"Stars Over the Campus" (1940)

We dip into 1940 with our college songs to view the stars on a lovely campus evening!

To set the mood, here's Tommy Tucker's band with Don Brown an Amy Arnell singing  "Stars Over the Campus" (co-written by Tommy) on OKeh Records:

Don Brown sounds a bit mannered, but I do like Amy Arnell, although she's in a supporting role here.

Amy Arnell strikes a pose with Tommy Tucker!

I find the "Tommy Tucker Time" sound generally to be a bit over-stylized, but I appreciate that such bands were popular during the big band era and I wouldn't criticize leaders for proving the public with entertainment.

Bob Chester's band was much less stylized, but it didn't really seem to have a recognizable style of its own, sounding more like Glenn Miller's band than anything, but it was a solid group that made some good records.

Helping matters considerably was vocalist Dolores O'Neill, who sings "Stars Over the Campus" on the Bob Chester Bluebird recording:

Nice version and always good to hear bands that aren't as famous as Miller, Goodman, Dorsey, etc.

For my favorite version, we turn to Johnny Long and his Orchestra with Helen Young on Decca:

I like Johnny Long's records a lot. I'm sure I'm biased because Johnny and his band appear in the 1943 Abbott & Costello film "Hit the Ice" as I talked about here!

And Helen Young makes an awfully cute co-ed!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

In keeping with the situation, let's Let’s listen to Johnny Long’s version of "Easter Parade," recorded for Signature Records in 1947:

Have a great day!

"Winter Wonderland" - Part 3 - The Revival!

So, we heard a bunch of versions of "Winter Wonderland" from the song's initial period of popularity that followed its publication in 1934.

It seems that the song was then largely forgotten, as is the case with most popular songs of the day, as new songs came along. It certainly was a long way from becoming the perennial seasonal standard that it's become.

In fact, I don't the song was recorded for another ten years or so after 1935, but it came back in a big way after WWII was over.

For some reason (maybe post-war audiences were nostalgic?), 1946 saw three new popular versions of "Winter Wonderland" on major labels!

Leading the way was Johnny Mercer on Capitol Records. We heard it back here, but let's listen again:

Nice, mellow vibe from Johnny with the Pied Pipers and Paul Weston's orchestra.

Perry Como had the swingiest take on the song on RCA Victor, which we first heard back here, but it's definitely worth another listen:

That's probably my favorite vintage version. I like how the Satisfiers are billed right up there with Perry!

Decca Records also got in on the act with the original "Winter Wonderland" hit-maker, Guy Lombardo, teamed with the Andrews Sisters:

This was the flipside of "Christmas Island," making for a popular record.

I think the Lombardo band sounds less Lombardo-ish here, giving a nice background for the Sisters.

They include the rarely heard verse in the middle, which is fun!

With these three records all selling well and the business of seasonal records getting bigger and bigger, "Winter Wonderland" was on its way to becoming a seasonal perennial!

RCA Victor was back in 1947 with Sammy Kaye's recording as part of the ten-inch album "Year 'Round Favorites":

That's old school "Swing and Sway" with the singing song title at the beginning and vocalist introduction by Sammy in the middle!

Also in 1947, as we heard here, the small Signature label released a great version by Johnny Long and his Orchestra with vocalist Francey Lane:

Love it!

It took a couple of years for the other major record label, Columbia, to get with the program, but in 1949 they released this fine version by Buddy Clark:

Good backing from the Girl Friends and Ted Dale's orchestra.

This was paired with "Merry Christmas Waltz" and was also recorded at Buddy's last studio date.

Lots of good music in the post-war Winters!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 10 - Signature Records!

We're still in the mid-1940s as our "Jingle Bells" survey lands us on a couple of tracks from the independent Signature Records label.

First up from 1946 is the wild scat singer Leo Watson, backed by the Vic Dickenson Quintet:

Leo Watson was one-of-a-kind with his crazy vocalizing. I've heard him described as ahead of his time, but if so, we're still waiting for that time!

He had an interesting career, first coming to semi-prominence with the Spirits of Rhythm group, heard here on this early release from Decca Records in 1934:

Leo also got the chance to record with a couple of bands in the late 1930s.

Here's both sides of a record with Artie Shaw from 1937:

A couple of things of note on the label: Artie was still billed as "Art Shaw" at this early point of his career and someone with a sense of humor added a question mark as to whether Leo is actually contributing a vocal!

Funny that even with the very limited lyrics of "Shoot the Likker to Me John Boy" Leo sings, "Shoot the likker to John Boy," as if he doesn't care what the name of the song actually is!

He actually sings lyrics on this cut with Gene Krupa from 1938:

Leo's vocal is fairly straight, but still stylized. I like it!

Back to his record of "Jingle Bells," Leo's "vocal" would barely clue you in as to what song is involved, as he doesn't sing the melody at all and winds up somehow incorporating "Alexander's Ragtime Band!"

Not to sleep on, however, is the great trombone playing by Vic Dickenson, who holds the thing together musically.

We jump ahead one year to 1947 with this Signature Records release from Johnny Long and his Orchestra:

I think that's a blast, partially because it sounds exactly how "Jingle Bells" by Johnny Long should sound!

Probably the most distinctive feature of Johnny's band, besides the fact that he played left-handed violin, was that the band members would sing/shout lyrics or phrases with or without an actual vocalist.

(Interesting that the band shouts, "Shoot the snow to me, Joe!" a la John Boy and that likker! "Shoot the Sherbet to Me, Herbert" was another song in that sub-genre!)

The band recorded its best-known number, "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town," in that style a few times, the first time on Decca Records in 1940:

I think that's a lot of fun and is always welcome to me when I'm listening to a mix of big band records!

For further illustration, here's Johnny Long's hit record of "We'll Build a Bungalow" from 1949:

Abbott & Costello fans (such as myself) remember Johnny Long from 1943's "Hit the Ice" (my vote for most underrated A & C picture) in which Johnny winds up married to Ginny Simms, much to Lou's chagrin!

Here's a clip of Ginny and Johnny and his band from the movie:

Good fun!

The clarinetist looks like Ernie Caceres to me, but I can't find any documentation that Ernie played with Johnny Long post-Glenn Miller.

Back to this particular record of "Jingle Bells," the flipside "Winter Wonderland" is also great, giving vocalist Francey Lane a little more vocal room:

Interesting stuff from Signature Records!