Wingy Manone

Message

Haydn · #1 Post by **Haydn** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:03 am

Produced a lot of tracks in the 1930s, as you can see from his entry on allmusic

Any Wingy Manone fans here?

kitkat · #2 Post by **kitkat** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:08 am

I dunno, but his name is my main inspiration for what a jazz nickname should sound like.

"Strong-weak weak-strong" syllable pattern. 2 syllables per name.

I'm still trying to come up with such a last name to go with the jazzy-sounding first name I was dubbed with a year or so ago. Once I finally get one that sounds good enough, I swear I'm gonna stop going by "Katie" in the swing scene.

Toon Town Dave · #3 Post by **Toon Town Dave** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:38 am

I've stumbled across his stuff on-line but I don't have any CD's. I liked some of what I heard and would play it for a dance crowd once I get it on CD. Rhythm Saved the World (or something like that) comes to mind as a fun recording.

Travis · #4 Post by **Travis** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:02 pm

Wingy gets a fair amount of play time in Seattle between Falty and me (and I think Freddie and Matt also play his stuff occasionally). A few of my favorites are "Ochi Chornya", "Big Leg Mama", "Salt Pork, West Virgina", and "Isle of Capri".

fredo · #5 Post by **fredo** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:11 pm

I love Wingy Manone.

In addition to the tracks Travis called out, I also play these:

Rhythm On The River
When I Get You Alone Tonight
St. James Infirmary
The Tailgate Ramble
and a great version of Sister Kate.

All of these from 1940-1944.

I think between Travis, Falty, and I, Wingy gets a lot of play in Seattle.

CafeSavoy · #6 Post by **CafeSavoy** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:21 pm

Who can't like a guy who claimed "i couldn't have been in bed with two women since i only have one arm" and who sang songs like "I want a cherry for my banana split".

zzzzoom · #7 Post by **zzzzoom** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:38 pm

I read his autobiography which was very interesting . . . . and have a couple of his cd's.

Also - he wrote (and recorded) Tar Paper Stomp which morphed into Hot and Anxious and In the Mood.

Eyeball · #8 Post by **Eyeball** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:16 pm

He seemed to have spelled it two different ways...or his record labels did.

How did he pronounce it? Mah-known or Mah-known-nay?

Italian dude from N.O.

Jonas · #9 Post by **Jonas** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:41 am

zzzzoom wrote:I read his autobiography which was very interesting . . . . and have a couple of his cd's.

Also - he wrote (and recorded) Tar Paper Stomp which morphed into Hot and Anxious and In the Mood.

Wingy seems to have done mostly vocals, some of which are fine, but it tends to become a little repetitive. Imagine, as a comparison, if Cab Calloway's orchestra had been able to do more tracks like "Queen Isabella", that is playing instrumentals without having Cab coming in and shunning great players like Chu Berry and Dizzy Gillespie into the background. (With that said, there are of course great Cab vocals as well!)

When Wingy is at his best I'd say it's because of great sidemen. On "Berry Story" [EPM #157382] with Chu Berry on tenor, I like the Wingy tracks like "Annie Laurie" (with a casual Manone vocal) and Jumpy Nerves (instrumental with another re-use of the Tar Paper Stomp riff, this time it's Wingy's orchestra copying itself).

/Jonas

Haydn · #10 Post by **Haydn** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:06 am

Jonas wrote:Wingy seems to have done mostly vocals, some of which are fine, but it tends to become a little repetitive. Imagine, as a comparison, if Cab Calloway's orchestra had been able to do more tracks like "Queen Isabella", that is playing instrumentals without having Cab coming in and shunning great players like Chu Berry and Dizzy Gillespie into the background. (With that said, there are of course great Cab vocals as well!)

I'd say the same about Fats Waller. So many of his tracks start beautifully, and then after about a minute, Fats jokey voice comes in and kills them.

Jonas wrote: On "Berry Story" [EPM #157382] with Chu Berry on tenor, I like the Wingy tracks like "Annie Laurie" (with a casual Manone vocal) and Jumpy Nerves (instrumental with another re-use of the Tar Paper Stomp riff, this time it's Wingy's orchestra copying itself).

That's a good CD - and it's on the iTunes Store, in the UK at least.

Jonas · #11 Post by **Jonas** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:03 am

Haydn wrote:
Jonas wrote:Wingy seems to have done mostly vocals, some of which are fine, but it tends to become a little repetitive. Imagine, as a comparison, if Cab Calloway's orchestra had been able to do more tracks like "Queen Isabella", that is playing instrumentals without having Cab coming in and shunning great players like Chu Berry and Dizzy Gillespie into the background. (With that said, there are of course great Cab vocals as well!)
I'd say the same about Fats Waller. So many of his tracks start beautifully, and then after about a minute, Fats jokey voice comes in and kills them.

