Charlie Barnet style music?

[zzzzoom]

In reality, those were all recorded *after* he had found his sound. His 'sound' was in place by 1938.

*I added the recording dates up there.

Miller used more than one style in his band, and even the famous clarinet lead style was modified as the months and few years went out.

I stand corrected. But when I first heard these tracks, I never in a million years would have said, Yup, that's Glenn Miller! I love these tracks and YES, Jonathan, Glen Island Special is awesome!!

[Eyeball]

In reality, those were all recorded *after* he had found his sound. His 'sound' was in place by 1938.

*I added the recording dates up there.

Miller used more than one style in his band, and even the famous clarinet lead style was modified as the months and few years went out.

I stand corrected. But when I first heard these tracks, I never in a million years would have said, Yup, that's Glenn Miller! I love these tracks and YES, Jonathan, Glen Island Special is awesome!!

No problem and totally understandable b/c there is so much anti-Miller sentiment, especially in the Swing dance scene where most people do not like ballads and don't know or have much appreciation (yet) for popular song.

Some people think many bands only had one style or did one type of music.

Wait til you hear some of the ballads Charlie Barnet recorded in his hey day with that great band he had in 1939 - 1942. They are awful. His male vocalist is some dreary drudge and the arrangements are just lifeless.

If you had heard a bunch of Barnet recordings that were all ballads, you would assume that all his stuff was like that.

There is still a lot of really good 'Lindy' Miller stuff that does not gets played or mentioned by people in this scene....I guess b/c they don't know it exists.

And you can't really rely on reissue producers all the time b/c some of their choices are very odd....like who stuck RHAPSODY IN BLUE - a ballad by Glenn Miller on a CD where every other track is a hot number and/or instrumental?

[Mr Awesomer]

You simply don't seem to like or appreciate pretty and oftimes beautiful ballads.

Your loss.

Maybe you'll grow into them someday.

[Eyeball]

You simply don't seem to like or appreciate pretty and oftimes beautiful ballads.

Your loss.

Maybe you'll grow into them someday.

You, too.

That's a sad looking eyeroll......remorse, regret, humility, guilt., etc?

[Albert System]

It sounds to me like a lot of what you have in your collection is later stuf- from the 50's on up. Try some earlier Basie and Ellington from the 3
late 30's and ealry 40's.

Try some Artie Shaw too. His was my favorite "white" big band. I love the recordings of the big band with black jazz soloists like Hot Lips Page and Roy Eldridge.

[Eyeball]

(Earl Hines is generally known as a pianist, but I can't hear any piano on a lot of these tracks - perhaps he was just the 'bandleader/conductor' for these?)

The samples you are hearing may not include Hines' solos or have him audible, but he is all over all his sides. Few men played more piano than Hines.

Have you heard his world famous version of BOOGIE WOOGIE ON ST. LOUIS BLUES? Simply sensational - mostly a Hines solo with rhythm and the band coming in towards the end. 2 takes at least were made - the famous with with 'vocal exhortations' from one of the guys in the band - "Play until 1951!" "Don't quit now, Jack, don't quit now!" Monster seller.

In the 60s, RCA issued an alternate take from the same session that had no vocal. It was great, but they issued it at a time when the original version was not in general circulation.

When they issued the title again on another LP reissue on Bluebird, they made sure to issue the original take b/c they had actually gotten complaints from the public...to the extent that they even noted that fact in the liner notes of the LP.

Anyway....it's great 'late night' listening from 1940!

http://tinyurl.com/ks5qg snippet of BWOSLBlues

[Eyeball]

A dozen or so full length Hines band and solo sides from the late 20s and earlier 30s.

http://www.redhotjazz.com/eho.html

Messa piano!

[CafeSavoy]

(Earl Hines is generally known as a pianist, but I can't hear any piano on a lot of these tracks - perhaps he was just the 'bandleader/conductor' for these?)

The samples you are hearing may not include Hines' solos or have him audible, but he is all over all his sides. Few men played more piano than Hines.

What John said. Also he learned piano before microphones so he developed a forceful style (some describe it as playing piano like a trumpet). Supposedly he has broken keys from playing so strongly but I don't know if the story is just apocryphal.

