Name: W.C. Handys Orchestra - Aunt Hagars Blues (1923) @bsgs98
Uploaded: 2024-10-22T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: W.C. Handys Orchestra - Aunt Hagars Blues (1923)

W.C. Handys Orchestra - Aunt Hagars Blues (1923)

bsgs98 2024-10-22 | W.C. Handys Orchestra - Aunt Hagars Blues (1923)

Nick Lucas - When I Think of You (1925)

bsgs98 2019-12-08 | WHEN I THINK OF YOU
Words by Harry Owens, Music by Vincent Rose
Performed by Nick Lucas, with guitar
Recorded February 18, 1925
Brunswick 2846

Nick Lucas (1897 - 1982) was an entertainer billed as "The Singing Troubadour", gained most fame singing Tiptoe Through the Tulips with Me" in early sound movie Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929). Soft, pleasant voice with self accompanied guitar. Began in vaudeville about 1917, continued many years off and on. Played clubs in New York, Chicago and other cities. Played banjo with Russo-Fio Rito Oriole Orchestra early 1920s. Played in London 1926. Substantial recordings beginning mid 1920s. Role in 1929 hit movie gave career new impetus for a while. In Broadway musical "Show Girl" (1929), movie "Show of Shows" (1929). Because of his record and vaudeville popularity, the demand for six-string guitars increased greatly. The Gibson Guitar Company produced the "Nick Lucas Special " from Lucas' own design which became a perennial favorite well in to the late 1930s. In 1930s Lucas settled in Hollywood, make film shorts and played clubs. Featured 100 consecutive weeks at El Capitan Theatre. Led dance band in 1934. Guest appearances on radio shows; regular on Al Pearce show, 1937. In west coast stage show Ken Murray's Blackouts on 1949. Inactive in 1950s and 1960s save for occasional appearances as single or on TV. Late 1960s, popular favorite Tiny Tim hit "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" revived some interest in Lucas. Semi-active in 1970s, mostly in clubs. Sang on soundtrack of 1974 film "The Great Gatsby."

Conrad Thibault - Its Only a Paper Moon (1933)

bsgs98 2019-08-26 | It's Only A Paper Moon
Words by Billy Rose, Music by E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen
Conrad Thibault, Baritone
Orchestra directed by Ray Sinatra (2nd cousin of Frank Sinatra)
Victor 24424
Recorded October 5, 1933

"It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular song published in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. It was originally titled "If You Believed in Me," but later went by the more popular title "It's Only a Paper Moon." The song was written for an unsuccessful 1932 Broadway play called "The Great Magoo" that was set in Coney Island. Claire Carleton first performed this song on December 2, 1932. It was used in the movie "Take a Chance" in 1933 when it was sung by June Knight and Charles "Buddy" Rogers.

Conrad Thibault (November 13, 1903 – August 1, 1987) was an American baritone vocalist who frequently appeared on radio, recordings, and concert tours. Thibault was born and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he was involved with the church choir. Local resident Calvin Coolidge took notice of him and encouraged him to apply for a scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music, from which he later graduated. He also graduated from the Juilliard School and was a student of Emilio de Gogorza, who became his mentor. Thibault's professional career began in the late 1920s with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company. By the early 1930s, he was a regular performer on radio, appearing on such shows as His Master's Voice of the Air, Showboat, The RCA Victor Show, Music in the Air, and as featured soloist with the Ferde Grofé Orchestra. In 1934-1935, he had the singing role of Jack Hamilton on The Gibson Family on NBC radio. In 1946-1947, he was a singer on The American Melody Hour radio program on the Blue Network. He also was heard regularly on The Chicago Theater of the Air, The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts, The Joe Cook Show, and The Packard Hour. He made several 78 rpm recordings for the RCA Victor Red Seal label. Decca Records released several 78 rpm sides by Conrad Thibault in the 1940s. In 1949 he became emcee for the ABC Television show The Jacques Fray Music Room, holding that position from August through October. In the 1950s he sang for the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Thibault's repertoire was varied, including baroque arias, spirituals, Wagnerian opera, art songs, Broadway tunes, and patriotic songs. He was known to be personable in concerts, and was expressive with his hands. In his later years, Thibault taught voice in New York at the Manhattan School of Music and in Florida at Palm Beach Atlantic College. In 1987, Thibault died at St. John's Hospital in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York at the age of 83. He was survived by a son.

The lunar eclipse photos were from the evening of September 27, 2015 using a Panasonic DMC-ZS10 point-and-shoot camera. I took about 200 photos but used only 25 for the slide show. I used a tripod and had to adjust the camera constantly to keep the moon framed. I had to adjust the exposure in the manual mode since the automatic exposure did not work well. During the dark side of the eclipse the exposure time was several seconds which is why a tripod was necessary. The light from the moon at maximum eclipse was so dim at times that my viewfinder could not locate it, so there were minutes that I couldn’t take photos. During the brightest exposures of the moon I had to shorten the exposure time to 1/1000 second so that I could reveal the details on the bright moon surface. I don’t have manual focus on this camera so I had to rely on the auto-focus feature which didn’t always work, especially on the dark photos.

George Olsen and his Music - A Garden in the Rain (1929)

bsgs98 2019-07-25 | A Garden in the Rain
Music by Carroll Gibbons, Lyrics by James Dyrenforth
George Olsen and his Music, vocal refrain by Fran Frey
Recorded April 10, 1929
Victor 21942-B

George Olsen (1893 - 1971) was a popular bandleader especially during the 1920s and 1930s. The band featured vocalist-wife Ethel Shutta and male vocalist Fran Frey. Consistent sweet style ideal for hotels. Attended University of Michigan and had a band there. In 1919 led band in Portland, by 1923 well-known on west coast. Work with entertainer Fanny Brice led to stage work for empresario Flo Ziegfeld. First big break in hit Broadway musical "Kid Boots" (1924), later in year Ziegfeld Follies of 1924. In hit musical "Sunny" (1925); 1925 hit record "Who?" from show thereafter associated with Olsen. In hit show "Good News" (1927) and "Whoopee" (1928), early sound movies "Happy Days" and "Whoopee" (1930). Between shows played New York clubs and hotels. Olsen married Ethel Shutta 1926, featured her through the years. Recorded leading show and popular tunes late 1920s and early 1930s. Many radio appearances included Jack Pearl show 1934, Tim and Irene show 1938, own show 1936 featuring wife. In 1930s on west coast. By mid-1930s popularity and recordings waned. Olsen took over Orville Knapp band 1936 shortly after Knapp's death. World War II entertained US troops. Late 1930s and 1940s band lost popularity. Olsen retired as bandleader 1951, later had restaurant in Paramous, New Jersey that featured tapes of his old records.

Ted Wallace and His Campus Boys - Who Am I? ( 1931)

bsgs98 2019-05-27 | WHO AM I ?
Words by Gordon Clifford, Music by Alfred Newman
Performed by Ted Wallace and His Campus Boys
Recorded October 1, 1931
Columbia 2549-D

Ted Wallace was a pseudonym for Ed Kirkeby (1891 - 1978) band leader, vocalist, manager, and salesman, is best remembered as the manager of Fats Waller. He was one of the first recording managers at Columbia Records to record jazz and organized the California Ramblers to record it. He used several pseudonyms for recording including Ted Wallace, Ed Kirkeby Wallace, and Eddie Lloyd (and Loyd). Over the years he also managed the Pickens Sisters, was an A&R person at RCA Victor, and worked in the band booking department at NBC. As Fats Waller's manager he also acted as his archivist building a collection which is held today by the Institute of Jazz Studies. After Wallers death in 1943 Kirkeby remained active managing many other groups and musicians (including Pat Flowers) through 1977. (from Wikipedia)

Manhattan Dance Makers - My Stormy Weather Pal (1928)

bsgs98 2019-05-10 | My Stormy Weather Pal
Words and music by Al Piantadosi
Performed by The Manhattan Dance Makers
Recorded March 1, 1928
Harmony H-615

The Manhattan Dance Makers was a Ben Selvin group that recorded for the Harmony and Columbia labels between 1925 and 1929. The group, at times, included Earl Oliver, Hymie Faberman, Nathan Glantz, Bennie Krueger, Harry Reser, Joe Tarto, George Hamilton Green. The vocalist on this record is not identified, but sounds like Arthur Hall.

Al Piantadosi (1884-1955) was an American pianist, publisher and composer of popular music born in New York. A prolific songwriter of sentimental ballads starting in 1906 and continuing right into the 1930's. He collaborated with some of the best lyricists of his time amongst whom were including Alfred Bryan, Grant Clarke, and Edgar Leslie. As a pianist he covered resorts, night clubs and vaudeville as well as touring Europe and Australia. Some consider his most famous work to be the sentimental The Curse of An Aching Heart (1913). On the ragtime front, he is remembered for his Rusty-Can-O Rag (1910) and That Italian Rag (1910). He died in Encino, California.

Guy Lombardo - Too Many Tears (1932)

bsgs98 2019-05-04 | Too Many Tears
Words by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians
Vocal refrain by Carmen Lombardo
Recorded February 23, 1932
Brunswick 6261

[This is a re-post to correct audio from right channel only.]

The tune is from the 1932 Warner Brothers musical film "Blessed Event" starring Lee Tracy and Mary Brian. In the film it was sung by Dick Powell in his screen debut. Al Dubin and Harry Warren wrote 60 hit songs for Warner Brothers movies including 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and all five of the Gold Digger films. Peter Mintun, pianist and authority on American popular culture of the 1920s & 1930s has stated that "Too Many Tears" is Harry Warren's most sophisticated melody.

Watch Peter Mintun perform "Too Many Tears" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ4RsBKbk2s

Hare and Bernard - Beale Street Mama (1923)

bsgs98 2019-01-09 | Beale Street Mama
Words and music by Roy Turk and J. Russel Robinson
Vocal by Ernest Hare and Al Bernard
Recorded March 1923
Regal 9482

The record label credits Thomas and Bernard as the vocal duo. I believe that Thomas is "Bob Thomas" one of the many pseudonyms used by Ernest Hare.

Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, has been playing the blues for nearly a century. Named after an unknown military hero in 1841, it acted as General Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters during the Civil War. But, Beale Street's heyday was in the 1920's, when the area took on a carnival atmosphere and gambling, drinking, prostitution, murder and voodoo thrived alongside the booming nightclubs, theaters, restaurants, stores, pawnshops and hot music.

Rosa Henderson - So Long to You And The Blues (1923)

bsgs98 2018-12-29 | Rosa Henderson sings:
"So Long to You and the Blues""
Words and Music by Lemuel Fowler
Piano Accompaniment Fletcher Henderson (no relation)
Recorded Aug. 1, 1923
Vocalion 14652B

Born in 1896, Rosa Henderson was one of the most outstanding of the many early women vaudeville-blues singers to record for the race record companies in the early Twenties. Her recording career covered the span of nine years, from the first for Victor in 1923 to the last for Columbia in 1931. During these years her name appeared on a variety of record labels including Vocalion, Paramount, Ajax and Edison. Also nearly a hundred titles appeared under her name and such pseudonyms as Josephine Thomas, Sarah Johnson and Mamie Harris. Her voice was strong, but at the same time possessed a sweet tone. The material she recorded were typical vaudeville numbers. Also many of her accompanists were of no mean status, including the complete Fletcher Henderson band, and such names as Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Green, Louis Metcalf, James P. Johnson, and countless others. Proof of her popularity with the record buying public was made clear by the number of titles released.

Fletcher Henderson (not related to Rosa) (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical arrangers and, along with Duke Ellington, is considered one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders in jazz history. Henderson's influence was vast. He helped bridge the gap between the Dixieland and the swing eras. [Wikipedia]

Morgan-Clark Music Masters, Frank Sylvano, v.- Im Saving Saturday Night For You (1927)

bsgs98 2018-12-19 | "I'm Saving Saturday Night For You"
Words and music by Cal DeVoll and Dudley Mecum
Performed by Morgan-Clark Music Masters, Vocal Refrain by Frank Sylvano
Recorded September 6, 1927
Brunswick 3644

This was the only record made (and the flip side "Blue River") by the Morgan-Clark Music Masters. This was a single recording session for Brunswick in 1927. Only the vocalist, Frank Sylvano is identified. It's quite likely that the musicians were members of Chicago's Jules Herbuveaux Palmer House Victorians who also recorded the same day. Frank Sylvano at the time was a vocalist with Herbuveaux's Orchestra.

Frank Sylvano, a radio and band vocalist known as “the romantic voice of the air,” who sang on KYW, Chicago's first radio station, the night it went on the air in 1921. He was active in the 1920s and early 1930s, mostly in Chicago. In recordings he started out playing banjo with the Charley Straight Orchestra in 1926. He must have been freelancing since he never seemed to stay too long with any one band. He's mostly noted as a vocalist with several dance bands and made recordings with Gene Rodemich, Bennie Krueger, Ben Bernie, Isham Jones, Abe Lyman and he even recorded under his own name as Frank Sylvano and His Orchestra.

There is another song with the same title recorded by Cliff Carlisle, a sort of country blues yodel from the 1930s. This recording is a completely different song with the same title.

Todd Duncan - I Got Plenty of Nuttin (1940)

bsgs98 2018-12-15 | "I Got Plenty of Nuttin" - Todd Duncan, baritone
From the Opera, "Porgy and Bess"
Music by George Gershwin, Lyrics by Du Bose Heyward and Ira Gershwin
Orchestra directed by Alexander Smallens
Recorded May 15, 1940

Todd Duncan was born in Danville, Kentucky in 1903, died February 28, 1998. He obtained his musical training at Butler University in Indianapolis with a B.A. in music followed by an M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College. Duncan was George Gershwin's personal choice as the first performer of the role of "Porgy" in Porgy and Bess in 1935 and played the role more than 1,800 times.

Eva A. Jessye (1895-1992) choral director, performer, musical director for a number of Broadway productions of "Porgy and Bess" in the 30's - 50's. She was the first black woman to receive international distinction as a professional choral conductor. In the 1920s she created her own choral group, the Original Dixie Jubilee Singers which was eventually renamed the Eva Jessye Choir. In 1935 Jessye was selected by George Gershwin to be choral director for the original production of his 1935 folk-opera, "Porgy and Bess."

The Story of "Porgy and Bess" had its beginning in real life, for Porgy was a real person, a cripple who roamed the streets of Charleston, South Carolina for many years and whose life was always a mystery to the city's inhabitants. DuBose Heyward, a native of Charleston, had seen this strange figure from childhood, and his imagination was stirred. The result was a novel called "Porgy", which he wrote in 1925, and which was done with such simple, direct style that it immediately claimed the attention of literary critics, and won for Mr. Heyward a high place in American letters. It happened that the authors wife, Dorothy Heyward, was a playright. She saw in the novel a play. The two set out to dramatize the book, finished it and submitted it to the Theatre Guild, and it was accepted almost immediately. In 1927, the play "Porgy" was staged by Rouban Mamoulian, a young Armenian who taught at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY. The play ran a year in New York, then toured the country and finally wound up in London.

George Gershwin read the book and believed "Porgy" was the basis for a truly American opera. He asked Heyward whether he would be willing to collaborate in such a venture. The success of the play only proved to Gershwin that he was right in his selection of dramatic material for an opera featuring "Porgy." Finally, in 1933, Gershwin and Heyward decided the time had come to get down to real work. George's brother, Ira, was asked to join into the picture to collaborate with Heyward in the writing of the lyrics. In two years, Gershwin completed the 700 page score and the orchestration of the entire opera, mostly done in New York. He did manage to get to Charleston for two months, where he absorbed the atmosphere of the story and the strange rhythms of the people with whom he was dealing. Much of the time was spent on a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina, where there was a large African American colony which he could observe. The casting of the opera required almost a year.

The libretto of "Porgy and Bess" tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black street-beggar living in the slums of Charleston. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, her drug dealer. The opera plot generally follows the stage play.

Gershwin chose as his choral director Eva Jessye, who also directed her own renowned choir. The world premiere performance took place at the Colonial Theatre in Boston on September 30, 1935—the try-out for a work intended initially for Broadway where the opening took place at the Alvin Theatre in New York City on October 10, 1935. During rehearsals and in Boston, Gershwin made many cuts and refinements to shorten the running time and tighten the dramatic action. The run on Broadway lasted 124 performances. The production and direction were entrusted to Rouben Mamoulian, who had previously directed the Broadway productions of Heyward's play "Porgy." The music director was Alexander Smallens. The leading roles were played by Todd Duncan and Anne Brown. The influential vaudeville artist John W. Bubbles created the role of Sportin' Life; the role of Serena was created by Ruby Elzy.

Nancy Wilson - When I Look in Your Eyes (1968)

bsgs98 2018-12-14 | Nancy Wilson - When I Look in Your Eyes
(1937 - 2018)
TRIBUTE
Nancy Sue Wilson (February 20, 1937 – December 13, 2018) was an American singer whose career spanned over five decades, from the mid–1950s until her retirement in the early–2010s. She was notable for her single "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am" and her version of the standard "Guess Who I Saw Today".

The song, "When I Look in Your Eyes", was written by Leslie Bricusse.
From the album, - "Easy" - Capitol St 2909 (May 1968)

First performance by Rex Harrison (December 1967) from the movie musical "Doctor Dolittle"

Cliff Roberts Orch. - Ive Got A Feeling Im Falling (1929)

bsgs98 2018-12-14 | I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling
Words by Billy Rose
Music by Fats Waller and Harry Link
Cliff Roberts and His Orchestra
vocal: William Robyn
Recorded April, 1929
Cameo 9165

Brian Rust suggests that this is Sam Lanin and His Orchestra. The vocalist is not identified on the label however it is believed to be William Robyn.

Harry Link is credited for collaborating with Waller on writing the music. I couldn't find a decent photo of him. Link wrote several other songs with Waller, among them "Gone" (with Andy Razaf) and "I Hate to Leave You Now." He is also credited with co-writing "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" with Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey.

Henry King - April in Paris (1933)

bsgs98 2018-05-08 | April in Paris
Music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by E. Y. Harburg
Henry King and his Hotel Pierre Orchestra
November 29. 1933
Victor 24478

"April in Paris" was composed by Vernon Duke (1903 - 1969) with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical, "Walk A Little Faster", the original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake (inspired by the movie of the same name) was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50. It has been performed by virtually every significant jazz and popular singer and remains one of the greatest standards in the repertoire.

Henry King (1906 - 1974) came from a musical family and he was classically trained, however he became a society-style pianist and leader of a popular hotel band in the 1930s and 1940s. His piano became prominent in his band arrangements. His career as band leader began in the late 1920s and he became popular in the 1930s from hotel jobs and radio coverage. In most of his recordings, his featured vocalist was Joseph Sudy. His theme was the Mitchell Parish-Frank Signorelli composition, "A Blues Serenade". In 1936-37, he was the band director for the Burns and Allen radio show. Later in his career he modified his style to focus on Latin American-influenced music, becoming an early-adopter of rhumba and samba rhythms.

New York City’s refined hotel, The Pierre, reopened in 2009 after a $100 million renovation.The 714-room hotel was built for $15 million in 1930 and quickly joined the pantheon of grand New York City locales upon its opening. Backed by Wall Street financiers and the vision of Charles Pierre Casalasco, the European-style hotel contained upper floors modeled after the Chapel of Versailles, and its signature room, the Rotunda, contains famous floor-to-ceiling trompe l’oeil murals by American artist Edward Melcarth.

