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WXDU 88.7 FM
PO Box 90689
Duke Station
Durham, NC 27708
919-684-2957
wxdu@duke.edu
Artist | Song | Album | Label | Comments | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duke Ellington Orchestra | Rockin' in Rhythm | The Duke | Columbia | this afternoon: a tribute to the Cotton Club! This song written 1931 by Ellington while he led the house band | |||
Cotton Club Orchestra | Charleston Ball | The Missourians | Vintage | rec 1925, the first house band at the Cotton Club was Andy Preer's Missourians | |||
Cotton Club Orchestra | Original Two Time Man | THe Missourians | Vintage | rec 1925, the Missourians were the house band until Preer died in 1927, when Ellington took over | |||
Cotton Club Orchestra | I Found a New Baby | The Missourians | Vintage | rec 1927 | |||
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra v/ Adelaide Hall | Creole Love Call | The Duke | Columbia | rec 1927, Hall was often the featured singer at the Cotton Club | |||
DUke Ellington and the Jungle Band | Harlem River Quiver | The Duke Ellington Anthology, Vol. 2 | Cugate | rec 1927, written Jimmy McHugh who was the first staff songwriter. The Cotton Club had a policy that while all performers were black, all back of house creative staff -- songwriters, production staff, management etc -- were white, and all customers were white | |||
Duke Ellington Orchestra | The Mooche | The Duke | Columbia | rec 1928. Ellington persuaded management to relax their policy on non-white customers just a little bit, so that friends & family of performers could come see the show, but management still imposed a color test on those friends and family, they could only attend if they were light skinned and still had to sit in the back | |||
Duke Ellington and the Jungle Band | Cotton Club Stomp | Cotton Club Stomp | Hot Jazz | rec 1930. Ellington changed the name of his band to The Jungle Band to match the jungle theme at the Cotton Club, which had palm trees and "exotic" costumes for the dancers. Dancers all had to be "tall, tan and terrific" (light skinned and under 21 years old) | |||
Duke Ellington and the Jungle Band | Freeze and Melt | Masters of Jazz 33: Best of Duke Ellington | Masters of Jazz | rec 1929, written Jimmy McHugh | |||
Duke Ellington and the Jungle Band | Runnin' Wild | Charleston Era | ASV Living Era | rec 1930. in 1929 Ellington took a break to work on a short film in California and Cab Calloway filled in. Calloway would replace Ellington when he left the Cotton Club in 1931 | |||
Duke Ellington and the Jungle Band | When You're Smiling | Cotton Club Stomp | Hot Jazz | rec 1930. v Irving Mills! the Cotton Club show was a revue, with dancing, specialty numbers and multiple singers doing ballads and comedy (often raunchy) songs | |||
Edith Wilson | My Man is Good for Nothing But Love | Edith & Lena Wilson Vol. 2 | Document | Unknown whether Wilson ever sang this at the Cotton Club, but it is typical of the raunchy songs she would often perform. Lyricist Dorothy Fields told a story about her father (a famous vaudeville star) coming to see the show where his daughter worked, and being shocked that they had taken one of "her" songs and rewritten the lyrics to make it a dirty song. According to Fields her father went to the mobsters who ran the club and demanded that they tell the audience she hadn't written the song! | |||
Duke Ellington and the Jungle Band | Maori (Take 2) | Cotton Club Stomp | Hot Jazz | rec 1931. Ellington left the Cotton Club around this time. He said the club treated him and his musicians well, but he wanted more freedom to pursue different types of projects | |||
Cab Calloway & his Cotton Club Orchestra | Minnie the Moocher | 1930-1939 | Classics | rec 1931. Calloway became the house band in 1931. Coincidentally, most of his musicians were former members of the Missourians, the first Cotton Club house band. They had been looking for a bandleader after Preer died and Calloway took over | |||
Cab Calloway & his Cotton Club Orchestra | Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | The Band Leader 1929-1931, Vol. 2 | Broken Audio | rec 1931. written Harold Arlen/ Ted Koehler. This song was originated at the Cotton Club by Aida Ward, who was the main singer there for years. Unfortunately I was not able to locate any recordings of Ward | |||
Cab Calloway & his Cotton Club Orchestra | Kickin the Gong Around | The Song is Harold Arlen | ASV Living Era | rec 1931. written Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler as a sequel to "Minnie the Moocher" | |||
Cab Calloway & his Orchestra | Harlem Holiday | The Man from Harlem | HDJ | date unknown. Calloway had a manic style on stage -- jumping around, throwing his hair back and forth -- that was a drastic change from the elegant Ellington. Once Calloway fell off the stage and broke his ankle! | |||
Cab Calloway & his Orchestra | I've Got the World on a String | The Man from Harlem | HDJ | rec 1932. like "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," this was written by Arlen/Koehler for Aida Ward | |||
Cab Calloway & his Orchestra | Reefer Man | Best of the Big Bands | rec 1932. Calloway probably did not sing this at the Cotton Club, but it's typical of the comedy, often raunchy songs that made up much of the show | ||||
Cab Calloway & his Orchestra | Moonglow | Cab Calloway & Company | BMG/RCA | rec 1934. Calloway left the Cotton Club in 1934 | |||
Ethel Waters | Stormy Weather | Cocktail Hour | Columbia River | rec 1934. written Arlen/Koehler. Waters said that while singing this song, "I was telling things I couldn't frame in words. I was singing the story of my misery and confusion." She said she always felt close to Arlen because he had written this song for her. Lena Horne was working as a chorus girl at the Cotton Club at the time, and loved to hear Waters sing "Stormy Weather." Later on Horne starred in the movie STORMY WEATHER | |||
Eddie Duchin Orchestra v/ Harold Arlen | Ill Wind | The Song is Harold Arlen | ASV Living Era | rec. 1934. this was written for Adelaide Hall to perform at the Cotton Club, but I could not find a recording of her singing it so I went with Arlen himself singing his own song, in the same year (needless to say, neither Arlen nor Duchin ever performed at the Cotton Club) | |||
