Hamp Serves Gin for Christmas, Then Flies Home

Here are two songs that Lionel Hampton recorded in 1939 and that are in the holiday spirit (or more precisely, into the holiday spirits) - "Gin for Christmas" and its inevitable successor, "The Heebie Jeebies Are Rockin' the Town."

In that year, Hamp was a member of the Benny Goodman aggregation, appearing as part of the Goodman Sextet with such notables as guitarist Charlie Christian. Starting in 1937, he made dozens of records under his own name for Victor, including today's duo. These were issued as being by the "Lionel Hampton Orchestra," but that was a catch-all name for a variety of small studio groups, at least until Hamp left Goodman to form his own big band in 1940.

"Gin for Christmas" is a Hampton-penned instrumental made primarily with members of the Goodman band, including trumpeter Ziggy Elman, alto saxophonist Toots Mondello, tenor saxophonist Jerry Jerome and bass player Artie Bernstein. Also in the ensemble are tenor Ben Webster, who would soon join Duke Ellington, and Al Casey, then with Fats Waller. All can be heard on this lively riff number. Hamp appears as the raucous drummer.

For the "Heebie Jeebies" side, Hampton turns vocalist and vibraphonist. The band includes such luminaries as Henry "Red" Allen on trumpet, J.C. Higginbotham on trombone and Earl Bostic on alto sax. Guitarist Charlie Christian also is on board.

These records come from October 1939. That same month, Hampton made the first recording of what may be his most famous composition, "Flying Home," with the Goodman Sextet. I've included that record in the download. Note in particular the superb Charlie Christian solo.

But it wasn't until May 1942 that Hampton was to set down its most famous rendition, made with his big band. That recording became one of the most influential of the decade, and a seminal moment in the birth of rhythm 'n' blues. I've added it to this post as a bonus.

The Decca "Flying Home" is a riff tune arranged either by pianist Milt Buckner or by Hamp himself (sources differ). It is very much in the Basie tradition, with a difference - it featured perhaps the earliest and most famous honking tenor sax solo, with the 19-year-old Illinois Jacquet playing a repeated note for an entire chorus. Adding to the excitement is Hampton and screaming lead trumpeter Ernie Royal trading licks - not to mention the roaring section riffs from the trombones and saxes. The loud and flamboyant playing inspired a legion of extroverted tenor players and brash arrangements, which were popular even into the 1950s.

Underrated aspects of this performance are the powerful rhythm section, led by Lester Young's brother, drummer Lee Young, and the arrangement's low-end underpinning - not just Young, Buckner and bass player Vernon Alley, but the trombones and baritone saxophonist Jack McVea. All these add up to a classic in jazz - and R&B.

More about the genesis of "Flying Home" here.

LINK

Perry Como's 1950-52 Christmas Songs and Promos

That laid-back baritone Perry Como recorded a great deal of Christmas material during his long career. In this post, we'll look at a few of the more unusual items, all of a promotional nature.

Perry's warm voice and holiday material were made for one another, This can be heard on the opening selection in our program, The First Christmas, where Como is both the story teller and the vocalist, supported by a Mitchell Ayers chorus and orchestra. 

Perry's label, RCA Victor, had been pushing the 45-rpm format for the past few years in opposition to Columbia's 33-rpm speed. But in 1950, RCA gave in and began issuing LPs. To promote The First Christmas, the label sent radio stations a special 12-inch, 33-rpm pressing of the elaborate eight-minute production, in a promotional sleeve. The cover is below; complete scans are in the download, along with the cover of the commercial issue.

The First Christmas was not Como's biggest seasonal success for that year, however. His hit was Carl Sigman and Mickey Addy's "There Is No Christmas Like A Home Christmas." Victor had Perry produce promotional voice tracks for that song and its flip side, another holiday hopeful called "The Christmas Symphony," which, while attractive, did not do as well as its mate. I believe RCA re-issued the latter song in 1951, but it still did not chart, to my knowledge.

Promotional voice tracks came in two forms - one asking the nation's disk jockeys to play a record, the other designed to be played on the air as an intro to the selection. These two items are of the latter variety.

Perry's holiday entry in 1952 was the touching song, "One Little Candle," by George Mysels and J. Maloy Roach. The singer had actually recorded the piece early in the year. It was released in March, possibly timed to Easter. The Christmas Seals charity decided to adopt the memorable tune for its 1952 campaign theme, and Como produced a promotional voice track, which was sent to radio stations along with the song.

As Perry noted in his voice track, the Christmas Seals stickers each bore "one little candle." The song is one of the best of the spate of the inspirational songs that were popular in the postwar years. The idea was that "if everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be." This fit very well into the Christmas Seals message that each individual could play a role in eradicating the leading infectious disease of the time, tuberculosis. The song also advocated that "we all say a prayer that the world will be free" - a popular sentiment in a world that had seen a Communist takeover of eastern Europe and was embarking on a prolonged Cold War with the real threat of nuclear destruction.

