Six Minutes With Satch: Indian Cradle Song / Exactly Like You
Week 3 of "Six Minutes With Satch" comes to a conclusion (everyone having fun out there?) with another pop side from the spring of 1930 featuring Louis fronting Willie Lynch's Cocoanut Grove Orchestra. Yet again, we have an example of Louis immortalizing something he had been performing live for a least a year with "Indian Cradle Song," a tune he fondly remembered playing back at Connie's Inn in 1929 with Zutty Singleton beating the tom-toms. It's long been a favorite of mine (I blogged about it detail years ago; it's buried on this site somewhere!), with a tender vocal, good playing by the band (trumpeter Ed Anderson sounds great) and a closing solo brimming with panache.
But for the flip side, OKeh sprung something brand new on Armstrong: Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields's "Exactly Like You" from Lew Leslie's International Revue. Armstrong's version was OKeh's third stab at it, with our old pal Seger Ellis getting the first crack at it in March, followed by the Casa Loma Orchestra in April. For whatever reason, it appears that OKeh passed on the Casa Loma version (it was released overseas on Parlophone and Odeon), leaving Armstrong's May 4 version to serve as the label's "jazz: treatment of the future standard.
Armstrong's "Exactly Like You" is still far from a romp, the band giving its leader a healthy scoop of his favored Guy Lombardo flavor under his opening muted melody statement (nice guitar work from Bernard Addison throughout). But the vocal--oh, that vocal! Could you imagine what this sounded like in 1930? There's a completely different melody, most of it based on strings of repeated pitches, there's the schizophrenic repetition of certain phrases, the sheer passion of it all, the Crosby-esque mordent on "understand" during the bridge, and all of those little asides, starting with "Baby" and climaxing with a roof-shaking, "Sweet Mama!" (Also, a clue that this was possibly Armstrong's first time performing it with his confusion in the last 8 bars, singing, "No" instead of "Now," before catching himself, making for a shaky, but sincere, "No.....Now, I know why mother.")
The next 16 bars are given over to an arranged passage with the band (not as tight as on "Indian Cradle Song") trading with clarinetist Bobby Holmes. For the first time, though, we get Armstrong's favorite device of the reeds emphasizing the first and third beats while Armstrong soars over them on the bridge. Another arranged passage leads to a pretty ending, with Armstrong going out on a high note, something that was becoming more and more of pattern on these records.
That's all for now, as OKeh 41423 hit the pop market in the summer of 1930. We'll hear two more sides from this band next week but come back on Monday for something entirely different: two remarkable duets between Louis and two pianists, Buck Washington and Earl Hines. Have a great weekend!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Ed Anderson (tp), Henry Hicks (tb), Bobby Holmes (cl, as), Theodore McCord (as), Castor McCord (ts), Joe Turner (p), Bernard Addison (g), Lavert Hutchinson (tu), Willie Lynch (d).
OKeh recording session - New York City, NY May 4, 1930
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Ed Anderson (tp), Henry Hicks (tb), Bobby Holmes (cl, as), Theodore McCord (as), Castor McCord (ts), Joe Turner (p), Bernard Addison (g), Lavert Hutchinson (tu),
Unknown, probably Joe Turner (vbs), Willie Lynch (d).
OKeh recording session - New York City, NY May 4, 1930
YouTube links:
But for the flip side, OKeh sprung something brand new on Armstrong: Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields's "Exactly Like You" from Lew Leslie's International Revue. Armstrong's version was OKeh's third stab at it, with our old pal Seger Ellis getting the first crack at it in March, followed by the Casa Loma Orchestra in April. For whatever reason, it appears that OKeh passed on the Casa Loma version (it was released overseas on Parlophone and Odeon), leaving Armstrong's May 4 version to serve as the label's "jazz: treatment of the future standard.
Armstrong's "Exactly Like You" is still far from a romp, the band giving its leader a healthy scoop of his favored Guy Lombardo flavor under his opening muted melody statement (nice guitar work from Bernard Addison throughout). But the vocal--oh, that vocal! Could you imagine what this sounded like in 1930? There's a completely different melody, most of it based on strings of repeated pitches, there's the schizophrenic repetition of certain phrases, the sheer passion of it all, the Crosby-esque mordent on "understand" during the bridge, and all of those little asides, starting with "Baby" and climaxing with a roof-shaking, "Sweet Mama!" (Also, a clue that this was possibly Armstrong's first time performing it with his confusion in the last 8 bars, singing, "No" instead of "Now," before catching himself, making for a shaky, but sincere, "No.....Now, I know why mother.")
The next 16 bars are given over to an arranged passage with the band (not as tight as on "Indian Cradle Song") trading with clarinetist Bobby Holmes. For the first time, though, we get Armstrong's favorite device of the reeds emphasizing the first and third beats while Armstrong soars over them on the bridge. Another arranged passage leads to a pretty ending, with Armstrong going out on a high note, something that was becoming more and more of pattern on these records.
That's all for now, as OKeh 41423 hit the pop market in the summer of 1930. We'll hear two more sides from this band next week but come back on Monday for something entirely different: two remarkable duets between Louis and two pianists, Buck Washington and Earl Hines. Have a great weekend!
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Ed Anderson (tp), Henry Hicks (tb), Bobby Holmes (cl, as), Theodore McCord (as), Castor McCord (ts), Joe Turner (p), Bernard Addison (g), Lavert Hutchinson (tu), Willie Lynch (d).
OKeh recording session - New York City, NY May 4, 1930
LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Louis Armstrong (tp, voc), Ed Anderson (tp), Henry Hicks (tb), Bobby Holmes (cl, as), Theodore McCord (as), Castor McCord (ts), Joe Turner (p), Bernard Addison (g), Lavert Hutchinson (tu),
Unknown, probably Joe Turner (vbs), Willie Lynch (d).
OKeh recording session - New York City, NY May 4, 1930
YouTube links:
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