh bells, flutes and bird calls. Banjo takes the bridge with some Spike Jones effects , some dixie , a chimes interlude incorporating other Xmas tunes then back to the theme , a unison bridge , touch of banjo and dixie finish with a birdcall coda. Lots of Fun!

Deck them Halls- Two guitars in harmony open with the theme (probably Alvino) backed by bells. Some dixie follows , chimes lead to banjo/vibes unison with some dirty Spike Jones-ish trombone (perhaps Abe Lincoln?). More vibes , dixie and back to the 2 guitars for a fugue ending. A real clever chart.

Over the River (And thru the Woods)- We open with dixie and the familiar vibes followed by a cute unison riff ,more dixie a chimes break and dixie to the coda. A neat twist on a real Christmas oldie.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer- Bass clarinet states the melody with cute band answers , a banjo bridge , touch of flute then into the dixie chorus with some honky tonk piano(probably Lou) and soprano sax. Back to the Bass Clar. and the vibes ride out the coda.

Frosty the Snowman- A dixie intro followed by more honky tonk piano , the dixie band (vibes and banjo on bridge) and a neat unison passage by the band. Some more hokey trombone and back to the piano and dixie band with a neat modulation.

Sleigh Ride- The Leroy Anderson favorite gets a swinging ride by Ira and pals. Banjo/vibes state melody with trombone playing the counter melody with growl trumpet on bridge. On the second chorus the next theme is played in unison with some banjo licks , more drum breaks and a dixie finale with banjo on the bridge and coda.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town- We wrap things up with a mellow version of this perennial. Bass clarinet has a clip-clop figure while banjo/vibes state melody backed by bells with wa-wa trumpet. Next is dixie with vibes on bridge and back to unison melody with bas clar. having the last say.

We hope this review inspires you to pick up this very special and un-traditional Christmas album. Hopefully we will see more Ironstrings albums reissued. There are great titles such as Ira Ironstrings plays for People with $3.98 , Destroys the Great Bands , Plays with Matches and Meets Joe "Fingers" Carr-Together for the Last Time Vol.1.
These albums are a testament to the musical talents and humor of Alvino , his arrangers and top sidemen.

Happy Holidays.

Billy Butterfield: "Conniff Meets Butterfield"--"Just Kiddin' Around"

2009-12-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Our recent Bob Crosby post (11/1/09) lauded the talents of trumpeter Billy Butterfield (1917-88). Billy was a consummate jazzman, lead and section man which made him extremely valuable in the world of big bands, traditional jazz and swing.

These two albums recorded for Columbia in 1959 and 1963, respectively, show his beautiful tone and jazz feel, even in a more commercial setting. Conniff Meets Butterfield reunites Billy with his old buddy from the Bob Crosby band, Ray Conniff (1916-2002). Ray, an excellent trombonist (more on that later) and arranger, had hit it big at Columbia with a simple but effective series of vocal albums featuring his Singers backed by tasty arrangements usually with rhythm section backing.

The 1959 session is a trumpet showcase for Billy playing a series of popular standards backed by Ray's rhythm and catchy charts. Many of the tunes utilize the shuffle rhythm made so popular by Jonah Jones over at Capitol records. The one constant is Billy's huge, gorgeous tone whether muted or open. His jazz ideas are given free reign even though this is essentially an easy listening album. Personally, this album was an early exposure to great trumpet playing and still evokes happy memories. Here are some highlights:

Most of the tunes have Billy either cup muted or open playing some great standards backed by a rhythm section. Despite the commercial nature of the album Billy gets in great jazz phrasing and licks on all the tunes.

The opener Beyond the Blue Horizon gets off to a great start with shuffle rhythm and Billy's pungent cup muted horn. Billy goes open for the second chorus with nice variations before going up high for a classic ending. The rest of the album doesn't disappoint. Ray's arrangements are sparce, but clever. On You must have been a Beautiful Baby, Billy plays open and has a nice jazz chorus with a catchy riff before reprieving the melody with cup.

Time on my Hands has cup mute melody then Billy plays a nice unison riff with the rhythm. What a Differance a Day Makes opens with Billy in cup then a nice open passage over shuffle rhythm with Louis-like glisses before going out up high.

South of the Border is another swinger with shuffle rhythm, more trumpet-rhythm unison and some more Louis high ones. Billy uses the Ay-ay-ay strain as a coda. Rosalie also swings nicely over shuffle with more glisses (Billy sure knew his Louis) and a repeated ending with a hint of Salt Peanuts. Ray's original A Love is Born (Song of the Trumpet) , is a beautiful, haunting theme , just perfect for the great Butterfield horn. Only one chorus, the theme shows off Billy's control and gorgeous tone. A highlight of the album, for sure. The other tracks , I Found a Million Dollar Baby, Can't we be Friends, All the Things You Are, Oh What a Beautiful Morning and Something to Remember You By all have wonderful Butterfield solos.

The only drawback to the album is a gimmicky echo in the rhythm section that sounds like the drums and guitar are behind the beat. This was the era of hifi/stereo and these effects are very annoying-Too bad it wasn't omitted on the reissue. (It would get worse on the next album).

The follow-up album was Just Kiddin' Around (1963) and this time Ray added his trombone work to his arranging talents. Ray had broken in as a trombonist with Bunny Berigan, followed by stints with Bob Crosby(where he met Billy), Vaughn Monroe, Artie Shaw and Harry James. His work with Shaw, especially his chart on 'Swonderful, established him as a top arranger and soon his trombone had to take a back seat. (He reworked the sWonderful chart for the Singers and had a hit with it.) Ray was a fine jazz player. His work on a March 1944 Blue Note session with Art Hodes, Max Kaminsky and Rod Cless show what a fine trad/dixie player he was. If he hadn't met with so much success as an arranger, he could have been a major player in the trad circles.