Duke Ellington Orchestra v/ Ivie Anderson | Happy As the Day is Long | The Song is Harold Arlen | ASV Living Era | rec 1933. Ellington had a couple of brief return stays at the Cotton Club in the mid-30s, before the club moved down to midtown | |||
Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra | Rhythm Is Our Business | s/t | Swingsation | rec 1934. Lunceford took over as house bandleader in 1934, and stayed until the club moved out of Harlem | |||
Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra v/ Sy Oliver | Hittin' the Bottle | The Song is Harold Arlen | ASV Living Era | date unknown. written Arlen/Koehler. Arlen left the Cotton Club to pursue movie songwriting, but greatly missed his partnership with lyricist Ted Koehler | |||
Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra | Organ Grinder's Swing | Jukebox Hits 1935-1947 | Acrobat | rec. 1936. After the "Harlem Race Riots" in 1935, the Cotton Club moved out of Harlem & relocated to midtown, near Broadway. To learn more about this time in Harlem, the coming together of creative talent & the conditions that led to the race riots, there are many good books about the Harlem Renaissance. For example THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE by Nathan Huggins | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | Intro (East St. Louis Toodle-Oo) | Duke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. After the Cotton Club moved to midtown Ellington came back for an extended engagement as house bandleader. Many of his performances were broadcast on the radio; this set is entirely from those recordings | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart | Duke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. In the intro the announcer said Ellington would be playing "even his own compositions here and there." This speaks to the racial tension at the Cotton Club -- their bandleader was arguably the great American composer of the 20th century, yet their policy of having all creative staff be white meant they would only wanted him to play his own songs "here and there." | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | The Gal from Joe's | Duke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. Ellington's performances in the 20's were also broadcast on the radio, but unfortunately those performances do not survive | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | Riding on a Blue Note | Duke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. note how Ellington's style has evolved in this set, compared to the 20s recordings earlier in the show | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | If Dreams Come True | Duke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. I believe this is the only song in this set not written by Ellington; it was a popular swing hit of the day. vocals by Ivie Anderson | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | Rockin' in Rhythm | DUke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. compare this performance to the original from 7 years earlier | |||
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | Mood Indigo | Duke Ellington At the Cotton Club | Storyville | rec. 1937. In this period Ellington and Calloway seemed to alternate stints at the Cotton Club. | |||
The Three Peppers | Swingin' at the Cotton Club | The Human Orchestra | Jasmine | rec. 1939. I forgot to tell this story in the last talk set: while Ellington was playing at the Cotton Club in 1937, the classical conductor Stokowski came to see a performance. Stokowski talked to Ellington afterwards and said "I've wanted tdo meet you and hear you conduct your compositions." Ellington told him that was the honor of his life, and Stokowski invited Ellington to attend his next performance at Carnegie Hall, where Stokowski arranged for Ellington to have a box to himself | |||
Sister Rosetta Tharpe | Rock Me | Men Are Like Street Cars - Women Blues Singers | Geffen | rec 1938. Tharpe was a featured singer at the Cotton Club in 1938 and 39 during Cab Calloway's runs there. WC Handy and the Dandridge Sisters were also performing there at that time | |||
Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra | I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) | Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz | Verve | rec 1939. Armstrong was brought in to lead the band at the Cotton Club in 1939. Previously Armstrong had done Sunday "celebrity nights" but had never had a formal engagement at the Cotton Club. While there he met his wife Lucille, who was a dancer | |||
Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra | Wolverine Blues | Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz | Verve | rec 1939. Armstrong was brought in to lead the band at the Cotton Club in 1939. This is not considered the best period of Armstrong's career, but he was a huge star at the time and was hired by the Cotton Club to try and revive their prestige. Audience tastes had shifted to swing like Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, and the Cotton Club was not as popular anymore | |||
Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra | When It's Sleepy Time Down South | Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz | Verve | rec 1939. This song was the biggest hit of Armstrong's show at the Cotton Club. | |||
Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy | Until the Real Thing Comes Along | Jukebox Hits 1935-1947 | Acrobat | rec 1938. Andy Kirk was the last bandleader at the Cotton Club. | |||
Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy | Floyd's Guitar Blues | Jukebox Hits 1936-1949 | Acrobat | rec. 1939 | |||
Cab Calloway & his Orchestra | The Ghost of Smokey Joe | Flashbacks #1: High and Low | Trikont | rec. 1939. For more information about the Cotton Club and the coming together of creative & intellectual talent in Harlem at the time, check out THE COTTON CLUB by Jim Haskins and THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE by Nathan Huggins, both available from the Durham County library |