Buster looks a little glum here, doesn't he? Not that the Great Stone Face smiled much, and really there may not seem to be much to grin about these days. But it is spring, and with it comes the Easter holiday, a celebration of renewal that is all the more pertinent in a time of pandemic.
To help make the time pass, I've put together "Buster's Easter Bouquet of Hits" themed to the holiday. As usual it is an eclectic bunch, including 32 samples of jazz, country, pop, polka, boogie, religious material and ethnic fare. Believe me, my designation of most of these as "hits" is more than a little optimistic. But they all have their points of interest, which I elucidate below, covering the collection in chronological order.
The first item is the oldest record ever presented on this blog. It is "Hosanna," an Easter song dating from 1901-4. The exact date is uncertain because Columbia recorded it with two different singers at different times, using one on some pressings and the other on others. I believe this singer is
Bernard Bégué, a Met baritone who somehow makes this lugubrious hymn even more dreary. Not a stellar start to the collection, I know, but historically notable.
The prolific tenor
Harry Macdonough recorded "The Palms" twice, once in 1906 and once in 1913. I believe this transfer emanates from the latter date, and is taken from a circa 1920 pressing. Macdonough was the head of Victor's New York studio in addition to being one of its top artists. Again, this is hardly what you would call lively, but things improve later on.
But not right away. I wanted to include a few items from the important ethnic catalogs that the record companies were building at the time. The first is "Hosianna Davids Son" from the Swedish-American baritone
Joel Mossberg. It dates from 1916.
Next we have a pleasant spring interlude, complete with bird calls, called "Down In Lily Land at Easter Time," with your guides
Billy Burton and James Hall (pseudonyms for the popular recording artists Charles Harrison and Andrea Sarto, the latter of whom appeared in my
Valentine collection). This comes from 1917.
"The Old Rugged Cross" is one of the most famous songs associated with Easter. Here is an 1921 recording from
Oscar Seagle, a prominent musician and music teacher active in the early 20th century. He looks kind of rugged himself, I'd say.
 |
| Oscar Seagle |
From 1922 comes the
Trinity Quartet, another busy recording ensemble, here comprising soprano Lucy Marsh, contralto Elsie Baker, tenor Lambert Murray and baritone Clifford Cairns. Believe me, these folks were all over the Victor catalog for some time. They present "Christ the Lord is Risen To-day," an Easter song penned by Charles Wesley some 200 years earlier.
Another ethnic number for you - "Zlozcie Troski (Take Care)," a Polish song with
Karol Dembek singing and
Wincenty Czerwinski speaking, dating from 1922. I wanted to include this because of the Lady Liberty motif on the OKeh label. Immigration to the U.S. was becoming much more restricted during these years, with increasingly stiff quotas being imposed several times.
 |
| Frieda Hempel |
The prominent German soprano
Frieda Hempel regales us with "Alleluia - A joyous Easter Hymn" on a 1924 HMV recording with an anonymous backing.
Finally we come to a lively number that could actually be called popular, even if not strictly (or at all) Easter-related. It is "Hallelujah!" from the Youmans-Grey-Robin score for the 1927 Broadway smash
Hit the Deck. Our rendition is courtesy of two of the busiest recording artists of the time - the talented tenor
Franklyn Baur and Victor director of light music
Nat Shilkret. Note that although Shilkret is credited on the label, the ledgers say that Leonard Joy directed the session. Regardless, it's a wonderful song.
 |
| The Westminster Central Hall |
We're back in England for the next number, coming from the
Choir of the Westminster Central Hall, a prominent Methodist church in London. Arthur Meale directs a good 1928 reading of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."
Also from England, an old friend, tenor
Steuart Wilson, who has appeared
on this blog before. Here he takes up "This Joyful Easter-tide" in an arrangement by Arthur Somervell. I believe the anonymous accompanist is Gerald Moore. This comes from circa 1929.
 |
| Sir Walford Davies, 1929 |
One of my favorite numbers from this collection is the
Sir Walford Davies Easter processional "O Filii et Filiae," conducted by the composer in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. As usual with such on-site recordings of processionals, the choir sounds distant at first, becoming more prominent as the hymn proceeds. Here, the engineer made them much too dim, so I have adjusted the gain so you can at least hear what is going on. The recording dates from 1931.
 |
| Clifton Webb, 1934 |
One of the two most famous pop songs associated with Easter comes from 1933 and the Irving Berlin revue,
As Thousands Cheer. Introducing the "Easter Parade" were
Clifton Webb and Marilyn Miller. Webb was a song and dance performer on Broadway for many years before moving to Hollywood. Victor had him record the song with Leo Reisman's orchestra.
Recognizing a good thing, Berlin reused "Easter Parade" in films several times - in
Alexander's Ragtime Band, Holiday Inn and the 1948 picture named for the song. The music has a back story as well - Berlin first published it 1917 with different lyrics, "Smile and Show Your Dimple."
Webb and Reisman weren't the only contenders in the "Easter Parade" of recordings, of course. Brunswick had
Freddy Martin and his soupy saxes step in for a Vocalion release that same year. An enjoyable effort, with an uncredited vocal trio, presumably plucked from the band.
 |
| Warwick Braithwaite |
It wouldn't be Easter without a go at the "Halleujah Chorus" from Handel's
Messiah. This 1939 recording surprisingly comes from the
Sadler's Wells Chorus and Orchestra, whose main stock-in-trade was opera, not oratorio. It's a good effort, led by the then Sadler's Wells music director,
Warwick Braithwaite - very broad and grand, the sort of thing you seldom hear these days.
