“Lois”
Composed and arranged by Charlie Barnet.
Recorded by Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra for Bluebird on June 11, 1941 in New York.
Charlie Barnet, alto and soprano saxophones, directing: Charles Zimmerman, Walter Price, Lyman Vunk and Bernie Privin, trumpets; Spud Murphy, Tommy Reo, Bill Robertson and Ford Leary, trombones; Conn Humphreys, alto saxophone; Leo White, alto saxophone and B-flat clarinet; Kurt Bloom and Jimmy Lamare, tenor saxophones; Bill Miller, piano; Bus Etri, guitar; Phil Stephens, bass; Cliff Leeman, drums. The vocal is performed by the Quintones, who were: Patti Morgan, Al Lane, Murray Deutsch, Irving Deutsch (who were twins) and Lloyd Hundling.
The story:
Charlie Barnet and his band were firing on all cylinders in the spring of 1941. In addition to the band being a first-class swing machine, the sultry songstress Lena Horne was a part of the Barnet presentation then. Ms. Horne joined the Barnet band in December of 1940, and remained until a sad incident drove her out of the band during an an engagement (March 26 – April 8) at the Paramount Theater on Times Square in Manhattan. Lena was a stunningly beautiful woman, and in 1941 she was singing in a manner that was devoid of the histrionics she later added to her act. Audiences that followed the Barnet band responded very positively to her presence and her singing.
Charlie Barnet himself recalled the circumstances surrounding Lena leaving his band: “Dinah Shore was also on the bill at the Paramount and it was during this engagement that she objected to Lena’s presence – not because of her race, but because she was such a powerful and dominating competitor. Let’s put it this way, Lena was murdering her.” The Paramount management, in response to Ms. Shore’s objections, basically ordered Barnet to drop Lena from his presentation. That put Charlie in a difficult position. He and his band were well aware of how powerful a stage presence Ms. Horne was, and how popular she was with their audiences. But he couldn’t walk out of the Paramount engagement. He went to Ms. Horne and said: “Lena, … your contract with me is yours if you want it. I can’t protect you. They are not going to let you go on any more. Don’t worry about the contract you have with me. If I can’t protect you, I don’t deserve to have you.” (1) Ms. Horne did not remain with the Barnet band, but word of what had happened to her swiftly began circulating along the Broadway grapevine, and she emerged from this incident very strongly.
After the Paramount gig ended, Barnet and his band took to the road and played a series of one-night stands through April. They enjoyed a happy and raucous night at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem on April 27, then headed west to Chicago, where they were ensconced in the Panther Room of Hotel Sherman from May 2 – 13. More one-nighters followed that, and then they returned to New York for an event, which began on May 30 that had been heavily promoted. Once again, Barnet remembered the details: (Promoter) “Monty Prosser leased Madison Square Garden with the intention of turning it into a huge ballroom for the summer. He spent a fortune having a suspended ceiling, depicting a starry night, installed. He also installed restaurants, bars and every possible convenience except for one thing, …not one stinking bandstand. On opening night, we had to set up on the floor, and all night 24,000 people kept falling over the music racks into our laps. This was rectified the next night by three regulation boxing rings being set up, one for each band. I wound up holding the bag for a nice bundle when Monte Prosser folded his carnival.”(2)
Charlie Barnet, Benny Goodman and Larry Clinton smilingly participate in a promotional queen crowning at Monte Prosser’s 1941 Dance Carnival. The smiles soon turned to frowns as as Prosser unceremoniously pulled the plug on the event leaving the performers and everyone else unpaid.
Right after this fiasco, on June 11, Barnet took his band into the 24th Street studio of Victor Records. Although the Barnet aggregation had a well-deserved reputation for partying, when it came to music, they and their fun-loving leader were remarkably focused. They recorded six acceptable masters that day, including the haunting “Lois.”
