When you get up in the morning, you must have a song - Ray Charles

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Artie Shaw - Blue Room / Cafe Rouge

Swing is still the thing, kids!!
Just look at that cover...Artie Shaw was a rock god. These radio sessions are a whole lotta fun. In the liner notes, Artie Shaw commented, listening to these old recordings, how tight and how much fun the bands were having at the time. He's right on, but he remains the star.


Here are two sessions, recorded about a year apart, at NYC nightclubs. 1938/39


I love the fact that these radio shows seem so loose but still sound so perfect. As each session winds to an end, the band seems rock a bit harder leading up to a swinging finale. These sets are all over the place...some standards, some covers but a really nice amount of ...well oddball shit. Just what we like.


In The Blue Room

1. Nightmare
2. Together
3. My Reverie
4. Sobbin' Blues
5. Jeepers creepers
6. In The Mood*
7. Non-Stop Flight
8. Begin The Beguine
9. The Old Stamping Ground
10. The Chant
11. Stardust
12. The Carioca

In The Cafe Rouge

1. At Sundown
2. I'm Sorry For Myself
3. Maria, My Own
4. Diga Diga Do
5. Moonray
6. Everything Is Jumpin'
7. St. Louis Blues
8. I've Got My Eye On You
9. My Blue Heaven
10. El Rancho Grande
11. Sweet Sue
12. Man From Mars

RCA Victor LPT-6000
part one
part two




*I cannot be help responsible for the ridiculously long version of "In The Mood". At the time, the swapping of popular tunes was common practice, but there is no excuse for this.

5 comments:

Chris S. said...

These Shaw broadcasts are great--thanks for posting.

If I'm remembering right, Shaw's live version of In The Mood precedes Glenn Miller's hit record. Shaw decided to pass on recording a studio version because of the length of the arrangement (2 sides of a 78). Joe Garland had previously had it recorded by Edgar Hayes' band, but then took it to Miller who cut it down (well, or one of Miller's arrangers) & unexpectedly had the hit.

Hookfinger said...

Thanks Chris - now that you mention it, I think I have heard that story about In The Mood before, and the timeline would be correct. Thanks for pointing it out.

Baron said...

Thanks HookF ... heard some of these before .... great to hear Shaw live ... Baron

MrBill said...

Thanks for the Artie Shaw! Really a different approach to In The Mood - not just the more multi-faceted arrangement, but also the slower tempo just sounds odd - but quite interesting, all in all.

Jorge said...

Thanks for the Shaw's 2 LP post! I can add that exists a cutted Shaw version of In The Mood (near 3 min. only), in the same manner as the much longer version included in your first LP