Recorded by Red Norvo and His Swing Octet for Columbia on January 25, 1935 in New York.
Red Norvo, xylophone, directing: Bunny Berigan, trumpet; Jack Jenney, trombone; Johnny Mince, clarinet; Leon “Chu” Berry, tenor saxophone; Teddy Wilson, piano; George Van Eps, guitar; Arthur Bernstein, bass; Gene Krupa, drums.
The story:
There were aspects of Bunny Berigan’s employment at CBS in 1934 and 1935 that were extremely positive and enjoyable. CBS, in the mid-1930s, was a haven for some of the most creative people on the entertainment and broadcasting scene at that time. The musical fare at CBS then was so widely varied that it boggles the mind, especially when compared with the generally homogeneous and unimaginative offerings found on radio today. At CBS, one could within one broadcast day, run the gamut from outright concert music (The Ford Sunday Evening Hour), to the light classics, with André Kostelanetz, to Kate Smith to Raymond Scott to The Saturday Night Swing Club (which had a great deal to do with establishing jazz and swing as a part of the American cultural landscape). In addition, there was a wide variety of what are now called “scripted shows,” from soap operas to dramas to comedies. The Mercury Theater of the Air, under the wildly unconventional leadership of the prodigious Orson Welles, was allowed to appear and thrive on CBS radio. The music for Welles’s radio dramas was provided by CBS staffer Bernard Herrmann, who followed Welles to Hollywood, and composed the music for Welles’s classic film Citizen Kane. Herrmann later went on to a now legendary collaboration with film director Alfred Hitchcock, composing the music for such memorable films as Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Birds, and Psycho.(1) The mid-1930s also marked the beginnings of the renowned news division at CBS, which ultimately produced the first superstar news person: Edward R. Murrow.(2) By 1938, CBS was broadcasting, via live relay from WGAR in Cleveland on Sunday afternoons, the first network radio program that was dedicated to Afro-Americans: Wings over Jordan. It came to be recognized as the first radio program of the American civil rights movement. CBS was not the largest radio network in America, but it could certainly claim to be the most creative and inclusive. Bunny Berigan was at CBS in the midst of this heady atmosphere, and he encountered many people there whose creative outlook must have been a healthy antidote for the very often grueling and stultifying work he had to do in the music department.
The nation was deeply mired in an economic depression in the mid-1930s. Berigan’s work at CBS, tedious and exhausting as it was, paid very well, and due to his schedule there, he was free most evenings to take outside jobs. Some of these, like the ones with Joe Moss at the Meyer Davis office, were hardly satisfying in the musical sense, but they paid well. Financially speaking, Bunny was (or should have been) doing very well in the mid-1930s. There were few musicians in New York or anywhere then who were making more money in 1934–1935 than he was. His wife Donna reported that he was often earning $500 weekly,(3) and if this amount is multiplied by fifteen, we can approximate the value of those Depression era dollars today. It appears that by 1935, Bunny had his own car, and he and his family resided in the comfortable house at 83-28 Sixty-third Ave. Rego Park, in Queens that he had purchased upon his return to CBS in early 1934.(4) This residence is located near Juniper Valley Park and St. John’s Cemetery, and was not far from the Forest Hills home of Mildred Bailey and Red Norvo.(5)
Nevertheless, ominous signs started to appear in Berigan’s financial life at about this time. His Ford automobile was repossessed.(6) Trumpeter Dave Wade, a colleague of Bunny’s at CBS recalled:
“Raymond Scott’s group also recorded backing singers Red McKenzie and Midge Williams. My solo on ‘Wanted’ (with Red McKenzie) fooled some people into thinking it was Bunny. I did my best to sound like him, as Ray Scott told me I had to sound like Bunny to get the CBS job. While Bunny was still on staff at CBS I recall that Nat Natalie was in the ‘night band’ at that same time and was a good friend of Bunny’s. Bunny and I were in the so-called ‘morning band.’ Nat and I went out to visit Bunny for some reason, it was mid-winter and cold, and when we arrived we found the house with no heat; the kids were on the floor with their coats on. Nat was so mad! He wanted to fracture Bunny! While Bunny was still on staff, but before I had joined, I used to do a lot of sub work in his place; he was always so busy.”(7)
If Bunny was irresponsible with money, and he certainly was, Donna was too. Bunny provided large sums of money for Donna to run the Berigan household, and she used that money as she saw fit. He was not one to bother with things like a family budget, and he was not around enough to monitor the family’s finances in any event. It appears that Donna’s overall immaturity extended into the area of family finance. Consequently, there was never enough money to keep things running smoothly at the Berigan home no matter how much Bunny earned. As a result of both Bunny’s and Donna’s spendthrift ways, he and Donna were always short of funds. Although he was clearly the dominant partner in their marriage, he was not domineering or cruel. Donna was undoubtedly aware of the fact that her husband was capable of making a lot of money, and she seemed to defer to him in most, if not all matters. It appears that she was along for the ride, and for a long time, that ride included a lot of laughs, a lot of fun, and a lot of goodies. She seems to have come to the conclusion that whatever Bunny did, and his conduct was becoming more damaging to their marriage, that conduct was necessary for him to continue his very successful career. Donna was using denial to deal with Bunny’s behavior, especially his deepening dependence on alcohol. Her way of dealing with Bunny’s drinking, more and more, involved her having a few with him, whenever he was around, which was less and less. Nevertheless, Donna was by this time also developing her own problem with alcohol.
