Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques - Played by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra. Art Tatum on piano. Joe Venuti violin. Battement de TamboursThrough The Panama
Malc's only mention of the maestro!
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. (October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso. Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ... Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists." Read more
Here's Art from 1947 with Art's Blues from the movie Fabulous Dorseys - the year Malc sailed through the Panama Canal:
In Enochvilleport iteself some ghastly-colored neon signs had long since been going through their unctuous twitchings and gesticulations that nostalgia and love transform into a poetry of longing: more happily one began to flicker: PALOMAR, LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS ORCHESTRA.The Bravest Boat
The Palomar Supper Club was owned first by Hymie Singer, and then by Sandy DeSantis, who became the club's orchestra leader. Located at the corner of Georgia and Burrard Streets, the Palomar was a 1,200 seat wartime dance hall with opulent red decor and Greek pillars. Sensing the shift away from big name touring orchestras, DeSantis began booking big name acts such as Louis Armstrong, a young Sammy Davis Jnr, and Carmen Miranda. Occasionally, in the 1940's and 1950's, the Palomar booked floor shows of scantily clad female dancers until the club closed because of bankruptcy in 1951 (or 1952) Burlesque West: showgirls, sex, and sin in postwar Vancouver By Becki Ross
May 23, 1937
On May 23, 1937—68 years ago today—the Palomar opened at 713 Burrard Street at Alberni in Vancouver. In its day the Palomar was the place in town for big-name entertainers: the Ink Spots appeared there frequently in the 1940s and '50s, and for those of you younger folk who just said 'Who?,' here are a couple of other names you will recognize: Louis Armstrong (February 2, 1952) and Duke Ellington (April 11 to 15, 1952.)
Dal Richards joined the Sandy De Santis house orchestra at the Palomar in the fall of 1937, and was there in the fall of 1938 when it changed from a ballroom to a night club. A Vancouver girl named Peggy Middleton joined the chorus line, and Dal remembers that she pestered him and the club's owner, Hymie Singer, to do a solo number. “It was Top Hat, White Tie and Tails,” Dal said, “And she'd gone out and bought the stuff she needed for the number.” They okayed the solo, and maybe that's what persuaded 15-year-old Peggy Middleton that showbiz was for her. She changed her name to Yvonne De Carlo and went on to become a movie and TV star.
“Singer and Sandy De Santis had a falling out,” Dal recalls, “And Singer asked me if I could lead a band. I said sure. I was 20.” The Palomar eventually closed. Dal's still around.History of Metropolitan Vancouver
Above photo of Burrard Street looking north towards Alberni Street on April 22, 1955. The low building in the center of the photo is the Palomar Dance Hall building which is being prepped for demolition. [CBC Archive; Alvin Armstrong, photographer]
Armstrong concerts a hit for Kits
By Lisa Smedman-Staff writer
Jazz great Louis Armstrong played many a venue in his day, but none gave him a more enthusiastic welcome than the students at Kitsilano High School.
In February 1951, Armstrong came to Vancouver to play the Palomar Supper Club. After his performance there, Kitsilano Grade 12 student Olga Negriff and her friends Gerry Millard and Betty Sparrow staked out his hotel. They convinced him to play at one of the school's noon hour concerts.
The concerts, organized by the school's music committee, were held on Thursdays throughout the winter. Admission was a nickel. The students couldn't charge admission for Armstrong's appearance, however, since he was under contract to the Palomar.
The 45-minute concert, which also featured singer Thelma Middleton, was a hit. Armstrong promised to come back the following year.
He kept his promise, bringing his band with him. At the February 1952 concert, Armstrong's band took turns playing numbers with the Kitsilano School Mixer Orchestra. More than 1,000 students packed the school's auditorium and crammed the nearby hallways. Kids from other Vancouver schools-Lord Byng, King Edward, John Oliver, Magee and King George-also showed up. Organizers set up speakers outside the auditorium so everyone could hear.
Marilyn Muckle (nee Luckett) was a Grade 8 student at Kitsilano High the second year that Armstrong came to perform. She didn't get a seat in the auditorium, but was one of those who crammed into the hallways to hear him play.
