The very word elegance may conjure up images of powdered wigs and courtiers parading about in eighteenth century garb with perhaps a harpsichord tinkling away somewhere in the background. But it has always been around if you look for it, in the Thirties, Forties - even today, in dress, design or - what concerns us here - music.
Sweet or hot, Freddy Gardner (1911-1950) had complete mastery of his instruments, be they saxophones (alto, tenor and baritone) or clarinet. In his tragically all-to-brief lifetime, he was in great demand and his brilliant, authoritative reedwork is fortunately evident on many records made from the 1930s to 1950. He recorded with the orchestras of Ray Noble and Jay Wilbur among many others, with small jazz oriented groups like the Six Swingers and the Rhythm Rascals, with visiting Americans Benny Carter and Buck and Bubbles - the list goes on. It is also a pleasure to find his playing leaping out at you in places where you would least expect it - in a Flanagan & Allen medley for example, or in the middle of a Jack Simpson xylophone record. Post-war, he recorded half a dozen glorious sides on alto saxophone with Peter Yorke & His Concert Orchestra, our examples here being Im In The Mood For Love and I Only Have Eyes For You - its difficult to imagine these performances being improved upon.
The stage musical Lady In The Dark opened on Broadway on 23 January 1941 and marked Ira Gershwins welcome return as lyricist for his first musical since the death of his brother George in 1937. With music by Kurt Weill, it ran for a healthy 467 performances and made a star of Danny Kaye. But leading lady Gertrude Lawrence as Liza Elliott carried off the top honours and we can enjoy a glimpse of her artistry in My Ship from the finale (Childhood Dream section).
Noël Coward (The Master) is represented by two songs. The first, I Travel Alone, was a one-off, not written for any particular revue. In content it is tellingly autobiographical. Im Old Fashioned is a rare example of Coward performing the work of another, in this case composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Johnny Mercer. It was introduced in the Hollywood musical You Were Never Lovelier by the debonair Fred Astaire, partnered by Rita Hayworth. We have Fred Astaire himself in Dearly Beloved from the same 1942 film.
Ruth Etting (1896-1978) was the archetypal torch singer of her era. Here she sings, very stylishly, two songs recorded towards the end of her career, I Wished On The Moon and Life Is A Song. In one of the more credible Hollywood biopics, Doris Day played Ruth Etting and James Cagney Ruths gangster husband Martin The Gimp Snyder. The movie was entitled Love Me Or Leave Me (1955). In real life Ruth obtained a divorce in 1937 from The Gimp who shot her new love, pianist Myrl Alderman the following year. Fortunately he recovered and they enjoyed nearly thirty years as husband and wife.
Nature Boy was a million-selling record and a No.1 hit for Nat King Cole for eight weeks in 1948. Forsaking his usual trio setting, the warm voice of Nat is accompanied by a lush orchestra and it was this recording that catapulted him to international fame. The words and music of the song were written by a Brooklyn Yogi, Eden Ahbez, who reportedly left the song for Nat at the stage door of a California theatre where the star was appearing. The evergreen Its Only A Paper Moon shows Nat (vocal and piano) in his more intimate trio setting.
The post-war Belleville from the Quintet Of The Hot Club Of France so called, features only the principals from the pre-war aggregation - Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. It says much for t