Ray and Billy only team up on 2 selections, the rest of the album has them splitting solo features. On Alexander's Ragtime Band, Billy and Ray duet the first chorus with Billy getting off some nice licks, Ray handles the verse and Billy wails up high on the outchorus with Ray sliding underneath. We even get some quotes from Cornet Chop Suey and Muskrat Ramble-A Great Opener! Just Kiddin' Around is a riff tune from Ray's Artie Shaw days with unison playing by the horns, more shuffle rhythm, trading fours a nice Basie-ish piano bridge and back to the unison. Now on to the features.

Billy's features are in the same format as the earlier album. Put your Arms Around Me is a standout with shufle rhythm and Billy getting off great drive and phrasing. After a modulation he wails the second chorus with a long held note on the coda. This Love of Mine has soaring open horn with a lot of Louis and Bunny like phrasing. On You'll Never Know, Billy gets in some nice Harry James licks in tribute to a fellow trumpet great. Louise and But Not for Me are both tasty renditions.

Ray's features are tasty but not as jazz oriented. However he plays strong and percussive-He obviously had been keeping his chops up. Heartaches, When I Grow Too Old to Dream, You Oughta be in Pictures and Peg O' My Heart are all nicely played with his patented tasty charts.
The lovely ballad I See Your Face Before Me has more of a Teagarden feel and is a jazz highlight.

All in all , these two lps show the greatness of Billy Butterfield as an all-round trumpeter and the dual talents of Ray Conniff. The CD versions are available on Columbia thru Amazon.

Till next time-Keep Swingin'

The 3 Stooges-Hula -La-La (1951)

2009-11-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

The Stooges go native in this delightful 1951 short , one of their very best with Shemp as third stooge. The plot has the boys as dance teachers at a movie studio sent to a South Sea island to teach the natives how to dance , the studio is planning a big polynesian epic and find out their natives can't dance! Along the way the boys run afoul of beautiful island girls, headhunters, an evil witch doctor and a pesky idol with four arms!

This breezy short was directed by Hugh McCollum , primarily a producer at the Columbia Shorts Dept. His style was more laid-back and jovial than the violent Jules White, however we have the usual wild slapstick gags by the boys. The story was by Ed Bernds , himself one of the Stooges' best directors. His screenplay has loads of witty dialog and bad puns. Another plus is the little untitled island song that gets played thruout the short, it gives not only the proper flavor but a nice change of pace. (Columbia, always thrifty reused it as backround music at a waterfront cafe in the 1955 sci-fi classic , It Came from Beneath the Sea).

The supporting cast is an exellent one including Stooge regular Emil Sitka as Mr. Baines the studio chief.(he will be the subject of a future post) His part is small but he makes the most of it even getting in a nifty pratfall. Emil plays his own age here, he was very adept at old codgers and goofy professors.
Jean Willes plays the native girl Luana, she joined the Columbia shorts in the mid 40s as Jean Donahue and was a busy player with the Stooges and other comics thru the mid 50s. Jean was a tall, leggy brunette and like Christine McIntyre(the Stooges' first lady) she had a good flair for comedy. She worked in many features of the 40s and 50s, popped up in the feature version of McHale's Navy and was in the classic Twilight Zone episode , Will the Real Martian please Stand Up?
Another favorite Stooge foil Kenneth McDonald plays Varanu the Witch Doctor. Kenneth was a great slimy villain with his pencil mustace and theatrical voice , many Perry Mason fans remember him as one of the regular judges on the show. A Hawaiian named Lei Aloha (sounds like a stage name!) plays the idol and longtime bit player Heinie Conklin gets to mug a little as the king.

The comic highlights are many , but here are some of my favorites:
The opening scenes with the Stooges as dance instructors are a hoot. Moe telling Shemp that the "girls have their rondelets mixed up with their pirouettes and their fortissimos tangled with their allegrettos." Shemps's response- "Yeh, but what's wrong with their dancin'?" Shemp proceeds to give the girls a wild display of his dance style only to find he's dancing to a Trombone part! ( The boys were all great eccentric hoofers , but Shemp took the cake).

Varanu showing the boys his collection of shruken heads has a great Columbia editing gaffe as Moe's scream gets dubbed in before he can react. Shemp's visit to Luana's hut has him hiding under the bed when Varanu enters and Shemp dealing with a visit from a baby and momma crocodile while still under the bed. Great Stuff! We even get the old "You can say that again" bit when Luana tells the boys that the witch doctor is a bad man. (she says it again, of course).

Moe and Larry's encounter with the Idol (Old Four Arms) is a classic with both getting heaps of punishment from the multiple arms before Moe gets her with a great eye-poke. (the Idol uses all 4 hands to cover her eyes). The Idol is guarding a box of hand grenades that the Stooges use in the finale. Shemp also gets in some good jungle dialog calling Luana's boyfriend,Kuala the Coca-Cola guy and instructing a native to Ungow! and get him some food.

Just when it looks like the boys are to be victims of Varanu's axe on the chopping block , Moe asks him for a sample of his work on the grenade box. When arrogant Varanu obliges he gets blown sky high with only his smoking sandals left! (a perennial Stooge gag). Finally the boys get to give the islanders their dance lesson. Moe, Larry, Shemp and the cast start skipping, shuffling and trying to hula accompanied by the little island song. Shemp again takes top honors with his wild contortions.

Hula-La-La is oneof the best of the many classic Shemp outings by the Stooges. It is available on Vol.6 of the Sony/Stooges collection. (which should be wrapping up in 2010).

