May 2004
May 27, 2004
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
Greyhound Lines
Click on image or here
for larger view
(from 1939 ad)
Feather
Merchant's Ball
Teddy Powell and His Orchestra
1940
(Decca 3234-A mx 67778)
Teddy
Bear Boogie
Teddy Powell and His Orchestra
1940
(Decca 3234-B mx 67780)
Teddy Powell was a violin and banjo
player who spent several years with the Abe Lyman band where he also served
as a vocalist, arranger and helped out on the business side of things.
In 1939 he formed his own band hiring several highly regarded musicians
formerly with the Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Casa Loma orchestras.
The band debuted at New York's Famous Door nightclub and the engagement
was so successful that Powell began to boast that he had accomplished in
six weeks what had taken Goodman and Dorsey years. Reality caught
up with Powell when the band went on the road and few people bothered to
show up for the performances due to its lack of name recognition.
Powell began to lose not only money but also his top musicians who
moved on to more promising opportunities. In 1941, the band lost
all of its instruments in a fire at the Rustic Cabin nightclub in New Jersey.
Because copies of the band's arrangements existed elsewhere, it was able
to survive the disaster. Unfortunately, two other factors conspired
against Powell's attempt to gain career traction. In the summer of
1942, the musicians' union declared a strike against the record industry
which would last until November 1944. Not being able to record made
it difficult for Powell to build a national following. Also, as with
other bandleaders at the time, Powell had a difficult time retaining musicians
due to the wartime draft and actually had to disband for a while because
of it. Powell retired from bandleading in 1954 and became a
music publisher.
Both of this week's selections were
composed by Powell with Powell's arranger Ray Conniff sharing the credit
on "Feather Merchant's Ball."
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.
As part of my ongoing effort to
replace the older audio files on this site with updated ones taking advantage
of my new audio restoration equipment, here are some selections which
originally appeared in this website's 1920s & 1930s section.
I have not yet updated that section to include these improved sound files,
but I expect to have that done very soon.
Recordings Originally Posted June 1998
Madhouse
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
1936
(Victor 25268)
I've
Got My Fingers Crossed
"Fats" Waller and His Rhythm
"Fats" Waller, vocal
1936
(Victor 25211)
I
Wonder What's Become of Joe
Ernie Golden and His Hotel McAlpin Orchestra
1926
(Brunswick 3502-B)
I
Found A Million Dollar Baby
Don Voorhees' Orchestra
1931
(Hit of the Week J-2)
El
Sombrero De Gaspar
Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf Astoria Orchestra
1935
(Victor 24840)
Turn
On The Heat
Horace Heidt and His Californians
1929
(Victor 22195)
Recordings Originally Posted April 1998
If
I Had A Talking Picture Of You
Johnny Hamp's Kentucky Serenaders
Don Howard, vocal
1929
(Victor 22124-B)
Everything's
Gonna Be All Right
Frank Harris, vocal
1926
(Columbia 607-D mx 141786)
Sunny
Side Up
Johnny Hamp's Kentucky Serenaders
Frank Luther, vocal
1929
(Victor 22124-A)
Lounging
At The Waldorf
"Fats" Waller and His Rhythm
"Fats" Waller, vocal
1936
(Victor 25430-B)
If
I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
McKinney's Cotton Pickers
George Thomas, vocal
1930
(Victor V-38118-A)
I'll
Get By (As Long As I Have You)
Ipana Troubadours
Bing Crosby, vocal
1928
(Columbia 1694-D mx 147545)
Spanish
Shawl
Edwin J. McEnelly's Orchestra
1925
(Victor 19851-B)
Sweetheart
We Need Each Other
Fred Rich and His Orchestra
Smith Ballew, vocal
1929
(Oriole 1760-A mx 19009)
The
Very Thought Of You
Victor Young and His Orchestra
George Bueler, vocal
1934
(Brunswick 6931 mx 15388)
Yesterday
Eddie Miller's Dance Orchestra
1927
(Romeo 344-B)
Big
City Blues
Billy Murray & Walter Scanlan, vocal
1929
(Domino 4413-A mx 8940)
Like
An Angel You Flew Into
Everyone's
Heart (Lindberg)
Vaughn DeLeath, vocal
1927
(Victor 20674-B)
Recordings Originally Posted March 1998
Last
Night
Bob Crosby and His Orchestra
Bob Crosby, vocal
1939
(Decca 2812-A mx 66667)
May 20, 2004
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
HOTEL JEFFERSON
Dallas, Texas
Dallas Leading Hotel
Lawrence W. Mangold, Managing Director
(from circa 1930s postcard)
Streamline
Strut
Ambrose And His Orchestra
1935
(Decca 500-B mx GB 7021)
Hors
D'Oeuvres
Ambrose And His Orchestra
1935
(Decca 500-A mx GB 6853)
I've
Got A Note
Ambrose And His Orchestra
Sam Browne, vocal
1935
(Decca 517-A mx GB 7130)
Cuban
Pete
Ambrose And His Orchestra
Evelyn Dall, vocal
1936
(Decca 3503-A mx TB2222)
From the 1920s through the early
1940s, Bert Ambrose led the most popular dance band in Great Britain.
