Interracial Jazz Recording (#41) Bing and the Mills Brothers

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

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

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.”

An Interracial Tune a Day (#8)-The Duke and Der Bingle

By 1932, Bing Crosby was already a hit on radio, and was beginning to make his way in Hollywood. Ellington was also a national figure because of his radio broadcasts and had made some short films. 

The Depression caused a major slump in record company sales, which severed relations with about 90% of the musicians on their rosters. Crosby and Ellington were about as sure fire a commercial combination as a record company could hope to put together. 

Duke's soloists stake out their singular territory, Bing does some great scatting at the end and this commercial pairing turns out to be a creative gem.

Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra: Duke Ellington, p, a, dir Arthur Whetsel, Freddy Jenkins, Cootie Williams, t / Joe Nanton, tb / Juan Tizol, vtb / Johnny Hodges, cl, ss, as / Harry Carney, cl, as, bar / Barney Bigard, cl, ts / Fred Guy, bj / Wellman Braud, sb/ Sonny Greer, Bing Crosby, v. New York, - February 11, 1932.

•  St. Louis Blues– vBC0: Br 20105, Col 55003, DOX-560, SW-290, Lucky 17005;

•  St. Louis Blues– vBC: Br 20105, 0116, A-5115, 20098 (Italian), Col 55003;

•  A Creole Love Call: Br 20105, 0116, A-5115, Col 55003;

•  Rose Room (In Sunny Roseland): Br 6265, 01292, A-9230, A-500174, Col DO- 1131

Here's Take 2 of St/ Louis Blues, which I slightly prefer over Take One.

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

The Sinatra Bandwagon

Bob Dylan got the jump on us with his cover project, anticipating the 100th birthday of Mr. Sinatra, but we at The Institute will jump on any bandwagon, no matter how late we are. So, with the marketing assistance of the good folks at K-Tel we proudly announce the release of these recordings, featuring some of your favorite golden oldie stars. Look for them soon on the shelves of your favorite record store!

Bono Swings on A Star!

Blondie and The Chairman of the Board: Together Again For the First Time.

A Talent To Abuse: Slash Digs Coward.

Sting Swings the Sammy Davis Jr Songbook!

Clapton Says: "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Der Bingle."

Madonna's Rockin Mall Classics.

Prince: Ooh, My Papa; The Eddie Fisher Omnibus.

Van Halen -What Kind of Goulet Am I?*

Springsteen-It's Amore! No, It's Dean-o!

Def Leppard-The Mellow Side of Manilow.

Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Twisted Sister Kate--Smith, of course!

*Also available in 8-Track

Fud Livingston Radio Show

Joseph Anthony (Fud) Livingston (April 10, 1906 - March 25, 1957), Charleston, S.C. was a clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and arranger whose hey day was the 20's and early 30's. Listening to his arrangements from 1926-1930 was an eye opener to me. Fud uses a variety of musical devices from the jazz world and the "modernist" school of composition, resulting in arrangements that are stylistic anomalies. There were elements that were adapted into the classic "swing" big band style or were transmuted into the more bombastic "concerto for trumpet/clarinet" approach that we see in the late 1930's, However, the form itself, with its rapid juxtaposition between earthy blues/jazz and expanded harmonic conceits, largely disappeared. 

Listen here.

Playlist:

Ben Pollack and His Californians "Red Hot"(1924) on Victor 

Ben Pollack and His Californians "'Deed I Do"(1926)  on Victor 

Ben Pollack and His Californians "He's the Last Word" (1926) on Victor 

The Charleson Chasers "Feelin No Pain" (1927) on Columbia 

Miff Mole and His Little Molers "Imagination" (1927) on Okeh 

Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra "Humpty Dumpty" (1927) on Okeh 

The Devonshire Restaurant Dance Band "Sax Appeal" (1927) on Zonophone 

All Star Orchestra "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1927) on Victor 

Nat Shilkret And His Orchestra "Oh Baby"(1928) on Okeh 

Leonard Hayton’s Blue Four "Old Fashioned Girl (In A Gingham Gown)" (1928) on Vocalion 

Joe Venuti and His New Yorkers "Doin' Things"(1928) on Okeh 

Fred Elizalde and His Music "Singapore Sorrows" (1929) on Parlophone 

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra "Choo Choo"(1930) on Columbia 

Bing Crosby "I'm Through With Love"(1931) on Brunswick 

Lily Pons "The Blues Danube" (1936) on RKO 

Fud Livingston "Moo" (1932) on Arc