Till next time-Keep Stooging!

Good News- Teresa Brewer and the World's Greatest Jazz Band

2009-11-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

This delightful session from 1974 has been quite forgotten over the years, We hope this post will bring it some well deserved recognition.

The album was originally recorded for Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label. (he was Teresa Brewer's husband). While Miss Brewer is an acquired taste, her work here shows a maturity as a performer with a nice feel for jazz. (No doubt Mr. Thiele. a top jazz record producer helped). As for the World's Greatest Jazz Band , alias W.G.J.B. they have one of their best blowing sessions. The band has plenty of solo room, on some tunes Teresa sings just a single chorus! The addition of Bobby Hackett's cornet and Bucky Pizzarelli's guitar is also a strong plus.

The theme of the album is a salute to the wonderful songs of the team of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson. This threesome wrote some of the most popular show and movie tunes of the 20s and 30s. Quite a few of the songs came from the Good News show along with some other goodies by the team. (the show was enjoying a revival at the time).

The band's lineup is a strong one. Regular members included Yank Lawson (trumpet), Bob Wilber (clarinet & soprano) , Vic Dickenson (trombone) , Bud Freeman (tenor) , Ralph Sutton (piano) , Bob Haggart (bass) and Gus Johnson (drums). Trombonist Benny Morton had recently joined the band. (he and Vic had both worked with Hackett's tasty quintet). Benny didn't get a lot to do on the session , but was an old pro.Veteran arranger Glenn Osser devised some simple charts , but the structure is pretty loose and free-blowing.

Miss Brewer was always a cute and vivacious performer with a big voice and sometimes heavy vibrato. However she rises to the occasion in this stellar company. She especially connects with Hackett (what singer didn't, he was a master at vocal backup). The previous year Teresa had guested on Bobby's What a Wonderful World album. (another Flying Dutchman production).
While we miss Billy Butterfield's trumpet (he had recently left the band) , Bobby is a most welcome replacement. Bucky Pizzarelli's solid rhythm guitar adds to the already rock solid rhythm section. Now, on with the show!

Good News (1927) the opener is the title tune of the broadway show. Gus'hihat brings in the band wailing with Bud's twisting, percussive tenor on the bridge. The band modulates to Teresa's vocal backed by Bobby's tasty cornet , after another modulation Bob Wilber's soprano is on with a playful Hackett bridge. More Bud , a wry Dickenson trombone bridge and the band goes home with a driving tag by Gus. We're off to a great start!

I Want to be Bad from a 1930 show and film called Follow Thru. Bobby and Vic introduce the melody in duet leading to a cute vocal by Teresa.(right up her alley) A modulation brings on Yank and the band with a striding bridge by Sutton. The band takes things home with some nice noodling by Wilber over the last chord.

The old favorite Button up your Overcoat (also from Follow Thru) makes a perfect vehicle for Teresa. After a band intro Teresa is on with nice Wiber backup. The band wails one with Bud on the bridge folowed by a nice series of trading between Yank and Bobby folowed by Vic and Benny. The band moulates back to Teresa with more cute vocalizing (backed by Wilber) and the band riding her home. This rendition moves along nicely.

Sunnyside Up comes from a 1929 film of the same name and was also featured in the 1956 bio. of DeSylva, Brown & Henderson , The Best Things in Life are Free. Yank opens with his Harmon mute, a greattrademark sound of his , pushed by Bucky's great guitar. Wiber brings on Teresa for 2 great choruses getting hotter on the second backed by Ralph's striding. We modulate to more swinging Freeman tenor folowed by more trombone trading. Yank takes out the last half on Harmon with Wilber noodling underneath. A Great version!

Lucky in Love , also from Good News opens with Haggart's familiar whistling before Teresa enters backed nicely by Hackett. The band modulates with Bud on the bridge. A lovely round toned Wilber chorus with Hackett's bridge then bring on the band who set up Teresa's final chorus (with more pretty Hackett noodling) with atasty unison figure and rideout. Glenn Osser's contributions are felt thruout the date, but the band gets plenty of wailing room.

Varsity Drag (Good News)- This is a real swinging track.A raggy piano intro by Ralph brings in Teresa for two great choruses, a bit Charleston-like on the first and swinging on the second. The band goes aboard with a nice chorded bridge by Bucky. Vic's up next with a strutting, slurring chorus with Wiber on the bridge and a modulation to Teresa's last chorus that swings along with nice vocal variations. (I like her line do the varsity drag-in drag). Vic closes the festivities with one of his dirty pedal notes. This rendition is no drag at all!

Just Imagine (Good News)- One of the highlights of the session. Teresa sings the lovely verse backed by Ralph. Bobby enters with his lovely sound and stays behind Teresa's plaintive vocal. Her maturity and jazz feel make this an outstanding vocal. Bud takes over playing pretty with an equally lovely bridge by Wilber. Teresa picks up the last half with Bobby stil behind her winding down to a long ending with Bobby weaving over the final chords into one of his classic codas. Bobby gives us some of his last great solos here (he passed on in 1976). Teresa and Bobby get MVP honors here.

Together- Another lovely ballad done with a light swing. This tune was featured in the 1956 bio.
Ralph gives us a striding intro into Teresa's vocal (backed by Wilber). A modulation brings on a weaving, twisting Hackett for a half chorus picked up by Bud. Wilber brings back Teresa for the last half and a nice closing vocal tag backed by Wilber, who shines here. Teresa's singing is very expressive on this track. Bud and Bob take the cake on this one.

