Inca Dinca Doo?

I spotted an interesting side in Lee Hartsfeld's Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else blog (http://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/ ) the other day, the 1934 Decca of Louis Katzman's Orchestra playing Valderamma's Inca Step. It's a fine early example of exotica, recorded over fifteen years before Yma Sumac's Voice of the Xtabay album...and it's one of those pieces that quickly creates an "ear-worm." You'll carry it with you forever (at least it's not some awful disco record of the 1970s, right?).

Welllll....here's another version of the same piece! It's a completely different arrangement, however. It's from that stash of 1929-31 Brunswick Radio discs I had the privilege of transferring recently. Although the orchestra isn't credited, it's probably Katzman again (his name showed up on another disc or two in the same stash). The announcer is Norman Brokenshire.

XE-35709 Forget-Me-Not, show Y, part 3 (excerpt) Inca Step Brunswick Radio Orchestra (probably Louis Katzman) (early December 1930) radio show, unissued

http://www.box.net/shared/e9ucfgnjt0

Oh...the picture was shot at a friend's house a year or so ago. Nice Edison phonograph in the background, isn't it? I was actually doing a few steps to a bizarre 1910s ethnic Columbia 78...I may get around to posting that one too. I still have to get around to posting those silly line-dance records I mentioned here a couple of months ago.

FLASH!!!!

Thanks to the generosity of Lee Hartsfeld, here's the Decca version!

38362 Inca Step Louis Katzman's Orchestra Decca 462

http://www.box.net/shared/rqn417aa5j

NYC 21 August 1934: Louis Katzman Orch.

Lee says there's an Inca Tango (by Katzman's Castillians Orchestra) as well...I'll try to get it and post it. It's another Valderamma piece...

Psychos

As promised in the last posting on Hitchcock-related records, here are three (count 'em, three!) completely different records, all called Psycho.

Of course, not one of them has anything at all to do with the Hitchcock movie...but the term "psycho" became such a common figure of speech that it was only a matter of time before a song or two would show up with that word as a title. As it turns out, there were three (and I'm not counting songs like Psycho Killer or Psychotic Reaction)..

The first Psycho is by Bobby Hendricks, who had a big hit in 1958 with Itchy Twitchy Feeling (he's also on The Drifters' side Drip Drop). Here Hendricks is being psychoanalyzed by WWRL (New York) disc jockey Dr. Jive (Tommy Smalls). This 1960 single hit the market when the movie was new in theatres, and made it to #73 on the charts. It's definitely one of the oddest Top 100 cuts ever...and one must wonder whether Hendricks's demented babbling might have been an influence on Shirley Ellis, who had a monster hit with The Name Game in 1964.

Psycho Bobby Hendricks Sue 732 http://www.box.net/shared/4scps01ds9

The second Psycho is a cute novelty record by Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns. Smith had a number of good-selling records from 1956 to 1959 for the Ace label (Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, Don't You Just Know It, Don't You Know Yockomo, etc.), but Smith got ticked off by Ace owner Johnny Vincent's tampering with their recording of Sea Cruise (the original vocal was wiped off and Frankie Ford's was spliced in), so he left Ace and went to Imperial, where fellow New Orleanians Fats Domino and Smiley Lewis were doing pretty well. And Imperial was also distributing Minit records, where Allen Toussaint-produced records by Jessie Hill and Ernie K-Doe were also selling quite well too.

All should have been rosy for Smith, but it wasn't to be. Imperial had their money behind Domino and Ricky Nelson, and these delightfully catchy, but fairly lightweight records didn't sell at all. They were great sides, indeed, but a fatter, funkier sound was beginning to come out of the Crescent City and these sides sank without a trace.

Smith's 1961 Psycho, with Gerri Hall's bubbly vocal and humorous lyrics, actually remained unissued for quite a few years...I have it on a mid-1980s Pathe Marconi/EMI LP.

Psycho Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns Imperial unissued (EMI LP)
http://www.box.net/shared/iv2xbyzf6a

The first two records were amusing.

The next one is scary.

Leon Payne, San Antonio songwriter (They'll Never Take Her Love From Me and Lost Highway among others) wrote Psycho between 1966 and 1968...I've heard that it was inspired by Charles Whitman's sniping attack at the University of Texas in 1966, but I've also heard that he wrote it after watching Psycho in 1968 (actually, he had to have someone describe certain scenes for him. He was blind). In any case, his version, if there ever was one, seems to remain unissued. Maybe there's a demo tape out there.

Eddie Noack apparently was the first to record the song in 1968, for the K-ARK label. And the song's been covered by Jack Kittel, Elvis Costello, and several others. I think this is the most chilling version.

Psycho Eddie Noack K-ARK 45 (unknown number, got as a download)http://www.box.net/shared/hpzlzma5o5

Oh...in the final scenes of the Hitchcock movie, didja ever notice how Norman's mother's mummified face is superimposed over his own as the camera dissolves to the car being pulled out of the pond? It's so subtle...almost unnoticeable...unless you're looking for it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9RIpPek5A2g&feature=related

That'll do it for now. I think I'll take a shower bath.

Exploiting Hitchcock, from a record-collector's perspective

A couple of months back I promised a posting on music associated with the films of Alfred Hitchcock...and almost forgot about it. I'm finally getting around to it...

