My Three Suns
(9 downloads)Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
As the original trio, The Three Suns were brothers Al Nevins on guitar, Morty Nevins on accordion (and the chimes here) and their cousin Art Dunn on the organ (and vocals). There were several incarnations of this group and its lineup expanded and contracted over the years not unlike the fluctuations of a Red Giant or pulsar. These guys were also Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite group, an interesting choice for the former first lady. She clearly understood that the space-race will need music.The early use of the Hammond organ; the novel instrumentation; and the spare arrangements show some strong links to Milt Herth’s organ jazz group from the 30’s*. I think there's more than a little of 'jazz' accordionist, Lawrence Welk's, influence here as well. The Three Suns were a popular and long lived ensemble constantly updating their sound with a variety of instrumental configurations well into the 60’s, where we find them having evolved to full on space-age bachelor pad fare. They recorded dozens of albums over this long stretch, but their 1944 single “Twilight Time” was their first major success.
This number, “How Many Hearts Have You Broken?” was the B-side to “Twilight Time” and actually rose higher on the charts that year. It was written in 1943 by Marty Symes (lyrics) and Al Kaufman (music). Stan Kenton also got on the charts in 1944 with a version of this tune.
Here’s a pretty cool website dedicated to the Three Suns:
http://www.tothcorp.com/threesuns/HomeNav.html
Hit 7092, 1944
*http://oldrecordsonline.mypodcast.com/2007/12/The_Original_Hammond_Eggs_Milt_Herth-65314.html
Fingers of night will soon surrender...the setting sun
(8 downloads)Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
In the mind’s ear, it might be a bit hard to separate the lyrics from melody to “Twilight Time” but that’s the way it was until The Platters recorded their version in 1958 with lyrics by their manager and Mercury A&R man and looming figure across the post-War music industry, Buck Ram. The original version was this instrumental penned by brothers Al and Morty Nevins, and their cousin Art Dunn; BKA the Three Suns. And it was their first big hit fourteen years earlier in 1944.
Buck Ram was responsible for composing the lyrics, and often the music too, for several of the Platters hits including “Only You”, “The Great Pretender” and “Magic Touch” He supposedly wrote the lyrics to “Great Pretender” in the men’s room at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. He is also alleged to have pushed Mercury Records into releasing the Platters’ first hit single, “Only You”, on their standard pop label, as opposed to the purple colored “race music” label back in 1953. “Only You” first topped the R&B chart, then crossed over to the Pop Chart and hit number five. They followed up almost immediately with “Great Pretender” which went straight to number one on the Pop Chart. They were perhaps the most successful black vocal act since Louis Jordan and remain more familiar to this day.
The Three Suns’ name has definitely faded a bit since their own heyday. Though once upon a time their decidedly sparse, ‘modern’ styled arrangements gave their music a cutting edge sound (in the world of 40’s pop), which suggests to me that they were pretty much about as cool as accordion music ever got. Which is pretty cool in its own right...don’t get me wrong.
More on the Three Suns with side B.
Hit 7092, 1944
“Oh...she's as harmless as one of those stuffed birds”
(8 downloads)Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
“Pal of My Cradle Days”…Those of you who are interested in pondering the psychology of a momma’s boy, listen to this three minute guilt trip; the soundtrack to extended family situations across the Western Hemisphere. I know I might hear it for all this somewhere along the line, but this song displays all the traits of a healthy mother-child relationship that we find in the ‘Manchurian Candidate’ or the first few seasons of the ‘Sopranos’. That said, this tune definitely had more staying power than its flip side, “Who’s Taking Care of the Caretaker’s Daughter?” performed by Earl and Bell, as it has maintained its currency with the likes of Jimmy Roselli and Ann Breen and the contemporary Irish folk circuit. I suspect this tune has turned up a lot at weddings and funerals too.Speaking of longevity and funerals, the vocalist on this cut, Irving Kaufman’s career spanned over 60 years from 1914 until his death in the mid-70's. He was contemporary with the likes of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor yet managed to perform much later on with Tiny Tim. Dan Lieberfeld performs the piano accompaniment on this record.
“Pal of My Cradle Days” was written by Marshall Montgomery (words) and Al Piantadosi (music) in 1925 and was first performed Franklyn Baur.
Vocalion 15041, 1925
TCOB
(7 downloads)Friday, Dec 21, 2007
Earl and Bell seem to have been popular enough to have made a handful of film appearances. I think they recorded an early version of “I’m Looking over a Four Leaf Clover” (if not the first). Unfortunately, I’m having trouble digging up much info on these guys. They were a vocal duo that used a lot of Hawaiian style guitar for accompaniment, or ukulele on a few recordings. Cool sounding old novelty pop with a tendency toward the exotic. But sorry, I don’t have much else to report on Earl and Bell.For this song, “Who Takes Care of the Caretaker's Daughter?” on the other hand, I can provide a couple more notes. This was a number that was included in the George and Ira Gershwin musical comedy, “Lady Be Good” from 1923, but the song was written by Chick Endor and Paul Specht. The Gershwins probably hired or licensed this song from Endor and Specht as an expedient for its situation in the drama (or maybe somebody just liked it), this isn't unusual for musicals from this era. "Lady Be Good" also featured the popular Gershwin brothers originals: title song “Lady Be Good”, and “Fascinating Rhythm”. Not to mention, the original cast starred brother and sister, Fred and Adele Astaire. Besides this 1925 recording from Earl and Bell, popular versions of this song were also performed by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards (also in 1925) and Bobby Darrin.
