Show Notes 4/23-26

Plenty of Room for the Squares

A famous hipster once observed, "Sometimes it seems like the squares are having all the fun." In the parlance of 1940s American Jazz, a "square" is a person who is un-hip, conventional, or old-fashioned. Squares are out-of-touch with current musical trends. Artie Shaw is hip; Sammy Kaye is square. Tommy Dorsey is hip; Wayne King is square. Harry James is hip; Russ Morgan is square. And that is where this week's In the Mood  finds us - at the intersection  of the hip and the square: the crossroads of Harry James (hip) and Russ Morgan (square).

I am confronting a dilemma that has nagged me for years, and it's all about the dichotomy of the hip and the square. Hot Music versus Sweet Music. You see, I love them both equally. But I've come to view my taste for sweet music as something of a guilty pleasure. I listen to a swinging hot dance number by Benny Goodman, and I just assume that everyone will find it as exciting and satisfying as I do. But when I listen to a bouncy, straight-up foxtrot by Guy Lombardo or a pop ballad from the Casa Loma Orchestra, I want to talk myself out of playing it on the show. "Oh sure," I think, "I like it, but nobody else will. Too corny. Too commercial."

Over the past several weeks, I've begun to eschew that line of thinking. I've played sweet numbers on the show by Guy Lombardo, Jan Garber, Freddy Martin and Hal Kemp. In the next few weeks, I even plan to play It Isn't Fair by Sammy Kaye, one of the most in-your-face commercial records of the 1950s. And one of the decade's biggest hits. I have to remind myself that, back in the Day, millions of people heard these sweet records, and they liked them. They liked hearing them, and they liked dancing to them. A lot. So it's no wonder that I enjoy hearing them. It's good music, just as the swing records are good music. So, I've begun to mix some sweet music into the show. 

And I think it's working. The sweet tunes provide some relief from the high-energy drive of those hot swing records. Maybe they're not as thrilling to hear, but they do make me grin like a damn fool when I hear that predictable beat, and the logical, familiar chord progressions. So, there's gotta be something there...right? I think so. That's why, going forward, you're going to continue to hear the pulse-quickening swing of the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Artie Shaw and Duke Ellington. But you're also going to hear some of that businessman's bounce from Guy Lombardo, Vaughn Monroe, Eddy Howard, Ted Weems, and even some Paul Whiteman. But no Sammy Kaye, other than Daddy, It Isn't Fair, and The Old Lamplighter. The rest of his stuff is just too sappy! I mean, I gotta draw the line somewhere!

With that being said, we kick off the show this week with about 20 minutes of very high-quality sweet music from Russ Morgan and his Orchestra, a band that is sure to appeal to the "squares" in our audience. If you count yourself among the quadrangles, you will surely enjoy Music in the Morgan Manner. Sweet, snappy melodies, interestingly arranged with a distinctive style and an unmistakable dance beat. Morgan had a lot of hits in his long career, and some were jumbo-sized indeed. You will probably find yourself singing along with such familiar tunes as There'll Be Some Changes Made, There Goes That Song Again, and You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You. And once you hear an instrumental or two by this band, you will understand why it was such a favorite of the dancers from coast to coast. 

Harry James provides the springboard that launches Hour 2 this week. His great bands of the 1940s were always solid swingers. And Harry really knew better than most of the Swing band leaders how to handle a ballad. His trumpet technique was impeccable; he could rip and roar with the hottest players on the planet - but his honey-toned treatment of popular ballads was money in the bank. 

Harry was married to movie star Betty Grable, and together they made quite the dashing and glamorous Hollywood couple. She even famously sneaked a vocal on one of Harry's hit records, I Can't Begin to Tell You, under the pseudonym of Ruth Haag. The moniker was a combination of their two middle names. Was she a great singer? Who cares when you look like Betty Grable? We will play the recording on this show, so you can judge for yourself. You'll also hear some of Harry's biggest hits, both swing and sweet, including You Made Me Love You, I've Heard That Song Before, and the band's original theme song, Ciribiribin. 

In addition to our Spotlight features on Russ Morgan and Harry James this week, In the Mood brings you a generous selection of gems from the World's Greatest Record Library. We'll hear swinging 78 sides from Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. John Kirby's Onyx Club Boys will bring us Undecided, Kay Kyser's Campus Kids will teach us a lesson in Friendship, and the Benny Goodman Quartet will bring down the house live at Carnegie Hall. We'll hear from some of the great singers of the Era as well, with Bing Crosby, Helen Forrest, Sarah Vaughan and Evelyn Knight and the Starlighters making appearances.

In all, another thoroughly enjoyable show, if I do say so. And, as always, I try to pack in as many interesting historical tidbits as practical. Maybe more. So please, call a young band student and invite them to listen to the show with you this week! Young players NEED to hear this music! And by all means, let me hear from you! Leave us a comment or request right here or visit our Facebook Page. Be kind to one another this week, and Keep Swinging!

Scott