And he's not just a great dancer; he's a great singer of songs. He's as good as any of them - as good as Jolson or Crosby or Sinatra. He's just as good a singer as he is a dancer - not necessarily because of his voice, but by his conception of projecting a song. You give Astaire a song, and you could forget about it. He knew the song. He sang it the way you wrote it. He didn't change anything.
- Irving Berlin
A long time ago in the mid-1970s, when I was in grade school, I’d run home through the woods from school, turn on the TV, jump into the rocking chair, and watch the old movies that started at 3:30. Each week, they featured famous actors or actresses, like Gary Cooper Week, Greta Garbo Week, The Marx Brothers Week, or The Thin Man Week. It was late into something like John Wayne Week when they announced next week’s feature: “Freda Staire” Week. Never heard of her.
The following Monday, as usual, I ran home from school, turned on the TV, and started watching the show. It took me a while, but not too long into Flying Down to Rio, I realized “Freda Staire” was not Ginger Rogers. “Freda Staire” must be Fred Astaire - the guy…. OK. And man could that guy dance! It was this number from Flying Down To Rio, the first time I saw him tap dance, that inspired me to start tap dancing:
A few years later, my mom and dad took a trip to England. My mother grew up in London during WWII and met my dad when he was over there serving in the Air Force during the Korean War. I think it might have been her first time back to her home country since she left England in 1953 on the Queen Mary. When they came home, they brought me back two gifts: a portable wind-up 78rpm record player (which I still have) and this Fred Astaire album.
The album cost them 3 pounds 25, as was written on the back cover. It is the UK version of the 1959 Lions Records American release. Here’s the original US version - Dig those kicks!
Lion Records was MGM Records’ budget label. The album was probably recorded in 1958 and Astaire sings a collection of songs from his movie soundtracks. He is accompanied by the MGM Studio Orchestra and chorus. It is a fine album and nowhere to be found on YouTube or Apple Music. It has all my favorite Astaire songs and introduced me to Fred Astaire the singer. I wore that record out.
In junior high school, I decided to write Fred Astaire a letter. I had drawn a caricature of him along with a letter telling him how much I loved his singing - everyone already knew he was a great dancer. I sent them to him along with a self-addressed stamped return envelope. He signed the drawing and sent it back with a nice note. Here’s that drawing:
I continued to follow Fred Astaire through high school and watched all his movies when they came on TV. I can remember vigilantly digging through the Sunday TV guide, highlighting all the movies I wanted to watch during the week ahead. I remember liking two Astaire films in particular: The Band Wagon and Daddy Long Legs. As I look back now, I realize that both had a jazzy influence.
For example, the Dem Bones Cafe scene at the 7:30 minute mark from The Band Wagon’s Girl Hunt Ballet:
…and another from The Band Wagon, I Guess I’ll have to Change My Plan. Another song that inspired me to become a tap dancer:
…and from Daddy Long Legs, I always liked Sluefoot with Ray Anthony’s band:
…and another from Daddy Long Legs, Hong Kong Cafe scene (at the 6:15 minute mark) from the Dream Ballet featuring Leslie Caron:
Besides a tap dancer, Fred Astaire was also a respected singer. He attracted America's leading composers like Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer. Many of their film songs were written especially for him, like Mercer’s Something’s Gotta Give from Daddy Long Legs - Just listen to Astaire’s singing here:
Much later in life, I read about a 78rpm collection called The Astaire Story:
The Astaire Story was the 1953 brainchild of record producer Norman Granz, who centered his independent Norgran and Clef labels on a blend of swing and bop popular at that time. This release was based on the success of his 1950 The Jazz Scene, a deluxe compilation of six 12” 78rpm records with photographs by Gjon Mili intended as a jazz snapshot from that period. In Granz’s words, it was “an attempt to present today’s jazz scene in terms of the visual, the written word and the auditory,”
The Astaire Story was a compilation of four 12” 78rpms with Astaire singing Great American Songbook standards he made popular and accompanied with jazz back-up.
I am struck by how much the story of Granz’s love for Astaire mirrors my own. His also dated back to early high school at Roosevelt High School in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. In his Granz biography, Ted Hershorn wrote:
…by his own count, he had seen Top Hat at least twenty time. Granz had memorized the lyrics and dance steps in the hopes that he might get a role in the chorus at one of the studios and maybe appear in an Astaire movie. He secretly enrolled in a night dance class in the Wilshire District and made the trip by streetcar from Boyle Heights two to three nights a week. “I bought a pair of Capezio tap shoes, put them in a plain brown bag, and happily made the trips. Of course, I had no place to practice,” Despite that, he did fairly well and retained the basic elements of tap dancing. ‘It all came to nothing as far as becoming a professional, but most importantly, it brought me closer to my idol Fred Astaire.’
After contacting Astaire directly about the possibility of The Astaire Story, Granz got nowhere; however, a short time later during the intermission of a Duke Ellington concert at the Shrine Auditorium, he ran into Astaire with his son Fred Jr. As it turned out, Fred Jr. had all Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic albums and Astaire had heard them at home. In a later meeting, the deal was sealed once Granz showed Astaire The Jazz Scene. Astaire recalled, “As he explained his purpose and how it would be done, I began to see it. The idea was attractive to me because of his attitude and approach to the concept.”
In all my years digging in record stores I never saw The Astaire Story and doubted that I ever would, but once again eBay made it possible to find. Truth be told, as much as Fred Astaire’s autograph in the compilation, I coveted David Stone Martin’s signed print - it’s hard to see, but it’s down at the bottom middle:
Here’s the full sheet:
Also included in the compilation are many beautiful photos by Gjon Mili and his assistant Paul Nodler:
The music featured Oscar Peterson on piano, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Flip Phillips on tenor saxophone, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on double bass, and Alvin Stoller on drums.
According to Gene Lees’ Oscar Peterson biography, Astaire gave each of the musicians on the album a gold identification bracelet, inscribed "With thanks, Fred A". Ray Brown lost his bracelet, Alvin Stoller's was stolen, but Peterson wore his for the rest of his life.
Here’s I’m Building Up To An Awful Letdown with a wonderful Flip Phillips tenor solo:
I also like this one, with Astaire performing “with the boys” a fast tap dancing number:
Astaire was a master of syncopation. In fact, some of my favorite Astaire clips are when he’s playing and dancing with drums. For example, here is a cool clip of Astaire playing drums in his bedroom jamming along to a Benny Goodman song:
…or this one, Drum Crazy from Vincent Minnelli’s Easter Parade:
Here’s one more for the road. Check out Astaire’s drum/tap number from the 1937 A Damsel in Distress. At the 3:05 minute mark, he really cuts loose:
I just love the ending too, where he just tosses the sticks up in the air and walks off. This is classic Astaire - so cool and always the smooth, elegant gentleman dancer.
I didn’t know it at the time, but as I was absorbing my love of tap dancing from watching Fred Astaire movies, I was also absorbing my love of jazz. That was the start of my jazz journey.
This week’s journey is dedicated to another fellow dancer and good friend, Marie Castle. Here’s looking at you kid.
Next week on that Big River called Jazz, before we dig our paddles in to explore the waters of some of the jazz I heard while at the Venice and Madrid jazz festivals, we’ll continue our look back at the roots of my jazz journey.
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Until then, keep on walking….