“Since I Fell for You” (1945) Buddy Johnson with Ella Johnson

“Since I Fell for You”

Music and lyric by Buddy Johnson; arranged by Buster Harding.

Recorded by Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra for Decca on November 7, 1945 in New York.

Woodrow “Buddy” Johnson, piano, directing: Frank Brown, Dupree Bolton, Johnny Wilson and Willis Nelson, trumpets; Bernard Archer, Leonard Briggs and Jonas Walker, trombones; Joe O’Laughlin and Al Robinson, alto saxophones; David Van Dyke and Jimmy Stanford, tenor saxophones; Teddy “Cherokee” Conyers, baritone saxophone; Jerome Darr, guitar; Leon Spann, bass; Teddy Stewart, drums. Ella Johnson, vocal.

The story:

Pianist Woodrow Wilson “Buddy” Johnson (January 10, 1915 – February 9, 1977) led very successful bands through the 1940s and well into the 1950s. Like Chick Webb, Ella Fitzgerald and Erskine Hawkins, his base of operations was the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Also like them, he was managed and booked by Moe Gale.

Born in Darlington, South Carolina, Johnson took piano lessons as a child and was exposed to European concert music, and classical music remained one of his passions. In 1938, he moved to New York City, and the following year toured Europe with The Cotton Club Revue. The company for that show was expelled from Nazi Germany. Later in 1939, he began recording for Decca Records with his band, soon afterwards was joined by his sister Ella as vocalist.

By 1941, he had assembled a nine-piece orchestra, and began making a series of hit recordings marketed to black audiences. These included: “Let’s Beat Out Some Love,”  “Baby Don’t You Cry,” his biggest hits were, “When My Man Comes Home,” with Ella Johnson singing, and “They All Say I’m The Biggest Fool” with Arthur Prysock on vocal. Ella Johnson recorded her brother’s song “Since I Fell for You” in 1945, but it did not become a major hit until recorded by vocalist Lenny Welch in the early 1960s.(1)

In 1946, Johnson composed a Blues Concerto, which he performed at Carnegie Hall in 1948. His band remained a major touring attraction, especially for black audiences in the South, through the late 1940s and early 1950s. He adjusted his presentation toward the rhythm and blues style that was popular in the 1950s. Health challenges forced Johnson to retire from performing in the late 1960s. He died in 1977 at age 62 in New York City from a brain tumor and sickle cell anemia. (Above left: Buddy Johnson and his band on the bandstand of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem – mid-1940s.)

“Personally, I like classics,” Buddy Johnson told Down Beat, “but our bread and butter is in the South. The music I play has a southern tinge to it. They understand it down there.”(2)

The music:

This soulful performance presents Buddy Johnson’s song “Since I Fell for You” in a straightforward way. The leisurely tempo Johnson set made it ideal for slow dancing. The various warm instrumental combinations and sonic textures that are used in the arrangement, largely as backgrounds for the alto saxophone solo of Joe O’Laughlin and the singing of Ella Johnson, resemble those used by arranger Buster Harding in Artie’s Shaw’s instrumental recording of “Bedford Drive.”(2) I will suggest that this arrangement was written either by Buster Harding himself, or someone who had listened very carefully to Harding’s “Bedford Drive” chart as recorded by Artie Shaw. (3)

Buddy Johnson and his band pictured in the mid-1940s: Johnson is at the piano, his sister Ella is seated at left.

The arranger of Buddy and Ella Johnson’s “Since I Fell for You” was very familiar with the Johnson band’s musical personality. The introduction consists of a single 12 bar blues chorus, which has a brassy beginning and then a solo by alto saxophonist Joe O’Laughlin that is dripping with soul. From that point on, the song follows the AABA 32-bar format.(4)

Ella Johnson then sings the lyric about love and longing with the utmost simplicity, yet she projects quite strongly the sentiments expressed in the lyric. The backgrounds she sings against maintain the smoldering mood evoked by the vocal and lyric. Those tasty plunger trumpet asides were played by Dupree Bolton. Also, listen for how the arranger used the baritone saxophone. That instrument provides not only the bottom notes in the saxophone section, it also thickens the sonority of the trombones. Baritone saxophonist Teddy “Cherokee” Conyers was kept quite busy in this performance.

Mr. O’Laughlin returns for a bit more soulful melody, and then Ms. Johnson returns to sing a bit more as the performance draws to a close with a simple tag-ending. (At left: Ella and Buddy Johnson in the 1940s.)

The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.

Notes and links:

(1) For the sake of comparison, here is a link to Lenny Welch’s hit recording of “Since I Fell for You.” Note that Mr. Welch signs the song’s verse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7xrQY_FLM4

(2) The summary of Buddy Johnson’s career presented with this post was extracted from the Wikipedia article on him.

(3) Artie Shaw’s recording of the Buster Harding original composition/arrangement of “Bedford Drive” was recorded for Victor on January 9, 1945, and issued shortly thereafter.

(4) My musical guru Dennis Roden helped me to untangle this unusual blend of the 12 bar blues and 32 bar song forms. His ears, as usual, hear everything in the music.