Word Association Wednesday: The Prelude Gets Blue

Following Sunday’s “Prelude to a Kiss,” today’s WAW took the shortest possible ride on the mental express line — straight to Blue Prelude, the moody 1933 masterpiece by Gordon Jenkins and Joe Bishop.

We’ve got fifteen versions spanning nearly two decades, so let’s get spinning...

The First Blue Notes (1933)

The earliest recording turns out to be Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, who cut an instrumental take for Brunswick in January 1933:

(Raises hand) I’ll admit — before digging into this, I didn’t realize Casa Loma got there first. I always assumed the debut belonged to Isham Jones, since both Bishop and Jenkins were working with his band at the time. But apparently Bishop brought the tune to Glen Gray before anyone else.

Still, Isham Jones wasn’t far behind. His version — arranged by Bishop — followed in April 1933 for Victor:

It’s a terrific chart, with Sonny Lee shining on trombone and a wonderfully present tuba from Richard Kissinger in the rhythm section. Within a year or two, most bands would swap the tuba for string bass, but here it adds a great period flavor.

At this point the tune seems to have existed only as an instrumental. But by May 1933, Jenkins had added lyrics — and if the melody was already moody, the words sealed the deal.

The first vocal version came from prolific studio singer Chick Bullock, backed by his Levee Loungers on a budget‑label release:

Chick was a terrific singer, but an eye condition limited him to studio work.

Next up was Adrian Rollini with his studio group, featuring Howard Phillips on the vocal:

I love Adrian's switching between vibes and bass sax, though Phillips’ vocal is a bit emphatic. Not so for the next singer…

On June 13, the say after Adrian's record date, Bing Crosby recorded his version for Brunswick:

This is the one that put the song on the map — Bing’s career was exploding, and Blue Prelude rode the wave.

For one more 1933 entry, we get a female vocalist: Loretta Lee, singing with George Hall’s orchestra on Bluebird.

And yes — those early‑’30s buff Bluebirds are irresistible.

A Theme Is Born (1940-1941)

We jump to 1940 for the best‑known incarnation of Blue Prelude: as Woody Herman’s theme song. Here's his Decca recording, with Woody himself on the vocal:

Between Isham Jones’ 1933 version and this one, Woody had joined the Jones band, Jones retired, and the musicians reorganized with Woody as leader. Blue Prelude became his theme, and composer Joe Bishop was still on hand, arranging and playing flugelhorn.

The song was now a standard, and the recordings kept coming.

Also from 1940: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, with Joe Ferguson on the vocal:

You know I’m all over a vintage Western Swing take on a standard!

From 1941, we get Jimmie Lunceford with Dan Grissom on Decca:

A jaunty treatment, with typically superb work from altoist Willie Smith.

Postwar Shades of Blue (1945–1949)

In 1945, former Basie vocalist Helen Humes recorded a lovely version for the small Philo label:

That bowed‑bass intro from Alfred Moore is a knockout!

Label intrigue: Philco thought “Philo” sounded too close to their name, so the label became Aladdin!

Next, the sultry Lena Horne stepped up on the Black & White label in 1947:

Beautifully supported by Phil Moore.

Also in 1947, Woody Herman revisited the tune for his Columbia album 8 Shades of Blue:

A lot had happened in seven years — a new theme (Blue Flame), a move from Decca to Columbia, the triumph of the First Herd, and then disbanding. Note the label credit: Woody Herman with Orchestral Acc. — this was a studio group, not his working band.

The 1950 Curtain Call

We close with three versions from 1950...

First up: The Ames Brothers on Coral:

More label intrigue: This cut was issued as the flipside of second pressings of the Ames’ hit Sentimental Me, which was the original flipside of their smash Rag Mop. But when Sentimental Me also became a hit, Coral swapped it out so they wouldn’t have to sell two blockbusters on one disc!

Next, an unissued‑at‑the‑time Decca recording by the great Mildred Bailey:

Knowing this was among her final recordings before her early death in 1951 gives it heartbreaking poignancy.

And finally, we come full circle: Gordon Jenkins himself recorded Blue Prelude for his Decca album Playing His Own Compositions, with Bonnie Lou Williams singing his lyrics:

Mr. Jenkins really was a remarkable talent!

Fifteen preludes to a whole lot of blues — and if the prelude is this sad, imagine what the actual blues sound like!

1940s Christmas Playlist - Part 21 - "When It's Christmas on the Range/Santa's on His Way" (1949)

Our 1940s Christmas music playlist hangs around 1949 with both sides of a Christmas single on MGM Records by the great Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys!