I well remember the song, not so much from its the 1952 release, but from its continued use as the theme of The Christophers, an inspirational group founded by Maryknoll priests that produced a television show in the 1950s and thereafter. One of my father's Navy friends had become a Maryknoll brother, so I knew about the organization from their correspondence. "One Little Candle" is a beautiful work that underlines The Christophers' belief that everyone can make a difference in the lives of others, a sentiment pertinent to the Christmas season and every day of the year.

These records were remastered from the vast collection on Internet Archive. The download also includes relevant articles and ads. Below, Perry and RCA's Mindy Carson on the Cash Box cover during the 1950 Christmas season.

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Rafael Kubelik's First Recordings

Rafael Kubelik in 1937

The eminent conductor Rafael Kubelik (1914-96) was closely associated with Czech music, particularly that of the national composer Bedřich Smetana (1824-84). Fittingly, Kubelik made his recording debut at age 23 with two of the symphonic poems from Smetana's Má vlast (My Fatherland) -  Vltava (usually called The Moldau in English) and Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields).

Those 1937 recordings were made in London for HMV, although with the Czech Philharmonic, which Kubelik had first conducted when he was 19. At least for recording purposes, the conductor's repertoire was entirely Czech composers until 1948, when HMV had him conduct the Philharmonia for Ida Haendel's recording of the Bruch Concerto No. 1 (which you can find here).

The 1948 session was several months after Kubelik had defected to England. He decided he was no longer willing to remain in Czechoslovakia after the Communist takeover, having just endured a different authoritarian regime led by the Nazis. He did not return to his native land until the fall of the Communist government in 1990.

Kubelik was to revisit the Má vlast cycle four more times during his recording career, but there is nothing immature about these 1937 readings. Vltava is far and away the most familiar of the five symphonic poems, and it receives a sensitive performance here. It may be a little ironic that this most Czech of compositions makes use of a ancient Italian melody called "La mantovana," which has also been adapted for such purposes as the Israeli national anthem, the 1960s instrumental hit "A Walk in the Black Forest," and Stan Getz's jazz composition "Dear Old Stockholm." Italian, Israeli, German, Swedish - yet here it could not be more Czech.

Z českých luhů a hájů also is a good composition, although more patchy than Vltava, accentuated here by the less than smoothly executed side breaks inherent in the 78 medium. But the playing is good, and I probably don't need to mention that the performance is heartfelt.

These recordings were remastered from needle-drops on Internet Archive. The sound in ambient stereo is pleasing.

LINK

Bedřich Smetana

Columbia Promotes 'The Louis Armstrong Story'

After Columbia Records launched the LP format in 1948, it took just a few years to start mining its back catalogue for reissue candidates. One obvious artist emerged - Louis Armstrong, the trumpeter-vocalist who was the most important figure in early jazz. The right producer was already on staff, young George Avakian, who had been compiling Columbia's "Hot Jazz" albums on 78 for some time - including some of Armstrong's legendary recordings.

Promo label; George Avakian and Louis Armstrong; LP cover

The resulting Louis Armstrong Story was a four-record set (the LPs were issued separately) that came out in 1951. To promote the albums, the label had Avakian record introductions for some of the selections. Columbia then sent the intros with the appropriate cuts to disk jockeys, hoping they would air the package as a half-hour program.

There actually were two such promotional sets; today's post presents the second of them. I've gathered and remastered the seven Armstrong recordings and accompanying Avakian intros from needle drops on Internet Archive. The sound has a great deal of impact, as you will discover on the first Armstrong cut, "West End Blues" from 1928, which is one of the most famous jazz records of all time.

"West End Blues" begins with a spectacular Armstrong solo, astonishingly virtuosic for the time, which contrasts starkly with the stodgy playing of trombonist Fred Robinson and clarinetist Jimmy Strong, but not the fluid pianism of Earl Hines, like Armstrong resident in Chicago and advanced in his musical thinking. "West End Blues" also contains an early example of Armstrong's wordless vocalizing - I would call it "inimitable" if it hadn't inspired an army of imitators.

Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong

"West End Blues" was credited to "Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five," but by the time the next cut in this program was recorded late in 1928, the credit was simply "Louis Armstrong," here again in the company of Earl Hines and again producing a jazz classic, "Weather Bird."

For the next selection, Avakian returned to the June session that produced "West End Blues," choosing "Don't Jive Me." He notes in his introduction that Armstrong popularized many familiar jazz terms - including "jive." Here, Armstrong's solo is again riveting, but more space is allotted to Jimmy Strong, for whatever reason. In his solo, Hines demonstrates one of his stylistic hallmarks, playing out of time. Surprisingly, this record was unissued until Avakian included it in one of his "Hot Jazz" 78 compilations, in 1941.

