What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

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russmovaz
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by russmovaz »

Gosh, all of these pleasant comments about Guy Lombardo and his music -- we should be careful or we will end up pushing the prices on his 78 RPM records beyond what we can afford.

There is a pleasing quality about the laid-back, dance music, bands like Lombardo made. It is never offensive, like nearly all of contemporary music, and it makes you relax and allows a simple enjoyment, without the need for overt analysis.

This is one reason why I also like to watch the original Perry Mason series. Raymond Burr and friends are comfortable to me now. Modern movies and TV series are much too overactive for me to enjoy.

Probably most of us here on the 78 RPM forum would prefer to live back in the 1920's or somewhere between the '20s and the late 1950s.
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo? EDIT

Post by Inigo »

About all that said...
I find the Dallas Blues by Isham Jones well played, but a bit 'scory', they sound like a metronome, lacking that subtle misplacing of notes both in tone and time, that makes jazz and swing so magic...
The Lombardo renditions have a bit more of that.
My first Lombardo, Stormy Weather, is an Italian Brunswick pressing made by Fonit!
I never get tired of Bing Crosby. Many of my listening sessions of mixed records by different artists have happened to come eventually across a Bing record, then biasing completely to a Bing session only. That voice is magic!
And about the excursion to Frank Sinatra with Billy May... Impossible not to be so good...! Besides his magical voice and good sense of swing, Frank was always accompanied by very good orchestras and his songs very well arranged by these people as Billy May, Neal Hefti, Axel Stordahl, Gordon Jenkins, Nelson Riddle, etc. What a bunch of people... Impossible to sound but to the highest standard of musicianship!
Last edited by Inigo on Wed Jun 26, 2019 3:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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russmovaz
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by russmovaz »

Inigo wrote: I never get tired of Bing Crosby. Many of my listening sessions of mixed records by different artists have happened to come eventually across a Bing record, then biasing completely to a Bing session only. That voice is magic!
And about the excursion to Frank Sinatra with Billy May... Impossible not to be so good...
I purchase every Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra 78 RPM that I find. I think Bing has the ultimate male voice.

The book: "Jazz Singing" lists these as the premier male voices:

Bing Crosby, Jimmy Rushing, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Torme.

His favorite female voices:

Connee Boswell, Lee Wiley, Bea Wain, Billie and Ella (of course), Jo Stafford, Kay Starr, Anita O'Day, Annette Hanshaw, Helen Ward, Helen Forrest, and a few others I don't remember.

The most unusual voices would be Mel Torme and Anita O'Day.
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by Wolfe »

Just as an aside - Friedwald's book on Sinatra, The Song Is You is well worth reading for any Sinatra fan. It's been published in a revised editon that tones down the snark of the original (published in the 90's). Either version, either way, I've referred back to the book often, when I go on periodic Sinatra binges.

Anita O'Day, not the greatest voice, IMO. Terrific phrasing though. I like her quite a bit.
Torme, not so much when he was younger, but he matured well as a singer.

Friedwald admires Doris Day a lot too.

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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by russmovaz »

A few of the other singers the author hates include:
Morton Downey, The Ink Spots, Linda Ronstadt, and any rock-n-roll singer.

I listened to an Irish collection with Morton Downey and I agree his style is horrible.

And I listened to a book (set of 6 sides in case) of Ted Lewis -- also horrible singing.

And another book of Wayne King the Rhythm King -- completely boring.

Important to hear this bad stuff to appreciate the good music and good singing.
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

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Wolfe wrote:Anita O'Day, not the greatest voice, IMO. Terrific phrasing though. I like her quite a bit.
Torme, not so much when he was younger, but he matured well as a singer.
The book author admires Anita O'Day and Mel Torme for the same reasons: style and phrasing. He thinks Anita O'Day is a little like the be-bob players.
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by Inigo »

Many of us like the Lombardo music, I suppose because it is very well played. Same happens many other orchestras as Hal Kemp, and many many others. And always under a certain soft quality. You could enjoy jumping to the rhythm and sound of Fats Waller combos, or Benny Goodman's and so many others.. but soft jazz and swing also have an enormous appeal... Those mentioned and the soft style of others as BG small combos, T Dorsey's, Nat Cole... And what do you think about great pianists as Art Tatum or Ted Wilson?
The good quality of well played music, beautiful melodies, clever arrangements, and all... The tastes lead main preference, but the mood you're in also makes you prefer at different moments the noisy jumping music, or the soft well arranged music.
78s are an infinite source of enjoyment!
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by gramophone-georg »

