Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball

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Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball
Compilation album by Bix Beiderbecke

Publication
(s)

1990

Label (s) Columbia Records

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

23

occupation

(See cast list in the chronology of the recording sessions)

production

Tommy Rockwell, Bob Stephens, Michael Brooks

Studio (s)

New York City

chronology
Volume 1: Singin 'the Blues Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball -

Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball is a compilation album with music by jazz cornet player Bix Beiderbecke . The recordings were made with changing line-ups from October 1927 to April 1928 and initially appeared on the Pathé / Perfect , Okeh and Harmony Records labels . The album was released as a compact disc in 1990 on Columbia Records in the CBS Jazz Masterpieces series .

background

The compilation contains records that Bix Beiderbecke recorded in addition to his membership in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, e.g. Sometimes under his own name ( Bix Beiderbecke and His Gang ), also under the direction of Willard Robison , Frank Trumbauer and Lou Raderman.

Three Blind Mice - The Pathé Sessions (October 1927)

In October 1927, the composer Willard Robison , who also worked as A&R for the music label Pathé , invited Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer to record several tracks for the label. The two most commercial numbers Clorinda (from Broadway revue Africana ) and Fats Waller's song I'm More Than Satisfied (both with Robinson's vocal ensemble Deep River Quartet ) appeared under Robison's name, while the instrumental numbers Three Blind Mice # 1 & 2 published under the group pseudonym The Chicago Loopers . The Pathé sessions in the studios on East 53rd Street took place under poor recording conditions; The six takes recorded in October 1927 are now among the rarest records in jazz history .

Bix Beiderbecke 1924

At the Jazz Band Ball - Bix and His Gang (October 1927)

The recordings for Okeh Records in New York's Union Square took place under much better studio conditions ; In a sextet line-up with Bill Rank (trombone), Don Murray (clarinet), Adrian Rollini ( bass saxophone ), Frank Signorelli (piano) and Chauncey Morehouse (drums), Beiderbecke took on Nick LaRoccas At the Jazz Band Ball , Royal on October 5, 1927 Garden Blues by Spencer and Clarence Williams and the song Jazz Me Blues from 1921, popular by the original Dixieland Jass Band . Bix Beiderbecke's solo in Jazz Me Blues built Matty Malneck into his arrangement of the recording of the composition by Bob Crosby's Bobcats; the break in the middle chorus was later taken over by younger players such as Bobby Hackett , Yank Lawson and Dick Cathcart . Beiderbecke's version of At the Jazz Band Ball (OKeh 40923) reached # 15 on the American charts on February 18, 1928, where it stayed for two weeks. The title was Beiderbeck's only chart success with In a Mist (also Bixology , the cornetist's unusual piano solo).

On October 25, 1927, there was another Okeh session with an expanded cast; Another Fletcher-Henderson number ( Goose Pimples ) was recorded, the song Sorry , arranged by the banjo player Howard “Howdy” Quicksell (1900-1953), and Cryin 'All Day (by Frank Trumbauer and Chauncey Morehouse), the vaudeville number and a Good Man Is Hard to Find 1918 and another quick sell-number, Since My Best Gal Turned Me down . With Cryin 'All Day , OKeh producer Tommy Rockwell wanted to build on the success of Singin' the Blues (February 4, 1927; # 9); the new Trumbauer Morehouse number was based on the chords of the successful composition by Conrad Robinson. The result is "not as spontaneous as the celebrated model, but still of very high caliber," wrote Jean Pierre Lion:

“Bix's solo is absolutely flawless, but with its skilful collection of tried and tested routines, it seems too constructed that it takes away some of its freshness. Pee Wee Russell's chorus, immediately following Bix's, achieves the miracle of keeping the flow going without copying the cornetist and his ideas. "
Pee Wee Russell, New York, 1946, photo: William P. Gottlieb

Woodwind players Pee Wee Russell , Adrian Rollini (bass saxophone), Frank Signorelli (piano), Joe Venuti (violin) and Eddie Lang (guitar) also took part in the recordings . With their duo in A Good Man Is Hard to Find , Russell and Rollini referred to their duo contribution in Red Nichols ' Ida from 1927.

