Your Dance Date with Harry James, Plus Reups

Harry James led a big band for an impressively long time - from leaving the Benny Goodman band in 1939 until his death in 1983.

This 1950 10-inch LP is much closer to the beginning of his career than the end. Nonetheless, it came out when the big band era was already in decline.

For this date, James assembled a program that bookended uptempo numbers with ballads on each side of the record. Since this is one of Columbia's "Designed for Dancing" series, there is 10 seconds of instrumental noodling between each item, plus a snatch of Bix Beiderbecke's "In a Mist" at the end of each side.

The album opens with "Sweet Jenny Lou," a new song by Jimmy Mundy, arranged here by Paul Villepigue. "These Foolish Things" has a Neal Hefti arrangement.

With the "New Two O'Clock Jump," also arranged by Hefti, James revisits his "Two O'Clock Jump" from 1939. The earlier version was attributed to James and Goodman, with this one allotted to James alone. Both are based on Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump" from 1937, one of the most famous swing records of all time, featuring a transcendental solo by Lester Young. I have included both the Basie and 1939 James records in the download as bonus tracks. These are not my transfers, but I did remaster the sound. You will quickly note the difference between Basie's incredible band and James's talented ensemble.

On side 2, "Big John's Special" is a Horace Henderson song first recorded by Fletcher Henderson in 1934. It was frequently performed by Benny Goodman (as "Big John Special"), with solos by Harry James when he was in the band. "Squatty Roo" (here spelled "Squaty Roo") is a Johnny Hodges song first recorded by him in 1941.

Throughout you will hear James's fat trumpet sound, plus solos by pianist Bruce McDonald. The featured sax players are likely alto Willie Smith and tenor Corky Corcoran.

I've done my best to liven up the surprisingly dull sound that emanated from my near-mint copy of this LP. The results are very pleasing, I think.

Previously in Columbia's "Your Dance Date" series, I've offered LPs by Les Brown, Hal McIntyre and George Siravo.

Reups

Rosemary Clooney - The Stars Are Singing
This is a soundtrack of sorts to Clooney's first movie, 1953's The Stars Are Singing. All vocals on this enjoyable EP are by Rosie, ending up with her giant hit "Come on-a My House." That particular number was written by Saroyan and Bagdasarian. The others came from the Livingston and Evans factory.

Ginger Rogers as Alice in Wonderland
This is the 1944 soundtrack to an aborted Disney production of Alice in Wonderland, with Ginger Rogers as a live-action Alice interacting with cartoon characters. The film never was produced, but Decca issued the pre-recordings in a 78 set. This transfer is from the later 10-inch LP version.

The Mellow Harry James

Here's a welcome contribution from our friend Mel, who has come up with a Harry James album that I did not have. Thanks, Mel!

Mel has gone to the trouble of typing out the original liner notes, so here they are:

The instruments of the brass choir, by their nature, seem predetermined for their use in brilliant, flaring music. Largely developed for use of military or high festive significance, they have to some extent carried that usage through to the present, and are most often heard when the music lends itself to (or requires) a bright, edgy tone. That this is a patent misuse of a versatile group of instruments has been demonstrated, again and again, as musicians keep hacking away at the idea. The enormously subtle and vigorous variations of Bix Beiderbecke on the cornet, the cool, fluid trombone of Tommy Dorsey and the velvet trumpet of Harry James have whittled no little chunks away from the feeling that brass must be brassy, and in this collection the inventive James trumpet is heard in a further exploration.

Among the most polished of popular musicians, Harry James has virtually lived with popular music all his life. Arriving on the commercial scene just too late for first-hand absorption from the great jazz masters, he worked with most of the swing greats, who had already culled the best of the jazz techniques and adapted them to their own styles. James’ first important job in popular music was with Benny Goodman and his Orchestra in the late thirties, where he brought to its peak the shining trumpet mastery that is has trademark. Learning from the brilliant musicians of the Goodman orchestra, and supplementing their work with his own fresh ideas and expert technique, he swiftly became one of the top-ranking stars in an orchestra of stars.

That he was already a musician upon joining the group is no accident: he was born into music, for his father was bandmaster with the mighty Haag Circus. The rousing brass of the circus band was part of his daily routine, and he worked with the band frequently during his early years, until the family retired to Texas. There, in Beaumont, he continued to study, and in his ’teens he played with local orchestras and supplied them with an occasional original number. One of these numbers got recorded, Benny Goodman heard it, and sent for the young composer.

After a number of fruitful years with Goodman, James started his own orchestra, and found the going at first a little difficult. The swing era, like everything else at the time, was going into a recession, and he found, with the changing mood of the country, that audiences wanted to dance rather than listen: the clusters of avid youngsters around the bandstand grew smaller. So he brought out the smooth, warm ballad technique that is so uniquely his, and, with a group of hit records, found himself the leader of one of the most successful orchestras in the land. The formula was not only commercial -- his group is one of the very few big orchestras still in existence -- but musical, and it produced music that is still listened to on records and is sill very much a part of the musical scene.

In this collection, Harry James plays eight evergreen popular songs, each so familiar that it requires something extra to make it catch fire. That vibrant extra something is present throughout in some of James’ finest playing, singing through the arrangements clear, strong and sweet. From 1925’s Manhattan to 1946’s If I’m Lucky the trumpet is heard weaving in and out of the orchestra in fascinating patterns of sound, keyed to a mood of romance and relaxation. This is the sweet trumpet of Harry James -- the soft lights are at your command.