November 2004

November 25, 2004

 

'Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
Music In the Morgan Manner                    1938
(Harmony 1022 mx B 22689 )
 

Wabash Blues
Music In The Morgan Manner                   1936
(Harmony 1022 mx B 19476)
 
 

Most of the Russ Morgan recordings I have are from the late 1940s on the Decca label when the band had a slow "sweet" big band style with its trademark "wa-wa" trombone effects.   That was the style I was expecting to hear when I recently came across the circa 1949 Harmony disc that this week's selections came from.   Instead what I heard was a bit different.   A closer examination of the matrix numbers on the label indicated that both sides were reissues of recordings the band made in the 1930s for Brunswick.  "'Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" was originally issued on Brunswick 8157 while "Wabash Blues" was first issued on Brunswick 7704. 

 "'Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" is a Henry Creamer/ J. Turner Layton composition which dates back to 1922.  It has been recorded by many bands over the years and is still played by Dixieland and traditional jazz bands.  I think Morgan's recording is one of the more unique and interesting versions that I have heard.

"Wabash Blues" dates back to 1921 and was composed by Fred Meinken and Dave Ringle.   This recording is an excellent example of the "wa wa" effects that became one of the Morgan band's trademarks.

The Russ Morgan band is still active today under the leadership of Russ' son Jack Morgan.  The band has a website at www.russmorganorchestra.com   Click on the link for "Russ bio" for a detailed article on Russ Morgan and his career. 
 
 

 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 

With Sword And Lance March
New York Military Band                               1915
(Edison 50331 mx 4234)
 

Col. Stuart March
Conway's Band                                             1920
(Edison 50614-R mx 6775)
 

Here are a couple of ratber pleasant marches from some old Edison Diamond Discs

The Diamond Disc was Thomas Edison's answer to the disc record.  Edison preferred the cylinder record format which dated back to his invention of the phonograph in 1877 over disc records which appeared in the 1890s and became increasingly popular during the first decade of the 20th century.   Edison's reasons were technical - there is a certain amount of sound degradation on disc records as the grooves get closer to the center of the disc.   However, the lower production costs and storage advantages of disc records gave them the advantage in the marketplace.  By 1913, Edison was the sole remaining manufacturer of cylinder records and had no choice but to offer disc records if he wished to remain in the record business. 

Edison's 80 rpm Diamond Discs debuted in 1913 and were unlike any other record on the market.  They were 1/4 of an inch thick and weighed a full pound.  Unlike the lateral "zig zag" indentations inside the grooves of the era's conventional disc records ,  Edison used the "hill and dale"  or vertical method where the indentations were cut up and down.  Diamond Discs could only be played on Edison machines which used a semi-permanent diamond stylus as opposed to the single-use steel needles found on conventional wind-up phonographs. 

The audio quality of Edison Diamond Discs was excellent and, until the advent of electrical recording in 1925, they were the best records on the market in terms of quality of sound reproduction.  Unfortunately for Edison, the discs' incompatibility with other record players and poor business decisions resulted in declining sales throughout the 1920s.   In the summer of 1929, in a last ditch effort to save his record business, Edison came out with a standard lateral 78 rpm record.  But by then it was too late and days after the stock market crash in October of that year, Edison was forced to close his phonograph division.

"With Sword and Lance" ("Mit Schwert und Lanze ") was written in 1900 by German composer Hermann Starke.   "Col. Stuart March" was composed by Chicago bandmaster and cornetist A. F. Weldon.  I have not been able to determine what year the song was first published. 

---

November 18, 2004
 
 

More Than You Know
The Combined Bands of Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey                                                   1945
(V-Disc 231-A (Navy) mx VP 1243) )
 

Jungle Drums
Artie Shaw and His Orchestr                    1938
(V-Disc 151-B (Navy) mx VP 1019)
 

Dream
June Hutton and the Pied Pipers 
Paul Weston and His Orchestra                 1945
(V-Disc 197-B (Navy) mx NVP 1185) )
 

When The Red Red Robin Comes
Bob Bob Bobin Along
Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers          circa 1944
(V-Disc 207-B (Navy) mx VP 833)

What A Diff'rence A Day Made
Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra 
Nancy Norman, vocal                               1944
(V-Disc 282-B  mx VP 812 )
 

My original intention was to present this update last week in order to commemorate Veteran's Day.  Unfortunately,  other things came up and I was unable to put the update together in time.

One of the more unusual types of 78 rpm records are old V-Discs issued by the U.S. government for the entertainment of American troops stationed overseas during and following World War II.  The records were issued between 1943 and 1949.   V-Discs drew their material from a variety of sources including previously issued commercial recordings (such as this week's selection of "Jungle Drums"), air checks donated by the major radio networks, rehearsal recordings from the Hollywood movie studios as well as recording sessions specifically set up for V-Disc. 