Reissue label

Avakian introduces "Knockin' a Jug" as being the product of a jam session in the studio. For the first time, Armstrong is heard with one of his longtime associates, trombonist Jack Teagarden (whose solo for once is not all that good), and with the short-lived guitarist Eddie Lang. Louis has the last word, and thankfully the over-miked drummer Kaiser Marshall lays out for the climax.

Internet Archive's copy of "Knockin' a Jug" comes from an early reissue, dating from 1938 and sponsored by an enthusiast group called the United Hot Clubs of America. The 78 was issued by the Commodore Music Shop of New York, best known for its own label. These UHCA releases appeared even before Columbia started reissuing Armstrong's records.

Avakian says that Armstrong's managers wanted him to start recording more pop material, so in 1931 he took on "Star Dust" in his own way, remolding what Avakian terms Mitchell Parish's "prosaic" lyrics into something entirely new. Armstrong does sing some of Parish's words, while replacing others with vocalese, improvising just as he did on the trumpet. The band's chugga-chugga backing is highly amusing.

"I Can't Give You Anything But Love" is more of the same, only different, with Louis moaning his way through a chorus, whipping through a brief stop-time interlude, then returning to his vocal improvisations. The concluding trumpet solo is one of Louis' best.

Avakian concludes the program with "Muggles" (a slang term for marijuana). This 1928 record only takes flight when Armstrong plays his concluding solo - not unusual on these records.

Pinky Tomlin's Greatest Hits

Pinky Tomlin

The singer-songwriter Pinky Tomlin (1907-87) popped up in my most recent post, devoted to renditions of "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", so I thought I might explore three of his bigger successes. Each comes in two versions - his original recordings for Brunswick and 1940 remakes for Decca.  

Tomlin's career peaked when he was a young man - almost all of his records were made in the 1930s, and he appeared in quite a few films during that decade. He left show business altogether in the 1950s, except for a 1963 LP with Nelson Riddle that featured remakes of the three songs discussed below. (I have the album if anyone is eager to hear it.)

Pinky's first and perhaps biggest hit was "The Object of My Affection," a catchy number that became very popular in 1934-35. Wikipedia tells us, "Tomlin came to national attention in the 1930s due to a song he had written while attending the University of Oklahoma, one he composed for a student at the school, Joanne Alcorn, whom he would later marry. His original composition was subsequently adapted by Coy Poe and orchestrated and recorded in 1934 by bandleader Jimmie Grier."

Tomlin's singing is assured for someone who had little experience as a vocalist, and he already had a style of his own. His approach is notably conversational and informal. He occasionally sings out of time or alters the melodic line, seemingly deliberately. In some ways, he can be compared to the slightly older Willard Robison and Hoagy Carmichael, although he does not imitate them.

Grier's band, based in Los Angeles, is usually identified as the Coconut Grove Orchestra, although not here. His arrangement of this tune is standard for the time - staccato brass, soupy saxes, etc.

Jimmie Grier

Grier brought Pinky back in December 1934 for a session devoted to the singer's "What's the Reason (I'm Not Pleasing You)." The number was again attributed to Poe and Grier along with Tomlin. The arrangement turns the song into a duet with Betty Roth, who made at least one other recording with Grier. Her strident tones don't go all that well with Tomlin's relaxed approach.

By 1937 Tomlin was established enough that the Brunswick label promoted him to solo artist for another major hit, "The Love Bug Will Bite You (If You Don't Watch Out)." The song has a unusual structure in that it calls for the vocalist to ad lib a bit of a different song in each chorus: "The love bug will bite you if you don't watch out / He ever bites you, you'll sing and shout: [insert song of choice]." On this record, Pinky interpolates snatches of "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," "Honeysuckle Rose" (a nod to Fats Waller, perhaps for recording some of Tomlin's songs), "Sweet Adeline" and "Swanee River," among others. At another place, he scat sings, showing an unexpected Louis Armstrong influence.

Texas Jim and Pinky

Tomlin moved to  Decca in 1938, recording 12 songs for the blue label between April of that year and December 1940. The first eight were in the company of Harry Sosnik's band, but for the final session, Decca matched him with Texas Jim Lewis and His Band. The band, generally billed as the "Lone Star Cowboys," was a Western swing outfit, and Tomlin's backing largely consists of accordion, fiddle and guitar.

The Cowboys were not virtuoso musicians and added little to the records, but Tomlin's singing is assured. Among the four songs they cut were remakes of the three discussed above, which I've included in the download. This time, Pinky's interpolations for "Love Bug" included "Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar," a hit at the time. He also adds a coda not on the 1937 version.

Lewis went on to appear in dozens of Western films during a period when seemingly anyone with a ten-gallon hat and a guitar was cast as a singing cowboy. In the 1950s, he surfaced as the host of a kiddie show in Seattle, where he was very popular.

These songs were remastered from Internet Archive needle drops. The sound is very good for the time.