A few years ago I watched a terrific documentary on Bernard Herrmann, one of my musical heroes. Two scenes really struck me. The first was about the early scenes of Psycho, before Janet Leigh stops at the Bates Motel...someone suggested turning the sound off for a minute during the scenes in which she's driving, especially during the rainstorm. They're well shot, of course, but nothing's really happening. Then watch those scenes with the sound on...it's Herrman's music that keeps you on edge...

Of course, the shower scene has been discussed so many times that I'm not going to bother. It's probably the most-recognized musical cue from the movies.

The other scene in the documentary dealt with Torn Curtain...a movie that's not all that bad, even though it's certainly not top-drawer Hitch. In the movie, there's a particularly brutal killing scene. The scene is run through twice, the way it exists now (with no music)...and then with the music that Herrman wrote. The latter was far more effective.

Yet, Hitch decided to scrap Herrmann's music and go with a score by John Addison. Why? That's anybody's guess, although it appears that someone wanted there to be a hit pop record from a Hitchcock movie, or at least some lighter-sounding music, and Herrmann wouldn't (or couldn't) comply.

And that's where this blog comes in...I'm going to show how the record companies tried to exploit Hitchcock films. Of course, there are several albums of Hitchcock soundtracks available now...but almost all of them came out long after the movie did. And there were a couple of LPs that Hitchcock himself was involved in...namely the Alfred Hitchcock's Music To Be Murdered By LP on Imperial by the Jeff Alexander Orchestra and his Ghost Stories for Young People LP, but that's not what I'm concerned with in this blog (but you can see/download them here http://scarstuff.blogspot.com/2006/02/alfred-hitchcock-music-to-be-murdered.html ) I'm going to play selections that have been overlooked by most of the experts...records that were issued at the same time as the movie that inspired them.

I'm going to start with Spellbound, from 1945. There actually was a soundtrack album issued on 78s (ARA pressed it...and poorly, I might add...it seems the records all came out slightly off-center), but here I'm more concerned with the popular market of the day. There was a big-selling 12" Victor called Spellbound by the Al Goodman Orchestra...an adaptation of the Miklos Rosza score.

Spellbound Al Goodman Orch., Irving Prager, violin Victor 28-0404
http://www.box.net/shared/666q96grux

The next time a record connected to a Hitchcock movie shows up is for 1955's The Trouble With Harry...which was the first movie with Shirley MacLaine, featuring Herrmann's first score for Hitchcock. And six-year-old Jerry Mathers discovers the body of Harry. Yes, Harry's trouble is the fact that he is dead...and his body keeps getting buried, exhumed, and finally stuck in a bathtub. The movie's a dark comedy, obviously.

There was a cute novelty record that's labeled as being "inspired" by The Trouble With Harry. Here, Harry's a pianist who's stuck in a rut and seems incapable of playing anything other than a catchy little riff...that is Harry's trouble. He's not dead here...and there's absolutely none of Herrmann's lovely score here either.

Oh...does the voice sound familiar? Imagine it yelling at a singing rodent named Alvin. Yup...it's David Seville, alias Ross Bagdasarian.


The Trouble With Harry Alfi and Harry (Ross Bagdasarian and Friends, 1956) Liberty 50008
http://www.box.net/shared/r440yqtkp3
This was a fairly big seller, peaking at #44 in the States and #15 in the UK.

It was big enough to inspire two cover versions...this one by the Les Elgart Orchestra...

The Trouble With Harry Les Elgart Orchestra (1956) Columbia 40617 http://www.box.net/shared/1fl2m88ram

...and this one by Poppa John Gordy, buried in an RCA Victor Extended Play 45.

The Trouble With Harry Poppa John Gordy and his Piano (1956) RCA Victor EPA 719 http://www.box.net/shared/jep6fyvbz8

Hmmm....three different versions of a ditty that really has nothing at all to do with the Hitchcock movie...but all three plugging the film that "inspired" them.

The next Hitchcock movie, his 1956 remake of The Man That Knew Too Much actually did have a hit single...Doris Day's record of Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) hit #2 on the US charts. The Jay Livingston/Ray Evans song has become her theme song, at least for her 1968-73 CBS television show. And the song was indeed in the movie...actually, it's an important element of the plot.

The record is so well known, in fact, that I'm going to skip playing it...instead. I recommend that you see the movie...it's very exciting and entertaining...and you actually see Herrmann conducting during the climactic Albert Hall scene. You might want to compare it with the Hitch's 1934 version...that one is just as entertaining, and it's a helluva lot shorter. And Peter Lorre is a memorable villain. They're both great movies.

The Herrmann score for 1958's Vertigo was actually issued then on a Mercury LP at the time...one that didn't sell all that well at the time. It has been reissued several times since...I have it on CD, but I'm covering pop singles here.

Bypassing 1959's North By Northwest, which has another terrific Herrmann score, but didn't generate any kind of vinyl at the time, we come to 1960's Psycho. That movie didn't generate any vinyl either, at least not intentionally (I'm imagining a Bates Motel Twist...shudder). However, the term "psycho" became part of the vernacular...and there are three very different records that have that word as their title. I'll post those next time around.

1963 was the year of The Birds, which had no real score, just bird sounds (electronically manipulated by Herrmann). There was also a strange little 45, again "inspired" by the Hitchcock movie...a surf instrumental and a bossa-nova blues, both written by Decca staff men Bud Dant and Sonny Burke. Needless to say, this record never made a ripple on the charts.

