Variety (Aug 1937)

44 VARIETY MUSIC Wednesday, August 25, 1937 Disc Reviews By Abel Green The new Victor and Bluebird re- cordings have been altered in trade- marked legend, as have also their envelopes, to indicate a 'restricted use notice,' primed to curb the use of the new series of disks for broad- cast purposes. Idea is to limit them to home usage only and thus stymie the hinterland broadcasting stations because of the wide etherization of disks, t6 the detriment of sales, art- ists etc* Jesse Crawford and his orchestra, featuring Helen Crawford at the console and Bob Murray on the vocals, have a brace ,of bright fox- trots on Bluebird ' 7105-7, Mrs. Crawford contributes the organlog interludes, a colorful interruption to *4he straight foxtrotology, and Craw- ford, forsaking his own Wurlitzering for the baton, has turned out some very bright dansapation with 'Me, Myself and I' and 'Dancing Under the Stars,' on one couplet; 'After You' and 'It's the Natural Thing to Do' on the other. Latter brace are both from the new Crosby picture, •Double or Nothing.' Benny Goodman's Quartet cuts up with 'Avalon' (old Al Jolson-Vincent Rose tune) and "The Man I Love' (Ira and George Gershwin), on Vic- tor 25644, the clarinet, vibraharp, piano and drums .making for a neat brand of swingo. Hampton's vibra- phone, Goodman's clarinet and Krupa's drums stand out per usual. Jean Sablon, whom NBC-Victor- RGA have been plugging on the air and diskst is the Crosby-Vallee-Che- valier of Gallic barytones. He has a nice style and packs not a little vocal s.a., which should make him catch on. 'Afraid to Dream' (Gor don-Revel) and 'Can I Forget You?' (Kern) are made-to-measure vocal chores for his manner of singing. Victor 25643. Willie Smith (yclept The Lion), who tickles a mean piano solo, has a band surrounding him called the Cubs. They cut up on Decca 1380 with 'Get Acquainted With Your- self and 'The Old Stamping Ground.' O'Neill Spencer does the vocals, but it's Willie Smith's swingo opportu- nities by and large that register. Richard Himber and his Ritz-Carl- ton Orchestra (a billing still re- tained, although he's been out of the Ritz for years, and is better known on the radio via Studebaker, Lucky Strike, etc.), smoothly performs.'Till the Clock Strikes Three' (Billy Hill) and 'So Many Memoriies' (Harry Woods) on Victor 25645. Stuart Al- len vocalizes and Himber plays his symphonic syncopation with svelt- ness and dispatch. Bins' Crosby has waxed four from his new' 'Double or Nothing' (Par) on Decca 1375-6. 'Smarty' and 'Moon Got in My Eyes' are one pair; 'It's the Natural Thing to Do' and 'All You Want to Do Is Dance' the other. Although Johnny Burke-Arthur Johnston, Ralph Freed-Burton Lane, and Sam' Coslow-Al Siegal collabed on the entire score, there isn't much outstanding to the tunes. 'Dance' sounds the most likely, but what the songs lack, Crosby's vocal style pro vides. John Scott Trotter is now batoning for the 'groaner,' instead of his former faves, Jimmy Dorsey or Georgie Stoll. Jimmy Dorsey has waxed three of the above Crosby tunes, plus 'After You' on Decca 1377-8, in strict dance style with Bob Eberle and Don Mat- teson vocalizing. Done with the usual Dorsey eclat. Brother Tommy Dorsey and his Clambake Seven on the competitive Victor 25647 adheres to the same tunes, 'Dance' and 'After You,' also from the , Crosby film, and with Edythe Wright vocalizing, gives out sweet-hot stuff in the manner which has advanced Dorsey into a big disk seller of late. For the cats strictly: Count Basie and his orchestra • jammin' 'Listen, My Children, and . You Shall Hear' and 'Smarty,' both from 'Double or Nothing,' vocal by '. James Rushing, which certainly proves that when Crosby introduces a song, that's all the others wanna know, because they all wax 'em. Then there is Edgar Hayes, with 'High. Wide and Handsome' and 'Satan fakes a Holi- day.' Larry Clinton's swing classic Respectively, Decca 1379. and 1382 The Dixieland Swingsters give out 'Swingster's Lullaby' and 'Touched in the Head' on Bluebird 7109; Bunny Berigan and his orchestra jam 'Turn on the Red Hot Heat' and 'Let 'Er Go' (Larry Clinton-Julian Kay) on Victor 25646, Gail Reese vocalizing; and Hod Williams cuts some more hot wax on Bluebird 7106-8 with 'Night Over Shanghai' and 'The Lady from 5th Avenue,' on the former; 'My Secret Love Affair' (new 'Thin Ice" excerpt, 20th-Fox- Henie filmusical),. backed by 'Little Fraternity Pin,' out of WB's 'Varsity Show,' as the second brace of tunes Ralph Fay and Dorothy Goff do the vocal chores. I HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES BABY YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING THERE LOVE iS ON THE AIR TONIGHT OLD KING COLE ON WITH THE DANCE MOONLIGHT ON THE CAMPUS WE RE WORKING OUR WAY THROUGH COLLEGE Music and Lyrics by Dick WHITING & Johnny MERCER IT'S HERE.' JOSEPHINE The Surprise ISovelty Hit! ii « By GUS KAHN and WAYNE KING (Writers of "Gopfus") And BURKE BEVINS LEO FEIST, Inc. 1629 Broadway New York NO Pie, SHOW TONES IN 1ST 5 For the first time in many months the first five rungs of the best sheet- seller list last week were held by tunes having neither film nor stage production connections. Another un- usual angle was that, of the 15 songs in the list, 10 were