A weblog in English and Dutch about jazz and related music, record collecting and other music projects originally created by Hans Koert.|Een webblog in het Engels en het Nederlands over jazz, jazz-verwante muziek, platen verzamelen en verrassende projecten, oorspronkelijk opgezet door Hans Koert.
Hoagy Carmichael composed One Morning in May and Mitchell Parish wrote the lyrics. However, Carmichael's initial version of the song had its debut at the shown Victor disc recorded October 10, 1933 as an instrumental performed by the composer at the piano featuring a swinging combo
Vocalist Marion Harris
Other artists and orchestras of the time seem to have favoured the song performed with the lyrics by Mitchell Parish changing the music into a ballad, an example is the version recorded byMarion Harris in April 1934
One Morning in May was adopted by jazz musicians and later versions comprise both vocal and instrumenal versions of the song. Here I'll concentrate on some instrumental examples uploaded at You Tube. Firstly, Benny Carter and his orchestra recorded a swinging version in 1958, inserted below
Dusko Goykovich (photo by OhWeh, 2010 - Wikimedia)
Jazz trumpeter Dusko Goykovich recorded a great instrumental version of One Morning in May at his 2001 CD entitled In My Dreams
Another contemporary instrumental issue of One Morning in May was recorded by pianist Bill Charlapin a trio setting at his 2001 album entitled Stardust
Vibraphonist Lars Erstrand (You Tube)
The last example here of a contemporary instrumental version of One Morning in May was recorded by Swedish vibraphonist Lars Erstrand with Finish clarinetist Antti Sarpila in 2004 at the album entitled We've Got a Heartful of Music
Bye Bye Blues is a popular standard tune performed by numerous artists and bands. It was written by Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Bert Lown, and Chauncey Gray and published in 1925. Fred Hamm and his orchestrarecorded the initial version of the song for Victor in May 1925 as one of the label's first electrically processed recordings
Fred Hamm and his orchestra c. 1925 (YouTube still)
Fred Hamm and his Orchestra were a dance band from Chicago that was managed by Edgar Benson of Benson Orchestra fame. Hamm's Orchestra performed at the Marigold Garden in Chicago from 1923 to 1925. In 1925 Fred Hamm took over the leadership of the Benson Orchestra and recorded some sides for Victor that year. Fred Hamm recorded again in 1929 under the name of Fred Hamm and his Collegians (info from Red Hot Jazz Archive).
Sheet music front feat. Bert Lown
In July 1930 Bert Lown (co-writer of the song) recorded Bye Bye Bluesfor both Columbia and Hit of the Week as Bert Lown & His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra, below is inserted the Columbia 2258-D version recorded July 21 1930 in NYC
Frankie Trumbauer
Frankie Trumbauer and his orchestra recorded their version of Bye Bye Bluesfor Okeh September 8, 1930 in New York, vocal refrain by Smith Ballew
Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway and his orchestra recorded a great big band swing version of Bye Bye Blues in 1940 featuring solos by Chu Berry (ts), Dizzy Gillespie (tp) and Tyree Glenn (vib)
Benny Carter
In April 1946 Benny Carter (as) recorded a swinging version of Bye Bye Blues with Arnold Ross (p), Allan Reuss (g), Artie Bernstein (b) and Nick Fatool (d) for Keynote in Los Angeles
Stan Getz
The last version of Bye Bye Blues to be presented here was recorded by the Stan Getz Quartet in 1957 for the HMV album titled The Soft Swing. Personnel include Stan Getz (ts), Mose Allison (p), Addison Farmer (b) and Jerry Segal (d)
Taking their name from a show written by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, a small group led by Don Redman recorded in the late '20s as the Chocolate Dandies. Redman also used the name for some McKinney's Cotton Pickers record dates. During the early '30s the name was picked up by other musicians, notably Benny Carter, who used it for a string of recordings he made with Coleman Hawkins, among others. Carter revived the name in 1940, again with Hawkins recording some small group jazz sides. - Below I'll insert some examples of recordings made by the various Chocolate Dandies studio ensembles.
