Frankie Trumbauer

The flying ace....

Frankie Trumbauer and Jimmy Dorsey were battling for honors in those days, and I finally found out that I liked Frankie Trumbauer. Trumbauer was my idol. When I started to play, I used to buy all his records. I imagine I can still play all those solos off the record. He played a C-melody saxophone. I tried to get the sound of a C-melody on a tenor. That’s why I don’t sound like other people. Trumbauer always told a little story. And I liked the way he slurred his notes.

- Lester Young

On February 6, 1959, only weeks before his death, French jazz enthusiast Francois Positi interviewed Lester Young in Paris. When asked about his early influences, Young admits it was a tough choice between learning the style of Frankie Trumbauer or that of Jimmy Dorsey, two of his early favorite saxophonists.

In the interview, Young says, “You ever hear him play Singin’ the Blues? That’s where he tricked me - right there. That’s where I went.”

Singin’ the Blues was composed in 1920 by Con Conrad and J. Russell Robinson. Con Conrad would later compose the hit song The Continental, introduced by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in the 1934 film The Gay Divorcee.

It was the first song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song:

The lyrics to Singin’ the Blues were written by Sam M. lewis and Joe Young. Aileen Stanley recorded it on the Victor label in 1920. Here’s the 1920 sheet music:

It was first recorded in 1920 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band as an instrumental and released on Victor as part of a medley with Margie:

Years later, Bix Beiderbecke recommended Singin’ the Blues to Trumbauer, who recorded it in New York City on February 4, 1927 with Beiderbecke on cornet, Bill Rank on trombone, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto sax, Doc Ryker on alto sax, Paul Mertz on piano, Howdy Quicksell on banjo, Eddie Lang on guitar, and Chauncey Moorehouse on drums.

This recording became a milestone in American music. Interestingly, it clearly inspired Trumbauer’s Crying all Day, recorded on October 27, 1927, with Pee Wee Russell on clarinet:

Trumbauer’s composition Trumbology was recorded at that same February 1927 session as Singin’ the Blues.

Here’s the 1928 sheet music:

Perhaps my favorite Trumbauer recording is For No Reason At All In C. This is a terrific opportunity to hear Trumbauer in a rare trio format with Bix Beiderbecke on piano (plus cornet at the very end) and Eddie Lang on guitar.

More importantly, this is a rare chance to hear Beiderbecke on piano. His more notable piano playing is on his solo recording In a Mist, also known as Bixology. In 1927, Trumbauer joined Paul Whiteman’s band and stayed in his band for eight of the following nine years.

If bandleader Paul Whiteman said, “I was Big Band before you were Big Band.” He’d be right. By the time the Big Band Era had begun, Paul Whiteman was already approaching his 20th anniversary as a famous bandleader - his fame stretches back to 1918. Although he never had a “jazz band”, many future jazz stars played in his band. Among them were Trumbauer, Beiderbecke, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Jack and Charlie Teagarden, Eddie Lang, and singers Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Johnny Mercer.

Whiteman’s China Boy recorded in NYC May 3, 1929 is a wonderful example of his band at its best with Trumbauer and Beiderbecke both soloing:

Trumbauer’s solo on this one is incredible - no wonder that’s the direction Lester Young went!

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However, what I find most interesting about Frankie Trumbauer is that he was much more than an artist.

He served in the Navy in WWI and during WWII, as a highly skilled pilot, he was a test pilot and trained crews to fly B-25 Mitchell bombers:

In 1940, he left music and joined the Civil Aeronautics Authority. He did continue to play and record music, but his new love was flying. He died in Kansas City, Missouri in 1956. He was 55 year old.

Here are a couple more for the road. Johnny Mercer joined Whiteman’s band in 1932, where he met Frankie Trumbauer. He made his recording debut with Trumbauer's Orchestra on Sizzling One Step Medley, recorded in May 1932:

Mercer went on to become a staff writer for RKO Pictures, where he collaborated with Fred Astaire to write one of my favorite Astaire songs, I’m Building Up To An Awful Let-Down. From The Astaire Story, here’s Astaire singing it with Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass, Alvin Stoller on drums, along with Flip Phillips on tenor, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, and Barney Kessel on guitar:

Dream, another great Mercer song, was featured in Astaire’s 1955 movie Daddy Long Legs:

Dream was first released in 1945 on the Columbia label sung by Frank Sinatra with the Ken Lane Singers:

It’s fun to think about these old 78rpms like this one, which I bought from a guy on the other side of White Bear Lake one summer in the mid-1970s. I was in grade school and would hold them in one hand as I rode my bike back home - dreaming of what they would sound like when I got home….

Next week, on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles in and go from Frankie Trumbauer to François Tusques - can you do that?

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Until then, keep on walking….