“Azure”
Composed by Duke Ellington; arranged by Joe Lippman.
Recorded by Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra for Victor on April 21, 1938 in New York.
Bunny Berigan, first and solo trumpet, directing: Steve Lipkins and Irving Goodman, trumpets; Nat Lobovsky and Ray Conniff, trombones; Mike Doty, first alto saxophone and bass clarinet; Joe Dixon, alto saxophone and B-flat clarinet; Georgie Auld and Clyde Rounds tenor saxophones; Joe Lippman, piano; Dick Wharton, guitar; Hank Wayland, bass; Johnny Blowers, drums.
The story:
The spring of 1938 was a great time for Bunny Berigan and his band. They had spent from late March to early May in one place, Manhattan, their home base. While there, they played nightly at the Paradise Restaurant, located on the second floor of the Brill Building, 1619 Broadway at 49th. Quite a few of their performances from that venue were broadcast, some were recorded.
Lengthy location gigs like that one were valuable because they kept bands off the road. Consequently, the musicians in those bands could eat, sleep and rest on a regular basis. This invariably resulted in better overall performances. In addition, these “residencies” usually came with a radio link, so the music of the bands would be broadcast over either regional or nationwide networks of radio stations. The promotional value of this radio exposure was great. Unfortunately, there was one big downside to all of this: no location gig could pay enough each week to completely offset the ongoing overall expenses of a big band, the largest of which was the salaries of the sidemen. Other remunerative employment for bands was necessary during location gigs to minimize weekly losses.
In the case of Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra, they had a contract to make recordings for the Victor label. That contract had begun in mid-March 1937 with a term of one year, and had been extended for a year in mid-March of 1938. As much as possible, Bunny had to constantly develop new material for his band to play before audiences. This process was helped and hindered in equal measures by the ever-present song pluggers who worked for the music publishers who often had offices in the Brill Building. The help came as a result of Bunny and/or his chief arranger Joe Lippman looking at the new songs the pluggers were constantly hawking, and regularly selecting the ones that might fit the style of the Berigan band. The tunes selected had to be arranged for the band and rehearsed before they could be played before audiences.
The hinderance came because the selection process described above was far from perfect. Every big band, especially ones that were successful, devoured music. In order to eventually sift through the material to get a worthwhile piece of music for his band, Bunny had to work his way through a lot of dross. Evidence of this is to be found in the discography of the Berigan band through 1938. For every gem they recorded, they had to work their way through several mediocre and sometimes poor tunes. Nevertheless, despite hit-and-miss nature of this process, sometimes it worked beautifully.
By the spring of 1938, Lippman, who had been the band’s pianist in addition to being their chief arranger for over a year, had become overwhelmed with work, and Bunny replaced him as band pianist with the gifted Joe Bushkin, who had been working with the the Berigan band intermittently at the Paradise Restaurant. In addition, Bunny hired another arranger, Andy Phillips, to assist Lippman by writing arrangements on current pop songs. From the spring of 1938, Lippman, who remained in New York, concentrated on writing special arrangements for Bunny on material they both thought would showcase the musical assets of the Berigan band best. (Above left: arranger Joe Lippman in 1938 , writing, writing, writing.)
The music:
“Azure” was first recorded on April 22, 1937, then again on May 14, 1937 by Duke Ellington. Not much happened with the tune. Artie Shaw recorded it for the Thesaurus Transcription Service on February 15, 1938. Irving Mills, Duke’s music publisher and manager, then had Cab Calloway, his most popular client, record it on March 23, 1938, and put his song-pluggers to work promoting it. The song came to Bunny’s attention while he and his band were appearing at the Paradise Restaurant.
Joe Lippman’s arrangement on “Azure” is indeed a showcase of the musical assets of the Berigan band. Paramount of these, of course, was Bunny’s trumpet playing. In this performance, we hear that in a number of ways, all of them musically rewarding.
