Composed by Jack Lawrence, Dan Howell and Peter Tinturin; arranged by Matty Matlock.
Recorded by Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra for Brunswick on February 17, 1937 in New York.
Bunny Berigan, lead and solo trumpet; Harry Greenwald and Harry Brown, trumpets; Ford Leary, trombone; Hymie Shertzer, first alto saxophone; Julian “Matty” Matlock, alto saxophone; Art Drelinger, tenor saxophone; Les Burness, piano; Tom Morganelli, guitar; Arnold Fishkind, bass; Manny Berger, drums.
The story:
When this recording was made, Bunny Berigan was in the process of trying to get his brand-new band off to a good start. He was also completing his long-standing commitment to the CBS radio show Saturday Night Swing Club, and his more recent commitment to Tommy Dorsey as a featured soloist on Tommy’s radio show, on TD’s Victor records (TD and Bunny had made the great recordings of “Marie” and “Song of India” on January 29, 1937), and on occasion, on dance jobs with the Dorsey crew. Berigan’s practice of overworking, which he had done to an almost impossible degree through 1936, had continued into 1937. He was doing this to raise the money he needed to start his own band.
One of the first jobs the new Berigan band had was a two-week stint at the Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. This job, which lasted from February 3 -16, 1937, was important for many reasons, including the fact that the band was broadcast over local and/or regional radio during its stay there. Bunny had gathered a good group of musicians, rehearsed them well and then started the Meadowbrook gig. A number of reviews of the band, likely taken from radio broadcasts, were negative. I suspect that the band’s performances during those airshots may have been less than inspired, and the perhaps unfairly negative reviews were not helpful to the band’s future prospects. (1)
The question of how good or bad the Berigan band was playing at the Meadowbrook is, in my mind, best answered not by reading reviews, but by listening to the actual recorded evidence of the band’s music from that time. Bunny led his band, which played out its complete two-week engagement at the Meadowbrook, into the recording studio on February 17, 1937. The recordings they made on that date are most interesting.
There is some confusion about when the Berigan band closed at the Meadowbrook. I think it was on Tuesday, February 16. Other sources have it on Wednesday, the 17th. To sort this out a bit, we must isolate the facts we are sure of: (1) The Berigan band recorded on the 17th for ARC/Brunswick; (2) Hymie Shertzer, then playing first alto saxophone for Benny Goodman, was on that record date with the Berigan band; (3) The Goodman band was then playing at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York in the evening. They broadcast that evening over WABC–New York; (4) Bunny also was present at Tommy Dorsey’s Victor recording session on the 17th, and that session took place from 9:00 to 12:30 (We don’t know if this was in the morning or the evening.); and (5) Tommy Dorsey’s band was working at the Commodore Hotel in New York in the evening. In light of what we know actually happened on Wednesday, February 17, I have concluded that the Berigan band’s last night at the Meadowbrook was Tuesday, February 16. From February 3rd to the 16th encompassed exactly two weeks. I think it would have been physically impossible, (even for Bunny) to have (1) worked with Tommy Dorsey’s band on a Victor recording session from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; then (2) led his own band through a four-tune recording session at ARC in the afternoon of that same day; and then (3) traveled with his band to the Meadowbrook in New Jersey, and played a four-hour gig that evening. Since the Dorsey band was working at the Commodore Hotel in the evening, I must conclude that they recorded in the morning of February 17. Since Bunny’s band probably did not have an engagement on the evening of the 17th, it is likely that he rested a bit in the afternoon, then started recording with his own band later in the day of the 17th. Bunny likely paid Benny Goodman to release Hymie Shertzer for the evening, and get a sub in the Goodman sax section, because Benny’s band was then working at the Pennsylvania Hotel. I do think that Goodman may have done this favor for Bunny under the circumstances. It is days like this that truly give one a deeper understanding of why Bunny Berigan drank.
I have listened carefully to all of the sides Bunny’s band recorded on February 17, and I have concluded that the Berigan band that played at the Meadowbrook was probably pretty good. On this recording session, they played the arrangements with accuracy, unity, and spirit. Bunny’s playing was excellent, indeed inspired. The recordings are certainly acceptable. The arrangements, though competently written, are not in any way distinctive, (with the exception of “Dixieland Shuffle”), but the band cannot be faulted for that. The band’s solo strength, aside from Bunny of course, and clarinetist Matty Matlock and possibly tenor saxophonist Art Drelinger, who may have been on temporary leave from CBS, was not what it should have been, consequently, there was not enough variety in their presentation. But, it was a brand-new band that was trying to evolve some sort of group identity. Unfortunately (and quite unrealistically) the critics expected Bunny to start with a fully mature, distinctive band, and criticized him for not presenting such a band at the Meadowbrook.
Still, there are valid criticisms to be made. They are: (1) that whoever was booking the Berigan band (probably Rockwell-O’Keefe) should have taken it out of the greater New York area for at least a couple of weeks to break-in. Then the band could have had a little time to play together in front of relatively less critical audiences, accumulate at least a couple dozen good arrangements, and gain some esprit de corps. (2) There should have been at least a couple of other musicians in the band capable of playing jazz solos to lessen the load on Bunny in that area. (3) More effort should have been exerted to have several special arrangements in the band’s book that not only provided Bunny a showcase, but that also allowed the band to shine a bit. To have dealt with each of these criticisms would have cost someone some money, and I’m sure that is why these things were not done. In fact, keeping this band together in January and February of 1937 was quickly draining the savings Bunny had worked so hard to accumulate. Plus, Bunny apparently was still tied to the Swing Club (to make money), and that factor alone would have made much travel impossible. (His final appearance on that show as a featured performer was on February 27, 1937.)