You're the Cream in my Coffee-from a 1929 film, The Cock-Eyed World. Bob's soprano introduces the theme. (he was a master on the instrument). A nice interlude using some of the bridge's melody brings on Teresa for a strutting chorus. (more Bobby on the bridge).A swinging band chorus follows with Bobby in for the bridge. Bud and Vic split a chorus with Vic's laughing plunger on the bridge and the band takes us home with another bombastic tag by Gus. Plenty of good blowing by the band here.

We wrap up the party with The Best Things in Life are Free.(Good News). Bobby 's graceful cornet opens over bchords into Teresa's cheery vocal (with nice backup by Bobby and Bud) followed by more of Yank's driving Harmon with Wilber on the bridge. A break by Vic gives us more of his wry sound with Bobby darting in for the bridge. Bobby takes a pretty break that sets up Teresa's last chorus (more Bud and Wilber backup) and nice vocal turnaround (The cry in Teresa's voice is very effective) as the band swings us home with Vic's pedal note saying Goodbye!

Yank Lawson and Bob Haggart never were comfortable with the rather presumptous title of World's Greatest Jazz Band. (their sponsor Barker Hickox came up with it). They preferred the Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band which they used before and after the W.G.J.B. days. However, with lineups like this and the Bob Crosby feel of the band (Haggart did a lot of the aranging) it was indeed a very great jazz band. This session certainly reinforces that claim and gives Miss Brewer one of her best vocal outings. At this writing , only Bob Wilber and Bucky Pizzarelli survive (they're both still very active musically) , Miss Brewer passed on in 2007. This wonderful session , last available on Sony/Signature CD is a great testament to them all.

Here's hoping that all your news is Good News!

Louis Armstrong and the Decca House Band (1936/8)

2009-11-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

The recent release of Louis Armstrong's Decca recordings of 1935-46 on Mosaic records has given new prominence to this wonderful but neglected chapter in Satchmo's recording career. Louis made many of his Decca sides with his own band, the exellent Luis Russell Orchestra. He also was backed up by some very fine studio groups and the bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Casa Loma and Bob Haggart.

These two delightful sessions find Louis backed by a group of studio pros casually known as the "Decca House Band". This group usually comprised of 7 to 10 players backed many Decca artists, especially Dick Robertson. (see our earlier post).

The session of February 4, 1936 found Louis waxing two popular tunes backed up by an exellent band including Louis disciple Bunny Berigan who was one of Louis' favorite trumpeters. Besides being a great jazzman, Bunny was a wonderful lead player and his huge, open horn is a highlight of the band's sound.(Bunny was doing a lot of studio work at the time).Also present were Bob Mayhew( trumpet), who worked with Bix in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Al Philburn was on trombone, he played on most of the Robertson sessions.

The saxes consisted of leadman Phil Waltzer(alto), Sid Trucker(alto/clarinet), a busy studio man formerly with Russ Morgan and Paul Ricci (tenor), a veteran of the bands of Joe Haymes, Richard Himber and Bunny.

The rhythm section had Fulton McGrath on piano, he had worked with the Dorseys, Red Nichols and would have a brief spell in Bunny's big band. (he wrote the lovely ballad Mandy is Two). Dave Barbour on guitar(with Red Norvo at the time) would soon find fame with Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee.(also as Peggy's husband). Bassist Pete Peterson was also with Norvo and drummer Stan King was an old pro from the 20s. He was on many sessions with Red Nichols, the Dorseys and Miff Mole, his great time and swing are a plus on the session.

First up is Irving Berlin's I'm Putting all my Eggs in One Basket, a delightful tune with a tricky bridge. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers introduced it in the film Follow the Fleet. Louis opens with a classic operatic cadenza then takes us into tempo for a lovely exposition of the melody with subtle variations. (Ricci handles the bridge nicely on tenor). Sid Trucker's clarinet leads into a cheery vocal by Pops with his usual superb time and phrasing . (Trucker's clarinet chips in with some backup). Bunny's strong lead brings on the band backed by King's great backbeat and Louis picks up the rest of the theme going operatic again for an equally impresive coda.

Yes Yes! My My! is a novelty by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin. (the composers of Shoe Shine Boy, a Louis classic from this period).The band brings Louis in for a spoken Yes Yes, My My then right into the vocal. Pops' vocal is full of fun and McGrath has some nice piano fills. Bunny leads us into a tasty Philburn solo with Bunny contributing a few flares leading into a key change for Pops. His chorus is full of great note placement, blue notes and his gorgeous tone. By this point of his career Louis had pared his style to amazing simplicity mixed with his technical gifts. He finishes up high with a neat 4 note burst.
A Lovely session.

The session of June 24, 1938 saw a new "house" band, two new pop tunes and Louis revisiting two of his classic favorites. The band was an 8 piece unit ( the size of the Dick Robertson group).
On trumpets were Bob Cusumano , an exellent lead man formerly with Paul Whiteman, Larry Clinton and Tommy Dorsey and Johnny McGee who was on most of the Robertson sides and had been working with Richard Himber. Al Philburn was back on trombone. Sid Stoneburn was on clarinet, he had much big band experience including T. Dorsey, Bob Zurke, Joe Haymes and Larry Clinton, he gets in some nice jazz licks on these sides. Dave Barbour was back on guitar and Decca house man Haig Stephens played bass. Sammy Weiss, a top drummer with Goodman, T.Dorsey and Artie Shaw lays down some great rhythm.(he was also part of the Jack Benny show for years). Pianist Nat Jaffe only lived to be 27 , but shows a mature Jess Stacy-ish style. He worked with Charlie Barnet, Joe Marsala and Jack Teagarden. He contributes some nice solos and fills on the session.