Vic Meyers and his Orchestra - The Only, Only One (1924)

bsgs98 2018-05-01 | The Only, Only One
Lyrics by Bud Green, music by James V. Monaco and Harry Warren
Vic Meyers and his Orchestra
Vocal refrain by Frank Bessinger
Recorded December 2, 1924
Brunswick 2774

Bandleader Victor Aloysius Meyers (1897 - 1991) ruled Seattle's ballroom dancing scene in the speakeasy years. Born in Little Falls, Minnesota, in 1897, he grew up in Oregon and organized a band that toured until settling in Seattle in the 1920s. Meyers and his band performed as a regular part of the Jazz Age entertainment at the tony Butler Hotel with its fabled Rose Room (when it wasn't being raided by liquor agents). He later held court at the faux-Mediterranean Trianon in Belltown (at the time, the largest dance hall in the Northwest). In those pioneering days of both radio and recording, Meyers proved himself an early adopter. His gig at the Butler led to what was the first commercial record made in the city (recorded "in the field," as Seattle wouldn't get an actual recording studio for years to come). Meyers was known for his bold defiance of Prohibition and also established his own venue (Club Victor) in the Denny Regrade. He later reinvented himself as a progressive politician, initially as a joke, until the pro-New Deal Meyers went on to get elected to Lieutenant Governor in 1932 and won reelection five more times. He also served as Secretary of State of Washington from 1956 to 1964 and lived until the age of 93.
(reference: seattlemet.com)

Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers - Fussy Mabel (1930)

bsgs98 2018-04-20 | Fussy Mabel
Music by Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers
Recorded March 20, 1930
Victor 38125A

Jelly wrote this one for his girlfriend Mabel Bertrand. Also born in New Orleans she was the sister of percussionist and xylophone player Jimmy Bertrand whose small groups were a staple of the 1920's Chicago jazz scene. A dancer by profession she had sent time in Europe and was married to Ferd Morton in 1929.

Personnel: Ward Pinkett and Bubber Miley trumpets, Wilbur de Paris trombone, Eddie Barefield clarinet, Jelly Roll Morton piano & leader, Bernard Addison guitar, Bill Benford bass brass, and Tommy Benford drums

Ferdinand Joseph Morton (Jelly Roll Morton) (1890-1941)
Major early jazz figure as pianist, band leader and composer. Started playing piano in New Orleans with a style with ragtime roots, but style unique, advanced in harmony, composition and solo conception. In the early 1900s played in New Orleans "sporting houses". Jobs throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. Toured south with minstrel show around 1909-1911. 1911-1917 Jobbed in St. Louis, Kansas City. Jazz composition, "Jelly Roll Blues" published in Chicago in 1917. Based in California five years, worked all over the west coast. Back in Chicago, 1923, worked for Melrose Brothers Music Company, had more jazz pieces published. Began extensive recording in 1923 using small groups of excellent jazzmen. Greatest recording period 1926-1930 for Victor. During this period toured with other bands, led groups. In 1928 led band at New York's Rose Danceland. Jobbed in New York early 1930s. Led band 1935-1936, settled in Washington D.C., 1937-1938 in comparative obscurity. Managed jazz club, also performed. Alan Lomax recorded him solo on long series for archives of Library of Congress. More recording sessions 1939-1940, limited engagements in New York 1939 and California 1940. Ill health 1940-1941, before death.

McKinneys Cotton Pickers - Cherry (1928)

bsgs98 2018-04-10 | CHERRY
Words by Ray Gilbert, music by Don Redman
McKinney's Cotton Pickers
Directed by Don Redman, vocal by Jean Napier
Recorded July 12, 1928, Chicago

Personnel:
Don Redman (reeds, director, arranger), John Nesbitt (trumpet), Langston Curl (trumpet), Claude Jones (trombone), Milton Senior (clarinet), George Thomas (alto sax), Prince Robinson (clarinet, tenor sax), Todd Rhodes (piano), Dave Wilborn (banjo), Ralph Escudero (tuba), Cuba Austin (drums), Jean Napier (vocal)

(Note: The date shown at the beginning of the video is wrong. The correct date is July 12, 1928)

Although McKinney's Cotton Pickers is properly regarded as a Midwest band, its growth was traceable to a number of sources. In 1924, which was about the time Don Redman joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra in New York, McKinney's was a band that depended only partly on musicianship. Taking its name from William McKinney, a former circus drummer, it went in for vaudeville, for comic effects and musical tomfoolery. This was not unusual for bands of the time. That jazz had to be "sold" was still a widely held opinion.

But jazz was already on its way and McKinney's was destined to become one of the important bands on the 1920's, linking the early jazz of bands that worked usually without orchestrations and with very simple instrumentation, to those that came later-- the name bands of the Thirties in which an instrumentation of seven brass, four reed and four rhythm instruments was generally the minimum.

Don Redman was the moving spirit of McKinney's Cotton Pickers. It was while he was musical director of the group, between 1928 and 1931, that it became famous --- and through records, was to become increasingly so --- for its pioneering in the field of arranged jazz. Meanwhile the band was not devoid of talent; if so, it would hardly have been worth Redman's while to join up.. William McKinney did not play with the band during its most famous period, but helped manage it and the name stuck. (Not to be confused with the White band known simply as "The Cotton Pickers", which grew out of The Memphis Five.")

Fats Waller - Louisiana Fairy Tale (1935)

bsgs98 2018-03-31 | Louisiana Fairy Tale
Words and music by Mitchell Parish, Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots
Played by 'Fats' Waller and his Rhythm
Recorded March 6, 1935, New York
Victor 24898

Personnel: Herman Autrey (trumpet) / Rudy Powell (clarinet) / Fats Waller (piano, vocal) / Albert Casey (guitar) / Charles Turner (bass) / Harry Dial (drums)

'Fats' Thomas Wright Waller was born in New York City, May 21, 1904 and died in Kansas City Missouri on December 15, 1943. Fats' father was a church minister and his mother played piano and organ. He began on piano at the age of six and later played in his school orchestra. He left school in 1918, did various day jobs and also won a talent contest at the Roosevelt Theatre (playing 'Carolina Shout'). He received informal lessons from James P. Johnson then studied with Carl Bohn and Leopold Godowski.. His recording career began in 1922 and then became the resident organist at the Lincoln Theatre. In the mid-twenties he played residency in a silent movie theatre in Washington D.C., and led his own trio in Philadelphia. During the late twenties, his career expanded to various theatre venues, concerts and musicals. He continued recording under his own name and also recorded with Fletcher Henderson, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Jack Teagarden and Ted Lewis. In 1930 he began broadcasting on WABC in New York, in 1932 on WLW in Cincinnati. In 1934 he formed his recording group 'Fats Waller and his Rhythm' and had his own CBS radio series. He toured Europe in 1938, in Glasgow, Denmark and London where he was featured in an early BBC television series. Returning to New York he played with his own small band at the Yacht Club. In 1942, he began working as a single and was featured in concert at Carnegie Hall, New York. Fats' last big show, 'Early to Bed', opened in Boston in May 1943. Later that year he moved to Hollywood to work at the Zanzibar Club, Los Angeles, until December 1943. While returning to New York with his manager, Ed Kirkeby, on the Sante Fe Railroad, he died of pneumonia.

A partial list of Fats Waller compositions include ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’, ‘Black and Blue’, ‘I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby’, ‘I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling’, and ‘Honeysuckle Rose’.

Dolly Dawn and her Dawn Patrol - I Promise You (1939)

bsgs98 2018-03-05 | I Promise You
Words and music by Ben Oakland, Samuel Lerner and Alice Faye
Dolly Dawn and Her Dawn Patrol
Recorded February 15, 1939
Conqueror 9182

Dolly Dawn was a composer, songwriter ("Keep Dreaming"), author, conductor and singer. Dolly was born as Theresa Maria Stabile, on Feb. 3, 1916, in Newark and grew up in Montclair, N.J. Both her parents were Italian immigrants and her father ran a restaurant, among other jobs. Her cousin was the bandleader Dick Stabile. At 14, she won an amateur contest that band leader, George Hall held in Newark. He shook her hand, but had forgotten her a year or two later when she showed up at the Taft Hotel in Manhattan, where his band regularly played. With the regular female vocalist about to leave, Ms. Dawn auditioned and got the job. She was known at the time as Billie Starr. Mr. Hall and Harriet Mencken, a writer on The New York Journal-American, came up with Dolly Dawn. "She's as fresh as the dawn and as dimpled as a doll," the newspaperwoman said, according to an article in Radio Guide in 1937. After six months of musical training, she began singing with Hall's band in July 1935, which every day but Sunday was broadcast nationally on CBS radio from the Taft Hotel at noon. The show's tagline: "Dance With Romance." Her relationship with Hall and his wife was so close that they formally adopted her when she was 19. In a ceremony on July 4, 1941, he turned his band over to her and became her manager. A popular part of the band's performance had become her appearing with just seven musicians in a group she named Dawn Patrol, after a newspaper column Ed Sullivan wrote called "Along the Dawn Patrol." Sullivan, a friend, gave her permission. On February 4, 1998, Dawn was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame during a ceremony in West Palm Beach, FL.

Nick Lucas - The Only, Only One (1925)

bsgs98 2018-02-21 | The Only, Only One
Words by Bud Green, music by James Monaco and Harry Warren
Performed by Nick Lucas, vocal with guitar
Recorded February 18, 1925
Brunswick 2846

Nick Lucas (1897 - 1982) was an entertainer billed as "The Crooning Troubadour", gained most fame singing Tiptoe Through the Tulips with Me" in early sound movie Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929). Soft, pleasant voice with self accompanied guitar. Began in vaudeville about 1917, continued many years off and on. Played clubs in New York, Chicago and other cities. Played banjo with Russo-Fio Rito Oriole Orchestra early 1920s. Played in London 1926. Substantial recordings beginning mid 1920s. Role in 1929 hit movie gave career new impetus for a while. In Broadway musical "Show Girl" (1929), movie "Show of Shows" (1929). Because of his record and vaudeville popularity, the demand for six-string guitars increased greatly. The Gibson Guitar Company produced the "Nick Lucas Special " from Lucas' own design which became a perennial favorite well in to the late 1930s. In 1930s Lucas settled in Hollywood, make film shorts and played clubs. Featured 100 consecutive weeks at El Capitan Theatre. Led dance band in 1934. Guest appearances on radio shows; regular on Al Pearce show, 1937. In west coast stage show Ken Murray's Blackouts on 1949. Inactive in 1950s and 1960s save for occasional appearances as single or on TV. Late 1960s, popular favorite Tiny Tim hit "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" revived some interest in Lucas. Semi-active in 1970s, mostly in clubs. Sang on soundtrack of 1974 film "The Great Gatsby."

