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SPOTLIGHT for JANUARY 5TH...
Posted in MUSIC on Jan 04, 2009 at 10:02 PM

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BIRTHDAYS
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1925 Dorothy Claire, vocals
b. LaPorte IN, USA.
Sang on the Paul Winchell (Ventriloquist) and Jerry Mahoney (the Dummy) Show on radio and on early TV in the USA.
Dorothy Claire
Blonde vocalist Dorothy Claire sang with Bob Crosby before joining Bobby Byrne 's orchestra in 1939. Glenn Miller enticed her to leave Byrne in October 1941, where she replaced the departed Marion Hutton . A feud erupted between Byrne and Miller over the incident, and Claire was sued for breach of contract. She returned to Byrne, however, in April 1942 after Miller decided she wasn't a good fit.
In 1943 Claire joined Sonny Dunham . In 1945 she performed as part of the floor show in New York's Copacabana, and in 1950 she began appearing regularly on The Speidel Show , which later became The Paul Winchell-Jerry Mahoney Show . The program aired for four years.
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1893 Libba Cotten, guitar
b. Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues00/oct00/object_oct00.html
http://www.elizabeths-song.com/More.htm
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1906 "Wild Bill" Davison, Cornet
b. Defiance, Ohio, USA.
d. Nov. 14, 1989, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
né: William Edward Davison. U.S.
Celebrated jazz cornet player. Recorded more than 800 songs in an active career.
Biography
by Scott Yanow
One of the great Dixieland trumpeters, Wild Bill Davison had a colorful and emotional style that ranged from sarcasm to sentimentality with plenty of growls and shakes. His unexpected placement of high notes was a highlight of his solos and his strong personality put him far ahead of the competition. In the 1920s, he played with the Ohio Lucky Seven ,the Chubb-Steinberg Orchestra (with whom he made his recording debut), the Seattle Harmony Kings , and Benny Meroff . After he was involved in a fatal car accident that ended the life of Frankie Teschemacher in 1932 (his auto was blindsided by a taxi), Davison spent the remainder of the 1930s in exile in Milwaukee. By 1941, he was in New York and in 1943 made some brilliant recordings for Commodore (including a classic version of "That's a Plenty") that solidified his reputation. After a period in the Army, Davison became a fixture with Eddie Condon 's bands starting in 1945, playing nightly at Condon's. In the 1950s, he was quite effective on a pair of albums with string orchestras, but most of his career was spent fronting Dixieland bands either as a leader or with Condon .Wild Bill toured Europe often from the 1960s, recorded constantly, had a colorful life filled with remarkable episodes, and was active up until his death. A very detailed 1996 biography (The Wildest One by Hal Willard) has many hilarious anecdotes and shows just how unique a life Wild Bill Davison had.
MORE:
http://www.jazzcanadiana.on.ca/_DAVIDS.htm

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1923 Lenny Dee, Organ/Accordion
b. Chicago, IL.
né: Leonard G. DeStoppelaire.
Lenny was a master of the Organ and Accordion. The youngest of eleven children, he grew up in Chicago, where his father ran a tavern near Logan Square. He began studying music in his early teens, taking accordion lessons and was working as a professional before being drafted in 1943 (WW2). He had saved his Army pay and bought a Hammond 'Model A' organ, one of the first commercially-available electronic organs in the U.S.A. Returning to music, this time as an organist, he had only moderate success until the early 1950s, when 'Country' singer Red Foley heard him and convinced his label, Decca, to hire Dee as a corn-fed alternative to the lively Ethel Smith. Dee's biggest hit, "Plantation Boogie," came early in his career, but he produced 3-4 albums a year for Decca, and its successor MCA, until the early 1970s. While his later albums are strongly influenced by the "Countrypolitan" Nashville sound, his early albums are marked by a charming goofiness, as shown by the litany of punning titles. A longtime resident of Florida, Dee opened his own night club, 'Lenny Dee's Den', in St. Petersburg, in the late 1960s, and appeared there at least several times a week into the early 1990s.
AMG BIO:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:e9fxlfje5cqo~T1
MORE:
http://www.geocities.com/hammond_lennydee/

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1898 Roger Quincy Dickerson, Trumpet
b. Paducah, KY, USA.
d. Jan. 21, 1951
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1929 Wilbert Harrison, Piano/Vocals/guitar/drums/harmonica
b. Charlotte, NC, USA. d. Oct. 26, 1994, Spencer, NC, USA (Stroke).
Regretfully, most 'oldies' fans consider him as a two-hit wonder. His "Kansas City" (1959) and a heartwarming "Let's Work Together" (a full decade later) were his only chart toppers.
AMG BIO:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0hzsa9cgb23a~T1
Biography
b. 5 January 1929, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, d. 26 October 1994, Spencer, North Carolina, USA. Although Harrison first recorded as early as 1953, it was not until the end of the decade that the singer established his reputation with a superb jump blues-styled adaptation of the perennial "Kansas City". This memorable single eventually rose to number 1 in the US pop and R&B charts, despite the attention of several competing versions. The singer then unleashed a series of similarly excellent releases including the compulsive "Let's Stick Together", which was revived many years later by Bryan Ferry. Harrison continued to record, rather unsuccessfully, throughout the 60s, until "Let's Work Together", a regenerated reading of that former release, returned him to the public eye. Harrison subsequently appeared in London with Creedence Clearwater Revival, but the song ultimately became better known with Canned Heat's hit version, a number 2 in the UK and a number 17 in the USA. Its originator, meanwhile, made several excellent albums in the wake of his new-found popularity, but was unable to gain any consistent commercial appeal.

