When Valaida Snow sat in with Earl Hines & His Orchestra on February
3, 1933, she sounded at first like an auditioning youngster. That is,
until the tempo picked up halfway into the song, and Snow began to
chortle and swing. If "Maybe I'm to Blame" was a bit of an experiment,
the three recordings Snow made in London in January of 1935 are solid
evidence of an artist who has found her own style and grown into it.
Suddenly, it seems, this woman has established herself in England as a
singer and trumpeter with considerable potential. Throughout the spring
of 1935 and autumn of 1936, Snow lived up to everyone's expectations.
Sounding at times like Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, or Blanche
Calloway, she spruces up each Tin Pan Alley tune with her own
personality. In most cases that means cutting up, teasing the band, and
inserting remarks in the manner of Louis Armstrong or Fats Waller. The
Waller connection is apparent to anyone familiar with his discography;
"You're Not the Kind," "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," and
especially "I Wish I Were Twins" are funnier when Waller sings them, but
Snow's approach is immediately likable. Her own sense of humor is more
evident on "I Can't Dance (I Got Ants in My Pants)," which ends with her
exclaiming "oooh!" as if the ants are somehow turning her on. For sheer
joie de vivre, "Singin' in the Rain" is possibly the happiest record
Snow ever made. In some instances she milks the more sentimental songs
for emotional high drama, even sounding a bit like Ruth Etting or
Adelaide Hall from time to time. As for Snow's trumpeting, she almost
always appeared with a band that contained a second trumpeter who could
back her up while she sang, and with whom she would sometimes joust, as
in the thrilling twin-trumpet exchange on "I Wish I Were Twins." The
trumpeters involved in 1935 and 1936 were Duncan Whyte and Harry Owen.
Everyone who loves old-fashioned jazz ought to discover Snow and get to
know her music. The plot thickens in the next two volumes of the
complete chronological recordings of Valaida Snow, carefully rreissued by Classics. arwulf arwulf
Tracklist :
1 Maybe I'm to Blame 3:11
Charles Carpenter / Louis Dunlap / Earl Hines
2 Poor Butterfly 3:00
John Golden / Raymond Hubbell
3 I Wish I Were Twins 2:36
Eddie DeLange / Frank Loesser / Joseph Meyer
4 I Can't Dance 2:42
Clarence Williams
5 It Had to Be You 3:07
Isham Jones / Gus Kahn
6 You Bring Out the Savage in Me 2:54
Valaida Snow
7 Imagination 3:13
Valaida Snow
8 Sing, You Sinners 2:35
Sam Coslow / W. Frank Harling
9 Whisper Sweet 2:35
J.P. Johnson
10 Singin' in the Rain 2:57
Nacio Herb Brown / Arthur Freed
11 Until the Real Thing Comes Along 3:22
Sammy Cahn / Saul Chaplin / L.E. Freeman / Mann Holiner / Alberta Nichols
12 High Hat, Trumpet and Rhythm 3:02
Valaida Snow
13 I Want a Lot of Love 3:20
Valaida Snow
14 Take Care of You for Me3:11
Valaida Snow
15 Lovable and Sweet 2:52
Sidney Clare / Oscar Levant
16 I Must Have That Man! 3:11
Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh
17 You're Not the Kind 3:07
Will Hudson / Irving Mills
18 You Let Me Down 3:21
Al Dubin / Harry Warren
19 Mean to Me 3:10
Fred E. Ahlert / Roy Turk
220 Dixie Lee 2:43
Alexander Hill
Credits :
Alto Saxophone [Either/Or] – Dave Shand (tracks: 5 to 10), Harry Hayes (tracks: 5 to 10)
Bass – Bill Busby (tracks: 7 to 10), Dick Escott (tracks: 11 to 20), Quinn Wilson (tracks: 1), Sam Molyneux (tracks: 2 to 6)
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Omer Simeon (tracks: 1)
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Freddy Gardner (tracks: 11 to 20)
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Violin – Darnell Howard (tracks: 1)
Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Cecil Irwin (tracks: 1)
Drums – George Elrick (tracks: 2 to 10), Max Bacon (3) (tracks: 11 to 20), Wallace Bishop (tracks: 1)
Guitar – Alan Ferguson (tracks: 2 to 10), Joe Young (10) (tracks: 11 to 20), Lawrence Dixon (tracks: 1)
Piano – George Scott Wood (tracks: 11 to 20)
Piano, Directed By – Billy Mason (tracks: 2 to 10), Earl Hines (tracks: 1)
Tenor Saxophone – Buddy Featherstonaugh (tracks: 2 to 10), Jimmy Mundy (tracks: 1)
Trombone – Jock Fleming (tracks: 11 to 20), Louis Taylor (tracks: 1), William Franklin (tracks: 1)
Trumpet – Charlie Allen (tracks: 1), Duncan Whyte (tracks: 2 to 10), George Dixon (tracks: 1), Harry Owen (tracks: 11 to 20), Valaida Snow (tracks: 2 to 20), Walter Fuller (tracks: 1)
Vocals – Valaida Snow