Jonas wrote: On "Berry Story" [EPM #157382] with Chu Berry on tenor, I like the Wingy tracks like "Annie Laurie" (with a casual Manone vocal) and Jumpy Nerves (instrumental with another re-use of the Tar Paper Stomp riff, this time it's Wingy's orchestra copying itself).
That's a good CD.

I agree with you on Fats Waller. At least Fats, Cab and in some respect even Wingy had great rhythm in their voices. For example Erskine Hawkins and Jimmie Lunceford have had numerous sides start out great, just to have them ruined (dancewise) by vocals by the likes of Jimmy Mitchelle and Dan Grissom, but I guess they had to feature vocals to attract the crowds back then.

By the way, the two songs with Wingy I mentioned are also on the new Chu Berry Mosaic set discussed here on swingdjs. I'd recommend getting that set for some of the best Wingy Manone, Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway et al sides out there, and all with Berry's great tenor on them. When I can save enough money, that set is a must have.

/Jonas

kitkat · #12 Post by **kitkat** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:45 pm

Wow. Wingy Manone has, like, the best percentage of mid-tempo, high-dancing-energy, vocal songs of any 1930's/early 1940's "classic swing"-sounding big band.

I have GOT to get this stuff. It will really fill a hole in my collection (after all, for every "classic swing era" album I usually get with 2 mid-tempo, high-energy, perhaps even vocal songs, there're 8 sappy snoozers & 9 high-dancing-energy but fast songs).

Thanks to Alain for drawing my attention to him through that Song ID thread.

alainw · #13 Post by **alainw** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:05 am

A few days ago on Amazon.com, the Wingy Manone 1940-44 was only available used for $36.

Maybe because of the interest generated by swing djs looking it up, it's now available directly from Amazon.com, $15.98, ships 4-7 weeks.

Wingy Manone 1940-1944 - Classics French

Just ordered my copy. Yay!

Haydn · #14 Post by **Haydn** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:50 am

kitkat wrote:Wow. Wingy Manone has, like, the best percentage of mid-tempo, high-dancing-energy, vocal songs of any 1930's/early 1940's "classic swing"-sounding big band.

kitkat,

Out of interest what BPM range so you mean by mid-tempo?

kitkat · #15 Post by **kitkat** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:44 am

Jonas wrote:
Haydn wrote:
Jonas wrote:Wingy seems to have done mostly vocals, some of which are fine, but it tends to become a little repetitive. Imagine, as a comparison, if Cab Calloway's orchestra had been able to do more tracks like "Queen Isabella", that is playing instrumentals without having Cab coming in and shunning great players like Chu Berry and Dizzy Gillespie into the background. (With that said, there are of course great Cab vocals as well!)
I'd say the same about Fats Waller. So many of his tracks start beautifully, and then after about a minute, Fats jokey voice comes in and kills them.

Jonas wrote: On "Berry Story" [EPM #157382] with Chu Berry on tenor, I like the Wingy tracks like "Annie Laurie" (with a casual Manone vocal) and Jumpy Nerves (instrumental with another re-use of the Tar Paper Stomp riff, this time it's Wingy's orchestra copying itself).
That's a good CD.
I agree with you on Fats Waller. At least Fats, Cab and in some respect even Wingy had great rhythm in their voices. For example Erskine Hawkins and Jimmie Lunceford have had numerous sides start out great, just to have them ruined (dancewise) by vocals by the likes of Jimmy Mitchelle and Dan Grissom, but I guess they had to feature vocals to attract the crowds back then.

By the way, the two songs with Wingy I mentioned are also on the new Chu Berry Mosaic set discussed here on swingdjs. I'd recommend getting that set for some of the best Wingy Manone, Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway et al sides out there, and all with Berry's great tenor on them. When I can save enough money, that set is a must have.

/Jonas

I don't agree with you guys. Wingy's voice is much less song-killing than Fats or Cab.

I could play 10 songs in a row with 5 of them being sung by Wingy (as long as I threw some other vocalists in, too) and I think almost no one on the floor would notice.

I cannot say the same about Cab or Fats. People would be like, "Okay, enough of this voice already!"

Wingy has a much more anonymous sound (like Trummy Young or Roy Eldridge), which makes him ideal for padding your vocal track count if you're spinning for an audience that wants vocals to connect to.