The music:
In the wake of the departure of Lena Horne from the Barnet band, Charlie cast about in an effort to strengthen his vocal presentation. In late April, he hired a singing group called the Quintones. At that time, the Quintones were: Patti Morgan, Al Lane, Murray Deutsch, Irving Deutsch and Lloyd Hundling. (This group had some history before their time with Barnet. A good summary of their activities can be found at the link at endnote (3). After the Quintones became a part of the Barnet band, Charlie had to find ways of utilizing them. Tommy Dorsey had been presenting the vocal quartet called the Pied Pipers effectively since early 1940. Glenn Miller had moved in the same direction with a quartet called the Modernaires in early 1941. Barnet, being something of a non-conformist, decided to use the Quintones a bit differently, at least on occasion. He created (as both composer and arranger) a lovely largely wordless musical framework for them which he called “Lois.”
I tried to analyze the form of this composition, and must admit that I was flummoxed. Barnet definitely did not use a standard form. Instead, he composed and arranged a series of musical sequences of varying lengths. I attempted to discern the lengths of theses sequences by counting bars, and at the end of that process had notes that seemed a jumble. I then contacted my musical guru, Dennis Roden, who has ears like an X-ray machine, and much to my surprise, his analysis was almost exactly the same as mine. I will use Dennis’s notes as a guide to my observations about the music. (Thanks Dennis!)
The six bar introduction for this piece includes Barnet’s four-man saxophone section, augmented by Charlie playing his straight soprano saxophone, blended most pleasingly with cup-muted trumpets and softly played open trombones.
Barnet used his four trombones to present the melody in the first sequence, alone initially, then with the four saxophones. (Four bars.) Barnet then appears again on his soprano saxophone, swathed in warm saxophone and brass sounds. (Eight bars.) The saxophones finish the chorus. (Four bars.) There is a pedal bass used throughout this sequence.
A melodic interlude of six bars is next with the trombones in front at the beginning, then the saxophones, led by Barnet on soprano.
The next tract (twelve bars) showcases trumpeter Bernie Privin, using a cup mute and playing an improvised solo of great elegance. The wordless vocal obbligato behind Privin is handled by the Quintones, who at strategic moments sing Lois, longingly.(4) (Bernie Privin is shown at right in 1941.)
Barnet then switches to alto saxophone, and trades four bar phrases with clarinetist Leo White. Barnet is backed by open trumpets, White by open trombones. Bernie Privin returns, this time playing open trumpet and improvising in double-time for twelve bars. Notice the saxophone section backing he gets, which takes the music upward.
The Quintones in 1941. The Deutsch twins, Irving and Murray, who were identical, are on the ends. My informed speculation is that Lloyd Hundling is in the middle on top, the girl is Patti Morgan, and the fellow on the bottom is Al Lane. I will welcome a more definite identification.
This is the set-up for final twelve bar sequence. First the brief, brassy climax, which soon falls away, leaving Barnet, once again on his soprano saxophone. Then various sections of the band, reeds, cup-muted trumpets and finally open trombones, provide the finale. Barnet subtly reminds the listener of the main melody of “Lois” via a two bar snippet played by the saxophone section plus his soprano saxophone just before the end. Pianist Bill Miller adds a tasty chord as an exclamation point.
This performance is evidence that Charlie Barnet, despite his well-deserved reputation as a fun-loving guy who could be full of pranks, was a serious musician capable of composing, arranging and performing top-grade music in the swing idiom. Bravo Barnet!
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(1) Charlie Barnet …An Illustrated Biography and Discography, by Dan Mather (2002) 61. Hereafter Mather.
(2) Mather (62-63).
(3) Here is a link to information about the Quintones: https://bandchirps.com/vocalgroup/quintones/
(4) In the third four bar tract behind Bernie Privin’s trumpet solo, the Quintones also sing …patty patty oo. The significance of these words, as well as the title to this piece have been lost in the mists of time.
Here are links to other great performances by Charlie Barnet:
https://swingandbeyond.com/2016/08/11/harlem-speaks-1941-charlie-barnet/
https://swingandbeyond.com/2020/06/10/afternoon-of-a-moax-1940-charlie-barnet/
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