A OTR remote from the Meadowbrook of the Casa Loma Orch........in advance of a Glen Grey list coming soon.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
And lastly...in advance of the Glen Grey/Casa Loma list...one more OTR remote....
One more OTR band remote...Coon Sanders Nighthawks Maytag Frolics Broadcast...1929
A short Maytag Frolics broadcast of the Coon Sanders Nighthawks from New Years Eve 1929
Another great OTR remote for ya...Lucky Millinder 07-10-1945 Savoy broadcast...
An especially good one, this!!
Lucky's Orch. at the Savoy Ballroom on July 10, 1945......
Russ Columbo NBC Radio Broadcast 07-15-1934
A nice little OTR track of a NBC b'cast with Columbo from 1934.......
Friday, November 5, 2010
Strange pics from the web for for Friday.........
Yeah...so pure.....soooo wholesome......
Yeah, letting little Annie play with the gun is always a good idea.....
"What happens in the cornfield STAYS in the cornfield, eh???" ;)
I'm feeling safe right about now.....lol
Under many different names....it's Harry Reser!! tenor banjo extraordinaire!!
Harry F. Reser (January 17, 1896 – September 27, 1965) was an American banjo player and bandleader. Born in Piqua, Ohio, Reser was best known as the leader of The Clicquot Club Eskimos.
Reser was regarded by some as the best banjoist of the 1920s. He played with midwestern dance bands, relocating to Buffalo, New York in 1920. Arriving in Manhattan the following year, he became an in-demand session musician during the early 1920s.
In 1925, he found fame as the director for NBC's Clicquot Club Eskimo Orchestra, continuing with that weekly half-hour until 1935. At the same time, he also led other bands using pseudonyms. "Harry Reser and His Six Jumping Jacks," with vocals by Tom Stacks, were the zany forerunners to comedy bands like Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
Reser and his band introduced on record, the standard "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" in 1934.
Harry Reser played "Tiger Rag" and "You Hit the Spot" in the Vitaphone musical short Harry Reser and His Eskimos (1936).
Reser remained active in music for the rest of his life, leading TV studio orchestras and playing with Broadway theatre orchestras. In 1960 he appeared with Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee and Buster Keaton in "A 70th Birthday Salute to Paul Whiteman" on TV's The Revlon Revue. He wrote several instructional books for the banjo, guitar, and ukulele.
In 1965 Reser died of a heart attack in the orchestra pit of the Broadway stage version of Fiddler on the Roof just prior to a performance. He was inducted into the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame, a museum in Oklahoma, in 1999.
From http://nfo.net/usa/r3.html :
As a very young man, Reser played banjo in various bands in Ohio (his home state) and in the midwest. In 1920, he was living and working in Buffalo, NY. But, in 1921, Gus Haenschen, musical director for Brunswick Recording Company - recognizing his talent - brought him to New York City where he recorded for for that company, and also became a popular 'sessons' man with other bands and recording companies. The December 1924 issue of 'Dominant Orchestra Monthly' (Page 67) credits Walter Haenschen for making "banjoist Harry Reser, of Dayton, Ohio", a recording artist: "His marvelous ability on the family of plectrum instruments attracted the attention of Mr. Gus Henschen [sic], recording manager of the Brunswick Phonograph Company, and Mr. Henschen brought Mr. Reser east to record for this company."
In 1922, Brunswick released a number of recordings of Reser playing solo banjo. All through the 1920s, Harry Reser's Jazz Pilots (and other names) were very popular and cut many records. Here's a couple of sound files of the Jazz Pilots playing their versions of The Monkey Doodle Oooo, (The tune was written for the Marx Brothers film 'The Cocoanuts'. I think it was composed by Kalmar and Ruby), and I've Never Seen A Straight Banana, (words and music: Edward Platt) both songs with Tom Stacks (their drummer) doing the vocalizing. ("Banana is from an Okeh Electric record number 40771, and both tunes were digitally re-engineered by Mr. Verne Buland.) The typical make up of the Jazz Pilots would include 3 or 4 banjos plus drums; a Brass Bass; Sax and Cornet. Personnel changed from time time, as did the group's instrumental makeup.
