The ODJB, Earl Fuller, W.C. Handy, and Harry Raderman return--plus, songs by Youmans and Gershwin (1911-1930)

 

Some more fake Beatles coming up, but first... a redo of some 78s I posted last year, plus a number of "new" shellac titles, including (in the last part of the playlist) some Gershwin and Youmans, including a version of Youman's I Want to Be Happy which isn't on David's playlist.  Fred Waring takes the number at a seriously rapid tempo, and I don't know how Clare Hanlon managed all the words.  And I'm not sure I hear the Popeye-voiced Poley McClintock in the vocal trio, though Brian Rust says it's him (on the low notes, we can assume).  So I defer to Rust, unless "PM" refers to some other band member.  (On second thought, it's not so much a matter of tempo--Waring's tempo is actually pretty standard for this classic--but more the inclusion of the verse, with its lightning-fast notes.  Most renditions of IWTBH feature only the refrain/chorus in the vocal section.  Now we know why!)

But... our playlist begins with redos of the Prince's Band classic, Black Diamond Rag (1913), early dance band fare by Harold Veo's Orchestra ("The Zoo Step," Don't Leave Me Daddy, Wait Till the Cows Come Home--Victor, 1917), Harry Raderman making his trombone laugh in 1920's Make That Trombone Laugh, 1913's Another Rag--A Raggy Rag (Prince's Band, again), The Original Dixieland Jass Band's two superb 1917 Columbia label sides (Indiana, Darktown Strutters' Ball), W.C. Handy's excellent The Snaky Blues and that fun Maple Leaf Rag rip-off, Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag (the latter pure early ragtime-style jazz), Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band with jazz-ish renditions of Li'l" Liza Jane and (yikes) Arthur Pryor's Coon Band Contest (as you can hear, with some groove damage in the uppermost end), and, from 1921, A Little Close Harmony, also known as The Old Songs.  These redos are a significant improvement on the original rips--if you ask me, anyway.  And my 1959 S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America--whew!) songbook includes The Old Songs as the society's theme song.  Missing, not surprisingly, are the racist words to Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield, which (as you'll hear in the 1921 performance) was widely quoted in Geoffrey O'Hara's number.  The Criterion Quartet does a great job with the song, but it's a bit chilling to hear the bass voice sarcastically substitute "a colored gentleman" for a less correct term.  It's like a wink-wink, nod-nod concession, and not very funny.  But this was one hundred years ago, to the year, so...  Progressive, things were not back then.  The performance is pure Barbershop, though the barnyard sound effects are an unexpected plus or minus, depending on your taste.

Then, we're in the electrical era, with songs by Vincent Youmans and the Gershwins... and did I say electrical era?  Well, one exception: The 1926 Harmony label rendition (Lou Gold and His Orch.) of Sweet and Low-Down, which was clearly recorded acoustically.  I guess Harmony was going full budget-label.  Nice side, nonetheless, though Ferde Grofe's arrangement for Paul Whiteman was way better.  And, as mentioned before, a I Want to Be Happy version not included in David's list, so hopefully David will be happy to get this one, despite its let's-go-to-the-races tempo.  We need to remember that, at the time, dance music was primarily instrumental--vocal refrains were becoming a thing, but arrangers of the day weren't necessarily making their tempo choices in accordance with the text--the goal was to impress dancers with the instrumental aspect.  And Waring's band certainly does one heck of a virtuosic job racing through the thing, though, again, poor Clare Hanlon.  The Man I Love is also faster than we think of it today, and it seems that every vintage version races through the thing, save for Paul Whiteman's "concert" version, which waits until after the vocal to mess with the tempo.  (Whiteman's "concert" arrangements, in the interest of variety I guess, switched tempi and mood in an attempt to give popular numbers a more serious sound, though that's not necessarily the effect all these years later.)  The versions of  Youman's Sometimes I'm Happy and Hallelujah!, by contrast, are in tempi that seem very reasonable by 2021 standards.  The Benson Orchestra's 1924 Tea for Two is one of the happiest finds of my 78 collecting career--it's absolutely gorgeous, and the quick tempo very much suits it as an instrumental (a vocal would have sounded rushed).  The, back to 1920 and 1911, with Oh! By Jingo and the Columbia Band's gorgeous rendition of Neil Moret's Silver Heels.

Enjoy!  And don't try to sing along with Clare Hanlon--it could have your vocal cords tied up for weeks.

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PLAYLIST

Black Diamond Rag (Henry Lodge)--Prince's Band, 1912
Make That Trombone Laugh (Henry Scharf)--Harry Raderman's Jazz Orchestra, 1920
"The Zoo Step"--One-step (Clarence Williams)--Harold Veo's Orchestra, 1917
Don't Leave Me Daddy (J.M. Verges)--Same
Wait Till the Cows Come Home (Ivan Caryll)--Same
Another Rag--A Raggy Rag (Theodore Morse)--Prince's Band, 1913
Indiana--One-step (Hanley)--Original Dixieland Jass Band, 1917
Darktown Strutters' Ball (Brooks)--Same
Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag--One-Step ()--Handy's Orchestra, 1917
The Snaky Blues (Nash)--Same
Li'l' Liza Jane (Countess Ada DeLachau)--Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band, 1917
Coon Band Contest (Arthur Pryor)--Same
A Little Close Harmony (O'Hara)--Criterion Quartet, 1921
The Man I Love (Ira and George Gershwin)--The Troubadours, Dir. Nat Shilkret, 1918
Hallelujah! (Robin-Grey-Youmans)--Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orch., v: Franklyn Baur, 1927
Sometimes I'm Happy (Caesar-Youmans)--Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orch., v: Franklyn Baur, 1927
I Want to Be Happy (Caesar-Youmans)--Waring's Pennsylvanians, v: Clare Hanlon, Trio, 1930
Lila (Gottler-Tobias-Pinkard)--Waring's Pennsylvanians, v: Tom Waring and chorus, 1928
Tea for Two (Caesar-Youmans)--The Benson Orch. of Chicago, Dir. Don Bestor, 1924
Sweet and Low-Down--Lou Gold and His Orchestra, 1926
Oh! By Jingo (Von Tilzer)--Sam Lanin's Roseland Orchestra, 1920
Silver Heels--March and Two-step (Neil Moret)--Columbia Band, 1911

(All 78s from my collection and restored by me.)

Lee