Blues For The Birds The Surf Riders Decca 31477 http://www.box.net/shared/85eqjgqapc
The Birds The Surf Riders Decca 31477 http://www.box.net/shared/gcod5hx1pm

Finally, we reach 1964, and Marnie. There was a rather pleasant song by Nat King Cole released then. This one's unusual, because it's probably the only time anybody tried to make a hummable pop tune out of a Herrmann melody, one that was indeed in the movie, but not sung. It's too bad that this attractive side never charted, and never showed up on any album until the compilations of the 1980s were issued.

45-AA52146 Marnie Nat King Cole (1964) Capitol 5219
1964: Nat King Cole, vocal; Ralph Carmichael Orchestra.
http://www.box.net/shared/s4n57jm0qf

The next movie was Torn Curtain, but I've already covered that....

...and that's the final reel.

Next time around I'll dig out those Psycho records. Save an aisle seat for me...I heard there's dim sum in the lobby.

For my friends at the Havana Cafe

Finally, North Addleberry has something different, restaurant-wise...Havana Cafe. It's run by a couple of very nice folks...this posting is for them.

This version of Mama Inez is fairly straightforward...from the late 1920s, by the Sexteto Habañero...this is the version that's on a CD I burned for them the other day.
Mama Inez Sexteto Habañero (Victor 81272)
http://www.box.net/shared/qvkiyefiff

I just got a flash from Steven Abrams, who supplied me with the recording date (28 May 1928) and the original Victor release number. Thanks, Steve!

And here's the really strange version of the same song...my copy is titled Oh, Mama! It starts out as a straight rumba, but the soloists start to clown a bit...there's some bizarre laughter...and it ends up with some fairly hot jazz.
http://www.box.net/shared/8341v9tse8
Oh, Mama! Havana Novelty Orch Victor 22597
NYC, 19 December 1930: Nat Shilkret, conductor; featuring (among others) Mike Mosiello, Bob Effros, trumpet; Andy Sannella, alto sax, clarinet & steel guitar. Who did the crazy laughter? I've heard it's Bob Effros.
Apparently this record was also released with the (correct) title Mama Inez as well...that seems to be the more common issue.

Here are a couple of other sides, also recorded in Cuba, and issued in the American Victor International Series just after WWII. Unfortunately, I have no info on these sides, but they're good.

Flash! I just found this website: http://library.fiu.edu/latinpop/downloadfiles2.html and it supplied me with the recording dates, anyway. (5 March 2008)

Muero Por Ti Septeto Habañero Victor 23-0831
http://www.box.net/shared/z65cjp11p0
3 March 1948: It looks like the Sexteto added a seventh member...

Dos Gardenias (vocal by Alberto Ruiz) Conjunto Kubavana Victor 23-0821
http://www.box.net/shared/rfakz89u8m
12 February 1948: vocal by Alberto Ruiz...gee...sounds like Jalousie to me.

Hmmmm....I just realized that I don't have any pictures this time around. I think I can remedy that sitchy-ashun....

Here's another pic from our recent NYC excursion...I brought a few 45s to play before the party that night (notice the Jazztime USA EP set in my lap). The Gorshin record is rather weird...and it has a terrific picture sleeve. It's a rare one, too.



That'll do it for now. Time for some flan.

Late October goodies

I recently got in touch with another high school chum...it had been quite a while since our paths crossed last.

Anyhooooo...I said I'd post a couple of selections that I thought he'd like. I hope you do too.

Here is one of the few classical 78s I've kept...it's still a favorite. It's by Soprano Bidu Sayão with eight cellos (solo by Leonard Rose) ...from what I've been able to find on the web, Villa-Lobos originally scored his Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for violin and eight 'cellos, but Sayão suggested to Villa-Lobos that she sing the violin part, without words, and with humming on the last chorus. Though he was reluctant, he agreed to try it, and the crew assembled at a recording studio. According to Sayão, she and the cellos did the piece once and Villa-Lobos decided the result did not require a second take. (info borrowed from http://www.bassocantante.com/opera/sayao.html)

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 - Bidu Sayão, soprano, eight 'cellos conducted by the composer, Leonard Rose, solo 'cello - Columbia 71670-D
recorded in 1945
http://www.box.net/shared/b0sf6bqrvx

And now for something completely different...some early Cajun music!

Allons a Lafayette Joseph Falcon Columbia 15275-D
New Orleans, 27 April 1928: Joe Falcon, vocal and accordion; Cleoma (Breaux) Falcon, guitar. From the first Cajun recording session (at least the first session for general release...I've heard there was some Cajun music recorded around five years earlier, but came out on a private issue)...this song is still being performed...
http://www.box.net/shared/c7m13qs0ip

I've always liked the following song...I remember hearing Marc and Ann Savoy doing it quite a few years back. The original version is just as pretty.

The Waltz I Love (La Valse J'Aime) Falcon Trio Bluebird B-2182

New Orleans, 20 February 1936: Moise Morgan, fiddle; Joe Falcon, accordion; Cleoma Falcon, guitar and vocal. http://www.box.net/shared/iv14xaek35

And finally, a somewhat weird one...The Little Sparrow rockin' and rollin'!
Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots Edith Piaf Capitol F3219

1956: Piaf belts out a cover of the big hit for The Cheers of the previous year. Apparently foreign issues use L'Homme a la Moto as the title. The American issue uses this title. http://www.box.net/shared/2jj4eymesn

Recent Acquisitions

A few friends and I attended the big Phonograph/Record show in Wayne, NJ last Sunday, and I found a few rather nice 78s...