"It was complete mayhem and excitement," she said. "It was fun. Everything was in motion. [The students] were just enjoying it so much. Everybody was so excited, nobody could concentrate on anything [that day]."
The concert was recorded by CKNW's Jack Cullen. When Armstrong died in 1971, Cullen played the tape on the radio in tribute.
The school orchestra included band leader Arnold Emery on trumpet, Jim McGinnes on trumpet, George Robertson on trombone, Harry (Ham) Mcleod on drums, Leslie Jones on piano, and Eric Foster, Bill Stonier, Ted Golf, Don Gaylord and Jim Thomas.
The orchestra didn't just perform at the school. Its members also gave concerts for veterans at Shaughnessy Hospital, and at the Institute for the Blind.Vancouver Courier Archive
Let's listen to Louis Armstrong with His Orchestra April 19, 1952, Denver, Colorado.
As we dissolve into Dick's lonely hotel bedroom there is a confused sound of music emerging out of the Darktown Strutter's Ball into In A Mist which immediately begins to change gear..... Tender Is The Night Fimscript in the Cinema of Malcolm Lowry Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen
"Darktown Strutters' Ball" is a popular song by Shelton Brooks, published in 1917. The song has been recorded many times and is considered a popular and jazz standard.
The landmark 1917 recording by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band which was recorded on May 30, 1917 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number A-2297 was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006. There are many variations of the title, including "At the Darktown Strutters' Ball", "The Darktown Strutters' Ball", and just "Strutters' Ball".Read more including a list of various recordings
As I have mentioned in previous posts on Lowry's film script to Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night Lowry infuses the script with jazz music to fit the "Jazz Age" in which the novel is set.
In one of the early scenes of the script in Antibes, Lowry originally wanted to use music by Bix Beiderbecke. However, while he was writing the script, Michael Curtiz's movie of Bix's life was released. Lowry became conscious that the piece he wanted to use In A Mist may have been used in Curtiz's A Young Man With A Horn. Instead, he suggested using a piece by Willard Robison. He doesn't mention one in particular so I have chosen I'm More Than Satisfied from 1927 featuring Bix Beiderbecke (c); Frank Trumbauer (Cms); Don Murray (cl); Frank Signorelli (p); Eddie Lang or ? (bj); Vic Berton (dm/harpophone); The Deep River Quintet (voc.
Willard Robison (September 18, 1894 - June 24, 1968) was an American composer of popular song. Born in Shelbina, Missouri, his songs reflect a rural, melancholy theme steeped in Americana. Their warm style has drawn comparison to Hoagy Carmichael. Many of his songs, such as "A Cottage for Sale", "Round My Old Deserted Farm", "Don't Smoke in Bed", and "Old Folks", have become standards and have been recorded countless times by jazz and pop artists such as Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, and Mildred Bailey. "A Cottage for Sale" alone has been recorded over 100 times.
In the early 1920s, Robison led and toured with several territory bands in the Southwest. He met Jack Teagarden in this period, whom he befriended. In the late 1920s, Robison organized the Deep River Orchestra, later hosting a radio show entitled The Deep River Hour in the early 1930s.
During the 1920s, Robison recorded extensively for Perfect Records, with scores of vocal recordings accompanying himself on piano (displaying his rather eccentric stride piano style), as well as "Deep River Orchestra" recordings using standard stock arrangements. In 1926-1927, Robison recorded an interesting series of 6 mood pieces with the umbrella name of "American Suite" (for example, "Tampico" was American Suite no. 5). Between 1928 and 1930, he recorded for Columbia, Harmony and Victor. He also recorded a session in 1937 for Master Records.
Jack Teagarden recorded a critically-praised album of Robison's songs in 1962 entitled Think Well of Me. Robison died in Peekskill, New York in 1968, aged 73. Wikipedia
From a window in the tower - doubtless still a barracks - we hear a gramophone playing jazz music very faintly: Gershwin's Somebody Loves Me.Tender Is The Night - a film script by Malcolm Lowry
Lowry's film script of Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night opens in Antibes. As stated by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen, in their excellent The Cinema Of Malcolm Lowry, A Scholarly Edition of Lowry's Tender Is The Night(1990, Lowry's film script is less an adaption of the Fitzgerald book "than an extension of Lowry's own fiction."