Star Dust_Okeh 8668
Don Redman directed McKinney's Cotton Pickers in four titles recorded October 13, 1928 in New York for Okeh as Chocolate Dandies. Personnel included Don Redman (as,dir), Langston Curl, John Nesbitt (tp), Claude Jones (tb), Milton Senior (as,cl), George Thomas, Prince Robinson(ts,cl), Todd Rhodes (p), Lonnie Johnson (g), Dave Wilborn (bj), Ralph Escudero (bb), Cuba Austin (dm). Besides the shown Star Dust the titles included Paducah, Birmingham Breakdown and Four Or Five Times
Benny Carter
On September 9, 1929 another combination of Chocolate Dandies recorded two titles for Okeh in New York. Personnel this time included Benny Carter (as,voc), Don Redman (as,cl,voc), Leonard Davis (tp), Rex Stewart (co), Coleman Hawkins (ts), J.C. Higginbotham (tb), Cyrus St. Clair (tuba), Fats Waller (p), Unknown (bj), George Stafford (dm). The recorded titles were That's How I Feel Today and Six Or Seven Times
Dee Blues_Columbia 2543-D
December 1930, Benny Carterrecorded two dates with a sextet of musicians drawn from Fletcher Henderson's orchestra as Chocolate Dandies for Columbia in New York. Personnel included Benny Carter (as,cl,voc,arr), Horace Henderson (p), Bobby Stark (tp), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Jimmy Harrison (tb,voc), Benny Jackson (g) and John Kirby (sb). On December 3 was recorded only one title, Goodbye Blues, but on December 31 were recorded Cloudy Skies, Got Another Sweetie Now, Bugle Call Rag and the shown Dee Blues
Blue Interlude_Decca 18255 A
Benny Carter recorded another session October 10, 1933 under the name of Chocolate Dandies, this time for Okeh/Decca. Personnel included Benny Carter (as,tp,arr), Max Kaminsky (tp), Floyd O'Brien (tb), Chu Berry (ts), Teddy Wilson (p), Lawrence Lucie (g), Ernest "Bass" Hill (sb) and Sidney Catlett (dm). Recorded titles besides the shown Blue Interlude were I Never Knew,Once Upon A Time and Krazy Kapers
Krazy Kapers_Okeh 41568
Coleman Hawkins
Benny Carter was featured with Coleman Hawkins in a session for Commodore May 25, 1940 and recorded three titles under the name of Coleman Hawkins and The Chocolate Dandies. Recorded titles included Smack!, I Surrender Dear and I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me. Participating musicians were Benny Carter (as,p), Roy Eldridge (tp), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Bernard Addison (g), John Kirby (sb), Sidney Catlett (dm)
Allan Reuss was an American jazz guitarist, who spent most of his career in the famous big bands of the swing era or as a studio musician. He was born in New York City in 1915 and began playing professionally as a banjoist at age 12. He took lessons and learned guitar from George Van Eps, who recommended Reuss to Benny Goodman. Reuss took over Van Eps' chair in Benny Goodman's orchestra in 1935 and played with Goodman on and off until 1943. He also played with Paul Whiteman's String Wing (1939) and joined Jack Teagarden's orchestra 1939-40. Next Reuss was with Jimmy Dorsey (1941-42) and Harry James (1942-43). At the same time he was a frequent session musician in the recording studios in New York until 1945, when he moved to Los Angeles. Here he continued as a studio guitarist and played with Arnold Ross, Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter a.o. After 1946, he was less frequently on jazz dates, but he took part in occasional reunions with Benny Goodman a.o. and continued studio work in hundreds of various recordings during the 1950s and 1960s as an anonymous musician.
