Search - Woody Herman & His Orchestra :: Gene Krupa Orchestra 1941

Very Nearly "Hi-Fi" '41 Swing

Swingnik | Discovery Bay, WA USA | 02/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, this CD isn't listed properly: it's actually half Woody Herman & his Orchestra and half Gene Krupa & his Orchestra. This is another of Circle label's invaluable transfers of high quality Lang-Worth transcriptions to CD. By "high quality", I mean very nearly "hi-fi". In this case, the tonal coloration of the instruments and voices is nearly perfect in all the Herman tracks and in most of the Krupa.



The Woody Herman half is tracks 1-10:

1. Oh, Look At Me Now (vocal by Woody & Steady Nelson)

2. Berceuse from "Jocelyn"

3. There'll Be Some Changes Made (vocal by Muriel Lane)

4. Jughead Blues

5. Torna A Sorrento (vocal by Woody)

6. Lazy River (vocal by Woody)

7. Rockin' Chair (vocal by Muriel Lane)

8. Bishop's Blues

9. Whatcha Know, Joe? (vocal by Muriel Lane & Steady Nelson)

10. Minka



The Krupa tracks:

11. That Drummer's Band (Theme)

12. Let Me Off Uptown (vocal by Anita O'Day & Roy Eldridge)

13. The Things I Love (vocal by Howard Dulany)

14. Au Reet (vocal by Anita O'Day)

15. Tuning Up

16. A Fool Am I (vocal by Anita O'Day)

17. Nothing

18. Thanks For The Boogie Ride (vocal by Anita O'Day - flawed recording not issued by Lang-Worth)

19. Siren Song

20. Drum Boogie (vocal by Anita O'Day)

21. Full Dress Hop



Woody's 1941 band wasn't the famous "First Herd" of four or so years later, but it was a fine, professional popular orchestra. Its weakest link was probably singer Muriel Lane, who has a very pleasant voice and can carry a tune fairly competently, but who just isn't distinctive enough or musically flawless enough to have emerged from the vast pack of swing era vocalists into anything qualifying as "memorable". Don't get me wrong - I'm not trashing her - I like Muriel Lane just fine. It's just that she's no Mildred Bailey, who Muriel very obviously emulates on this disc's version of "Rockin' Chair"; nor is she an Anita O'Day, who dominates the Krupa half of the CD. Muriel's singing of "There'll Be Some Changes Made" strikes me as a singer pushing her limit. Luckily her duet with Steady Nelson on "Whatcha Know, Joe?" is satisfactorily redemptive. And Woody's vocal efforts are characteristically terrific - the guy could really sing, and had a vastly more appealing voice than 98% of the typical male crooners of the 1930's and '40's. The Herman instrumentals are high quality, and it's a joy to hear the timbres and tones so clearly in these recordings from this era before hi-fi.



Warning: this 1941-42 iteration of Krupa's orchestra, with Anita and Roy Eldridge, is one of my all time favorite swing bands, so my objectivity can't help but be compromised. Still, I'll try my best...



These transcriptions (made specifically for radio airplay, unlike the 78rpm sides made for consumer sale) date from the first few weeks and months of O'Day's tenure with the band. It was her debut into the big time, and you can hear it in some subtle ways. For example, her enunciations of the lyrics of "Au Reet" (this CD's curious spelling of the song "Alreet", recorded as a 78 side in March of '41, a few weeks prior to this transcription) are careful - exacting even - which is almost surprising for this vocalist, who is legendary for being "a jazz musician whose instrument was her voice". Anita could effortlessly "play" her voice like a slide trombone: scatting and slurring and blurring the lyrics while nobody cared, because the huskily feminine vocal flow was so relentlessly rousing. (See "Gene-ie With The Well-Tanned Hides" on Soundcraft's Gene Krupa & His Orchestra 1941 - 1942 Unreleased Broadcasts with Anita O'Day & Roy Eldridge.) So what's cool about THIS version of "Alreet" is in fact the precision of her diction - it's almost like unearthing a second Anita!



This disc's version of the monster hit "Let Me Off Uptown" isn't quite so exciting, but only because it's essentially identical to the familiar 78 side recorded in May, which might well be the same month this transcription was made (it damn near sounds like the same performance). Still, this one's worthwhile for its clarity.

The instrumental "Tuning Up" swings better than the 78 side waxed in July (and sounds better too than the version on French Classics 1006 - Gene Krupa 1941, Vol. 2).

"Siren Song", a sort of musical impression of midtown traffic, replete with horn honks and the title's aural police-car warning, was cut in March onto 78 as "Siren Serenade". This version is sonically cleaner.

"Nothing" is an oddball I can't find as a 78, but it's on that disc of live airchecks mentioned above, "1941-1942 Broadcasts", under the title "Nothin' Yet". Like "Siren", it's mostly a jam-vehicle for soloing.



Now for some Bad News/Good News: woeful crooner Howard Dulany gets a song, "The Things I Love", which is one more than he deserves. The good news is that despite how many sides he cut for Krupa in 1940 and 1941, he appears only once on these transcriptions. Makes me wonder if all those waste-of-good-vinyl ballad-sides were Gene's idea--or the record company's. Judging from his absence on the Soundcraft disc of live airchecks (scant evidence, I freely admit), I'm willing to wager that slice-me-own-wrists-from-boredom Howard was prized more by the record label's executives than by Mr. Krupa.



Good News: one of the very best Krupa/O'Day/Eldridge numbers, "Thanks For The Boogie Ride", is on this disc.

Bad News: the stylus used to record it was damaged, although nobody knew it at the time; the recording is garbled and warbled and unreleased by Lang-Worth; Circle includes it only as a gift to fanatics and completeists like me.



"Drum Boogie" dates from singer Irene Daye's tenure with the band (cut as a 78 in January of '41), but here Anita sings the vocal. To my surprise, I think I might prefer Irene's original to Anita's remake. Anita seems almost to struggle with it - although I'm not panning it, because I truly do enjoy hearing Anita sing damn near anything.



Finally, "Full Dress Hop" is manifestly superior to the 78 side cut in October of 1940, in sound quality and in performance, too.



So, if this review hasn't convinced you yet... IT'S A BARGAIN. TOTALLY WORTH THE DOUGH.

"