Up to then, Reser simply had one of the so called "studio" orchestras; -bands that just worked in the radio stations and recording studios for a sponsor, or to back up a singer. (Some other 'studio' orchestras of the era that won some fame on Radio Shows include; Harry Horlick and his A&P Gypsies; and Sam Lanin & his Ipana Troubadors.)
But Reser's big break came in 1925 when he found a sponsor in the form of the 'Clicquot Club' brand of soda-pop beverages, for their half hour NBC Radio Show. The band achieved national fame while broadcasting as "Harry Reser's Clicquot Club Eskimos". A group from within the "Eskimos" was also quite popular. The band's drummer - diminutive Tom Stacks (they say he weighed 100 pounds 'soaking wet'), often recorded with some of the "Eskimos" under the name of "Tom Stacks and His Jumping Jacks". Stacks handled most of the vocalizing for both bands - the Eskimos and the Jumping Jacks. Happily, Harry's music sold quite a lot of Clicquot Club Soda, and the brand kept his orchestra on the air until 1935.
There is still another interesting facet to Harry's career. All during the 1920s and 1930s, Harry recorded under a multitude of different band names. At the time, many other orchestras were also heard under differing names. This was usually to circumvent 'exclusivity' clauses in recording contracts (but there were other reasons as well). But Harry may have used more names than any other band (perhaps due to Gus Haenschen's/Carl Fenton's influence.) Here's one not shown on the list below. It's Harry Reser and a few of the Flit Killers, -thats Harry seated on the left, others are unidentified. They were heard on a popular radio program sponsored by a 'Bug Killer' with the "Flit" brand name. Here is a list of 51 band names that Reser used (that may still be missing a few):
TheBlue Jays, The Harry Reser Trio, The Blue Kittens, Harry F. Reser's Novelty Trio,
The Bluebirds, Harry Reser's Banjo Boys, The Bostonians, Harry Reser's String Orchestra,
The Campus Boys, Harry Reser's Syncopators, Casino Dance Orchestra, Rio Trio,
Century Serenaders, Rounders, Clicquot Club Eskimos, Roving Romeos, The
Club Royal Orchestra, The Royale Trio, The Four Minstrels, The Seven Little Polar Bears,
Frank Harrison's Banjo Orch., The Seven Rag Pickers, Phil Hughes and His High Hatters, The Seven Wild Men, The Jazz Pilots, The Six Hayseeds, Jimmy Johnston's Rebels, The Six Jumping Jacks, The Midnight Ramblers, Tom Stacks and The Jumping Jacks, The
Monarch Orchestra, Tom Stacks and his Minute Men, The Night Club Orchestra, The Ten Freshmen, The Okeh Syncopators, The Tickle Toe Ten, Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies, The Tuxedo Orchestra, The Park Lane Orchestra, The University Boys, The Parlophone Syncopators, The Varsity Four, The Plantation Players, The Victorian Syncopators, The Red Hotters, The Volunteer Firemen, Harry Reser and His Eskimos, Bill Wirges and his Orchestra, Harry Reser's Cliquot Club Eskimos, The Goodrich Zippers AND Harry Reser and His Orchestra....whew!! that's a lotta bands!!
Here's a few tunes....FUN STUFF!!