Promo photo 1936
Allan Reuss was an extraordinary guitarist who formed the foundationin in the rhythm section of the swing orchestra . His role was primarily to keep the rhythm going, which he did excellently, but from time to time he had a chance to show off his sophisticated chord style solo playing placing him in the top class of swing guitarists. Below I'll insert some examples of Allan Reuss' solos with various artists.
Benny Goodman
As mentioned above, Allan Reuss joined Benny Goodman and his orchestra in 1935 on the recommendation of George Van Eps. Benny Goodman recorded frequently and was on radio at the time, but only a couple of times Reuss got the opportunity to play solo. An example from November 22, 1935 is heard in If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight with the full Benny Goodman orchestra
Lionel Hampton
Reuss freelanced as a studio musician from 1937 and was engaged by a.o. Lionel Hampton to take part in some of Hampton's studio sessions for victor. From a session recorded April 26, 1937 Allan Reuss has a short elaborated solo in a version of I Got Rhythm, here titled Rhythm, Rhythm. Participating musicians are Buster Bailey (cl), Johnny Hodges (as), Lionel Hampton (vib), Jess Stacy (p), John Kirby (b), Cozy Cole (d) besides Allan Reuss (g)
Jack Teagarden
Reuss joined Jack Teagarden and his orchestra 1939 and stayed with him through 1940. During this engagement, Allan Reuss had the opportunity to record his own Pickin' for Patsy - his highly sophisticated solo piece with big band. The piece was recorded in New York, May 5 1939 and sounded like this
Variations in Jazz, I Never Knew (Asch 350-3B), 1939
A rather special recording was made for Moses Asch's record label in 1939 featuring Allan Reuss as a member of a pick-up ensemble named Peck's Bad Boys. Reuss contributes some extraordinary solo work which alone is worth this special record
Coleman Hawkins
Allan Reuss moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1945 to continue as a studio musician. For some time he led his own trio, but there were no recordings made. He was engaged by Coleman Hawkins to take part in his recording sessions for Capitol February-March 1945 and did a couple of short solos, a.o. in Stuffy recorded February 23, 1945. Participating musicians are: Howard McGhee (tp), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Sir Charles Thompson (p), Allen Reuss (g), Oscar Pettiford (b) and Denzil Best (d)
Benny Carter
The last solo work by Allan Reuss to be presented here is from a session with Arnold Ross Quintet featuring Benny Carter (as), Artie Berstein (b), Nick Fatool (d), Arnold Ross (p) and Allan Reuss (g) recorded in Los Angeles, April 1946. Three takes of The Moon Is Low were recorded, below is inserted the version uploaded a You Tube to end this small presentation of Allan Reuss
Lionel Hampton signed a favorable contract with RCA Victor in 1937 that allowed him to invite musicians from other popular jazz orchestras of the time to record a series of sessions that otherwise would have been difficult if not impossible to organize. From 1937 to 1941 Hampton recorded 107 sides featuring musicians from the orchestras of Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Luis Russell, Fletcher Henderson, Fats Waller and Earl Hines, giving him the cream of the period’s soloists and rhythm players. These recordings rank among some of the best small band swing jazz of the late 1930s and they have since been reissued both on vinil and CD, i.e.. at the 5 CDs box-set from Mosaic some years ago, shown below (- unfortunately out of print).
Mosaic #238, The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-41
Here I like to put focus on a famous session from September 11, 1939 that unites Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry and Ben Webster as the dream sax section with a young Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Clyde Hart (piano), Charlie Christian (guitar), Milt Hinton (double bass) and Cozy Cole (drums); Hampton leads the session and contributes both on vibes and as vocalist.
