Mike's Noise

Virtual Victrola for April 14, 2007: You're Driving Me Crazy!

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Virtual Victrola for April 7, 2007: Belle Mann

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RIP Anita O'Day 1919 - 2006

Anita O' Day, one of the last great surviving jazz singers of the Big Band era, passed away this morning at her home in West Los Angeles.  She was 86 years old.

From her website:

Indestructible.  There is really no other word to describe Anita O’Day. Her legacy in the world of music goes back to the mid-30s as a singing-dance competitor in the popular walkathons of the day—that is, until a truant officer returned her to school. When asked her name, she answered “O’Day,”pig Latin for dough. Which she hoped to make a bunch of. She was soon discovered by a club owner in Chicago, and within a year destiny would guide her right to the top as the lead singer for the Gene Krupa Orchestra. Anita brought to the big band her own swinging style. She had no use for gowns; she was a member of the band who’s instrument was her voice, so she donned the same uniform that the other band members wore—a suit. She stayed with Krupa’s outfit for five years, then after one year with Stan Kenton, scoring numerous hits for both. She began her solo career in 1947.

From the Washington Post obit:

Her vibrant appearance in the 1959 documentary "Jazz on a Summer's Day," a film about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, made her an international celebrity and brought her important dates in Japan and England.

Then, in 1966, she nearly died of a heroin overdose in a bathroom in a Los Angeles office building. The experience rattled her, and she quit heroin at once. Most of her money gone, she spent the rest of her life struggling financially.

In the early 1970s, she was living in a $3-a-night hotel in Los Angeles but she revived her career over the next decade, culminating in a profile of her on the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes."

She received her first Grammy nomination in 1990 for "In a Mellow Tone" and was given an American Jazz Masters award in 1997 by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Anita will forever be remembered for the clingy black dress, fringed black hat and white gloves that she wore in the film.  Ironically, she later candidly confessed that she had absolutely no recollection of her performance at Newport.  Years of alcohol and drug abuse robbed her of many things including the memories of her most prosperous years.  Still, she survived the needle, the bottle, two rotten marriages, depression, and dire financial straits, continuing to perform (though often precariously) well into her 80's.

Here is Anita singing a remake her big hit "Let Me Off Uptown" with Roy Eldridge and the Gene Krupa big band, from Krupa's 1956 Verve album "Drummin' Man": Download gene_krupaanita_odayroy_eldridge_let_me_off_uptown.mp3

Here is a nice video tribute to Anita, which includes a segment of her performance of "Sweet Georgia Brown" from Jazz On A Summer's Day.

Here is a young Anita performing "Thanks For The Boogie Ride" with the Gene Krupa big band in 1942.  Roy Eldridge is the trumpet man.

This is the classic performance of "Tea For Two" from Jazz for A Summer's Day.  The old timers might recognize the old Marlboro cigarettes jingle that pops up at the end, as Anita trades phrases with her pianist.  (You get a lot to like in a Marlboro - filter, flavor, flip-top box)

All About Jazz published this profile of Anita just a few days ago.

So long Anita.  It sure was groovy.

Virtual Victrola: May 27 Edition - "Swinging At Decca" Jan Savitt and his Orchestra

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Virtual Victrola: May 20 Edition - "Swinging At Decca" Chick Webb and his Orchestra

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Virtual Victrola May 13 Edition: Swinging At Decca: The Bob Crosby Orchestra

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Virtual Victrola - May 6 Edition: "Swinging At Decca" Earl Hines and his Orch.

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Virtual Victrola - April 29 edition - 4x4's: Jones-Smith, Inc.

On a cold winter's night Chicago in early 1936, record producer John Hammond patiently spun the radio dial in his car, searching for music.  His exploration of the airwaves resulted in his discovery of the Count Basie Orchestra, broadcasting live from the Reno Club in Kansas City.  The band was rough and occasionally out of tune, but their energetic playing and solid, swinging rhythm section thrilled Hammond.  He immediately told his friend Benny Goodman about his discovery, and the two of them made plans to visit Kansas City and hear the band in person.  Upon meeting Basie, Hammond convinced him to take his band on the road, and made arrangements for Basie to begin an engagement at the Grand Terrace Ballroom in Chicago.

