"Winter Wonderland" - Part 2 - The British (Records) Are Coming!

We listened to a number of 1934 recordings of the then-new "Winter Wonderland" and today we continue to 1935, where we find ourselves in merry old England!

There were several outstanding dance bands in England in the mid-1930s and a couple of them recorded "Winter Wonderland" during the initial 1934/1935 period.

We start with Ambrose and his Orchestra on Decca Records:

I think the vocal on that record is by Sam Browne, who worked a lot with Bert Ambrose.

Ambrose's records were also popular in the U.S. but he resisted offers to relocate, enjoying a long, successful career in England.

Another popular British band was led by pianist Lew Stone, who recorded his version of "Winter Wonderland" for the Regal Zonophone label:

The vocal on this one is apparently by Alan Kane, Stone's regular vocalist of the time.

Much less well-known (and not popular enough to get his picture on a cigarette card!) than Ambrose or Lew Stone was saxophonist Harry Leader, although he enjoyed a long career as well. His version of "Winter Wonderland" was on the low-budget Eclipse label:

As I understand it, the Eclipse records were only eight inches (as opposed to the usual ten) and sold at Woolworth stores in England, making them British cousins of the Perfect line!

The shorter running time has the Leader band playing at a quick tempo and the vocal with the group makes for a really fun record! The lower price didn't mean a lower quality performance!

The vocalists may be Sam Browne (moonlighting from Ambrose) and the Carlyle Cousins (who also worked with Ambrose).

Interestingly, the Cousins did get a cigarette card:

These are all the British versions of "Winter Wonderland" from the initial period of the song's popularity that I was able to unearth.

The most famous British bandleader of all was Ray Noble, who moved his operations to the U.S. in 1934, but I don't think he ever recorded the song in question.

While we're over in England anyway, we shall jump ahead to 1948 with this recording by the Squadronaires on London Records:

That's another fun version by the offshoot of the Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra, as led by Jimmy Miller.

Good work by these British bands who compare quite favorably to their American counterparts!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 70 - Calypso!

                              

We hover around the early 1950s with this 1952 version of  "Jingle Bells" as recorded by bandleader/vocalist Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band on the British Decca label:

That's a very catchy arrangement! I feel I must point out, however, that the chorus (who sound very British) sings "on a one-horse open sleigh" rather than "in." Is that a British thing?

I see this listed as "Jingle Bells Calypso" sometimes, but I think the label is telling us it's "Jingle Bells" but the dance style is Calypso.

Here's the flipside, which does actually include "Samba" as part of the title:

That's also a fun arrangement!

Edmundo Ros was a Venezuelan born bandleader who was based in England for a long time - he lived to be 100 years old!

He specialized in Latin rhythms and I always associate him with the Samba, as he had a hit in the U.S. in 1950 with "The Wedding Samba" as released on the London Records label:

You may recall that British Decca had split off from American Decca and  issued its records on the States on the London label.

I can't seem to determine whether or not Edmundo's "Jingle Bells" record was released Stateside on London Records. If it wasn't, I wonder why? Is it too British, despite the Latin beat?

"Jingle Bells" - Part 60 - Primo Cuts!

We started off in 1948 blast time, so we'll stay there for this version of "Jingle Bells" by the Keynotes with Primo Scala and his Banjo and his Accordion Orchestra, released on London Records:

I must point out that the Keynotes sing "o'er the hills we go" rather than fields and "Oh what joy..." Is that a British thing?

Anyway, the flipside is the first recording of the never-did-quite-catch-on holiday song "The Mistletoe Kiss":

Those sides have a fun old-timey singalong feel to them, but more on that next time.

I've had that 78 for I don't even know how long and just always figured that Primo Scala was a European banjoist who lead a band featuring accordions. 

At some point I learned that "Primo Scala" was actually a pseudonym used by British musician Harry Bidgood. I'm not even sure if he played banjo!

Incidentally, the London Records label was used by British Decca to release recordings in the U.S. (British and American Decca having earlier split off from each other). The original label is shown at the top.

In any event, "Primo" (billed first this time) and the Keynotes had a big U.S. hit earlier in 1948 with the old British tune "Underneath the Arches":

The success of this record spawned a large number of cover versions of the song by American artists in 1948.

The next year, the whole bunch released their version of "Cruising Down the River," a more recent British song:

This one did moderately well in the U.S. but was essentially buried by a zillion other popular recordings!

The biggest version of "Cruising Down the River" was by veteran bandleader Russ Morgan on Decca Records:

That sounds a lot like the Primo Scala record!

Perhaps coincidentally, Russ Morgan also cut a version of "The Mistletoe Kiss" in 1949 (a year after the Primo Scala record):

That has more of a Guy Lombardo feel!

I do "get" that the vocal group is called the Heartbeats because Russ Morgan's theme song was "Does Your Heart Beat for Me?" I always feel smart when I catch 70-odd year old references!

Perhaps my favorite version of the song is the slightly retitled "Mistletoe Kiss Polka" by Margaret Whiting on Capitol Records in 1949:

Fun that Frank De Vol pops up again!

Next we delve a bit more into the "sound" of the Primo Scala record...