“It’s the Dreamer in Me”
Composed by Jimmy Dorsey and Jimmy Van Heusen; arranged by Edgar Sampson.
Recorded by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra for Victor on April 8, 1938 in New York.
Benny Goodman, clarinet, directing: Harry James, first trumpet; Ziggy Elman and Chris Griffin, trumpets; Vernon Brown and Sterling “Red” Ballard, trombones; Milt Yaner, first alto saxophone; Dave Matthews, alto saxophone; Arthur Rollini and Lawrence “Bud” Freeman, tenor saxophones; Jess Stacy, piano; Ben Heller, guitar; Harry Goodman, bass; Dave Tough, drums; Martha Tilton, vocal.
The story:
The story of Benny Goodman’s involvement with singer Helen Ward, the first girl singer with BG’s band, is told elsewhere at swingandbeyond.com. (That story and relevant music can be accessed at endnote 1.) Helen was a fine singer who imbued her performances with a subtle but unmistakable sensuality. When she left the Goodman band toward the end of 1936, Benny began what turned out to be a nine-month search for a vocalist that he thought would fit with his band. (Above right: Helen Ward and Benny Goodman. She was hard to follow, for a lot of reasons.)
He first tried a young woman who was singing at CBS, Margaret McCrae, who worked with him through the end of 1936. She made three recordings with Benny, (including a fine performance of “Never Should Have Told You,” which can be accessed at endnote 2). Ms. McCrae left the Goodman band around New Years’ 1937, and Benny began to use another vocalist, Frances Hunt (1915-1993), who had been singing with Lou Bring’s band.
Ms. Hunt was a good singer who lasted about four months with BG. Her only commercial recording with Benny was “Goodnight My Love.” She left the Goodman band at the end of April 1937 to marry Lou Bring.
Her successor, Peg La Centra, worked with Goodman through May and June as the band worked its way west to Hollywood where they would perform in the Warner Brothers film Hollywood Hotel, in production through July and well into August. Betty Van was used by BG during that period as his band vocalist, until she was replaced by Martha Tilton. Ms.Tilton was singing then as a part of the Meyer Alexander chorus, which was being used as a supporting act on the Benny’s Camel Caravan radio shows that aired on August 10 and 17. Benny, a highly critical judge of musical talent, noticed Ms. Tilton’s singing immediately on the August 10 show. The next week, through rehearsals and the actual broadcast, he listened more. He then asked her to audition, was pleased with Martha’s performance, and signed her to a contract.(3)
Martha Ellen Tilton was born November 14, 1915 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Her family moved to Edena, Kansas when she was three months old. They then moved to Los Angeles in 1922, where she grew into adulthood. Her family was musical with her mother playing piano, her father singing at family gatherings, and her younger sister, Liz Tilton, also becoming a professional singer. While attending Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, she sang on a small radio station when she was heard by an agent who began booking her onto larger L.A. area stations. Martha sang as a teenager with Sid Lippman’s Band at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles. She then dropped out of school in the eleventh grade to join Hal Grayson’s band, and worked with that group from 1933 to 1936. She worked with singing quartet Three Hits and A Miss during 1936-37, was with Jimmy Dorsey’s orchestra on a temporary basis from late June until August 1937, and had an uncredited role as a singer in the 1937 MGM film Topper.
Although Martha was a cute girl with a winning smile and easy-going personality, she was much more the girl-next-door than she was the vamp. Those involved in promotion of the BG band had her pose for pictures in provocative ways, but she always seemed to be that sweet girl-next-door.(3A)
Benny was not too concerned about this. His main concerns were that she sang well, on pitch with good voice quality, was able to swing gently, fit-in with the band, and ruffled no feathers. She was also a disciplined professional who showed up for work on time, well-groomed, and ready to sing. Audiences liked her. She would remain with Benny for about 21 months, being featured on many recordings including: “Bob White,” “It’s Wonderful,” “Please Be Kind,” “Feelin’ High And Happy,” a hit version of Duke Ellington’s “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart,” “This Can’t Be Love,” and “The Lady’s In Love With You.” She was also part of an extended recording of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon” with the Benny Goodman Quartet that included a klezmer-style trumpet solo from Ziggy Elman. That idea would be adapted for her biggest hit, “And The Angels Sing,” which had originally been an Elman instrumental piece called “Fralich In Swing” before Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics for her. (A link to the music and story of that recording is at endnote 4.)
Martha Tilton was part of the famous Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall concert of January 16, 1938, performing “Loch Lomond” and “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon,” and she appeared on many radio broadcasts with the Goodman band. She was a popular member of that group until May 1939, when she began her post-BG career as a singer in many different entertainment contexts. She died on December 8, 2006.
