Yes, it may be hard to believe, but at one unique time in American history, the best music that was performed was also the apotheosis of the art itself, namely during the Swing Era, where the best of the singers and bands somehow ruled the airwaves. These two collections show that miracles can occur.
The year 1938 can arguably be called the beginning of the zenith of swing, as Benny Goodman’s Carnegie Hall concert gave legitimacy to the genre. During this era, big bands were divided into “Sweet” and “Hot”, which would now be labeled “smooth” and “mainstream” in today’s lingo. For the former, bands like Sammy Kaye (“Love Walked In”, “Rosalie”), Horace Heidt (“Sweet Someone”), Guy Lombardo (“Let’s Sail To Dreamland”) and Shep Fields (“Thanks For The Memory, “Whistle While You Work”) created romantic moods for dancing or for fun singalongs. As to the hot bands, Benny Goodman was the King of Swing with “Bob White”, “Don’t Be That Way” or “It’s Wonderful”with his main competitor on the clarinet “Artie Shaw” showing a bit of sophistication with “Goodnight Angel”, and vibist Red Norvo digging deep . The most popular big band was from trombonist Tommy Dorsy, mixing sweet and hot with “In The Still of The Night” and “The Dipsy Doodle” while his alto sax playing brother Jimmy ran neck and neck with” How’d Ja Like To Love Me”. Black bands like Duke Ellington (“I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart”), Andy Kirk (“I Won’t Tell A Soul”)Teddy Wilson (“You Can’t Stop Me From Dreaming”) and Fats Waller (“I Love To Whistle”) kept the music real, and crooners like Bing Crosby (“I’ve Got A Pocketful of Dreams” and vocal groups such as The Andrews Sisters (“Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”) serenaded young lovers. Swing was the thing, and still is.
Along with Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby essentially defined popular singing This two disc collection of his radio broadcasts is fascinating in that it shows his own growth and maturity as an artist. Backed by either various radio orchestras or small band with keyboards, Bing starts from a pre-swing bel canto vocalist in 1929 and ends up in 1951 as the laconic and insouciantly relaxed crooner on mellow swings like “Oh, Lady Be Good”. In between he becomes the Voice Of America (or at least white America) with avuncular reads of “Time On My Hands, “Fools Rush In” and “Stardust”. He shows he also knew the blues, with some hip takes of “Basin Street Blues” and “Lazy River” while he’s starry eyed on things like “The Story Of Sorrento” and “”Mona L isa”. If Stan Getz sung, he’d have sounded like Bing Crosby.
There are scores of reasons why this mix of art and popularity ended, but it did and eventually got taken over by the barbarians at the gates via rock and roll. Where did we go wrong?