As Rosemary Hoyt, one of the characters of the novel, wanders around Antibes, we are given by Lowry a cinematic journey around the town.
There have been many versions of Gershwin's song. Here is a delightful one:
Below are some postcards which compliment Lowry's descriptions of Antibes that you can browse as you listened to the above.
I don't think Lowry ever visited the town. This is unusual in that most of Lowry's fiction is autobiographical though I suppose we have to realise he was adapting Fitzgerald's text.
Dick half picks it up, reveals another old record, of Japanese Sandman, replaces it. Tender Is The Night - a film script by Malcolm Lowry
In my last post I wrote about the other record Smile that Dick picks up in this sequence from Lowry's film script of Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night.
The Japanese Sandman is a song from 1920, composed by Richard A. Whiting and with lyrics by Raymond B. Egan. As with Smile, there have been many versions of the song.
The song is about a sandman from Japan, who exchanges yesterdays for tomorrows. The number has a very Oriental atmosphere, and is similar to many other songs from the interbellum who sing about a dreamy, exotic setting.
The song was Paul Whiteman's first record and sold over two million copies. It has been subsequently performed by several musical artists like Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke, Artie Shaw, Earl Hines, Paul Young, Django Reinhardt, The Andrews Sisters, and Freddy Sunder.
Additionally, the song was recorded by the Nazi-German propaganda band Charlie and his Orchestra. For propaganda reasons, the lyrics were changed through references to the Japanese Empire. Wikipedia
One version not mentioned in Wikipedia is the Frankie Trumbauer version which I think would have been to Lowry's tastes as Frankie was another one of his jazz heroes.
As I stated in the last post on Smile, I think that Lowry had the film Rose Of Washington Square in mind as both Japanese Sandman and Smile are featured in the film.
Dick's eye falls on an old dusty American jazz record, of the tune. Tender Is The Night - a film script by Malcolm Lowry
One of the things I like about Malc's film script for Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night is that it is littered with references to films and jazz music which give us an insight into Lowry's cinema and jazz favourites.
Smiles was written by Lee Roberts and J. Will Callahan in 1917 and was recorded by a number of artists including Campbell and Burr on Columbia.
I have yet to find a definitive list of who recorded the tune. A more jazzy foxtrot version can be heard here:
The most famous version of the song was sung by Helen "Smiles" Davis. Her career as an entertainer began before World War I. Soon after the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, General Pershing issued a call for performers to travel to Europe to entertain American troops. Helene was among those selected to go. As a dancer and singer, she took with her several current tunes, including one so new that it had not been published. She took a lead sheet written in pencil with just single notes of "Smiles." She sang it for the troops and for the rest of her life was known as "Smiles."
Here are the lyrics to the song so you can sing along:
Verse: 1
Dearie, now I know Just what makes me love you so, Just what holds me and enfolds me In its golden glow; Dearie, now I see ’Tis each smile so bright and free, For life’s sadness turns to gladness When you smile on me.
CHORUS [sung twice after each verse]
There are smiles that make us happy, There are smiles that make us blue, There ae smiles that steal away the tear-drops, As the sunbeams steal away the dew, There are smiles that have a tender meaning That the eyes of love alone may see, And the smiles that fill my life with sunshine Are the smiles that you give to me.
Verse 2:
Dearie, when you smile Ev’ry thing in life’s worth while, Love grows fonder as we wander Down each magic mile; Cheery melodies Seem to float upon the breeze, Doves are cooing while they’re wooing In the leafy trees.
(CHORUS 2 times)
The song also featured in the famous The Passing of 1918 show.
The Passing Show of 1918 was a Broadway musical revue which opened in the Winter Garden Theater on July 25, 1918. Playing for 142 performances, it closed on November 9 of the same year. The show was produced by Lee and Jacob J. Shubert.
The show featured music of Sigmund Romberg and Jean Schwartz with book and lyrics by Harold Atteridge. It is noted as an early appearance of Fred Astaire and the debut of the hit songs I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles and Smiles. Wikipedia
Apparently, the song has featured in at least 25 films to date. Lowry probably knew the song from when he was a youth but it is also possible given that he is including the song in the film script that he had a movie in mind. The song features in the 1939 Rose Of Washington Square and the 1943 Is Everybody Happy?