Bunny Berigan’s recording of “Big Boy Blue” was made for Brunswick Records most likely on speculation by Brunswick. By that I mean that there was probably not any contract between Bunny Berigan and Brunswick that guaranteed that he would make a certain number of recordings for the company over a stated period of time. Starting in November of 1936, Bunny began making recordings for Brunswick and the company would continue to record him on a one-off basis so long as the recordings he made for them sold in sufficient numbers to justify further recording sessions. Their association eventually produced a total of 11 issued sides, over three recording sessions: November 23, 1936; January 22, 1937; February 17, 1937.
The music:
Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra made four sides for Brunswick Records on February 17, 1937. Two of them, including “Big Boy Blue,” were vocals; the other two were instrumentals. All four of the recordings present a solid Berigan band, and fine trumpet playing by Bunny. The vocals were handled very well by Johnny Hauser, now largely forgotten, but a capable, experienced singer who knew how to swing. (A brief biography of Johnny Hauser can be found at endnote 3)
This performance, taken at a brisk tempo, opens with a happy four-bar introduction that presents the band, tight and swinging, then Bunny’s open trumpet for a bit. The first chorus saxophones (led with brio by Hymie Shertzer), and brass (led by Berigan in quintessential fashion-hear his shakes at the end of phrases) play in antiphonal bursts. The brass take the secondary melody on the eight-bar bridge, then the saxophones and brass continue their dialogue to finish the first chorus.
A brief modulation brings Johnny Hauser to the microphone. He had a pleasing voice, excellent command of pitch and he swung. The band plays simple, rhythmic figures behind him. Hauser finishes his chorus by exhorting Berigan: “Come on Bunny, blow your horn.”
Bunny does that by playing through a couple of breaks, then unspooling a flowing improvisation that covers a good bit of his instrument’s range, all delivered with his characteristic glowing trumpet sound and strong swing. Tenor saxophonist Art Drelinger, a colleague of Bunny’s from CBS, then plays a brief solo that shows that he was a master of his instrument. The brass then take hold to lead the ensemble through the finale.
This recording is a prime example of what Bunny was trying to do, and doing it rather successfully, with his own band in its earliest days.
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
A bit more story:
Shortly after this recording session, a series of positive developments began to occur for Berigan. They included him being signed to make some radio transcriptions for a Norge Appliance sponsored radio show, but more importantly, being chosen to be the the featured band on a sponsored live-broadcast weekly Mutual network radio show to be called Fun in Swingtime. That guaranteed the Berigan band good-paying work in New York for a minimum of thirteen weeks. These breaks came at a critical moment in the early life of Bunny’s band, for in the previous almost two months, he had exhausted his personal savings in the process of organizing and then launching his band. Although the evidence of what was going on in the business operation of the Berigan band in the first two months of 1937 is spotty, there is evidence that Bunny was guided by his manager Arthur Michaud and his friend Tommy Dorsey to a man who invested in bands, John Gluskin. Presumably, Gluskin loaned Bunny a sum of money at this time to keep the Berigan band playing.
Once Bunny started working on the Fun in Swingtime radio show (the first show was broadcast on April 4, 1937), he began upgrading the personnel of his band, a process that would stretch over some five months. Bunny’s management also made two other moves in March of 1937, both of which were significant for the future of Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra. First, they got Bunny a one-year contract to make recordings for Victor, then the preeminent record company in the world. Second, they got him a management contract with Music Corporation of America (MCA), the largest and most powerful booking agency in the U.S. By April of 1937, the business side of the Berigan band was in place and functioning well.
Notes and links:
(1) Bob Inman did listen to a couple of those broadcasts, and his notes concerning the band’s performances are certainly not negatively critical. (See pages 116–117, Swing Era Scrapbook.) Inman had no compunction about judging something he heard as being “lousy.” This stinging appraisal was applied by him to the performances of many bands, though not Berigan’s. It should also be noted that some great bands made many less than exciting sustaining radio broadcasts during the swing era.
(2) Here is a link to another wonderful recording (and video) of “Big Boy Blue” by Ella Fitzgerald and the Mills Brothers:
(3) John F. Hauser (1910-1985), began his show business career at age sixteen, working on the Keith vaudeville circuit singing, dancing and playing drums as a part of a trio called the Three Hauser Boys, even though only two of the boys in the act were Hauser brothers. The act was sufficiently entertaining to land a tour of England, Scotland and Wales in the late 1920s. Bill Schneider, head of the radio/phonograph department at Gimbel’s department store in Manhattan, heard the trio in a hotel at Lake George, New York, and recommended them to Paul Whiteman. Whiteman eventually signed Johnny Hauser to a contract, and he made a number of recordings with the Whiteman orchestra in the mid-1930s. Hauser left Whiteman in April of 1936 to work with Lennie Hayton’s Orchestra on the Lucky Strike radio show for twenty-six weeks. During this time, he also appeared on radio with Ray Noble and Frank Goldman. He recorded with Jack Shilkret in September of 1936, then began organizing his own band, which debuted in mid-November of 1936. He ultimately retired from the entertainment business and operated a chicken-raising operation in northern New Jersey. (This information comes from Paul Whiteman …Pioneer in American Music – Volume two, by Don Rayno (2009), 475-476.)
Thank you for the great information.