The online discography (78discography(dot)com) lists the recording year as 1923, which is impossible based on the label and matrix number. It's not listed in Rust's Entertainment Discography, but should have been early 1925. In addition, the song wasn't published until 1924. This was one of the final acoustic recordings made by Nick Lucas prior to the introduction of Brunswick's Light-Ray electrical recording process later in 1925.

Don Voorhees - ONE ALONE from The Desert Song (1926)

bsgs98 2018-01-24 | ONE ALONE from "The Desert Song"
Music by Sigmund Romberg, words by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II
Performed by Don Voorhees and His Earl Carroll's Vanities Orchestra
Vocal Refain by Charles Kaley
Recorded Dec. 14, 1926, New York

Personnel:
Don Voorhees - director / Mike Mosiello, Leo McConville - trumpet / Miff Mole - trombone / Bill Trone - mellophone / Phil Gleason, Fred Morrow - clarinet, alto sax / Paul Cartright - tenor sax / Joe Raymond - violin / Dick McDonough - banjo, guitar / Jack Hanson - tuba / Vic Berton - drums / Charles Kaley - vocal

Don Voorhees (1903 - 1989) born in Allentown, Pennsylvania was a leader of a good dance band in th 1920s and later conductor on radio-TV. Band in Broadway musical "Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1925." Maintained high musicianship in 1920s, with good arrangements, some done by himself. Personnel at times included Red Nichols, Miff Mole, Arthur Schutt, Dick McDonough and Vic Berton. Late 1927 formed band with Red Nichols for Newark radio station WOR, soon after on newly-formed CBS network. Conducted same band in pit of Broadway show "Rain or Shine" during 1928 without Nichols. Later band nucleus joined Roger Wolfe Kahn. In 1930s important radio conductor, pop and semi-classical. Shows included those of Albert Spaulding 1933-34, Ed Wynn 1934, Colgate House Party 1934, Gibson Family 1935, Ed Wynn 1935-36. Late 1936 into late 1940s on Calvalcade of America show. With James Melton on 1939 Ford Summer Show and Telephone Hour early 1940s. Virtually every week for 28 years -on radio from 1940 to 1959 and on television from 1959 to 1968, Voorhees brought to millions of NBC listeners a mix of classical and popular music performed by leading virtuosos, including Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Arthur Rubinstein, Lily Pons, Ezio Pinza, Benny Goodman and Bing Crosby. After he left the Telephone Hour, he was conductor of the Allentown (Pennsylvania) Symphony Orchestra and made personal appearances as guest conductor of other well known orchestras.

Rosa Henderson - If You Dont Give me What I Want (1923)

bsgs98 2017-11-26 | Rosa Henderson sings:
"If you Don't Give Me What I Want"
Words and Music by Henry Creamer
Piano Accompaniment Fletcher Henderson (no relation)
Recorded Aug. 21, 1923
Vocalion A14652

Born in 1896, Rosa Henderson was one of the most outstanding of the many early women vaudeville-blues singers to record for the race record companies in the early Twenties. Her recording career covered the span of nine years, from the first for Victor in 1923 to the last for Columbia in 1931. During these years her name appeared on a variety of record labels including Vocalion, Paramount, Ajax and Edison. Also nearly a hundred titles appeared under her name and such pseudonyms as Josephine Thomas, Sarah Johnson and Mamie Harris. 'Her voice was strong, but at the same time possessed a sweet tone. The material she recorded were typical vaudeville numbers. Also many of her accompanists were of no mean status, including the complete Fletcher Henderson band, and such names as Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Green, Louis Metcalf, James P. Johnson, and countless others . Proof of her popularity with the record buying public was made clear by the number of titles released.

Fletcher Henderson (not related to Rosa) (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical arrangers and, along with Duke Ellington, is considered one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders in jazz history. Henderson's influence was vast. He helped bridge the gap between the Dixieland and the swing eras. [Wikipedia]

Jesse Crawford - Just a Night for Meditation (1928)

bsgs98 2017-10-03 | Just a Night for Meditation
Music by Lew Pollack, words by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young
Jesse Crawford at the Wurlitzer, Sam Coslow, tenor solo
Recorded September 20, 1928, New York City
Victor 21713

Jesse Crawford (1895 - 1962) was one the most famous theater organists, very popular in 1920s and 1930s. Reached peak about 1928-31 when records played frequently on radio. Most popular record probably "At Dawning" and "Roses of Picardy". Began career around 1908, toured as pianist with dance band in northwest. First organ job at Gem Theater, Spokane, Washington, 1911. Other theaters followed. First organ soloist at Grauman's Theater in Los Angeles in 1918. Worked in Chicago in early 1920s. Got coveted organist job at New York's Paramount Theater, during 1926-33 entertained crowds nightly, sometimes with talented wife Helen at twin organ console. Toured English theaters. Later in U.S. turned more to concert and radio work, provided background music for dramas on NBC and CBS. Led sweet-styled dance orchestra 1937-38, featured self and wife on twin electric organs. Recording output through the years extensive. Active in 1940s and 1950s on radio and records. Wrote instruction books on organ.

American pop and show tunes composer/lyricist Sam Coslow (1902-1982) was an important part of pop music during the '20s & '30s, writing such hits as "My Old Flame", "Sing You Sinners" and "Cocktails for Two". Together with composer Larry Spier, he founded his own publishing company, the Spier & Coslow Music Company and in those beginning years, he also had a minor career as a performer, recording for RCA Victor, Decca and Columbia Records. In 1929, Coslow signed up with Paramount as a songwriter for their movies. It was the early days of sound movies, and Coslow was the first Broadway songwriter to be hired by Paramount. In the late 1940’s through the 50’s Coslow produced a number of films. A two-reel short film, "Heavenly Music", produced by Coslow for MGM, won the Academy Award for Best Short in 1943. He also produced and wrote screenplays for full-length musical feature films, including Out of This World (1945) and Copacabana (1947). In 1954 and 1955, he lived in London, where he wrote for film and stage musicals. Coslow also collaborated with Hoagy Carmichael, Sigmund Romberg, J. Fred Coots, Fred Hollander, and Will Grosz.

Duke Ellington - Creole Love Call (1932)

bsgs98 2017-06-02 | Creole Love Call
Composed by Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra
New York City, NY - 11 February 1932
Brunswick 20106, Columbia 88035 (reissue)

Arthur Whetsel, Cootie Williams, Freddie Jenkins (trumpet); Joe Nanton, Lawrence Brown, Juan Tizol (trombone); Barney Bigard (cl,ts); Johnny Hodges (cl,ss,as); Harry Carney (cl,as,bar); Duke Ellington (p); Fred Guy (bj); Wellman Braud (sb); Sonny Greer(d,ch)

G. E. Lambert states in his book "Kings of Jazz - Duke Ellington" :

"The year 1932 saw the first of the many re-recordings Ellington has made through the years of numbers from an earlier period, the custom being inaugurated by "Creole Love Call" in a four-minute 'concert arrangement'. This is a superb version of the tune with fine solo work from Cootie Williams and Barney Bigard, the heavy arrangement giving a totally different view of the work than the lightly scored 1927 version. The addition of Lawrence Brown in 1932 had not only given Ellington a new (and controversial) solo voice but had also raised his trombone section to three pieces."

Paul Whiteman, Jack Teagarden - Aunt Hagars Blues (1938)

bsgs98 2017-05-20 | Aunt Hagar's Blues
Words and music by W. C. Handy
Paul Whiteman and His Swing Wing
Featuring Jack Teagarden and The Modernaires
Recorded September 9, 1938
Decca 3522A

This was from Paul Whiteman's first recording session with Decca Records. The Swing Wing was a smaller contingent the Whiteman Orchestra.

Charlie Teagarden, (trumpet), Jack Teagarden (trombone, vocal), Sal Franzella (clarinet), Al Gallodoro (alto sax), Atr Drellinger (tenor sax), Walter Gross (piano), Arthur Ryerson (guitar), Art Miller (bass), Rollo Laylan (drums), Four Modernaires including Chuck Goldstein, Ralph Brewster, Hal Dickinson, Bill Conway.

The original 1923 version by W.C. Handy's Orchestra can be found here youtu.be/ddyIAJOmCzw

National Cavaliers - My Backbirds Are Bluebirds Now (1928)

bsgs98 2017-05-11 | My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now
Words by Irving Caesar, Music by Cliff Friend
Performed by National Cavaliers (Male Quartet with Piano)
Recorded November 21, 1928
Victor 21794

Personnel:
Leo O'Rourke (tenor), Robert Stevens (tenor), John Seagle (baritone), Darrel Woodyard (bass) , David Buttolph (piano)

The National Cavaliers were organized by John Seagle's father, the renowned baritone and singing coach, Oscar Seagle. The quartet began as four college students working as waiters at the music summer camp operated by John's father. The quartet did extensive radio and concert singing from the late 1920 until the start of World War II. They recorded about 15 sides for the Victor label between 1927 and 1931. They regularly performed on radio station WEAF (New York City) during the same time period.

ABOUT THE SONGWRITERS: (from Songwriters Hall of Fame)

LYRICIST, IRVING CAESAR, was born in New York City on the fourth of July, 1895 the son of Morris and Sofia Selinger Caesar, in the Henry Street Settlement on New York's lower East Side of Manhattan. He attended schools in New York City and the College of the City of New York. In 1915, Caesar answered a newspaper ad and left college during his freshman year to take part in Henry Ford's Peace Ship, or The Ford Peace Expedition, organized by Henry Ford, to "take the boys out of the trenches by Christmas" and halt the war in Europe.