“Azure” is a sixteen bar song with four four-bar sections – AABA. The introduction Lippman fashioned is eight bars long and is felicitously suited to the Berigan ensemble, yet with an obliquely Dukish twist. The reeds, led by Joe Dixon on clarinet, with Mike Doty on bass clarinet, play in conjunction at first with the oo-ah, then cup-muted trumpets and trombones. Drummer Johnny Blowers provides a cushion of tom-tom taps for the band to play against.
Then Berigan steps forward to play the melody for sixteen bars in his velvety low register. His sound is other-worldly. For those not familiar with Bunny’s playing, it is easy to be confused by what one hears: what instrument is this, a trombone, a French horn? No, it is a trumpet handled with complete mastery by a musician who strived always to cast spells with his playing. After this, there is a remarkable four-bar modulation. The first two bars have the band playing, setting up what is to follow, then Berigan in his fiery high register, playing the last two bars. The effect is the reverse of the normal lightning-thunder sequence – here the rumble occurs first, then the explosion of lightning. It is a choice Berigan musical moment.
The next chorus spots the saxophone quartet, now led with supple rhythmic authority by Mike Doty on alto saxophone, in a sixteen bar sequence of melodic paraphrase. Their smooth sound is contrasted against the rhythmically taut playing of the oo-ah brass, and Johnny Blowers’s flowing high-hats. For contrast, there follows a four-bar tract with the cup-muted brass. Listen for Bunny, now playing lead, the master painter in sounds, applying just the right nuances by shaking his instrument at precisely the right moments to salutary musical effect. The saxophones then return to finish the chorus.
Bunny Berigan and his saxophone section in an advertisement for Selmer instruments. This ad appeared in Tempo magazine in October of 1937. Photo courtesy of David Brewer.
The next sequence presents the Berigan-led trumpets, playing in oo-ah fashion, in a rhythmically provocative exchange with the saxophones. Then Georgie Auld plays a brief solo on tenor saxophone underlined by softly played open brass.
The climax of this performance comes next, with the brass quintet playing open horns in their high register on top of the sonic mix with the swirling saxophones underneath. Once again, Bunny’s application of shakes to his high notes adds electricity to this sequence. The denouement comes with a few bars of Joe Dixon’s clarinet, and then Bunny reprising his opening low-register playing the melody one more time into the soft conclusion.
“Azure”
Composed by Duke Ellington; arranged by Alexander Feldman (Van Alexander).
Recorded by Chick Webb and His Orchestra for Decca on May 2, 1938 in New York.
Chick Webb, drums, directing: Mario Bauza, first trumpet; Bobby Stark and Taft Jordan, trumpets; Nat Story, first trombone; Sandy Williams and George Matthews, trombones; Garvin Bushell (born as Garvin Lamont Payne), first alto saxophone and B-flat clarinet; Louis Jordan, alto saxophone; Teddy McRae and Wayman Carver, tenor saxophones; Tommy Fulford, piano; Bobby Johnson, guitar; Beverly Peer, bass.
The story:
The story of why Chick Webb was in Boston in the spring of 1938 was told by Teddy McRae, a saxophonist and arranger in the Webb band then. Here are his recollections: “We went up to Boston, and played in a place called Levaggi’s, a classy restaurant. Levaggi’s had been losing business with big white bands, so they decided to bring in colored bands. We went in there and broke all records. Artie Shaw was at Roseland. We were up there for a couple of months together.”(1) Boston, because of its “Blue Laws,” was shut-down entertainment-wise on Sundays in the late 1930s. Many of Webb’s sidemen would take the train from Boston to New York and spend Sunday and half of Monday in New York, then return to Boston.
Chick Webb and his band in the summer of 1938. L-R: Wayman Carver, Mario Bauza, Bill Thomas, Beverly Peer, Tommy Fulford, Taft Jordan, Webb, Nat Story, Louis Jordan, Sandy Williams, Charles Linton, Bardu Ali, Teddy McRae and Chauncey Haughton, who had recently replaced Garvin Bushell.
There is confusion about the date the Webb band’s engagement at Levaggi’s ended. The dates given (May 2 by Down Beat) and May 4 (in Ken Vail’s Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Itinerary), make no sense as May 2, 1938 was a Monday, and May 4 was a Wednesday. My informed speculation is that the Levaggi’s gig ended on Saturday night/ Sunday morning, April 30/May 1. The Webb band then returned to New York on Sunday May 1, and got down to making records at Decca in a serious way the very next day. 
