“Boogie Woogie Maxixe”

Composed by Gil Rodin; arranged by Julian “Matty” Matlock.

Recorded by Bob Crosby and His Orchestra for Decca on August 29, 1939 in New York.

Matty Matlock, clarinet, directing: Billy Butterfield, first trumpet; Rubin “Zeke” Zarchy and Clarence “Shorty” Sherock, trumpets; Warren Smith, first trombone; Ray Conniff, trombone; Joey Kearns, first alto saxophone and clarinet; Bill Stegmeyer, clarinet; Irving Prestopnick (Fazola), clarinet; Gil Rodin, clarinet; Eddie Miller, tenor saxophone; Joe Sullivan, piano; Nappy Lamare, guitar; Bob Haggart, bass; Ray Bauduc, drums; Bob Crosby, present.

The story – part one – the song:

Those of you who visit swingandbeyond.com know that I am fascinated by music. I am also fascinated by the English language. Although I am in no way a linguist, I deeply appreciate the expressive nature of the English language, and its adaptability. And I love the sounds of many words in English, and in other languages as well. Often, words from other languages somehow find their way into the English language. And so, we will now explore the etymology of the swing era song title “Boogie Woogie Maxixe.”

The genesis of boogie-woogie as a musical idiom is discussed here at swingandbeyond.com at length in the post on the great 1938 Tommy Dorsey recording of Deane Kincaide’s translation of Clarence “Pine Top” Smith’s 1928 piano recording into the language of swing, called simply “Boogie Woogie.” That story and those recordings can be accessed at endnote (1).

What then of the word “Maxixe”?

The maxixe (pronounced ma-sheesh’), occasionally known as the Brazilian tango, is a dance, with its accompanying music (often played as a subgenre of choro), that originated in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in 1868, at about the same time as the tango was developing in neighboring Argentina and Uruguay. It is a dance developed from Afro-Brazilian dances (mainly the lundu) and from European dances (mainly the polka).

Like the tango, the maxixe travelled to Europe and the United States in the early years of the Twentieth Century.(2)

As far as I can tell, there is little or no discernable maxixe present in the Bob Crosby band recording of “Boogie Woogie Maxixe,” and not really that much boogie-woogie. But the title is an intoxicating amalgam of words and sounds that could only come together in American English. And of course maxixe (ma-sheesh’) reminds me of another word that has crept into English, hasheesh (hashish), which opens a constellation of other ideas.

The story – part two – Crosby the band:

The Bob Crosby band, under the skillful management of Gil Rodin, the band’s actual business leader (3), was moving up in popularity all through 1938. Gil was a big band veteran whose career started in the 1920s in the Ben Pollack band. He remained with Pollack until 1934, when the entire band left Pollack as a group because of the way Ben was running the band. The sidemen were disgusted with how Pollack, head-over-heels in love with the band’s girl singer, Doris Robbins, was in essence deemphasizing the band’s musical presentation to overemphasize Ms. Robbins’s vocals. After the Pollack mutiny, Gil somehow used all of his connections in New York to keep the band rehearsing and working, even though gigs were few and money was scarce.

The story of how the remnants of the Ben Pollack band evolved into the Bob Crosby band is told in the post here at swingandbeyond.com on the Crosby band’s recording of “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.” That story and music can be accessed at endnote (3).

The Bob Crosby band was in operation on a full-time basis by the late spring of 1935. Gil Rodin had secured a recording contract for the band with Decca which began shortly before their first recording date, which was June 1, 1935. The money they earned making records for Decca was hardly enough to pay all of the band’s ongoing costs. It was augmented by money earned from many one-night stands. The tours the Crosby band undertook in the early months of the band’s existence often stretched into weeks on end. By early 1936, Rodin had managed to secure several radio transcription recording dates which were held in Manhattan, which added some money to the band’s income, without the back-breaking travel occasioned by one-nighters. Nevertheless, the Crosby band continued to tour widely through the spring and summer of 1936. (Above right: Joey Kearns and Gil Rodin walk along the boardwalk on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey – summer 1939.)

Starting in early 1937, the Crosby band began what eventually turned into a series of location jobs in Chicago, with sustaining radio broadcasts, that slowly built the band’s name and reputation with swing fans. The first of these was a lengthy stay at the Congress Hotel in the late winter and early spring of 1937. This was followed by very successful residencies at the Blackhawk Restaurant in the spring and autumn of 1938, and again in the spring of 1939. In between these gigs was a positive reception for the band at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. (Above left: drummer Ray Bauduc shown with the brass section of the Crosby band – Palomar Ballroom, late 1937. L-R: Billy Butterfield, Yank Lawson, Zeke Zarchy, Ward Silloway, Warren Smith.) The big break came in the summer of 1939 when the band secured a place on the CBS network radio show, the Camel Caravan, which had been so important to advancing the fortunes of Benny Goodman’s band. That association continued for the last six months of 1939, and then sporadically into 1940.