Here's a fairly big seller in the Decca Race series, the slightly naughty Don't You Make Me High, by Blue Lu Barker.

Don't You Make Me High Blue Lu Barker Decca 7506
NYC 11 August 1938: Blue Lu Barker, vocal; with Danny Barker's Fly Cats: Henry "Red" Allen, trumpet; Buster Bailey, clarinet; Sammy Price, piano; Danny Barker, guitar; Wellman Braud, bass; Paul Barbarin, drums.
http://www.box.net/shared/ie5xgauxqm

I got the next gem for the princely sum of one dollar...the Kentucky Grasshoppers (an Irving Mills-led contingent from the Ben Pollack band) Makin' Friends.

Makin' Friends Kentucky Grasshoppers Banner 6360
NYC 4 April 1929: Jimmy McPartland, cornet; probably Tommy Thuman, trumpet; Jack Teagarden. trombone & vocal; Jimmy Dorsey, Gil Rodin, Larry Binyon, reeds; Vic Breidis, piano; Dick Morgan, banjo; Harry Goodman, bass; Ray Bauduc, drums.
http://www.box.net/shared/a3v2xq2i55

Here's its flip side:

I Get The Blues When It Rains Fred Rich Orch Banner 6360
NYC 29 March 1929: Large studio band, exact personnel unknown, but featuring Leo McConville, trumpet; Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Jimmy Dorsey, reeds, among others.
http://www.box.net/shared/nhb7lzj3bi

I'll end this section with a couple of pleasant Bob Haring sides, both with vocals by The Chickster:

Ho Hum Bob Haring Orch Banner 32162
http://www.box.net/shared/evbl15exb0

Let's Get Friendly Bob Haring Orch Banner 32162
http://www.box.net/shared/evbl15exb0
NYC 15 April 1931: Large studio band, Chick Bullock, vocal. Maybe I'm mellowing as I grow older (or perhaps I'm merely going soft in the head) but I find myself liking Bullock's rather ordinary singing more and more...it's a lot less mannered than most of the singing of the period.

After we were done with the show, seven of us sped off to the 88 Palace in Chinatown for a sumptuous dim sum feast...we filled up for $14 a person, including tip. Amazing...bargains like that do exist in NYC!

Do you get the impression I love this place?

I don't have any songs that specifically mention dim sum, but I do have this:

Ling Ting Tong The Five Keys Capitol F2945
NYC 30 August 1954: Maryland Pierce, Ulysses K. Hicks, Ripley Ingram, Ramon Loper, Bernie West, vocal quintet; Unknown Chinese percussionist, gong.
http://www.box.net/shared/njbmr8gd8s

Tie-ess-a mo-cum boo-die-ay, indeed! I found a photo taken at this session: http://home.att.net/~marvy42/5Keys/5keys10.jpg and a good article about the Keys here http://home.att.net/~marvy42/5Keys/5keys.html .

Here's a rather hard-to-find side for a friend...the Mad Doughnut Man of Pennsylvania. I played it for him in NYC the day before the bash...it's a funny record, if a bit on the sick side:

The Last Blast of the Blasted Bugler Sonny Gianotta ABC-Paramount 45-10308
1961-62: Gianotta, narrator; Tommy Cardinale, trumpet.
http://www.box.net/shared/3uaupder3f

Pain Set To Music Phil Cammarata ABC-Paramount 45-10308
The flip side, not quite as funny, but certainly almost as weird...or should I say sick: http://www.box.net/shared/ipe9xf9tjf

........And that's "thirty" for yours truly...later!

Requests from the Providence Record Show 9/30/07

I was at the Providence record show/swap meet last Sunday and ran into a couple of people I had met once before. It seems that on that first meeting I had noticed they were looking at records by baritone saxists and I recommended Serge Chaloff, my personal favorite.

Well, shaw 'nuff, they became Chaloff fans too. But they only know his solo work, primarily those last two albums for Capitol (Boston Blow Up and Blue Serge, both of which are readily available...and have the Zorch Seal of Approval)...and they hadn't really heard any of his work with the Woody Herman band. Not surprising, really...this band flourished during the 1948 Musicians Union recording ban, and didn't leave a lot of issued records (a handful of sides for Columbia and an album or so's worth on Capitol). Thank goodness there are a lot of recorded broadcasts, though.

So, as promised, I'm posting a couple of great broadcast performances of the 1948-9 Woody Herman "Second Herd," aka the Four Brothers Band.

Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax, and leader; Stan Fishelson, Bernie Glow, Red Rodney, Shorty Rogers, Ernie Royal, trumpets; Bill Harris, Earl Swope, Ollie Wilson, trombones; Bob Swift, bass trombone; Sam Marowitz, alto sax; Al Cohn, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, tenor saxes; Serge Chaloff, baritone sax; Lou Levy, piano; Chubby Jackson, bass; Don Lamond, drums; Terry Gibbs, vibes.

from WMCA Broadcast 20 November 1948: Boomsie (solos, Gibbs, Sims, Chaloff, Levy, Swope, Royal, Rodney and the solo order goes backward in order) A roaring chart by Shorty Rogers, hampered a bit by boxy recording. And the title was also the name of Chubby Jackson's wire-haired terrier. (The Joyce discography calls the song Boomsie, but the LP I got it from calls it Boompsie. Whatever...) http://www.box.net/shared/jtvr0uk7k3

from AFRS "Just Jazz" Broadcast, probably August 1949: Man, Don't Be Ridiculous: a later incarnation of the band (with a few personnel changes), but this was Serge's feature. http://www.box.net/shared/kmck1bqxbq

And from the "ridiculous" to the sublime...I also promised (to someone else I met at the show) to post a couple of sides by one of my favorite vocal groups, Mitchell's Christian Singers. I love how these guys incorporate a lot of dissonant passing tones and slide into "proper" pitch at just the right moment.

23197-1 I Got A Letter From Jesus Mitchell's Christian Singers Vocalion 04418 http://www.box.net/shared/dv5a56vtec

23204-1 Judgment Is Coming Mitchell's Christian Singers Vocalion 04273 http://www.box.net/shared/6mkegshp5x

NYC, 6-7 July 1938: Unaccompanied vocal quartet: William Brown, lead tenor; Julian Davis, tenor; Louis "Panella" Davis, baritone; Sam Bryant, bass.

More on Collegiate Sam

I found a basket on my doorstep tonight, and inside was a new version of Collegiate Sam! This one is the version issued on Columbia by (the real) Eddie Walters, who I suspect is the vocalist on my mystery version.

148982-3 Collegiate Sam Eddie Walters Columbia 1969-D
NYC, 6 September 1929: ? Mike Mosiello, trumpet; Andy Sannella. clarinet; ? Ben Selvin, violin; ? Rube Bloom, piano.

http://www.box.net/shared/ur3pce5y9s

Okay...here's where I stick my neck out (drum roll, please!)...I think they're the same singer. Sure, the Columbia is taken a lot slower, but the vocal quirks are very much the same...just a little more frantic on my record.

Here's an "a/b" comparison:

http://www.box.net/shared/ln2b6p46un

Aaaaaah! What do you think???

Oh, the experts at 78-L tell me the composers on our song are Davis and Coots...not Tom Stacks, who's listed in those highly unreliable song lyrics sites...the same sites that have someone spraying flies with cans of Blitz.

And now for something completely different...another excerpt from the Mirth Quakers radio show of 1930...vocalist is Jerry Macy again. But who's in the band? Adrian Rollini? I'll leave that question to the discographers out there.

XE-33603 (excerpt) - Bananas (from Mirth Quakers, Show C, part 3).

Jerry Macy, vocal; Studio orchestra.

http://www.box.net/shared/n1cx5yxjr4

More Addenda! And who is Emily Brown, anyway?

The last record I posted, Collegiate Sam, features an unknown vocalist that I said reminded me somewhat of Eddie Walters. Here's Walters, sitting in with the Charleston Chasers...a pickup band featuring (for this session, anyway) Phil Napoleon Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman.

150537-3 Here Comes Emily Brown Charleston Chasers Columbia 2219-D
NYC, 28 May 1930: Phil Napoleon, trumpet; Tommy Dorsey, trombone; Benny Goodman, clarinet; Arthur Schutt, piano; Ward Lay, bass; Stan King, drums; Eddie Walters, vocal.
http://www.box.net/shared/aidrxe5gqq

I've compared the vocalists on both records...they could be the same, but the differences in miking the singers throw me off a bit.

So...Emily Brown got around a bit...she's the topic of the next record too!

B-17768-1 Miss Brown To You Teddy Wilson Orch Brunswick 7501

NYC, 2 July 1935: Roy Eldridge, trumpet; Benny Goodman, clarinet; Ben Webster, tenor sax; Teddy Wilson, piano; John Trueheart, guitar; John Kirby, bass; Cozy Cole, drums; Billie Holiday, vocal.
http://www.box.net/shared/u8ykq4xfq2

Hmmmmm...two songs about Emily Brown...recorded five years apart. Both feature clarinet by Benny Goodman. Just a weird coincidence, I suppose. (I'm tempted to insert a photo of Clara Blandick here...but I won't.)

-----------------------------------------------------------

According to the lyrics of a song that keeps popping up at this site, you should never swat a fly. However, shooin' them is apparently permissable.

59925-2 Shooin' Flies Blue Steele Orch Victor 23014
Memphis 15 May 1930, small band (exact personnel uncertain) featuring Kay Austin, vocal.
http://www.box.net/shared/tv2cd9ut87

A terrific side...sadly the only recorded vocal by Ms. Austin.

Another mystery record! Whoopee!

Here's another mystery for y'all...who is this singer? It might remind one of Eddie Cantor, but I'm reminded more of Eddie Walters, a (more-or-less) forgotten ukulele-toting singer who pops up from time to time on dance band records of the early 1930s. I'll probably have to post a Walters side soon to show what he sounded like.

In any case, this record remains a mystery...it's a 12" one-sided piece, pressed by Columbia (mx ST 1416) for some client...a red logo for "Advance Trailers" is present, but is that the client's name? It'd be like getting a Model "A" with no mention of Ford on it...just something that said "Automobiles."