On May 2, they recorded four masters; on May 3, they recorded six masters. The last time the full Webb band had been in Decca’s New York studio was on December 17, 1937.(2) The Webb band was hot musically, and slowly but surely moving up in terms of commercial success, due in large measure to the singing of young Ella Fitzgerald. Both Decca and Webb needed recordings, and among the ones made in those two days are some of the Webb band’s best performances: Ella’s classic “A-Tisket A-Tasket”; the romping “Spinnin’ the Webb”; “Liza” featuring Chick’s powerhouse drumming; and the lovely “Azure.”
The music:
Aficionados of swing music rarely cite the Chick Webb band as a purveyor of dreamy dance music, but the Webb ensemble, like all bands during the swing era, had to have some slow-dance numbers in their book of arrangements – dancers demanded it. And as this recording demonstrates, Chick and his musicians handle this charming Van Alexander arrangement with great flair.
This performance starts without any introduction. (“Azure” is a sixteen bar song with four four-bar sections – AABA.) The A melody is set forth by a trio of instruments, trumpet, trombone and clarinet, in a fashion that recalls Duke Ellington’s famous “Mood Indigo.” This no doubt was arranger Alexander’s tip-of-the-hat to Duke as the composer of “Azure.” I will suggest that the three lead men in the Webb band, Mario Bauza on cup-muted trumpet, Nat Story on trombone and Garvin Bushell, here playing clarinet, formed the trio. Their playing throughout this performance is beautifully controlled and affecting. Chick and bassist Beverly Peer support this trio with a gentle shuffle rhythm. The other three reed players add some understated playing that echoes rhythmically what Webb is doing. Garvin Bushell plays the soft solo clarinet part on the B melody. The trio then finishes chorus one.
A full-band interlude follows, that leads to a singing soli playing by the saxophone quartet. The bright (written) trumpet burst at the end of that soli was likely played by Mario Bauza. (Shown at right.)
The next melody exposition is handled by the trombone trio, with the Harmon-muted trumpets adding a glistening topping to the warm resonances of the open trombones.
The next chorus contains the entire band playing with a bit more dynamic power, taking the music to a resonant climax. The abrupt drop of volume to Tommy Fulford’s floridly melodic piano solo on the B section of the song provides an effective contrast.
The final sixteen bar chorus spots the trio returning for eight bars, and then Mr. Bushell on clarinet, complemented by the various sections of the band, as a finale. (Garvin Bushell shown at left.)
The recordings presented with this post were digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(1) I have merged together Teddy McRae’s words as contained in a lengthy interview of him that was done at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in October of 1981, and in the notes on the music for The Swing Era 1937-1938 (1971), 58, by Joseph Kastner. Mr. McRae’s words in the interview are often disjointed because he jumped from one subject to another. I have edited those words to make them more organized and easier to follow. Here is a link to the McRae interview which goes directly to the pages cited in this post : https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/68251/JPEG/read/#page/204/mode/2up
(2) Ella Fitzgerald and Her Savoy Eight, a small group drawn from the Webb big band (including Chick), made some records for Decca on December 21, 1937 and January 25, 1938. By late 1937, it was apparent to everyone involved in the management of Chick Webb’s band that Ella was star material, and that she could carry off the task of making successful records with or without the Webb band. Moe Gale, Chick’s manager, made sure Ella remained with the Webb band by having her sign an ironclad contract.
Here is a great Berigan recording of “Caravan” which has a lot in common with “Azure”: https://swingandbeyond.com/2018/05/13/caravan-bunny-berigan-1937/
Here is a link to a couple of great Chick Webb recordings: https://swingandbeyond.com/2020/07/08/a-tisket-a-tasket-1938-chick-webb-and-ella-fitzgerald-and-liza-chick-webb-1938/
And one more great recording by Chick Webb: https://swingandbeyond.com/2016/10/24/spinnin-the-webb-1938-chick-webb/
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