November 2003
November 27, 2003
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
Peacock Terrace - Baker Hotel
Nationally Famous Roof
Dallas, Texas
(from circa late 1920s postcard)
Moanin'
Low
Leo Reisman and His Orchestra
Lew Conrad, vocal
1929
(Victor 22047-A)
Through
Leo Reisman and His Orchestra
Lou Levin, vocal
1929
(Victor 22204-A)
The Leo Reisman Orchestra was one
of the more popular East Coast society bands during the late 1920s and
early 1930s - though it enjoyed a national following through records and
radio.
"Moanin' Low" is a Ralph Rainger/Howard
Dietz composition that was first performed Libby Holman in the 1929 Broadway
production The Little Show. Observe that in this week's selection
it is a male vocalist, Lew Conrad, who performs the lyrics that were clearly
written for a woman. This was actually not at all an uncommon
practice on mainstream, mass market recordings of the time. It was
apparently done without any suggestive intent and, as far as I am aware,
was not regarded as being scandalous by the record buying public.
At the time, sexuality was such a conversational taboo that many listeners
probably did not even grasp the implications of the lyrics that would
be obvious to most people today - and those that did probably did not feel
comfortable bringing the subject up in polite conversation. I have
read that one of the reasons for the practice was that record companies
were afraid of legal problems that might arise from making even slight
modifications to copyrighted lyrics. On the other hand, I have
heard plenty of other recordings from the same period featuring lyrics
that have been modified according to the vocalist's gender.
I discovered "Through" several weeks
ago while listening to Rich Conaty's radio program "The
Big Broadcast" over the Internet. I thought it was a very pretty
tune and made a note to keep my eyes open for a copy. A few
days later I was going through a stack of records and was pleasantly surprised
to discover I already had a copy of it in my collection that I obviously
had overlooked.
November 20, 2003
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
(Click on image for larger view)
NASH
Leads The World In Motor Car Value
(from 1927 ad)
Crazy
Words - Crazy Tune
Irving Aaronson and His Commanders
1927
(Victor 20473-A)
I
Never See Maggie Alone
Irving Aaronson and His Commanders
Phil Saxe, vocal
1927
(Victor 20473)
Irving Aaronson led one of the more
popular 1920s era dance bands, Unfortunately, he is probably best
known today as the inevitable first entry in any discography or band leader
listing of the period. Aaronson was a pianist who began performing
at age 11 in silent movie theaters. He started his first band, the
Crusaders, in 1926 and changed its name to the Commanders a few months
later. Aaronson's sidemen included future bandleaders Artie Shaw,
Gene Krupa and Tony Pastor. The band remained active until
the mid 1930s. During the early 1940s, Aaronson became a music director
for MGM Studios where he worked until his death in 1963.
Both of this week's selections were
introduced in 1926 and were quite popular. "Crazy Words - Crazy Tune"
introduced the memorable nonsense phrase "Vo doe de o, vo doe doe de o
doe." Also note the reference to then President Calvin Cooledge.
"I Never See Maggie Alone" was also popular in Germany where it was featured
in the 1928 Haller-Revue Schön Und Schick. - with Maggie's
name changed to "Lilly." The song experienced another revival in 1949 with
a million selling record by country singer Kenny Roberts.
November 13, 2003
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
(Click on image for larger view)
Buick Motor Cars
(from 1938 ad)
Casa
Loma Stomp
Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra
1937
(Decca 1412-B mx DLA 835)
Too
Marvelous For Words
Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra
Kenny Sargent, vocal
1937
(Decca 1158-A mx 61952)
In terms of staying power, the Casa
Loma Orchestra was one of the more successful bands of the dance band era
. The group got its start under the direction of Harry Biagnini during
the mid 1920s as The Orange Blossoms, one of several bands controlled by
Detroit dance band impresario Jean Goldkette. In 1927, the Orange
Blossoms were booked at Toronto's Casa Loma Hotel where they were to open
a posh nightclub that was being built specifically for a visit by the Prince
of Wales. The hotel was located inside a large castle
like structure that had previously been the estate of industrialist
Sir Henry Pellatt. The club never opened - but band members later
adopted the club's name as their own when, in 1929, they elected to dismiss
Biagnini and reorganize.
Unlike most bands of the day which
were usually owned by the bandleader, the founding members of the Casa
Loma Orchestra established the band as a cooperative endeavor. The
band was organized as a corporation and its core group of musicians,
who were stockholders, shared in the profits and also served as corporate
officers. While saxophone player Glen Gray served as president and
the band recorded under the name "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra,"
violinist Mel Jennson, who was not a stockholder in the cooperative,
was the band's front man until 1937 when Gray finally took over the baton.
The band's first big break was a
booking at New York's Roseland ballroom which led to a recording contract
with Okeh Records. In 1930, the band recorded its first hit, "Casa
Loma Stomp." This led to a higher profile recording contract with
the Brunswick label. By the late 1930s, the Casa Loma Orchestra was
one the top bands in the United States and remained popular well into the
1940s. As with many other bands, the Casa Loma began to decline after
World War II but managed to play into the 1950s
For a period during the early 1930s
between the end of the "Jazz Age" style of the "Roaring '20s" and the beginning
of the swing era in 1935, the Casa Loma was one of the few big name white
bands to regularly perform "hot" jazz numbers. Throughout the band's
heyday, one of its hallmarks was its ability to play both "hot" jazz
and "sweet" ballads. This week's selections provide an example
of both styles. The recording of "Casa Loma Stomp" is a 1937 Decca
Records remake of the band's 1930 hit on the Okeh label. The band
also recorded a 1932 version of the song for Brunswick. Kenny
Sargent was the band's primary vocalist as well as a sax player.
He left the band in the 1940s to begin a career as a disc jockey.
In the 1950s and 1960s, he was a prominent Dallas area radio personality
on stations KLIF and WRR.
November 6, 2003
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
Crosley Electric Refrigerator
(from 1932 ad)
Negra
Consentida
Carlos Molina and His Orchestra
1932
(Victor 24159-B)
Karabali
Carlos Molina and His Orchestra
1932
(Victor 24159-A)
I enjoy 1930s era recordings of
Latin dance bands - especially the rumbas. Carlos Molina, Enric
Madriguera and Xavier Cugat were the top Latin bandleaders in the USA at
the time. Unfortunately, I do not have much biographical information
about Molina but I understand that he originally came from Colombia.
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