Exerpt of discograpical info, Mosaic #238 (click to enlarge)
Benny Carter's arrangement of When Lights Are Low was the first tune and recorded in two takes, the second take probably is the best known featuring solo spots by Carter, Hampton, Hart and Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
The first take of When Lights Are Low has a different solo by Hampton
One Sweet Letter From You has vocal by Hampton and the guitar playing obligato is by Charlie Christian (- here on acoustic strings)
Charlie Christian
The tenor solo is by Hawkins or Webster (- unfortunately I'm not the expert to differentiate the two in this session, sorry)
Hot Mallets has a nice muted trompet solo by a young Dizzy Gillespie exchanging riffs with Carter's alto followed by a short tenor contribution by Chu Berry and a lengthy Hampton solo
Dizzy Gillespie
The last tune in this session was Early Session Hop that has fine examples of the sax section playing in unison followed by solos by Hawkins, Hampton and Carter
What makes these recordings magnificent examples of small band swing of the late 1930s is not only the solo contributions by the reed players and the leader. The rhythm is execellently supported by great playing of both Milt Hinton's double bass, Christian's guitar comping and Cozy Cole's drums.
Cozy Cole
The rather short playing time of each of the recorded tunes leaves a wish for more, however, you could also say that the session is a fine example of the artistic formula expressing the experience that - sometimes - less is more ...!
Georg Lankester, expert in the French pre-WWII jazz scene, Django Reinhardtand the Quintet of Hot Club de France, continues his account of the visit(s) of QHCF in the Netherlands 1937. The first part was published here - Below follows the second part.
Django and Stéphane’s second visit to
Holland
On
top of the numerous performances and recording sessions during the World
Exhibition in Paris, with the best American reedmen and French players Ekyan
and Combelle, a second invitation for Django & Stéphane to play in Holland
arrived.
This
time the occasion was, first a jazz
contest in Amsterdam, then a concert in the Hague and finally radio recordings
in Hilversum.
The
evening of the 5th of November 1937 the two stars and their rhythm group scored
triumphs. The numerous students and other jazz fans were all excited and,
of course, the Hot Club quintet gloriously
won the first prize.
Django (center) et al in Holland, November 1937
Although
little is known about their stay in Amsterdam, it is reported that the
musicians spent some time to visit musea and ‘Madame Tussaud’ where Django was
obsessed by the chambers of horror.
Freddy Johnson
Interesting
is that in the night hot jam sessions took place with Django, Freddy Johnson, Benny Carter and Coleman
Hawkins who were also engaged in Holland - they all knew each other from their performances in Paris.
Next
to the quintet’s playing in the Dutch capital, a concert was given in the zoo
of the Hague. On November 6, the Dutch “Jazz Liga” celebrated its 5th
anniversary on which occasion the Hot Club formation formed the highlight of
the evening.
As
many will know, there is a film fragment of this concert which was made by the
Dutch ‘Polygon” company which also showed the arrival by train of the quintet
earlier in the News program.
With
regard to the concert film fragment, it is striking that Django is moving his body while he is accompanying Stéphane. For the many Django fans
always remains the question which theme was played since the violin (audio) improvisations
do not easily reveal that.
Unfortunately
there is nothing known about any radio broadcasts – I even contacted people in
Hilversum but nobody could trace that.
So
far, the short story on these two historical visits of the legendary quintet to
the Netherlands. I can just add to this that - after the war - Grappelli gave
several concerts in Holland and I had
the opportunity (in 1984) to meet him and, briefly, could talk with him about those visits of 1937.
Georg Lankester,
expert in pre-WW II French jazz history, introduces in this entry André Ekyan's pre-war
career, the 1930s.
The
post war years of André Ekyan will be discussed in another entry, here
André Ekyan (1907-1972)
This
highly talented musician was born in Meudon. Who could suspect that he would
become one of the pioneers of the French pre-war jazz and play an important
role in it as a soloist? Here is the
story of his career:
Non- French parents
André’s
mother was of Hungarian origin, while his father was born in Armenia – the
official family name was Echkyan. His parents emigrated to France and it was
there that the young André in 1907 was
born and further grew up. Already as a boy he started to play alto-sax. André
first started to follow a medical study in order to become a dentist. During
his study he saved money to buy a clarinet which took quite some time. Finally
he got the instrument and it seems that he could play a bit on it within a few
weeks. By
the end of the Twenties, however, he stopped his dental study and chose for a
professional career in music. Soon he joined the orchestra of Perroquet which
played in Paris; furthermore he was working continuously to improve his
technique.