It is more than likely that if Lowry had a film in mind then it would have been Rose Of Washington Square as another record that Dick looks at in the film script is Japanese Sandman which is featured in the same film.
And later Grieg, and later still the six Brown brothers, hot forerunners of the riffs. Let the pun pass, remembering Peter Gink; And so make way for Mr Peter Gaunt. Peter Gaunt and the Canals - an extract from a poem by Malcom Lowry
Lowry is referring in the above poem to the track by the Six Brown Brothers called Peter Gink which is a humorous take on the Grieg classic Peer Gynt:
Other than a copycat act, the Six Brown Brothers were the only saxophone ensemble to make commercial records between 1911 and 1917, and they ushered in the "saxophone craze" that had the country entranced in the mid-1910s. From the group's start in 1908 playing in the Ringling Brothers' circus until their final breakup in 1933, the shifting personnel of the outfit always included leader Tom Brown and at least one of his five brothers. On records for U.S. Everlasting, Columbia, Victor, and Emerson, the Brown Brothers set feet a-tapping to their joyous sound and comical routine. Read more at Hungry Tiger Press
You can hear more of the band's music on a CD Those Moaning Saxophones. You can also hear most of their music on Internet Archive.
Gordon Bowker in his Lowry biography Pursued By Furies states that The Virginians were one of Malc's early favourite jazz bands.
The Virginians were a satellite studio band of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra under the direction of Ross Gorman. Read more You can listen to another Lowry favourite "Aggravatin' Poppa" - the flipside of the above track on the Red Hot Jazz website.
The Virginians (Ross Gorman, reeds / director) — This small group of “hot” players from the Whiteman orchestra served as Victor’s house jazz band beginning in 1921 and used Whiteman-supplied arrangements. The band was conducted by Whiteman reedman Ross Gorman, best remembered today as the musician for whom Ferde Grofé scored the clarinet introduction to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Victor house conductor Edward King occasionally substituted as director beginning in October 1922, according to the Victor ledgers, primarily on those sessions at which the Virginians served as accompanists to Isabella Patricola and other singers.Read more about Paul Whiteman Bands
“Aunt Hagar” was originally conceived by Handy as a much slower, sadder dirge. He based it on a mournful musical motif he’d once heard sung by a washer woman as she hung clothes one cold night, singing, “yo’ clothes looks lonesome hangin’ on de line.”
Religious and biblical references are not unusual in his music. For instance, the biblical figure Hagar (an Egyptian) was servant to Sarah, wife of Abraham. Because Sarah was barren she gave Hagar to Abraham as concubine so that he could sire a child. In his autobiography Handy explained that, “negroes often spoke of themselves as Aunt Hagar’s children.”Read more on Jazz Hot Big Step
In a letter to Carol Brown in 1926, Lowry tells her about a dream he has had:
I would meet you on the moor, and you would be looking sweeter than ever: you would rate me sardonically-playfully for ill treating the dog, and the dog would look at me so adoringly that you couldn't help but believe that here was the true master.Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry Volume 1
Lowry's description of the moor which becomes the setting for "a pretty little romance" corresponds with Caldy Hill which was only a few hundred yards from both Carol's house Hilthorpe and Lowry's Inglewood home. You can see the topography of the tale on the map below. (Click on the image to enlarge)
It must be noted that the map is from 1936 and already shows signs of the vast changes taking place in the landscape of Caldy. The area around Hilthorpe and Inglewood would have been more open in the 1920's as can be seen from the photograph below which is circa 1914.
The above photograph gives some indication of the moor-like quality of the area which was dominated by sandstone outcrops, heather and gorse.
Today, Caldy is very different in appearance to the 1920's. However, you can take a walk onto Caldy Hill which is now protected by the National Trust and capture some of the "ripping scenery" that Lowry refers to discovering those "secluded spots" where the young Lowry wooed Carol Brown in his dreams.