I can't find any film called Collegiate Sam either, so it's doubtful that this is an advance trailer (or at least its soundtrack) to a film of that title... Perhaps this was played between features in a theatre. It's anybody's guess.

In any case, it's fairly hot...with the xylophonist in hyper-drive throughout the record. An accordion is also prominent. Add the trumpet and alto sax...I wonder if this is by The Usual Suspects from the Grey Gull studios (Mike Mosiello, trumpet; Andy Sannella, reeds & steel guitar; Charles Magnante, accordion; George Hamilton Green, xylophone). It could be, but I'm not too sure...the "cordeen" sounds to me more like Cornell Smelser than Magnante. If this was recorded like a typical Grey Gull side (shrill and blasty), I'd have a better idea who it is. The bass sax gallumphing in the background is fun, but it's another fly in the ointment...its presence throws me off the Gull track completely.

ST 1416 Collegiate Sam Unknown singer and band http://www.box.net/shared/2l7e3ujbjm

And the singer (whoever he is) mentions a Whoopee Hat!!



Here's another Whoopee Hat song, from July 1929...featuring Tom Stacks singing with Harry Reser's Six Jumping Jacks.

E30359/0 The Whoopee Hat Brigade Six Jumping Jacks (Harry Reser) http://www.box.net/shared/2d7h79uf9j

So...what is a Whoopee Hat, anyway?

Sometimes known as a Whoopee Cap, it's a beanie with an attitude...usually made of multicolored bits of felt. Apparently they were the rage on campus back then...

They're pretty much forgotten now by everyone...except Mr. Jones:



And, getting back to Cantor, he made Whoopee in more ways than one. But I still don't think my record is of him. Who is it?

Another fiftieth!

Another friend turns fifty this weekend...I asked her what music she'd like me to post. She wanted good 1930s material by Ray Noble (with Al Bowlly, of course) and Benny Goodman.

Here are a few very noble Nobles, all by the famous New Mayfair Orchestra with Al Bowlly vocals:

Standing On The Corner (7 February 1933) http://www.box.net/shared/o9kb1xqcg0

Lying in the Hay (12 January 1933) http://www.box.net/shared/mla1dc5hqe

Wanderer (12 January 1933) http://www.box.net/shared/56h0upyi5o

Brighter Than The Sun (8 December 1932) http://www.box.net/shared/x9140dh06z

And the Goodman material is taken from a couple of broadcasts from the Madhattan Room in the last couple of months of 1937, just before they appeared at Carnegie Hall. The instrumentals pretty much speak (er, roar) for themselves.

Jam Session http://www.box.net/shared/jl16rbkx3o

Life Goes To A Party http://www.box.net/shared/elcn9ud6bg

Here's one that BG never put on record:

That Naughty Waltz http://www.box.net/shared/x34ui0k7y7

Martha Tilton's warbling on Pop-Corn Man is cute...this is the only recording of BG doing this pop song, not counting the ill-fated Victor 78 of the title:

Pop-Corn Man http://www.box.net/shared/23ayylpzdm

...for some reason (one that still remains unclear 70 years later), the record of this song was yanked by Victor before it was officially issued, although a box or two (25 copies each) apparently did sneak out.

For a little surprise, and an interesting contrast, I sign off with two versions of Oh Baby. The first is by the All Star Orchestra, a Nat Shilkret studio band, this time containing Jimmy McPartland, Glenn Miller, and a teenaged Goodman.

Oh Baby! All Star Orchestra http://www.box.net/shared/3vhs8elzdt

The other, from the 1946 BG band, features solos by Mel Powell, Lou McGarrity, and Goodman, who also, er, "sings." The arrangement, spread over two sides of a 12" 78, is interesting, pitting his sextet against the whole band for some nice call-and-response action. Enjoy.

Oh Baby! Benny Goodman Orch http://www.box.net/shared/5r55nhqgd8

Addenda! (Flies a-Muggin'!)

I just obtained a fair print of the 1930 comedy/musical/sci-fi picture, Just Imagine. Sure enough, around halfway through the movie, Frank Albertson and Marjorie White burst into a rousing version of Never Swat A Fly...and here it is (splices and all): http://www.box.net/shared/6a4ivde5ym


My friend Daniel from the She Sings Jazz And More blog kindly sent me the Andy Kirk version of I'se a-Muggin' that I was missing...it's a good jazz version, and it's missing that whole Musical Numbers Game that drove me buggy when I did the original Muggin' post.
http://www.box.net/shared/89ehczcy3r

I also found an English version of Muggin' as well, by Nat Gonella's New Georgians. This one is quite different...Nat ignores the verse completely, sings a quick chorus, then launches into the Musical Numbers Game without even explaining how to do it (One can assume that this version was recorded well after the American versions hit the UK, so the Brits knew how to play already). After another quick chorus, Nat goes into a weird almost tacit version of the Game, starting at One...and Woofing and Uh-ing only when appropriate. So you get two games for the price of one! http://www.box.net/shared/yhzojym9s3

Oh...I have a few interesting posts in the works...one on records connected somehow with Hitchcock movies, and one on (more or less) forgotten line dances. Stay tuned!