[Eyeball]

(Earl Hines is generally known as a pianist, but I can't hear any piano on a lot of these tracks - perhaps he was just the 'bandleader/conductor' for these?)

The samples you are hearing may not include Hines' solos or have him audible, but he is all over all his sides. Few men played more piano than Hines.

What John said. Also he learned piano before microphones so he developed a forceful style (some describe it as playing piano like a trumpet). Supposedly he has broken keys from playing so strongly but I don't know if the story is just apocryphal.

"Forceful style" is a good term. A very masculine and powerful two fisted style. As light as he wanted to be or as intense as he wanted to be. he wasn't a 'slammer', but he had strong piano punctuations.

I am sure he gave pianos a work out. On an old TONIGHT SHOW, I saw Liberace break a piano key. A black key came off while he was playing. He kept on playing and picked it up and put it out of the way at the same time and finished the piece, saying later that the really tough part was improvising around that missing key. Skillful player.

If Liberace can break a key, for sure Earl Hines could do as much.

[Racetrack]

tornredcarpet:

For Chick Webb, I've had very good luck with the stuff on this compilation CD: Strictly Jive (HEP records - CD 1063, made in UK 1999). I think I got it through Amazon.

As to getting other stuff - have you tried iTunes? They have a great search feature. I've found all kinds of stuff that way ... and it's a lot cheaper to build your collection from iTunes than from Amazon. Most CDs have maybe 3 or 4 numbers you REALLY want and iTunes lets you cherry pick. If you want an entire CD, the usual rate at iTunes is $9.99 with no shipping charge and instantaneous delivery (which really helps when you are always less than a week away from your next show as I always am).

As to Glenn Miller: I have been playing his stuff more and more lately ... mostly AFB stuff ... the Madison crowd likes the fast stuff best. I read recently that some AFB arrangements were done by Fletcher Henderson. The "fast lindy" GM stuff I play the most is:

Jeep Jockey Jump (AFB live performance from an Armed Forces Radio broadcast) - over the last 3 years it's become kind of a Madison tradition to use this number for Shim Shams.

Tail End Charlie (also live from an Armed Forces Radio broadcast)

Here We Go Again

... and my all time GM favorite ...

Carribean Clipper -- DAMN! I have to resist the temptation to play this every week. Personal preference, I know, but this is a true "happy feet" number that fills the floor better than any "285 bpm, give or take a few" number I've used so far.

(I also like "Wham, Re-Bop, Boom, Bam" .. but almost always go for the Bill Elliott cover with the revamped lyrics.)

True, Glenn Miller did more than a few sappy duds I can't listen to all the way through let alone foist on a crowd of dancers (When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano, Always in My Heart, etc. .. and a version of That Old Black Magic that sounds like a funeral dirge) and some other tunes which are good numbers but were written for slow dancing, not swing (Moonlight Serenade, Serenade in Blue).

But some of his "hit record" stuff in the 150-200 bpm range I think is perfectly good for the dance floor -- in moderation, kind of a novelty thing. Stuff like I've Got a Girl in Kalamazoo, Pennsylvania 6-5000, String of Pearls, etc.).

Still, the best Glenn Miller stuff are the things most people don't immediately recognize as "Glenn Miller" ... the stuff with the "Savoy Ballroom" sound like Here We Go Again.

[Eyeball]

As to Glenn Miller: I have been playing his stuff more and more lately ... mostly AFB stuff ... the Madison crowd likes the fast stuff best. I read recently that some AFB arrangements were done by Fletcher Henderson. The "fast lindy" GM stuff I play the most is:

Jeep Jockey Jump (AFB live performance from an Armed Forces Radio broadcast) - over the last 3 years it's become kind of a Madison tradition to use this number for Shim Shams.

Tail End Charlie (also live from an Armed Forces Radio broadcast)

Here We Go Again

... and my all time GM favorite ...

Carribean Clipper -- DAMN! I have to resist the temptation to play this every week. Personal preference, I know, but this is a true "happy feet" number that fills the floor better than any "285 bpm, give or take a few" number I've used so far.

