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1937: Favorites from 70 Years Ago
Grouped alphabetically within genres, because I’m not crazy enough to try to rank these apples, oranges, and bananas.
He couldn’t have thought this was going to be a commercial success, could he? This has to be pure art, right? Haunted at a psychological level that has never been surpassed within the constraints of a sub-three-minute song.
A huge hit for White – while he was in prison. Now available on The Complete Bukka White. BTW, his real name was Booker – some people just can’t deal with a Southern accent.
A lechery classic covered frequently by both fellow bluesmen and ‘60s rockers (Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter, Hot Tuna, Yardbirds, etc.). Williamson’s harmonica style proved extremely influential. This huge hit from his first session is included on The Bluebird Recordings 1937-38.
In a time when appreciation of music prior to the Romantic era was just beginning to grow among the public, British conductor Beecham was a resolute booster of the music of Mozart. The LPO has its moments of fuzzy intonation, and by the standards of contemporary music scholarship Beecham’s performances are hardly state-of-the-art, with some especially unidiomatic string portamento in spots. But few conductors have ever shaped the music so masterfully or lovingly, with a rare combination of power, grace, and delicacy.
The greatest Beethoven conductor, the most immediately recognizable symphony. This is romantic interpretation at its most emotional yet profound. John Ardoin, whose in-depth discographical book The Furtwängler Record is invaluable, calls this, the conductor’s second studio version of the piece, “a performance of the greatest brilliance and clarity.”
The most famous Russian violinist, the most famous Russian composer. His fabled technical precision, unerringly beautiful tone, keen structural awareness, and non-indulgent interpretations made Heifetz (1901-1987) the model for modern violin playing. Some said he was emotionally reserved in his interpretations, but really he was just more tasteful than most.
Basie’s first hit. He fumbles a bit in his opening solo, but the real focus of this recording is the backing riffs – plus that famous melody that comes to the fore near the end. That said, tenorist Herschel Evans and trumpeter Buck Clayton have particularly vivid solo slots.
The first recording of a darkly exotic favorite. Clarinetist Bigard is credited as the leader, but make no mistake, this is a Duke Ellington septet – his all-stars. Co-composer Juan Tizol unfurls the memorable melody on trombone, faithful Duke vet Harry Carney delivers a lyrical baritone sax solo, Cootie Williams offers a buzzing, growling trumpet solo, and Bigard himself shines in his closing solo slot.
Benny’s band had a half-dozen hits in ‘37, none more iconic or influential than this instrumental extrapolation on a Louis Prima song from the year before (incorporating elements of the hard-riffing “Christopher Columbus,” written by Chu Berry for the Fletcher Henderson band). It was quite unusual for the time, an 8-minute, 43-second jam that needed both sides of a 12-inch 78-RPM disc. Serious jazz aficionados always decry Gene Krupa’s lowest-common-denominator drumming, but it is viscerally exciting.
This Dorothy Fields classic is one of many odes to bad judgment that Billie personalized over the course of her career, here with a bit of help from Lester Young’s sensual tenor sax solo. The rest of the “orchestra”? A rhythm section of leader Wilson, Freddy Green, Walter Page, and Jo Jones swings with mellow precision, Buck Clayton adds trumpet obbligato, and Benny Goodman contributes a bluesy clarinet solo.