The last two tracks of the session were the two takes of Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down ; “Recorded at a rapid pace, this title left the cornetist little opportunity to remove his horn from his lips and enjoy the rest. The tricky execution made the game risky and the synchronization with the ensemble had to be rehearsed. In the second part of the piece, Bix shows signs of fatigue, but these do not harm the work done overall, which is quite impressive in terms of vitality and ingenuity. "According to Jean Pierre Lion, Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down does not take off," despite the two abrupt ones Change to twice the speed with which one tried to artificially create a surprise effect. OKeh record 40966, which contained both titles, was not intended to have the commercial and artistic significance of Singin 'the Blues . "

Several musicians at these sessions had previously been members of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, which had been dissolved for financial reasons in September 1927 ; most of them subsequently formed the orchestra in recently at New York's Broadway opened a nightclub in New York occurred, but left no record with this lineup.

The example of Sorry demonstrates for the Beiderbecke biographer Jean Pierre Lion the "astonishing degree of perfection" that the band around the cornetist had achieved:

“The piece begins with a joyful chorus ” by Don Murray , who, in 32 bars, builds up one of his most graceful melodic lines . From this point on, Bix takes on brilliantly. When you listen to this record, you can feel the feeling that the musicians had during the recording. The subtle accelerations, the harmonious ingenuity, Bix's admirable solo floats with a surprising authority over the tempo , Adrian Rollini's and Don Murray's extraordinary support ... these are the main reasons that the listener has an intense feeling of musical abundance. Bix later told Esten Spurrier about Sorry that he hadn't felt better at any recording session.

The following day the group around Beiderbecke recorded the Yellen -Ager song Sugar ; on; The recording was published by OKeh under the pseudonym Russell Gray and His Orchestra , the former leader of a Territory Band from Texas, who had never played with Bix Beiderbecke or Frank Trumbauer.

Mississippi Mud - Bix and Tram (January 1928)

On January 1, 1928, Bix Beiderbecke returned from an extensive engagement with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from Chicago to New York City. On January 5th, the cornetist was with the Whiteman Band in the Victor Records studio ; On January 9, 1928, Beiderbecke and Trumbauer organized a recording session with musicians from the Whiteman Orchestra, which was to tie in with the Trumbauer Orchestra of 1927. The material proposed and finally recorded by Okeh producer Rockwell found many of the musicians uninspiring as the pop songs were commercially oriented .; the result was a "very pleasing" arrangement of the title There'll Come a Time (Wait and See) (written by Wingy Manone and Miff Mole ) and Willard-Robison's Jubilee , a title that was influenced by gospel , country music and Tin Pan Alley , "Which left little room for personal outbursts."

Bing Crosby (1942)

The musicians involved included Beiderbecke and Trumbauer u. a. the woodwind players Jimmy Dorsey , Charles Strickfaden (alto saxophone), Min Leibrook (bass saxophone), Tom Satterfield (piano), Matty Malneck (violin), Eddie Lang (guitar) and the drummer Hal McDonald . The same line-up, supplemented by the vocalists Bing Crosby and Frank Trumbauer, followed on January 20, 1928, the vocal number Mississippi Mud , which the songwriters Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh had written in 1927. JBixean Pierre Lion judged Beiderbecke's game:

“Bix was in great shape and flows masterfully through the title. The vocal duet between Tram and Bing Crosby, in the tradition of the teasing jokes of the Minstrel shows , doesn't reach the same level of inspiration. "The singers' vocal cords sounded tired, Lion judged." This temporary hoarseness gave the [Trumbauer's] voice an emotional force which cleverly plays with the difficult structure [of the song] for its vocal range. Bix's solo, which follows the vocal ventures, alternates between light and shadow - an impressive exploration of melody, "which prompted Trumbauer to write in his diary," one of the greatest records I've made with Bix was Mississippi Mud . Bix played an endless chorus. The collectors and record enthusiasts didn't make a fuss of her, but I thought she was one of Bix's best! "

Trumbauer came with Mississippi Mud on April 28, 1928 for a week at # 18 in the US charts; It was the only collaboration between Bing Crosby and Trumbauer; Another track from this session with Crosby, From Monday On , remained unpublished and is considered lost. Shortly thereafter, Paul Whiteman recorded the song for Victor in almost identical line-up; but instead of Trumbauer this time Crosby sang with the Rhythm Boys.

Ol 'Man River - Harmony Sessions with Lou Raderman (March 1928)

The compilation contains three other tracks that Lou Raderman & His Pelham Heath Inn Orchestra recorded on March 3, 1928 for Columbia's budget label Harmony Records (still in the acoustic recording process), in George Gershwin's Oh Gee! Oh Joy! Beiderbecke had no solo and can only be heard as the leader in the set play of the last chorus. Two cover versions of popular Jerome Kern song numbers from the musical Show Boat , Why Do I Love You? and Ol 'Man River , with Irving Kaufman and Harry Donahey as singers. These two tracks each contain a 17-bar solo by the cornetist; "Within the limits of the poor sound quality, the Bixian touch can be heard in these short passages". the trumpeter Mannie Klein , who was involved in these sessions, later claimed to be the author of these passages.

