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A short set this time, with more bio than music. Henry Busee was born in Germany in 1894, ran away from home, worked his way westward, and eventually landed in California. In 1916 he formed Busse's Buzzards, a hot jazz band1, toured the country, and gained a reputation as a cornetist. Joe Venuti was one of his band mates. You can listen to their recording of Milenberg Joys here at the Red Hot Jazz Archive, it is also included in the download. Either way, I recommend checking out the Archive as they have a lot of information and a lot of great music to hear. In 1919 he had his first big break when he joined Paul Whiteman's outfit. Busse became a star with Whiteman (earning more than Bing Crosby), and co-wrote hits such as Wang Wang Blues and Hot Lips. Busse stayed with Whiteman until 1928 when he left to form his own band. Busse hit his peak in 1930-45, playing dance music before the war and swing during it. His music was often berated by Downbeat magazine, which called his a "sweet" or "Mickey Mouse" band. Despite this, the band enjoyed relative success over the years. His personal life wound up in gossip columns when he partied one night with a woman at the Hotsy Totsy Club and woke up married. (That bathtub hooch will do it every time!) He sought an annulment and during the 18 months to unwind the legal tangle, he toured Europe and staved off arrest for nonpayment of alimony. In 1935 he married Lorayne Brox, of the famous Brox sisters. At one point he played with Ray Bolger at the Chez Paree, a night club owned by notorious gangster Al Capone; Busse ran the house band there and worked for Capone. Henry Busse and his Orchestra continued to record and perform up until his death in 1955. Busse died at an undertaker's convention at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee while he was playing with the Shuffle Rhythm Band. (Well, if you have to go, there's no better place!) The recordings here are from an aircheck he did from the Hollywood Palladium on April 29, 1948. Enjoy.+
Tracks
1. On The Sunnyside Of The Street2. A Fellow Needs A Girl (v. Phil Gray)
3. Tennesee (v. Betty Taylor)
4. At A Sidewalk Penny Arcade (v. Phil Gray
5. Jealousy
6. Medley
a. Love Is Fun
b. I'm In Love (v. Betty Taylor)
c. Bride And Groom Polka
7. Laroo Laroo Lilli Bolero (v. Phil Gray)
8. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
9. Sidwalks Of Cuba / Closing
3 comments:
Sadly, the MU link for Busse has already been deleted! Crikey, it's happening so quikly. I am linked to the reserve page but I do hope you can keep going....
Chester,
Henry Busse was certainly one of the most accomplished musicians ever to grace the ranks of the Whiteman organization, and his very inspired solos actually swing many years before the official inception of swing.
Unfortunately, not many of his recordings are available on CD. I have a CD that includes some radio broadcasts, but I didn't know that this one existed. As soon as I read your post, I ordered a used copy of it from Amazon, since it seems to be out of print.
Thanks for remembering a wonderful, if somewhat eccentric, musician.
P.S.: By the way, are you supporting Manchester Utd. or Barcelona in the Champions League final?
Hola, Anton - you know I'm supporting Barcelona! :-D I can't stand ManU.
I find Busse's music intriguing because I knew very little about him prior to finding this aircheck. It's fun to go back and listen to some of the Whiteman music and pay attention to his contributions, and how they may have influenced future bands.
The link has been updated. And will continue to be updated as needed.
As can be seen, the sniveling coward has tried his anonymous attacks to remove the links, but I continue to replace them. So he sends anonymous DCMA complaints to Blogger, but I have challenged them. Now he is back to anonymous random attacks to remove the links - PROOF that he is nothing but a sniveling little coward who does not have any legitimate copyright claims whatsoever.
He is a terrorist, nothing more. Now that Osama is gone, the Seals may feel free to move on to this one. LOL.
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