Friday, October 26, 2018

Paul Whiteman, Part Three!!--1920-1933







Lots more brilliant arranging in this installment, with head Whiteman arranger Ferde Grofe well represented.  A word about the next to last track, Pretty Lips--or several words, maybe.  We often read that Wistful and Blue and Pretty Lips were the first sides cut by Bing Crosby and Al Rinker for Whiteman (on Dec. 22, 1926), which is technically true, but the Pretty Lips that made it to disc (rec. on Feb. 28, 1927) was actually Bing's fourth side for Whiteman--the original take had been rejected.  It all comes down to "made it to disc."  I don't know how I can make that less--er, more--clear, so I'll go and add that, while the Pretty Lips arrangement is credited to Grofe, the vocal refrain was likely scored by Matty Malneck.  I base this guess on the fact that Matty's viola is all over it and it's 100 percent in his style.  In other news, Malneck did the song arrangements for Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot (1959).

A real emphasis on novelty in this list, and that's fine with me--it's hard to hate novelties when you love 1920s pop.  And Billy Murray, who's hard to hate if you love 78s, shows up twice here, the second time in Byron (The Vamp) Gay's Just a Little Drink, which features a narrator who just may be (is it possible?) Whiteman himself.  The arrangement (Grofe?) is very elaborate and imaginative--no surprise there, since bands of this period really went to town on their specialty numbers.  But dying of thirst as a subject for humor?  Ohhhh-kay.  Meanwhile, Whiteman and Grofe share arranger credit on the orchestra's brilliant take on César Cui's Orientale--and I wish I had the electrical version, which is the same arrangement, only (obviously) better sounding.  Similarly, By the Waters of the Minnetonka and Meditation from Thais are electrical redos of the original charts (unlike Grofe's rescorings of Whispering and The Japanese Sandman), and anyone so inclined can compare the pre-1925 and post-1925 sound.  I just feel there'll be people rushing to do that.

We're all are supposed to find Jack Fulton's falsetto hilarious, but I consider it just perfect for numbers like Lover, beautifully arranged in 1933 by... Adolph Deutsch?  He's my guess.  It's so incredibly elegant for its time--it sounds a good ten years ahead of the pop curve, imo.  Fulton goofs up the lyrics--it's "immoral," not "immortal"--but when you've got a take this otherwise fantastic, you don't think of doing it again.  Besides, maybe no one noticed.  I have to pick it as my favorite, even over Grofe's gorgeous Ma Belle (from Rudolf Friml's The Three Musketeers).


Ooh! Maybe It's You--w. vocal refrain, 1927 (A: Grofe)
Orientale (Cui)--1922 (A: Whiteman and Grofe)
Last Night on the Back Porch--w. vocal refrain, 1923 (A:Grofe)
Walla-Walla--v: Billy Murray, 1924 (A: Grofe)
Learn to Do the Strut--1924
My Mammy--1921
I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight --1925 (A: Grofe)
Lo-Nah--1925 (A: Grofe)
Avalon--Just Like a Gypsy--1920 (A: Grofe)
Nuthin' But (Busse-Ward-Grofe)--1923
By the Waters of the Minnetonka--1928 (A: Grofe)
Meditation from Thais--1928 (A: Grofe)
Hymn to the Sun--1925 (A: Grofe)
No Foolin'--w. vocal refrain, 1926 (A: Grofe)
Just a Memory--1927 (A: Grofe)
Just a Little Drink--v: Billy Murray, 1925 (Byron Gay)
Eliza--1924
I'm Goin' South--1923
Ma Belle--vocal: Austin Young, 1928 (A: Grofe)
Pretty Lips--v: Bing Crosby, Al Rinker (A: Grofe; vocal refrain arr. Matty Malneck?), 1927
Lover (Waltz)--vocal: Jack Fulton, piano: Ramona, 1932






Lee

16 comments:

DonHo57 said...

More fun Whiteman and great Grofe. No dearth of great music around here, Lee. Thanks!

Buster said...

I'm so happy to see a third collection! I mentioned your second group on my blog and on my new Twitter feed. Will do the same for this one!

Your comments are so enlightening - I really appreciate them.

David Federman said...

I nominate you for some sort of cultural freedom medal. Now there is no excuse for someone to ignore Whiteman. As Cole Porter asked, "Which shall it be? Whitman or Whiteman?" I think the choice will depend on the kind of day you are having. You have just made today's choice between the two a foregone one. Thanks. This is true public service.

Ernie said...

Fascinating stuff, Lee!

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Thanks, everyone!

Aging Child said...

Thanks, Lee - and for the background as well. Plus... I hadn't known that Billy Murray and Paul Whiteman ever share a platter; nice. Cheers!

David Federman said...

