Meredith Willson and 'Modern American Music'

Paul Whiteman's 1924 Aeolian Hall concert is famous primarily for having introduced Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. But that event was just the beginning of what the conductor called his "Experiments in Modern American Music," with concert music commissioned from composers with pop and jazz roots. There were to be a total of eight such concerts, the last being held in 1938.

Whiteman's efforts inspired at least one other bandleader to undertake a similar endeavor, and this album is the result. In 1939, Meredith Willson was a radio conductor on the show Good News, which was primarily a showcase for M-G-M talent. For the show, Willson commissioned 10 notable pop composers to produce new works in a variety of forms, including the minuet, waltz, march and so on. Participating were Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Peter DeRose, Duke Ellington, Louis Alter, Sigmund Romberg, Morton Gould, Dana Suesse and Ferde Grofé. Ellington, Gould and Grofé had all contributed compositions to Whiteman's 1938 concert.

Meredith Willson

Willson convinced Decca to make an elaborate album of the resulting commissions, which contained two 10-inch and three 12-inch 78s. Willson and band (or "concert orchestra," as both he and Whiteman were then calling their ensembles) recorded the compositions in one session in early January 1941. The results are certainly listenable, although none of the pieces has become well known. But that was the case as well with the works that Whiteman commissioned - he never achieved a success to match Rhapsody in Blue, at least not with anyone but George Gershwin.

Willson's biggest triumph was to come many years later, with the hit musical The Music Man, which has at least five songs that became better known and loved than any of the compositions on this album. His own concert pieces, while enjoyable, will never be considered his main contribution to music.

Cover of 78 set

This transfer is from an early LP reissue of the 78 set, with good sound, now (March 2024) newly remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK to ambient stereo remaster

Mood Ellington

Duke Ellington is one of my favorite musicians, but I have never posted anything by him here because his output is well known. I did want him represented so I chose this 10-inch LP from an underrated period, clad in a cover that may be unfamiliar, at least to Americans.

This recordings were among the first products of Ellington's  move to  Columbia in 1947. He had been with the small Musicraft label, but it dropped him and other artists upon running into financial problems.

The Musicraft and Columbia sides are thought to pale in comparison with the great Victor records made only a few years earlier with what is sometimes called the Blanton-Webster band, for short-lived bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. Yet the late 40s band has its own charms, amply on display here.

Junior Raglin, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, Ray Nance, Sonny Greer, Fred Guy, Harry Carney

Ellington was very interested in tonal colors at the time, and his song titles reflect that - here we have "On a Turquoise Cloud," "Golden Cress" and "Lady of the Lavender Mist". For Musicraft he had recorded "Transbluency," "Magenta Haze," and "Blue Abandon," among others. But there also are straightforward items like "Three Cent Stomp". All are unmistakably Ellington.

Columbia issued Mood Ellington with a variety of covers. The mid-1948 78 set had ominous piano keys emerging from a purple murk. An LP came out late that year with a generic music stand cover. This was replaced by a sticker cover that mixed the piano keys with string, for whatever reason. The 78 cover was then re-purposed, with the keys now floating over what looks like sulphuric acid (at left). All of these - and a particularly unattractive EP - are in the download.

Fortunately, Columbia licensee Philips saw fit to issue the same record with a cover actually depicting Duke himself, and that is the source of this post. My copy originated in Singapore, proving once again that fine music is cherished the world over.

I remember several decades ago being frustrated by the poor sound on most RCA LP issues of their records of the great man; and the Everest reissues of the Musicraft material were even worse. I hope this present transfer does justice to the splendors of the postwar band. [Note (June 2023): This is now available in vivid ambient stereo.]