Chick and Ella Peddle Oscar's 'Wacky Dust'

I have to admit that I am posting this 1938 record just so I could write the headline above. The 78 contains the hit version of "Wacky Dust" (music by Oscar Levant, words by Stanley Adams), performed by Chick Webb's band with vocals by Ella Fitzgerald.

It's a catchy tune, certainly designed to appeal to the cognoscenti with lyrics such as "Oh, I don't know just why / It gets you so high / Putting a buzz in you heart / You'll do a marathon / You'll wanna go on / Kickin' the ceilin' apart." 

But just so the moralists don't get too concerned, in the first couplet, the song assures us that all this intoxication is "from a hot cornet." Oh, okay.

Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb

When Chick and Ella recorded this record, songwriter Levant had not yet become a celebrity. He had written the 1934 tune "Blame It on My Youth," which is still heard today, had taken part in the 1937 Gershwin memorial concert, and had recently joined the panel on the radio show Information Please, where his musical knowledge and cutting wit brought him some renown. His "Wacky Dust" lyricist, Stanley Adams, was a well-known writer best known for the English words to "La Cucaracha."

The flip side of "Wacky Dust" is another song of considerable interest. A riff tune called "Spinnin' the Webb," written by Chick and Ella, it shows off the Webb band to good effect. Notable soloists are (I believe) trumpeter Taft Jordan and trombonist Sandy Williams, Chick's two instrumental stars. 

The tune looks ahead a few years to the proto-R&B popularized by such bands as Lionel Hampton and Lucky Millinder. Sitting in the sax section of Webb's band during the "Spinnin' the Webb" session was future R&B star Louis Jordan.

Chick Webb was to live less than a year following this record's release, dying from tuberculosis at the peak of his fame. His protégé, Ella Fitzgerald, took over the band.

Decca's sound is vivid, and has been newly (June 2023) remastered in ambient stereo.

Jeepers Creepers, It's Big T with Pops Whiteman

I've recently offered a number of Paul Whiteman records on my main blog, including the Gershwin items done for Decca records in 1938.

For those numbers, Whiteman fronted what he called his "Concert Orchestra." But the maestro also was in the studio during the same period with a band he dubbed his "Swing Wing." In total, Decca had Pops record a total of 16 titles from October 1938 to May 1939.

I believe the record on display for today's post may feature the radio band that Whiteman was leading for CBS at the time. He was the musical mainstay of the network's Chesterfield Time program throughout both years.

While I can't be sure the band personnel are consistent between radio and record studios, the soloists were entirely drawn from his radio contingent. These include the Four Modernaires vocal group, then near the beginning of their long career. The Mods would soon join Glenn Miller, where they would drop the "Four" denomination. At this time, they were a male quartet, but Paula Kelly would join them during their Miller tenure.

Prominent on both sides of the 78 is the great trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden. Big T was with Whiteman from 1933 through 1938, when he left to start his own band. "Mutiny in the Nursery" also features Joan Edwards, a stiff vocalist who had a long career on radio.

The 78 at hand presents the two main songs from the 1938 Dick Powell musical Going Places, written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. In the film, the numbers are specialties for Louis Armstrong. The more famous is "Jeepers Creepers," which Armstrong sings to a horse. (Or so IMdB informs us.) The vocal and trombone soloist here is Teagarden, who would often appear with Armstrong in the years to come.

The Modernaires: from top,
Chuck Goldstein,
Ralph Brewster, Hal
Dickinson, Bill Conway

The two numbers are exceedingly well done by a talented ensemble that included trumpeter Charlie Teagarden, tenor saxist Art Drellinger, pianist Frank Signorelli, guitarist Allan Reuss, bassist Artie Shapiro and drummer George Wettling. The arranger is not named, although the charts are strongly reminiscent of the work of John Scott Trotter, who was working with Bing Crosby at the time. (Bing also was a Decca artist.) The style is somewhat similar to the Bob Crosby band's melding of swing with what has come to be known as Dixieland.

These sides show that Whiteman, whose musical approach evolved throughout the 1920s, had adapted well to the swing era - as always by employing the finest talent he could find.

A Whiteman Chesterfield band, with Jack Teagarden amidst the trombones (trust me)