Now we return to the other "Hallelujah!", the one from
Hit the Deck. Bandleader
Will Bradley revived the song for a 1939 Columbia flagwaver featuring drummer Ray McKinley. The arranger was Leonard Whitney.
 |
| Will Bradley |
 |
| Kenny Baker |
In a much different vein is a 1942 release, "Easter Sunday with You," from tenor
Kenny Baker, who made his name on Jack Benny's radio show, then appeared in many films. Harry Sosnik leads the band in this Don Reid-Henry Tobias song. Baker made a specialty of such sweet, sincere material, in later years moving into the religious repertory. He was a fine singer.
Guy Lombardo and his brothers are most associated with New Year's Day, certainly, but they also had a shot at other holidays. Here is their 1945 plea, "I Want a Bunny for Easter," with the usual stiff vocal from a band trio. This number was from songwriter Dave Franklin, whose big hit that year was "Lily Belle."
One of the best records in this set is "Hallelujah Morning" from the
Brown's Ferry Four, one of the first country super groups. The Four consisted of the Delmore Brothers, Grandpa Jones and generally either Merle Travis or Red Foley (sources differ on who appears on this recording). The Four recorded sacred material for King in the late 40s, including this Alton Delmore composition in 1946. This particular pressing has some 78 noise, but it is far superior to the commercial reissue, which is cut, off-pitch, over-filtered and has had echo added.
Freddie Mitchell could and did make anything into a boogie, and here he turns "Easter Parade" into "Easter Boogie," attributing the composition to himself and two other folks, not including Irving Berlin. It's characteristic, with the usual tinkling from the upright piano and honking from the tenor sax. Those tinkles and honks comes to us from 1949.
 |
| Vaughn Monroe |
I am not a fan of the moaning of baritone
Vaughn Monroe, but here he does well by an unfamiliar seasonal tune, "It's Easter Time," dating from 1950. He is backed by the Moon Maids and the Moon Men, who were named in honor of his first big hit, 1941's "Racing with the Moon."
The other big Easter song, leaving aside "Easter Parade," is "Peter Cottontail" (formally, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail"), from the team of Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. They also wrote "Frosty the Snowman," thus providing anthropomorphic kiddie tales for two different holidays. The hit version of the Easter song was by Gene Autry in 1950, but I am partial to the work of a lesser singing cowboy,
Jimmy Wakely, who was one of Capitol's biggest stars. His relaxed baritone is just right here, as always.
 |
| 1950 Billboard ad |
I can't resist adding another "Peter Cottontail" to the pile, this one from the usually swinging and swaying but here mostly bouncing
Sammy Kaye and his vocal Kaydets. Sammy's Columbia record appeared in 1951 - late to the party but welcome nonetheless.
 |
| Tommy Sosebee |
Country singer
Tommy Sosebee was dubbed "The Voice of the Hills" by his management or the Coral record company - and he did have an excellent voice, in fact, displayed well in his 1951 recording of the unfamiliar "She's My Easter Lily." Well worth hearing.
Record mogul Norman Granz started a fashion for jazz soloists appearing with string accompaniment when he paired Charlie Parker's alto sax with a bed of strings in 1950. Trumpeter
Roy Eldridge got this treatment in 1952 with a recording of "Easter Parade" with lush backing from arranger
George "The Fox" Williams. It's not the most successful example of the genre, but not displeasing either.
 |
| The Anita Kerr Singers (Kerr at front) |
I am a great admirer of the singer-arranger-composer
Anita Kerr, who brings us an Easter hymn, "The Strife is O'er, the Battle Won," adapted from Palestrina. But this 1952 record is just not one of her best. A shame because she made so many good ones!
In a much different vein is "The Bunny Hop," a hit for Ray Anthony in 1954. But here we eschew Ray's Capitol platter in favor of
Lee Roy and His Band, on the Epic label. "Lee Roy" was in fact Ray's brother, who sometimes played baritone sax in Ray's band. I find this sibling record rivalry to be odd, to say the least. I do love the song, though.
 |
| Duke Ellington |
Capitol was not above making the great
Duke Ellington record some lesser material during his tenure with the label. Case in point is the "Bunny Hop Mambo" from 1954, which is just what is seems to be, only disjointed on the Duke's end. The "hop-hop-hop" in this one is more like "lurch-lurch-lurch."
Fortunately,
Frankie Yankovic's "Bunny Polka," also from 1954, is not the "Bunny Hop" in disguise, but rather a piece by the bandleader and his arranger, Joe Trolli. This is not one of the Polka King's most regal accomplishments, but pleasant even so.
Country pop singer
Rusty Draper had a number of big records for Mercury in the mid-50s. The unfamiliar "Easter Mornin'" from 1954 was not one of his successes, but entertaining in its unassuming way. The conductor is famed producer Hugo Peretti.
I hope you will not mind one final reprise of "Easter Parade," in a smooth arrangement for the
Men of the Robert Shaw Chorus, here conducted by Ralph Hunter, who succeeded Shaw as conductor of the Collegiate Chorale at about the same time as the record came out (1954).
Our final number is the little-noticed "Two Easter Sunday Sweethearts," the flip side of English singer
Vera Lynn's 1954 pressing of "Du Bist Mein Liebshoen." But even "Du Bist" was a minor record compared to Lynn's big hit that year, "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)." In the ad at bottom, Lynn arrives on the HMS Queen Elizabeth bearing a big present of "If You Love Me" for the American market, with the other record tucked in her handbag.
I hope everyone has a good holiday. We always host a family gathering on Easter Sunday, but not this year. Facetime will have to do. I am grateful even so for all the blessings that have been bestowed on me over the years, not the least of which are the loyal readers of this blog. My best to you all.
 |
| 1954 Billboard ad (click to enlarge) |