The stunning views from the hill towards the Dee Estaury and further on to Wales and the mountains of Snowdonia certainly provide the backdrop for the "ethereal upper circle" from which to watch Lowry's "pretty little romance". The romance created by Lowry takes on undertones of Cathy and Heathcliff on the moor in Bronte's Wuthering Heights and surely this was in Lowry's mind alongside his references to Shakespeare and Chaucer who themselves were proponents of using English scenery to dramatic effect.
Later on in the dream, Lowry tells Carol that he goes for a walk to the nearby village of Greasby, singing all the way, singing when he returns for lunch, singing on his way to Hilthorpe to play tennis, and continues singing while trying to play the piano.
Though later on in Cambridge University, Lowry may have been reminded of his dream of being cruel to the dog when his listening to his hero Joe Venuti who the cut track "Beating The Dog" in 1927.
Talking about Hannahs. There's another tune, "Oh Miss Hannah!" on the other side of "Collegiate", sung in the most original manner by the Revellers on HMV. It's absolutely the world's best sung tune, and they sing it in Fox Trot Time as though they were a band. Letter to Carol Brown in Collected Letters Of Malcolm Lowry
Oh, Miss Hannah Fox Trot (Hollongsworth-Deppen) played by the Revelers Victor Record Company with Orthophonic Scroll label 19796-A Electrically Recorded in 09.15.1925 would appear to have been a hit with the young Malc while at the Leys School in Cambridge.
The Revelers were an American quintet (four close harmony singers and a pianist) popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Revelers' recordings of "Dinah", "Old Man River", "Valencia", "Baby Face", "Blue Room", "The Birth of the Blues", "When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba", and many more, became popular in the United States and then Europe in the late 1920s.
All of the members had recorded individually or in various combinations, and formed a group in 1925. The original Revelers were tenors Franklyn Baur and Lewis James, baritone Elliot Shaw, bass Wilfred Glenn, and pianist Ed Smalle. Smalle was replaced by Frank Black in 1926. The group (with Black at the piano) appeared in a short movie musical, The Revelers (1927), filmed in the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. This one-reel short film, recently restored by "The Vitaphone Project," shows the group performing "Mine", "Dinah", and "No Foolin'". A second short, filmed the same day with another three songs, awaits restoration.Wikipedia
The Revelers Quartet (1927) includes James Melton (#1), Lewis James (#2), Elliot Shaw (#3), Wilfred Glenn (#4), and Frank Black (#5), their arranger and accompanist. (Photo by Bruehl)
Here is another version recorded by Paul Whiteman Orhestra featuring Charles Margulis, Harry Goldfield (tp); Bix Beiderbecke, Andy Secrest (c); Boyce Cullen, Bill Rank, Wilbur Hall, Jack Fulton (tb); Frank Trumbauer, Chester Hazlett, Irving Friedman, Roy Maier, Bern:
I would imagine that the less youthful and more knowledgeable Malc of Cambridge University days would have preferred the above version given that the band contained 2 of his heroes Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke. Bing Crosby delivers a brief (uncredited) "vocal refrain", demonstrating his abilities as a "mellow crooner", for which he'd later become famous, in a beautiful Bill Challis arrangement.
I shut my eyes and imagined that this was indeed Janet and I dancing at the New Brighton Palais De Danse. Ultramarine Pg 106
I have spent some time researching Lowry's reference to the Palais De Danse in Ultramarine. I cannot find any reference to the Palais De Danse amongst the many dance halls and theatres in New Brighton during the 1920's. I recently discovered that there used to be a dance hall in Pasture Road Moreton, Wirral in the 1920's called the Palais De Danse as seen in the above 2 photographs.
The Moreton Palais De Danse was built in the early 1900s from 2 army huts and was owned by Mrs Oborn. The house adjourning the dance hall was a former farm cottage and was demolished in the 1960's. However, the dance hall still stands as can be seen in the photographs below. The dance hall is now called The Apollo Club and has gone through many transformations since the 20's including being a skate rink, a community food hall during WW2, the Labour Party Club before reverting back to a dance hall. It is currently the home of the Apollo Dance Club which is run by the Merralls Dance Academy
Lowry would have been familiar with Moreton which lies a few miles west of New Brighton where he was born. In the mid-20s, he frequented dance halls and cinemas with Tess Evans (Janet in Ultramarine) on the Wirral. A close reading of Ultramarine reveals that he and Tess wandered all over the north Wirral and it is entirely possible that they frequented the Moreton Palais De Danse which was very popular with young courting couples. The photograph below of Moreton shore in the early 1930's indicates the popularity of the area. The Palais De Danse is in the row of buildings in top left corner of the photograph.