Returning from Europe while the War continued, he became a regular in the Tin Pan Alley area of the city, where he met by chance another budding tunesmith, George Gershwin. The acquaintance resulted in the joint effort known as "Swanee," one of the earliest hits in what was to become a long and notable career. Another working entente, this time with composer, Vincent Youmans, was born out of a sudden need for a couple of new tunes for the show, "No, No, Nanette," for which Youmans had written the score. Two immortal pieces, "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy" (acknowledged by Caesar as the embodiment of his personal philosophy: "...but I won't be happy until you're happy too!") were introduced after the show had an unremarkable debut in Detroit and were largely responsible for turning the show into a roaring success.

Caesar became increasingly disaffected from the kind of music to which most Americans were listening in the 1960's. He complained that: "good lyrics and tunes are no longer wanted," and that "we have a form of musical juvenile delinquency abetted by adult delinquency." Irving Caesar, a lifelong resident of New York City, died at the age of 101 on December 18, 1996.

COMPOSER, CLIFF FRIEND, was born on October 1, 1893 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of the first violinist with the Woods Theater Orchestra. He was educated at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with the ambition to become a concert pianist, but he was stricken with tuberculosis. In his early career, Friend was the accompanist for Harry Richman in various Ohio vaudeville shows and eventually the two moved to Los Angeles where they met some of the biggest names in the business including Al Jolson and songwriter and publisher Buddy DeSylva. While in California, Jolson encouraged Friend to move to New York and work as a songwriter on Tin Pan Alley. In New York, Friend soon met and started collaborating with the leading songwriters of the day: Lew Brown, Sidney Clare, Billy Rose, Irving Caesar, Dave Franklin, Abel Baer and Charles Tobias.

His first big hit came in 1923 with "You Tell Her, I Stutter," which was recorded by Ernie Hare and Billy Jones. For the next 15 years the charts included a Friend co-penned song like "June Night", "Then I'll Be Happy", "(Oh) If I Only Had You", "A Night in June (Beneath the Moon)", "My Blackbirds are Bluebirds Now", "It Goes Like This", "You're a Real Sweetheart", "Bashful Baby", "I Want to Sing About You", "It's Great to Be IN Love", "Let's Have a Party", "The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven", "When My Dream Boat Comes Home", "You've Got Me In the Palm of Your Hand", "Out Where the Blue Begins" and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down."

Cliff Friend died on June 27, 1974, Las Vegas, NV.

Ruth Etting - Me! (1931)

bsgs98 2017-05-10 | Me!
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Ruth Etting, vocal
Recorded on September 9, 1931
Imperial 2601 (also released on Conqueror, Oriole, Perfect, Banner and Romeo record labels in the USA)

Ruth Etting was one of the most popular singing stars of the late 1920s and early 1930s. On radio she established herself as America's preeminent popular singer, repeatedly voted as the top female singer on the air in national listener polls. While the radio and the recording industry were still in their early developing years, Ruth Etting recorded over 200 songs by such composers as Irving Berlin, Johnny Green, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. She was a regular performer on at least eight network radio programs, was featured in six Broadway shows, was highlighted in three major full-length movies, and starred in 35 movie short subjects between 1928 and 1936.

(Verse:)
We took a walk, we had a talk
And let me tell you very confidentially
The little walk, the little talk
Has made me just as glad as glad as I can be
I simply wanted to know
Who she was loving and so
We took a walk and had a talk
And I discovered pretty soon that it was me

(Chorus:)
Me!
She gave her attention
Not to him, not to her, not to them, not to those, but to me

Her family
They held a convention
Not for him, not for her, not for them, not for those, but for me

I'm delighted, yes sir!
And I have to laugh
Standing on my dresser
Is a photograph

Which proves that she
Gives all her attention
Not to him, not to her, not to them, not to those, but to me

Johnny One Note - Ruby Newman Orch, Wynn Murray, vocal (1937)

bsgs98 2017-04-20 | Johnny One Note
From the musical comedy "Babes in Arms"
Words by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers
Ruby Newman and his Rainbow Room Orchestra
Vocal refrain by Wynn Murray
Victor 25546
Recorded March 12, 1937

“Johnny One Note” is a 1937 show tune from the Rodgers and Hart musical "Babes in Arms", where it was introduced by Wynn Murray. Wynn was only 15 years old when this recording was made. The musical opened on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances. The song was not included in the flm version in 1939, however Judy Garland sang this song in the film "Words and Music" which was released in 1948.

Ruby Newman was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1902. He led Boston's favorite society band in the 1930s playing primarily at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Newman frequently played violin solos with the band. He led various bands from the 1920s through the 1940s and played a short stint at the Rainbow Grill in New York City. His orchestra played at the White House in Washington D. C. on several occasions. Newman led an orchestra during WWII and accompanied Danny O'Neil on CBS.

Winifred Murray Rau, known on stage as Wynn Murray was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania on July 28, 1921. She starred in such popular musicals as "Babes in Arms", "The Boys from Syracuse", and "Sons O' fun Revue". She was a featured performer on Fred Allen’s Texaco Star Theater radio program on CBS. She also toured with the USO during World War II and was injured in New Guinea during a Japanese bombing raid. She was a recipient of the Purple Heart. She died February 6, 1957, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

George Olsen - The Song is Ended (1927)

bsgs98 2017-04-11 | The Song is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On)
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
George Olsen and his Music with Vocal Chorus
Recorded November 1, 1927
Victor 21040-B

George Olsen (1893 - 1971) was a popular bandleader especially during the 1920s and 1930s. The band featured vocalist-wife Ethel Shutta and male vocalist Fran Frey. Consistent sweet style ideal for hotels. Attended University of Michigan and had a band there. In 1919 led band in Portland, by 1923 well-known on west coast. Work with entertainer Fanny Brice led to stage work for empressario Flo Ziegfeld. First big break in hit Broadway musical "Kid Boots" (1924), later in year Ziegfeld Follies of 1924. In hit musical "Sunny" (1925); 1925 hit record "Who?" from show thereafter associated with Olsen. In hit show "Good News" (1927) and "Whoopee" (1928), early sound movies "Happy Days" and "Whoopee" (1930). Between shows played New York clubs and hotels. Olsen married Ethel Shutta 1926, featured her through the years. Recorded leading show and popular tunes late 1920s and early 1930s. Many radio appearances included Jack Pearl show 1934, Tim and Irene show 1938, own show 1936 featuring wife. In 1930s on west coast. By mid-1930s popularity and recordings waned. Olsen took over Orville Knapp band 1936 shortly after Knapp's death. World War II entertained US troops. Late 1930s and 1940s band lost popularity. Olsen retired as bandleader 1951, later had restaurant in Paramous, New Jersey that featured tapes of his old records.

Paul Whiteman - When My Dreams Come True (1929)

bsgs98 2016-12-06 | When My Dreams Come True
Words and music by Irving Berlin
Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
Vocal refrain by Jack Fulton
Recorded May 3, 1929
Columbia 1822D

The Cocoanuts (1929) is the Marx Brothers' first feature-length film. "When My Dreams Come True" was the theme song, sung by Mary Eaton and Oscar Shaw. The still frames are from the 1929 film musical. This song was not included in the 1925 stage production.

Guy Lombardo - The Spell of the Blues (1928)

bsgs98 2016-11-17 | The Spell Of The Blues
Words by Dave Dreyer, Herman Ruby
Music by Arthur Johnston
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians
Milton Charles at the WENR Radio Studio Wurlitzer Organ, Chicago Illinois
Columbia 1653-D
Recorded November 27, 1928

Milton Charles (1897-1991) was born to a musical family in San Jose, California. He began piano lessons at the age of 7 and became a church organist when he was 13. As a teenager played at movie theaters in San Francisco and was eventually hired to play at the Grauman Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. In the early 1920s he moved to Chicago where was the featured organist at the Tivoli Theatre as well as assisting at the Chicago Theatre and Uptown Theatre. After sound films became prevalent at the end of the 1920s, Charles moved to radio, scoring background music for "The Amos and Andy Show," "Ma Perkins" and "The Road of Life." He later worked on the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry radio shows, was a staff organist with CBS in Los Angeles, and spent the last 20 years of his career as organist and vocalist at the Kings Arms restaurant in Toluca Lake. He died on November 1, 1991 in Corona, California.

E. Norman Rauland, a Norwegian immigrant, was the founder of Chicago radio station, WENR, where the "ENR" were his initials.

WENR, was purchased by Samuel Insull's newly formed Great Lakes Broadcasting Company on April 17th 1928. Great Lakes Broadcasting agreed to purchase WENR for a reported $1.5 Million.

A quote from the Oct. 1928 Radio Digest about WENR:
"There are four regular and two relief announcers, two regular and one relief organist, one 12-piece symphony orchestra, two regular mixed quartets, two male quartets, two comedy teams, string trio, two accompanists, four harmony teams and four soloists on the WENR-WBCN present staff. The two mixed quartets present two light operas every week. The entire popular staff takes part in a comedy feature every Friday."

WENR's organ was a Wurlitzer Opus 1659 3 Manual 10 Rank Special (Installed 1927).

Paul Whiteman - All Through The Night (1934)

bsgs98 2016-07-12 | All Through The Night
Words and music by Cole Porter
Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
Vocal refrain by Bob Lawrence
Recorded October 26, 1934
Victor 24770

This song was featured in the Broadway musical "Anything Goes" which opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 21, 1934 and ran for 420 performances. Words and music were by Cole Porter, based on the book by Guy Bolton and P G Wodehouse. The cast included William Gaxton (Billy Crocker), Ethel Merman (Reno Sweeney) and Victor Moore (Reverend Dr. Moon). Other notable songs in the musical included "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Anything Goes", "You're the Top" and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow".

