Song of India

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Song of India is a pop song based on the aria Lied des Indian Gastes (Песня Индийского гостя) by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow and published in 1921 with an English text by Al Wilson and Jim Brennan .

background

Song of India is based on the aria Pesni︠a︡ indiĭskogo gosti︠a︡ from Rimski-Korsakov's Le Coq D'Or Suite or from his opera Sadko from 1896. The band leader Paul Whiteman recorded the song successfully for the first time in 1921 (Columbia 9798), with a Foxtrot - Arrangement by Ferde Grofé . In 1926 Whiteman played the song again (Victor 18777-B). The song begins with the verse:

Paul Whiteman with his orchestra in 1921. Whiteman's arranger Ferde Grofé sits on the piano on the right.
And still the snowy Himalayas rise
In ancient majesty before our eyes,
Beyond the plains, above the pines,
While through the ever, never changing land
As silently as any native band
That moves at night, the Ganges shines.

Later cover versions

In January 1937 Tommy Dorsey played an instrumental arrangement of the pop song, with trumpeter Bunny Berigan as the soloist. Dorsey's record (coupled with "Marie", Victor # 25523) became a huge hit for the bandleader in the United States. Dorsey's version made Song of India a jazz standard . Tommy Dorsey also featured the song on his radio program AFRS Tommy Dorsey Show , in the AFRS Your All Time Hit Parade and in several music films such as Las Vegas Nights (1941) and Thrill of a Romance (1944). Other musicians who covered the song from 1937 included the Casa Loma Orchestra (Decca) and Joe Giordano (Vocalion).

The discographer Tom Lord lists a total of 139 (as of 2016) cover versions in the field of jazz , including a. from the 1940s also by Karel Slavik Se Svym Orchestrem, Dave Jenkins' Southernaires, Herman Chittison , Eddie Chamblee , Joe Wick und seine Soloisten (1948), Russ Case , Ben Pollack and His Pick-A-Rib Boys, The Modernaires , Raymond Scott , Billy Eckstine / Pete Rugolo , Billy May , Eddie Kay, Ted Heath , Paul Smith , Glen Gray , Maxwell Davis , Francis Bay , Earl Bostic , Ruby Braff , Ramsey Lewis , Georgie Auld , Gene Krupa , Dave Pell , Frank Capp , Sam Donahue , Johnny Dankworth , Max Kaminsky , Henry Jerome and Vince Giordano , mostly tribute recordings to the Dorsey Brothers.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d Don Tyler: Hit Songs, 1900-1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era . Jefferson, North Carolina & London, McFarland, 2007, p. 120
  2. ^ "Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay, 1844-1908. Sadko (Opera). Pesni︠a︡ indiĭskogo gosti︠a︡" in the Library of Congress Authorities
  3. ↑ The arrangement was made by trombonist Red Bone.
  4. ↑ Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine: All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music . Backbeat Books, 2002, ISBN 978-0-87930-717-2 , p. 355.
  5. ↑ Steve Sullivan: Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings . Scarecrow Press, October 4, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8296-6 , p. 185.
  6. ^ Ted Gioia: The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire . Oxford University Press, September 27, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-993739-4 , p. 61.
  7. ↑ a b Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)