Heebie Jeebies
Crackerjax
Cliquot -as Harry Reser's Chicquot Club Eskimos
The Lunatic's Lullaby -as The Seven Wild Men
She's The Sweetheart Of Six Other Guys -as Harry Reser & his Six Jumping Jacks
Cat and dog -as The Harry Reser Banjo Crackerjax
Easy goin'
Kitten on the keys
Sugar blues
Little white lies -as Harry Reser's Chicquot Club Eskimos
At sundown -as Harry Reser's Chicquot Club Eskimos
By The Light Of The Stars
Chinnin' and Chattin' With May -as Frank Auburn & his Orchestra
Crazy Joe
Frosted chocolate
I Love The College Girls -as Harry Reser & His Six Jumping Jacks
I'm just wild about Animal Crackers -as The Seven Wild Men
(I Scream - You Scream - We All Scream For) Ice Cream -as Harry Reser & his Six Jumping Jacks
Oh, Look at That Baby
Send back my honeymoon
She's got it -as Harry Reser & His Six Jumping Jacks
When I take My Sugar To Tea -as Harry Reser's Radio Band
Black bottom -as Denza Dance Band
Blue River -as Denza Dance Band
Give me the Charleston *****(I included this track, as I've seen it appear several places as being by Harry Reser as the Denza Dance Band.....I, however, have a 78 of this same track on Columbia #412-D- as "Give Us the Charleston" by The Clover Gardens Orchestra, under the direction of W.C. Polla.)*****
Just a memory -as Denza Dance Band
Let's grow old together -as Denza Dance Band
Oh boy, what a girl -as Denza Dance Band
Speech -as Denza Dance Band
Ukelele lady -as Denza Dance Band
Blinky Moon Bay -Harry Reser as Earl Oliver Orch, V=Al Bernard
It's A Good Thing That Cows Don't Fly -as Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies
Thanks For The Buggy Ride -as Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies
The Village Blacksmith Owns The Village Now -as Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies V tom Stacks
You're Just a Great Big Baby Doll -as George Brooks Orch, V=Tom Stacks
Lo-Do-De-O -as the Six Jumping Jacks
I Don't Care -as The Victorian Syncopators
Calling -w/ Bill Wirgles (piano)
Collette -w/ Bill Wirgles (piano)
Snowflakes -w/ Bill Wirgles (piano)
Lonesome and sorry -as The Clicquot Club Eskimos
My Sunday Girl -H R & His Clicquot Club Eskimos
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? -H R & His Eskimos
Get 'Em in a Rumble Seat -H R& His Six Jumping Jacks
Hooray For The Irish! -H R& His Six Jumping Jacks
Mariane
Our Bungalow of Dreams
That's Her Now
When the Morning Glories Wake up in the Morning
Wait till Tomorrow Night -Harry Reser Orch. v= Al Bernard
Collegiate Sam -Harry Reser Orch v=Tom Stacks
Oh You Have No Idea -Harry Reser Orch v=Tom Stacks
The Coat and the Pants Do All The Work -Harry Reser Orch v=Tom Stacks
What'll You Do -Midnight Ramblers (Harry Reser ) (v: Tom Stacks)
Out of nowhere -as Harry Reser's Radio Band
Rio Rita -as Harry Reser's Rounders
Charleston Ball
Henrys Made a Lady Out of Lizzie
It's unanimous now
Oh, Baby
The village Blacksmith (2)
I Got a Code in My Doze -as Harry Reser's Syncopaters
It Ain't No Fault Of Mine -as Harry Reser's Syncopaters
When the Robert E Lee comes to town -as Harry Reser's Syncopaters
Collette -as Earl Oliver & His Orchestra (v: Arthur Fields)
Ever since the movies learned to talk -H R Orch v=Irving Kaufman
Where The Sweet Forget-Me-Nots Remember -as Victor King & His Conqueror Orchestra v: Irving Kaufman
Here Comes The Showboat
Highways Are Happy Ways -as Earl Randolph's Orchestra v: Tom Stacks
Make My Cot Where The Cot-Cot-Cotton Grows -as Midnight Ramblers v: Tom Stacks
I faw down an' go boom! -as Jerome Conrad and his Orchestra
Olaf (You ought-a hear Olaf laff) as Jerome Conrad and his Orchestra
Shimmy -Vic Meyers Orch, w/ Harry Reser
Sad -Vic Meyers Orch, w/ Harry Reser
What A Girl! What A Night!
http://www.mediafire.com/?48m7wov1z3ay58z
I'm amazed.........
I recently posted a large Ray Noble list. I gathered everything I could find, from multiple sources...good ones, and bad ones....high quality, and low...I scoured for some of these. I figured that with sooo many Noble fans out there, most of you had all of this stuff. WOW....an explosion of downloads! I must be onto something, doing the audio equivalent of dumpster diving for sources, and centralizing them in one post. I figure it saves the work for others who want to get a lot of exposure to certain artists, and then leads one to investigate further into what's available for purchase out there....which is a big reason as to why I don't always concern myself with bandwidth, the goal here is digging the music, getting into it more.....I'm not an audiophile (hey, my main collecting interest is OTR...never great quality, there, ya know???) The reason I'm writing this now is....requests....make them....I love finding this stuff, it helps add to my collection, too....SO REQUEST!! :) Or at least give suggestions....I love it. Thanks!!
Kittens.....Zelda stalking the elusive 78rpm in it's natural habitat......
