Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

Continuing with the Classics motif ...  "This is the first volume in the Classics label's chronological profile of vocalist Mildred Bailey. It documents the beginning of her recording career with 24 titles she waxed for the Parlophone, Okeh, Brunswick and Victor labels between October 5, 1929 and August 11, 1932. ... In 1913, the family moved to Spokane, where Mildred and her brothers befriended a boy named Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby. By the age of 17, Mildred was living with relatives in Seattle and working as a singer demonstrating songs in a sheet music store. She entered showbiz using the surname of her first husband, Ted Bailey. After developing her skills by singing in speakeasies and over the radio in the Northwest, Mildred Bailey married a bootlegger named Benny Stafford and moved to Los Angeles where she began attracting a lot of attention by singing in nightclubs on the Sunset Strip. (Legend has it she also operated her own highly acclaimed illicit microbrewery.) In 1925, Crosby and Al Rinker dropped out of college, hopped in a Model T and drove from Spokane to Hollywood where Mildred showed them around and hooked them up with her best showbiz contacts. By October 1926 Crosby and Rinker were working for society bandleader Paul Whiteman. Teamed with Harry Barris in a trio nationally recognized as The Rhythm Boys, they eventually expressed their gratitude by introducing Mildred Bailey to Whiteman in 1929. Whiteman hired her at once; her voice was soon heard on national radio broadcasts and by 1930 she was his highest-paid performer. (The ethical nadir of her discography occurred on November 30, 1931 when Whiteman had her sing "That's Why Darkies Were Born.") Apart from four attractive sides cut with the Casa Loma Orchestra in September 1931, most of the recordings making up this segment of Mildred Bailey's chronology involve either the Paul Whiteman Orchestra or smaller ensembles largely composed of musicians who were affiliated with the self-styled "King of Jazz." Mildred's first two session bands were led by guitarist Eddie Lang and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer, with cornet passages by Andy Secrest that were carefully patterned after the style of Bix Beiderbecke, who had made his last recording with the Whiteman orchestra only weeks earlier on September 13, 1929. Beiderbecke's combined absence and presence are eerily evident. It's obvious why Mildred Bailey caught on so quickly as a vocalist; all of her best traits -- sweetness, charm, passion and poise -- were evident from the very beginning. Tougher than Annette Hanshaw and gutsier than Ruth Etting, sometimes Mildred let loose like a sassy American girl; on "I Like to Do Things for You" she even sounds like Helen Kane. At her best, Mildred Bailey was a gifted interpreter of ballads and topical amusements; her superb abilities as a jazz and pop vocalist are well represented by this first volume of her complete recorded works." (Allmusic.com) Enjoy! +

Tracks

01. What Kind o' Man is You
02. I Like to Do Things For You
03. Blues In My Heart
04. You Call It Madness
05. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
06. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (and Dream Your Troubles Away)
07. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
08. Can't You See
09. My Goodbye to You
10. Too Late
11. Georgia on My Mind
12. Concentratin' on You
13. Home
14. Lies
15. That's Why Darkies Were Born
16. 'Leven Pounds of Heaven
17. I'm Sorry, Dear
18. All of Me
19. Dear Old Mother Dixie
20. Hot Cha Medley
21. Stop the Sun, Stop the Moon
22. Strangers
23. I'll Never be the Same
24. We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye

Jazz Me Blues

Bix Beiderbecke has shown up here and there among other posts, but this is my first to feature the famous cornetist and pianist. Many people consider Bix the greatest ever, while others sarcastically refer to him as jazz's first saint, while in recent years some less-than savory details have emerged about his earlier life. Yet for better for worse, he has come to symbolize Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties - hot jazz, flappers, changing moralities, and more importantly, illegal hootch which ultimately did him in in 1931. Bix has been cited as a major influence by many jazz musicians, including Bing Crosby, Frankie Trumbauer, Bunny Berigan, Lester Young, and many more. He recorded many of his best-known sides while with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, and later with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. A lot has been written about Bix, too much for this small space. More information can be found at Redhot Jazz, Allmusic.com, and Wikipedia.

Bix's popularity seems only to have grown since his early death, which received only passing notice in the press. This year the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society holds its 41st annual festival, August 2 - 5, 2012, in his hometown of Davenport, Iowa. Enjoy! +

Tracks

1. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Jazz Me Blues
2. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - At The Jazz Band Ball
3. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Royal Garden Blues
4. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Sorry
5. Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra - Singin' The Blues
6. Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra - I'm Comin' Virginia
7. Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra - Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
8. Tram, Bix & Eddie -     For No Reason At All In "C"
9. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Goose Pimples
10. Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra - Trumbology
11. Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra - Ostrich Walk
12. Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra - Riverboat Shuffle
13. Bix And His Rhythm Jugglers - Davenport Blues
14. Wolverine Orchestra, The - Copenhagen
15. Wolverine Orchestra, The - Fidgety Feet
16. Wolverine Orchestra, The - Tiger Rag
17. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - In A Mist (Bixology)
18. Jean Goldkette And His Orchestra - Clementine (From "New Orleans")
19. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Thou Swell
20. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Ol' Man River
21. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Wa-Da-Da (Ev'rybody's Doin' It Now)
22. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Louisiana
23. Bix Beiderbecke And His Gang - Margie
24. Bix Beiderbecke And His Orchestra - I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure
25. Hoagy Carmichael And His Orchestra - Bessie Couldn't Help It

Georgia On My Mind

This compilation includes Hoagy Carmichael's first recording of Stardust (instrumental) from 1927 and his sixth recording of the same tune in 1942. As mentioned in another post, lyrics weren't added until 1929 by Mitchell Parrish. Chick Bullock recorded the first vocal version the next year. This series was produced by France Telecom Foundation, and included cds of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Lee Wiley, the Boswell Sisters and more. I don't know if the series continued after volume 18 or not. Enjoy. +

Tracks

1. Stardust
2. So Tired
3. Harvey
4. Rockin' Chair
5. High and Dry
6. Georgia on My Mind
7. One Night in Havana
8. Bessie Couldn't Help It
9. Lazy River
10. Jewish Boy Blues
11. Come Easy, Go Easy Love
12. Sing It Way Down Low
13. Lazy Bones
14. Judy
15. Two Sleepy People
16. Hong Kong Blues
17. Riverboat Shuffle
18. New Orleans
19. Little Old Lady
20. The Old Music Master
21. Old Man Harlem
22. Stardust