BODY AND SOUL
EPISODE 1

From Studio C Chicago, this is “Body and Soul,” a show that covers the waterfront of 1930s and ’40s jazz and swing, blues, Broadway, popular song, country, rhythm & blues, movie music, and more.  I'm Andy Miles and this is Erskine Hawkins.

Erskine Hawkins “After Hours” (1940)  

Billie Holiday “I Can’t Get Started” (1938)

Sidney Bechet “Jungle Drums” (1938)

Dinah Washington “Salty Papa Blues” (1944)

That's Dinah Washington with "Salty Papa Blues" from 1944. Just 20 years old at the time, Washington was already an established night club singer but was only getting her start as a recording artist.  In fact, that was just the second record she released, and like her debut record, it made the Billboard Harlem Hit Parade chart.  Washington of course went on to be one of the jazz divas of the '50s and died in 1963 at the age of 39.

New Orleans-born Sidney Bechet before that, "Jungle Drums," a recording from 1938.

We heard Billie Holiday's "I Can't Get Started," a song Bob Hope introduced on Broadway in 1936 and trumpeter Bunny Berigan made a classic recording of in '37.  Holiday's recording came in 1938.  It was a Gershwin song — as in Ira Gershwin, who wrote the lyrics to Vernon Duke's music, a year before Ira's brother George died of a brain tumor.

Trumpeter Erskine Hawkins, "After Hours," at the top of the show, a great little number from 1940.

And you're listening to "Body and Soul" from Studio C Chicago.  I'm Andy Miles.  Thanks for joining me.  I've got some great stuff on the way including Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra, and this from Big Bill Broonzy.  

Big Bill Broonzy “Key To The Highway” (1940)

Don Totsi “Loco” (1947)

Lionel Hampton “Midnight Sun” (1947)

Duke Ellington “In A Mellotone” (1940)

Duke Ellington's "In A Mellotone" from 1940. Soloists on that one were Cootie Williams on trumpet and Johnny Hodges on sax.  Ellington composed the song, as he did so many of the tunes his bands recorded through the decades.  

Lionel Hampton before that, "Midnight Sun" from 1947, the first recording of the song that Hampton himself wrote that same year. Decca Records put it out on a 10-inch 78 RPM single. In the '50s Johnny Mercer put words to the melody and the song was given a new life by singers like June Christy, Carmen McRae, Julie London, and Sarah Vaughan.

We also heard "Loco" by Don Totsi, and Big Bill Broonzy's "Key To The Highway," one of the first recordings of that blues standard for which Broonzy shares a co-writing credit with the blues pianist Charlie Segar, who released the first version of the song.  Thirty years later Eric Clapton's band Derek & The Dominoes did their own version.  

We also heard a bit of “The Adventures of Phillip Marlow,” starring Van Heflin, created by Raymond Chandler, and presented by Pepsodent. The episode, called "Red Wind," was broadcast over NBC Radio in June 1947.  

From Studio C Chicago, this is "Body and Soul." I'm Andy Miles.

Next up it's music from the Oscar-winning Alfred Hitchcock film "Rebecca."

Franz Waxman “Rebecca” (1940)

Artie Shaw & His Orchestra “Stardust” (1940)

James Moody’s Modernists “Cu-Ba” (1948)

Django Reinhardt “It’s Only A Paper Moon” (1949)

Fantastic stuff there! "It's Only A Paper Moon," released by Django Reinhardt in 1949. The song got its start on Broadway in a 1932 play that bombed and a year later in a Hollywood musical that's not exactly remembered as a classic, or remembered at all; it’s called "Take A Chance."  But the song nonetheless emerged as a standard, recorded by everyone from Miles Davis to Sammy Davis, including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Paul McCartney, James Taylor, and probably most famously, Nat “King” Cole.  The same songwriting duo that wrote "Over the Rainbow" wrote "Paper Moon": Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. Billy Rose also contributed to the lyric.

We also heard "Cu-Ba" by James Moody's Modernists, a bop record from 1948.

Artie Shaw & His Orchestra before that with their famous version of "Stardust," which sold a million copies in 1940.  Shaw doesn't get all the credit, though; it was a 78 RPM single with Tommy Dorsey's band doing the same song on the flip side. Dorsey's version, which featured a young singer named Frank Sinatra, was slightly more popular than Shaw's, but they both hit the top 10.  

At the top of the set we heard Franz Waxman's theme music for the Hitchcock film "Rebecca."  Among the film's 11 Oscar nominations was one for Best Original Score.  In the end, "Rebecca" took Best Picture honors for 1940 but the score lost out to "Pinocchio."  The German-born Waxman would wait another decade for his two best-score Oscars. The movies were "Sunset Boulevard" and "A Place in the Sun."

And you're listening to "Body and Soul."  I'm Andy Miles, and this is Miles Davis.

The Miles Davis Nonet “Boplicity” (1949)

Frank Sinatra “Sweet Lorraine” (1946)

Muddy Waters “Gypsy Woman” (1948)

Coon Creek Girls “Pretty Polly” (1938)

"Pretty Polly" is the name of that 1938 record by the Coon Creek Girls.  Less than two years after making their radio debut, the all-female Appalachian string group was invited to the White House to perform for the King and Queen of England in 1939.

We also heard "Gypsy Woman" from Muddy Waters; came out in 1948.

Before that, Frank Sinatra's 1946 recording of "Sweet Lorraine."  Earlier in the show I played "Stardust," a song composed by Hoagy Carmichael.  His lyricist for that song was Mitchell Parish, who also wrote the words to "Sweet Lorraine," which became popular around the same time as "Stardust."  A decade after Sinatra's recording, Nat "King" Cole made "Sweet Lorraine" his own with a classic trio recording of the song.

And The Miles Davis Nonet with "Boplicity," one of the chamber jazz recordings Davis made in 1949 with arranger-conductor Gil Evans which would later be brought together under the album title "Birth of the Cool."  Davis and Evans wrote the song using the pseudonym Cleo Henry.

And that brings us almost to the end of this episode of "Body and Soul."  I'm Andy Miles and I want to thank you for listening.  

I've got one last song on the show. It's Connie Russell, Six Hits And A Miss, The Berry Brothers, And The MGM Studio Chorus performing the Gershwin song "Fascinating Rhythm" from the 1941 MGM musical "Lady Be Good," which starred Eleanor Powell, who danced to this one in a top hat and tuxedo. You can hear her tap dancing straight through this recording.  And I know, it's not the same hearing her dance, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Connie Russell, Six Hits And A Miss, The Berry Brothers, And The MGM Studio Chorus “Fascinating Rhythm”

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