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Duke Ellington-live at The Hurricane-New York 1944
Duke Ellington Orch. feat. Al Hibbler
05/06/1944
Perdido
Do nothin' til you hear from me
My gal Sal
Now I know
05/07/1944
Jumpin' punkins
Poinciana
It don't mean a thing
05/24/1944
Clemintine
Someone
05/27/1944
G.I Jive
Three Cent stomp
Johnny come lately
Blue skies
Sentimental lady
05/31/1944
Midriff
06/02/1944
Main Stem
My little brown book
06/04/1944
Too much in love
Mood to be wooed
Rex Stewart, Shelton Hemphill (trumpet)
Taft Jordan (trumpet, vocals on 7)
Ray Nance (trumpet, violin, vocals on 7)
Joe Nanton, Lawrence Brown, Claude Jones (trombone)
Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwicke (alto sax)
Jimmy Hamilton (tenor sax, clarinet)
Skippy Williams (tenor sax from 1 to 7)
Al Sears (tenor sax from 8 to 19)
Harry Carney (baritone sax)
Duke Ellington (piano)
Junior Raglin (bass)
Sonny Greer (drums)
Al Hibbler (vocals on 2 and 17)
New York, The Hurricane, from May, 6 to June, 4 1944
http://www.mediafire.com/?ps63p433dcauf4w
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Al Hibbler..............
Al Hibbler
Hibbler was born in Tyro, Mississippi, and was blind from birth. At the age of 12 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where he attended Arkansas School for the Blind, joining the school choir. Later he began working as a blues singer in local bands, failing his first audition for Duke Ellington in 1935. However, after winning an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee, he joined a band led by Jay McShann in 1942, and the following year joined Ellington's orchestra, replacing Herb Jeffries.
He stayed with Ellington for almost eight years, and featured on a range of Ellington standards including "Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me", the words for which were written specifically for him and which reached # 6 on the Billboard pop chart (and # 1 for eight weeks on the "Harlem Hit Parade") in 1944, "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues," and "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So." Although Hibbler's style was described as "mannered", "over-stated", and "full of idiosyncrasies" and "bizarre vocal pyrotechnics", he was also considered "undoubtedly the best" of Ellington's male vocalists. Whilst with Ellington, Hibbler won the Esquire New Star Award in 1947 and the Down Beat award for Best Band Vocalist in 1949.
Hibbler left Ellington's band in 1951 after a dispute over his wages. He then recorded with various bands including those of Johnny Hodges and Count Basie, and for various labels including Chess, Mercury, and Norgran, a subsidiary of Verve Records, for whom he released an LP, Al Hibbler Favorites, in 1953. In 1954 he released a more successful album, Al Hibbler Sings Duke Ellington, and in 1955, he started recording with Decca Records, with immediate success. His biggest hit was "Unchained Melody", which reached # 3 on the US pop chart, and its success led to network appearances, including a live jazz club remote on NBC's Monitor. Other hits were "He," "11th Hour Melody" and "Never Turn Back" (all in 1956). "After the Lights Go Down Low" (also in 1956) was his last top ten hit.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Hibbler became a civil rights activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey and in 1963 in Alabama. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record labels from carrying his work, but Frank Sinatra supported him and signed him to a contract with his label, Reprise Records. However, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. In 1971, Hibbler sang two songs at Louis Armstrong's funeral. In 1972 he made an album, A Meeting of the Times, with another fiercely independent blind musician, the multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
He died at Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago in 2001, at the age of 85.
Obituary from the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/al-hibbler-729067.html
Over the years, Duke Ellington hired more than 30 vocalists to sing with his bands. Al Hibbler, a rich-toned baritone whose over-stated style was full of idiosyncrasies, was undoubtedly the best of the men. Blind from birth, Hibbler formed a special relationship with Ellington during his eight years with the band. "He has ears that see," Ellington said.
Albert Hibbler, singer: born Little Rock, Arkansas 16 August 1915; married; died Chicago, Illinois 24 April 2001.
Over the years, Duke Ellington hired more than 30 vocalists to sing with his bands. Al Hibbler, a rich-toned baritone whose over-stated style was full of idiosyncrasies, was undoubtedly the best of the men. Blind from birth, Hibbler formed a special relationship with Ellington during his eight years with the band. "He has ears that see," Ellington said.