The first V-Discs appeared in late 1943 at a time when the American Federation of Musicians was engaged in a bitter and lengthy strike against the American record companies.  During the strike which started in 1942 and lasted (depending on when a particular record label settled with the union) until 1944, no instrumental records were released in the United States.   While the general public at home could still listen to the latest hits by their favorite big bands on live network radio broadcasts, the American troops fighting the war had to make do with pre-strike recordings on the few fragile 78 rpm shellac discs that managed to survive the trip overseas intact. 
 

In October 1943, the AFM granted a special waiver allowing its musicians to make recordings for the V-Disc program so long as they were not broadcast or used for commercial purposes.  Therefore, V-Discs were the only records that were issued in America during the strike - but the general public did not have any opportunity to hear them.

V-Discs were somewhat cutting edge in that most of them were pressed in vinylite as opposed to shellac which was used in standard 78 rpms and was in short supply during the war.  The vinylite discs were also not as easily broken during transport.  A few years after the war, vinylite would eventually become the standard material for pressing the new 33 rpm Long Playing  records and even some of the later 78 rpm records. 

V-Discs were pressed at plants owned by RCA Victor, Columbia and the Clark Phonograph Record Company.  For whatever reason, Columbia refused to use the new vinylite so the V-Discs it pressed were made of shellac. 

Another nice feature of V-Discs is that they are 12 inches in diameter as opposed to the standard 10 inches of most popular records at the time.  The larger discs allowed for up to 6 minutes of playing time.  As a result, many V-Discs are divided into "tracks" featuring 2 musical selections per side. 

There were two series of V-Discs - one issued by the Army and another put out by the Navy during 1944 and 1945.  An example of each can be seen in the above images. 

While V-Discs were extremely popular with the overseas troops, they were expensive to produce and since the need for them diminished after the end of the war, the program was discontinued in 1949.   In order to comply with its agreement  with the musicians union to prevent the records from being broadcast or entering into general circulation, the government ordered that all V-Discs be destroyed - and many years, it was technically illegal to own a V-Disc.  A seemingly large number, however, managed to survive thanks to individual service members who brought some home with them.

One of the V-Disc recordings  featured this week, "More Than You Know" is especially historic in that the recording session was the first time that brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey appeared together in a recording studio since 1935 when Tommy angrily walked out on their successful Dorsey Brothers Dance Orchestra.   Ordinarily, the reunion of the two famous brothers would have been a newsworthy occasion for popular music fans.  But since the recording was made for V-Disc, the general public was largely  unaware of it.

I am very fond of the Artie Shaw recording of "Jungle Drums" which I discovered for the first time when I was going through a stack of V-Discs deciding which ones to include in this update.   The V-Disc was issued in 1945 - but my first impression was that the band had a sound much more typical of the late 1930s than of the mid 1940s.  Turns out that the V-Disc is a reissue of a recording that Shaw made for the Bluebird label in 1938 - a recording that I somehow never came across earlier.  It think it is one of Artie Shaw's better recordings.   "Jungle Drums" was composed by  Cuban bandleader Ernesto Lecuona and is also called "Canto Karabali."   You can hear a significantly different version of the song performed by the Carlos Molina Orchestra on my November 6, 2003 Hit of the Week Update.

One of the consequences of the musicians' union strike against the recording studios was an increased prominence for vocal groups.   The Pied Pipers was one of several very popular early 1940s vocal groups.  I don't have a recording date for their recording of "When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobin Along."  The V-Disc was issued in 1945 - but the lead singer listed is Jo Stafford who left the group in 1944 in order to pursue a career as a soloist.  June Hutton took her place as lead singer.

"What A Diff'rence A Day Makes" is the only Army issue V-Disc included in this week's update.  The recording features two trademarks of the Sammy Kaye band, singing song titles and an intro announcement of the vocal. 

For more information on the history of V-Discs, check out the interesting article at this link. 

 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 

Ua Like No A Like (Sweeet Constancy)
Frank Ferera's Hawaiian Trio 
Annette Hanswhaw, vocal                            1929
(Velvet Tone 1945-V mx 148656)
 

Pagan Love Song
Frank Ferera's Hawaiian Trio 
Annette Hanswhaw, vocal                            1929
(Velvet Tone 1945-V mx 148655)

Starting in the mid 1910s and lasting throughout the 1920s, the United States experienced a craze for Hawaiian music.  The widespread popularity of Hawaiian records at the time is well-known to any record collector who has made large bulk purchases of assorted 78 rpms from the era.  Vintage Hawaiian records remain very plentiful - and are usually of limited interest for most collectors. 

I can't say that I am a big fan of the genre.  I will occasionally give an old Hawaiian 78 rpm a spin and am able to enjoy some of them in limited doses.   But I have yet to listen to the vast majority of the Hawaiian records that I own.

Usually, the only time I acquire Hawaiian 78 rpms is through bulk purchases.  This week's, recordings, however, are an exception and are from a record that I purchased quite intentionally because both sides feature my favorite 1920s vocalist, Annette Hanshaw.   Most of Hanshaw's recordings after she jumped from Pathe records to Columbia records in 1928 were backed up by jazz bands.  However, Columbia did pair her with Frank Ferera's band for several Hawaiian sides. 

