Spotlight for November 7th, 2007
Spotlight for
November 7th...
BIRTHDAYS
1916
Joseph "Joe" Bushkin
Piano/Leader
b. New York, NY. USA
d. Nov. 3, 2004, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
(pneumonia). Age: 87.
First
professional job (1935) was playing piano at the 'Famous Door' club on
New York's famed 52nd Street. Played with Louis Prima, Bunny Berigan,
Joe Marsala, and Muggsy Spanier. During 1936-'39, he often recorded
with vocalist Lee Wiley, Eddie Condon, and Sharkey Bonnano. 1940 saw
his first solo session recording for Commodore Records. 1940 joined
Tommy Dorsey's Orch. While with Tommy, he and John DeVries composed the
song "Oh Look At Me Now", which became a huge hit. From Dorsey he
entered the U. S. Army (WWII Jan. 1942), where he played Trumpet in Air
Force band, then assisted David Rose with the famous Air Force show
'Winged Victory', -and eventually replaced David Rose as the Musical
Director. He saw service in the South Pacific and Japan. After WWII, he
joined Benny Goodman's band (Spring 1946). Freelanced during '47, and
also toured South America with his own group. On his return, he gave
solo concerts and wrote arrangements, -and originals, for various dance
bands. In 1949, had acting role in Broadway show "The Rat Race". In
1951 led his own group at club called 'The Embers' in New York City. In
1953, briefly joined Louis Armstrong, then led his own group called Joe
Bushkin and His Swinging Strings . In early '50s, he was a popular
performer at 'Society' gatherings. He also recorded with actress
Tallulah Bankhead, and was heard singing on Radio and TV. Joe went into
semi-retirement in late 1950s
1914 "Archie" James Campbell, C&W vocals
b. Bulls Gap (Greene County), TN, USA
d. Aug 29, 1987 in Knoxville, TN, USA.
In 1959, Campbell made his 'Grand Ole Opry' debut, and was signed by
RCA shortly afterwards. His 1960 release "Trouble in the Amen Corner"
made it to the Top 25. Other singles after that were not successful,
and 1962 found him recording for the 'Starday' label, also with no
success. In 1966, re returned to RCA and his "The Men in My Little
Girl's Life" reached the Top 20 chart, while two other singles, "The
Dark End of the Street" and "Tell It like It Is" reached the Top 30 in
1968. That same year, he joined he joined Hee Haw In 1976, he recorded
two albums for the Elektra label. During 1984, he was the host for the
TNN interview show "Yesteryear".
1922 Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt, Trumpet/Leader
d. April 27, 1999, New Orleans, LA, USA. age 76
Among the men with whom Al worked are: Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey; Ray McKinley, Horace Heidt and Billy May
1907 Red Ingle vocals/comic/saxes/clarinet/leader b: Toledo, OH, USA. d: 1965, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. CA né: Ernest Jansen. ~from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ingle Red
worked with such musical greats as Bix Biederbecke, and Gene Goldkette;
Paul Mertz; The Dorsey Brothers; Ted Weems 1931-1941; Spike Jones
1943-1946 Best known for his comedy records with Spike Jones and his own Natural Seven sides for Capitol, Ernest Jansen "Red" Ingle (1906-65) was an American musician, singer and writer, arranger, cartoonist and caricaturist. //Early years
Ingle was born in Toledo, Ohio on November 7, 1906. He was taught basic violin from age five by Fritz Kreisler, a family friend. However at 13, he took up the saxophone, and that instrument became his main instrument from then on. At 15 he was playing professionally with Al Amato, and by his late teens, Ingle was touring steadily with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, along with future jazz legends Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer. He then joined up with Ted Weems in 1931, after briefly being a bandleader himself, and working under Maurice Sherman. His work with Weems was such a success that they worked together into the 1940s. The boy singer in the band, Perry Como, later called Ingle 'one of the most talented men I've ever met.'
The City Slickers There
then followed two years of unexciting war work. After he failed an eye
test for the Air Force, he returned to music with Spike Jones & His
City Slickers, where his comedic talents and flair for vocal effects
found a welcoming home. Jones started featuring him as a front man
immediately, and Ingle's outrageous stage presence helped transform the
City Slickers' stage act into something more visual than before.
With
Ingle's input, the band gradually became a complete stage package that
would eventually peak (after his departure) in the late 1940s and early
'50s with the wildly successful Musical Depreciation Revue.