Lee, Since I remember you from way back when you ran a religious-music blog, I am wondering if you have a fabulous record I heard on Dismuke Radio, "Jesus Knows How," by (I think) a certain N.L. Thrasher. As a frequent reader of Matthew, I just like the idea of receiving practical advice from the rabbi quoted memorably and copiously in that greatest of the gospels. Thanks.

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Hi, David. I'm afraid I don't have that one. Sorry 'bout that. Thrasher was with Smith's Sacred Singers, then it looks like he formed his own separate group. I think I have a Thrasher solo as the flip of a SSS side, though, but it's not "Jesus Knows How."

Nothing like the country gospel of the 1920s. Too amazing for words.

David Federman said...

The song is found on the opposite side of "No Room," a song I've not heard. I've got to wonder if the title refers to, well, you know, the holiday soon upon us. Yes, that country gospel of the 1920s is amazing. Your Whiteman gatherings are an immensely joyous bounty. Thank you.

rev.b said...

Hi Lee, I'm a newbie. I was directed here by Buster over at Big 10" I was very excited by a PW post he put up a few weeks ago and I've been delighted by what I've seen around here, particularly PW, parts three and four. I really do appreciate your blogwork and wanted to say thanks. I guess I better ad yours to my list of blogs to check on a regular basis.

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Thank you! I'm so happy to get positive feedback on these tracks. Initially, I was wondering whether I should even put up my Whiteman rips, since there's so much of him on line nowadays (Internet Archive, YouTube, etc.). That's one big change from the earlier days of blogging--YouTube, weirdly enough, has vastly increased the number of sound files available in cyberspace. And it's a video forum, no less.

But, at the risk of sounding snotty, as a rule on line 78 restorations are awful (and sometimes worse!), so there's a place for someone who's doing it right. I don't know why there are so many poor rips out there, since the proper technology is inexpensive and, not counting the stuff designed for engineers, easy to use. But I guess it's the old double-edged sword. Namely, the same technology that can save a 1928 recording can just as easily destroy it. I imagine probability favors the latter.

Buster said...

Lee - I couldn't agree more about YouTube audio. You can find almost anything, but it usually is in poor sound and without documentation. I can't listen to it. The situation with video sources is hardly better. Dreadful prints in low-res.

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Absolutely. Some of those look like bad VHS-to-VHS dubs! Some of the stuff is rare, but if you can't see it, then ironically it pretty much REMAINS rare. Someone put up the Star Wars Christmas special, or whatever it was, and you could barely make it out as a facsimile of a broadcast. Oh, but it was RARE. You won't see it in any other form. Yeah, well, you won't SEE it in the uploaded form, either. Top that off with the fact that the thing is famously not worth even watching, and you have... YouTube.

As for YouTube 78 aduio, don't the folks producing these atrocities notice the loud "Swish, swish, swish" in the files? The pinched high ends? Do they think 1928 bass was recorded at Hip Hop levels? I was just listening to a file made by a 78 expert, and it was the usual Sonar-return fidelity. I don't get it. Of all people, he should know what 78s sound like. I have two inexpensive programs that allow me to adequately filter hiss (unless the disc is beyond hope) and adjust the response curve. I do get pretty OCD with de-clicking--okay, very--but still, I can only figure that the restorers become so obsessed with canceling out noise that noise-cancelling becomes their sole focus, which makes for deadly results. It should be all about the BALANCE between background noise and "the music." It's that simple. Our ears don't even notice surface noise until, and unless, it reaches a certain level, so obliterating it is absolutely unnecessary. You push it back, is all. In analog media, the noise and music are part of the same mix, so you treat them as such--as partners, sort of. Separating the two is impossible, unless you have some fancy-dancy program that actually digitally reconstructs the sound. There was an RCA album, c. 1980, that featured some John McCormack acoustical 78s as they allegedly would have sounded in the microphone era. Well, John did plenty of post-acoustical 78s, so the point escaped me. The LP escaped my collection, too, years ago.

Buster said...

Yeah, you really can't reduce broadband noise that much or you create artifacts. The worst offense, to me, is just cutting off high frequencies altogether to cut down on surface noise. Everything just sounds dead. The same transfers, ironically, often have high levels of rumble, which muddies everything up. What a combination.

Buster said...

Just relistening to this fabulous collection - so many good things, but I just love "Walla Walla" (it has a wacky "Don't Bring Lulu" vibe, although I think it predates Lulu) and the incredible arrangement of "Just a Memory," a wonderful tune.

Lee Hartsfeld said...

I love "Walla Walla," too. It was a lucky find. Well, it was in a 78 list a dealer sends to me, but a lucky find, still. His find, my luck. I don't think it shows up a lot, and I was initially skeptical I could get a decent file out of it. Luckily, it plays way better than it looks, as the expression goes.

I've loved "Just a Memory" since I first heard it on the HMV label, back when I was collecting 78s in Scotland. The genius of Ferde Grofe.