When one thinks of such songs as “About A Quarter To Nine,” “She’s A Latin From Manhattan,” “Is It True What They Say About Dixie,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” and “Change Partners,” the names of Al Jolson and Fred Astaire come to mind, but not that of Ozzie Nelson. Yet those were among the 38 songs that Nelson recorded with his big band that made the charts in the 1930s.
Ozzie Nelson (1906-75) became famous for his television series the Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet which was popular during 1952-66. It was preceded by an equally successful radio series during 1944-54; for two years The Ozzie and Harriet Show was on both television and radio. It is a little odd that his television series, while a major factor in making his son Ricky Nelson into a singing pop star, never hinted even once at Ozzie’s musical background.
Before those shows originated, Ozzie Nelson was a singer who led an excellent if now-forgotten big band. Nelson started out influenced by Rudy Vallee although his own likable personality and sincere delivery always shone through. As the 1930s progressed, his orchestra gradually became open to playing swing. Most notable among his soloists were the great if obscure baritone-saxophonist Charlie Buebeck, violinist Sid Brokaw, and trumpeter Bo Ashford. Many of their best jazz-oriented recordings were reissued years ago on the collectors’ LPs Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra (Bandstand BS 7119) and Riff Interlude (Big Band Archives 1212).
The recent two-CD set All The Hits And More focuses on Nelson’s most popular recordings, the great majority of which are dance music rather than jazz. All 38 of his hits are included among the 49 selections and nearly all feature vocals by Nelson, his wife Harriet Hilliard, or Rose Ann Stevens. It is a little hard to believe that Nelson had so many best-selling records for none are really remembered today.
Some of the selections on this twofer which dates from 1930-41 have bits of jazz, starting with the 11th selection “Mandy” and including “Oh Suzanna,” “Stompin’ At the Savoy,” “Don’t Be That Way,” and a hard-driving “Jersey Jive.” On songs such as “Says My Heart” and “Si Si” after the vocal, the band really swings but many other numbers have the players mostly sticking to the written music.
While it is a pity that a larger sampling of Ozzie Nelson’s jazz side is not included on this reissue (including such hot numbers as “Rigamarole,” “Swamp Fire,” “Tiger Rag,” “Mama Don’t Allow,” “Streamline Strut,” “Satan Takes A Holiday,” “Jelly-Fish,” “Maple Leaf Rag,” and “Swingin’ On The Golden Gate”), All The Hits And More is a strong sampling of the sweet side of Ozzie Nelson’s music, and a reminder of his surprising popularity as a singer.
Ozzie Nelson • All The Hits And More
Acrobat ADDCD 3549
www.acrobatmusic.net and www.mvdb2b.com
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
