Buy It Online: Benny Goodman And Glenn Miller's 1939 Carnegie Hall Concert - JRC Show CD

Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller At Carnegie Hall, The 1939 Concert - The JRC production live album recording is now on sale as a CD or Download.  Producer and drummer Richard Pite talks us through the history and the new recording.

In October 1939 ASCAP (the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers) celebrated its 25th anniversary with a week of concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall. On the 6th of October the bill comprised four bands - those of Paul Whiteman, Fred Waring, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller.  Waring's contribution featured his enormous choir and Whiteman's music was a potpourri of light music with little jazz content. What the younger element of the audience had come to see was the two biggest swing bands of 1939 slugging it out with Goodman going first and Miller winding up the evening.

(Buy the CD or Download here in our online store)

Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now

Keith Nichols' Paul Whiteman Orchestra.  JRC Concert Production

Benny Goodman's Orchestra had made its famous debut at Carnegie Hall in January 1938 and that evening has become one of the most celebrated in jazz thanks to the double album of the music being released in 1951 and becoming a million seller. Goodman returned to Carnegie Hall three times in 1939 - firstly as a guest of the classical violinist Joseph Szigeti in the debut performance of Bartok's Contrasts, then with his orchestra for the ASCAP evening and finally on Christmas Eve with his sextet for John Hammond's second "From Spirituals to Swing" concert.

Benny Goodman's Famous Carnegie Hall Concert, 1938

A couple of weeks before Benny's Carnegie Hall debut Glenn Miller disbanded his orchestra and was disconsolate about his failure to achieve enough success to pay his musicians. It's not very often that Hollywood biopics about musicians have much truth to them but the story of Miller going off in search of a unique sound was right on the button. He found it with his unique voicings for four saxes and a clarinet (played by the highly distinctive Wilbur Schwartz).

Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller At Carnegie Hall, 1939.  JRC Concert Production

At Goodman’s Carnegie Hall debut in 1938 the band was nervous playing in such a grand venue and one can feel the tension in the first couple of choruses of that year’s opening number - Don’t Be That Way.  Eighteen months  later and Goodman’s Orchestra was back with all guns blazing as Benny wanted to show the new kids on the block just who was the King of Swing.  For this concert he once again started with the same opener but this time it was brasher, faster and full of confidence and set the tone for the rest of his set.  Goodman followed this up with a jokey version of T’aint What You Do (a massive hit for Jimmie Lunceford in ’39) in which he poked fun at the so called “Mickey Mouse” bands of the day such as Kai Kaiser and Guy Lombardo - names that mean precious little today.  So rather than repeat the gags we’ve done the hip version by Lunceford with Enrico Tomasso taking the vocals. One O’Clock Jump was up next and the fact that Miller had also programmed it didn’t bother Benny (he also stole Miller’s current hit Sunrise Serenade and played that before Miller got a chance to do his own version  a little later in the evening – Benny was playing dirty!).

Enrico Tomasso - T'aint What You Do

JRC's Goodman & Miller 1939 Concert at The Radlett Centre

The 1939 version of Sing Sing Sing is shorter and much faster than the famous version of the year before and in Gene Krupa’s place the band was driven by the irrepressible Lionel Hampton and boy does he go at a lick!

Richard Pite - Sing, Sing, Sing

JRC's Goodman & Miller 1939 Concert at The Radlett Centre

The Goodman Miller concert was notable too for the inclusion of the pioneer of the electric guitar in jazz – Charlie Christian.  Dave Chamberlain captures the Christian magic superbly in the Goodman Sextet’s Flying Home.

1939 was the year Miller’s orchestra broke through and became a million selling band and they were on cracking form on this evening with the hits keeping on coming.  They weren’t scared off by Sing, Sing, Sing either and retaliated with a closer that went even faster – the manic Bugle Call Rag.  Besides the Goodman and Miller selections we’ve also added Louis Armstrong’s What Is This Thing Called Swing (Louis appeared earlier in the ASCAP week at Carnegie – the evening over ran so badly he only had time to do two songs and this was one of them).  

Benny Goodman's Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert - Sing, Sing, Sing

The Jazz Repertory Company at Cadogan Hall, London

Pete Long has been directing and fronting a recreation of the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert for quite a few years now and there had been talk about a possible follow up show. The answer was pretty obvious - go forward a year, stay in the same esteemed venue, and add the most successful name in the history of swing music to the bill and, voilà, a hit show.

Richard Pite.  The Jazz Repertory Company.