~z

Variations on a >hic!< Theme

We're less than a week away from the Labor Day weekend, a time of year infamous for fender-benders (and far worse), often caused by a driver's overindulgence in spiritus frumenti. There's nothing funny about that, of course...but I'm not here to stand on a soapbox either. There are dozens of anti-alcohol sites and forums that handle the serious side of alcohol abuse quite nicely.

I'm lucky...I've never felt the need to drink to excess (except on rare occasions, when I know I won't be anywhere near large machinery for quite a while). But I have several friends (5 or 6) who did at one time. They're all sober now, having taken the pledge anywhere from ten to twenty years ago.

This post is dedicated to them...

A while back I was listening to an ancient comedy 78, and was surprised to find that it reminded me of a cut I have by comedian Henry Morgan...and there was a Charlie Weaver cut that was related as well...

Mrs. Dugan's Discovery, a story in Irish dialect (in 1908, all minorities were fair game), was written by Ellis Parker Butler, and was published in the August, 1908 issue of Good Housekeeping. There's a reprint of it here: http://www.ellisparkerbutler.info/epb/reading.asp?id=3734 . It's about a lady who finds twelve bottles of champagne in her cellar and decides to dump them, one by one...but as she goes, she drinks one tumblerful from each bottle, with predictable results.

A slightly modified version of the monologue was recorded late in 1916, by Steve Porter:

46199 Steve Porter: Mrs Dugan's Discovery Columbia A-1940
late 1916: Porter, comic monologue.
http://www.box.net/shared/e8cm18li2x

I was quite amazed...this little record seems to have inspired a few comics.

Mrs. Dugan has to sneak up on the bottles and can only catch one by pretending to ignore it. That reminds me of one of my favorite Robert Benchley stories (The Real Public Enemies)...where inanimate objects take on minds of their own. (In order to open a newspaper to a particular page on the open top deck of a bus, he has to exclaim aloud that he really wants to go to another page entirely, then wrestle with the paper to go to the page he intended to go to in the first place.)

Nearly 35 years later, there's this Henry Morgan cut, recorded sometime in the early 1950s on a 10" Riverside LP, and reissued a few years later on a Judson 45:

Henry Morgan: Twelve Bottles
http://www.box.net/shared/2ys5ut0gtp

The similarities astonished me (gosh!).

Finally, a slightly different take on the story...Charlie Weaver (Cliff Arquette) is getting progressively drunker (and sillier) as he waits for his friends to arrive at his New Years Eve party.


Charlie Weaver: Happy New Year, Happy New Year from the 1959 LP Charlie Weaver Sings For His People - Columbia CL 1345
Link killed 2 March 2010 - downloaded 52 times

There...that should holdja for a while. Stay safe and (somewhat) sober, and I'll see you after the holiday.

Hei and Aloha!

Here's a recently-found curiosity...a pleasant-sounding Hawaiian side, found in Columbia's Finnish series. According to http://www.yle.fi/aanilevysto/firs/C16000.htm , a rather comprehensive page dealing with Finnish-American recordings, it dates from 1928. I wonder if the composer, Leo S. Roberts, is the same person who wrote Ching Chong in the 1910s.

109995-1 Hawaijan Yö, Valssi Stein-Ostman Orketeri Columbia 3099-F
NYC, 22 or 23 November 1928: Unknown personnel.
http://www.box.net/shared/jfb7sseb41

I found it particularly interesting that there were little accents played on a vibraphone...fairly early use for that instrument.

The flip side is also rather pleasant, written by Arthur A. Penn (composer of Smilin' Through). To me it sounds like a cross between one of Leroy Shields's melodies for the Hal Roach comedies and maybe a Puccini aria, but translated into Finnish. The vocalist is uncredited.

109997-1 Stein-Ostman Orketeri Ja Laulaja: Aamuinen Koi! Columbia 3099-F
Same as before. http://www.box.net/shared/lkekjqmkn1

According to the same website, they also recorded these at the same session:

109994-2 Merenneito-sottiisi
109996-2 Honolulun kuutamo, valssi (Fred Lawrence)

...so there's another Finnish-Hawaiian hybid 78 out there.

Flogging, Blogging...

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I'm very familiar with the McKinney's Cotton Pickers' version of Never Swat a Fly, which features Bill Coty singing the first verse (and some great solos, but we know that!). The two other versions I posted (both from syndicated radio shows of the period) both had an extra verse I was unfamiliar with.

I wondered just how many verses to this song there really were, so I checked some of the song lyric sites on the Web. I noticed that all of the sites that mentioned the second verse (apparently there's a version by the Abe Lyman band that has the second verse, but I don't have it) all have these lines:

Never spray a nit
With a great big can of Blitz

Blitz? What's that? Lightning in a can? I know Blatz Beer, but not Blitz (although I heard there was a Blitz beer in Washington State at one time). I'm sure the lyric in question is really about a can of Flit, a permethrin-based insecticide made by Standard Oil. It makes far more sense to me. And 1930 (the year of the song) is about two years into a long-running advertising campaign for Flit, featuring the artwork of Theodore Geisel, alias Dr. Seuss. You can see more Flitwork here: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dsads/flit/index.shtml .

Anyway, I wondered how someone might confuse the "F" and "B" sounds...to these ears there's quite a bit of difference. And then I remembered the controversy over Eddy Duchin's 1938 Ol' Man Mose...the record was banned in the UK for the supposed use of a naughty word. The granddaddy of all naughty words, actually. The Dreaded Effenheimer.

