I’ve been listening to American (and British and Canadian) dance band music for nigh-on 50+ years, and thought for a minute that I had not heard this group before as I did not remember them! Multi-talented producer Bryan Wright has written eloquent and beautifully written liner notes to accompany this sprightly collection featuring this multi-purpose orchestra originating out of New England (primarily Springfield, Massachusetts). According to the liner notes, this group also played classical music at its venues, as well as dance music for dancers when they played in public.
An example of how this affected their dance music is the first track, “Desert Isle.” After hearing pizzicatti strings accompanied by notes in the high range of the piano, then the cowbells, then unusual mutes for the trumpets, the listener is provided long quotes from the “New World Symphony.” Knowing about the versatility of this band helps in understanding the arrangements, all of which are punctuated by very tight ensemble work.
Another favourite of mine from this album, “Spanish Shawl” makes great use of “Spanish rhythms.” Then the saxophones play a chorus, followed by good use of mutes by a solo trumpet, with an effective use of the brass bass at the end. For a while, I thought that this was based on an arrangement from elsewhere. However, I wound up remembering that I had initially heard this recording before from a Smithsonian Records LP re-release, “The Dancing Twenties.” However, in this collection the record has been remastered with far greater clarity. The passage of time and better software, not to mention a more sympathetic ear for the recording results in a much better transcription herein.
“Moonlight in Mandalay” is one of any number of songs about so-called “exotic” far-away places written and arranged in the 1920s. In it, we hear a short oboe solo. This is the sort of thing one hears in high class bands like Herb Wiedoeft’s Cinderella Roof Orchestra recordings – a band also comprised of A++ musicians.
“My Sunday Girl” clearly uses the same stock arrangement as the one used by Harry Reser’s Clicquot Club Eskimos, with the vocalist coming close to imitating Reser’s. This cannot be coincidental as McEnelly’s version was recorded barely a month after the Reser version. But it is wonderful and fascinating to hear this rendition as well.
Although about half the album sounds like a very peppy early 1920s dance band, starting with “What Are We Waiting For?” “Sleep Baby Sleep,” and “Jo-Anne” (despite hearing a fair bit of the banjo in the latter) one begins to notice a gradual difference in the overall sound and temperament of the band. It becomes less of a “hot dance band” and moves closer towards the legato “sweeter” sound of the swing era. There are gradually fewer staccato sounds overall and the arrangements have more legato notes in the bass.
This transformation to the newer 1930s sound is almost complete in “Take Your Tomorrow.” Even though the playing and arrangement is still pretty bouncy, it clearly displays a more 1930s “arranged” sound, with the trumpets quietly accompanying the singers at one point. Despite this, the playing continues to be very energetic and clean.
While I am not a big fan of Frankie Carle in his later career, I have to say, my goodness, his playing was truly inspired and very “hot” in many of these early recordings. It’s hard for me to believe it is the same musician. I’m also not a big fan of waltzes from the 1920s and 1930s, but the album ends with two waltzes, and both almost sound like a post-1929 orchestra. Of the two, “Raquel,” is probably my favorite, where one initially hears a call and response pattern between the clarinets and vibraphone, followed by muted trumpets for a few bars, followed by clarinets and vibraphone again, followed by an emphatic use of silences at several points. This is very fine arranging and beautiful playing, indeed.
Wright uses the Johnson & Shirley American Dance Bands on Record and Film 1915-1942 discography (which is most certainly the best one available for American dance bands) to give greater depth to his liner notes. However, even those two erudite and scholarly authors don’t always shine a perfect light on the personnel, mostly giving us a “nucleus” of performers. The only musicians mentioned whom I know are the aforementioned Carle, and banjoist Lewis Publicover. Wright makes great connections between the songs, the band personnel, and the general history of the music in his beautifully illustrated and exceptionally researched booklet.
For anyone interested in Dance Band music from the 1920s, this is an essential item, quite possibly unprecedented, from Executive producer Bryan Wright, who is the collector of the original recordings, did the transfers and digital mastering, and writer of an eloquent and beautiful accompanying booklet. This album is truly impressive in all respects. Recommended without reservation.
Edwin J. Mcenelly’s Orchestra
Complete Recordings: 1925 – 1929
Rivermont BSW-1140
rivermontrecords.com
Matthew de Lacey Davidson is a pianist and composer currently resident in Nova Scotia, Canada. His first CD, Space Shuffle and Other Futuristic Rags (Stomp Off Records), contained the first commercial recordings of the rags of Robin Frost. His second CD, The Graceful Ghost: Contemporary Piano Rags (Capstone Records), was the first commercial compact disc consisting solely of post-1960 contemporary piano ragtime, about which Gramophone magazine said, …a remarkably talented pianist…as a performer Davidson has few peers…”