Our Bungalow of Dreams - Trumbauer Orchestra (April 1928)

During a three-week engagement of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at the Paramount Theater, Trumbauer and Beiderbecke had the opportunity to record more records outside the studio routine for Victor Records. OKeh Records offered the Trumbauer Orchestra the opportunity to record six tracks in three sessions; "However, the record label's commercial streak brought with it a track selection that could make happy jazzmen dejected," wrote Jean Pierre Lion. Our Bungalow of Dreams and Lila , which were created on April 3, 1928 under Trumbauer's direction for OKeh Records, were "terrifying trivialities, made worse by the singing of Irving Kaufman "; who hid behind the pseudonym Noel Taylor .

At the following OKeh session on April 10, 1928, the two tracks Borneo and My Pet (OKeh 41039) with the pop singer Scrappy Lambert , arranged by Bill Challis , and on April 17, the instrumental numbers Somebody Stole My Gal (by Leo Wood , 1918) and Thou Swell (OKeh 41030), which are not part of the Columbia compilation.

Track list

  • Bix Beiderbecke: Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball (CBS - 466967 1 - CBS Jazz Masterpieces)
  1. The Chicago Loopers: Three Blind Mice # 1 (F. Trumbauer / C. Morehouse) 2:50
  2. The Chicago Loopers: Three Blind Mice # 2 2:50
  3. Willard Robison & His Orchestra: Clorinda # 1 (D. Heywood) 2:56
  4. Willard Robison & His Orchestra: Clorinda # 2 2:56
  5. Willard Robison & His Orchestra: I'm More Than Satisfied # 1 (T. Waller / R. Klages) 3:09
  6. Willard Robison & His Orchestra: I'm More Than Satisfied # 2 3:09
  7. Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang: At the Jazz Band Ball ( Nick LaRocca / Henry W. Ragas, Tony Sbarbaro , Larry Shields ) 2:50
  8. New Orleans Lucky Seven: Royal Garden Blues (Spencer Williams / Clarence Williams) 3:00
  9. Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang: Jazz Me Blues (Tom Delaney) 3:02
  10. New Orleans Lucky Seven: Goose Pimples (Jo Trent / Fletcher Henderson) 3.15
  11. Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang: Sorry (Raymond Klages / Howdy Quicksell) 2.54
  12. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: Cryin 'All Day (F. Trumbauer / C. Morehouse) 3:01
  13. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Eddie Green) 3:01
  14. Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang: Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down (Quicksell / Ray Lodwig ) 3:03
  15. Russell Gray & His Orchestra: Sugar (J. Yellen / M. Ager / F. Grum / R. Nichols) 3:07
  16. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: There'll Come a Time (Wait and See) (Wingy Manone / Miff Mole) 2:53
  17. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: Jubilee (Willard Robison) 3:15
  18. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: Mississippi Mud ( Harry Barris / James Cavanaugh) 3:06
  19. Lou Raderman & His Pelham Heath Inn Orchestra: Oh Gee! Oh Joy! ( George Gershwin / Ida Gershwin / PG Wodehouse ) 2:48
  20. Lou Raderman & His Pelham Heath Inn Orchestra: Why Do I Love You? (J. Kern / O. Hammerstein) 2:50
  21. Lou Raderman & His Pelham Heath Inn Orchestra: Ol 'Man River (Kern / Hammerstein) 2:58
  22. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: Our Bungalow of Dreams (T. Malie / C. Newman / J. Verges) 2:59
  23. Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra: Lila (A. Grottler / C. Tobias / Maceo Pinkard ) 2:56