The band remained active until the mid-1950s. The Ambrose band also
had a following in other countries, including the United States where its
recordings were issued on the Brunswick and Decca labels.
"Hors D'Oeuvres" was a very successful
recording for Ambrose and subsequently became the band's theme song.
The song dates back to 1915 and was composed by David Comer.
The song "Cuban Pete" was composed
in 1936 by Jose Norman who led a popular popular Latin style dance band
in Great Britain. Many people associate the song with Desi
Arnaz who performed it as the title song in the 1946 film Cuban Pete
as well as in a few episodes of his popular I Love Lucy television
series. The song enjoyed a revival in 1996 when it was performed
by Jim Carrey in the film The Mask. The vocal on this
week's recording of "Cuban Pete" is by American born singer and actress
Evelyn Dall who, as a vocalist with the Ambrose band, was billed
as the "American Blonde Bombshell." Dall was so popular with male
audiences that, on some appearances, the band was billed as "The Ambrose
Orchestra Conducted By Evelyn Dall."
I have not been able to find information
about who the vocalist is on "I've Got A Note." If anyone knows,
drop me a line and I will post the information on next week's update.
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.
As part of my ongoing effort to
replace the older audio files on this site with updated ones taking advantage
of my new audio restoration equipment, here are some selections which
originally appeared in the June 1998 update to this website's 1920s &
1930s section. I have not yet updated that section to include
these improved sound files, but I expect to have that done very soon.
I
Won't Dance
Smith Ballew And His Orchestra
Smith Ballew, vocal
1935
(Conquerer 8507 mx 16919)
East
Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
Chick Bullock, vocal
1935
(Melotone 350902-B mx 17779)
Dinah
Joe Venuti's Blue Four
1928
(Okeh 41025 mx 400178)
I
Can't Get Started
Bunny Berigan and His Boys
Bunny Berigan, vocal
1936
(Vocalion 3225 mx 19013)
May 6, 2004
This week's Hit of the Week is brought
to you by
TEXAS CENTENNIAL
Central Exposition
Dallas, Texas
1936
(from 1936 matchbook cover)
It's
Like Reaching For The Moon
Ben Bernie and His Orchestra
Billy Wilson, vocal
1936
(Decca 877-B mx DLA 434)
Am
I Asking Too Much?
Ben Bernie and His Orchestra
Billy Wilson, vocal
1936
(Decca 877-A mx DLA 431)
Last week I announced that this
week's update would feature the Park Lane Orchestra. Unfortunately,
the record that I planned to use was in worse shape than I thought.
Therefore, I decided to go with something different instead.
During the 1920s, Ben Bernie had
one of the more interesting dance bands and it often had a nice "Jazz
Age" sound. But trends in popular music can change very rapidly and
most bands had to adjust accordingly if they wished to survive..
By the mid 1930s, what was later known as the big band era was underway
and the question facing bandleaders was whether they wanted their bands
to be primarily "swing" or "sweet." As this week's selections
demonstrate, the mid '30s Bernie band was more "sweet" than "swing."
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.
As part of my ongoing effort to
replace the older audio files on this site with updated ones taking advantage
of my new audio restoration equipment, here are some selections which
originally appeared in the June 1998 update to this website's 1920s &
1930s section. I have not yet updated that section to include
these improved sound files, but I expect to have that done very soon.
You've
Got To Be Modernistic
Clarence Williams & His Jazz Kings
1929
(Columbia 14488-D mx 149666)
Zonky
Clarence Williams & His Jazz Kings
1929
(Columbia 14488-D mx 149665)
Grand
Central Station
5 Red Caps
1943
(Gennett 7118-B)
Talk
Of The Town
Ted Weems and His Orchestra
Parker Gibbs, vocal
1930
(Victor 22304-B)
Why
Not Come Over Tonight?
George Beaver, vocal
1930
(Oriole 1956-B mx 19700)
Pleading
Leo Reisman and His Orchestra
Harry Maxfield, vocal
1927
(Columbia 1058-D mx 144018)
It
Had To Be That Way
Floyd Tillman, vocal
1939
(Decca 5751-A mx 66332)
I've
Got Something In My Eye
Amanda Randolph and Her Orchestra
Amanda Randolph, vocal
1936
(Bluebird 6619-B)
Cocoanut
Grove
Harry Owens And His Royal
Hawaiian Hotel Orchestra
1938
(Decca 23616-A mx DLA 1166)
Body
And Soul
Majestic Dance Orchestra
1930
(Madison 6004-B mx 339)
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