The Hudson-DeLange Orchestra

This post is devoted to an accomplished band from the 1930s that receives very little attention - the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra, founded by two young songwriters.

Will Hudson (music) and Eddie DeLange (words) had begun writing together in the early 1930s, achieving a huge success in 1934 with "Moonglow," their most famous piece. So they thought starting a band together might be a good idea.

The outgoing DeLange, a good singer, would front the band and the more reticent Hudson would stay off the road for the most part while writing songs and arrangements.

Will Hudson and Eddie DeLange

Musically this worked well. Almost all the titles in this collection were written by Hudson and one has DeLange lyrics. The musicians were skillful, and the group had a procession of fine singers - Ruth Gaylor, Fredda Gibson (later to become Georgia Gibbs) and Nan Wynn.

Hudson-DeLange - the leader is Eddie DeLange, the vocalist Nan Wynn

But eventually the two principals fell out and the band turned into the Will Hudson Orchestra, which continued until the leader joined the Armed Forces.

In its brief existence, the band made a succession of fine recordings, mainly for Brunswick. This post gathers 17 of them and adds a bonus recording of "Moonglow."

The first songs recorded by the band were made in January and March 1936. Those sessions yielded one of Hudson's most popular melodies - "Organ Grinder's Swing," based on a nursery tune. It was widely recorded at the time by the likes of Benny Goodman and Jimmie Lunceford. (Hudson had earlier written two popular numbers for Lunceford - "Jazznocracy" and "White Heat.") 

The other instrumentals from those dates include "Hobo on Park Avenue" and "Eight Bars in Search of a Melody." The latter song shows Hudson's predilection for whimsical titles, which may have influenced Raymond Scott, soon to be his label mate.

Ruth Gaylor

Even these early performances are notably smooth and professional - superior examples of what could be produced by a highly accomplished ensemble. The March date also included a specialty for the band's vocalist, Ruth Gaylor, a talented singer who did well with a variety of bands, finishing up with Hal McIntyre in the 1940s. The song is "You're Not the Kind," which credits Hudson and his manager Irving Mills as authors.

Fredda Gibson

By November, Ruth Gaylor had been succeeded by Fredda Gibson (called "Freddy" on the 78 label), who as noted would later achieve fame as Georgia Gibbs. She sings Hudson's "I'll Never Tell You I Love You" confidently, if not without a few mannerisms.

From the final session of 1936 we have Hudson's two-sided instrumental "Love Song of a Half-Wit." (I imagine Gibson was happy there were no lyrics for that one.) This again is an example of a highly polished band at work.

Bus Etri

Next are seven songs from three 1937 sessions. Two of these are tunes that Hudson did not write. (They were published by his manager, Irving Mills, however.) First was Hoagy Carmichael's hugely popular "Stardust," which Hudson presents as a bouncy instrumental. The other is "Bugle Call Rag," first recorded in 1922 by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Both are distinguished by terrific solos by the short-lived guitarist Bus Etri. Other fine soloists who can be heard on these discs include clarinetist Gus Bivona, tenor saxophonist Ted Duane and trumpeter Jimmy Blake.

Gus Bivona

Also recorded during the 1937 dates were Hudson's "The Maid's Night Off," "Mr. Sweeney's Learned to Swing" and "Sophisticated Swing," which was featured by other bands in a version with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.

By this time Ruth Gaylor was back with the band and singing "You're My Desire." DeLange himself croons "Back in Your Arms," which he and Hudson wrote.

Most of the 1937 recordings came out on Irving Mills' short-lived Master label. Soon enough, the orchestra was back with Brunswick.

The final recording under the Hudson-DeLange name is April 1938's "China Clipper," which notes that the band is "under the direction of Will Hudson." By the time the June 1938 sessions rolled around, there was no more DeLange in the band name. The instrumental "Hangover in Hong Kong" is billed as by Will Hudson and His Seven Swingsters.

Finally, we have Will Hudson and His Orchestra with the first recording of his excellent "There's Something About an Old Love," with a vocal by Jane Dover, an obscure artist who is nonetheless good in this number. This song recently appeared on this blog in Sylvia Syms' ingratiating 1952 recording.

Hudson led the band until about 1941, when he began concentrating on arranging. He was attached to Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band in World War II, then studied classical composition after the war.

DeLange went on to write lyrics for quite a few well-known songs. With Jimmy Van Heusen alone he penned "Darn that Dream," "Deep in a Dream," "All This and Heaven Too" and "Shake Down the Stars."

To my knowledge, Hudson and DeLange never recorded their most famous song, "Moonglow." So as a bonus, I've appended the excellent 1934 recording by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, with a relaxed vocal by the underappreciated Kenny Sargent. (This particular side has also appeared in a compilation on my other blog.) Note that the label at left attributes "Moonglow" to Hudson and Venuti, presumably Joe Venuti, who was the first to record the song.

Most of these recordings were derived from an ancient bootleg, which did have reasonably good sound that I have hopefully enhanced. The problem with most of these items was that the pitch was quite flat, which I believe was the fault of the original 78 pressings. I've adjusted the pitch; please let me know if anything still seems amiss.

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