The record changer (Feb-Dec 1948)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

;s most of this side, and is far from being li to her usual standard of interest — the ;tie is somewhat at fault. The conven snality of the Kenton band is rather locking, and Kenton's short piano solo in ;.e boogie woogie vein is quite good. The He was cut only three years ago, and yet ,e Kenton crew has "progressed" so much jjat this release will probably bring consid:rable embarrassment to Stan. Personally, ion't mind the band this way, especially Benton's piano, but there's not much hap) -ning. M2L Red Nichols' You're My Everything E as meaningless as his first Capitol sides; e solos fall flat, especially Heinie Beau's arinet, and Drummer Rollie Culver's : hah-tchah has me mumbling to myself. :nt the wrhole conception is somewhat disi rbing — a small group which evidently is ■y'mg to sound like a big one, or at least lowing that it contains musicians who can s;ad arrangements for cornet, clarinet, and mor sax. My attitude has generally been -:iat if God has permitted a small group to •cord, it should be thankful and should -oceed to play like a small group and not Y.itate its bigger and oafier brothers. (At orst, half an oaf is better than one.) Of ijurse, nothing can be done if the talent volved is second-rate. That goes for the -ranger as well as the executants. 1 3. The Holly-wood Hucksters, consisting 'f a gane of house men, play / Apologize, and it amounts to lots of sentimental and pretty clarinet by Benny Goodman, some somewhat impressionistic xylophone by Red Norvo, and not too much else. Quite pleasant mood music, expertly executed, and far better than one would expect from the other two sides from this session. One suspects its lack of flash had Capitol disturbed until now. 4. Sonny Greer and the Duke's Men do one of those solo-after-solo numbers, Bug in a Rug. Barney Bigard, who like Goodman on the other side is not at his best, nonetheless is the main show and does a nice job of holding the performance together. The last-chorus riff is deadly, but Otto Hardwick saves it by starting a brief alto sax solo as though he's Jimmie Noone, and then playing it out like an old-time tenor sax. A most refreshing variation from the tediousness that fills most present-day records. Warning — if a one-bar interpolation of The Campbells Are Coming can ruin your day for you as easily as it can curdle mine, steer clear. There's a cat named Duke Brooks at the piano who should be hanged by the neck until he promises not to try to be such a wise guy ever again. 5. Baby, sung by Peggy Lee, is unhappily not the wonderful Fields-McHugh "Blackbirds" tune. It's a class-A dog, despite all the protestations of the album notes ("Nobody knows why this superb side went unreleased all these years," and so on for nine lines). Miss Lee, incidentally, has improved enormously since this side was cut, if only because she now uses her voice, such as it is. 6. Easily the best side is Rex Stewart's Tain't Like That, and darned if it doesn't sound (thanks largely to Rex, Trombonist Larry Brown, and Baritone Saxman Harry Carney) remarkably like some of Rex's excellent late-thirties' cuttings under his own name. Fortunately, the recording balance gets away after a chorus or so from Eddie Heywood's very sad piano, and from the second chorus on it's like old times. Highly recommended for Ellington fans, especially those who felt that Duke hit his peak with the silver-and-black Brunswicks (eight or ten years ago, that is). 7. Benny Carter's rhapsodic arranging and alto sax style gets a thorough workout on / Can't Get Started, and I wonder if it sounds very dated to today's kids. Frankly, Benny hasn't changed much in ten years, but he was far ahead of the game and the tasteful way he schmaltzes is really quite interesting. Don't play this side too often, and I think you'll find it pleasant listening. 8. Ditto for Eddie Miller's Just One More Chance. It's another showpiece for tenor sax, with the odd twist of having Tommy Linehan open and close the side on organ. Believe me, if he hadn't gone back to the piano in between, I'd be just as satisfied, although, oddly enough, his solo