Chronology of the recording sessions

date title Label, number occupation
 Oct. 1927 Three blind mice Pathé 36729,
Perfect 14905		 Bix Beiderbecke (cornet), Don Murray (clarinet), Frank Trumbauer ( C melody saxophone ), Frank Signorelli (piano), Carl Kress (banjo), Chauncey Morehouse or Vic Berton (percussion)
 Oct. 1927 Clorinda Pathé 36729 dto .. with the Deep River Quintet (vocals)
 Oct. 1927 I'm More Than Satisfied Pathé 36724,
Perfect 14905		 dto.
0Oct 5, 1927 At the Jazz Band Ball,
Jazz Me Blues		 OKeh 40923 Bix Beiderbecke, Bill Rank (trombone), Don Murray (cl), Adrian Rollini (bass saxophone), Frank Signorelli (p), Chauncey Morehouse (dr)
0Oct 5, 1927 Royal Garden Blues OKeh 8544 dto.
Oct 25, 1927 Goose pimples OKeh 8544 dto.
Oct 25, 1927 Sorry OKeh 41001 dto., with Howdy Quicksell (arrangement)
Oct 25, 1927 Cryin 'All Day, A Good Man Is Hard to Find OKeh 40966 Bix Beiderbecke, Bill Rank (trombone), Pee Wee Russell (cl, ts), Frank Trumbauer (C melody sax), Adrian Rollini (bass saxophone), Frank Signorelli (piano), Joe Venuti (violin), Eddie Lang (Guitar), Chauncey Morehouse (drums)
Oct 25, 1927 Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down OKeh 41001 dto.
Oct 26, 1927 Sugar OKeh 40938 Bix Beiderbecke, NN (trumpet), Bill Rank (trombone), Frank Trumbauer, Don Murray, Bobby Davis (woodwind instruments), Adrian Rollini (bass saxophone), Frank Signorelli (piano), Joe Venuti (violin), Eddie Lang (guitar ), Chauncey Morehouse (drums), Jerry Macy, John Ryan (vocals)
0Jan. 9, 1928 There'll Come a Time (Wait and See), Jubilee OKeh 40979 or OKeh 41044 Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy Dorsey (cl, as), Charles Strickfaden , Frank Trumbauer, Chet Haslett (alto saxophone), Min Leibrook (bass saxophone), Rube Crozier (tenor, baritone saxophone), Tom Satterfield (piano), Matty Malneck (violin ), Lennie Hayton (piano, Celeste), Eddie Lang or Carl Kress (guitar), Hal McDonald (dr)
Jan. 20, 1928 Mississippi Mud OKeh 40979 dto., with Bing Crosby and Frank Trumbauer (vocals)
03rd Mar 1928 Oh gee! Oh Joy !, Why Do I Love You Harmony 311-H or Harmony 307-H Lou Radermann (conductor), Bix Beiderbecke, Manny Klein (trumpet), NN (cl, ss, as, ts, p, bjo, tu, dr, Irving Kaufman vocals)
03rd Mar 1928 Ol 'Man River Harmony 307-H dto., Harry Donahey (vocals) instead of Irving Kaufman
0Apr 3, 1928 Our Bungalow of Dreams OKeh 41019 Bix Beiderbecke, Charles Margulis (trumpet), Bill Rank (trombone), Izzy Friedman (clarinet, alto saxophone), Charles Strickfaden (alto saxophone), Frank Trumbauer, (C melody sax), Min Leibrook (bass sax), Lennie Hayton (Piano), Matty Malneck (violin), Eddie Lang (guitar), Harold McDonald (drums), Noel Taylor (= Irving Kaufman, vocals)

reception

For the Beiderbecke biographer Jean Pierre Lion, the session on October 5, 1927 not only marked the beginning of a series of recordings under his own name, but also the creation of his most inspiring works of his short career.

Allmusic rated the album 4½ (out of 5) stars; whose critic Cub Koda wrote that the recordings contained Bix Beiderbecke's activities apart from his collaboration with the King of Jazz (Paul Whiteman) between 1927 and 1928, but also included commercial vocal numbers of the time such as Mississippi Mud, Clorinda, Our Bungalow of Dreams or There 'll come a time . But titles like the two takes by Three Blind Mice as well as Sorry, Jazz Me Blues, Royal Garden Blues and Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down showed Bix Beiderbecke full of creative ideas that showed what great music he left behind shortly before his artistic decline. Also in Allmusic, Arwulf Arwulf counted the title A Good Man Is Hard to Find as one of the “milestones of popular music” ( marvelously stodgy milestones of timeworn pop music ). The author of RedHotJazz noted that some of Beiderbecke's best recordings were made in collaboration with Frank Trumbauer; "Bix and Tram were at the peak of their careers"; some of the best white jazz musicians of the 1920s such as Pee Wee Russell, Jack Teagarden , Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang played in their band.

For Richard Cook and Brian Morton , who gave the album the highest rating in The Penguin Guide to Jazz , these recordings demonstrated why Lester Young identified Beiderbecke as his main influence. Among the highlights of the album, the authors included the title track At the Jazz Band Ball, the numbers Jazz Me Blues and the later pieces recorded under Trumbauer's direction. Beiderbecke was not an innovator (he had taken over the arrangements of the original Dixieland Jazz Band for the material that he recorded under his own name ( Bix & His Gang )), but his own playing was consistently remarkable; you always feel familiar with what the stormy and elementary days of jazz were.

