Sort of Soundies: A Musical History by Michael Feinstein
January 8, 2024 6:34 PM   Subscribe

So, I bought the DVD set for Soundies: A Musical History by Michael Feinstein and decided subsequently, via individual YouTube videos, to recreate it as a Christmas present for you all starting with...

Duke Ellington -- Hot Chocolate (Cottontail)

Cab Calloway -- Blowtop Blues

Louie Jordan & his Tympany Five -- Jumpin' at the Jubilee

Nat King Cole Trio -- Frim Fram Sauce

among others....

In the meantime, here are...

The Les Paul Trio -- Don't Cry Baby

Merle Travis and Carolina Cotton -- Why'd I Fall for Abner?

Spike Jones and his City Slickers* -- Clink! Clink! Another Drink!

*By the way that’s Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Foghorn Leghorn to name but a few, in the above middle trio wearing the vertically striped jacket, derby and handlebar lip wig...

Will Bradley and his Orchestra -- Boardwalk Boogie

Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra with Helen O'Connell -- Man, that's Groovy

Kay Starr and Jimmy Dodd -- Stop That Dancing Upstairs

The Martins -- Huckleberry Ducks

By the way, Raymond Scott composed Huckleberry Duck...

Fats Waller -- Honeysuckle Rose

Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie and his Orchestra -- Take Me Back Baby

Mel Torme and his Mel-tones -- Lullaby of Broadway

Sally Rand -- Fan Dance

Faith Bacon -- A Lady with Fans

Teddy Powell and his Orchestra with Peggy Mann -- There Won't Be a Shortage of Love

There is no video for the Lois Collier with the Glamourettes -- Just As Though You Were Here soundie, so here sans Soundie is the Frank Sinatra and the Plaid Pipers with Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra -- Just As Though You Were Here version instead.

Mitchell Ayres and His Fashions in Music Orchestra featuring Maryann Mercer and Tommy Taylor -- You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith

Dick Robertson and the Johnny Messner Orchestra -- Bless Them All lacks a soundie and no adequate substitute, so there it is...

Frances Faye -- Shut Your Mouth for Uncle Sam

Spike Jones and his City Slickers -- Der Fuerher's Face

International Sweethearts of Rhythm -- Jump Children

The Mills Brothers -- Lazy River

Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra -- America I Love You

Dorothy Dandridge and Cee Pee Johnson -- Jungle Jig

Dorothy Dandridge and Paul White with Ted Fio Rio and his Orchestra -- Zoot Suit

Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra -- Shine -- which can be compared and contrasted to Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra -- Shine from his
Louis Armstrong -- A Rhapsody in Black and Blue
.
Which are fairly well explained here.

Gene Krupa and his Orchestra with Anita O'Day -- Let Me Off Uptown

Nat King Cole Trio -- Got A Penny, Benny?

Doris Day with Les Brown and his Orchestra -- My Lost Horizon

Jayne Walton with Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra -- I Learned a Lesson I'll Never Forget

Cyd Charisse -- Did Anyone Call? is yet another missing Soundie on YouTube so oh, well again...

And we close with
Walter Liberace -- Tiger Rag

...not to mention Yvonne DeCarlo -- The Lamp of Memory long before her days as Lily Munster.

And that's a wrap for the time being or so I hope...
posted by y2karl (9 comments total) 32 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love these. I used to show them on 16mm at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago. Fats Waller did two of my favorites, and one thing I love is that it's clear that they shot them back to back: same outfit, same backdrop, same dancers.
posted by goatdog at 6:58 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]


What a feast, y2karl! Thank you for putting all this together!

Not a Soundie, but possibly of interest to this thread's audience: Tony Todd posted this Lambert, Hendricks & Ross tune with Joe Williams on his Twitter, and as someone who's pretty picky about vocal jazz, it floored me. He posts a fair bit of jazz.
posted by smirkette at 8:20 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]


Weird. Every one of the video links in y2karl’s post gives me an “An error has occurred” message, when I try to watch them inline here. They work fine if I follow the link to YT itself.

Conversely, smirkette’s link plays just fine inline.

Great raft of music, though. Many thanks!
posted by Thorzdad at 4:43 AM on January 9


These are marvelous.
posted by Czjewel at 5:45 AM on January 9


Thanks y2karl!
posted by nofundy at 6:08 AM on January 9


I can't wait to get into these. I'm delighted by how many of them you were able to find, y2karl. Thank you!
posted by EvaDestruction at 6:45 AM on January 9


AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 12:39 PM on January 9


But wait, there's more!

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm -- I Left My Man

for starts...
posted by y2karl at 1:54 AM on January 28




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