I'm way more of a hot jazz/ hot swing guy than a fan of anything "sweet", but it's amazing how versatile all of these guys really were. We've already sampled Lombardo's hotter stuff earlier in the thread, but there are other examples, too- Glenn Miller's early hot Columbia, Brunswick, and Decca sides, Horace Heidt's West Coast band in the 1920s on Victor, Jan Garber's Columbia sides, Ted Weems' Victor sides of the Twenties... even Kay Kyser cut a few Victor discs in the late 1920s on the V-40000 series that are quite hot. Hal Kemp on Columbia, OKeh, and Brunswick up to about 1933 are incredibly hot also.

Then, there are the Dorsey Bros. sides on which Tommy plays a very capable hot trumpet. He cut a couple solo discs for OKeh as "Tom Dorsey and his Novelty Orchestra" that are great as well. Glenn Miller was a trombonist with the Dorsey Bros. band and this gave Tommy an opportunity to play trumpet.

Paradoxically, we have Benny (or sometimes "Bennie") Goodman. His first bandleading efforts with a small group on Brunswick are nice and hot. However, his Melotone and Columbia sides with an orchestra show us that the future King of Swing was seriously thinking of making a name for himself as the leader of a polished "society" sweet dance band, at least until about 1933 when he brought in Teagarden and a young singer named Billie Holiday, and made Gene Krupa his permanent drummer.

It's really interesting to discover the pre- fame careers of these later superstars.

One of the early guys who helped make this happen was Ben Selvin, who really isn't ever credited with much of anything besides saddling the world with "Muzak". He is of equal importance as Whiteman, perhaps even more so.So many great players came through the ranks of his Columbia studio bands... the Dorseys, Goodman, Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw... if you collect Selvin records and listen to them they are almost like a prequel to the entire Swing Era.

Another important leader who isn't mentioned much is Roger Wolfe Kahn, whose early 1930s Columbia band is definitely worth a listen.

Now, this next part is just my personal opinion, but if you want to experience the absolute apex of jazz/ swing (and perhaps even popular music in general if you want to go that far) it's Artie Shaw's 1940- 41 band on Victor, beginning with "Frenesi". It was a huge band with a string section, but WHAT a combination of hot swing and elegance! It just really works, in my opinion. There are other innovations, too, like using a harpsichord on the Gramercy 5 sides of this era. Incidentally, Shaw was one of the first leaders to write a lot of his own music, and do a lot of his own arranging. You can hear Shaw arrangements on some early 1930s Selvin sides, and Glenn Miller's "In A Little Spanish Town" from his 1935 debut Columbia session as a leader is all Shaw, and foreshadows what Shaw was doing in 1940-41.

Just some mindless rambling. :lol:
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by russmovaz »

gramophone-georg wrote:polished "society" sweet dance band, at least until about 1933 when he brought in Teagarden and a young singer named Billie Holiday, and made Gene Krupa his permanent drummer.


Now, this next part is just my personal opinion, but if you want to experience the absolute apex of jazz/ swing (and perhaps even popular music in general if you want to go that far) it's Artie Shaw's 1940- 41 band on Victor,
A comment on Jack Teagarden: I watched him on Episode No.8 of the Ken Burns "Jazz" documentary where he sings with Louis Armstrong. Teagarden has a pretty fine voice, in the few seconds where he's singing. A lot of gravel in that voice, but also a lot of character.

Artie Shaw: in the "Jazz" interviews he appears bitter at times, calling the dancers at swing band concerts "morons." And he's bitter with the commercial aspects of the swing band era. Guess that's why he temporarily moved to small the Musicraft label, where he presumably had more control over what he could record.

I have a lot of Artie Shaw on Victor, which I have not yet played, not at all. Good to know there will be good things to hear.
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Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?

Post by russmovaz »

gramophone-georg wrote: Jan Garber's Columbia sides
I only have Jan Garber records on Capitol. And he's not listed in the record price books Les Docks or the other one which I don't remember the name. Don't think I own any of this Columbia records.
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