You get both sides of Bing here-the crooner and the scatting hipster. The Mills Brothers do their thing, including close harmony and vocalisms of instruments-tuba and muted trumpet. A nice hot track.
Bing
Mills Bros.
Bing Crosby Vocal, acc. by the Mills Brothers (q.v. for personnel) / Frank Guarente, t /Will Bradley, tb / Les Dreyer, Bennie Krueger, as / Max Farley, ts / Fred Glickman, Max Solowsky, vn / Joe Meresco, p / Eddie Lang, g / Hank Stern, bb / Larry Gomar, d. New York, December 16, 1931.
Dinah- Br 6240, Hist H-622, AoH (E)AH40, Col C2L43, Jonzo (E)JZ-12, Masters of Jazz (F)MJCD802 [CD]; Dinah-Jonzo (E)JZ-12
We've seen white vocalist Dick Robertson a couple of times with black orchestras. Here he does his usual peppy performance with a Fletcher Henderson outfit.
Dick Robertson
Fletcher Henderson
"Oh, It Looks Like Rain" is the choice tune from this recording session. It was written by Y.P Harburg, known for his collaborations with Harold Arlen and Milton Ager, composer of more confectionary tunes like this one, as well as "Ain't She Sweet" and "Happy Days Are Here Again." Coleman Hawkins often carries the heaviest solo load for Henderson, but there's nice solo work here by Russell Procope on alto, Edgar Sampson on violin, Rex Stewart on cornet and Claude Jones on trombone.
Fletcher Henderson and His Connie’s Inn Orchestra: Rex Stewart (cnt) Bobby Stark (tp) Claude Jones (tb) Russell Procope (cl,as) Edgar Sampson (as, vln) Coleman Hawkins (ts) Fletcher Henderson (p,arr) Clarence Holiday (g) John Kirby (tu) Walter Johnson (d,bells) Dick Robertson (vcl) July 31, 1931.
Oh, It Looks Like Rain– vDR-Vic 22786, Zon EE-275;
Sweet Music– vDR: Vic 22775, HMV K-6390;
My Sweet Tooth Says I Wanna (But My Wisdom Tooth Says No) – vDR: Vic 22786, HMV B-4911;
This was the house band in the Astoria Hotel in New Orleans in 1928/1929-hence the name. Most of the players in the group have impressive jazz resumes. For example, cornettist Lee Collins took over when Louis Armstrong left King Oliver. Al Morgan, powerhouse bassist, played with everyone.
Sidney Arodin
Lee Collins
Sidney Arodin is our racial "odd man out" in this otherwise black group. He wrote the song "Up A Lazy River" with Hoagy Carmichael and also played with, among others, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Wingy Manone and Louis Prima. Arodin is a simplification of either the name Arnandan or Arnondrin and Sidney's family was French (not Creole). Arodin may or may not have played with the rest of the group at the Astoria, as a mixed-race group sharing a stage would have been pretty much unheard of at that time.
This is the group's only recording. "Damp Weather" has a few more traces of ragtime than the other tracks, but all have the propulsive, bluesy polyphonic sound characteristic of New Orleans.
Jones and Collins Astoria Hot 8: Lee Collins, c / Sidney Arodin, cl / Theodore Purnell, as / David Jones, ts / Joe Robechaux, p / Emmanuel Sayles, bj / Al Morgan, sb, v / Joe Strode-Raphael, d. New Orleans, November 15, 1929.
Annette Hanshaw came from a vaudeville family and rose to the top of the pop-jazz heap in the late 1920's-to 30's. She recorded about 250 sides and sold millions of records. Later in life, she spoke of how nervous she was performing and recording, but she knew how to sell a tune and was dubbed "The Personality Girl." Some of her renditions can be too cutesy, but she does a nice job here on "I'm a Dreamer," by the successful songwriting team of Ray Henderson, Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown.
Annette Henshaw
James P. Johnson
It's an unusual instrumentation. Manny Klein seems the likely trumpet player and two pianos-James P. Johnson on "lead" and Clarence Williams on 'backup.'
Annette Hanshaw acc by The Three Blue Streaks: Annette Hanshaw (vcl) acc by prob Manny Klein (tp) James P. Johnson,Clarence Williams (p), New York, December 4, 1929.
I’m a dreamer - Aren’t we all ?- Har 1066-H, Phontastic (Swd)NOST7608;