The music:
“It’s the Dreamer in Me” was composed in 1937 by bandleader Jimmy Dorsey, with a lyric added by Jimmy Van Heusen, who was just beginning to make a name for himself in the world of swing in 1938. The first recording of it was by Harry James, who led an ad hoc group of musicians for a recording session on January 5, 1938.(5) Jimmy Dorsey recorded it on March 15, 1938 with Bob Eberly singing. The song probably came to Benny’s attention via the James recording.
This straightforward arrangement of “It’s the Dreamer in Me” was written by Edgar Sampson, who was quite busy writing charts for Benny Goodman’s band in early 1938. Sampson’s original tune “Don’t Be That Way” as recorded by BG was becoming a hit by the spring of that year. His original tune “Stomping at the Savoy” was by 1938 a staple of the Goodman repertoire.
Benny played “It’s the Dreamer in Me” at an insinuating tempo, perfect for slow dancing. The four-bar introduction spots the brass, led by James, and the reeds, led by Milt Yaner, playing together, followed by a descending clarinet bit, played by Benny.
The first tract of the main melody in the first chorus is carried by the saxophone quartet, which has an ethereal sound courtesy of Mr. Yaner, who was subbing on this record date. (6) Yaner phrases these passages in a most relaxed fashion, with the help of the recently arrived tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman. The brass add warm emphases to the melodic reeds. In the second eight bars, the entire ensemble plays as a unit, with a couple of soft asides from the saxophones.
Benny Goodman and his band play at an outdoor venue in the summer of 1938. Vocalist Martha Tilton sits to Benny’s right. To his left are pianist Jess Stacy and guitarist Ben Heller.
Arranger Sampson then takes the music into the vocal chorus via a modulation played by the saxophones. Martha Tilton by this time had been a member of the Goodman band for some eight months, and she sings with utter relaxation. Although she sings with excellent intonation, the quality of her voice is girlish, something that can be understood because she was a mere 22 years old when she made this recording.(7)
I must also mention the busy background piano, played by Jess Stacy. What he plays is wonderful, but it is distracting. Benny was well aware of this, and perhaps told Jess to play this way. (He had also done this on occasion behind Helen Ward, and despite her respect for Jess as a pianist, she did not like it.) Martha sings the song’s bridge, which begins with a couple of sly bass drum thuds courtesy of Dave Tough. The humming saxophones provide a delightful cushion for Martha’s singing.
Benny then plays a transitional bit of melody, and then on into the the last few bars. The brassy finale is particularly attractive.
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(3) The Record of a Legend …Let’s Dance Benny Goodman (1984), by D. Russell Connor, 85.
(3A) While with the Grayson band, she married a Canadian boy named Dave Thomas–she was 18 at the time. This marriage lasted only a short time, but long enough for Martha to become pregnant. She gave birth to her son, Gerald, in 1936. See: http://marthatilton.com/biography.html
(5) In January of 1938, Harry James was still the major trumpet soloist in Benny Goodman’s band, and would remain so through the rest of 1938 and into January of 1939. Nevertheless, starting in December of 1937, he was starting to take steps that would eventually result in him forming his own band, which happened in early 1939. The first step, on December 1, was a recording session for Brunswick on which he used musicians from Count Basie’s band, including their female vocalist Helen Humes. Four sides were produced. A similar session was held on January 5, 1938 at which another four sides were recorded, including “It’s the Dreamer in Me,” with Ms. Humes singing.
(6) Although Benny Goodman had a marvelously cohesive and swinging saxophone section from the summer of 1935 through March of 1938, led by Hymie Shertzer on alto and solidified by Arthur Rollini on tenor, he nevertheless began tinkering with it in March of 1938. This process initially resulted in BG hiring, on the recommendation of Harry James, Dave Matthews, who was known in the profession as a tenor saxophonist and capable jazz player. Benny had him play alto, and on occasion play lead alto. The lead alto experiment was to see if a saxophonist who was a jazz soloist could perhaps impart a more swinging lead to the section. This experiment irritated Hymie. Bud Freeman, who had joined Benny’s band on March 31 after long service with Tommy Dorsey, told Hymie that TD had often told him that he admired how Hymie played lead. Hymie and TD spoke and by early April, Hymie was leading Tommy Dorsey’s saxophone section.
Benny’s experiment with Dave Matthews playing lead alto did not provide what he was looking for. Milt Yaner, an expert and experienced lead alto player who was and would remain Jimmy Dorsey’s lead alto, covered the April 8 record date for BG, but by April 15, Noni Bernardi, another fine lead alto saxophonist, became Benny’s lead alto. Dave Matthews did however remain with Goodman, and he played some fine jazz solos on alto saxophone with Benny’s band.
(7) Regarding “girlish” sounding swing era female vocalists, we should remember that perhaps the greatest of them, Ella Fitzgerald, also had that quality about her singing, and it lasted in some form or another through the 1940s.
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