“In a Little Spanish Town” (1937)

Recorded by Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra for Victor on December 23, 1937 in New York.

Bunny Berigan, first and solo trumpet, directing: Steve Lipkins and Irving Goodman, trumpets; Thomas B. “Sonny” Lee, first trombone; Al George, trombone; Robert “Mike” Doty, first alto saxophone, and clarinet; Joe Dixon, first clarinet, and alto saxophone; Georgie Auld, tenor saxophone and clarinet; Clyde Rounds, tenor saxophone and clarinet; Joe Lippman, piano; Tom Morganelli, guitar; Hank Wayland, bass; George Wettling, drums.

The story:

By mid-1934, Bunny Berigan, already one of the most successful musicians in Manhattan, had resolved to become a bandleader. It seemed to be a logical move on his part. The Dorsey brothers had made the move from the lucrative but confining anonymity of working in radio and the recording studios to forming and leading their own band in 1934. Benny Goodman did the same a little later on. Art Shaw would do so in 1936.

Berigan’s intermittent presence in the Benny Goodman band of 1934 and 1935 was a win-win situation for both him and Goodman. It was a win for Bunny in that he was present while the Goodman band, under Benny’s determined leadership, evolved from a competent dance band into a first-rate swing band. He observed what Benny did well and not so well. Goodman, of course, was a superb musician, and he demanded perfection from his sidemen. Unfortunately, Benny lacked tact, so his methods of getting better musical performances could be grim. Nevertheless, as he worked tirelessly with his band of talented musicians through late 1934 and into 1935 (their continuing existence as a band was ensured by a sponsored radio show from December of 1934 through May of 1935), discernable progress was made. The sidemen in the Goodman band stuck with Benny because they could see, hear and feel the ever-increasing improvement in their performances under their demanding but very talented leader. They also deeply appreciated applying their talents to what had become a series of very good swing-oriented arrangements by both Fletcher Henderson and Lyle “Spud” Murphy.

The Goodman band had reached an early plateau as a performing unit by the end of their radio show run. They played well as an ensemble, and Benny himself played his solos with both technical perfection and swing. But something was missing: the magical spark that lifts a band’s performances from being good to being inspired. Benny, ever-concerned about the musical side of his band, along with his more business-oriented brother Harry, who played bass in the Goodman band and often smoothed feathers ruffled by his hot-tempered younger brother, persuaded Bunny Berigan to come into the Goodman band for a fixed period of time, to help the band make some worthwhile swinging records, then travel with them on a cross-country summer tour. Berigan’s job as first trumpeter and jazz soloist, would be to provide that needed spark. He provided it, and the Goodman band’s performances benefitted greatly.

Before Harry Goodman joined Benny’s band, Benny had secured a job in Manhattan at a showroom called Billy Rose’s Music Hall. That gig started on June 1, 1934. The band Benny used on that gig was strictly ad hoc, being comprised of the better young musicians Benny had worked with in the radio and recording studios. The band’s personnel fluctuated, depending on who was available. Among the trumpeters who came in and out were: Russ Case, Sammy Shapiro, Pee Wee Erwin, Jerry Neary, Eddie Wade and Bunny Berigan. Among the bassists who played in that band were Hank Wayland and Arthur Bernstein.

Hank Wayland later recalled the night when Berigan first appeared on that gig: “When I was playing with Benny Goodman, Bunny replaced Jerry Neary on third trumpet, and on his first night he told me that he intended to form his own band soon, and wanted me to play bass for him.” (1)

Fast-forward to late 1937. Bunny had been leading his own band for almost a year. They had made many good and some great recordings for Victor; they had appeared for six months on a sponsored network radio show; they had toured successfully, including an extended stay at the Paramount Theater on Times Square in New York. Bunny, with his band, had earned enough money to pay off all of the debts he had accrued over the long build-up process that had preceded the tour. In fact, Bunny ended the year 1937 with a substantial amount of money in his bank account. This moment was the high-water mark for the Berigan band commercially, not that Bunny or anyone else knew it. Nevertheless, he would continue to improve the band musically through much of 1938.

On December 23, 1937 Bunny led his bandsmen into Victor’s Twenty-fourth Street studios in Manhattan. The last time they had been there was on October 7, before they went on tour, when they recorded four forgettable pop tunes with vocals. This session began at 1:00 p.m., ran until 5:30, and produced five instrumentals, something that was virtually unheard of in the swing era. All of the performances are good, and a couple of them are more than that.

The music:

“In a Little Spanish Town,” as arranged by Joe Lippman, shows that he had by late 1937 learned to simplify his writing so as not to interfere with the overall rhythmic momentum of the ensembles and the jazz solos. But his arrangement on “In a Little Spanish Town” is neither simple nor simplistic. After an introduction played by three clarinets and a tenor saxophone that is an abstraction of the melody of the tune, the first chorus begins in a Dixieland mode with Bunny’s lead trumpet much in evidence. This grouping of instruments – Bunny’s trumpet; trombone (Sonny Lee) and clarinet (Joe Dixon), play in antiphonal fashion with the oo-ah brass. Then there is an ensemble blast with Berigan’s trumpet on top which leads into another sixteen bars of Dixie-styled melody.

Another ensemble flare propels Georgie Auld into a rhythmically vigorous sixteen bar jazz solo. Lippman’s chart supports Auld with an uncluttered background of syncopated brass. Auld is followed by Joe Dixon on clarinet, who swings nicely as he improvises. Note how Lippman increases the intensity of the brass behind Dixon.

Trombonist Sonny Lee plays next, getting good support from the three clarinets and drummer George Wettling’s China cymbal. Lee’s last eight bars are particularly cogent jazz.

The next chorus begins with a return of the Dixie sequence. This is followed by an ensemble swell with Berigan’s swaggering solo trumpet emerging from the sonic mix. The band swings through the finale, with Bunny topping everything with molten high-register trumpet notes at the close.

The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.

Notes:

(1) The Complete Bunny Berigan Volume 1, 1937, RCA Bluebird LP set AXM2-5584 (1982), notes on the music by Mort Goode.