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Cotton Club Revisited
Spring. 1932. A perfect New York night. You've just enjoyed Kaufman and Ryskind and George and Ira's "Of Thee I Sing" at the Music Box Theatre (or Earl Carroll's "Vanities" at the 44th Street, or Ed Wynn's "The Laugh Parade"). So what's next? Dinner at Caruso's? A chicken and spaghetti dinner for 75(1. You could take in Noble Sissle and "The Best Dance Orchestra in New York" at the Park Central Grill. How about Eddy Duchin's group? They're appearing with Ethel Merman at "The World's Finest Restaurant," at the Central Park Casino.
Not to your taste? How about the "Smartest and Swifts Revue In Town" or Dan Healy's "Rhyth-Mania?" Plus Cab Calloway with his Orchestra. Where's all this action? Lenox and 142nd at The Aristocrat of Harlem, the famous Cotton Club.
These days New York nightlife doesn't offer the same choices. As a reminder of what was once hot in Harlem, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks present a baker's dozen of wonderful songs introduced and made famous at the Cotton Club. With a few exceptions, all have lyrics by Ted Koehler and music by Harold Arlen, one of the most jazz-influenced composers of popular music.
1. COTTON CLUB STOMP - Written by Duke Ellington with two of his reedmen, Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney. The Nighthawks' performance is an Andy Stein transcription of Ellington's 1929 recording. Watch out for Dave Brown's outstanding job of capturing the sound of Freddy Jenkins, Duke's left-handed trumpeter.
2. STORMY WEATHER - Introduced at the Cotton Club in the spring of 1933 by Ethel Waters with accompaniment by Duke. Composer Arlen had recorded his tune a couple of months earlier with Leo Reisman's band. Lena Home joined the Club's
chorus line in 1934 and didn't make the song her own until her silver screen performance in 1943.
3. GET YOURSELF A HEW BROOM (AND SWEEP THE BLUES AWAY) - A new song to me. Like "Stormy Weather", it's a Koehler/Arlen tune introduced in the 22nd "Cotton Club Parade" in 1933.
4.TRICKERATION - From "Rhyth-Mania". It's one of the numbers we would have heard on our imaginary 1932 night on the town. Andy Stein's transcription and Maestro Giordano's delightful vocal, follow closely Cab Calloway's original recording.
5. I'VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING - No, Frank Sinatra wasn't the first person to record this great tune. Cab Calloway, Ivy Andersen, Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby all had a shot at it within months after it was introduced in the 1932 "Parade". This version, as do all but Crosby's drops the singing of the verse; a delightful display of Koehler's talent which concludes with "...Joy you may define in a thousand ways. But a case like mine needs a special phrase to reveal... how I feel".
6. HARLEM HOLIDAY - It may be hard to believe that the same man behind "Over the Rainbow", Harold Arlen, turned out dozens of songs for Cotton Club Revues. On the other hand, Arlen's "Stormy Weather" was a Cotton Club song. "Harlem Holiday" was introduced by Cab Calloway in the 1932 "Parade". ("I've Got the World On A String" was the big hit.) The show also featured the very young Nicholas Brothers, and Aida Ward,
who was one of the stars of Broadway's "Blackbirds of 1928". This version by the Nighthawks leaves the lyric unstated, but be
assured that "every spot that you've got will be hotter than hot" if you choose a "Harlem Holiday".
7. HAPPY AS THE DAY IS LONG - Ivy Anderson recorded this selection, along with "New Broom" and "Raisin' the Rent" (all from the 22nd "Cotton Club Parade") in the company of the Ellington Orchestra on May 9,1933. Again Harold Arlen got
to it first, recording his song with Leo Reisman one week earlier. John Leifert does a good job with the tongue-twister lyrics.
8. MINNIE THE MOODIER - Cab Calloway parlayed this thinly-disguised version of "Willie the Weeper" into a career. It inspired such songs as "Keep That Hi-De-Hi In Your Soul" and "You
Gotta Ho-De-Ho (To Get Along With Me). In 1940, Jimmie Lunceford's band (who first played the Cotton Club in 1934) went so far as to declare "Minnie the Moocher is Dead".
9. RAISIN' THE RENT - What a fine arrangement. Good piece of writing, too. John Leifert handles another vocal with grace. Let's hear it for the Nighthawks' great rhythm section! Solos are performed by Gerson, Overton, and Brown.
10. BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND Ttit DEEP BLUE SEA - A brilliant Arlen song from "Rhyth-Mania". If you couldn't catch the show, you could console yourself with Cab Calloway's "cast" recording or Louis Armstrongs breathtaking version, which used the same orchestration as the Nighthawks.
11. AS LONG AS I LIVE - The 1934 Edition of the "Cotton Club Parade" gave us two great songs: "III Wind", a sequel to "Stormy Weather", and "As Long As I Live". In his American Popular Song, Alee Wilder states "Among swinging songs, this is a beauty". It also appears to be one of the last songs Harold Arlen wrote for a Cotton Club revue.
12. MINNIE THE MOOCHER'S WEDDING DAY - Another chapter in the Minnie saga. Cab Calloway, who introduced it, came to the Cotton Club by way of the black revue, "Connie's Hot Chocolates". He followed Duke Ellington into the club in 1930, leading a group previously known as The Missourians.
13. TRUCKIN' - With the recording of this hot item. Vince Giordano's Nighthawks joins a list of at least a dozen others to make the claim. They include Ellington, Fats Waller, and Mills' Blue Rhythm Band, led by Lucky Millinder, and featuring Henry "Red" Alien on trumpet and vocal. It's another Ted Koehler lyric, this time teamed with the music of Rube Bloom, and introduced in the 26th edition of the "Cotton Club Parade" in 1936. Messrs. Koehler and Bloom even wrote some songs (including "Don't Worry 'bout Me") for a World's Fair Edition of the Parade. The Cotton Club closed June 10,1940.
Rich Conaty, Host of "THE BIG BROADCAST"
and "SWING TIME" WFUV-FM in NYC or
On Line @ www.wfuv.org BROADCAST"
Song Titles
1. COTTON CLUB STOMP
2. STORMY WEATHER
3. GET YOURSELF A HEW BROOM (AND SWEEP THE
BLUES AWAY)
4.TRICKERATION
5. I'VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING
6. HARLEM HOLIDAY
7. HAPPY AS THE DAY IS LONG
8. MINNIE THE MOODIER
9. RAISIN' THE RENT
10. BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND Ttit DEEP BLUE SEA
11. AS LONG AS I LIVE
12. MINNIE THE MOOCHER'S WEDDING DAY
13. TRUCKIN'
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