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1930 Oscar Klein, Trumpet/cornet/clarinet/guitar/harmonica/flute/tarogato
b. Graz, Austria...
NOTE: The Tarogato is a single reed, conically bored instrument superficially resembling the Clarinet, with a haunting, vibrant sound and a wide dynamic range.
Biography
by Scott Yanow
An excellent Dixieland trumpeter and an occasional swing guitarist, Oscar Klein (although not well-known in the U.S.) has had a long and productive career in Germany. Klein was an important member of Fatty George 's band (1952-1957), the Tremble Kids (1957-1960), and the Dutch Swing College Orchestra (1959-1963). Back with the Tremble Kids off and on during 1963-1977, Klein also had the opportunity to play with American musicians passing through Europe, including Albert Nicholas and Wild Bill Davison . Virtually all of his recordings have been made for European labels; most are worth searching for.

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1923 Sam Phillips, label founder (Sun Records)
b: Florence, AL, USA.
AMG BIO:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:zceq97ljkrst~T1

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1919 Woolf Phillips, Trombone/Reeds/Composer/Leader
b. London, England, UK.
AMG BIO:
http://www.jazzprofessional.com/profiles/Woolf%20Phillips.htm

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1904 Mike Riley, Trombone
b. Fall River, MA. USA.
d. Sept. 2, 1984.
Two gentlemen, Riley and Farley had a band ("Mike Riley, Eddie Farley & their Onyx Club Boys") playing at the Onyx Club, on New York's famed 52nd Street ("Swing Street"). One fine day (1935) they composed a daffy tune called "The Music Goes Round and Round." ("Mike" Riley/Ed. Farley/William "Red" Hodgson). It became a huge overnight success -- the only success they ever had.
AMG BIO:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:rns9keptjq7b~T1

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Notable Events on this date include:
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1940.
Major E.H. Armstrong demonstrated his invention of the "FM" radio before the U. S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). One year later, in 1941, the first commericial FM transmitter went into operation.

1959.
Austin Allen, Singer, Banjo, Guitar, Tenor Banjo, died. Age: 57 (Member of the Allen Brothers, a duo of "Austin" né: Austin Ambrose Allen, and Lee William Allen, Singer, Guitar, Kazoo, Piano, b. June 1, 1906 , both brothers born Sewanee, Tennessee, USA.)

1964.
Cecil Scott, tenor sax, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 58

1979.
Charles Mingus, bass, died in Cuernavaca, Mexico

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Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
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1921 “Bright Eyes”, (Otto Motzan/ M.K. Jerome) - Ray Miller's Black And White Melody Boys
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/miller/BrightEyes.ram

1924 “Gotta Getta Girl”, Harry Reser and his Orchestra
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/reser/gonnagetagirl6jj.ram

1925 “Where's My Sweetie Hiding?” (matrix 140220-1) (Malie / Finch / Britt / Little) - The California Ramblers
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/caramblers/WheresMySweetieHiding.ram

1928 “Dolly Dimples”, (Alter) - Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/whiteman/dollydim.ram

1929 “The Spell Of The Blues”, (Ruby / Dreyer / Johnston) - Jessie Stafford and his Orchestra
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/Staffordo/thespelloftheblues.ram

1929 “You'll Never Know”,- Jessie Stafford and his Orchestra
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/Staffordo/youllneverknow.ram

1931 “At Last I'm Happy”, (Friend / Clare / Conrad) - Louisiana Rhythm Kings
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/LRK/AtLastIm.ram

1931 “If You Haven't Got A Girl”, - Louisiana Rhythm Kings
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/LRK/ifyouhavent.ram

1935 “What's the Reason (I'm Not Pleasin' You?)”, (Jimmie Greer / Coe H. Poe / Pinky Tomlin) - Fats Waller and his Rhythm
LISTEN:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/waller/whatsthereason.ram

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LYRICS:
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What's The Reason I'm Not Pleasin' You
~[Written by Coy Poe, Jimmie Green
Pinky Tomlin and Earl Hatch]

Why don’t we get along
everything I do is wrong
Tell me what’s the reason
I’m not pleasin’ you

I may kiss you but then
You don’t say kiss me again
Tell me what’s the reason
I’m not pleasin’ you

If you must keep me in doubt
How will I know what to do
You can change me about

I’ll be what you want me to
Though I try and I try
Still I never satisfy
Tell me what’s the reason
I’m not pleasin’ you

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~Confetta

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