Composed by Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson and Irving Mills(*).
Recorded by Red Norvo and His Swing Octet for Columbia on January 25, 1935 in New York.
Red Norvo, xylophone, directing: Bunny Berigan, trumpet; Leon “Chu” Berry, tenor saxophone; Johnny Mince, clarinet; Jack Jenney, trombone; Teddy Wilson, piano; George Van Eps, guitar; Arthur Bernstein, bass; Gene Krupa, drums.
The story:
John Hammond was a catalyst. Because of who and what he was, he was able to make things happen in the world of swing, especially when it came to making records. As a member of a wealthy family (he was a Vanderbilt descendent), he had the financial independence to pursue his dreams in a way that was reflective of his well-informed opinions and attitudes of what was good musically. Born in New York in 1910, Hammond came to understand jazz and swing in the late 1920s and early 1930s when a lot was going on in the music. He went to hear and carefully listened to many musicians, and absorbed a lot about their good and bad qualities as musicians and as human beings.
By the time he began working as a producer in the record industry in the early 1930s, he was still a very young man whose passion for the music and undimmed idealism drove him to do things that others would not, indeed could not imagine possible. Because he had taken the time to actually go out to listen to musicians perform in venues of every possible type, he knew far better than most record producers of the time who was capable of doing what. In addition, he made it a point to actually meet the musicians he was listening to, so they would know who he was. He was definitely not just a dabbler or dilettante. He was serious about getting the musicians he thought needed to be heard on record. And over a career that would eventually span more than forty years, he was remarkably successful in doing just that.
Here is a good summary of what Hammond was thinking and doing in the early 1930s: “My visits to American towns and cities included stops at variety and burlesque houses, as well as jazz clubs. I was still the voyeur, the theater buff, curious to know everything that was going on, being printed, played or flaunted. Recording offered a unique opportunity for creative casting… (T)he music and liberal press gave me a platform for constructive criticism. (And sometimes not so constructive criticism. MZ) The times themselves imposed insurmountable odds, particularly for Negroes, against achieving any sort of recognition without help. The opportunities for me were clear.”(1)
By the time the recording date for “Bughouse” was produced, John Hammond, recently turned twenty-four years old, had already had a number of jobs in the recording industry, including with English Columbia (American Columbia was then bankrupt, but still operating, though just barely), and with impresario/music publisher/mini-tycoon Irving Mills. Hammond had recorded the gifted jazz xylophonist Red Norvo, whose talent he greatly appreciated, on September 26, 1934. That date was something of a prototype for the “Bughouse” date four months later, which Hammond loaded with strong jazz improvisers to augment Norvo’s strong jazz playing. Those present included Chu Berry on tenor saxophone, Teddy Wilson on piano, Johnny Mince on clarinet, and Bunny Berigan on trumpet. Hammond was delighted with the recordings that were made that day. They were: “Honeysuckle Rose,” “With All My Heart and Soul,” “Blues in E-Flat,” and “Bughouse.” Many years later, Hammond pleasantly recalled that on this date… “Bunny Berigan was unbelievably impressive.”(2)
The music:
I will cite to the excellent liner notes written by Don DeMichael for the Red Norvo Giants of Jazz set of recordings to explain what is going on in this wonderful performance: “The arranged introduction by the ensemble is replete with polite bell-tone piano punctuations from Teddy Wilson. Then, with a rim shot from Gene Krupa, it dissolves into a short, rhapsodic tenor saxophone ride played by Chu Berry. Berigan leads the ensemble in the first chorus while Norvo dances over, around and under him. Berry re-enters on a long note leading into a rocking, big-toned half-chorus solo with the power of Coleman Hawkins, but with a smoother, more glancing, gliding attack. Hot and heavy on his heels comes Wilson, strongly supported by Krupa and bassist Arthur Bernstein for a half-chorus filled with chords and octaves.”
“Another crisp rim-shot from Krupa brings on Norvo, who enters with a particularly clean phrase starting a half beat after Krupa. What follows is a delicately shaded solo full of subtle manipulations. At the beginning of the ninth bar he plays a phrase so legato that it seems to float over the surging rhythm section, as if time had been suspended for a fleeting, delicious moment. The subtlety of Norvo’s solo carries over into guitarist George Van Eps’s quiet sixteen bars, which are enhanced by Krupa’s smooth-as-glass press rolls.”
“Clarinetist Johnny Mince’s solo incorporates traditional Dixieland devices that seem never to lose their musical validity. When trombonist Jack Jenny enters, Krupa switches to 4/4, lifting the performance and giving it a new, swinging dimension. Jenney rises to the occasion with a veiled-tone, hot but simple solo that glides along on ball bearings.”
“Berigan takes over at the bridge and improvises a melody that is astonishing in both concept and execution. The last eight bars of his solo, in which he creates a lovely variation, are like a little prayer. Then he shifts gears and leads the others into a roaring all-out ensemble, Bernstein joining Krupa in 4/4, Norvo scampering in and out of all the whooping and cheering. It is a sound that after 45 years (…now 90 years) that still stirs the heart.”
Red Norvo later said: “On a date like this, you’re improvising and you’re hoping that something’s going to happen. On this record, when Bunny started that last chorus, I thought to myself, ‘It’s happening! It’s really happening.”(3)
When Bunny Berigan was around, things usually happened.
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(*) Irving Mills’s name is included in the composer credits because, according to John Hammond, he paid for this recording date.
(1) John Hammond …On Record, an Autobiography, with Irving Townsend (1977), 91. Hereafter referred to as : Hammond.
For another great example of the music made on the January 25, 1935 John Hammond produced Red Norvo recording date, check this out: https://bunnyberiganmrtrumpet.com/2024/06/25/blues-in-e-flat-1935-with-red-norvo/
(2) Hammond, 127.
(3) Giants of Jazz …Red Norvo (1980), notes on the music by Don DeMichael, 35.
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