In order to strengthen the band for this radio show, Rodin added a number of top-grade musicians to the band’s personnel: Shorty Sherock on trumpet, Ray Conniff on trombone, and Irving Fazola on clarinet. The vocalist Helen Ward was also featured with the band on the Camel Caravan.

The Bob Crosby band appearing on the Camel Caravan, summer 1939: L-R: front – Nappy Lamare, Johnny Mercer, the show’s host, Bob Crosby, Eddie Miller, Irving Fazola, Joey Kearns, Bill Stegmeyer, Gil Rodin; middle, pianist Joe Sullivan, Warren Smith and Ray Conniff; back: Bob Haggart, Ray Bauduc, Zeke Zarchy, Shorty Sherock and Billy Butterfield.

The music:

The Crosby band’s recording of “Boogie Woogie Maxixe” begins with a percussive four-bar introduction played by the four clarinets (plus Eddie Miller’s tenor saxophone) and the straight-muted brass, underlined by drummer Ray Bauduc’s softly tapped tom-tom. The first chorus melody exposition is carried by the clarinets/tenor saxophone, achieving a delightfully jaunty sound, set off by straight-muted brass bursts. The bridge consists of the brass playing a melodic fragment against the undulating reeds. The reeds return as before to reprise the main melody to complete chorus one.

The second chorus begins after a bright, rhythmic interlude which leads into Joe Sullivan’s boogie-ish piano solo, which unfolds in two four-bar segments separated by the rhythmic reeds and straight-muted brass. There follows an interplay between the reeds and the still muted brass. Sullivan returns for a bit more solo piano, then he continues by playing against a series of open trombone bell tones, probably played by Warren Smith.

The final chorus has the potent brass team (led by Billy Butterfield), now open and fiery, playing against the joyously rolling reeds.

The brass section of Bob Crosby’s band at the time “Boogie Woogie Maxixe” was recorded: L-R: Billy Butterfield, Zeke Zarchy, Shorty Sherock; Warren Smith, and Ray Conniff.

***************

“Boogie Woogie Maxixe”

Composed by Gil Rodin; Matty Matlock arrangement reconstructed by Billy May.

Recorded by Billy May and the Swing Era Orchestra for Capitol on February 25, 1971 in Hollywood.

Billy May, directing: John Audino, first trumpet; John Best and Shorty Sherock, trumpets; Francis “Joe” Howard and Ed Kusby, trombones; Abe Most, Les Robinson, Wilbur Schwartz and Julie Jacob, B-flat clarinets; Don Raffell, tenor saxophone; Ray Sherman, piano; Jack Marshall, guitar; Rolly Bundock, bass; Nick Fatool, drums.

More music:

This performance by Billy May and the Swing Era Orchestra captures the spirit of the original Bob Crosby recording of “Boogie Woogie Maxixe” perfectly. In addition, it allows the listener to hear nuances that are hard to appreciate in the 1939 Decca recording, which nevertheless was beautifully recorded given the technology that existed then. Listen particularly to the bass part, expertly played by Rolly Bundock, and the drums, played by Nick Fatool.

The solo piano played by Ray Sherman is an immaculate recasting of Joe Sullivan’s solos on the original record, indeed an homage. The trombone accompaniment for Sherman was played by Francis “Joe” Howard.

The recordings presented with this post were digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.

Notes and links:

(1) Here is a link to the story and music of how boogie woogie came into the mainstream of jazz and swing: https://swingandbeyond.com/2025/11/30/boogie-woogie-1938-tommy-dorsey-deane-kincaide-1928-pinetop-smith-1942-tommy-dorsey-with-milt-raskin-and-buddy-rich/

(2) The 1928 recording of “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” was the source of the arrangement that Deane Kincaide wrote for Tommy Dorsey’s band in 1938 that was called simply “Boogie Woogie.” It became a big hit, and it remained a part of the permanent repertoire of the Tommy Dorsey band. The ever-alert Gil Rodin made sure the Bob Crosby band soon had their own boogie-woogie material to play, a Matty Matlock arrangement of Meade “Lux” Lewis’s “Honky Tonk Train.” It was recorded on October 19, 1938.

(3) Here is a link to the Bob Crosby band’s recording of “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”: https://swingandbeyond.com/2025/11/30/boogie-woogie-1938-tommy-dorsey-deane-kincaide-1928-pinetop-smith-1942-tommy-dorsey-with-milt-raskin-and-buddy-rich/

(4) Two other bright young men studied how the band business worked close-up along with Gil Rodin in the Ben Pollack band: bassist Harry Goodman, and trombonist Glenn Miller. