Top 50 Jazz Blog

Top 50 Jazz Blog

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Interracial Recording (#17) Boswells, Bing and Redman

These are some of the heaviest hitters of the day. Bing, everyone knows. The Boswell Sisters were the premiere vocal group of the era. They only recorded between 1925-1936, but were very influential, appearing often on radio and in some films. Redman was an important arranger and reed player, who, after being with Fletcher Henderson, went on to lead his own band.

Boswell Sisters

Don Redman

                                   

This arrangement of "Lawd, You Made The Night Too Long," written by Sam M. Lewis (lyricist) Victor Young (composer), is quite the opus. In a minor key, there are several sections, with intros and segues. It's not the typical Redman arrangement and I could not find who the arranger is, although I speculate it could be composer Victor Young. Strangely, there are several discographies that have no entry for this recording. To add to the oddity, the song is over 5:00 long, which means it was recorded on a 12" disc, instead of the usual 10", probably because of the clout of Young, who was a powerhouse in radio and film, receiving 22 Oscar nominations.

Boswell Sisters and Bing Crosby w. Don Redman and His Orchestra: Don Redman, cl, as, dir: Langston Curl, Sidney de Paris, Shirley Clay, t / Claude Jones, Fred Robinson, Benny Morton, tb / Edward Inge, Rupert Cole, cl, as / Robert Carroll, ts / Horace Henderson, p, a / Talcott Reeves, bj / Bob Ysaguirre, bb / Manzie Johnson, d / The Boswell Sisters, v. /Bing Crosby, v. New York, April 13, 1932.

  • Lawd, You Made The Night Too Long: Br 20109, 0107, A-5113, 20097 (Italian), Col SW-290 (Japanese)

All entries are from my book “As Long as They Can Blow. Interracial Jazz Recording and Other Jive Before 1935.”

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