Ukulele Ike (1895-1971) is known for developing the vocal technique of “effin” in which the performer imitates the sound of a kazoo (or muted trumpet) with his voice. This is considered by some to be an early relative to ‘scat’ singing. In 1940 Ike was also the voice for Jiminy Cricket in the Disney animated feature “Pinocchio” for which he won an Oscar for his performance of “When You Wish upon a Star”.
Check out a great early jazz website for more on Ukulele Ike including sound files:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/cliffedwards.html
Vocalion 15041, 1925
The Lion of Judah and the Queen of Denial
(13 downloads)Friday, Dec 21, 2007
Egyptian Ella was written in 1931 by Walter Doyle and first performed by Ted Weems and his Orchestra. Milt Herth obviously saw this novelty song as a nice venue to show off two of his trademarks: the exotic new sounds of the Hammond organ (introduced in 1934- this recording is from 1938), and his flair for writing novel arrangements for his small combo of organ, piano, drums and sometimes, as we have here, guitar.
The other really nice thing here is the piano break by the legendary stride player Willie “The Lion” Smith. Really, there’s great piano playing throughout as Smith and Herth trade off each other nicely. And on guitar we have Teddy Bunn, one of the important early single note style acoustic players. He gets a solo after the piano break. The drummer is O’Neill Spencer who played with the John Kirby Sextet and later with Louis Armstrong’s Orchestra. Spencer died in 1944 at the age of 33 of tuberculosis.
The song is about a dancing girl who gets too fat and gets fired from her dancing gig. In order to take her mind off losing her job (and her boyfriend) she plans a vacation to Egypt unaware that they love their women big over there. Now, gaining a new perspective on life and couple more pounds, she’s in no hurry to come home. I’m giving this synopsis because the Herth recording drops the first few verses that explain this “back story”.
Now, how about a few words on the biography of Willie “The Lion” Smith.
Willie the Lion was born in 1894 in Goshen NY and his family moved to Newark NJ in 1901. His parents were mixed, his father being light skinned black man who was half Jewish and his mother being Spanish, Mohawk and black. His parents split up when he was very young and when they moved to Newark, his mother remarried changing his name from William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff to William H. Smith. Early on Willie seems to embrace his Jewish ancestry, he learns Hebrew from a local Rabbi and has his Bar Mitzvah in 1907. He plays around the area: Newark, New York City, Atlantic City; until the mid-teens when he enlists in the army. In Atlantic City he replaces Eubie Blake as the house pianist at Kelly’s Lounge. In 1916 he marries Blanche Merrill (nee Howard) a white woman who was also a musician and song writer. They separate within the year, though never actually getting a divorce. During their marriage, Smith was the only black man living in their Newark apartment building.
Also in 1916, Willie enlists in the US Army, 92nd Division, 153rd Negro Brigade, 350th Field Artillery ("the Black Devils"). The US declared war on Germany in 1917 and he apparently earned his nickname “The Lion” for the exceptional valor that he displayed on the battlefield. After the armistice, he stays on in France for about a year playing piano in dancehalls. When he returns to New York, a decorated veteran, his career takes off as he and James P. Johnson and Fats Waller become known as the “Big 3”, the hottest pianists in the city and Princes of Jazz Age New York. They are admired by and influential on such important young artists as Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, and George Gershwin and are frequent guests at white society engagements throughout the 20’s. Smith performs with some of the earliest integrated groups during the early 30's.
A big part of the reason Willie the Lion didn’t achieve the same lasting recognition as his contemporaries, (Blake, Johnson and, Waller), was because he made relatively few solo recordings and likewise, was rarely the front man in any of his ensemble projects. And it seems like he preferred it this way, through the 30’s and 40’s he followed the path of a formidably talented sideman, highly regarded among his peers, but not making many inroads with the public at large. In 1944, he is said to have become Cantor for an African-American synagogue in Harlem, which may suggest where his priorities lay. Willie the Lion died in 1973. An interesting life for an interesting and important figure in the jazz world highlighting the variables of race and racial identity which cannot be avoided when you talk about jazz, or any other form of American music.
Take the information in Willie's bio with a grain of salt because he is the source for most of it and one of the things stride pianists have in common is a predilection for "Tall Tales" (the others are smoking fat cigars, and sporting bowler derbies).
