Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1929-10)

October, 1929 33 The Phonograph *a« i i - i. i i i and Laughing Marionette (22067). Hylton is a prime favorite in England and if this record in any fair criterion, deservedly so. Laughing Marionette is a first rate virtuoso performance, and I Lift Up My Finger delightfully amusing as well as highly danceable and exceedingly catchy. The recording is very realistic, but the extreme reverberation is apt to cause groove-jumping unless the record is carefully handled. A sure winner. Among the regular Victor bands, Leo Reisman is at his best in Can’t We Be Friends and Evangeline on 22070, both with fine fiddle and piano work and very pleasing tone. Liza and Do What You Do (from Show Girl) strike me as less effective, although the songs themselves are better and Reisman’s performances have considerable originality (22069). The Coon-Sanders or- chestra does the best version of And Especially You I have heard to date; the Sousaphone playing calls for special comment. (22077—on the reverse Jean Goldkette has a nice version of Birmingham Bertha). The Coon-Sanders band also has a sonorous Flippity Flop on 22089, coupled with Ben Pollack’s fair True Blue Lou. Pollack is heard alone on 22071 (Wontcha? and In the Hush of the Night), and in Bashful Baby, coupled with Arden and Ohman’s I’ve Waited a Lifetime for You (22074). Wontcha? is Pollack’s best piece; the others are fair. Ohman and Arden are best in their piano interludes. Henry Busse does neat versions of Beautiful and Sweethearts’ Holiday—the latter with timely comments on the evening parking problem (22086). Rudy Vallee offers Me Queres and On the Alamo (22084), Pretending and Where Are You Dream Girl? (22062). Pre- tending is played with more animation than one expects from Vallee, and Rudy himself distinguishes his otherwise undistinguished choruses by inserting one in Spanish in Me Queres. The piano work calls for praise here. George Olsen plays very vigorous and full-blooded versions of If You Believed in Me and Song of the Moonbeams on 22065, and less striking but neat performances of The Moonlight March and Out Where the Moonbeams are Born on 22063. The title announcements, quaisi radio should be noticed. The All Star orchestra has an interesting version of Wait- ing at the Eng of the Road, coupled with the Troubadours’ smooth Song of the Nile on 22073. Johnny Johnson is not particularly outstanding this month in Marianne and Just You Just Me (22085). Two disks are worth singling out among the Southern series, V-40113 and V-40111. On the former Billy Hays plays a peppy Do You Believe and a slow catchy I’ve Got to Have a Mamma Now, with an amusing chorus in the modern philosophic vein. On the latter Doc Daugherty’s band displays some natty fiddle and piano playing; the former made me think for a moment of Joe Venuti—surely lively praise. Louis Armstrong wins undisputed first place on the Okeh list with two of his best disks, both of which are issued in the race and also in the regular series. All the selections are from Connie’s “Hot Chocolates Black and Blue and Ain’t Misbehavin’ (41276, also 8714), That Rhythm Man and Sweet Savannah Sue (41281, also 8717). All are excellently done, featuring characteristic celesta and trumpet playing, and Armstrong’s own inimitable husky, breathless, heart- felt singing, perhaps at its very best in the genuinely moving Why am I so Black and Blue? Not far behind comes faith- ful Miff Mole, this month with Moanin’ Low and Birming- ham Bertha (41273). The latter is particularly good, with the trombone and piano work that make Miff’s records al- ways worth hearing. The Dorsey Brothers have two re- leases, 41272 (Your Mother and Mine and Singing in the Rain) and 41279 (Maybe, coupled with Smith Ballew’s fervent Miss You). All make pleasant listening and danc- ing, but are not exceptionally notable. A new orchestra, that of Sunny Clapp, does very nice work with Bundle of Southern Sunshine and I Found the Girl of My Dreams (41283). The arrangements are not particularly original, but the playing is restrained and quiet, with fine sustained tone, and the pieces smooth and attractive. An excellent disk for those who like dreamy dance music. Smith Ballew is heard again on 41282 in Just You Just Me and Blond the former quiet yet animated, and the latter sprightly, with a good vocal chorus. Morelli’s Bohemians are very faintly humorous in Joe College, coupled with You Laughed When I Told You I Loved You; Sannella’s Novelty Salon Orchestra is rather dull—except for Smith Ballew’s chorist- ing—in Ich Liebe Dich and At Close of