NRR Project: 'In the Mood' (1940)

 

NRR Project: ‘In the Mood’

Composed by Joe Garland and Andy Razaf

Performed by the Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

Recorded Aug. 1, 1939

3:09

I must first point to the extremely learned essay on this piece from Dennis M. Spragg, which you can read here. (He is the senior consultant for the Glenn Miller Archives at the University of Colorado Boulder.) Like any great detective, he searches for the origin of the piece and rings all the changes on it down to the date of its incredible success.

Because the first few bars of the song are instantly identifiable, and in fact evoke an entire period in American history – the span of big-band music, which thrived from the mid-1930s to the end of the Second World War in 1945. This iconic song, in both its instrumental and vocal renditions, bring back memories of grandparents and great-grandparents, all those who survived the Depression and WWII – those dubbed the Greatest Generation.

The story of “In the Mood” is one of the long evolution of a riff, that began in 1925. Jazz is uniquely conducive to the re-formation of music that already exists, so it didn’t take long for different artists and ensembles to adapt, transform, and perfect it. Joe Garland copyrighted his version in 1938. Finally, in 1939 Glenn Miller purchased the tune from Garland. Miller rearranged the number with Eddie Durham, and voila – “In the Mood” crystalized into its eternal form.

It's swinging, instantly memorable, a smoothly orchestrated syncopation that invites the listener to dance. It’s one of those perfect songs, one that deserves it place in the collective consciousness.

Just one caveat -- the National Recording Registry notes that the recording is “seamless and precise.” This is one quality of Miller’s style that can be interpreted in a negative way. All of Miller’s work is based on the flawless and modulated performance of the text as written. He was an auteur, he, like Duke Ellington, could shape exactly the sound he wanted to hear. And his taste was excellent.

This is different approach than that taken by the relatively looser bandleaders Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, not to mention the real swingers such as Count Basie and Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy, Is Miller, then more mechanical, more soulless, more vanilla, more . . . wholesome?

It would mark the high point of the general American public’s love of jazz. It would have been fascinating to hear his development after the war years, but his untimely death in 1944 precludes us from knowing other than what became a string of well-machined popular hits for him and his outfit.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the John and Ruby Lomax Southern States Recording Trip.

NRR Project: 'If I Didn't Care' (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘If I Didn’t Care’

Composed by Jack Lawrence

Performed by the Ink Spots

Recorded 1939

3:09

First of all, read Andrew Hickey’s excellent explanatory essay here. I can only echo his words.

The Ink Spots were a vocal quartet much in the style of the already popular Mills Brothers, although initially they essayed more comic material. They formed in 1934, and worked steadily at all manner of gigs until they made a huge hit of “If I Didn’t Care,” which sold an amazing 19 million copies.

The song runs on highs and lows – first, the soaring tenor of Bill Kenny, followed by a spoken reprise of the lyrics by bass Hoppy Jones, then another repetition of the opening. This style was immediately co-opted by many other groups, but nothing could compare to the originals. It’s a sweet and yearning tune that still enchants decades later.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘In the Mood.’

NRR Project: 'Body and Soul' (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘Body and Soul’

Composed by Johnny Green, lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton

Performed by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra

Recorded Oct. 11, 1939

3:02

 

First of all, I could not do better than the fantastic essay written by Stephen Rush for the National Recording Registry. Here it is, and it explicates the importance of this recording quite wonderfully.

Hawkins (1904-1969), originally from Missouri, gravitated to New York in the early 1920s. He is credited as one of the great jazz soloists, in league with Louis Armstrong and Lester Young. Here he improvises from the chord structure of the piece, largely ignoring the melody – a trend in music that would eventually develop into the bebop approach. By taking apart the song and riffing on its chord changes, he elevated the solo jazz instrument as an interpretive outlet for musicians who wanted to move past the more conservative playing of the 1920s and 1930s.

In other words, the piece is beautiful and deserves thoughtful listening.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: the Inkspots do ‘If I Didn’t Care’.

NRR Project: Casals plays the Bach Cello Suites

 

NRR Project: The Six Cello Suites

Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Performed by Pablo Casals

Recorded 1936, 1938, 1939

2 hr. 10 min.

This recording is unprecedented. The Bach Cello Suites are six pieces, each consisting of six movements, starting with a theme and then developing into movements based on various dance styles of his day. Like all of Bach’s work, the Suites are both mathematically precise and deeply emotional, raging from deep sadness to pure joy.

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was born in Spain to a musical father. A child prodigy, Casals had mastered many instruments before choosing to devote himself to the cello. When he was 13, he found the music for the Suites in a second-hand music shop in Barcelona. For he next 13 years, he practiced the Suites daily. Finally, he began to perform the Suites in public.

Soon his reputation grew. He won awards; he played for Queen Victoria; he amassed an international reputation. However, it wasn’t until the Spanish Civil War and World War II uprooted him and sent him to travel in the Western countries that he felt ready to record the suites. Over several sessions in different cities, he accumulated a complete recording of all six pieces.

There is a lack of indication of emphasis in Bach’s manuscript, which leaves the interpretation up to the individual performer. Casals adopts a romantic approach to the music, bowing aggressively and passionately. The result is a revelatory experience, one that combines supreme technical competence with deep feeling. To sit down and really listen to the music is an experience that transports the listener to a higher plane. Casals took a bravura piece for solo instrument and made it into a personal statement that still resounds today. Even after countless subsequent recordings, his original take on the Cello Suites stands monumentally above them.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Coleman Hawkins plays Body and Soul.

