NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS

by JAY and CHRISTOPHER POPA

HAL KEMP GETS HIS DUE

The music of Hal Kemp is enjoying a resurgence that

started with Joseph Rubin’s tribute concert in June 2019 and

continues now thanks to a pair of compact disc labels.

Crystal Stream Audio of Australia has gathered 50 of

Kemp’s recordings from 1924 to 1939 into a 2-CD set,

“Volume Five: ‘Delightful Delirium’” (catalog no.IDCD

429~430). They do their usual fine job, including such songs

and instrumentals as June Night, Sunrise Serenade, Blue

Moonlight, Washington and Lee Swing, and two takes of High

Up On a Hilltop, while the liner notes highlight the titles,

recording dates, and original issues. Highly-preferred, along

with the other four volumes of Kemp available from Crystal

Stream.

Another two-CD set, “The Hal Kemp Hits Collection 1930-

41” from Acrobat Music in England, continues that label’s

series of sweet bands. There are 45 selections here (but how

can they leave off Got a Date with An Angel and Lamplight?),

the sound quality varies from track to track, and their liner

notes are in tiny print.

BIG BAND Alliance

MORE NEW CDS

Real Gone Music has done a great job with “Hemi Demi

Semi Quaver,” a compact disc of 26 mostly-unreleased

performances by Raymond Scott and his big band.

The sound quality is impressive - the material was originally

recorded by Scott himself and restored by Gavin Ross. Tunes

include Minuet in Jazz, Toonerville Trolley, Four Beat Shuffle,

Mr. Basie Goes to Washington, and Eight Letters in My

Mailbox. As the subtitle of the CD states, “buried treasure,”

indeed!

The well-done liner notes are by Scott aficionado Skip

Heller who co-produced the CD with Scott’s son, Stan

Warnow. Photos from the Scott family archive enhance the

package.

Radio Spirits has just released “The Circus,” their thirteenth

( ! ) compilation of Phil Harris radio shows.

These particular episodes, on 10 CDs, are all from

1949, such as “Remley Is Fired” (2/27/49), “Remley Is Re-

Hired” (3/13/49), “Cadillac in the Swimming Pool” (5/15/49),

“Phil’s Boat” (5/22/49), and “Phil Returns From

Vacation” (9/18/49).

The sound quality is - as usual - excellent, the laughs

plentiful, and the enclosed program guide is by radio historian

Elizabeth McLeod.

Sounds of YesterYear in England keeps faithfully cranking

out big band CDs, with Stan Kenton at the “Newport Jazz

Festival, 1974” (catalog no. SOY 2213 ) one of their latest.

There are just nine tracks (and two of them are song

intros), though Kenton liked to play extended-length pieces.

The music from the July 6, 1974 concert held at Carnegie Hall,

includes Inner Crisis, Body and Soul, and Chiapas.

We wish that we could say that My Fantastic Music’s new,

four-CD set of “Big Band Sides” by Bob Eberly with Jimmy

Dorsey and his Orchestra was excellent, but it’s far from it

because of the sound quality, which is poor at times. (Sorry!)

Admittedly, there are a lot of uncommon records among the

96 sides collected here, but if you bought the volumes of

“Jimmy Dorsey In Disco Order” on Ajax and Ajaz LPs, you’ve

already got this stuff and in comparable sound.

Acrobat Music continues to milk Louis Jordan’s legacy with

“The Louis Jordan Fifties Collection: 1951-1958” (no.ADDCD

3353), their third offering of his music.

Acrobat already used up Jordan’s biggest hits on their

“Jukebox Hits” collections, so this 2-CD set has

Cock-a-Doodle Doo, Fat Sam From Birmingham, Whatever

Lola Wants, and 49 others.

We’ve lost count of how many Glenn Miller and Tex Beneke

CDs that Sounds of YesterYear has done, most - if not all - with

the prompting of Michael Highton.

This latest one, ”Glenn Miller And His Orchestra featuring

The Vocals Of Dorothy Claire And Paula Kelly,” is focused on

the period in 1941 when Miller’s regular female vocalist, Marion

Hutton, was on maternity leave. “While Marion’s Away Dorothy

And Paula Play” reads the CD’s cover.

The 21 songs total include (from Dorothy) The Bugle

Woogie, Perfidia, Swingin’ At the Séance, The Naughty Sweetie

Blues, and others, and (from Paula) La Cucaracha, The Booglie

Wooglie Piggy, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Sing and Be Gay,

and more. A mixture of studio recordings and broadcasts.

And speaking of Mr. Miller…

MILITARY HONORS

FOR GLENN MILLER

Work to have Glenn Miller be posthumously honored with

the presidential Medal of Freedom and / or other military

recognition continues.

The effort is being spearheaded by Dennis Spragg, Senior

Consultant of The Glenn Miller Archives at the University of

Colorado-Boulder, the official repository of Miller’s musical and

personal legacies.

As Dennis explained to the White House and several key

politicians, “Glenn Miller was America’s #1 bandleader and a

genuine patriot. He sacrificed his life in service to the United

States as a Major in the Army Air Forces during World War II.

His music remains as popular as ever and is accurately

described as the ’soundtrack of the greatest generation.’ My

purpose in getting in touch is to ask you to honor Glenn Miller

with the Medal of Freedom. He also qualifies for the Legion of

Merit and Purple Heart, with both awards long overdue. Our Air

Force might also consider a posthumous promotion in rank.”

More than 75 years since Miller’s death have elapsed, and

with the nation's attention on the COVID-19 pandemic, the

economy, and other headlines, will this attempt get the proper

consideration? We hope so!

FROM THE FILES

Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra

November 1939

Duke Ellington and his vocalist Joya Sherrill

November 1945

Glen Gray and band members

November 1938

Count Basie

November 2, 1955

NECROLOGY

HAL SINGER, 100, d.August 18, 2020. Saxophonist in the

1940s with Eldridge, Millinder, Ellington.

STANLEY CROUCH, 74, d.September 16, 2020. Author of

13 books including Flying Home: Lionel Hampton.