Day (41278) ; the Carolina Club provides mild versions of Am I a Passing Fancy? and Do Something (41277—featuring a prominent Monthly Review violin obbligato) ; and Troy Floyd brings out a new record of his two-part Shadowland Blues, sad, wailing, and very sonorous (8719). The Campus Cut-Ups top the Edison list with very hot, complicated versions of I’m the Medicine Man< for the Blues and Campus Rush, the latter with some marvelous work by the clarinet choir (14044). B. A. Rolfe keeps up his good work with Why Can’t You and Spanish Doll. The former is coupled with Phil Spitalny’s neat So Sentimental (14048), and the latter with the California Ramblers’ smooth Wishing and Waiting for Love. Spanish Doll features some good accordion playing, but Why Can’t You is a little dance masterpiece, neither too hot nor too sweet, highly danceable, with a fine variety of effects, and an interesting accompani- ment to the vocal chorus. The Piccadilly Players do capa- blea versions of two good songs, Walking with Susie and Susianna on 14020; the California Ramblers offer conven- tional oriental stuff in Broken Idol, but the coupling, Song of the Blues, is much better—their most successful Edison release I have yet heard. (14045) ; finally come the Picca- dilly Players again, this time with a sprightly, very catchy You Ought to See My Baby, coupled with Ev’ry Day Away from, You (14038). For Columbia the Cavaliers play quiet waltzes, Sleepy Valley and Recollections, on 1921-D; the Charleston Chasers do fine work with Lovable and Sweet and Red Hair and Freckles, both featuring deft piano, percussion, and double bass playing, to say nothing of the trumpeting (1925-D) ; Merle Johnson’s Saxophone Quartet is surpris- ingly interesting in Baby Where Can You Be and Do Some- thing,—fortunately there is not too much legato playing (1923-D) ; the Ipana Troubadours do well with a spirited Hang On to Me and a more songful Just You Just Me, both good songs (1920-D) ; Lombardo’s Royal Canadians give restrained performances—distinguished by delicate wood wind playing—of Why Did You? and You Belong to Me (1927-D) ; Fred Rich does fairly well with Wishing and Waiting for Love and Tip-Toe Through the Tulips (1924-D); the Cliquot Club is rather colorless in There Must be Somebody, but brisker in Marianne (1936-D) ; Ben Selvin offers a very nice How Am I to Know coupled with a smooth performance of I’ve Waited a Lifetime for You (1937-D); Ernie Golden is pretty good in Hello Margot! and Satisfied (1939-D);; the Knickerbockers do very well with the Song of the Blues and Slpng of Siberia, both in- teresting pieces effectively played (1940-D) ; Paul Specht gives very songful versions of The Album of My Dreams and The World’s Greatest Sweetheart (1943-D) ; Ted Wal- lace is rather colorless in Huggable Kissable You and Sweethearts’ Holiday (1938-D) ; Ferara’s Golden Hawaiians provide better ukulele stuff than the ordinary in Singing in the Rain and Song of the Nile (1942-D); Larry Siry gives graceful, salon performances of It’s You and Some- body Mighty Like You, featuring some good string playing (1949-D) ; the Ipana Troubadours are heard again in a powerful Too Wonderful and a lively Steppin’ Along (1947- D) ; Paul Whiteman is much more interesting than of late in Oh Miss Hannah (a very attractive song) and a re-played version of his famous China Boy (1945-D; and finally, the Mound City Blue Blowers provide hot, terribly strident performances of Indiana and Fire House Blues (1946-D). Brunswick provides a number of winners this month, led by the best Nichols disk in many moons—the Five Pen- nies are rapidly approaching their old form: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody and Alice Blue Gown, both good, but the former particularly so (4456). The Cotton Pickers offer a very peppy and sonorous No Parking! coupled with a slow- er St. Louis Gal (4440) ; the Kansas City Stampers also go in for high speed virtuoso playing in Good Feelin’ Blues and Shanghai Honeymoon, interestingly scored and bril- liantly played (7091); Abe Lyman gives a bouncing version , of Suzanna (not Susianna—another and better song), coupled with a performance of Junior that makes the very best there is to be made of that piece (4423); Ray Miller plays someone’s Falling in Love and You Want Loving smoothly and with very nice orchestral tone; the Regent Club offers very soulful -versions of Mistakes and If We Never Should Meet Again 4473) ; Arnold Johnson does fairly well with Pretty Little Maid of Old Madrid and I’m Doing What I’m Doing for Love (4453), but better in a full-voiced Don’t Hang Your Dreams on a Rainbow,