Mississippi Music Makers - It Goes Like This (1928)

bsgs98 2016-07-08 | It Goes Like This (That Funny Melody)
Music by Cliff Friend, Lyrics by Irving Caesar
Mississippi Music Makers (Bob Haring)
Vocal Chorus by Dick Robertson
Recorded October 3, 1928

This is one of those humorous, nonsense songs that was written and performed during the U.S. presidential election campaign of 1928. The two candidates were Herbert Hoover, Republican and Al Smith, Democrat. It seems that the songwriter did not take the campaign rhetoric very seriously. In the chorus there were several names mentioned and I have done my best to identify whom they were.

"...then Hoover cried..." Herbert Hoover - Republican Nominee for President, 1928. He ultimately won the election and served one term. He was defeated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932.

"...and Smith replied..." Al Smith - Democratic Nominee for President, 1928. Smith was the first Roman Catholic to gain a major party's nomination for president, and his religion became an issue during the campaign.

"...then Walker cried..." James Walker, Mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932. A flamboyant politician, he was a liberal Democrat and part of the powerful Tammany Hall machine. During a corruption scandal he was forced to resign.

"...and Dawes replied..." Charles G. Dawes - Incumbent Republican Vice President, passed over at the 1928 Convention.

"...up spoke a senator from I-o-way...." Possibly Smith W. Brookhart, Republican senator from Iowa or Daniel F. Steck, the Democrat senator from Iowa.

"...then Coolidge said..." Calvin Coolidge - Incumbent Republican President who chose not to run for re-election in 1928.

Guy Lombardo - High Up On A Hill-Top (1928)

bsgs98 2016-05-25 | High Up On A Hill-Top
Words and music by Abel Baer, Ian Campbell and George Whiting
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians
Milton Charles at the WENR Radio Studio Wurlitzer Organ, Chicago Illinois
Columbia 1653-D
Recorded November 27, 1928

Milton Charles (1897-1991) was born to a musical family in San Jose, California. He began piano lessons at the age of 7 and became a church organist when he was 13. As a teenager played at movie theaters in San Francisco and was eventually hired to play at the Grauman Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. In the early 1920s he moved to Chicago where was the featured organist at the Tivoli Theatre as well as assisting at the Chicago Theatre and Uptown Theatre. After sound films became prevalent at the end of the 1920s, Charles moved to radio, scoring background music for "The Amos and Andy Show," "Ma Perkins" and "The Road of Life." He later worked on the Roy Rogers and Gene Autry radio shows, was a staff organist with CBS in Los Angeles, and spent the last 20 years of his career as organist and vocalist at the Kings Arms restaurant in Toluca Lake. He died on November 1, 1991 in Corona, California.

Grace Hayes - I Must Have That Man (1928)

bsgs98 2016-04-17 | I Must Have That Man
Words by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh
Vocal by Grace Hayes
Orchestra conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret
Recorded August 6, 1928
Victor 21571

American singer/actress Grace Hayes (1895-1989) was a popular chanteuse and vaudeville performer during the 1920s and 1930s. She started her film career in 1930 appearing opposite Paul Whiteman in The King of Jazz. She appeared occasionally in films after that through 1950. As a singer, some of her better known songs include "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby" and "Sunny Side of the Street." In the 1940s, she established the star-studded San Fernando Valley hot-spot-- the Grace Hayes Lodge-- where she also performed.

"I Must Have That Man" was written by the prolific song-writing team of Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields for the Broadway musical "Blackbirds of 1928." Blackbirds was the title of a series of musicals with all-black performers, produced and directed by Lew Leslie, a former vaudevillian. The shows were presented from the late 1920s through the 1930s. The most successful of Leslie's productions , Blackbirds of 1928, starred Adelaide Hall and featured Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, whose dancing was a hit with audiences and critics alike. Other famous songs included "Diga Diga Do" and "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby"

Harold Van Emburgh (Harold Richards) - Home (1931)

bsgs98 2016-04-08 | Home (When Shadows Fall)
Words and Music by Peter Van Steeden, Harry and Jeff Clarkson
Vocalist, Harold Van Emburgh using the pseudonym "Harold Richards"
Recorded November 12, 1931
Harmony 1392

Harold Van Emburgh (1904-1975) was a vocalist who was active in the late 1920s and 1930s as a broadcast and recording artist. He was featured on the RCA Radiotron Varieties on WEAF, New York, and other programs and sometimes sang duets with contralto Welcome Lewis and soprano Margaret Daum. While he was known mainly as a tenor, some of the published radio guides identified him as a baritone. He performed on radio with the William Wirges Orchestra and with Zoel Parenteau's Orchestra. He recorded as a vocalist for several record labels and orchestras between 1927 and 1937 including Enoch Light (1927), Veo's Hotel McAlpin Orchestra (1928-29). He recorded several sides for Russ Carton's High Steppers Orchestra on the Crown label and in 1932 he made a series of recordings as Harold Van Emburgh and his Orchestra which also featured his singing. Between 1934 and 1937 he was a vocalist with Jolly Coburn and His Orchestra for Victor Records.

"Home" was first recorded by composer and band leader, Peter Van Steeden and his Orchestra on the Victor label. His collaborators were the father and son songwriters, Harry and Jeff Clarkson. It soon became Van Steeden's theme song. It has been very popular song for many years sometimes with the alternate title, "When Shadows Fall". It has been sung by Andrews Sisters in the 1944 film , "Moonlight and Cactus". In 1950 was recorded by Nat King Cole. There was an instrumental version by the Ventures in 1960. Paul McCartney recorded it in 2012. Many others have performed this song, including, Ruth Etting, Louis Armstrong, Rudy Vallee, The Mills Brothers and Sam Cooke.

Paul Whiteman Orch. - Alabamy Bound (1924)

bsgs98 2016-03-22 | Alabamy Bound
Words and music by Bud De Sylva, Bud Green and Ray Henderson
Pual Whiteman Orchestra
Recorded December 29, 1924
Victor 19557

Paul Whiteman was an important bandleader starting in 1919 and was a leader in development and popularization of dance music in the 1920s. His title, "King of Jazz," was somewhat misleading, but it was semi-jazz for the general public, though he gave many jazzmen hot solo spots.

Duke Ellington - East St Louis Toodle-oo (1927)

bsgs98 2016-03-12 | East St. Louis Toodle-oo
Composed by Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley
Duke Ellington and His Cotton Club Orchestra
(on label as Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra)
Recorded December 19, 1927
RCA Victor 20-1531 (original Victor 21703)

Louis Metcalf, Bubber Miley, trumpet; Joe Nanton, tb; Rudy Jackson, cl, ts; Otto Hardwick, as, cl, ss, bs, bsx; Harry Carney, bs, cl, ss, as; Duke Ellington, p; Fred Guy, bj; Wellman Braud, string bass; Sonny Greer, d.

Duke Ellington (1899 -1974) led one of the most popular orchestras in the Big Band era of American Jazz. But more than a band leader, he was an artist at the piano and one of the nations most prolific and inventive composers. During his career he had written more than 900 songs from popular classics such as "Mood Indigo" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," to sacred and symphonic music and music for plays and film.

Ellington exhibited considerable skills as an artist in high school and was offered an art scholarship at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, but he quit high school in his senior year and took a job as a commercial sign painter. At night he played occasionally with local bands. Ellington taught himself to play the piano in high school and formed his own band in 1918, called Duke's Serenaders and he played society halls and receptions around Washington. He moved to New York in 1922 and soon hit the big time. He acquired a national reputation during a five year engagement at the Cotton Club in Harlem, a popular cabaret during the Prohibition era. His band toured Europe in 1933 and again in 1939, establishing an international reputation. Ellington and his orchestra played the RKO vaudeville circuit, on Broadway, in musical reviews and in a number of motion pictures. His records were big sellers both in America and Europe. At Carnegie Hall in 1943, Ellington conducted his premier performance of a tonal history he wrote of the Negro in America called "Black, Brown and Beige Suite." In 1965 Ellington conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Lincoln Center in the first presentation of the suite, "The Golden Broom and the Golden Apple." In 1969, at his 70th birthday party dinner given at the White House, President Nixon awarded Ellington the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the government's highest civilian award.

George Olsen - Old Man Sunshine (Little Boy Bluebird ) 1928

bsgs98 2016-03-12 | Old Man Sunshine (Little Boy Bluebird)
Words by Mort Dixon, music by Harry Warren
George Olsen and His Music, Vocal refrain by Fran Frey
Recorded June 12, 1928
Victor 21566

George Olsen (1893 - 1971) was a popular bandleader especially during the 1920s and 1930s. The band featured vocalist-wife Ethel Shutta and male vocalist Fran Frey. Consistent sweet style ideal for hotels. Attended University of Michigan and had a band there. In 1919 led band in Portland, by 1923 well-known on west coast. Work with entertainer Fanny Brice led to stage work for impresario Flo Ziegfeld. First big break in hit Broadway musical "Kid Boots" (1924), later in year Ziegfeld Follies of 1924. In hit musical "Sunny" (1925); 1925 hit record "Who?" from show thereafter associated with Olsen. In hit show "Good News" (1927) and "Whoopee" (1928), early sound movies "Happy Days" and "Whoopee" (1930). Between shows played New York clubs and hotels. Olsen married Ethel Shutta 1926, featured her through the years. Recorded leading show and popular tunes late 1920s and early 1930s. Many radio appearances included Jack Pearl show 1934, Tim and Irene show 1938, own show 1936 featuring wife. In 1930s on west coast. By mid-1930s popularity and recordings waned. Olsen took over Orville Knapp band 1936 shortly after Knapp's death. World War II entertained US troops. Late 1930s and 1940s band lost popularity. Olsen retired as bandleader 1951, later had restaurant in Paramous, New Jersey that featured tapes of his old records.

I have two other renditions of this sing posted:
Leo Reisman: youtu.be/Rchr81dIQAo
Lee Morse: youtu.be/FvobmK3V32g

Frank Sinatra - Nancy (With the Laughing Face), 1945

bsgs98 2016-03-07 | Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
Words and music by Phil Silvers and Jimmy Van Heusen
vocal, Frank Sinatra
Orchestra Directed by Alex Stordahl
Columbia 36868
Recorded August 22, 1945

Remembering Nancy Davis Reagan. July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016.