(Buy the CD or Download here in our online store)

The Concerts Of The Jazz Repertory Company Showreel

Buy It Online: Jazz At The Philharmonic - The 70th Anniversary Tribute Show CD

Jazz At The Philharmonic.  Newly available as a CD or download purchase, vintage jazz meets the modern age and isn't found wanting.  Producer and drummer Richard Pite talks us through the music:

All bar one track on the CD was recorded on a Sunday afternoon in September 2014 at London's Cadogan Hall. My Jazz Repertory Company has presented a dozen or so shows at this venue and I like it because of its intimacy (900 seats) and its fairly lively acoustic is perfect for our largely acoustic performances.

(Purchase the Album as a CD or download here)

Jazz At The Philharmonic 70th Anniversary Tribute Concert 

at Cadogan Hall, London.  Part I

We try to celebrate anniversaries at the Jazz Repertory Company (in the misguided belief that this will interest the media in running an article about what we do)  and 2014 marked the 70th anniversary of Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic.  The reason it’s so called was that he used The Philharmonic Hall in Los Angeles for the first concert in 1944 - on a Sunday afternoon when the symphony players and staff, who would have recoiled in horror at the noise emanating from the hallowed venue, were a safe distance away.

70th Anniversary JATP Concert At Cadogan Hall, London

The first concert was an instant hit and for the next forty years JATP toured the world bringing some of the greatest names in jazz to audiences whose delight and excitement are palpable in the many recordings of the live concerts that Granz's record labels Verve and Pablo released during and after the glory years. Granz managed the careers of Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald who were regulars on the JATP shows alongside greats such as Stan Getz, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Les Paul, Nat Cole, ClarkTerry, Ben Webster, Fats Navarro and many more.

Jazz At The Philharmonic 70th Anniversary Tribute Concert 

at Cadogan Hall, London.  Part II

The concerts mixed the stars of the swing era with the modernists and Granz was keen to get his musicians to play to the gallery and produce the kind of excitement that could be had when a couple of heavyweights would take each other on - louder, faster and higher!  I remember hearing, as a kid, the recording of Gene Krupa's drum battle with Buddy Rich (recorded in 1952 at Carnegie Hall) and thinking that the crowd was reacting as if they were watching Rocky Marciano slugging it out with Jersey Joe Walcott.   As Les Paul wrote about being on stage at the very first concert "I looked into the audience and I saw them standing on their seats. I said wow!... when it reached a climax I saw hats up in the air - they were screaming and shouting." In these days of more esoteric, cerebral modern jazz a response like that would be unthinkable!

Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich - Drum Battle

At Cadogan Hall the audience definitely were with Les Paul as you can hear.   However don't fret about the lack of audience response on Sweet Georgia Brown - that's the one studio track on the album , recorded at Angel Studios in Islington, North London on the evening of October 20^th. This was added to  give us the chance to feature some players who weren't present at our concert - James Pearson on piano, Tony Barnard on guitar, Alex Garnett and Sammy Mayne on saxophones and the bravura trumpet playing of Ryan Quigley battling in the last choruses with George Hogg.   Perhaps they should be introduced as "In the left corner, the Glasgow bruiser Rucking Ryan - in the right corner Pretty Boy Hogg - the Boy Wonder".

Georgina Jackson - He's Funny That Way

70th Anniversary JATP Concert At Cadogan Hall, London

There were many great moments at the concert - I was able to watch from the front stalls whilst Elliott Henshaw pounded his Slingerlands and I loved the three tenors wailing on Rifftide – Tom Walsh's solo on I Can't Get Started was superb and let's not forget our two ladies amongst that sea of testosterone. - Georgina Jackson and Nicola Emmanuelle paying respective tributes to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

70th Anniversary JATP Concert At Cadogan Hall, London

Pete Long and I now wish to use the JATP formula to try and entice a younger audience to come and experience the excitement that jazz can offer. Watch out for us in the coming years and we hope the age of our audience will be as diverse as that of the talent on stage.

The Jazz Repertory Company Showreel 

JATP Drum Battle At London's Cadogan Hall

Richard Pite, The Jazz Repertory Company

- Purchase the Album as a CD or download here.

Playing Sousa at Lenin's Tomb, Serenading Anjem Choudary & Other Ambitions Of The Mighty Pitey

Richard Pite is Director of Music at Boisdale, concert promoter for The Jazz Repertory Company and a professional musician playing drums, bass ukulele, tuba and sousaphone.  

One of the foremost drummers in the vintage Gene Krupa style, he has played with stars including Tony Hadley and Roland Rat, and has appeared on the same stage in Houston, Texas with Jerry Lee Lewis and Tiny Tim.   In 1999 he became Director of Music at Boisdale after its owner spotted him performing with The Rio Trio - Richard now books all the music for Boisdale's three London venues.    For the last three years he has presented a series of sell out shows at Chelsea's Cadogan Hall including recreations of the famous Benny Goodman 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert and his hit show 100 Years Of Jazz In 99 Minutes.