In the Rough Guide to Jazz , Ian Carr praised the two Columbia editions ( Volume 1: Singin 'the Blues and Vol. 2: At the Jazz Band Ball ); they contain all the classic recordings from Bix Beiderbecke's most productive period in the recording studios and are "essential and wonderful."

Arrigo Polillo particularly emphasized the quality of the recordings, which were made immediately under the band name Bix Beiderbecke and His Gang, immediately before formation or after the breakup of the short-lived band that played in the New Yorker nightclub , i.e. At the Jazz Band Ball, Royal Garden Blues, Jazz me Blues, Sorry, Goose Gimbles, Sorry and Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down ; "They are examples of Dixieland that are strongly developed compared to earlier forms that we know from recordings, and they should become the musical templates for a very considerable number of versions for decades to come."

The National Public Radio took the two editions Columbia ( Vol. 1: Singin 'the Blues and Vol. 2: At the Jazz Band Ball ) in their NPR Basic Jazz Record Library on.

Editorial notes

The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial in LeClaire Park, Davenport, Iowa

Columbia Records previously published several titles from this compilation on the editions The Bix Beiderbecke Story, Vol. I - Bix and His Gang (Columbia CL 844) and The Bix Beiderbecke Story / Volume 2 - Bix and Tram (Columbia GL 508; 1952) Also die Edition Bix Beiderbecke & Frankie Trumbauer on four CDs : Bix & Tram by JSP Records (JSP 913) from 2002 contains almost all titles.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Liner Notes by Michael Brooks (1990)
  2. ↑ Bix Beiderbecke had recorded the song in 1924 with The Wolverines (Al Gandee, Jimmy Hartwell , George Johnson, Dick Voynow, Bob Gillette, Min Leibrook and Vic Moore ).
  3. ^ A b Gerhard Klußmeier : Jazz in the Charts. Another View on Jazz History. Liner Notes and Companion Book of the 100 CD Edition. Membrane International GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Jean Pierre Lion: Bix: The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend: Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke . New York City: Continuum, 2005, p. 158 ff.
  5. ^ A b Arrigo Polillo: Jazz - History and Personalities . Munich, Piper Verlag 1987, p. 388 f.
  6. ↑ The song by Walt Koesner, Jack Yellen, Milton Ager and Frank Crum should not be confused with Sugar (That Sugar Baby O 'Mine) .
  7. ↑ Also with the piece I'm Riding to glory (with a glorious girl) , recorded by Lou Raderman and his Pelham Inn Society Orchestra, it is unclear whether Mannie Klein or possibly Bix Beiderbecke is playing ($: April 1928, Banner 7082, Domino 4134 ), Cf. Tom Lord, jazz discography.
  8. ↑ Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)
  9. ↑ Scoring: Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra: Bix Beiderbecke (cnt), Charlie Margulis (tp), Bill Rank (tb), Frankie Trumbauer (c-mel, as), Irving Friedman (cl, ts), Chester Hazlett (as) , Min Leibrook (bassax), Lennie Hayton (p), Eddie Lang (g), Harold McDonald (d), Scrappy Lambert (vcl), Bill Challis (arr)
  10. ↑ Line-up: Bix Beiderbecke (cnt), Bill Rank (tb), Irving Friedman (cl), Min Leibrook (bassax), Roy Bargy (p), Stan King (dr).
  11. ↑ According to Tom Lord ( Jazz discography ) Vic Berton is involved in the session as a harpophone player.
  12. ↑ According to Tom Lords Jazz discography, Carl Kress was involved in this session.
  13. ↑ Review of the album Volume 2: At the Jazz Band Ball by Cub Koda on Allmusic . Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  14. ↑ Review of the album Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra 1927–1928 by Arwuf arwulf at Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  15. ↑ Frankie Trumbauer Orchestra at RedHotJazz
  16. ↑ Quotation Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 , p. 118.
  17. ^ Rough Guide to Jazz, 1995, p. 46
  18. ↑ Murray Horwitz and AB Spellman : Conversation about Bix Beiderbecke: 'Singin' the Blues, Vol. I '&' At the Jazz Band Ball, Vol. 2 ' (2001/2012) in NPR Radio
  19. ↑ Includes Mississippi Mud, There'll Come a Time (Wait and See), A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Crying All Day