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Is it true that Paul McCartney played in a band before Wings? So goes the question from some youngster, probably more urban myth than reality. Yet there are nonetheless too many people who these days scarcely remember Rick Nelson, knew about his parents and their famous television program, and probably even fewer that know about Ozzie and Harriet's musical career. Well, (from Wiki), from 1930 through the 1940s, Nelson's band recorded prolifically—first on Brunswick (1930–1933), then Vocalion (1933–1934), then back to Brunswick (1934–1936), Bluebird (1937–1941), Victor (1941) and finally back to Bluebird (1941-through the 1940s). Nelson's records were consistently popular and in 1934 Nelson enjoyed success with his hit song, "Over Somebody Else's Shoulder" which he introduced. Nelson was their primary vocalist and (from August 1932) featured in duets with his other star vocalist, Harriet Hilliard. Nelson's calm, easy vocal style was popular on records and radio and quite similar to son Rick's voice and Harriet's perky vocals added to the band's popularity. In 1935, Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra had a number one hit with "And Then Some", which was number one for one week on the U.S. pop singles chart. Ozzie Nelson composed several songs, including "Wave the Stick Blues", "Subway", "Jersey Jive", "Swingin' on the Golden Gate", and "Central Avenue Shuffle". In October 1935 he married the band's vocalist Harriet Hilliard. Enjoy. +
Tracks
1. Head over Heels in Love
2. I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire
3. Wave the Stick Blues
4. Breathless
5. Between a Kiss and a Sigh
6. Everyone But Me
7. I Must See Annie Tonight
8. Gee, But It's Great to Meet a Friend (From Your Home Town)
9. Let's Have Another Cigarette
10. Roses in December
11. You and I Know
12. Old Curiosity Shop
13. Yes, Suh!
14. Have a Heart
15. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
16. Two Sleepy People
8 comments:
When I was a young teenager, I heard Ozzie sing an original song on The Tonight Show. (Noth Dakota Moon.) This was several years after Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ended, so I knew who he was, I only knew about the big band from my Mother. I compared him to Rudy Vallee whom I was slightly aware of only as a singer. Mom said, "No, Ozzie is much better. Some years later after hearing both, I'd agree with Mom. Somewhere, I have an ASV CD of the Best of Ozzie and Harriet's band. (Her maiden name was Hilliard, and her Father was Chief of Police in Des Moines, Iowa many years ago.)
Ozzie also did a very nice version of Dream a Little Dream of Me which was a solo hit for Cass Elliott. I didn't know the song went back so far until I got the ASV collection
Chester, I coupled "Roses in December" here with Ozzie's "Jingle Bells" found at Big 10-Inch and sent it to friends as an Ozzie & Harriet Christmas. You've got a wonderful blog here. Thanks. Do you by any chance have a CD with Tommy Dorsey's "Guess Ill Go Back Home This Summer" made in 1939 and featuring the oft-maligned Jack Leonard on vocal. It was issued on that French series devoted to "Jazz Classics."
Vilstef, I saw that ASV cd but opted for the cheaper price. ;-) I also have an LP that I've ripped and will be posting, I just don't recall what it includes off-hand. I noted Harriet's maiden name, but omitted that she was also in Follow The Fleet with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, as well as many other films of the era. Without cheating a look at Imdb, I think she was in a Falcon movie, too.
David, that's a cool way to spread the music around. I took a look at my remaining Dorsey material. I have some early '30s Jazz Oracle material, the 5-cd 'complete' box set with Frank Sinatra, the Clambake 7 cd, and two other "Best of" type discs. Neither has the title you asked about, but I do have Indian Summer with Jack Leonard (who I thought sang well).
Chester, dunno if you're aware of archive.org, but that site has tons of old 78sm for free download. They don't have a real high bitrate for download, but remember the lo-fi nature here. I downloaded a bunch of Ozzie's big band there after seeing your post. They have a good search engine and lots of content. I looked and they don't have collections for Chick Bullock like they do for some artists, but here's what they have for Chick:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=chick%20bullock
Thanks, V. I have used the site often for old time radio shows. Most of the CB there has been edited "using Goldwave" but the sound quality isn't that good. Several of the tunes there are also available here in much better quality (straight from cds), or from my own 78s. Next month and February I plan to get back to my Chick Bullock sides and post them here.
Chester, Merry Christmas to you and your family. I hugely enjoy your blog. Really love the era you're covering. Thank you for all you do.
Thanks, Vilstef. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well. I'm glad you enjoy the music, there's much more to come. Cheers.
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