"He'd guide me out to the mike from the wings by talking," Hibbler said. "I'd walk straight to his voice. I'm the straightest walker you'd ever see, and I never used a cane. When it was time for me to come off, Duke would talk from the wings, and I'd follow his voice again. When we walked in the street, he'd put his shoulder to mine every so often, and I'd follow again. That way a lot of people never knew that I was blind."
Ellington was not always able to protect his protégé, however. On one occasion whilst the band was playing onstage at the San Francisco Opera House, Hibbler stepped outside the stage door for some air. The band heard his screams and when the musicians rushed out they found that someone had sneaked up to Hibbler, squashed out a cigarette in his face, and run off.
It's not quite clear whether it was the pianist Mary Lou Williams or the trumpeter Ray Nance who brought Hibbler to Ellington's attention. At the time, in 1943, Ellington already had four girl vocalists and certainly didn't need another. "A smart business mind would never have considered it," said Ellington. "But the first time I heard him I told him 'You're working for me.' He learned song after song, and soon he was our major asset."
"I liked Hibbler with Duke," Quincy Jones said. "He had the same sound as Harry Carney's baritone sax in the band that coarseness, the deep-rooted earthiness and warmth."
"I learned a lot from Hibbler," Ellington said. "I learned about senses neither he nor I ever thought we had. He had so many sounds that even without words he could tell of fantasy beyond fantasy. Frank Sinatra calls Hibbler and Ray Charles his two ace pilots." When Sinatra established his Reprise record company in 1961 Hibbler was one of the first solo artists he recorded.
Hibbler had perfect pitch and demonstrated it to me once as we walked along Lime Street in Liverpool, when he called out the notes in the cries of circling seagulls. He was proud of his unsighted abilities, and when someone asked him if he would ever want to see, answered, "No, I want to see the world as I see it in my mind and not see it like it actually is."
In 1972 Hibbler made an album with another fiercely independent blind musician, the multi-instrumentalist Rahasaan Roland Kirk. Kirk used to insist on choosing his own postcards and then dictating the written message. I have a card from Tokyo printed with congratulations on being a big girl now that I am three and another from Paris showing the Duke of Wellington examining the corpse of Napoleon. Playing three reed instruments simultaneously to accompany Hibbler, Kirk sounded like the entire Ellington band.
Hibbler studied voice at the Conservatory for the Blind in Little Rock. After working with local bands he was granted an audition with the Ellington band in 1935 but turned up drunk and didn't get the job. He returned to working with local bands until he joined the one led by Jay McShann in 1942. "It was a gas to have Hibbler on the stand," McShann remembers. "He was outgoing and he loved people."
In May 1943, eight years after the first disastrous audition, he finally joined Ellington. Never a jazz singer, he recorded a string of hits with Ellington that included "Don't You Know I Care?", "I'm Just a Lucky So and So", and "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues". In 1947 he sang the opening part of Ellington's Liberian Suite, "I Like the Sunrise", which turned out to be one of his best recordings. That same year he recorded two instrumentals that Ellington had written in 1940, now with added lyrics and retitled "Don't Get Around Much Any More" and "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me".
"Duke's tenor player taught me a lot about singing," Hibbler said. "I would sit beside him and he'd take that horn and blow low notes right in my ear. 'Get down there, way down,' he'd say." Whilst with Ellington Hibbler won the Esquire New Star Award and the Downbeat award for Best Band Vocalist.
In 1950, when Mercer Ellington, Duke's much less talented son, formed his own band, Duke gave him Hibbler to be his singer and that year Hibbler had a hit when he recorded "White Christmas" with Mercer. Frightened that Mercer was doing too well, Duke snatched Hibbler back. But their long association ended unhappily in September 1951 with a squabble over whether Hibbler, who had taken a job as a solo at the Hurricane Club in Boston where Duke had first heard him, was allowed to freelance. Ellington was furious. "How dare you sing without me? Who d'you think you are? Billy Eckstine? Frank Sinatra?" Hibbler's reply was imaginatively obscene.
He took off on a successful solo career which included recordings with Count Basie, Johnny Hodges, Gerald Wilson and his records under his own name figured highly in the charts. The million-seller "Unchained Melody" (1955) went to No 5 in the Hit Parade and four other songs of his won places in the US Top Thirty. In all he made 18 albums under his own name between 1952 and 1982.