We will never know for sure whether Lowry was referring to the Moreton Palais De Danse or whether he liked the title of the dance hall and used it in Ultramarine or he may have also been familiar with other sources of the name.
The phrase Palais De Danse was a popular name given to many dance halls in England during the early 20th Century conjuring up images of cosmopolitan Europe.
The above photograph is one of the most famous dance halls called Palais De Dansein Berlin before the First World War and maybe the precursor to the others. I have posted below a YouTube video of the Orchester vom "Palais de danse" Kapellmeister with Giorgi Vintilescu recorded in 1912. Vintilescu was "The King of Rags" in Germany. The band recorded the latest rags from America. His Band at the luxury "Palais de danse" consisted of: 2 cornets, 1 trombone, flute, 2 violins, piano, brass bass and drums.
There was also at least 2 films with the title Palais De Danse one made in Germany in 1913 and another in UK in 1928 by Maurice Elvey. Here is a synopsis of the 1928 film:
With a rags to riches story, an intrigue with an older woman, a lounge lizard, and secrets to prevent a scandal, 'Palais de Danse' has all the ingredients to make this late British silent a success.
Starring Mabel Poulton (above), a short, impish faced girl who failed to make the transition to sound and was therefore coming to the end of her career in this film, it starts with a Cinderella type plot - Mabel is with her war veteran father watching the bright young things going to party, when she's invited to join them as their token 'poor one'. Of course she falls in love with someone much higher in class than she - Tony King (Robin Irvine), who loves her right back, and even more when she becomes a dance partner at the Palais, under the lecherous gaze of Number One dancer, Juan Jose (a splendidly villainous John Longden).
With Tony's mother, Lady King (Hilda Moore), not entirely receptive to the budding romance, while hiding a secret of her own, the stage is soon set for drama, passion, and a final fight to the death. Along the way there is considerable room for dancing, comedy, and intrigue, and it is all done very well.
With a ballroom sequence not unlike the one at Blackpool in Maurice Elvey's earlier 'Hindle Wakes', and some excellent close-up work, especially of people's eyes, this is an unusual film which repays the attention. A forgotten drama with charm, energy, and some excellent performances.
I have posted the video below from 1926 to give us an idea of how Lowry and Tess may have danced during their evenings out:
You can also read a book published by the Liverpool Institute of Popular Music entitled Let's Go Dancing: Dance Band Memories of the 1930's Liverpool which paints a vivid picture of dancing to live bands in the Merseyside area including New Brighton.
I have just been re-reading that Malcolm Lowry's first wife Jan Gabrial bought him a set of Red Nichols and Bix Beiderbecke records for a wedding present while they were in Paris in 1934.
I thought I'd post a few sides by Red Nichols as up to know I have neglected one of Lowry's heroes on the 19th Hole.
Nichols was born in Ogden, Utah, the son of a music teacher. By the age of 12 he was playing cornet with his father's brass band. He decided to take up the new style of music called jazz after hearing the phonograph records of the Original Dixieland Jass Band. In 1923 he moved east to perform with a band in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and (with a few tours of the midwest) made New York City his base throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He worked for various bandleaders including Paul Whiteman and Harry Reser and Henry Halstead., was a regular in the cooperative California Ramblers in addition to leading groups under his own name (often called Red Nichols & His Five Pennies), and of the band of his friend trombonist Miff Mole. Nichols became one of the busiest phonograph session musicians of his era, making hundreds of recording sessions of jazz and hot dance band music. He also played in several Broadway shows.
I will be back with a special mix of Red Nichol's tunes in the near future but I will leave you this video below of Nobody's Sweetheart by Eddie Condon 1929 with Red on trumpet.
Here is the second volume of jazz sides which I think Malc would have enjoyed listening to.
