Doin 'the New Low Down

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Doin 'the New Low Down is a song written by Jimmy McHugh (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics) and released in 1928.

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Bill Robinson, January 25, 1933
Photograph by Carl van Vechten , from the Van Vechten Collection of the Library of Congress

After McHugh and Fields wrote songs for a number of revues at the Cotton Club , producer Lew Leslie hired them to write songs for the Blackbirds of 1928 revue . Dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson joined three weeks before the opening , and McHugh / Fields were asked to write a number specifically for Bojangles; Doin 'the New Low Down was then Bojangles' Broadway debut.

The word low down had multiple meanings in slang during this period , from mean to soulful , as in Eubie Blakes and Noble Sissles Lowdown Blues, and in George and Ira Gershwin's Sweet and Lowdown . In the 1920s and 30s, the term low down also had an African American connotation associated with a dance popular in Harlem . This is where music tracks such as Fred Rose's When Jenny Does Her Lown Down Dance , Irving Berlin's When the Folks High Up to the New Low Down and Don 'the Uptown Lowdown (1933) by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon refer .

First recordings and later cover versions

In the United States, musicians who recorded the song from 1927 included Bill Robinson himself (accompanied by Irving Mills and His Hotsy Totsy Gang), Elizabeth Welsh , Jack Pettis and His Pets (Victor), Duke Ellington Orchestra (aka The Harlem Footwarmers , with Irving Mills, vocals), the California Ramblers , Lawrence Welk , Billy Cotton & His Cotton Pickers ( Regal MR-2028) and the Mississippi Maulers , in London Jack Hylton and in Berlin Lud Gluskin . The discographer Tom Lord lists a total of 91 (2015) cover versions in the field of jazz .

Bill Robinson recorded Doin 'The New Low Down again in 1932 with the Don Redman Orchestra and The Mills Brothers . In 1932 Margie Hines sang it for the cartoon character Betty Boop . In later years u. a. also Isham Jones , Joe Venuti , Elmer Snowden / Cliff Jackson , Django Reinhardt & Philippe Brun , the Casa Loma Orchestra / Mildred Bailey , Abe Lyman and his Orchestra (with Ella Logan , vocals), Svend Asmussen , Pearl Bailey , Art Hodes , Bob Wilber & Kenny Davern on the song.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b Michael Lasser: America's Songs II: Songs from the 1890s to the Post-War Years . New York, London: Routledge, 2014.
  2. ↑ The Hotsy Totsy Gang included u. a. Jimmy McPartland , Fud Livingston and Jack Pettis
  3. ↑ with Leo McConville , Tommy Dorsey , Fud Livingston , Frank Signorelli , Eddie Lang , Joe Venuti , Joe Tarto , Stan King , Roy Evans (vcl)
  4. ↑ a b Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)