André Previn Live in 1947

My main blog has documented a great many of André Previn's early recordings as a jazz pianist, dating back to when he was in his teens. Here is a small contribution to that effort, comprising four songs apparently recorded live in 1947. The material was issued on the small Modern label, which was primarily devoted to R&B and country music, with occasional forays into jazz.

Sources suggest that the occasion was one of Gene Norman's "Just Jazz" concerts, held at the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena. It's possible, perhaps likely, that it is from the April 29, 1947 concert - Modern also issued performances from many of the other acts who were on the bill that day.

Live, Previn sounds much as he does on his Victor studio dates - his pianism is propulsive, imaginative, many-noted and immaculate. The solid, if generally muted support is probably by one of Previn's usual backing trios of the period - Al Viola or Bob Bain, guitar, Lloyd Pratt or Chic Parnell, bass, and Jackie Mills or Ralph Collier, drums. The guitarist does wedge in a few solos here and there.

André Previn in 1946

The songs include the usual jazz warhorses - "Indiana," "Air Mail Special," "All the Things You Are" and "Lady Be Good." 

The audience sounds impressed by the proceedings. It's impossible to know how much the response we hear has been "enhanced," but if so, any augmentation is not obvious. Overall, the sound is about what you might expect from live recordings of the period. The main drawback is some discoloration on the piano tone, possibly from an overloaded microphone or too high a recording level, or simply from the worn pressings I harvested from Internet Archive. This doesn't detract too much, however, and the overall balance is good. [Note (July 2023): these transfers are now available in ambient stereo.]

All in all, this brief set is just as enjoyable and impressive as the teenaged Previn's studio recordings of the period.

A Glinka Favorite from Philadelphia and Boston

The overture to Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Ludmila is one of the great program openers, beloved of maestros who want to stun the audience with orchestral viruosity. And two of the great virtuoso ensembles of all time are those of Philadelphia and Boston, and they do indeed amaze in these vintage recordings led by Eugene Ormandy and Arthur Fiedler, respectively.

The young Fiedler

The earlier of the two is from 1939 and is devoted to the Boston Pops, then in the ninth year of Fiedler's 49-year reign. Victor issued the performance on two sides of a Red Seal 78.

The Philadelphia Orchestra version comes from 1946, when Ormandy was eight years into his 44-year tenure as music director. He had recently moved over from Victor to Columbia, which issued this endeavor on its own 78.

The Boston performance is perhaps the more lithe; the Philadelphians were unrivalled in the depth of their string tone, which has an intoxicating effect in the overture's rapid string figurations. 

I do prefer the Fiedler, perhaps because it is much better recorded and because the pressing at hand is far superior. Either way, I am sure you will enjoy the experience.

Ormandy as the Phantom of the Orchestra

Bunny Briggs with Charlie Barnet

Bunny Briggs (1922-2017) had a remarkably long career as a dancer, lasting from childhood to his later years. He often appeared with big bands, notably Duke Ellington's, but also quite a few others.

Briggs sang as well as danced - we have already heard from him with Neal Hefti on my other blog. Today we find him with Charlie Barnet - two songs from 1947 on  the Apollo label and one from 1949 on Capitol.

On all these, Briggs intones a hybrid of scat singing and bop lingo - interesting to me because I never considered the Barnet band to be a bop outfit. On "East Side, West Side," Briggs is afflicted with a vocal backing by the band, while the instrumental arrangement is big-band R&B with Ellington and Kenton touches.

Bunny Briggs

Briggs and Barnet appear in a Snader telescription from about this time performing the same song. In it, Briggs plays a Western Union messenger who delivers a telegram to the bandleader and ends up dancing and singing. You can sort-of see this in an execrable YouTube print. (Is there any other kind?) I believe I discerned Doc Severinsen taking a trumpet solo amidst the murk.

Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" is similar to the "East Side, West Side" single, but without the band vocal and featuring the screeching high-register trumpet playing that was then in vogue, here possibly by Severinsen. The arranger was Billy May.

The final side is "O'Henry," an original by its arranger, Gil Fuller. This one does have some section writing that is strongly bop influenced.

In 1950, Briggs appeared in the Universal short below with Benny Carter's band. It's a good example of his remarkable dancing skills.

Hal Derwin with Artie Shaw

This is a follow-up to the recent post of 25 Hal Derwin vocals, which can be found on my main blog. Those Capitols come from 1946-47. Just before then, Derwin was singing with Artie Shaw's band under the name "Hal Stevens." Today we have four of the records he made with Shaw, all in 1945.

In July, Derwin and Shaw set down two songs that had been written for major musicals of the time. The wonderful "That's for Me" had been introduced by Vivian Blane and Dick Haymes in Rodgers and Hammerstein's superb State Fair. The less-wonderful but still enjoyable "Yolanda," from Freed and Warren, comes from the Fred Astaire vehicle Yolanda and the Thief.

Soon thereafter, Shaw switched to the small but ambitious label Musicraft. In August or September, he and Derwin were in the studio for two standards, "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance" and "How Deep Is the Ocean."

