It's been a while since I explored the recorded legacy of Buddy Clark (1912-49), the great pop singer of the 1930s and 40s. He died at the height of his career, and at least some of his later records are well known. But his earlier efforts, while he was a radio crooner and band singer for hire on many pop records, are less often heard.
Today's post covers 23 songs split between the contrasting bands of Dick McDonough and Nat Brandwynne - 10 with McDonough's jazz outfit and 13 with Brandwynne's orchestra from New York's swanky Stork Club. Twenty-one of these were made in 1936; the two remaining come from the following year. These comprise Buddy's complete recordings with the two bandleaders.
All songs show Clark's usual mix of good voice, diction, intonation and cheer. He's invariably a pleasure to hear.
Dick McDonough was a short-lived (1904-38) jazz guitarist and bandleader, perhaps best known for his duets with fellow guitarist Carl Kress.McDonough recorded fairly prolifically for the ARC labels (Perfect et al) in 1936 and 1937. These dates always included some of the finest jazz musicians of the day, even though most of the sessions were devoted to the latest pop compositions.
All the numbers with Clark feature the lead trumpet of Bunny Berigan, who had recently left Benny Goodman's band and was recording both under his own name and as a session musician. The first four songs also include clarinetist Artie Shaw, who had become a recording bandleader himself just a few weeks before McDonough's June 23, 1936 session, and pianist Claude Thornhill, who himself would start making records as a leader in 1937.
Clark is not identified on the label of any of these 10 sides; I am again indebted to the discography of Nigel Burlinson for helping me to identify his appearances.
The first song in the June set was "Summer Holiday," with music by Johnny Marks ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer") and lyrics by Gene Conley (known for his work on "A Cottage for Sale," recently heard in a Willard Robison compilation). This charming song was recorded by many artists of the day.
Next came another current tune, "I'm Grateful to You," by the prolific songwriters J. Fred Coots (another Christmas maven - "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town") and Benny Davis.
McDonough reached back to 1921 for his next offering, the jazz standard "Dear Old Southland." Turner Layton was the composer - leaning heavily on the melody of "Deep River" - with lyrics by Henry Creamer.
From 1922 and the same writing and recording team came "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," which had been touted as "a Southern song, without a mammy, a mule or a moon." This number has a intricate McDonough solo, also a tenor saxophone break, probably by Larry Binyon, and a short clarinet contribution, likely from Artie Shaw. For this side particularly, Buddy adopted a New Orleans accent reminiscent of Connie Boswell. Not terribly convincing, but then he was born in Boston.
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| Adrian Rollini |
Moving on to an August 4 date, the first number was
"It Ain't Right" by Bob Rothberg and Joseph Meyer, a song associated with jazz violinist Stuff Smith. The McDonough version has a robust bass sax solo from Adrian Rollini.
McDonough then recorded a relatively new song (from 1931) but already on its way to becoming a standard - "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" from Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, first done by Cab Calloway. McDonough again solos on this one.
For his August 5 session, McDonough began with "When the Moon Hangs High (and the Prairie Skies Hang Low)" from bandleader Ted Fio Rito, whose best known song is "I'll String Along with You." Buddy promises his beloved that "down that old, old trail we'll go" and "we can harmonize with the songs of the West."
"Midnight Blue" was much more suited to McDonough's style, particularly to forthright trumpeter Bunny Berigan. The song was advertised as "the hit song of the
New Ziegfeld Follies of 1936." The 1936 Follies had a score by Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin, and starred Fanny Brice. The show went on hiatus during the summer and when it returned had additional numbers by other hands, including Joe Burke and Edgar Leslie's "Midnight Blue," which was introduced by James Farrell and Jane Pickens.
It's interesting to note the amazing talents employed by the 1936 Follies. The show was choreographed by Robert Alton with ballets directed by George Balanchine. Scenic design and costumes were by Vincente Minnelli, with additional costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois. The orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett, Conrad Salinger, Hans Spialek and Don Walker. The cast included Brice, Bob Hope, Eve Arden, Josephine Baker, Judy Canova, Gertrude Niesen and the Nicholas Brothers.