First up is a rather obscure pop tune by Harry Barris, Naturally. The tune is pleasant with an unusual minor-sounding bridge. After a band intro Louis sings a mellow vocal with polite backup. The band comes in for an interlude with a nice Stoneburn spot. Louis enters backed by tasty Weiss rimshots and hihat. Pops gives us some tasty figures over the stoptime bridge and goes up high for the coda over the band ending.

I've got a Pocketful of Dreams(comp.Johnny Burke-Jim Monaco)was a new tune from the Bing Crosby film, Sing, You Sinners. After a band intro, Pops enters with the vocal. The tune is a bit rangy, so Louis plays around with a few notes, but with his usual swing and time. (Billie Holiday picked up this trick from Louis). The band gives us an interlude with spots by Sid and Jaffe and Philburn. The band modulates to Louis' chorus, his phrasing is tangy and close to the melody. Jaffe gets the bridge and has a nice spot with Pops closing out on a neat solo break backed by Weiss.

I can't give you Anything but Love was already one of Louis' standbys. This version , at a faster tempo from the original has some neat touches that make it unique. The Mosaic issue gives us some banter before the performance, Louis is kidding about "remembering the words". After a band intro, Pops' vocal is patented but has a few nice asides. The band modulates with nice Stoneburn fills and Pops picks up the rest (Weiss' hihat is very effective behind him). His time and accents are superb, giving us a more mellower but still exciting solo. Louis closes with another grand coda backed by Weiss' hihat. The renowned French critic Andre Hodeir singled this solo out in his exellent book, Jazz: It's Evolution and Essence.

Another Armstrong perennial , Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin' gets a redo. Following the band intro, Louis' vocal follows his original with some subtle changes. The band modulates with a nice horn figure and Philburn spot with Jaffe handling the bridge. Pops gives us subtle variations on his classic solo with a new bridge and a soaring outchorus going up high, backed by Weiss' tomtoms. Louis would continue to delight us with new versions of these old classics thru the years.

The arrangements on these sides were probably stocks with some doctoring done at the studio. (many studio jazz dates were done this way). Perhaps Barbour, Jaffe or McGrath had a hand in the changes or a house arranger may have been used. The two sessions are part of Mosaic's exellent set of the Armstrong Deccas 1935-46, highly recommended for any Pops fan. The entire collection shows the amazing quality of Louis' work during this period. These little "house band" sessions offer a fascinating part of this huge body of work.

Till next time, keep enjoying the Wonderful World of Pops.

Bela Lugosi meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)

2009-11-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

This film is one of those So Bad that it's Great offerings. Besides the presence of horror master Lugosi and other familiar B players we have the unique comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo doing their Martin & Lewis impersonation. (Petrillo's Jerry is so dead-on that it's scary!). In the 40s, the team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney did a similar take on Abbott and Costello.

The plot (what there is of it) involves entertainers Duke and Sammy stranded on a jungle island encountering friendly natives (the lovely Nona takes a shine to Duke and her hefty sister Saloma goes after Sammy) and the evil Dr. Zarnoff (Bela) who is conducting strange experiments and turns Duke into a gorilla when he sees Nona (his lab assistant!) getting too chummy with Duke. It's all good silliness in the tradition of the 3 Stooges, Abbott & Costello and the Bowery Boys.

The film was released by the Realart studio and produced by Jack Broder. The director, William Beaudine was known as "one-shot" for his ability to make a film in record time, quality notwithstanding. He made many low budget affairs for Monogram and American-International.
The screenplay was by veteran actor Tim Ryan who acted in and wrote many Monogram classics.(he and wife Irene-"Granny" of the Beverly Hillbillies had an act similar to Burns and Allen). Also contributing dialog was Leo "Ukie" Sherrin, an actor and writer for many Monogram cheapies. Duke Mitchell got to sing two songs (a la Deano) , the favorite Deed I Do and Too Soon( based on La Paloma).

A bit about the All-Star cast: Bela Lugosi at age 70 was at a low point of his career, beset by years of B movies and drug addiction. He pretty much sleepwalks thru the film, but occasionally raises an eyebrow or does a "take" to show he's getting a kick out of the comics.

Duke Mitchell(1926-81) and Sammy Petrillo (1934-2009) were nightclub entertainers who took advantage of the popularity of Martin and Lewis.(Duke had a bit part in Martin & Lewis' Sailor Beware (1951 ). They worked in and out of the business for years, Petrillo ran a comedy club in Pittsburg called the Nut House. Jerry Lewis threatened the team with a lawsuit and they dropped out of sight. Despite the obvious impersonation, they had good chemistry and Petrillo showed good comic timing.

Charlita (Regis) as the lovely native girl, Nona (complete with college education!) made a career of exotic and jungle type roles. (similar to B favorites Acquanetta and Lita Baron).
Mickey Simpson as Bela's hulking servant, Chula was a former boxer who specialized in tough guys and body guards with the likes of Abbott and Costello, Tarzan, Jungle Jim and the 3 Stooges. (Stooge fans will remember him as strongman Rocky Duggan in Gents in a Jam (1952).
Muriel Landers as Saloma, was a former dance partner of Ray Bolger and played many comic suporting roles in the 50s. She played "Tiny" in Sweet and Hot (1958), one of the worst 3 Stooges shorts.
We can't forget Ramona the Chimp, who Zabor plans to turn into a gorilla. When Duke gets hot with Nona, he turns him into the gorilla instead.