Hal Derwin

Throughout these sides, Derwin sings well, with a warmth similar to his Capitol singles, but via a more formal, "band singer" presentation. Shaw's band is always a pleasure to hear. The leader takes solos on most of the tunes, and there is a glimpse of trumpeter Roy Eldridge on "Ghost of a Chance."

None of the vocals are particularly well recorded, but the overall sound is adequate, with occasional background rustle.

100 Years of 'Crazy'

Mamie Smith's important record of "Crazy Blues" was recorded 100 years ago this week - on or about August 10, 1920. To mark the occasion, I've resurrected a transfer I made many years ago, and to fill out the program I've added a cover record by the illustrious team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, also from my collection.

"Crazy Blues" was unquestionably a popular and influential record, even though it is not what it is sometimes stated to be - the first recording by a female Black singer and a million seller. There had been other records by Black women, and Smith herself had made one earlier in the year, which was indeed the first pop release by a Black female soloist.

Mamie Smith

As for the sales claim, one of the most popular records of the era, Paul Whiteman's "Whispering," sold fewer than 250,000 copies, so the assertions of a million or even two million in sales are dubious at best. (Please see this article by discographer Allen Sutton for an informative and objective discussion of the record and its genesis.)

"Crazy Blues" came from Smith's second session, which was masterminded by songwriter Perry Bradford, who had the inspired idea to bring in the ensemble of Black musicians who became known as the "Jazz Hounds." Their interplay with the excellent Smith and Bradford's vivid imagery make the record compelling even today. Particularly noticeable are the swoops and slides by trombonist Dope Andrews.

A recent New York Times article claimed that Bradford's composition was something new, which was not the case. In fact, he was twice sued successfully for pulling parts of the song from two others he had written and sold off years earlier.

"Crazy Blues" was popular enough that it inspired cover versions, including the one by vocalist Noble Sissle and pianist Eubie Blake, recorded in November 1920 and issued on Emerson and under pseudonyms on other labels. It came out in the run-up to the May 1921 opening of their revue Shuffle Along on Broadway. That show, which played for more than a year, was reputedly the first to prominently feature syncopated jazz numbers. It also gave a boost to the careers of such important artists as Paul Robeson and Josephine Baker.

Blake in particular had a very long career - I remember seeing him on television several times. Mamie Smith was not so lucky. "Crazy Blues" was the high point of her fame. Bradford took the Jazz Hounds with him to another label, leaving Smith to be backed by stiff studio bands. The magic was not there and her career fizzled.

The sound from these century-old items is surprisingly good, despite the limited frequency response of the recording horns in use at the time.

Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake

Shorty Muggins and His Great Big Shovel

You would think that a record called "Got a Great Big Shovel"  would be perfect for my other blog, Big 10-Inch Record, but here it is on Buster's Swinging Singles.

This is actually a terrific record with a fun back story. Let me reveal first of all that "Shorty Muggins" is actually Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sam had begun recording for Capitol in early 1949, and after six months, his sides weren't selling. Davis, producer Dave Cavanaugh or someone else at the record company decided to try something different. So the songs that Sammy recorded on July 22 were issued under pseudonyms - this 78 of "Got a Great Big Shovel" and "We're Gonna Roll" as by "Shorty Muggins," and another 78 of "Dreamy Blues" and "What Can I Do" as by "Charlie Green."

'Shorty Muggins' in 1949

"Got a Great Big Shovel" is a wildly entertaining double-entendre blues that features Sammy doing his best imitation of Big Joe Turner. The flip side is hardly less successful. A young Gerald Wiggins plays superb piano on both numbers. The requisite honking tenor sax is by Cavanaugh, who at one point interrupts Davis by continuing his solo for a second chorus. The online Davis sessionography says that "members of the Woody Herman band" also participated. Presumably they were Joe Mondragon on bass and Shelly Manne on drums.

On the other 78 (not included here) Sammy did an imitation of another R&B icon, Charles Brown (Charles Brown/Charlie Green, get it?). Anyway, Sam's incognito records were no more popular that the ones under his own name, so for the next session he was back to being Sammy Davis, Jr. while leaving "Got a Great Big Shovel" behind for such fare as 1931's "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile." Sam was always known for his versatility.

Davis' Capitol contract would lapse at year end, but he would go on to achieve much more success at Decca. See my other blog for a recent post with 21 of his songs for that company. My friend Ernie hipped me to Shorty Muggins and Charlie Green in the comments to that post, so thanks once again to Ernie for his inspiration!

Two Rare Margaret Whiting Singles

1950 publicity photo

I am celebrating Margaret Whiting's Capitol recordings this week with reups of 48 of her songs on my main blog (forthcoming) and on this blog, and by offering four new titles right here.

These new items were transferred at the request of my friend, vocal connoisseur John Morris.

First is a single from 1950 - the familiar song "My Foolish Heart" (by Victor Young and Ned Washington) and the lesser-known "Stay with the Happy People" (Jule Styne and Bob Hilliard).

The second coupling is from 1955 -  "Lover, Lover (Never Leave Me)" (James V. Kern) and "I Kiss You a Million Times" (Geoff Clarkson and Floyd Shaver), which is my favorite of the bunch.

Frank DeVol provides the smooth backing on all four numbers.

As always, Whiting is in excellent voice, singing with her usual warmth, clear diction and good intonation.