By Steve Voce
Here's a few tunes for ya:
Dedicated to you
How long
Danny boy
I got it bad (and that ain't good)
If I knew you were here
Don't take your love from me
Song of the wanderer
S'posin
White Christmas
I surrender, dear
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Fat and Forty (w/ The Tab Smith All-Stars)
Stormy weather
Fat and Forty (w/ Billy Strayhorn)
Cherry
Solitude
Stardust
My little brown book
Honeysuckle Rose
Feather roll blues
The blues came falling down
My ev'a lovin' baby
Old folks
Summertime
I'm traveling light
Trees
Now I lay me down to sleep
Lover, come back to me
This is always
Tonight I shall sleep (with a smile on my face)
I won't tell a soul I love you
Ghost of love
Trees (2)
Hey baby
Summertime (2)
It don't mean a thing(if it ain't got that swing)
Ol' man river
What will I tell my heart
On a slow boat to China
Poor butterfly
Please
I love you sweetheart of all my dreams
Believe it beloved
By the river St. Marie
There is no greater love
It must be true
After the lights go down low
After the lights go down low (2)
I don't stand a ghost of a chance
You'll never know
Night and day
Pennies from heaven
Shanghai Lil
Stella by starlight
September in the rain
Where are you
Count every star
There are such things
Where or when
Ray Noble...........a big 'ol jumble of a list......
Ray Noble (17 December 1903 – 3 April 1978) was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day. The most popular vocalist with Noble's studio band was Al Bowlly.
The Bowlly/Noble recordings achieved popularity in the United States. Union bans prevented Noble from taking British musicians to America so he arranged for Glenn Miller to recruit American musicians. Glenn Miller played the trombone in the Ray Noble orchestra which performed Glenn Miller's composition "Dese Dem Dose" as part of the medley "Dese Dem Dose/An Hour Ago This Minute/Solitude" during a performance at the Rainbow Room in 1935. The American Ray Noble band had a successful run at the Rainbow Room in New York City with Bowlly as principal vocalist.
Bowlly returned to England but Noble continued to lead bands in America, moving into an acting career portraying a stereotypical upper-class English idiot. His last major successes as a bandleader came with Buddy Clark in the late 1940s.
Ray Noble wrote both lyrics and music for many songs that became popular, contributing "Love Is The Sweetest Thing", "Cherokee", "The Touch of Your Lips", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" and "The Very Thought Of You" to popular culture. He co-wrote "Goodnight, Sweetheart" (a number one hit for Guy Lombardo on U.S. charts), "Turkish Delight" and "By the Fireside". The Ray Noble composition "You're So Desirable" was recorded by Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson, and by Robert Palmer in 1990.
Ray Noble was also an arranger who scored many record hits in the 1930s: "Easy to Love" (1936), "Mad About the Boy" (1932), "Paris in the Spring" (1935).
Noble and Bowlly's 1934 recording of "Midnight, the Stars and You" was prominently featured on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining in 1980.
Another example of a Noble/Bowlly classic, the 1931 song "Guilty", can be found on the Amélie film soundtrack.
Noble played the piano but seldom did so with his orchestra. In a movie short from the 1940s featuring Ray Noble and Buddy Clark (one of his most popular band singers), Ray Noble is asked by the announcer to play one of his most popular hits. He sits down at the piano and plays "Goodnight, Sweetheart" ("Goodnight sweetheart, 'til we meet tomorrow. Goodnight sweetheart, parting is such sorrow"). This is the song that once seemed to be played at the end of every high school and college prom, the end of every party featuring live music, and the last song played by a dance band to signal the end of the evening.
Although Noble was no singer, he did appear twice as an upper crust Englishmen on two of his more popular New York records, 1935's Top Hat and 1937's Slumming on Park Avenue.
Noble provided music for many radio shows like The Charlie McCarthy Show and Burns and Allen and also guest appeared in some of their films. He and his orchestra appeared with Edgar Bergen in the 1942 film Here We Go Again and in 1937's A Damsel in Distress (film) with Burns and Allen. Noble played a somewhat "dense" character who was in love with Gracie Allen. His catchphrase was "Gracie, this is the first time we've ever been alone together."