Patricia Norman sings that Mose is dead and has kicked the buck, buck bucket. But there are indeed moments in the record that it sounds like she's singing...er...something else. Does she? I'll leave the verdict up to you.
http://www.box.net/shared/daen43it38

For what it's worth, the author of the Wikipedia entry on Duchin thinks she does. He also says that's the earliest use of the word on record...he's obviously never heard Lucille Bogan's 1935 record of Shave 'Em Dry. If you haven't heard it, it's something else indeed...absolutely filthy lyrics backed by some great blues piano (played by Walter Roland) You can find that cut here: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/03/smut_mp3s.html .

{Now there's a recently issued CD by Archeophone, Actionable Offenses, containing cylinder recordings from the 1890s that are guaranteed to raise eyebrows. That can be found here http://www.archeophone.com/product_info.php?products_id=90 . Oh yes...two good friends of mine worked on that project...they know who they are. Glad to see the album selling as well as it is, guys!}

I guess that if you were recording at 78 rpm, in addition to watching your p's and q's, you had to really watch your b's and f's.

It occurred to me that Ol' Man Mose is considerably hotter than the usual pleasant, if somewhat bland, style of society dance music that Duchin usually performed. The flip side, Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, is pretty hot too. http://www.box.net/shared/4at2crqhnm

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Now for some unfinished business: That weird-sounding short audio excerpt at the end of my last post was recorded in Bucharest in 1930. It was part of that Brunswick Radio stash I mentioned before. Did anybody hear the cymbalom in the background? That was a little clue for the recording's location...if someone mentioned Hungary or Vienna (cymbaloms are sometimes found there too) I'd have given him an Honorable Mention (and a Komodo Dragon). Those sandwiches will have to age a little longer...until someone answers one of my quiz questions correctly. I hope the winner is another fan of Bob & Ray.

Here's the recording again, but with the spoken intro by Vincent Sheehan, host of the Plymouth World Tour show. http://www.box.net/shared/juru3xpdc1

Sultans of Swatting (and a quiz!)

Well...I've been rather busy with the Great Brunswick Radio Project...transferring around 140 12-inch transcription 78s of early (1929-31) "canned radio" shows recorded for the National Radio Advertising Co. by Brunswick. Each record contains around five minutes of a show...a fifteen-minute show used three sides, a half-hour, six.

Most of the shows in this stash are incomplete...a stray part here and there...and there's a lot of rather dated staples of early radio, light classical music, forgettable string ensembles, and the like. However, there were a handful of decent jazz-influenced pop sides and some interesting ethnic material recorded in Europe.

Some of the material therein was quite interesting, as we shall see.

For a number of years, I've been fond of a silly ditty (from the 1930 musical comedy/sci-fi movie Just Imagine)...best remembered from the old Victor record by McKinney's Cotton Pickers:

64608-2 Never Swat A Fly McKinney's Cotton Pickers Vi 23020

Link killed 2 March 2010 - downloaded 99 times
NYC, 4 November 1930: Don Redman, conductor; Joe Smith, Rex Stewart, Langston Curl, trumpets; Ed Cuffee, trombone; Don Redman, Benny Carter, Edward Inge, Prince Robinson, reeds; Todd Rhodes, piano; Dave Wilborn, banjo; Billy Taylor, tuba; Cuba Austin, drums; Bill Coty, vocal. The clarinet soloist is a young Benny Carter.

Catchy little tune, no? Apparently Maria (d'Amato) Muldaur liked it too...she recorded it twice, with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and a solo version on her children's album around 20 years later.

Anyway...I noticed there were two new (new to me, anyway) versions of this song lurking in the radio discs I was transferring. I couldn't resist sharing them, if only to share the extra verses! Here they are:

XE-35018 (excerpt) Never Swat A Fly The Mirth Quakers from Mirth Quakers, show P, part 4

Link killed 2 March 2010 - downloaded 55 times
NYC ca. 4 November 1930: Jerry Macy, Norman Brokenshire, vocal; perhaps Murray Kelner, violin and others.

Notice how they changed the lyrics from "with you" to "with Sue!" not that anything's wrong with that!

XE-35335 (excerpt) Never Swat A Fly Irving Kaufman from Novelty Special, show J, part 2 Link killed 2 March 2010 - downloaded 54 times

NYC 7 November 1930: Irving Kaufman, vocal, personnel uncertain, but my guess is that the band contains Mike Mosiello, trumpet; Andy Sannella, alto sax; and Joe Venuti, violin. Kaufman muffs the words "Here is the motto," somehow getting it "Here is the mos' moto." Interesting that Brunswick didn't do a retake. They probably figured that the record would be played once over the air, and that would be it...the records were supposed to be returned or destroyed.

*********************************************

Here's another little treat from another of these shows...

Link killed 2 March 2010 - downloaded 44 times

Can you guess what it is? It's not a fly, nor a mosquito. Or, perhaps, where it was recorded? A tiny clue can be heard in the background.

Again, hats off to all correct answerers...and a lifetime supply of Uncle Eugene's Special Aged Peanut Butter Sandwiches to the first correct one.

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Oh....nobody has identified the mystery pianist from the last post...apparently it's not in the Lord Jazz Discography. It's an interesting record, even if one of the sides seems to be a set piece, without any real improvisation in it. Sure wish I knew who it really is.