straight pop numbers. Only two picture songs were in- cluded in the first 10 while the re- maining numbers of that description rated Nos. 11, 12 and 13. Pubs Now Blame Swing For Poor Biz; Claim Jamming Distorts Music Every time the music biz bogs down the publishers squawk. It's either Hollywood, the iradio, con- ditions, the weather or almost any- thing that fits the alibi situation. The swing bands are the fave brunt- carriers this week. "The summer one-nighters 'always boom, with dance pavilions, etc., at- tracting the tourists, and the current lesser combos are still very swingo and still jammin' out their dansapa- tion. This refutes not onfy the idea of swing's downbeat, but evidences that some of the lesser bands try to out-jam the name swingsters by putting the jam on real thick. As result, the tunes are completely distorted. Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, et al, at least play the first chorus straight before going to town. All this is Tin Pan Alley-in- terpreted as giving the songs little chance to assert their qualities. Last Week s 15 Best Sellers It Looks Like Rain. Morris Sailboat in the Moonlight Crawford So Rare Robbins Harbor Lights Mario Merry-Go-Round. Broke Down , ;.... Harms ""Whispers in the Dark ......; .Famous Know Now .1...........Remick Gone With the Wind ..i. , Berlin Miller's Daughter Marianne Shapiro My' Cabin of Dreams Berlin ♦Sweet Leilani .Select tWhere or When Chappell *First Time I Saw You , Santly-Joy Stardust on the Moon ..., . Marks Me, Myself and I Words and Music * Indicates filrmisical song, t Indicates stage production song. TM others are pops. JOBBERS'NEW TRADE PACT Sheet music jobbers in New York are working under a new trade pact. The main stipulations in the agree- ment ban the granting of price dif- ferentials of any sort and the pre- paying of expressage. Another thing tnat the jobbers have gotten together on is an in- crease of the margin on sheet music. The difference between the publisher price and the jobber list figure used to be 2c. From now on the middle- man's margin will be 3q. Touring Orchs Getting Clear Idea of Radio's Influence on Natives Radio has been smartening up the hinterlands to the degree that all the name bands now picking up that easy coin on bne-nighters have found it compulsory to play -their trade- marked arrangements note for note as when etherized. The crack swing bands too have found that their disks are closely studied by the cats, and if the tunes aren't jammed per recording, the customers think they're being gypped. It usually takes the form of won- dering whether this is the real band being toured intact, or whether the leader has picked up a combo some- wheres for his traveling dates. • In Europe, this is even more acutely emphasized because the jazz students abroad are extra-con- scious of band style and arrange- ments. Harry Tcnney and Benny Alberts are no longer with the professional staff of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. Tenney had been with the firm for over 10 years, specializing in radio vocalists. Rubinoff to Guest / With K. C. Symphony Upon completion of his current chore as conductor of the orch at the Carnival of the Lakes' pageant of the Chica.go Charter Jubilee, Rubin- off goes to Kansas City to appear as guest conductor and soloist with the Kansas City Philharmonic Or- chestra for the Kansas City Jubilee in new auditorium there . Sept. 12. This will be a repeat date, he hav- ing done a similar stint in K. C. last year. In addition to Rubinoff. the Jubi- lee show in auditorium will include Eddy Diichin and Isham .Jones orchs, Alec Templcton, Benny Good- man, Gertrude Niesen. Edgar Ber- gen and other acts to be set by the Music Corp. of America. Big show will be given with an 80c tap. Bill Wulluce doing daily five-min- ute 'Answer Man' turn for North High Savings and Lo;m Co. on ^VCOL, CMinnbus. L. Wolfe Gilbert will publish 'I Want to Make .Music* and 'In the Name of Love,' by Connie Lee, Buddy LeRoux and Al Heath, Stool Now Pro Mgr. Of D. D. & G. in N. Y. Chicago, Aug. 24. Jesse Stool,. who has been chief of the local Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble office for several years, goes to New York as general professional manager of the firm, effective ira- rnediately. Chick Castle i ' • n- Stool's duties here. © They're Here "Why Talk About Love" "Big Chief Swing It" "The Rhumba Goes Collegiate" New -Songs Hits by POLLACK and MTTCHELL From the fortlicoiiilns '^Otli Ceiitory-Fox Collese Musical "LIFE RKGINS IN COLLEGE" HOILYV/OOD SONGS RCA MIIU>INC-RAOIOCnY-NEWYORK.Ny. PHILKORNHEI/ER. Cen.Mgr Two New Hitsl "OVER NIGHT" and "MY SECRET LOVE AFFAIR" From the forthcoming; Mtlt Centary-Fox Musical, "XHMW ICE," starring Sonja Heala 'ir MOVIETONE MUSIC CORPORATION SAM FOX PUBLISHING CO -Solf A,..ntj 1250 SIXTH AVENUE NEW YORK ^M. WITMARK ft SONS RCA BLDG., N. Y. HAROLD LEE Prof. MgrA WALTER WANGER DOES IT AGAIN! This Time It s "VOtJl'K.S OF V.m" wHh These Song Hits THAT OLD FEELING lly t.KW ItJtOWN iind SAMMV FAIN LOVELY ONE Ity I'RANIv I.OES.SKK iinil MANNING HIIERWIN TURN ON THAT RED HOT HEAT Ity VAVl. WKIVSTKR inul LOl'lS ALTER 1'Voin lh«> I'iiii Aiii<«rlciin CiinUio ICeviie DON'T YOU KNOW OR DON'T YOU CARE LEO FEIST, INC. • 1629 Broadway • New York