The first music post for 2024 spotlights Great Britain's finest crooner and a New Orleans trumpet great, both born on the 7th of January. The former, the king of British dance bands, was arguably the biggest star of English popular music through the 1930's and into the 1940's. The latter: the essence of New Orleans jazz and blues.
Who was Al Bowlly, prominently featured vocalist in the Fred Elizalde, Ray Noble, Roy Fox and Lew Stone orchestras? Take a listen.
And another. . .
Indeed, he's very, very good and also a heckuva rhythm guitarist. Admittedly, as a devotee of the later 1950's male vocalist style exemplified by Chet Baker, Mel Torme, Nat King Cole, and, of course, the Capitol Records Sinatra, I did not know that much about Al Bowlly or, for that matter, the astonishing early records of Bing Crosby. Both Bowlly and Bing were already quite advanced in their concept and approach to singing when they began recording in the late 1920's.
Good places to start amassing knowledge about the British big band luminary are his Wikipedia entry, the Al Bowlly biography page, all writings about him by Ray Pallett - and the following BBC Four documentary. Then start delving into the 1200+ songs he recorded!
The fabulous Learn the Legends: Musical Performers of the Early 20th Century by the University of Wisconsin at Madison elaborates. . .
Al Bowlly, one of the most popular singers in Britain in the 1930’s, had quite the diverse background. His father was Greek, his mother was Lebanese, he was born in Mozambique, and he was raised in South Africa. His career started with dance bands in the 1920’s that toured Africa and Asia. He made his first recording in Berlin in 1927, singing Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Bowlly then relocated to London and sang with Fred Elizalde’s orchestra. Bowlly’s song “If I Had You” became one of the first recordings by an English jazz band to find popularity with American audiences.
He found some success performing in New York and again in London, but he died during the bombing of London in World War II. His last recording, “When That Man is Dead and Gone,” an anti-Hitler song, was made two weeks before his death.
It could be said that the guys who developed the art of crooning and set the stage for Sinatra were not "Crosby, Columbo & Vallee" but "Crosby, Columbo and Bowlly!"
Born on January 7, 1908 in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans was the great trumpeter and vocalist Henry "Red" Allen.
Have thought of this master musician recently, as my favorite post of 2023, along with the Johnny Mercer tribute, was the one on singing brass players. Very few musicians not named Louis Armstrong could both solo on the trumpet and sing with the brilliance of Henry Red Allen.
One snapshot of his illustrious and prolific career as bandleader and sideman is the following Henry "Red" Allen discography.
One favorite recording is Ride Red Ride a.k.a. Man On A String.
In closing, just in case the excerpts from The Sound of Jazz CBS 1957 were insufficient to whet the musical appetite, here is the CBS special in its entirety. Not a bad way to celebrate musical birthdays.
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