Here’s a guy doing a pretty wicked version of this song on the ukulele:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Jt25_Na3k
Decca 1868, 1938
The Original Hammond Eggs: Milt Herth
(15 downloads)Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
Milt Herth (1902-1989) was perhaps the first significant artist to specialize on the Hammond organ, an instrument that he picked up on and has been associated with almost from the time of its introduction in 1934. The Hammond was originally marketed as a cheap alternative to pipe organs for churches on a budget. It's legacy across such genres as gospel, jazz, R&B, pop, rock and blues, to name a few, has turned out to be a lot broader than that. One of those truly iconic instrument models like the "Fender Bass". This number, “Shoot the Likker to Me John Boy” is an Artie Shaw tune jived up here by the Milt Herth Quartet.
Among the members of the Herth’s quartet was William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith better known as Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith on piano. Which brings to mind the novel instrumentation of this group: Hammond organ, piano, drums and guitar (organ, piano and drums for the Milt Herth Trio); an uncommon configuration even by today’s standards. Back to Willie ‘The Lion’, he was an important stride pianist from the early days of jazz, who got his nickname from apparently being exceptionally brave during his WWI service. It has also been said that he was a notorious self-aggrandizer.
Decca 1868, 1938
And this year's Slammy goes to...
(9 downloads)Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
"Slamboree” is the flipside to the Don Byas Quartet’s rendition of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and a showcase vehicle for bassist Slam Stewart’s unique style of arco (bowed) playing and singing in octave over his solos. Stewart played bass in the Benny Goodman Sextet and also appears on early bebop recordings with Dizzy Gillespie’s band, though his style is thoroughly more in line with that of traditional swing.Arista 5001
Middle Man: Don Byas
(6 downloads)Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
After Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, Don Byas was perhaps the main transitional figure in tenor sax playing when the swing and big band era was waning and Bebop was emerging as the dominant style. Byas, who was very much a stylistic protégée of Coleman Hawkins, was born in Muskogee, OK and came to New York in 1937 at the age of 24 after spending some time playing on the West Coast. He got his big break in 1941 when he was asked to succeed Lester Young in Count Basie’s orchestra. He played with Basie until 1943, after that stint we see him becoming involved with the young up and coming Bebop artists and he is found on some of the earliest recordings of Bebop as a discernible style. In spite of his contributions to Bebop’s genesis, Byas always kept a foot planted solidly in the swing form and its more traditional stylistic parameters. This 1945 recording of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ well illustrates this aspect of his playing. Here, Byas is backed by an impressive lineup of Slam Stewart on bass, Errol Garner, piano and Harold ‘Doc’ West on the drums.
In 1946 he went to Europe to tour with Don Redman’s Orchestra and decided not to come back. He relocated first in Paris and then ultimately he moved to Holland, got married and stayed there until his death in 1972. He remained active on the European circuit but his name recognition faded quickly back home in the US.
This recording is a nice example of what was brewing during one of Western music’s significant intermediary periods. Kind of like what the early 70’s were for movies. See the Tony Mottola stuff a couple posts back for some more.
Arista 5001, 1945
Jive Alive: Louis Jordan and the Tympani Five
(7 downloads)Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
Throughout the 40’s, bandleader and alto saxophonist Louis Jordan had countless number one R&B hits with Decca records and he was a familiar face on the national charts too. In 1944, “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby” actually hit number two on the US charts while only making it to number three on the R&B. That same year “GI Jive” hit number one for both.This cut, "The Chicks I Pick Are Slender and Tender and Tall", peaked at number ten on the R&B charts in 1942. Though, this was the B-side to “What’s the Use of Getting Sober” which hit number one, naturally.
Decca 8645, 1942
The One That Got Away: Louis Jordan vs. the White Devils
(9 downloads)Friday, Dec 14, 2007
Father of R&B and all around nutcase Louis Jordan, believe it or not, was one of the most successful black recording artists of the 20th century. Perhaps no longer a household name, he and his Tympani Five rivaled Basie and Ellington in popularity on the band circuit and they sold Brazilians, perhaps Godzillians, of records. Records like this one, “What’s the Use of Getting Sober”, re-popularized by Joe Jackson, which are artifacts from his reign as Prince of the cross-over market; infiltrating the living rooms and dance halls of otherwise respectable folks across the nation.‘King of the Jukebox’ was another of the many epithets dubbed on Jordan over his career. And he was a major influence on the Bill Haley and the Comets act who, to a degree, were putting white faces on a style of music and showmanship that was largely developed by Jordan in the 30's and 40's. Matter of fact, he worked with Bill Haley on the production of “Rock Around the Clock” so it might be said that he was complicit in his own counterfeit (Haley openly admitted his debt to Jordan). Anyway, this is one of the reasons those who remember who he was, largely acknowledge Jordan as not just the Father of R&B but also of Rock n’ Roll. Of course it’s far more complicated than that but at the end of the day he was really important, and he was also really famous and got plenty of recognition for his efforts, and if he was getting ripped off by the white owned record companies, he still had cash to spare and some modicum of control over his destiny. So, fortunately, at least this isn’t one of those pitiful stories of a talented black artist being manipulated and then discarded, penniless, by the white power structure and the institutionalized racism that serves as its foundation.
If you’re white and reading this, you should be ashamed of yourself!
Decca 8645, 1942