Petrillo's antics get to be a little too much ( of course so were those of the the real Lewis) and Mitchell's singing has a strange mix of Frankie Laine, Billy Daniels and Elvis! They do have good chemistry, it's too bad the Martin and Lewis take-off was so obvious, they could have developed into a good B comedy team ala the Bowery Boys. Likewise, the Mitchell/Charlita romance has a nice, genuine chemistry to it.

Things get sillier and sillier with the Duke gorilla, Romana and Nona all running around the jungle with Zabor after them. We seem to be getting melodramatic when Zabor shoots at Duke and buddy Sammy takes the bullets for him. But it turns out Sammy was dreaming all of this in his niteclub dressing room! To boot, all the lead players turn out to be employed at the club (with Bela as headwaiter!). The boys put on their tuxes and go into their act with Duke singing and Sammy mugging. (here they look just like the real Martin and Lewis club act). On this upbeat note we end this wild, little film.

Although a real cheapie 50s jungle comedy, this film has it's moments and is always amazing watching the Martin & Lewis takeoff of Duke and Sammy. My DVD copy came from a label called Digiview. I was pleasantly surprised at the exellent quality of the print, it was a pleasure to watch.
Until next time, Keep on Laughing.

Bob Crosby's Bob Cats-Feb. 1940

2009-11-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

One of the most unique and musical orchestras of the Big Band era was that of vocalist Bob Crosby (1913-93), younger brother of Bing.

Many bands had gimmicks and styles that made them special, the Crosby band used traditional jazz or dixieland as the basis of it's style. The band brought many jazz classics back into the Big Band repertoire and featured a fantastic array of soloists. The Crosby band also spotlighted an 8-piece "band-within-a band" called the Bobcats. This post will celebrate 5 classic sides recorded for Decca in February of 1940.

The Crosby band grew out of a group of musicians who left the Ben Pollack band (known as the Pollack Orphans)in search of their own identity and dedication to Big Band dixieland. Bob Crosby was chosen as leader on the strength of his personality and talents as a frontman and singer. (He had a lot of Bing's vocal timbre and good humored comedic timing). The band had a great crew of jazzmen including Yank Lawson,trumpet, Matty Matlock,clarinet, Warren Smith,trombone, Bob Haggart,bass, Joe Sullivan,piano and New Orleansians Eddie Miller,tenor, Nappy Lamare,guitar and drummer Ray Bauduc.
Arrangements were spit between Matlock,Haggart and veteran Deane Kincaide(also a band saxophonist). Saxophonist Gil Rodin actually ran the band for Crosby but it was always a co-operative unit in spirit and financial gains.

By 1940 the band had undergone some personell changes, but sounded better than ever. That is where we pick up this session. First a few words about the Bob Cat members heard here:

Billy Butterfield, trumpet(1917-88)- Billy had joined the band in Sept. 1937.(from the Austin Wylie Orch.) When Yank Lawson was hired away by Tommy Dorsey, Billy took over the jazz chair with the Bob Cats. One of the most versatile trumpeters, he could play hot, sweet or lead and his beautiful pure tone was always a joy to hear.

Warren Smith, trombone (1908-75)-"Smitty" joined up in early 1937.(He had been with Abe Lyman) Some of the band members were impressed by his blowing at a jam session. He never quite lived up to that hype, but blew a solid, tailgate and later worked with many west coast dixieland groups.

Irving Fazola, clarinet(1912-49). When Matty Matlock's services were needed more as an arranger,"Faz" came into the band in March 1938. One of the great New Orleans clarinetists with a beautiful,round tone, he shines on this session.

Eddie Miller, tenor sax(1911-91) A charter member of the band and another New Orleans boy.
Eddie played one of the prettiest and swingingiest tenors(and a fine clarinet,too). He would go on to be one of the top tenor men of all time.

Jess Stacy, piano(1904-95). The Crosby band featured some great pianists starting with Joe Sullivan, Bob Zurke and Jess in Sept. 1939. Jess was one of the top piano stylists with a great backround in Chicago jazz. He came over from Benny Goodman's band and must have enjoyed the cozy surroundings of the Crosby Crew. (He had his "moments" working with Benny).

Nappy Lamare, guitar (1907-88). Another charter member and New Orleans native. Nappy played a solid rhythm guitar and contributed fun vocals. He and Ray Bauduc led bands in the postwar years.

Bob Haggart, bass (1914-98). Also Class of 1935 and ace arranger of the band. Bob was a top notch bassist and he and Yank Lawson led many fine bands in the post war years.

Ray Bauduc, drums (1906-88). Another original member and New Orleans born. One of the finest traditional drummers of all time. He took part in many Bob Cat reunions along with his work with Nappy.

And now, on to the music: The session of February 6, 1940 produced 4 classic Bob Cats sides. First up was Isham Jones' Spain, a beautiful but little recorded gem. Faz's gorgeous clarinet sound takes over the first chorus with the horns giving him light backup. Next is a sparkling Stacy solo with Miller's mellow tenor on the bridge, backed by an appropriate tango beat. Bily and the band ride out in grand style with Faz repeating his intro. A wonderful record.

Irving Berlin's All by Myself has a lovely vocal by the band's girl singer, Marian Mann. She phrased well and had a nice feel for jazz. She was highly respected by band members. Billy's pure toned lead, Eddie and Faz splitting a chorus lead to a percussive spot by Warren Smith. He wasn't a subtle player, but could swing in a hard hitting style. The outchorus has the reeds harmonized with Billy (a common Bob Cats device) and makes for a tasty outchorus.

The Tom Delaney favorite Jazz Me Blues is next. Bix Beiderbecke made this a jazz standard and the Bob Cats' rebdition is a winner! Billy leads the band thru the traditional ensemble and breaks and Faz has 2 solid choruses. (One can see where Pete Fountain came from).The riff on the outchorus has become a part of the tune. (like the "dogfight on That's a Plenty). Billy's blowing on the outchorus is as fierce as Yank's -he was so versatile.