Tracklisting:
1. Joe Venuti Satan's Holiday 2. Bessie Smith Reckless Blues 3. Django Reinhardt Djangology 4. Django Reinhardt Oriental Shuffle 5. Bix Beiderbecke Davenport Blues 6. Original Memphis Five Bass Ale Blues 7. Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang Wild Dog 8. Frankie Trumbauer Way Down Yonder In New Orleans 9. Frankie Trumbauer Futuristic Rhythm
I've used a book cover from Scott Fitzgerald whose novels have come to epitomise the 1920's Jazz Age. Malc and his wife Margerie wrote a film script for Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night which was never made into a film and was only published in 1990.
The above track features another of Lowry's jazz heroes Frank Trumbauer. The full line up is:
Bix Beiderbecke (c); Charlie Margulis (tp); Bill Rank (tb); Frank Trumbauer (Cms); Irving Friedman (cl/as); Chet Hazlett (as); Matty Malneck (vln); Lennie Hayton (p); Eddie Lang (g); Min Leibrook (bsx); Hal McDonald (dm); Irving Kaufman, under the name of Noel Taylor, (voc). New York, April 3, 1928.
I have recently discovered an article on Jazz.com which has an interesting evaluation of Frankie's music.
You can also read a discography over on Red Hot Jazz and listen to the tracks.
I will be featuring more of Frankie Trumbauer's tracks on the forthcoming Malc's second jazz mix.
I am currently working on another jazz mix for the blog. I came across the above track while researching the mix. The use of the name Spanish name ("little one") appealed to me because of the obvious links to Malc's books set in Mexico.
While looking for an illustration to go with the post I came across the work of Julio Romero de Torres who painted the above painting entitled La-Chiquita-Piconera.
Julio Romero de Torres (November 9, 1874 – May 10, 1930 ) was a Spanish painter.
He was born and died in Córdoba, Spain, where he lived most of his life. His father was the famous painter Rafael Romero Barros and his mother was Rosario de Torres Delgado. Julio learned about art from his father who was the director, curator and founder of Córdoba's Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes and an impressionist painter. Read more on Wikipedia.
We are back in Cambridge circa 1930 with Malc at the Cambridge Film Guild with the next film up being En Rade.
Cavalcanti's Sea Fever was originally released in France in late 1927 as En Rade. Catherine Hessling, better known to film enthusiasts for her work in the early Jean Renoir silents, stars as a seaport barmaid who falls in love with sweet-natured sailor Georges Charlia. When Charlia unaccountably disappears one day, Hessling is plunged into the depths of melancholia. Her sad story is counterpointed with the bizarre behavior of the local laundress' son (Philippe Heriat), who dreams of a life at sea.
I cannot yet find a copy of the film or any clips to view. I think the plot synopsis above would have appealed to the young Malc after returning from his sea voyage to the Far East.
Actress/artist's model Catherine Hessling was the last model of painter Auguste Renoir and the wife of his son, distinguished filmmaker Jean Renoir. Soon after her marriage to the latter in 1920, Hessling, born Andrée Madeleine Heuchling in Alsace, began starring in Renoir's first films. She sometimes appeared in the films of other directors as well. Though the stunningly beautiful Hessling was a noted performer, her film career abruptly ended after her marriage to Renoir broke up in the early 1930s.
While I was researching this post, I came across the above photograph of Catherine Hessling from the Jean Renoir film Sur un air de Charleston. I found this fantastic clip on YouTube:
French filmmaker Jean Renoir would later remark that he directed the sensual dance fantasy Charleston because he'd "just discovered American jazz." He also had some stock footage left over from his previous silent success Nana, and decided it would be provident to fashion a new film from these leavings. Even without the benefit of sound, one can hear the jazzy rhythms of Charleston through the exuberant gyrations of an African-American dancer whom Renoir and his star, actress Catherine Hessling, had discovered for this picture. Originally titled Sur un air de Charleston, the film was also released as Charleston Parade in English-speaking countries. In some areas of the US and Europe, the film was greeted with protests from censorship boards who simply couldn't appreciate the aesthetic value in Catherine Hessling's near-nude dance numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
I am sure Malc would have approved of Renoir's appreciation of jazz and we can only wonder whether he saw the movie.