We move from the prairies and the Follies to the Pacific for "South Sea Island Magic" by Lysle Tomerlin and Andy Iona Long, best known for leading the the Hawaiian group Andy Iona and His Islanders. This piece was also recorded by Bing, who would do a Hawaiian-themed movie, Waikiki Wedding, the next year. (Songs from that film are here.)
To close out the McDonough set, we have the first of three songs from pianist-songwriter-personality Oscar Levant. "Afterglow" is one of his better efforts, done in collaboration with Al Stillman and Buck Ram. Buddy's reading is straightforward, but he does well by this worthy tune.
With Nat Brandwynne
Nat Brandwynne was a very young (25) bandleader when he made these recordings with Clark, although he had notable experience with Leo Reisman's orchestra, as part of a duo-piano team with Eddy Duchin that started a fashion for such setups. Brandwynne went on to several decades of success, primarily in Las Vegas, where he was making albums as late as the 1970s backing Diana Ross.
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| Nat Brandwynne |
Clark's first four songs in this set date from April 1936.
"It's You I'm Talkin About" is a peppy number from
Florida Special, a B comedy with Jack Oakie taking a train trip. The tune comes from the noted Hollywood writers Mack Gordon and Harry Revel.
For his next number Buddy tells us "There's Always a Happy Ending" in every talking picture he sees. It's a likeable Siglar-Goodheart-Hoffman number also recorded by Rudy Vallee and by Chick Bullock with Jack Shilkret.
"Lazy Weather" is one of the many paeans to indolence of the time, perhaps designed to comfort the unemployed. This one was a product of Irving Kahal and Oscar Levant. Buddy's competition in the market was the young Perry Como in his first recording session with Ted Weems' band.
I wouldn't call "The Glory of Love" a standard, but it has been a hit more than once, first in Benny Goodman's recording with a Helen Ward vocal. The writer was Billy Hill, who otherwise specialized in buckaroo numbers like "The Last Round-Up," "Wagon Wheels" and "Empty Saddles."
Moving on to a May session, Clark and Brandwynne were the first to record
"Take My Heart," a good song from Fred Ahlert and Joe Young. The bandleader's moaning saxophones are to the fore on this one, along with his ringing piano and Buddy's heartfelt singing.
"Long Ago and Far Away" is a Leo Robin-Ralph Rainger number from 1936's Three Cheers for Love. It predates the better known "Long Ago (and Far Away)" by Kern and Gershwin, which came from the 1944 film Cover Girl. Also from the 1936 film is "Where Is My Heart," not to be confused with "Where Is Your Heart," the song from 1952's Moulin Rouge and one of the big hits of that year. The Robin-Rainger tunes didn't do as well as their later namesakes, but are enjoyable to hear even so.
A July 1936 set of four songs begins with "Until Today," the final Oscar Levant song of this post, written with J. Fred Coots and Benny Davis. It was a new composition, recorded at the same time by Vincent Lopez, Ted Weems-Perry Como and others, I'm sure.
"Without a Shadow of a Doubt" is one of the best songs in the collection, even though I haven't been able to uncover much about its provenance. The writers are George Whiting, Nat Schwartz (aka Nat Burton) and J. C. Johnson.
Another fine song is
"If We Never Meet Again," which Louis Armstrong wrote with Horace Gerlach, and recorded himself in 1936. Armstrong got the royalties, but Dick Stabile ended up with his photo on the sheet music.
Walter Hirsch and Lou Handman wrote "Bye Bye Baby" (not the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes song - or the Four Seasons epic for that matter). It's a bouncy piece that Clark handles well - although you should hear what Fats Waller and a kazoo make of it.
The 1936 sessions with Brandwynne were Brunswick productions, but the team moved on to Perfect for the final two songs in this collection, dating from March 1937. Unlike the Brunswick sides, Clark is unidentified on the labels for this coupling. "To a Sweet Pretty Thing" was a product of Fred Ahlert and Joe Young - not one of their best known songs, but a nice way to spend a few minutes.
The last item is "I Dream of San Marino," an idyll of lost love in an exotic location - one of seemingly dozens of such songs covering everyplace but Newark - this one neither better nor worse the mean.
These records were all remastered in ambient stereo from Internet Archive originals. The sound is good for the time, clearly displaying the contrasting styles of the bandleaders and Buddy's stylish vocals.