Despite Hanshaw's talent and large following, Columbia issued all but one of her records on its less prestigious bargain priced Harmony, Diva and Velvet Tone labels due to pressure from "Moe the Gimp" Snyder, the gangster husband and manager of rival vocalist Ruth Etting.  Snyder apparently regarded Hanshaw as a potential threat to Etting's career.   Fortunately, Columbia had the good sense to record all of Hanshaw's sides electrically, an exception to its usual  policy of recording sides destined for release on the bargain labels with outdated equipment left over from the era of acoustical recording. 

For biographical information about Frank Ferera, visit this page on Tim Gracyk's website.   You can find biographical information and photos of Annette Hanshaw at annettehanshaw.com

"Ua Like No A Like (Sweet Constancy)" is one of the more well known compositions of the Hawaiian music genre.  It was composed in 1882 by Alice Everett.   Everett was a contemporary of Queen Lili‘uokalani, Hawaii's last monarch who also composed several famous Hawaiian songs.

"Pagan Love Song," composed by Nacio Herb Brown with lyrics by Arthur Freed, was originally performed by Ramon Novoro in the 1929 MGM film The Pagan.   In 1950, it became the title song of another MGM film Pagan Love Song which starred Ester Williams and Howard Keel.

November 4, 2004
 
 

 
Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
Orrin Tucker and His Orchestra
Bonnie Baker, vocal                                1939
(Columbia 35228 mx LA 1970 )
 

How Many Times
Orrin Tucker and His Orchestra
Orrin Tucker, vocal                                 1939
(Columbia 35228 mx LA 1972)
 
 
 

The Orrin Tucker band was formed in the early 1930s and quickly enjoyed regional success performing in the Chicago area.   In 1936, Tucker secured an engagement in the Marine Room of Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel which gave him additional exposure through regular radio broadcasts.  While at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Tucker acquired a new female vocalist, Bonnie Baker (real name Evelyn Nelson) who became known as "Wee Bonnie Baker" due to her diminutive height.   In 1939, the band was on the west coast appearing at the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and made a stop at Columbia records' L.A. recording studio.  One of the sides recorded during the session was an updated novelty version of an old World War I song from 1917  "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny" with  Bonnie Baker doing the vocal.   The record became a huge hit eventually selling over a million copies.  The record's success made Tucker and Baker nationally famous and resulted in  the band landing one year engagement on Lucky Strike Cigarettes' Your Hit Parade radio program on CBS.  Tucker and Ms. Baker also starred in a 1941 movie You're The One.   In 1942, Tucker gave up the band to join the Navy for World War II.   After the war, he formed a new and larger band which was quite successful.   In 1955 his band had a weekly television broadcast from the Hollywood Palladium.   Orrin Tucker's band successfully endured  long after the demise of the big band era.  In 1975 he took over a ballroom on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard and named it The Sunset Ballroom after a fictional ballroom in a made-for-TV movie he appeared in.   The venue enabled the band to perform five nights per week.  Tucker remained active in the music business into the 1990s.  In 1996,  his personal collection of the records and films he had made over the course of his career along with other mementos such as photographs were destroyed in a fire and a call went out to collectors nationwide to provide him with any duplicates that they might have.  Born in February 1911, Orrin Tucker is one of the very few artists presented on this website who is, to the best of my knowledge, still alive.

Some years ago, I was told that after Bonnie Baker left the music business, she eventually became a telephone operator in Texas City, Texas. 
 

 

EXTRA

This section will  present 78 rpm recordings that do not fall within the range of the vintage pop and jazz  fare that I usually  present.  Here I will feature recordings from a wide variety of eras, musical genres and nationalities as well as occasional spoken word recordings. 
 
 

Wo Die Lerche Singt - Potpourri Parts 1 & 2
Das Grosse Orchester Des Deutschlandsenders 
Willy Richartz, director                         circa mid-late 1930s
(His Masters Voice EH 1084 mx 2RA 2305 and 2RA 2306 )
 

Here is a collection of  instrumental selections from the Franz Lehar operetta Wo Die Lerche Singt (Where The Lark Sings) which premiered February 1, 1918 at the Királyi Operaház in Budapest.   Unlike other Lehar operettas, Wo Die Lerche Singt did not make it to Broadway, most likely because the United States was, at the time, at war with Austria-Hungary.   It was, however, made into a 1936 German movie musical.   This recording was recorded and presumably issued in Germany but my copy is a British release on the His Master's Voice label.  Unfortunately, I do not have access to discographical information on German recordings or HMV foreign imports so I do not know the specific year it was recorded.  However, looking at the label, it is obviously from the 1930s and I wouldn't be too surprised if it made as a result of the operetta's 1936 movie revival.   If anyone has access to the relevant discographical information, please let me know and I will post it.

Note:  A visitor was kind enough to write and inform me that, based on the matrix numbers of other German records that have a known recording date, this recording dates to either 1936 or 1937.