"There
was nobody in the band as funny as Red," said Zep Meissner, the band's
clarinetist; "guys like him were funny in themselves, they didn't need
material."
An example of his routine appears in the film Bring on the Girls,
where he takes off the vaudeville song "Chloe." He would run on in a
frightwig, combat boots and a nightgown, while waving a lantern,
climaxing the song with the cry "I gotta go!" as he dived into an
outhouse. A record of this song went gold for the band, spending four
weeks in the top ten. He was also the featured vocalist on other City
Slickers hits, such as "You Always Hurt the One You Love" and "Glow
Worm," - this last being featured in the film Breakfast in Hollywood, one of many films featuring the band.
Red
Ingle (also called "Swamphead" by this time) was also the band's
resident caricaturist, designing many of the Spike Jones likenesses
used in, among other things, stage backdrops and press advertisements.
The Natural Seven Ingle
left in November 1946 after a salary dispute. He drifted through Radio
and Hollywood, even working in light opera, until he made
"Tim-Tay-Shun", a spoof recording of the then-popular Perry Como hit
"Temptation", with Jo Stafford
(under the name "Cinderella G. Stump"). As the single went on to sell
three million copies, Ingle formed a new band - Red Ingle and His
Natural Seven; the group included several former City Slickers, among
them Country Washburne,
who had arranged "Tim-Tay-Shun". The band had several more hits,
including "Cigareetes, Whuskey, and Wild, Wild Women", "Them Durn Fool
Things," and "'A', You're a Dopey Gal." The band also recorded short
films of their numbers, before finally disbanding in 1952.
Retirement from music After
working again with Weems, Ingle eased out of music, tiring of touring.
There was one last reunion with Jones, an album called Persuasive Concussion. Sadly Jones's death in 1965 meant it was never completed; Ingle too died the same year of an internal hemorrhage.
References Visser,
J. "Spike Jones and his City Slickers - Strictly for Music Lovers" Cd
sleevenotes.Proper Records Properbox 5 (Proper Records, London 1999)Young, Jordan R. (2005). Spike Jones Off the Record: The Man Who Murdered Music. Albany: BearManor Media ISBN 1-59393-012-7 3rd edition.width="425" height="355">value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K8-M3vA9Rg8">name="wmode" value="transparent">src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K8-M3vA9Rg8"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425"
height="355"> All
hail Red Ingle, the unsung genius. Once a crucial part of Spike Jones'
outfit, Red carved out his own niche with gems like this... which takes
off on the old chestnut "Out of Nowhere", then for no apparent reason
incorporates a riff on "That's What I Like About the South"...
1921 Steve Lane
Cornet/Leader
b. London, England
1943 Joni Mitchell, Pop vocals
née: Roberta Joan Anderson
WIKI BIO:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni...i_Mitchell
1909 Ernie Newton,
C&W Acoustic Bass
b. Hartford, CT, USA.
Did you know that in 1937, guitarist Les Paul first recorded with a
trio consisting of Les on guitar, bassist Ernie Newton and rhythm
guitarist Jim Atkins (the older half-brother of Chet Atkins, with whom
(in 1995) Paul would cut the album 'Chester and Lester'). (Note:
Originally, Les Paul had a country-music act working in Chicago, IL,
billing himself as "Rhubarb Red". Les played harmonica and guitar, and
recited "rube" humor.
By the early 1930s, Les was earning $1000 a
week. But,.. Chicago is a 'bustling' town with much music to hear and
to play. Les once said 'In the morning I was hillbilly, and at night I
was playing Jazz with Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, Nat Cole and Art
Tatum.' In 1936, Paul cut his first record, backing blues
singer-pianist Georgia White as she belted out Andy Razaf's raunchy "If
I can't sell it, I'll keep sittin' on it, before I give it away." The
next year, he formed a C&W trio with Newton and Atkins.
1917 Howard Rumsey, Bass/leader
b. Brawley, CA, studied Los Angeles City College.
Played in Vito Musso's band where Kenton was pianist. He played in Kenton's orig. band.
1917 Howard Rumsey, Bass/leader
b. Brawley, CA, studied Los Angeles City College.
Played in Vito Musso's band where Kenton was pianist. He played in Kenton's orig. band.
Phil
Spitalny is one of those popular bandleaders of the 1920's and 1930's
whose fame didn't survive him. Born in Russia, he was brought to the
United States as a boy, and by the 1920's was fronting his own band.
