The Hi de Ho blog

July 17, 1939: in New York studios

Recording session of 4 songs by Cab Calloway and his Orchestra:

Trylon Swing
Utt-Da-Zay (The Taylor Song)*
Crescendo In Drums
(Hep-Hep!) The Jumpin' Jive*

The lineup of this New York session:
Cab Calloway (vocal*, ldr), Mario Bauza, Irving Randolph, Lammar Wright (tp), Claude Jones, Keg Johnson, De Priest Wheeler (tb), Chauncey Haughton, Andrew Brown (cl, as), Chu Berry, Walter Thomas (ts), Bennie Payne (p), Danny Barker (g), Julio Andino (db), Cozy Cole (dm).

Here, Chu Berry's influence can be fully heard. Trylon Swing, the first track of this session, is a superb ensemble. The arrangements highlight the qualities of each section.

Utt-Da-zay, on the other hand, completely reverts to Cab's declamatory, scat style.

Crescendo In Drums brings Cozy Cole back into the limelight, although Gunther Schuller admits that his solo is disappointing. On the other hand, we appreciate Chu Berry's superb chorus.

But it's for the last track of this session that you'll have to get up in front of your screen! It's nothing less than The Jumpin' Jive, a formidable song in lingo featuring Cab's scat and a chorus of musicians repeating "hep hep" throughout. Don't tell me it doesn't swing! It's pure swing!

And in the middle of it all, short solos by Chu Berry on saxophone and Claude Jones on trombone.

Important information: the bassist on this session is NOT Milt Hinton, as he stated in his book "Playin' The Changes" (p. 81):

"In all the years I worked for Cab, I was out a total of two days. It was in 1939 when I went home to Chicago for my grandmother's funeral. We were at the Cotton Club and a Latin relief band was there with us. The bass player from the group subbed for me, playing the shows and the dance music. But he also did the record session that which had been scheduled for the day I left. And as fate would have it, the tune they recorded was "Jumpin' Jive", one of Cab's best."

Thanks to a jazz connaisseur, the bassist is identified now. It's Julio ANDINO (1914-1983). This Puerto Rican born bassist played with Albert SOCARRAS (the second orchestra at the Manhattan Cotton Club), Chick WEBB, MACHITO (where he was with trumpet Mario BAUZA who also played in Cab's band), Joe LOCO, Tito RODRIGUEZ, etc. He even had his own formation in the Fifties.

1939 0717 Jumpin Jive session with Andino.jpg
Those photos of the sessions appeared in Metronome, n°55, in August 1939.
You can now recognize Julio ANDINO (bass), Danny BARKER (guitar), Chu BERRY (tenor sax)
with Cab Calloway leading the band.