Jan Savitt was an emigre from what is now part of Ukraine, trained as a classical violinist, and played in the orchestra of the great Leopold Stokowski. But he left that long-hair jive behind and put together a swing band in the 1930s known as the Top Hatters. They had their own radio show and broadcast from the Philadelphia NBC affiliate four times a week.
Here the boys perform a cover of Jimmy Lunceford's "Blues in the Groove". Johnny Austin provides the trumpet solo in what I can only characterize as a style that is simultaneously laid back and frenetic.
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Where do you find these musical clips?
ReplyDeleteThey're all on YouTube, but the majority of them are tunes that I have in one format or another (LPs and CDs, mostly) and am familiar with. I've been a fan of big band swing, post-war R&B, blues, western swing, rock-a-billy, and "proto" rock and roll all my life, and possess literally thousands of these recordings. And I've read a lot about the individual musicians, bands, and genres over the years. The liner notes of the old LPs are an education in themselves.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, I was hoping for a violin solo (like Stuff Smith!) but Savitt must have been busy leading and arranging and you can hear great skill in that area too.
ReplyDeleteI started seriously collecting LPs in the 80s and I agree the liner notes were my first education, along with reading old Down Beats (but that's Jazz not so much swing).
Frenetic!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the swing dancers throwing their partners around to that!?