But Hammond did not get a chance to record the Basie orchestra for another three years, for Jack Kapp, the shrewd president of Decca Records, met with Basie -- without Hammond's knowledge -- and offered him a recording contract.  Heartbroken and angry at the paltry sum that Kapp offered Basie, Hammond insisted that at least some of Basie's men owed him a recording session.  Basie agreed, and brought a quintet consisting of himself, drummer Jo Jones, bassist Walter Page, trumpeter Carl "Tatti" Smith, and tenor saxophonist Lester Young into a cramped Chicago recording studio on November 9, 1936.

The studio was so small that in order to fit a piano, the musicians, and portly singer Jimmy Rushing all in the same room together, Jo Jones could only bring his high hat cymbal stand and snare drum.  But under Hammond's direction, the group turned out four astounding performances in a date that Hammond later described as, "the only perfect, completely perfect recording session I've ever had anything to do with."

Because Basie was under contract with Decca at the time (though he had yet to record for them) these records were released under the name "Jones-Smith, Inc.", a play on Jo Jones and Carl Smith's last names.  On subsequent reissues and foreign issues, the records were credited either to Count Basie's Blue Five or the Count Basie Quintet.

The Tunes:

Shoe Shine Boy
Download jonessmith_inc_shoe_shine_boy.mp3

Evenin'
Download jonessmith_inc_evenin.mp3

Boogie Woogie
Download jonessmith_inc_boogie_woogie.mp3

Lady Be Good
Download jonessmith_inc_lady_be_good.mp3

Virtual Victrola - April 22 Edition - 4x4's: Gene Krupa's Swing Band

This week, the Virtual Victrola features four recordings by a pickup band under the leadership of drummer Gene Krupa.  The records were made in Chicago in February 1936 and helped establish trumpeter Roy Eldridge as a new force to be reckoned with in jazz.

During the time these records were made, the Benny Goodman orchestra was in the midst of an extended engagement at the Congress Hotel in Chicago.  Benny was Gene's boss, and for this session Gene enlisted mostly fellow Goodman bandmates: singer Helen Ward, Goodman, pianist Jess Stacy, and guitarist Allan Reuss.  To this lineup he added three black musicians: Chicago native and bassist Israel Crosby, tenorist Leon "Chu" Berry, and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

The real newcomer among these musicians was Roy Eldridge. Eldridge had played on a few recordings made by Teddy Hill during the previous year, and while those performances were good, they contained nothing like the fierce explosion of energy that Eldridge released during this session, notably during his solo on "Swing Is Here."  Perhaps Eldridge, knowing that Goodman had recently employed trumpeter Bunny Berigan, was ready to show Goodman that he was just as capable of sparking a recording session as Berigan was.  Whatever the reason, Eldridge practically launched his career with these records.

Interestingly, Eldridge, Crosby, and Berry all would soon join the Fletcher Henderson orchestra and continue to record as highly sought-after sidemen.  Eldridge remained a top attraction well into his 60's, until a stroke left him unable to play the trumpet.  And he spent several years during the 1940's as a featured trumpeter and singer in Gene Krupa's big band.  The only member of this group to die before his time was Chu Berry, who perished in an automobile accident in 1941, just as he was poised to overtake Coleman Hawkins as the king of the tenor saxophone.

Krupa also brought along Helen Ward, Benny Goodman's girl singer.  Helen was a superb singer and talented pianist who possessed perfect pitch and was as easy on the eyes as she was on the ears.  Her joyous performance on "I'm Gonna Clap My Hands" is a perfect example of how the right singer can add the perfect touch of class to a good jazz recording.  And her vocal on "Mutiny In The Parlor," combined with Eldridge's muted trumpet solo, illustrates how strong jazz players can rescue a mediocre song from the doldrums and turn it into a fantastic performance.
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The Tunes:

I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music
Download gene_krupas_swing_band_i_hope_gabriel_likes_my_music.mp3

I'm gonna Clap My Hands
Download gene_krupas_swing_band_im_gonna_clap_my_hands.mp3

Mutiny In The Parlor
Download gene_krupas_swing_band_mutiny_in_the_parlor.mp3

Swing Is Here
Download gene_krupas_swing_band_swing_is_here.mp3

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Next week, the Virtual Victrola will wrap up the 4x4's feature with Count Basie's first recording session, four classic 1936 sides that introduced the jazz world to the President of the Tenor Saxophone, Lester Young.  See you then!

Virtual Victrola - April 15 Edition - 4x4's: Mildred Bailey and her Alley Cats

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Next week's Four By Four features Gene Krupa and his Swing Band in a 1935 session that included Roy Eldridge, Chu Berry, and Benny Goodman.  See you then!