I am currently re-reading Lowry's Dark as the Grave wherein my Friend is Laid and came across Lowry's reference to the above song. Lowry's alter-ego Sigbjorn Wilderness lies in bed in Cuernavaca:
"It was still quite early, early enough, he thought, waking slightly more, for the sounds of the party, the posada, still to be going on next door, or over the barranca, wherever it was: the clarinet soared. "Smoke gets in you eyes," (I'll say it does.)The clarinetist had made quite a good break; it was as significant tune, had, indeed been Ruth's (Lowry's first wife Jan Gabrial)favourite tune..."
Jan Gabrial probably liked the song by Irene Dunne who sang the song in the 1935 film adaptation of the original Broadway play for which the song was written by Jerome Kern. I would think that Lowry would have preferred Tommy Dorsey's version which is nearer in spirit to the version of the song Wilderness hears in Cuernavaca.
Here I am reading Dark as the Grave wherein my Friend is Laid in Jeake's House, the former home of Lowry's mentor and friend Conrad Aiken in Rye, Sussex. I am currently preparing a post on my recent visit with my wife Barbara to Ripe, Chalvington and Rye in pursuit of Lowry's spirit.
I just came across a copy of an interview on the Net originally given by Conrad Aiken to the Paris Review in 1968. There are many references to Lowry in the interview.
The painting above is Edward Burra's John Deth(Homage To Conrad Aiken)1930. This painting must date from when Conrad Aiken returned to Rye, Sussex to mentor Lowry while Lowry was at Cambridge. Burra, who by all accounts had a fraught relationship with Lowry, would have met Malc in Rye in late 1930. I wonder whether Malc is featured in Burra's painting?
In a later post, I will return to Burra and his love of jazz which would have at least given him some connection with Malc.
I set this blog up to mark the centenary of Malcolm Lowry's birth in July 2009.
I want to use the blog to publish my on-going research into Lowry's Wirral and to document my psychogeographical wanderings around Wirral and Liverpool in search of Lowry's spirit.
I will also use the blog to document the various themes that run through Lowry's work such as his love of cinema and jazz which I share with him.
Draw up a stool and join Malc and me at the bar in the clubhouse and enjoy the night!
Colin Dilnot
colin.dilnot@gmail.com
The photograph shows the original Caldy Golf Clubhouse, Wirral (not actually the 19th hole because the course was only 9 holes when first developed!) circa 1910.
You can see Caldy in the background which was just being developed by David Benno Rappart.
The clubhouse would have looked like this when Malcolm Lowry as a youth used the course which was near to his home at Inglewood in Caldy.
The clubhouse was located to the west of the Hooton to West Kirby Railway line near a bridge crossing what is now Shore Road. The building still stands and has been converted to residential accommodation though the landscape has changed considerably in a 100 years.
I will be sharing more information and photographs detailing Lowry's Wirral both on the blog.
An essay detailing some of my research is now published in a book called Malcolm Lowry: From the Mersey to the world.
I am currently working on a bigger project entitled 'Gutted Arcades of the Past' detailing Lowry's early life and works.
Malcolm Lowry: From the Mersey to the World Biggs, Bryan & Tookey, Helen (eds)
Malcolm Lowry described Liverpool as ‘that terrible city whose main street is the ocean’. Born on the Wirral side of the river Mersey, Lowry’s relationship to the Merseyside of his youth informs all of his writing and Liverpool itself continued to hold tremendous significance for him, even though he never returned. Published in conjunction with a festival and exhibition at Liverpool’s Bluecoat arts centre celebrating Lowry’s centenary, this beautifully produced book showcases a variety of creative and critical approaches to Lowry and his work, and includes twelve specially commissioned pieces of new writing. There is a particular focus on place and on journeys; contributors write from the UK, Europe, Canada and Mexico, and reflect both on Lowry’s ‘voyage that never ends’ and on their own journeys with and through Lowry’s work. The book also demonstrates the richness of Lowry’s influence on contemporary visual artists and includes full-colour illustrations throughout. It will be an indispensable companion for anyone interested in the creative legacy of Malcolm Lowry’s life and work.
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