A forgotten pop tune, Do you ever think of Me? has become a Bob Cat classic. The neat opening has Eddie playing lead with the other horns below him. (sort of a "hip" Hotel Band sound). Nappy takes a fun vocal followed by more of Faz's great horn and an inventive Stacy solo with neat reharms. Billy and the boys ride out with a nice unison break by clarinet and tenor. (a common Crosby device).

The February 28 session was mainly a feature for Marian Mann, however we have a classic version of Armand Piron's Mama's Gone , Goodbye. I'm sure the New Orleans contingent enjoyed this one. Faz opens the proceedings and Marian gives us a nice chorus backed by Billy's pungent plunger horn.(her vocal has shades of Mildred Bailey) Eddie and Smith split a chorus and the outchorus is tightly voiced, backed by Ray's choke cymbal. Although Butterfield gets no solos on these tunes, his lead, obligattos and drive show what would make him one of the top trumpeters of the century.

There are many Crosby Orchestra and Bob Cats reissues on CD. I recommend a crosscheck at Amazon or World's Records. Also insispensable is John Chilton's Stomp Off, Let's Go (Jazz Book Service-1983). This wonderful bio/discography is long out of print , but worth looking for. There will be many more Bob Cats posts, in the future.

Till then' This is the old Dave Cat saying"Happy Listening".

The Dick Robertson Sessions

2009-10-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

One of the most enjoyable but unheralded small-group jazz series of the 30s and early 40s was the Decca series under the direction of vocalist Dick Robertson. Dick was one of the busiest and most popular studio singers from the late 20s to early 40s. He had a clear, pleasant tenor voice, a bit like Eddie Howard and he could also adopt a more jazzy type voice if the occasion warranted it. He sang on many of the wonderful Gene Kardos/Joel Shaw band sides of the early 30s. The rest of his resume is like a Who's Who of jazz and dance bands. It includes Duke Ellington, Clarence Williams, Ben Pollack, Irving Mills, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Red Nichols and Freddie Rich to name just a few.

Dick's bio. is a bit sketchy. We know he was of Canadian descent and born in New York in 1903. He played violin, but his success came as a vocalist and he seemed to emerge on the New York recording scene in the late 20s. The series that would feature Dick with a tasty seven or eight piece jazz group had its origins in December of 1935 with a series of sides on the Champion label. Among the sidemen were Bunny Berigan, Al Philburn, trombone (he would be a fixture), Paul Ricci, clarinet, Forrest Crawford, tenor sax and Frank Signorelli, piano (another fixture). Unfortunately these sides weren't available for review. (Hopefully we can do a separate post down the road.) The basic style of the Robertson band was a loose, swinging style of dixieland somewhat like Tommy Dorsey's Clambake 7 and the Wingy Manone recording units. Dick usually sang a chorus and would do a vocal reprieve, but there was plenty of jazz ensemble and solo work to be enjoyed.

By December of 1936, Dick was recording for Decca where he would stay until the recording ban of July 1942. The first Decca sides had some New York studio men such as Andy McKinney, trumpet and Russ Jenner, trombone along with members of Red Norvo's band (with Red on piano). Slats Long on clarinet, Jenner and Norvo are the star soloists. Goodnight, my Love and When my Dreamboat Comes Home are excellent sides. (On Dreamboat there is a Bud Freeman- -like tenor, possibly Slats Long. Herbie Haymer is listed, but it doesn't sound like him.) The band that would work the bulk of the Robertson sides came aboard with the March 24, 1937 session.

This group, with a few personnel changes made numerous sides with Robertson and other Decca artists such as the Andrews Sisters, Lil Armstrong, the Nicholas Bros. Teddy Grace and Louis Armstrong(more on Louis' session later).. They became an "unofficial" Decca house band. Most of the sides had two trumpets along with trombone, clarinet and rhythm section. The two trumpets gave the group it's Band sound. (Occasionally only one was used.) The sound of the band was dixieland with a bit of swing creeping into the later efforts. With Dick's vocals ranging from crooner to balladeer and rhythm man, the group had a wonderfully carefree and swinging approach to pop tunes and old favorites.

The core of the 1937-42 Robertson band were Bobby Hackett and Johnny McGee ,trumpet, Al Philburn and Buddy Morrow, trombone, Don Watt, Sid Trucker and Tony Zimmers, clarinet. Frank Signorelli and Frank Froeba did most of the piano work. Haig Stevens was the bassist on just about every side. Frank Victor and Dave Barbour handled much of the guitar work and Sammy Weiss and Stan King were the resident drummers. All these men were on call for studio dates and some were playing in dance bands of the day. The dixieland ensemble and tasty solo work really put these sides over. While most of the Robertson sides are available only on 78, the Timeless label of Holland put out an excellent CD of the 1937-39 period called Dick Robertson-The New York Session Man. I can thank a good friend and collector, Ed Reynolds, for providing many of the 78s to listen to and share with you.