1. What is your first musical memory?
Helping to smash up the family piano for firewood aged about 4 years old.

2. At what age did you first do something 'musical'?
Well the 1960s experimentalists would suggest the answer above.

Richard Pite On Drums

3. If you could have been any musician or artist, past or present, who would it be? 
Keith Moon - but only for a week.

4. If you could play any venue in the world, which would it be?
A concert of music by John Philip Sousa at Lenin's tomb.  Show the bugger who won in the end.

5. What is your favourite song of all time?
Pu-leez Mr Hemingway sung by Elsie Carlisle.

Richard Pite On the Sousaphone

6. If you could sing to anyone, who would it be?
Anjem Choudary - comic Islamist irritant. I'm a terrible singer and it would really annoy him.

7. What song?
Sex And Drugs And Rock 'n' Roll

8. What is your best music experience to date?
The above (a long, long time ago)

Richard Pite Interviewed For Lexus

9. Who are your musical influences?
Noisy and irritating drummers from Buddy Rich to Keith Moon.

10. Who has inspired you the most?
Ringo Starr - he got me started

Richard Pite On Drums

11. What would be your dream band?
Angelina Jolie on marching cymbals and Gwyneth Paltrow on banjo.

12. What's the best gig you've ever been to?
Lionel Hampton playing at Huddersfield Football Club in 1978.

13. If you had three music wishes, what would they be?
To have a roadie, a chauffeur and a butler.

Richard Pite On Drums

The Quest For Eternal Youth: 2015, A Jazz Odyssey

For most people the musical tastes forged in their teenage years stick to them throughout their lives.  I was unfortunate enough to hit puberty at a time when the choice was teenybop pap (The Osmonds, David Cassidy, Mud, Gary Glitter, Sweet) or preposterous prog rock ( Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, Genesis).   So I went back forty years earlier to the hits of the 20’s and 30’s and rather liked what I heard – I liked the sartorial elegance too – a tuxedo and a short back and sides looked a lot better than some twit wrapped in baco-foil with high stacked boots and glittery make up on his mug.

The Sweet

The music of the 20’s and 30’s was just the thing when pimply schoolboys of the 50’s were looking for music to rebel to – remember that this was well before mods and rockers and followers of Chris Barber and Monty Sunshine were far too nice to dress as Teddy Boys and harass little old ladies on street corners.   The rebellion was so mild that most grown-ups probably didn’t notice that their children were rebelling at all.  It wasn’t until the 60’s that some of them got the hang of rebelling properly.

Our Best Bits & Favourite Jazz

Concert Showreel By The Jazz Repertory Company

Now I don’t wish to be considered rude here because this is our audience were talking about here -  50’s school kids who discovered  Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller and local jazz talent like Humphrey Lyttleton, Acker Bilk and the aforementioned Barber.  We’re delighted that they come to our concerts but are well aware, as no doubt they are too, that they might not be attending for that much longer.  

Ain't Misbehavin' / Stormy Weather

Fats Waller

So, we are on a quest to appeal to younger audiences and a sure fire way to do this is to just have young musicians playing the stuff.  This is all well and good but I don’t want to retire just yet and quite a large proportion of the musical experts in my address book are of an age when they start complaining about their knees and express exasperation at modern technology (i.e. well over 27).  Just up the road in Shoreditch it would seem that there are young bands playing jazz to young audiences and a Jazz Repertory Company field trip is in preparation for early 2015 when a team of researchers attired in skinny jeans with stick on beards and fake tattoos will be sent off to buzzing venues like The Nightjar armed with clipboards and tape recorders.

100 Years Of Big Band Jazz In 99 Minutes

Pete Long & The Jazz Repertory Company At Cadogan hall

In the meantime we have a young person in our office who can talk to people under the age of 30 and whip them into enthusiasm for music that may have had their grandparents doing the hand jive and we employ an equally young person who runs a PR company who has similar skills of persuasion.  We have seen a promising rise in our audiences of men with hair, men with hair that hasn’t yet gone grey (although I think one person came to one of our longer concerts and had dark hair when it started and grey when it finished), women with a complete collection of their original knees and women who weren’t even born when David Cassidy was sending schoolgirls mad with passion.  We’ve even had some people who are still at school and don’t look like they’ve been given detention when we spot them in the foyer at the interval. 

Daydreamer

David Cassidy

We’re all convinced at JRC that when we get this new audience in they will love what they see and hear – we are about fun after all, we’re not earnest and po-faced and we do like it when people say  “I don’t like jazz but this is really good”.   In 2015 our campaign to reach out to an ever widening age range will be stepped up a notch and we hope to see a smattering of punks, goths and bright eyed and bushy tailed school kids out there discovering the delights of that genial fatty Paul Whiteman.

Because My Baby Don't Mean 'Maybe Now.

Keith Nichols Paul Whiteman Orchestra