NRR Project: Kate Smith sings 'God Bless America' (Nov. 11, 1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘God Bless America’

Composed by Irving Berlin

Sung by Kate Smith

Broadcast Nov. 11, 1938

4:13

Kate Smith (1907-1986) was one of the 20^th Century’s first entertainment stars, who hosted a radio variety show, from the beginning of network radio in the late ‘20s, for many decades. She was not only a beloved singer in her own right; she broke new acts onto the scene, like Abbott and Costello, Henny Youngman, and what would become The Aldrich Family.

She endured much negative attention for her weight, initially; she describes herself as weeping after particular performances in which she felt humiliated. However, through sheer talent and application, she won everyone over with some sweet and a few hot jazz numbers. Her signature song: “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain.”

She was searching for a patriotic song to premiere over the air. She turned to America’s greatest songsmith, Irving Berlin, for a tune. Berlin reached into his pile of unused tunes and resurrected one from a 1918 military-themed review – “God Bless America.” Smith premiered it on Nov. 11 – what used to be referred to as Armistice Day – 1940.

In her excellent explanatory essay, which you can read here, Sheryl Kaskowitz analyzes the evolution of the song, especially in the fact of the usual removal of the opening verse, which is a bit dark and rueful, and refers to relief at being far from European conflicts. Smith dropped the opening and gave us the memorable chorus, an optimistic, marching beat that carries listeners along, that convinces them to sing along. It’s a very powerful song. But then again, Berlin was a genius.

This would become known as Smith’s other signature songs, one she would sing thousands of times in her career. It was “her” song. Not too shabby.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Pablo Casals plays Bach’s six Cello Suites.

Toscanini conducts Barber's Adagio for Strings (Nov. 5, 1938)

  

NRR Project: ‘Adagio for Strings’

Composed by Samuel Barber

Performed by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony

Broadcast Nov. 5, 1938

7:36

I could not do better than Barbara Heyman’s excellent essay on the piece, which you can readhere.

I can only add that the piece, a gentle ethereal rising of chords in the string section, slow and solemn, has always identified itself in my mind with death. It began with the media around the killing of John F. Kennedy, then cropped up consistently in times of mourning. It is deeply moving the first few times you hear it, but it has become oppressive through repetition.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Kate Smith sings God Bless America.

NRR Project: 'The War of the Worlds' panic -- Oct 30, 1938

 

NRR Project: ‘The War of the Worlds’

The Mercury Theatre on the Air

Broadcast Oct. 30, 1938

60 min.

The power of radio on the human mind was never so definitively demonstrated than on the night of Oct. 30, 1938. On that night, millions of people across America became convinced that Martians were attacking Earth.

Let’s back up a bit. Orson Welles (1915-1985) was a young genius who, at the unlikely age of 16, became a respected player in theater. He moved into radio, becoming the original voice of The Shadow, a popular thriller series. He mounted numerous plays, which led to him being selected to join the Federal Theatre Project, a government-subsidized arts program meant to offer employment to thousands of underemployed actors and technicians during the Great Depression.

In 1936, Welles opened his “voodoo Macbeth” in New York, an adaptation of the play with an all-Black ensemble, which proved a huge success. Welles mounted more plays, growing in fame and reputation. In 1937, he staged a seven-part radio adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables on CBS, which proved to be a hit also. At this early stage in his career, everything he did was golden.

The success of his radio project led him to form, with producer John Houseman, the Mercury Theatre on the Air, a network-sustained hour-long program that adapted key works of literature and dramaturgy. Their first broadcast was Dracula, on July 11, 1938 on CBS.

Welles was a master of conveying meaning and feeling through sound alone. He and his hard-working crew of regulars – including Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, Joseph Cotton, and Agnes Moorehead – whipped up an engaging and ambitious broadcast, week after week. They were competing against the very popular Chase and Sanborn Hour, starring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, which played on NBC at the same time. It was their decision to mount H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds on Halloween Eve, 1938, that made them famous – or rather, infamous – overnight.

The writer assigned to the script, Howard Koch, found the adaptation frustrating. How could he convincingly portray an invasion of Earth by the inhabitants of Mars in a realistic and frightening way? Koch, assistant Anne Froelich, Houseman, and associate producer Paul Stewart hammered away at the script desperately, up against a strict deadline. Finally, they hit on setting the invasion in America instead of England, as it was in Wells’ novel, and to make it sound like the invasion was unfolding in real time, with fake news bulletins and eyewitness accounts of the mayhem.

That night, many listeners, having heard Bergen and McCarthy do their opening comedy routine, twiddled the dial to CBS and tuned in to what sounded like a genuine invasion. People panicked. The CBS switchboard lit up with alarmed calls. Thousands hit the streets, or drove frantically away from the supposed origin of the attack – Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.

The first 40 minutes of the program, which had no advertising to interrupt it, continued to sketch scenes of horror as the Martians rapidly took over the planet. At the 40-minute mark, the show’s announcer reminded the audience that it was listening to an adaptation of The War of the Worlds. (A more conventionally narrated conclusion took place after the announcement.) By then it was too late. An incensed crowd of police and reporters jammed the halls of CBS, looking for Welles and company. A shocked and shamefaced Welles emerged from the broadcast studio and apologized for the convincing deception.

The panic was the top story in all the newspapers of the day. Commentators inveighed against Welles. He thought his career was over.

Surprisingly, after a few weeks of world-wide attention, The Mercury Theatre on the Air got a sponsor and became the well-regarded Campbell Playhouse, continuing to put out radio adaptations for another two years. Welles was picked up by Hollywood, and proceeded to make Citizen Kane.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Barber’s Adagio for Strings.