The repeal of Prohibition was certainly not a factor in Berigan’s advancing alcoholism. He was well on his way in that direction long before repeal. However, the repeal was a substantial factor in the economic revival of the dance band business in the mid-1930s.
The long awaited repeal of Prohibition finally became a reality shortly after President Roosevelt took office. Light wines and beer were made legal first, with hard liquor available on a legal basis early in 1934. The former speakeasies now became respectable nightclubs. Hotels, which had previously experienced difficulty in underwriting top talent, suddenly had a profitable revenue source, which permitted them to do so. Every phase of the entertainment business was given a healthy shot in the arm and the band business was the first to benefit since it was the backbone around which every show was built.(8)
One of many remarkable things about Bunny Berigan was his ability to bounce back from the most humiliating, ego-crushing experiences, like falling off the bandstand at the Let’s Dance radio broadcast at the end of 1934 in a drunken stupor, and then somehow pulling himself together and playing well (sometimes magnificently) within a short time thereafter. There is no doubt that after that sad incident with Benny Goodman, Bunny returned to CBS (probably the next day) to once again resume his demanding and exacting duties, which likely included playing in the band on the Kate Smith show, appearing with the Instrumentalists, a forerunner of the Raymond Scott Quintet, and working with various bands under the direction of Mark Warnow.
Far more musically significant for jazz fans however, was his appearance at the Columbia recording studio (9A) on January 25 as a member of Red Norvo’s swing octet. The sides made that day were harbingers of the swing era. In addition to Berigan’s splendid playing, all of the other musicians also contributed greatly to these recordings. The tunes were “Honeysuckle Rose,” “With All My Heart and Soul,” “Bughouse,” and “Blues in E Flat.” The musicians were Norvo on xylophone; Berigan; Jack Jenney, trombone; Johnny Mince, clarinet; Chu Berry, tenor saxophone; Teddy Wilson, piano; George Van Eps, guitar; Artie Bernstein, bass; Gene Krupa, drums. “Bunny and Jenney were on staff at CBS; Mince was with Ray Noble; Krupa with Benny Goodman; and Van Eps doubling the two leaders. Chu Berry was with Teddy Hill, and Teddy Wilson with Willie Bryant.”(9)
The music:
It appears that ubiquitous gadfly of the early swing era, John Hammond (1910-1987), was involved in putting together the musicians and repertoire to make this recording. Hammond came from a wealthy family, and had a passionate interest in jazz and the musicians who made it. Because of his family connections, personal wealth and chutzpah, he insinuated himself into many situations that allowed him to get to know not only the musicians who were in the process of taking jazz to a higher creative place, but also the businessmen who made the recordings and booked the bands. He had no compunction about making suggestions to anyone as to how they could improve their lot, musically or financially. Although musicians often resented what they considered his meddling, they had to grudgingly accept his guidance because they understood that he was driven by his ideas and ideals about what constituted good jazz, and never really deviated from them, and never accepted any money in the process of trying to promote a musician. On balance, John Hammond was a very positive force for improving the lot of jazz musicians, both black and white, during the swing era.
In his autobiography, Hammond reflected on the atmosphere that surrounded the various recording sessions he was able to organize then: “It astonishes me, as I look back, at how casually we were able to assemble such all-star groups. It wasn’t that we didn’t know how great they were. We did. It simply was a Golden Age; (New York) was overflowing with dozens of superlative performers on every instrument. And yet, business wasn’t that good. Compared to the kind of money that’s around today, they all came for scale.” (10) Forty years after the session that produced “Blues in E Flat,” Hammond recalled that: “Bunny Berigan was unbelievably impressive.” (11)
This performance begins without any introduction with Red Norvo playing a chorus of blues on his xylophone (which he always pronounced zillaphone). This unamplified wooden bars instrument produces quiet music, ideal for small group chamber jazz in an intimate setting like a small jazz club.(12) The intimate setting here was a recording studio. Norvo was a master of this instrument, and later of the vibraphone, which has metal bars and an electric resonator, which allows the volume to be amplified. Norvo’s playing here reveals that he was at the vanguard of jazz in the mid-1930s approaching his music with a definite harmonic sophistication and subtle sense of swing. Notice how Norvo has bassist Artie Bernstein playing arco (with a bow) to accompany him.
