1950 Chicago, March 24, 1950 NEWS DOWN BEAT Dixie By Dorsey Brings 'Butter And Egg Man' To Statler's Cafe Rouge

New York—Jimmy Dorsey, whose band is more and First photo show* Jack Douglas. Marion Hutton, Dorsey, Hogan and Charlie Teagarden do their Big Butter and ■sore wearing the Dixieland tag fostered hy hia recent and Margaret Whiting. Douglas ia singer Hutton’s husband Egg Man routine. Band is reviewed by John S. Wilam* in recordings, moved into the Statler hotel here recently. and partner. In the second photo, Jimmy listen* to Claire the columns below.

Medlied so far are Harold Arlen, voted to ballad* and provide* top- Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome notch material in place of the gen­ Kern, Rodgers and Hart, anJ Ir­ erally crumby current pops. ving Berlin, with more in the For further variety, and also for works. further elimination of dull bal­ Jimmy Dorsey On Way Back Varies Tempos lads, Jimmy ha* dug into hia li­ By JOHN S. WILSON —t Because of their length, Gibe- brary and is featuring more and rial. For one thing, Jimmy “haa ling wisely varies the tempos in the more of the two-tempoed item* he Reviewed st «he hotsl, NYC used to use in the Bob Eberly- Tramps«,: Charlie Teegerden. Dick Heims*. Dick Murphy, end Short, Sherock some moderate-tempoed, danceable medleys every few choruses, thus Dixie for which, surprisingly avoiding monotony and at the same Helen O’Connell days—Green Eyes, Trombones: Dick SelroM, Bob Hsckmas, end Frank Rehock Maria Elena, Tangerine, etc. Claire Beedi Benn, Fuiwll end Nino FeloHI olios; Frsnk Ms,ns and Moll Cenlcola, tenon; Mlml enough, moat of the dancers at the time playing up Jimmy’s gimmick LoRocco, baritone Sta’ler stay on the floor. on “Contrasting Rhythms. Danc­ Hogan, who ha* recently been bur­ Bh0hm Al Wstlohn, piano. BUI lolstts, bo« end Ro, Bauduc drum,. Then, too, arranger Gibeling has ers, it should be noted, do not ap­ dened with the nickname of Shan­ Vocoh: Kens, Merlin, Claire (Shonl,) Hogan, s*4 Charlie Teagarden provided him with some long—15 pear to be distressed to find that ty, ha* taken over the O'Connell Arranger Howerd Gibeling. to 20 minutes—medley*, each de- they have to switch speeds in mid­ roles. Jimmy Done»—clarinet, olio, end leader voted to the works of a composer step. Use of the medleys covers an Basically a better singer than New York—One of the pleasantest things that can be en­ who wrote some really good tune*. area which would otherwise be de­ (Modulate lo Page 7) countered in any field is a comeback, especially when it hap- pens to a nice guy. Accordingly, this is being written from the center of a nice warm glow, for Jimmy Dorsey is definitely back up in the big league again.#" Talent By The Carload At Stewart Benefit Thi* ia not to any that he’s sitting aeema to be to achieve that gaiety all alone un the top of tbe current and seat which i* the hallmark of heap, but he’s cioae to it. Dixie, and in this they are suc­ ceeding. Prime driving force of the And, given the right combina­ group • i* Teagarden, whose big, tion of circumstances and materia), pushing, confident trumpet carries it would be no surprise to see him the combo along with the abandon then?. of lemmings throwing themselves It's not just the Dixie stuff he's into the sea. putting out that has brought this Jimmy himself is playing with about, although his two-beat has more relaxed drive than ha* been brought him the kind of attention apparent since his Dorsey Brothers that haan’t been turned his way days. Bob Hackman, the trombone since his great Green Eyes—Helen man, is adequate—not quite good O’Connell era. The whole Dorsey enough to stand out on hid own deal haa improved immeasurably, nor so weak that he drags down and in only tne last year. the ensemble. Palatable Tenor This is a far cry from the sad, dull, “remember-w h e n-he-had-it” Although a tenor has always bands he was dragging around a seemed out of place in a Dixie few years ago. Life, seat, and group, Frank Mayne makes the variety are all over this present horn palatable. His style is some­ Dorsey crew. It could be that just what reminiscent of Bud Freeman, one definitely Dorsey, non-Dixie but with some of the lift that Ed­ record, such as John Silver, could die Miller used to get with the bring on another great JD regime. Bob Cate. The rhythm section is Certainly it is only original instru­ sometimes inclined to have a heavy mentals of the Silver nature which foot, but it never lets you forget thia band lacks now. that it’s two-beat you’re listening To consider Jimmy’s two-beat to. output first, he can probably thank What this Original Dorseyland the disc jockeys for the fact that Jazz band is putting out is rather he’s getting an attentive audience slicked up Dixie, but it has the once again. Jimmy formed the properly urgent, hectic quality, and Dixie combo within his band two is doubtless commercial aa hell. years ago. There was some talk at Over an evening's listening, an un­ the time that JD on a Dixie kick fortunate tendency toward formula might be able to take over the spot can be seen in the repeated use of in the band hierarchy left vacant rhythmic handclapping on every when Bob Crosby broke up his soloist’s second chorus, but imag­ band in 1942. inative minds should soon be able No Disc* to think of more variable gim­ micks. But this talk soon dissipated, partially because Jimmy had no The combo’s two-beat standards records to advertise his Dixie and are all head arrangements, while partially because those who came the current material which ia be­ to find out about his two-beat dis­ ing given the Dixie treatment— covered that, aside from that the such as Rag Mop and the revived band waa a dull, logy proposition. Charlie My Boy, Johnson Rag, and Big Butter and Egg Man—has But when Jimmy’s two-beat al­ been scored by arranger Howard bum was released by Columbia this Gibeling with a pleasantly relaxed winter, the jocks went for the authenticity. sides in a big way, and people, drawn to hear the Dorsey band aa Ureded Out New York—A benefit for the widow and son a result of these records found One of the big drags on the Dor­ of the late Budd, Stewart, held al Birdland on former Claude Thornhill vocalist, who bad bi* that the rest of the stuff it was sey bund in recent years haa been a recent Monday night, brought out practically playing waa, for the most part, it* ballad*, which aounded as every musician in the area. Different units filed first class. though they were being ground out The Dorsey Dixie combo is made by a alow-moving cement mixer. up of Jimmy on clarinet; Frank Moat of thia sludge has been weed­ that played. Top left, Charlie Ventura, leading Mayne, tenor; Charlie Teagarden, ed out now, although a few rem­ his new 17-piece band on coprano sax; top center, included Fran Warren, Ella Fitsgerald, Harry trumpet: Bob Hackman, trombone; nants remain. This has not been Charlie Parker and Diaay Gillespie, who played Belafonte, Dick Hyman. Letuaie Tristano’* sextet. Al Waslohn, piano; Bill Lolatte, achieved so much by improving the together tei a unii fee the first time in years. i bass, and Ray Bauduc, drums. quality of the ballads as by ignor­ other*. A full ev I In general, their primary effort ing them in favor of other mate­ • percentage on