A new one for our long series of postwar big bands; this time the "big beat" of Buddy Morrow and his crew.
Morrow later led a Dorsey ghost band for many years, I suppose predicated by his playing the trombone and having spent a few months with Tommy. And he was quite a gifted instrumentalist, immediately displayed on "Some of These Days," the first cut on this 1953 LP.
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| Buddy Morrow |
The title is
The Big Beat, a contemporary euphemism for rhythm & blues; the style that Morrow affected, at least during this period. He had made his name with a cover of Jimmy Forrest's 1951 R&B hit, "Night Train" (which in itself was appropriated from Duke Ellington's 1946 "Happy-Go-Lucky Local"). Morrow spent a fair amount of time trying to make lightning strike twice by recording a variety of crossover material. This led to some strange results. Here we have Sinatra-style vocalist Frankie Lester launching into material from Bessie Smith ("Beale Street Mama"), Jay McShann/Walter Brown ("Confessin' the Blues), and Bo Carter ("Corrine, Corina", although they probably sourced that one from Bob Wills' 1940 Western swing hit).
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| Frankie Lester |
The wonder is that Lester - a singer I admire - does it all so well. Indeed, this is a very well done record by all involved, including the recording crew.
The Big Beat was a 10-inch record, but this transfer comes from an unusual 12-inch promo copy. Morrow's cuts are on one side of the record; the other is devoted to
Dates with Ralph Flanagan at Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook and the Hollywood Palladium. Morrow and Flanagan shared management and a record company; this promo record was sent to disk jockeys in advance of some joint appearances. The two bands later combined forces for an RCA album.