The second chorus has Berigan and clarinetist Johnny Mince in a blues dialogue. Berigan’s rich open-horn trumpet sound is commanding, but Mince, another unheralded master of his instrument and fine jazz player, offers a tasty and contrasting improvisation. Norvo provides an inspiring accompaniment, and Bernstein continues to add the foundation notes on his bass arco. Trombonist Jack Jenney and tenor saxophonist Chu Berry, well off-mic, add some soft backing pads for the soloists.
Berry then steps up to the microphone to play an impassioned chorus, with his robust tone much in evidence. He frequently used a lot of notes and a good bit of ornamentation in his playing, but his jazz ideas were stimulating, and he invariably swung at any tempo. He was also a crack reader of music, like all of the others on this date, not that that skill was required. Hammond insisted that the performances be routined by the musicians in the studio, and that no written music be used.
Pianist Teddy Wilson plays next. At this point in his career, he was well known among Afro-American jazz musicians because of his beautifully focused jazz improvisations and impeccable piano technique. He came to New York in the autumn of 1933 to work with Benny Carter. John Hammond financed Wilson’s move to New York, lending $150 to Carter to help Wilson get set in Manhattan. (Carter repaid the loan in 1961, sending Hammond a check and a gracious note of thanks.) By May of 1934, Hammond brought together Wilson and Benny Goodman for a recording session for music entrepreneur Irving Mills. A short time later, Hammond produced a recording session where Wilson played solo piano. The first Benny Goodman Trio recordings with BG, Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa would be made in July of 1935.
By the time this recording was made, Wilson, still only 22 years old, nevertheless reveals himself as a fully formed master of jazz piano, who had distilled the influences of Earl Hines and Art Tatum into a very personal piano style.
The final chorus has Berigan playing a heartfelt chorus of blues with his compatriots swirling about creatively behind him.
This is timeless music that captures several talented performers in the early stages of their careers, before they became well-known to the public.
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes:
1) A vivid summary of so-called serious music at CBS in the 1930s is to be found in A Heart at Fire’s Center, The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann, by Steven C. Smith, University of California Press (1991).
(2) Edward R. Murrow gathered around him at CBS a great number of exceptional broadcast journalists including: Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, and Daniel Schorr. Mr. Schorr was the last survivor of that illustrious group, working as a senior news analyst on National Public Radio until his death in 2010.
(3) Bunny Berigan …Elusive Legend of Jazz (1993), by Robert Dupuis: 127.
(4) White materials: April 20, 1935. One recollection has the Berigan family living in a house. Another has them living in an apartment. Currently, 83-28 Sixty-third Avenue, Rego Park, Queens is in a residential neighborhood block that contains spacious brick homes that are contiguous, so I guess both characterizations are correct.
(5) Kenneth Norville was born on March 31, 1908, in Beardstown, Illinois. As Red Norvo, he was a part of Paul Whiteman’s orchestra in the late 1920s, where he met Mildred Bailey. In the early years of his career, Norvo played the xylophone, and also piano. His approach to jazz from the beginning was harmonically rich and rhythmically supple, making him a pioneer in many respects, albeit a largely unappreciated one. He began to record in the early 1930s, and began leading his own band in the mid-1930s. Though Norvo tried again and again to make it commercially acceptable, his big band was a failure. By the mid-1940s, he was playing the vibraphone and appearing as a featured artist with the Benny Goodman and Woody Herman bands. Late in the 1940s, he began to lead a series of small jazz groups, all of which were musically inventive. He achieved some success in these ventures, appearing with them in a number of films during the 1950s. Norvo continued to work well into his later years. He died in Santa Monica, California, on April 6, 1999.
(6) White materials: December 4, 1935.
(7) White materials: February 20, 1937. The incident referred to by Dave Wade probably took place in late 1936 or early 1937. By then, baby Joyce would have been able to crawl.
(8) The Wonderful Era of the Great Dance Bands, by Leo Walker, Da Capo Press, Inc. (original copyright 1964), 62.
(9) White materials: January 25, 1935.
(9A) The studio where this recording was made was either the Brunswick (ARC) Recording Studio – 1776 Broadway, at 57th – fourteenth floor, or the studio at 799 Seventh Avenue at 52nd.
(10) John Hammond …On Record, by John Hammond with Irving Townsend (1977), 148. Hereafter Hammond.
(11) Hammond, 127.
(12) The marimba is a xylophone with electric resonators. It is also a larger instrument with greater range.
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