Songs from 'Big Dance Tonite' - The Original Recordings

Bandleader Jerry Gray is heavily identified with the "Glenn Miller sound," but his early 1950s band had a much wider repertoire than the Miller hits. This post looks into the varied original recordings of four of the songs on one of Jerry's LPs - 1955's Big Dance Tonite, which is newly posted on the main blog. 

The four songs presented here range from a 1917 hit to two Spanish language songs to a 1953 R&B number by blues master Little Walter. Details on each follow.

Tony Sbarbaro, Edwin "Daddy" Edwards, Nick LaRocca, Larry Shields, Henry Ragas

The earliest number is by the sensation of that year, the Original Dixieland Jazz (originally Jass) Band, with their version of the Shelton Brooks favorite, "The Darktown Strutters' Ball." It's a song with familiar lyrics, but here (and on Jerry Gray's record) it's an instrumental. To modern ears the ODJB's sound seems raucous, but 109 years ago people loved it because it was new.

Maria Grever, José Mojica

Much different is the next song, the tango "Juramé" (Promise Me), written by the Mexican composer Maria Grever and recorded by tenor José Mojica with orchestra in 1927. The talented Mojica was to go on to star with the Chicago Civic Opera and in films. Grever's best known song is "What a Difference a Day Makes."

Enric Madriguera

A second Spanish language selection comes from the orchestra of Barcelona native Enric (Enrique) Madriguera. The song is his well known "Adíos." In its first appearance for the Spanish language trade, it was called "Adíos Linda Morena" (Goodbye, Pretty Brunette). Madriguera, who made a couple hundred records for Columbia in the 1930s, actually recorded both English and Spanish language versions of the song within a few weeks of one another in 1931. This set contains the disc aimed at the Hispanic market, with a vocal by Guty Cárdenas. (The vocalist on the English recording was an uncredited Smith Ballew.)

We also have "Adíos" in Madriguera's smooth 1947 instrumental version done for the short-lived Majestic label.

Little Walter

Switching styles again, let's move to the south side of Chicago and hear blues luminary Little Walter (Jacobs) and his 1953 hit version of "Off the Wall." The sound on this Checker recording is frankly ill-balanced and just plain loud - showing that things had not changed much from the ODJB's blare 35 years earlier.

"Off the Wall" was the subject of a War Between the Walters about authorship - one one side, Little Walter and on the other, fellow blues harpist Walter Horton (sometimes called Big Walter). Big claimed Little stole the song from him.

Jerry Gray duly credited Little Walter with the piece, and it's the latter's version that we hear to complete this brief collection.

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Maggie Teyte with Two Berlioz Songs

Maggie Teyte

Maggie Teyte (1888-1976), remembered as a sensitive purveyor of art songs, had an unusual career that encompassed opera, music hall and a later specialization in French song.

Born Margaret Tate in Wolverhampton, the "Teyte" spelling was adopted later on when the French insisted on mispronouncing her real name - or so the story goes.

After her debut in 1906, she was featured in productions involving such eminences as Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn and Thomas Beecham. She then spent 1911-19 in the US. A few years after returning to Britain, she married and retired for several years.

Her 1930 comeback was fitfully successful, so she resorted to appearances in music hall and variety shows.

In 1936, her recording of Debussy with Alfred Cortot achieved some success, and soon she was identified with French art song.

This leads us to today's selections - two songs from Berlioz's cycle Les Nuits d'été, recorded in London in 1940. This post is a companion to the 1950 recording of the full cycle by Suzanne Danco with the Cincinnati Symphony and Thor Johnson, which is new on the main blog.

English critics were in love with her singing. Here is Alec Robertson of The Gramophone comparing Danco with Teyte: "Many of us will have the record of Maggie Teyte’s exquisite singing of the second and fourth of these songs [from Les Nuits d'été] and, fine artist though she is, Suzanne Danco simply cannot invest the songs with the sensuous beauty and charm of the incomparable Maggie Teyte."

Dame Maggie (she was made a Dame Commander in 1958) sang only "Absence" and "La Spectre de la rose" from the Berlioz set. Her accompaniment is by the London Philharmonic under conductor Leslie Heward. This transfer is from slightly gritty HMV pressings of the time.

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