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July 17, 2004

The program opened with three titles by the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from October 1931. First up was "Singing the Blues," the Dorothy Fields/Jimmy McHugh song, not the "Singing the Blues" immortalized by Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer. That "Singing the Blues ('Til My Daddy Comes Home)" was written by Con Conrad, Joe Young, J. Russell Robinson and Sam Lewis. Interestingly enough, Henderson recorded that song as well in 1931 (twice, in fact), and Rex Stewart evoked the Bix Beiderbecke solo. We heard the version recorded on April 10. The first title is on Classics 546, the second on Classics 555, as is the "Sugar Foot Stomp," featuring trombonist Benny Morton taking the choruses traditionally assigned to trumpet on that piece!

Pianist Tom Brier followed with the "Olympia Rag" from Stomp Off CD1274. Yip Harburgs' and Harold Arlen's "Evelina" came from the show, "Bloomer Girl." It was recorded in November 1944 by Frankie Carle and his Orchestra, and it's included on a Carle reissue from Collectables, COL-CD-7416. From Timeless CBC-079, we heard Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra and "Everything is Hotsy Totsy Now," recorded in Los Angeles in May 1925.

We turned to some new CDs just out on Jazz Crusade. First up was a release devoted to trombonist Wilbur De Paris. This CD, Jazz Crusade JCC-3094, concludes with the first recordings of the band that came to be known "Wilbur De Paris' New New Orleans Jazz" (yes, two "new"), recorded for Heritage in 1953. The collection is prefaced by two 1944 sessions with Wilbur and his brother, trumpeter Sidney. The first was recorded under the brothers' name for Commodore, the second with Cliff Jackson's Village Cats for Black & White. From the earlier sessions, we heard "Black and Blue" and "Quiet Please" (the latter including Sidney Bechet); from 1953, we played "Frankie and Johnny" and producer Big Bill Bissonnette's favorite, "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee." The latter two session are available elsewhere, but it makes for good listening to have all three together.

Bill spent a busy couple of days at Church Alley in Nottingham, England this past February. There he recorded enough for one and a half CDs each of two different ensembles, clarinetist Brian Carrick and his Heritage Jazz Quartet, and a group called the Church Alley Irregulars. Bill has issued one CD by each group, plus another that has more titles by the Irregulars, with some additional selections by Brian Carrick's quartet poised as an intermission feature in the middle of the CD. Kind of clever and it works. The Irregulars are a group of British trad all-stars, many of whom Bill has recorded as leaders in their own right, including Carrick, trumpeter Norman Thatcher, and the exemplary trombonist, Geoff Cole. Included in the ensemble is perhaps my favorite trad bassist, who is on some of the early Stomp Off LPs, Annie Hawkins. She's phenomenal, gets such a wonderful plucked sound out of the instrument. From the Irregulars, we heard a wonderfully laid-back and lazy "Sweet Sue," sort of like contemplating Sue over a mint julep. Brian Carrick played both clarinet and tenor on a title from his quartet CD, with drummer Malc Murphy doing a bit of Baby Dodds for us on "Collegiate." Visit the Jazz Crusade website to order JCCD-3098 and JCCD-3099. (Bill doesn't have these specifically listed up on his website as of July 20, but they'll be there soon and are currently available.)

Closing the first hour was Tommy Dorsey and "Sugar Blues" from a November 1935 session for Associated Transcriptions. The entire date is on Nostalgia Arts NOCD 3001.

Rudy Vallee sang "Fare Thee Well, Annabelle" to Ann Dvorak in the lesser 1935 musical, "Sweet Music." The Boswell Sisters performed it for us in a 1935 recording made in London, included on Nostalgia Arts NOCD-3023. The day after Pearl Harbor, Marion Hutton recorded Jerry Gray's arrangement for Glenn Miller of "Happy In Love." She didn't sound too happy, perhaps owing to the previous day's events. However, listener Bill Swisher, recalling how Glenn consistently used keys that were above the range of Ray Eberle and Marion, notes that the arrangement of "Happy In Love" was in Marion's range. Consequently, there was less necessity for the "reaching" for high notes that normally scuttled Marion artistically. Thanks for this important insight, Bill! We played "Happy in Love" from Bluebird-11401 [78].

From Duke Ellington's "Saturday Afternoon with the Duke" broadcast of July 7, 1945, the orchestra surprised us with the Jule Styne melody, "Can't You Read Between the Lines?" It's from Volume 7 in the Storyville label reissue of the Ellington Treasury broadcasts, DETS 903 9007. From June 1936, Ruth Gaylor was the vocalist with the Hudson-Delange Orchestra, and sang "The Moon Is Grinning At Me," originally released on Brunswick 7700 [78].

We listened to three selection by one-time drummer, but more-famous-as-a-vocalist Skinnay Ennis, who became the resident orchestra leader on Bob Hope's radio show in the late 1930s after leaving Hal Kemp. Ennis recorded for Victor from 1938 to 1941. From the original 78s, we heard "Garden of the Moon" (September 1938, Victor 26047), "Strange Enchantment" (April 1939, Victor 26207), and "Don't Let Julia Fool Ya'" (August 1941, Victor 27586). For the balance of the evening, we turned to the early recordings of the overlooked Harlem Hamfats, the group that may have been the stylistic bridge between the skiffle and washboard good-time bands of the 1920s and early 1930s, and the blues and jump-based bands of the 1940s and thereafter. The group was a blend of city and country, the latter supplied by Charlie McCoy's mandolin. Annotator David Evans suggests that the Hamfats should be credited with restoring the popularity of urban blues during the 1930s.

It was a remarkable little group, and if you missed the program, you may wish to treat yourself to the first or second of the four volumes of the group's complete oeuvre that is available from the Document label in England — Document DOCD-5271, 5272, 5273, and 5274. A one-volume compilation of the group's records is available on Jazz Crusade JCCD-3015; some of the titles on this collection are dubbed from earlier LP reissues that were liberally doused with echo. However, the overall sound is very clear. There are also 14 selections by the Hamfats on the budget CD, Fabulous #253.

Thanks to listener Jerome Shipman, we were able to play some titles this evening from original 78s. These are noted in the playlist below, along with the Document CD on which these titles are also available.