Cabaret performances and orchestra sideman
From
1930-32 he was active with a small formation under his own name and appeared
frequently in the cabaret “La croix du
Sud”, where – according to Charles Delaunay – also Django Reinhardt came to
listen to him.
Ekyan and Django
André
also joined various big bands. In 1931 he became member of the well-knownEnglish ‘Jack Hylton Orchestra’ and somewhat
later he played in the band of Fred Astaire. Our active reed man could – in
1933 – be found playing with “Grégor & ses Grégoriens” which was quite popular
in Paris those days. Also Stéphane Grappelli joined this orchestra, as we can
see in some old film fragments! In ’34
and ’35 André was playing in“Le Jazz du
poste parisien”.
It
should be mentioned that starting from 1932 Ekyan also arranged and supervised
studio recordings e.g. in parts of “Jazz symphonique Salabert” and in two
recordings of his own group called “the French Hot Boys”. They recorded: ‘St.
Louis Blues’ and ‘Moonglow’.
André Ekyan, saxophonist and clarinetist
In 1935
André, as a band leader, played an important role in the famous cabaret “Boeuf
sur le Toit” where many excellent musicians regularly met. Under his
supervision several recordings were made
in his name, released by “Ultraphone”.
After
lots of activities in France André then travelled to the USA where he played
with stars like trombonist ‘Tommy Dorsey & the piano giants“Joe Turner”and
“Fats Waller”.
Once
back in France he opened a cabaret called ‘Swing Time” where he showed his own
new orchestra. This was the place where terrific ‘jam sessions’ (in French: ‘de
Boeufs’) took place, so remembered tenor saxophonist Alix Combelle. André could
there also be heard with the piano players Léo Chauliac & George Manion, in
addition to his own band.
Paris
was in those times a swinging town, full of theatres, cabarets and cafés
offering jazz. In one of them called “au Florence” the American trumpet
player/saxophonist Benny Carter played. In the early morning, also there unforgettable
jam sessions were held with American and French jazzmen like Coleman Hawkins,
Django Reinhardt and Bill Coleman. After their performances in other cabarets
and cafés, they liked to meet and play spontaneously in unique formations. Note: Carter and Hawkins, who stayed in
Paris, were promoted by the Hot Club de France leaders secretary Charles
Delaunay and president Hugues Panassié.
Historical recordings
1937
was a great year for the European jazz. Because of the World Exhibition in the
capital the Hot Club leaders had invited many American jazz giants for big concert
and recording sessions and…….they met
the best French players of that time –
including André Ekyan. This resulted in many unique recordings, all of them
realised under the supervision of Charles Delaunay who had just launched his
exclusive jazz record label ‘Swing”.
Discque Swing, SW. 1
He
started recording in the spring and possibly
with the best pre-war formation in Europe ever, called “Coleman Hawkins and his
All Star band” featuring Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, André Ekyan, Alix
Combelle, Django Reinhardt, Eugène d’Hellemmes and Tommy Benford.
On
April 28 two titles in this formation were recorded ‘’Honeysuckle rose’ & ‘Crazy
Rhythm’.In the same line-up HMV recorded: ‘Out of nowhere’ and ‘Sweet Georgia
Brown’. For those interested marked SW
no.1 and HMV(E) B 8812.
Ekyan,
still in a very good shape, can also be heard with Django in five tracks which
were recorded in 1939 in a small formation under his name. The titles: ‘The Sheyk’, ‘Dream Ship’, ‘ I can’t
believe’, Dark Town Strutters Ball’’ and Blues of Yesterdays’. Three tracks included
trumpet player/saxophonist ‘Big Boy’ Goodie, who originally came from Louisiana
but already lived in Paris from the early Twenties.
Retrospect
Keep Swinging (old)
Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions
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