Here's "When It's Christmas on the Range":

And the flipside, "Santa's on His Way":

I like that a lot! I love the Western Swing sound and always appreciate unique songs!

But the Scrooges at "Billboard" didn't like this one either:

I don't know if "When It's Christmas on the Range" was ever properly recorded by anybody else. There are some similarly-titled songs out there, but they're different songs.

An intriguing one was recorded by Eddy Howard in 1940 on Columbia Records:

Not too westerny, this catches Eddy after he had left the Dick Jurgens band but before he started his own band, which caught on in 1946.

Coincidentally, singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely had an album of Christmas carols on Capitol Records in 1949 with the title "Christmas on the Range." Really nice, but no relation!

I think there was only one other recording of "Santa's on His Way," although there are bunch of similarly-titled songs for it too!

The version in question of "Santa's on His Way" comes from a likely source: latter-day Western Swing torch carriers Asleep at the Wheel, who included a faithful version on their 2006 album "Santa Loves to Boogie":

The Wheel has a couple of Christmas albums out there and they're a blast!

George Strait has also been known to remake some Bob Wills songs, so when his 1999 album "Merry Christmas Wherever You Are" came out and I saw that one track was titled "Santa's on His Way," I thought it might be the same song.

It's not, but it's still a good one:

Christmas + Western Swing = Fun!

Christmas 1945 - Part 1 - The Records

Since we landed in 1945 with "The Fireside Book of Christmas Stories," I'm not going to leave for a while!

So, here's a look at some of the notable Christmas records from 1945!

We start off with a cut from Dick Haymes, outstanding crooner of the 1940s who had previously sung with the bands of Harry James, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey - as solid a resumé as anyone!

This is the only recording of this song of which I'm aware:

I think this was recorded in 1944 but released in 1945, so close enough!

Of note is that Ken Darby and Victor Young performed similar roles on both this record and Ronald Colman's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," also on Decca Records.

Bob Wills fiddles while Tommy Duncan strums.

Christmas of 1945 was significant as it followed the end of WWII. A time for celebration indeed, but this record from Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys shows a different side:

Bob Wills had a great band and singer Tommy Duncan was one of the best Western Swing vocalists ever!

I think this next record is one of those rare gems you come across every now and again.

It's by Mark Warnow, who was leading the orchestra on the "Your Hit Parade" radio show, and vocalist Dick Todd who was also featured on that show. We throw in the fun B-side as well, as it contains a snappy version of "Jingle Bells":

I think that's just great!

Dick Todd was from Montreal and was sometimes called the Canadian Crosby, because he kind of sounded like Bing. I think he does, but I think he sounds even more like Bob Crosby, Bing's brother!

This next record is interesting as the label implies that it's a band led by legendary songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. I don't think of him as a bandleader and I don't know what his contribution to the record other than composing the song would be. Did he play piano on the recording? It's good, though:

Singer Martha Mears is an interesting personality as she did a ton of voice dubbing in the 1940s for actresses who were not as capable in the singing department!

Nice to hear her as herself!

None of the pop songs from above really went anywhere, but I think they all had merit.

This next record didn't become a standard, but it was a huge hit on the Country (then called "Folk") charts. Here's singing cowboy Tex Ritter:

At this point in time, there still wasn't a flood of holiday releases each year, but some standbys did get recorded.

"White Christmas" was only three years old, but already a standard. Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians gave it their typical treatment. I see sources that indicate this record was from 1946, but "Billboard" reviewed it in 1945, so here we go:

So totally square, but not unpleasant! Guy Lombardo was really popular for a really long time!

Far more hip (hep?) is this treatment of "Jingle Bells" by the Slam Stewart Quintet:

Great work from Slam, formerly of Slim & Slam of "Flat Feet Floogee/Flat Foot Floogie" fame, and a stellar group including vibraphone master Red Norvo. Love Slam's humming along while bowing!

Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl

Frank Sinatra had preceded Dick Haymes in both the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands and they and other former band vocalists were making strong inroads by 1945, crowding out the bands.

Frank had this nice double-sided record of Christmas carols, which I think are from 1945? It should be easier to tell. I like 'em so here they are:

Very nice with the usual outstanding musical direction of Axel Stordahl, who had worked with Sinatra in the Dorsey band.

So, so some good new records for listeners to enjoy while spending the holidays with their loved ones in 1945!

In retrospect, there was a song published in 1945 that became a Seasonal/Holiday standard.

We'll check it out next!