Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 4 (1931-01)

136 POPULAR Instrumentals The instrumental field is not overcrowded this month, with only three artists joining the indefatigable Hawaiians— Palakiko and Paaluhi. Their contribution is a coupling of the Kalima Waltz and Kahala March on Brunswick 4956. but more interesting than their steel guitar work is the attractive playing of Hurley Kaylor, making his disc debut in piano versions of such agreeably catchy tunes of the moment- as I’m Yours and If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight (Victor 22570). The technique is that of orthodox movie and dance pianism, but Kaylor is pleasingly unpretentious and ingenious in his arrangements and performances. His work should find favor. From the Spanish lists comes C. Ludlow in violin solo versions of Estrellita and Mi Viejo Amor, played molto lento, molto espressivo (Brunswick 41174); and from the Race lists comes Jelly-Roll Morton in in- tricately devised piano solos—Pep and Frances (Victor V-38627), played with gusto and rich in catchy phrases and cross rhythms. Starred Warblers The vocal lists are also pretty thin, and it is not difficult to single out one disc from each company’s output for special mention. Ethel Waters leads the group without great diffi- culty with a magnificently gusty version of I Got Rhythm— one of her beSt recordings—coupled with an intense but somewhat affected performance of Three Little Words (Columbia 2346-D). Nick Lucas does rather better with Three Little Words (Brunswick 4959); his version is dapper, warm, yet not too sentimentalized. The coupling—Wasting My Love on You—is less effective; but Lucas is at his best again in Maybe It’s Love and a rather teary version of I’m Yours, on Brunswick 4960. Okeh’s best is Segar Ellis What’s the Use and If I Could Be With You (41452), cleverly treated in a rhythmical slightly blue style, reminiscent of his fine piano solo work. He is much less effective in his unpolished performances of Body and Soul and Sweet Jennie Lee on Okeh 41470. For Victor the National Cavaliers strut their best wares in a very neat recording of Here Comes the Sun and Sing, done with good fresh vigor and briskness, smoothly turned, but not sentimentalized (22559). Miscellaneous Voices of Song Brunswick: Marian Harris is well below her usual standard in a very tearful He’s Not Worth Your Tears, but My Man from Caroline Js done with a fine robust lilt worthy of her best moments (4972). Belle Baker is as big-voiced as ever, but extremely affected in her version of Laughing at Life and Sweetheart of My Student Days (4962); Chester Gaylord enlivens I’ll Be Blue and What’s the Use? with a well- handled rhythmic manner and an avoidance of ultra-senti- mentality (4928); Frank Marvin is extremely well-recorded in rather metallic but high spirited swinging performances of My Baby Just Cares for Me and You’re, Simply Delish (4949) ; Cotton and Morpheus have good material for their characteristic combination of song and blackface wisecrackery in Never Swat a Fly and It’s a Great Life (4951) and Freddie Rose has suitably bland fare in Bye Bye Blues and With Pleasure (4929). Columbia: Lee Morse's voice is invariably well-recorded, but surely never better than in Wasting My Love on You and Loving You (2333-D). The performances themselves are characteristic, but not as charming as some of her Southern styled songs. Art Gillham monthly plunges deeper into sheer bathos: Passing Time With Me and When They Changed My Name to a Number (2331-D) will certainly satisfy the taste of the seeker for unadulterated sentimentality. Roy Evans sings more spiritedly, with considerable yodeling and a good deal of rough zest in It’s an Old Spanish Custom in the Moonlight and I’m tickled Pink with a Blue-Eyed Baby (2338-D). Okeh: Besides Segar Ellis' two releases, the only other vocal is the Three Boswell Sisters' coupling Don’t Tell Her and I’d Like to Make Your Happy, whispered harmoniza- tions of the conventional trio type. The Phonograph Monthly Review Southern The best sketches are the Country Fair by Herschel Brown and his Boys on Okeh 45494 (Hootchie Cootchie dancers and other midway attractions discussed with incidental music), and Parts 11 and 12 of the popular series, Corn Licker Still in Georgia, by McMichen, Puckett, Tanner, et al, on Columbia 15618-D. The best instrumental discs are Chuck Darling's sizzling harmonica solos, Harmonica Rag and Blowin’ the Blues, on Victor V-40330, and the Kessinger Brothers' fast fiddle and guitar work in Little Brown Jug and Polka Four on Brunswick 468. Of the old time balladists I single out the Black Brothers in very tragic versions of No Christmas Times for Poor Little Nell and Where Will You Be Next New Year’s Day? (Okeh 45493); McFarland and Gardner in sweetly sad versions of Carry Me Back to Old Virginny and Home Sweet Home (Brunswick 475); the McCravy Brothers looking toward the promised land in No More Dying and The Better Home (Columbia 15617-D); and Alfred G. Karnes in Called to the Foreign Field and Do Not Wait Till I’m Laid ’Neath the Clay (Victor V-40327). In livelier vein are Frankie Marvins I’m Just a Gambler and Hobo Bill’s Last Ride (Brunswick 474); Jimmie Rodger's Gambler’s Blues and Pistol Packin’ Papa (Victor 22554); Hoke Rice and his boys in very peppy ver- sions of the Wabash Blues and Put On Your Old Grey Bon- net (Brunswick 473); and the Fox Chasers in gay breakdowns Forked Deer and Eighth of January (Okeh 45496). Race The “Race” output is best characterized this month by adding a “y”. Edith Wilson starts off with the hit from the current “Blackbirds”—My Handy Man Ain’t Handy Any More (Victor V-38624); Ethel Walters (making a welcome return to her most effective field) archly sings a very roguish blues-monologue—I Like the Way He Does It (Co- lumbia 14565); while Butterbeans and Susie transgress even more elastic limits of good taste in their Elevator Papa— Switchboard Mama (Okeh). The Smith Sisters are both represented this month: Bessie in sad, big voiced versions of Hot Springs Blues and Lookin’ for My Man Blues (Columbia 14569-D), and Clara in intimate dialogues with Tommy Jordan, What Makes You Act Like That and You’re Getting Old on Your Job (Columbia 14568-D). Victor features choruses—the Pace Jubilee Singers with Hattie Parker in intensely heartfelt versions of What Are They Doing in Heaven Today and Jesus is a Rock in a Wleary Land (V-38631), and the Memphis Pullman Porters' Chorus in un- polished performances of There’s Joy in That Land and Some- body’s Knocking at Your Door (V-38626). The Okeh list is topped by Lonnie Johnson and Violet Green in saucy duets— You Had Too Much and Don’t Wear It Out (8839), and the Brunswick list by Spider Carter in a lamenting Dry Spell Blues, coupled with Ell-Zee Floyd’s Show Bound Blues (7181). DANCE The Admirable Lombardos Guy Lombardo and his brothers and their Royal Canadians have long assumed the ranking of one of the top-notch dance orchestras, and their fans’ demand for a twelve-inch re- cording is at last satisfied. According to a press report, this disc of the St. Louis Blues (coupled with a Stephen Foster Medley on Columbia 50256-D) was issued in response to a petition from readers of the Buffalo Times, whose columnist, James G. Crossley, ran a coupon “We want Guy Lombardo’s Orchestra to make a twelve-inch record of the St. Louis Blues.” Several thousand of the coupons were filled in by Lombardo’s big Buffalo following, and the Columbia Com- pany promptly gave Lombardo the job of making the disc. It should go big not only in Buffalo, for it is one of the finest performances of the St. Louis Blues available on records,