The song was originally adapted for Nancy Sinatra's fourth birthday.

In 1981, at Ronald Reagan's inaugural gala, Sinatra sang a version retitled "Nancy with the Reagan Face."

I swear to goodness you can't resist her
Sorry for you she has no sister
No angel could replace
Nancy with the laughing face.

Nancy Reagan (1921 - 2016)

Tommy Weir - Beloved (1928)

bsgs98 2015-12-05 | Beloved
Words and Music by Gus Kahn and Joe Sanders
Tommy Weir , Vocal
March 30 1928
Harmony 625-H

Thomas (Tommy) Weir, born in 1889, was a boxer in his youth but in 1909 he joined the George Primrose Minstrels and sang tenor with the Church City Quartet. In a newspaper review he was described as having "an unusually pure and velvety tenor." In 1911 he married Jessie Keller, a vaudeville trick bicyclist and they formed an act, "Venus on Wheels" in which he accompanied her with his vocal talent. A newspaper review of the act called her the "perfect formed woman" and him a "dandy little tenor." He was identified as a "countertenor" meaning a male singing voice in the alto range. The act performed in theaters across the United States. In 1918 he performed in a comedy act "Jack and Tommy Weir" (Jack was presumably his brother.) Tommy was the straight man and singer, while his brother was the comedian. The act consisted of dancing and singing often in black-face. In 1928 he opened a music store in Rochester New York with his partner and pianist Frank Nanna. Between 1928 and 1930, Weir made about 70 recordings for Harmony, Grey Gull, and other dime-store labels. He wrote several songs including some that he also recorded. In the late 1920s, Weir performed regularly on the radio, mostly in Rochester on WHAM. On the radio program, "Hoover Sentinels", he sang tenor with soprano Ruth Manning as the "Hoover Honeymooners." He also sang on a music request program accompanied by organist, J. Gordon Baldwin. He continued singing on the radio into the early 1930s but with less frequency. In 1936 he appeared in a local theater concert and was referred to as a "former NBC star."

About the Songwriters

Gustav Gerson Kahn (1886 -- 1941) musician, songwriter and lyricist was born in Koblenz, Germany. The family immigrated to the United States and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1890. After graduating from high school, he worked as a clerk in a mail order business before launching one of the most successful and prolific careers from Tin Pan Alley. In his early days, Kahn wrote special material for vaudeville. In 1913 he began a productive partnership with the well-established composer Egbert van Alstyne. Later, he began writing lyrics for composer and bandleader Isham Jones. This partnership led to one of Kahn's best-known works, "I'll See You in My Dreams", which became the title of a movie based on his life. Throughout the 1920s, Kahn continued to contribute to Broadway scores such as Holka Polka (1925), Kitty's Kisses (1926), Artists and Models (1927), Whoopee! (1928), and Show Girl (1929). He went on to write several movies, mainly for MGM. His catalog contained some of the greatest collections of songs from the first half of the 20th century and it is for this very reason that he was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, nearly 30 years after his death. His most famous songs include "It Had To Be You" (1924) with music by Isham Jones and "Makin' Whoopee!" (1928), with music by Walter Donaldson. Danny Thomas played Kahn in the 1951 biographical film I'll See You in My Dreams.

Joseph L. "Joe" Sanders (1896 - 1965) was an American jazz pianist, singer, and bandleader associated with Kansas City jazz for most of his career. Sanders was best known for co-leading the Coon-Sanders' Nighthawks along with Carleton Coon (1894--1932). The pair formed the group in 1920 in Kansas City under the name Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra, broadcast for the first time on radio the following year, and became known as the Nighthawks because of their frequent appearances on late-night radio. They recorded in Chicago in 1924 and held a residency at the Blackhawk club in that city from 1926. The ensemble toured as a Midwestern territory band, and after Coon's death Sanders continued to lead the band under his own name. Sanders worked mostly in Hollywood studios in the 1940s, and occasionally led performances at the Blackhawk once again. He was a vocalist for the Kansas City Opera in the 1950s.

Victor Orchestra - Dont Be Cross (1908)

bsgs98 2015-11-29 | Don't Be Cross - Waltz
Music composed by Carl Zeller
Victor Orchestra
August 13, 1908
Victor 16396

This waltz is based on the aria "Sei nicht bös" from Carl Zeller's operetta "Der Obersteiger."

Don't be Cross (Sei nicht bös) is an aria sung by the tenor, Martin, in the second act of the operetta "Der Obersteiger." It was first performed in 1894 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. The music was composed by Carl Zeller (1842-1898). English lyrics were added by Clifton Bingham. The aria (in the original language, “Sei nicht bös”) is said to have been responsible for the opera’s long popularity. The premier performance in New York City (May,1895) was at the Terrace Garden.

Although originally intended for the tenor voice, "Sei nicht bös" is now commonly performed by the soprano also.

Joining the Vienna Boys Choir at the age of eleven, the Austrian composer Carl Zeller went on to a brief career as a composer of operetta, winning his first great success in 1891 with Der Vogelhandler (The Bird Seller), followed in 1894 by Der Obersteiger (The Foreman), before nervous illness cut short his musical career.

English lyrics:

1. She was the miller's daughter fair.
Oft to the old mill window there,
Came a fisher lad to woo,
Vowing his heart was fond and true.
But the maid was cold and proud,
Mocked at him and all he vowed.
When he begged her, "Be my bride!"
Scornfully she replied:

CHORUS: Don't be cross; it cannot be.
Don't be cross, dear one, with me.
I can never share thy lot,
But still, but still, forget me not!
… don't be cross,
… cannot be,
… don't be cross,
But still, but still, forget me not!

2. She is the miller's daughter still.
Wooers have somehow passed the mill.
Not so youthful as of yore,
She is cold and proud no more.
Now when she sees her old love pass,
From her window smiles the lass;
But to her glances and her sighs
Merrily he replies: CHORUS

Radiolites, Johnny Marvin, vocal - Deed I Do (1927)

bsgs98 2015-11-05 | 'Deed I Do
Words by Walter Hersch, music by Fred Rose
The Radiolites, vocal chorus by Johnny Marvin
Recorded February 1, 1927
Columbia 885-D

Ben Selvin - vn, dir / Earl Oliver, Hymie Faberman - t / Sam Louis - tb / Larry Abbott-cl-as / Andy Sannella or Lyle Bowen - as / Hymie Wolfson -cl-ts / Murray Kellner or Charles Kaley - vn / ?p / John Cali - bj / Hank Stern or John Helleberg - bb / Milton Sands or Stan King - d / Johnny Marvin - v-uke.

Jerry Fenwyck Orchestra - WhenThe Rest Of The Crowd Goes Home (1931)

bsgs98 2015-10-29 | When The Rest of the Crowd Goes Home (I Always Go Home Alone) (1931)
Words by Al Dubin, Music by Joe Burke
Jerry Fenwyck and His Orchestra (Ben Selvin), vocal chorus by Bobby Dix (Orlando Roberson)
Harmony 6500H
October 21, 1931

Ben Selvin, vn, dir / Manny Klein, tp / Tommy Dorsey, tb / Benny Goodman, as, cl, bcl / Louis Martin, as / Hymie Wolfson, cl, ts / Joe Venuti, vn / Rube Bloom, piano / Carl Kress, g / Ward Lay, sb / Gus Helleberg, d / Orlando Roberson, v.

The collaboration of lyricist Al Dubin (1891-1945) and composer, Joe Burke (1884-1950) resulted in many memorable songs including "I’m Dancing with Tears in My Eyes", "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine", "The Gold Diggers Song", and "Tip-Toe Thru the Tulips with Me."

Guy Lombardo - The Moon Is Low (1930)

bsgs98 2015-09-21 | The Moon Is Low
Words by Arthur Freed , Music by Nacio Herb Brown
Guy Lombardo and His Orchestra, vocal refrain by Carmen Lombardo
February 25, 1930
Columbia 2135-B

The songwriting team of Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown contributed two songs for the 1930 MGM film "Montana Moon." In the film "The Moon is Low" is sung a cappella by Joan Crawford and Johnny Mack Brown then it is also sung and played by Cliff Edwards on banjo with the Cowboys. It was the first musical western that introduced the singing cowboy to the screen.

Jerry Fenwyck Orchestra - You Call It Madness, But I Call It Love (1931)

bsgs98 2015-09-17 | You Call It Madness (But I Call it Love)
Composed by Con Conrad, Gladys Dubois, Russ Columbo, Paul Gregory
Jerry Fenwyck and His Orchestra (Ben Selvin), vocal chorus by Bobby Dix (Orlando Roberson)
Harmony 6500H
October 21, 1931

Ben Selvin, vn, dir / Manny Klein, tp / Tommy Dorsey, tb / Benny Goodman, as, cl, bcl / Louis Martin, as / Hymie Wolfson, cl, ts / Joe Venuti, vn / Rube Bloom, piano / Carl Kress, g / Ward Lay, sb / Gus Helleberg, d / Orlando Roberson, v

This Harmony recording (also released on Velvetone and Clarion) was part of Columbia Record demonstrating extended playing time of up to five minutes a side, on a 10-inch 78 RPM disk. These fine-groove records can be identified by matrix numbers in the 236000 series. Apparently very few were made.

"You Call it Madness" was the signature song for the American crooner, Russ Columbo, who recorded it for Victor on Sept. 3, 1931. It has also recorded by Smith Ballew, Mildred Bailey, Nat Cole, Sammy Kaye, Chick Bullock, Billy Eckstine, Elmer Feldkamp, Buddy Clark, and recently by Diana Krall.