Among his other successful records from the 1920's were "Jackass Blues"
and "I Want To Meander In the Meadow," credited to Phil Spitalny's
Music.
Spitalny
later distinguished himself from virtually all of the competition with
a gimmick that worked, leading orchestras made up entirely of women,
billed as Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra. They were a good
outfit, able to play "jazzed" classics and light classical with equal
aplomb, and were definitely easy to look at-although curiously enough,
they broke through initially in radio, where there was no visual
impact, on a program called "The Hour of Charm." (There was one other
all-woman orchestra, truly all woman including its leader, that had
major national exposure on radio, Ina Ray Hutton & Her Melodears).
Later on, they were signed to Universal Pictures and appeared in
features and short subjects that exploited the orchestra's visual
appeal. Spitalny found women who were good at their instruments-Mary
McClanahan was a top-flight drummer in her time-but who were also very
good to look at. In all of its incarnations, the featured member of the
orchestra was Evelyn & Her Magic Violin. The virtuoso Evelyn, who
was a very flashy and charismatic player, later became Mrs. Spitalny.
The rest of the orchestra membership was fairly fluid-there was no
shortage of women with musical training, (although McLanahan
distinguished herself among all drummers), especially during the war
years, and presumably they came and went as better gigs or, even more
likely, marriage beckoned.
Alas, the only extant video on
which Spitalny and his orchestra can be seen is the Abbott &
Costello film Here Come The Coeds (1945), where the orchestra gets a
couple of great featured spots. Unfortunately, expecting to be noticed
in any movie in which Lou Costello gets knocked on the head and wakes
up thinking he's a woman basketball player is a sucker bet, because if
the notion of Lou Costello as a basketball player is funny enough, Lou
Costello as a female basketball player is downright hysterical, and
overshadows a lot else including Spitalny and company, who play some
very attractive light Romantic classics.
Spitalny continued
to work in music into the 1950's, and retired to Miami, where he died
in 1970. The University of Miami offers two academic awards, The Evelyn
and Phil Spitnalny Music Achievement Award and The Evelyn and Phil
Spitnalny Scholarship, and former members of the orchestra continue to
play in the 1990's, most notably in the Venice Symphony Orchestra of
Venice, Florida, a semi-professional ensemble.
~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
1936 Mary Travers, vocals
née: Mary Allin Travers.
The "Mary" in the 'Peter, Paul and Mary' vocal group.
Notable Events
on this date include:
1945.
Gus Edwards
songwriter/producer/vaudevillian
died in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Age: 66
1956.
Una Mae Carlisle
piano
died in New York, NY, USA.
Age: 40
1960.
Alvin Pleasant Delaney "A.P." Carter
(The Carter Family)
died in Kingsport, TN, USA.
Age: 69
1972.
Ace Black, guitar
died in Fort Worth, TX, USA.
Age: 66
1987.
Charles Holland, vocals
died in Amsterdam, Holland.
Age: 77.
Worked with Benny Carter
1992.
Duke Groner, bass
died in Chicago, IL, USA.
Age: 82
1992.
Theodore Thomas, tenor sax
died in Hartford, CT, USA.
Age: 84
1993.
Adelaide Hall, vocals
died in London, UK.
Age: 92
1994.
Shorty Rogers
trumpet/arranger/producer
died in Van Nuys, CA, USA.
Age: 70
Songs Recorded/Released
on this date include:
1924, "Shanghai Shuffle", Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra
1947 "Whiffenpoof Song", Crosby, Bing
1947 "Serenade Of The Bells", Kaye, Sammy
1947 "Civilization", Prima, Louis
1947 "Mickey", Weems, Ted
1953 "That's Amore", Martin, Dean
LYRICS:
Whiffenpoof Song
~Bing Crosby
To the tables down at Mory's
To the place where Louie dwells
To the dear old Temple bar we love so well
Sing the Whiffenpoofs assembled with their glasses raised on high
And the magic of their singing casts its spell
Yes, the magic of their singing of the songs we love so well
"Shall I Wasting" and "Mavourneen" and the rest
We will serenade our Louie while life and voice shall last
Then we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest
We're poor little lambs who have lost our way
Baa, baa, baa
We're little black sheep who have gone astray
Baa, baa, baa
Gentleman songsters off on a spree
Doomed from here to eternity
Lord have mercy on such as we
Baa, baa, baa 