The sessions really came into their own with the arrival of Bobby Hackett in March of 1937. Bobby was still in his embryonic stage (see our post-Hackett-Bix session) but plays nice rolling, melodic phrases as was his hallmark. Even at this stage of his career, Bobby was a unique and tasty soloist. Most of the sides have a strong lead trumpet-usually Ralph Muzillo or John Carlsen (both lead men with many top dance bands). Al Philburn on trombone was a veteran of the California Ramblers and studio bands, he lent a nice tailgate trombone to the band. (ala T. Dorsey or PeeWee Hunt).He was occaisionly replaced by Buddy Morrow (of Big Band fame), then known as Moe Zudecoff. The clarinet chair went from studio men Paul Ricci to Sid Trucker to Don Watt a veteran of the Ted Weems band, Don stayed on the longest until Tony Zimmers took over. The piano chair was mostly the property of Frank Signorelli (of Memphis 5 and Bix-Venuti fame) and Frank Froeba of New Orleans (the original pianist with the Benny Goodman big band). Signorelli devised a cute piano intro that became the trademark of the group and was heard on most of the sides.

Some of the highlights of the Hackett period include lovely choruses on Little Old Lady, Too Marvelous for Words, You're a Sweetheart and September in the Rain (all 3/24/37). Even a "Cowboy" ballad such as My Little Buckaroo gets a nice treatment with a pretty vocal by Dick. On September, Froeba plays some tasty celesta. Other standouts include Good Mornin' (not the Singin' in the Rain favorite), Gone with the Wind, My Gal Sal and Johnny Mercer's Bob White. The other soloists never disappoint, especially Watt and the pianists. Guitarists Frank Victor and Dave Barbour also get in some tasty licks. I Want you for Christmas (10/19/37) a long-forgotten seasonal song has nice spots by all of the horns. (Bobby is very Bix-like.)

Starting with the 7/21/37 session, Bobby was occasionly replaced by Johnny McGee. McGee was a competent trumpeter who had worked with the popular Richard Himber Orchestra. He played a tasty, rhythmic horn and was a capable replacement for Bobby, if not as inventive. From 1939 on he was the permanent trumpet soloist. The session of 2/28/38 is notable for the presence of the great Jack Teagarden, filling in for Philburn. This session also introduced Tony Zimmers, a fine tenor man with Larry Clinton, who would take over the clarinet duties. His playing on these sides is wonderful and at times he sounds like Jimmy Dorsey or Artie Shaw. He stayed with the Robertson band till the end. (He died tragically in WW2).

The Teagarden session included You Went to my Head (also recorded by Fats Waller), a smooth ballad with Jack playing a Tommy Dorsey-like lead up front then jumping octaves on his solo to navigate the tune's key. (he did this flawlessly, of course). The novelty Drop a Nickel in the Slot gets a fun treatment. Dick always excelled on rhythm tunes and Jack and McGee take spirited choruses. Let's Sail away to Dreamland has nice breaks and solo spots by Jack and the pretty Goodnight Angel has some more of Jack's octave jumping on his solo and a nice spot by McGee. This was one of the best Robertson sessions.

Most of the material Dick and the band recorded were pop tunes of the day-some became standards, others disappeared quickly. The band also recorded waltzes (Come Josephine is a good example), one-steps (Oh Mama) and many patriotic songs (especially after 1941). Bobby Hackett was back for the August and September 1939 sessions - Baby Me and I Only Want a Buddy are standout sides. The very underated pianist Nat Jaffe turned up on 6/30/38 and on Who did you meet Last Night? (5/19/39) and I'm Building a Sailboat of Dreams (3/8/39) the pianist sounds a lot like the wonderful Billy Kyle. Billy was doing a lot of sessions for Decca at this time so it's very possible that he sat in on these sessions. The old George Formsby favorite, Mr. Wu( 5/10/38) gets a great treatment by the band with Dick contributing jazzy vocal choruses.

Most of the sessions from Early 1939 on featured McGee, Zimmers, Froeba and Company. Brian Rust lists the personnel as probable from here on. (from his indispensable Jazz Records). Highlights include I'm a Lucky Devil (3/8/39), a nice tune with a tasty buzz mute solo by McGee (sounding a bit like Johnny Austin of the Jan Savitt band) , nice clarinet and perhaps more of Billy Kyle. The old favorite Maybe(4/14/39) gets a pleasant dance treatment with a sweet vocal by Dick and low register clarinet by Zimmers. Comes Love(10/27/39) has nice muted McGee and Are you Havin' any Fun?(same date) has McGee on plunger trumpet and Zimmers shining on clarinet along with the usual dixieland band sound. Lilacs in the Rain(same date) has more celesta, fine solos and a dixie ride out. The novelties Ma and Oh Johnny(Nov.&Dec.1939) have spirited ensembles, fun vocals by Dick including the verses and tasty spots by Philburn, McGee and Froeba.The old favorite I Used to Love You from 1940 is an outstanding side with some swing riffs added to the dixie sound. From 1941, Blues my Naughty Sweetie gives Me has fine singing by Dick and good jazz spots for trumpet and clarinet. A forgotten ballad, My Greenwich Village Sue (Jan. 1941) showcases the band's mellow side.

Many of the band's 1941-2 sessions featured patriotic tunes, with the outbreak of WW2. Even on propaganda material like You're a Sap, Mr. Jap, we get some nice jazz solos. After the recording ban of July 1942, the Robertson band disappeared from the Decca lineup. Dick continued to sing but also got more into composing. His We Three, a big hit for the Ink Spots and Sinatra-Dorsey and Little on the Lonely Side were popular wartime favorites. He made a session for Coral in 1947 but afterward his bio. becomes sketchy again. We know he lived into his eighties. Any more information on Dick will be used as an addendum to this post.

The Dick Robertson sessions deserve greater recognition, they have some of the happiest small group jazz of the late 30s and early 40s and a stellar group of musicians headed up by the always dependable Mr. Robinson.

Along with the Timeless CD, some of these tunes can be heard on YouTube. Hopefully someone will see fit to issue another Robertson CD. Till then, there's always Ebay and yard sales.

Happy Hunting!.