Vocalist, Orlando Roberson (1909 - 1977) born in Tulsa, Oklahoma but moved as a young child with his family to Kansas City. After high school he entered Kansas University at Lawrence but left after three semesters to pursue opportunities in singing. His first job in a night club was in the Blue Hill Gardens in Kansas City (1927) and then to Chicago, where he became a soloist with the Sammy Stewart Orchestra at the Metropolitan Theatre, and night club work at the Apex Club with Jimmie Noone's Orchestra. In 1928 he left Chicago and played engagements in Columbus and Detroit, then arrived in New York. His first recording, "Lookin' for Another Sweetie,"was made in 1929 with Thomas "Fats" Waller and his Buddies. in 1931 he recorded with various Ben Selvin studio orchestras but never was credited on the label. Between 1932 and 1935 he joined as vocalist for Claude Hopkins and His Orchestra and recorded for the Columbia, Decca and Brunswick labels. In the mid 1930s he performed on several short films released by Vitaphone. He also did some radio work during this period. In 1937 he sang with Edgar Hayes and His Orchestra. In 1937 he sang with Edgar Hayes and His Orchestra. In 1938, Roberson suffered a throat ailment which prevented him from performing for several weeks. He served in the Army 1943-1946. During the 1950s and 1960s he sang as lead tenor in some of the Ink Spots spin-off groups.

Roberson preferred being called a "lyric tenor." He hated being called a crooner.

Gershwin - Concerto in F (1939) Paul Whiteman, Roy Bargy

bsgs98 2015-05-03 | Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra
Music by George Gershwin
Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra
Roy Bargy at the piano
April 18, 1939
Decca 29056 and 29057

Personnel:
Bob Cusumano, Charlie Teagarden, Harry Goldfield, Bob Alexy (t); Moe Zudekoff, Miff Mole, Hal Matthews (tb); Al Gallodoro (cl/bcl/as); Sal Franzella (cl/as); Art Drelinger (bcl/cl/ts); Niles Fargason (pic/f/ts); Vincent Capone (f/ts/pic/bar); Jack Bell (bsn/f/engh/pic); Murray Cohan (o/Engh/bar/as); Julius Schachter, Al Duffy, Maurice Ancher, Kurt Dieterle, Emanuel Green, Max Pilzer, Harry Struble (vn); Harry Waller, Herbert Borodkin (va); Abraham Borodkin (vcl); Roy Bargy (p); Joe Mooney (acc); Norman McPherson (bb); Artie Shapiro (sb); Art Ryerson (g); Mike Pingitore (bj); George Wettling (tim/sd/wb)

Director: Paul Whiteman
Orchestration: Nathan Van Cleave

Following the success of "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924, Walter Damrosch, director of the New York Symphony Orchestra, commissioned a piano concerto by Gershwin. Gershwin scored and premiered his jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in F, which was first performed on December 3, 1925 and featured the composer as soloist. The concert was sold out and the concerto was very well received by the general public. However, the reviews were mixed, with many critics unable to classify it as jazz or classical. On July 23, 1927, Gershwin made the first of six appearances with the New York Philharmonic at summer concerts at Lewisohn Stadium, a sports arena on the campus of the City University of New York. This performance, with George as soloist in both Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F, attracted a record-breaking audience of some 15,000 people. The first recording of the Concerto was made in 1928 by Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra, with Roy Bargy at the piano, in an arrangement by Ferde Grofé, for Columbia Records. Apparently Gershwin was not pleased with Grofé's new orchestration of his work which include a small 23 piece orchestra and major cuts.

After Gershwin's untimely death in 1937, Decca Records chose Paul Whiteman to record several albums of Gershwin works including "Cuban Overture", "An American in Paris" and "Rhapsody in Blue". In 1939, this recording of "Concerto in F" was added to the series, and again Roy Bargy was selected as the solo pianist. This time Whiteman used a 31 piece orchestra and a new orchestration by his staff arranger Nathan Van Cleave. Unfortunately, Decca's decision to record it as a two 12-inch disc album (four - 4 minutes sides) meant that there would be major edits thus this performance is heavily abridged. However this recording is historically significant since at the time (1939) it was only the second known recording of this composition. The first unabridged recordings which reflected Gershwin's original score would soon follow with Jesus Maria Sanroma, Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler (1940, RCA Victor) and Oscar Levant, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini (RCA Victor, 1942).

Rudy Wiedoeft - La Cinquantaine (1925)

bsgs98 2015-04-21 | La Cinquantaine (The Golden Wedding)
Music by Jean Gabriel-Marie
Rudy Wiedoeft, Saxophone Solo
Accompanied by Frank Banta, piano
Recorded August 31, 1925
Victor 19771

Rudy Wiedoeft (1893 - 1940) was the first virtuoso on saxophone, widely known during the 1920s. He had a strong legitimate alto sax tone and considerable technique stressing rapid-tongue work. He served in the military during World War I and was involved with the military band. Led various-sized bands in New York during the early 1920s. Recorded with own groups, as soloist or as accompanist to singers. Helped modernize design of c-melody and alto sax. Active in teaching. Composed solos for sax; most-famous "Saxophobia," widely used by saxophonists. Other compositions included "Sax-O-Phun," "Saxerella'" "Valse Erica'". Became an inventor in Los Angeles in 1937.

Jean Gabriel-Marie (1852 - 1928) was a French Romantic composer. He composed La Cinquantaine in 1887 and it became his best known work. He also composed many dance pieces, notably the waltz Sous les firnes ("Under the Ash Trees", 1884) and the highly original polka Frais minois ("Fresh Face"). Sérénade Badine achieved some popularity by its numerous arrangements, including those for saxophone and piano, and cello and piano, as did other chamber works and light works for orchestra.[source: Wikipedia]

Guy Lombardo - Im Just an Ordinary Human (1935)

bsgs98 2015-04-03 | I'm Just An Ordinary Human
Words by Larry Yoell, music by Al Jacobs
Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, vocal chorus by Lombardo Trio
March 1, 1935
Decca 424

Although this song is not well known today, it was included as incidental music in the soundtracks of two 1935 motion pictures: "Personal Maid's Secret" (1935) and "The Case of the Lucky Legs" (1935).

By 1935, the Lombardo orchestra was heard weekly on a half-hour radio broadcast "Lombardo Road" and mostly through radio had become the most popular orchestra in the nation for the fifth year in a row. The 1936 ranking was determined from the votes of 239 radio editors in the fifth annual New York World Telegram Radio Editors Poll. Other orchestras which ranked in the top 16 were, in descending order, Wayne King, Ray Noble, Casa Loma, Fred Waring, Richard Himber, Eddie Duchin, Paul Whiteman, Hal Kemp, Horace Heidt, Ben Bernie, Benny Goodman, Jan Garber, Ozzie Nelson, Isham Jones and Abe Lyman. The same year, Kate Smith was voted top songstress and Bing Crosby top male singer.

Ipana Troubadours - Four Walls (1928)

bsgs98 2015-03-26 | Four Walls
Words and music by Al Jolson, Billy Rose and Dave Dreyer
Ipana Troubadours directed by Sam Lanin
Vocal refrain by Harold "Scrappy" Lambert
Recorded January 21, 1928

The song was introduced in the musical review, "Harry Delmar's Revels" which opened on November 28, 1927 at the Shubert Theatre in New York City. I have found no evidence that the song was used in the silent film "Four Walls" which opened in August 1928.

Sam Lanin (1891-1977) was a band leader-contractor with a prolific recording career in the 1920s and 1930s. He began shortly before 1920 and by mid 1920s led a band at New York's Roseland Ballroom. Musical director of Ipana Troubadours Band. Recorded under own name or pseudonyms such as Arkansas Travellers, Broadway Bell-Hops, Okeh Melodians, New York Syncopators, The Melody Sheiks, Phil Hughes, Frank Auburn, Lloyd Keating, Jerry Fenwyck, Wally Edwards. Whether Sweet or semi-hot, good musicianship.Top jazzmen included Red Nichols, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Arthur Schutt, Frank Signorelli, Miff Mole, Manny Klein, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Jimmy McPartland, Joe Venuti. Eddie Lang often featured. Early Bing Crosby vocals on several Lanin records.

Harold "Scrappy" Lambert (1901-1987) was a freelance singer with many recordings in the 1920s and 1930s; also active in radio. Sang with Ben Bernie in 1925, on Smith Brothers radio Show 1926 with Don Voorhees. He led his own band in 1928.

Tommy Weir - Ramona (1928)

bsgs98 2015-03-09 | Ramona
Words by L. Wolfe Gilbert, music by Mabel Wayne
Tommy Weir, tenor
Harmony 625
March 30, 1928

"Ramona" was the theme song for the 1928 film by the same name starring Dolores del Río in the title role. Del Río had a hit with Ramona and with the title song, which the public loved even before the movie opened. The song, performed by del Río for Victor Records, was synched with a scene in the otherwise silent film.

The only information I could find for tenor, Tommy Weir was extracted from newspaper archives, radio logs and record discographies.

Thomas (Tommy) Weir, born in 1889, was a boxer in his youth but in 1909 he joined the George Primrose Minstrels and sang tenor with the Church City Quartet. In a newspaper review he was described as having "an unusually pure and velvety tenor." In 1911 he married Jessie Keller, a vaudeville trick bicyclist and they formed an act, "Venus on Wheels" in which he accompanied her with his vocal talent. A newspaper review of the act called her the "perfect formed woman" and him a "dandy little tenor." He was identified as a "countertenor" meaning a male singing voice in the alto range. The act performed in theaters across the United States. In 1918 he performed in a comedy act "Jack and Tommy Weir" (Jack was presumably his brother.) Tommy was the straight man and singer, while his brother was the comedian. The act consisted of dancing and singing often in black-face. In 1928 he opened a music store in Rochester New York with his partner and pianist Frank Nanna. Between 1928 and 1930, Weir made about 70 recordings for Harmony, Grey Gull, and other dime-store labels. He wrote several songs including some that he also recorded. In the late 1920s, Weir performed regularly on the radio, mostly in Rochester on WHAM. On the radio program, "Hoover Sentinels", he sang tenor with soprano Ruth Manning as the "Hoover Honeymooners." He also sang on a music request program accompanied by organist, J. Gordon Baldwin. He continued singing on the radio into the early 1930s but with less frequency. In 1936 he appeared in a local theater concert and was referred to as a "former NBC star."

After 1940, I could not find any information on Tommy Weir.