(I also like "Wham, Re-Bop, Boom, Bam" .. but almost always go for the Bill Elliott cover with the revamped lyrics.)

True, Glenn Miller did more than a few sappy duds I can't listen to all the way through let alone foist on a crowd of dancers (When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano, Always in My Heart, etc. .. and a version of That Old Black Magic that sounds like a funeral dirge) and some other tunes which are good numbers but were written for slow dancing, not swing (Moonlight Serenade, Serenade in Blue).

But some of his "hit record" stuff in the 150-200 bpm range I think is perfectly good for the dance floor -- in moderation, kind of a novelty thing. Stuff like I've Got a Girl in Kalamazoo, Pennsylvania 6-5000, String of Pearls, etc.).

Still, the best Glenn Miller stuff are the things most people don't immediately recognize as "Glenn Miller" ... the stuff with the "Savoy Ballroom" sound like Here We Go Again.

Miller input - yaaa...I agree with most of what you say and that recording of "Black Magic" is a drag...it's that lousy male vocalist, Skip Nelson, who drags it down. Every one of the few records he made with Miller sounds like that. He was a virtual last minute replacement for Ray Eberle, who got fired a short time before the band broke up.

OTOH - "Always In My Heart" is a marvelous song from the famed Cuban composer, Ernesto Lecuona, who is regarded as kind of the Gershwin of Cuba. He wrote many songs that became popular in this country and that were played and sung by lots of bands.

I like the GM version of "Wham". It shows off Marion Hutton very well.

Caribbean Clipper - great one! Jerry gray arrangement, IIRC.

I doubt that Henderson did too much for the AAF band, though they used to play "Breakin' In a Pair of Shoes" which Goodman had done in 1936 and I think was a FH chart.

For a couple of never played Miller pop tunes that have an edge to them, you might try "Sweeter Than the Sweetest" which is not a ballad, but a rolling, bouncy mid tempo number with some really high end trumpet section work.

Also - really clever and upper mid tempo is "Peek a Boo to You" which I thought was going to be a some truly sappy song (and he does have a raft of sap/crap tunes...."Little Old Church In England"...God, that is dreadful..). PEEK A BOO is very clever and has a good beat to it.

I like the Miller version of BEAT ME DADDY EIGHT TO THE BAR much more than the Will Bradley version. Slower tempo and a far better groove and arrangement.

Also - for a really fast one, try "Keep 'Em Flying". A punishing tempo and a really manic arrangement. Great psycho clarinet solo.

Happy Landings!

Hey...up there in polka country......GM did a live version of "Beer Barrel Polka" - instrumental, not in polka style, really. Just lively

[Racetrack]

Thanks, Eyeball! Keep this up and you will be right up there with Jesse Miner in my list of "favorite other DJs ot plagarize playlists from"!

I got most of my existing GM stuff off CDs that were laying around the UW-Swing/Jumptown library for years and haven't really started doing my own iTunes search yet for more stuff ... but between you and Zzoom, I think I have all the right search titles to get me started!

BTW, Glenn Miller did another gesture to people in cheesehead territory that I already have, but don't have the cajones to play to dancers because it really is a "novelty" number and doesn't swing all the well: On Wsconsin!

[Eyeball]

Glad to help.

I have a list of allthe Miller recordings rom 38 - 42. I realy should cut and paste the ones that would 'work' for swing dancers.

College songs - I think most of the bands had school songs in their book since they were aways playing colleges and the students wanted to hear their school song.

There is a Tommy Dorsey broadcast from 40 or 41 in which he does a long bunch of college songs....maybe the foot ball season had begun or it was homecoming time...I dunno.....

[zzzzoom]

Another Glenn Miller tune that I dj regularly is "Doin' the Jive". I dj'ed it at ABW and someone came up and asked me the name of the song and artist and was very surprised to find out it was Glenn Miller.

[dancin_hanson]

Another early Miller song I like is "Community Swing", from "Best of the Big Bands: Evolution of a Band". Not superlative but a good solid swing tune. That CD also includes Doin' The Jive, I Got Rhythm, Dippermouth Blues and a couple of other decent swingers, especially compared to later GM schmaltz. You can get it (used) on Amazon for real cheap at the moment....