WOODY HERMAN Vol.2
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120658bk Woody2 6/12/02 11:36 am Page 8 Also available in the Naxos Jazz Legends series 8.120527 8.120585 8.120605* 8.120615* 8.120616 8.120652* * Not available in the USA 120658bk Woody2 6/12/02 11:36 am Page 2 WOODY HERMAN Sam Rubinowich, alto sax; Saxie Mansfield, Herbie Haymer, tenor sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Vol.2 Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums Get Your Boots Laced Papa! Original 1938-1943 Recordings 23 April 1942: Cappy Lewis, trumpet; Neal Reid, trombone; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums A major player in the broader, commercial canopy of jazz, during his long career Woody Herman 24 & 31 July 1942: Charles Peterson, Billie Rogers, George Seaberg, Cappy Lewis, trumpets; underwent several metamorphoses and, surviving various vicissitudes remained in the vanguard Neal Reid, Tommy Farr, Walter Nims, trombones; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Edmund of American popularity as “the best white band of the Big Band Era”. In his youth almost Costanza, Sam Rubinowich, alto sax; Pete Mondello, Mickey Folus, tenor sax; Tommy universally recognised as an ace clarinettist, during the Swing Era he was admired for his Linehan, piano; Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums individuality of style and for the innovation, versatility and distinctive timbre of his playing. 8 November 1943: Robert Guyer, Ray Wetzel, Cappy Lewis, Benny Stabler, Nick Travis, Latterly, and perhaps more famously still, this noted “talent-spotter” converted Dixieland to trumpets; Al Mastren, Eddie Bert, Ed Kiefer, trombones; Woody Herman, clarinet; Johnny Progressive and went on to structure and organise the longest -running, most innovative big- Bothwell, Charlie DiMaggio, Pete Mondello, Ben Webster, Skippy DeSair, saxes; Dick Kane, band in jazz history. Between 1937 and 1952, he charted with more than fifty hits. piano; Hy White, guitar; Chubby Jackson, bass; Cliff Leeman, drums Woody was born Woodrow Charles Herman in Milwaukee on 13 May, 1913, the son of a shoemaker. Encouraged in music by his family, he also had from the start the advantage of a precocious musical talent which showed itself simultaneously in more than one direction. After early experience as a child-singer and tap-dancer on the vaudeville stages of his native-town and The Naxos Historical labels aim to make available the greatest recordings of the history of music-hall circuits of the Midwest from the age of eight, he at last came face to face with jazz in recorded music, in the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To his own home town. At twelve he had already mastered the saxophone prior to taking up the achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, clarinet with even greater distinction. Billed ‘The Boy Wonder Of The Clarinet’, he quickly skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of evolved a solo routine and at fourteen, while still a high-school student, joined his first band. historical recordings. Woody studied at the Marquette School of Music in Milwaukee and from his mid-teens onwards played in a variety of locally active commercial society outfits, including Myron Stewart’s at the David Lennick Blue Heaven Club and, in 1930, Tom Gerun’s at the Schroeder Hotel (in this last his fledgling As a producer of CD reissues, David Lennick’s work in this field grew directly from his own fellow vocalists included Ginny Simms and saxophonist Tony Martin). Soon in demand himself needs as a broadcaster specializing in vintage material and the need to make it listenable while not only as a clarinettist-saxophonist but also as a vocalist in his own right, from 1931 he toured being transmitted through equalizers, compressors and the inherent limitations of A.M. radio. with Gus Arnheim’s Los Angeles-based Cocoanut Grove Orchestra in both capacities. Following Equally at home in classical, pop, jazz and nostalgia, Lennick describes himself as exercising as a spell in Chicago with Harry Sosnik, in 1934 he was appointed saxophonist-vocalist with Isham much control as possible on the final product, in conjunction with CEDAR noise reduction Jones’s renowned ‘sweet’ band and, more significantly, became a member of Isham Jones’ applied by Graham Newton in Toronto. As both broadcaster and re-issue producer, he relies Juniors, the small jazz group within the band with whom he made his first records, eight sides for on his own extensive collection as well as those made available to him by private collectors, the Decca, early in 1936. When Jones retired later that same year to his Colorado ranch, the band University of Toronto, Syracuse University and others. 