From: http://www.parabrisas.com/d_nobler.php
British orchestra leader Ray Noble found success on both sides of the Atlantic. He rose to prominence in his native land during the mid-1920s and in 1929 was appointed Director of Light Music at British label HMV. There he led the New Mayfair Orchestra, a studio group which featured some of the best British musicians of the day, borrowed for pick-up work from other bands, mainly that of Lew Stone. Notable was vocalist Al Bowlly, who recorded many sides with Noble's orchestra. In 1933 Noble toured for the first time, taking a hand-picked outfit to the Netherlands. It was the first time that he led a group in public.
Noble's recordings sold well in the United States, and in 1934 he decided to move across the Atlantic, taking Bowlly with him. In contrast to the straight dance music that his British orchestra had played Noble embraced jazz upon his arrival in America. He employed Glenn Miller to assemble him a top notch band, and Miller did just that. Noble's new group featured such talented artists as trumpeters Charlie Spivak and Pee Wee Erwin, trombonist Will Bradley, saxophonist Bud Freeman, guitarist Fred van Eps, and pianist Claude Thornhill.
Noble's orchestra settled in at the Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room in 1935, with Miller taking on much of the arranging duties. Though jazz was prevalent in its book it was on the ballads where the group shined, particularly on numbers which featured Bowlly. Noble's American band never did as well as his British outfit, partly due to inferior recordings and partly due to Noble's inability to completely grasp and exploit the abilities of his musicians. He often seemed in awe of his men's talent, as if he couldn't believe what he heard.
Though Noble's orchestra proved popular with the public, backstage the story was not as happy. Miller emerged as a favorite among many of the men, a fact often resented by Noble. The band also put in a grueling schedule, working well into the night seven days a week. Stress levels were high, and many of the key musicians had left by the end of 1936. In 1937 open conflict broke out amongst the members with the result that Noble quit as leader and the group disbanded.
After his orchestra broke up Noble left New York for the West Coast, where he formed another less-noted band and served as musical director on the Burns and Allen and Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy radio programs. He also worked sporadically in Hollywood, scoring for several films and appearing in two. Noble remained in the United States until at least 1959. He eventually returned to England, retiring to Jersey in the Channel Islands. Ray Noble died of cancer in 1978.
Ok.....enough with the bio. This is a list of everything I have from Ray Noble. It's a fairly big list. In the effort to get this one up, I've scoured every source I could find to get as many songs as I could. Bit rates and quality vary, there are broadcasts, and studio tracks. Some tracks are from my collection, some from friends, and quite a few from sources found online...royalty free sites, archives, and from various downloads....in other words, quite the jumble. I know there are quite a few Noble fans out there (thinking of you, specifically, Dylan Ross), I'm posting a lot of this knowing that you all may probably have most of it....in the event that you don't.....here it is. In that the list is so large, I've not done quite as much of the usual research that I do on dates, etc....this list has been taking so long to put together, that, in the essence of wanting to get it up, I have not done that this time...(I may come back very soon and add a lot of that in to the post....not just now...I apologize)
So now....here it is...such as it is....I hope everyone gets a little something from it :)
Copper Blues (Intro: Dancing shoes)
Baby you've got the right idea
Every day away from you
Crazy feet
Allah's holiday
Brighter than the sun
All I do is dream of you
Crazy rhythm (b'cast)
Dipsy doodle
Cherokee
Easy to love
El Relicario
Footprints in the snow
Haunted house
I'll follow my secret heart
I'll be around v=Anita Ellis (b'cast)
Amore v=Anita Newton (b'cast)
How are things in Glocca Morra v=Buddy Clark
A foggy day
Let's face the music v=Fred Astaire
Double trouble v=Freshmen
Clouds
Goodnight sweetheart
A bedtime story
A couple of fools in love
After all you're all I'm after
All over Italy
And so goodbye
Beat of my heart
Beautiful lady in blue
Belle of Barcelona (b'cast)
