Sharing the sounds of the classic big bands
| Vol VI | January 2008 | No. 9 |
Song Number ONE: This first song was the most requested of the Krupa band. It is a Krupa original with words and music by the drummer man. With vocal by Irene Daye and the band, it hit the charts in April, 1941. Of course Gene is featured on drums. He was a colorful performer accenting his torrid drumming with gum chewing and dramatic facial expressions. Unfortunately this behavior helped set him up for a prison term for marijuana use of which he was later exonerated, but not without injury to his career and reputation. "Drumboogie."
Song Number TWO: For all its drumming fame, the band's repertoire was heavy with romantic ballads such as this. The band had first rate male vocalists including Buddy Stewart and Johnny Desmond. This 1940 recording features the original Krupa boy singer Howard Dulany. Whitburn* indicates that this was the most popular charted Krupa recording. Krupa never reached number one on the charts but this song with words and music by Hy Zaret, Joan Whitney, and Alex Kramer reached number two in February 1941 "It All Comes Back To Me Now."
Song Number THREE: This remake of a 1918 Henry Creamer and Turner Layton hit, recorded in 1942 and played by Roy Eldridge and the band, driven by the Krupa percussion at an impossibly fast tempo, never made the charts, but became a definitive Krupa recording. Eldridge joined the Krupa band in May 1941. His fast, dynamic style was made for the Krupa band. After leaving Krupa, he joined the Artie Shaw band with much success. His hot trumpet playing influenced that of Dizzy Gillespie and presaged be-bop. "After You've Gone."
Song Number FOUR: The record label announces that this romantic ballad is by "Gene Krupa and the Band That Swings With Strings." Sung here by Buddy Stewart, this number with words by Harold Adamson and music by Jimmy McHugh was introduced in the 1945 film Nob Hill by Vivian Blaine. "I Walked In (With My Eyes Wide Open)."
Song Number FIVE: This 1945 version of a standard by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, and John Green was introduced in the 1930 revue Three's A Crowd by Libby Holman. It has been charted no less than fourteen times by different artists from 1930 to 1949. In 1940 Coleman Hawkins had a hit with his tenor sax version. Here the Krupa trio, Gene, Charlie Ventura and Teddy Napoleon, piano, feature tenorman Ventura in a solo with heavy bop overtones. Krupa found the talented Ventura working in a wartime Philadelphia shipyard. Ventura eventually led his own aggregations and became a jazz idol and a bop pioneer. "Body And Soul."
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