2 8.120658 8.120658 7 120658bk Woody2 6/12/02 11:36 am Page 6 Personnel temporarily folded until resurrected – at first as a co-operative – by a nucleus of its leading former sidemen with Herman at its helm. 22 December 1938: Clarence Willard, Jerry Neary, trumpets; Neal Reid, trombone; Joe Bishop, flugelhorn; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Joe Estren, Ray Hopfner, alto sax; Saxie The Jones style was initially still apparent in Herman’s first outfit, ‘The Band That Plays The Mansfield, Pete Johns, tenor sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, Blues’ but by 1937, the high summer of Swing, thanks largely to Woody’s outstanding skill as an bass; Frank Carlson, drums organiser and integrator of talent, the band was playing alternately sweet and hot with equal success. Effectively a swing big-band with a superimposed Dixieland flavour comparable to that 12 & 18 April 1940: Steady Nelson, Bob Price, Cappy Lewis, trumpets; Neal Reid, Toby Tyler, of Bob Crosby, it held its own with the competition. During 1937 Herman gave the world a first trombones; Joe Bishop, flugelhorn; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Herb Hopkins, Ray inkling of his native talent for fronting a band and in December of that year his first hit “I Double Hopfner, alto sax; Saxie Mansfield, Sammy Armato, tenor sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy Dare You” charted at No.18. In purely discographic terms, however, his first true milestone was White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums reached in 1939 with his trademark hit “At The Woodchoppers’ Ball”. A collaboration by 9 September 1940: Woody Herman, clarinet/alto sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, Herman and his flugelhorn-player and arranger Joe Bishop (1907-1976), this provided him with guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums a recognisable signature-tune and (by 1948) his first Golden Disc. 27 September & 9 November 1940: Steady Nelson, Bob Price, Cappy Lewis, trumpets; Neal The first Herman band housed two noted jazz small groups within its larger framework: The Reid, Bud Smith, trombones; Joe Bishop, flugelhorn; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Herb Four Chips (a quintet comprising Herman, Linehan, White, Yoder and Carlson, heard here on Tompkins, Bill Vitale, alto sax; Saxie Mansfield, Mickey Folus, tenor sax; Tommy Linehan, Chips’ Boogie Woogie, Elise and Yardbird Shuffle) and The Woodchoppers (a septet featuring piano; Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums Herman, Lewis, Reid, Linehan, White, Yoder and Carlson, on South and Fan It). However, while 13 February 1941: Cappy Lewis, trumpet; Neal Reid, trombone; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto consistently never less than jazz-inspired, Herman kept an eye firmly fixed on other more sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums commercial requirements. With this full-scale pre-1944 (i.e. pre-First Herd) band he steadily 11 March 1941: Steady Nelson, John Owens, Cappy Lewis, trumpets; Neal Reid, Bud Smith, carved a reputation with a succession of other jazz-swing titles in the American popular charts, Vic Hamann, trombones; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Herb Tompkins, Eddie Scalzi, including, in 1940, “Blues On Parade”, “Looking For Yesterday” and Get Your Boots Laced, alto sax; Saxie Mansfield, Mickey Folus, tenor sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, guitar; Papa (No.27); in 1941, “Frenesí” and his other theme-tune “Blue Flame”; in 1942, “By-U, By- Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums O” and Amen (No.5) and, during 1943, Four Or Five Times (at No.14) and, both at No.21, I Dood It and a chart re-entry of “At The Woodchoppers’ Ball” during the musicians’ strike. 28 August & 10 September 1941: Woody Herman, clarinet; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums In addition to blues and jazz-orientated items, a staple early-1940s Herman programme also 5 September 1941: Steady Nelson, Ray Linn, Cappy Lewis, trumpets; Neal Reid, Jerry Rosa, Vic featured a significant cross-section of popular Tin Pan Alley war-effort and film repertoire. Into Hamann, trombones; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Jimmy Horvath, Sam Rubinowich, these categories fall his fine versions of “Rose O’Day” and “Someone’s Rockin’ My Dreamboat” alto sax; Saxie Mansfield, Herbie Haymer, tenor sax; Tommy Linehan, piano; Hy White, as well as two hit songs from the 1941 Oscar-winning Abbot & Costello-Andrews Sisters vehicle guitar; Walter Yoder, bass; Frank Carlson, drums Buck Privates and, one of his greatest – if uncharted – successes: the Academy Award-nominated Johnny Mercer–Harold Arlen title-song from the 1941 Warner melodrama Blues In The Night. 2 April 1942: George Seaberg, Ray Linn, Cappy Lewis, Billie Rogers, trumpets; Neal Reid, Jerry Rosa, Vic Hamann, trombones; Woody Herman, clarinet, alto sax; Edmund Costanza, Peter Dempsey, 2003 6 8.120658 8.120658 3 120658bk Woody2 6/12/02 11:36 am Page 4 1. THE GOLDEN WEDDING (LA CINQUANTAINE) (Gabriel Marie, arr.