Beside a Dutch canal
Blue moon
Blues in my heart
But definitely
Butterflies in the rain
By the fireside
California here I come
Can't we meet again
Close your eyes
Did you ever see a dream walking
Dinner for one please, James
Dreaming a dream
Dreams that don't grow old
Dreamy serenade
Driftin' tide
Everything's been done before
Experiment
Freckle face, you're beautiful
Good evening
Goodnight little girl of my dreams
Goodnight sweetheart
Goodnight Vienna
Grinzing
Guilty
Gypsy fiddles
Hand in hand
Hang out the stars in Indiana
Happy
Happy and contented
Have you ever been lonely
Hiawatha's lullaby
Hold me
How could I be lonely
Die Eensaam Weg (The Lonesome Road) Al Bowlly in Afrikaans
It's all forgotten now
The prisoner's song
Blue Prelude w/ Paul Robeson
http://www.mediafire.com/?vdgnf2gsmb13a35
In the moonlight
I've got a feeling
Just imagine
Makin' wicky wacky down in Waikiki
I know now
In a little gypsy tea room
I've got my love to keep me warm
Let's call a heart a heart
Let's spill the beans
Little old lady
More than you know
I used to be color blind
Mad dogs and Englishmen w/ Noel Coward
Just keepin' on w/ Paul Robeson
Little pal w/ Paul Robeson
Oh, you nasty man
Linda
It's all forgotten now
I wished on the moon
Not bad
Linda medley v=Buddy Clark (b'cast)
I hadn't anyone 'til you v= Tony Martin
Living in clover
A letter to my mother
A little kiss each morning
A little white gardenia
I guess I'll have to change my plan
I'll forsake all others
I'll string along with you
I love you truly
I'm glad I waited
I'm misunderstood (b'cast)
I'm saving the last waltz for you
I'm telling the world she's mine
I never had a chance
I never had a chance (vers 2)
I only want one girl
I shall still keep smiling along
It's bad for me
It's great to be in love
It's just a little street where old friends meet
I've got you under my skin
I was true
June time is love time
Lady in blue
Let's swing it
Little Dutch mill
Looking on the bright side of life
Look what you've done
Love is the sweetest thing
Love locked out
Love tales
Lullaby of Broadway
Maybe it's because I love you too much
Midnight the stars and you
My heart is saying
Now
Oceans of time
Old covered bridge hill
On a steamer coming over
One morning in May
Paris in the spring
The old spinning wheel
Medley: What More Can I Ask for/By the Fireside/love is the greatest thing
Nice work if you can get it v=Fred Astaire
Lady of Spain
http://www.mediafire.com/?ggm3adzs9t9a463
Terribly fond of you (Intro-dance away your blues)
So the bluebirds and the blackbirds got together
Someone
Whispering
Shout for happiness
Twentieth Century blues
What a perfect combination
Stay on the right side of the road
Tiger rag
Who walks in when I walk out (1)
Who walks in when I walk out (2)
Speedboat Bill
Goodnight sweetheart (show closing)
Velia (b'cast)
Veni Veni
Repeal the blues w/ the Three Ginx
Rhythm is our business
Sleep
Snowball
Sweet Sue just you
This little piggy went to market
Way back home
Ray Noble talks about Al Bowlly
Pettin' in the park
Please
Poor me poor you
Remember me
Roll on Mississippi
When you've got a little Springtime in your heart
Where are you girl of my dreams w/ Al Bowlly and Anona Winn
The physician w/ Gertrude Lawrence
Slumming on Park Avenue w/ The Merry Macs
Somebody ought to be told
Sailin' on the Robert E. Lee
Seven years with the wrong woman
Sing as we go
Standing on the corner
That's what life is made of
There's a ring around the moon
There's something in the air
The touch of your lips
The very thought of you
This is the day of days
Time on my hands
Top hat white tie and tails
Way back home
When you've fallen in love
When you were the girl on the scooter
Why be so unkind to me
With all my heart
With all my love and kisses
You're more than all the world to me
You're the cream in my coffee
You're twice as nice
When my little Pomeranian met your little Pekinese
Whispers in the dark
When day is done v=Joe Morrison (b'cast)
Remember me v=Tony Martin
That old feeling v=Tony Martin (b'cast)
http://www.mediafire.com/?ec3qwg58sbq2lw2
The new member of the house.........
We have new baby....Zelda Fitzgerald Von Hindenburg (Sarah's idea....long story), I voted for Ethel Rosenberg (I lost). We were originally putting together names for a boy (Alger Hiss was my fave, or G. Gordon Kitty).....we have a girl, a little 12 week old girl.....meet Zelda! (She's quite the fearless demon, and I'm now sure she will soon be destroying many priceless antique Christmas ornaments)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)