Music For The 4th July - Independence Day

Inspired by Paul Whiteman’s ability never to miss out on the chance of making a buck from American music we thought that for this year’s Independence Day we’d celebrate his album America the Beautiful (currently ranked 1,348,772nd on Amazon  (I’m not taking the mickey as he’s 14,484,263 rankings ahead of my album).  Below we list a half a dozen tracks from the album – an utterly non-jazz jazz blog for a change.

Paul Whiteman Concert at London's Cadogan Hall 

For the EFG London Jazz Festival 

We thought it might be a subtle way to remind you of our upcoming concert at Cadogan Hall on November 22nd.   The programme won’t include any of the patriotic songs listed below but it will feature delights such as Guy Barker in the role of jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke,  Nick Dawson playing Rhapsody in Blue, Keith Nichols, veteran Whiteman expert waving the big stick and a huge assortment of some of the finest vintage jazz specialists to be found anywhere..

Rhapsody In Blue - Paul Whiteman & George Gershwin

1. God Bless America:  

Now, for sophisticated and somewhat cynical British tastes the sentiments expressed here by Irving Berlin might be just on the wrong side of mawkish but don’t forget that as a kid (then called Israel Baline)  his family were caught up in a pogrom when Cossacks were quite keen on finishing off the whole lot of them. They failed but the Balines didn’t stick around for long after that and shortly after the 5 year old Irving had his first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and was smitten for life.

2. America The Beautiful:  

Thirty years ago I bought an album of the cornetist Ruby Braff duetting with Dick Hyman on an antique Wurlitzer cinema organ.  The title track “America The Beautiful” still, for me, is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.

America The Beautiful

3. There’s A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere: 

You’re probably aware that there’s a large army of conspiracy theorists who believe the moon landings didn’t take place.  The flag waving in the breeze on the moon is one fact they cite to prove their case.  However….. no, there isn't any wind on the Moon - but there is momentum and intertia. The fabric of the flag was moved around while being set in position, and naturally waved as it was being set up. It also has a pole along the top to keep it in position - otherwise it would hang straight down.

There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere

4. Hail To The Chief:

Every time the President gets out of his helicopter or AirForce One the band strikes up with this jolly ditty.  What a great gig – grab the tuba get down to the White House lawn -  2 minutes of “Hail To The Chief”  then you’re done.  That’s got to be worth getting dressed up for, surely.   I wonder what gig fee Barak pays?   

President Obama - Sweet Home Chicago

By the way, he’s got a great voice hasn’t he? – he sings one line of Sweet Home Chicago at a White House gig and he’s fab - I want to book him at Boisdale when he quits next year.

Hail To The Chief

5. Battle Hymn Of The Republic: 

Well the version we sang at school went something like this (this is the American version – we adapted it for English tastes but I can’t remember all the words – I think our version was a lot filthier). 

Glory Glory Hallelujah

Teacher hit me with a ruler

The ruler broke in half

And the whole class laughed

And she never done it again.

Battle Hymn Of The Republic

6. Battle Cry Of Freedom:

7. For The Love Of America:

8. Yankee Doodle:  

    Yankee Doodle went to town

    Riding on a pony;

    He stuck a feather in his hat,

    And called it macaroni

What the hell is that all about?  Well……..

The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became contemporary slang for foppishness.  The Macaronis were young English men who adopted feminine mannerisms and highly extravagant attire, and were deemed effeminate. They were members of the Macaroni Club in London at the height of the fashion for dandyism, so called because they wore striped silks upon their return from the Grand Tour - and a feather in their hats. They also wore two fob watches: "one to tell what time it was and the other to tell what time it was not" ran their joking explanation.

So now you know.

Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now 

Keith Nichols directs the music of Paul Whiteman

Cadogan Hall November 22nd, 3pm and 7pm as part of the London Jazz Festival 2015. www.cadoganhall.com • 020 7730 4500 • www.jazzrep.co.uk

King Arthur Was A Gentleman; Bacon Has A Drum Party

What a find.  Three of my musical heroes together in one terrible film.  

Arthur Askey and Evelyn Dall in 

'King Arthur was a Gentleman.'

Tricky cymbal maestro Max Bacon, the amazing Freddy Crump and Victor Feldman when just a kid.  You have to wade through quite a bit of Arthur Askey but the drumming starts around 4minutes in.  It's quite a party.

King Arthur Was A Gentleman, 1942

VE Day, Humphrey Lyttleton & All That Jazz: Music & Politics

Having election day and the 70th anniversary of VE Day next door to each other made me wonder if our Dave might be feeling somewhat akin to Winston in 1945.  There was Churchill having fought off Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and the rest of the buggers only to be booted out by the electorate who’d definitely had enough of the ruling classes and fancied a bit more equality (after all, the war had introduced the various classes to each other in huge numbers and they seemed to like each other more than they’d expected to).

Buckingham Palace - VE Day

So Dave has only had to deal with Nigel, Ed, Nick, Angela, the Greens and the bankers - hardly the axis powers – but he's probably feeling miffed that we don’t love him more than we do and won’t give him the thumping majority he and Winston felt they deserved after five years hard slog. 

Enough of the dazzling political insights and on to something far more interesting - Jazz and VE Day.  Humphrey Lyttleton writes here about blowing his trumpet during the VE Day celebrations.  He was amazed to discover that a recording of him playing to the crowds in the Mall existed – I heard it on the BBC a while ago but couldn’t locate it on the web so we’ll have to just make do with Humph’s recollections for now:

Humphrey Lyttleton

‘On 8 May 1945, V.E. Day, there was an atmosphere of excitement from early dawn. I had no official duty to perform that day, so around noon I took the train up to London, joined some friends and headed for Buckingham Palace where over one hundred thousand people had assembled by lunchtime. Never one to pass up an opportunity for an impromptu ‘blow’, I had my trumpet at the ready. 

We're Going To Hang Out The Washing On The Siegfried Line

I let fly with jazzed-up versions of ‘Run, Rabbit, Run’ and ‘We’re Gonna Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line’. People began singing and a tiny space was formed in the crowd for dancing. It wasn’t long before I had a band. A man appeared with a trombone, someone else turned up with a big drum and, finally, a sailor joined us who just happened to have brought along the huge horn from an old-fashioned gramophone. Into this, tuba-fashion, he blew some ripe raspberries. 

Harry Bidgood: Run, Rabbit, Run, 1939

Throughout the day the Royal Family appeared on the balcony of the Palace and each time we serenaded them. Towards evening, some people turned up with a rickety hand-cart, and that was when my friends really landed me in it. Literally. They hoisted me into the cart and I was pushed at terrifying speed down The Mall, with the rest of the band puffing along behind.’ Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttleton

And to prove there’s no hard feelings, here is Humph entertaining the Jerrys a little over 10 years after all that WW2 stuff.

Humphrey Lyttleton: Fool's Rendezvous 1957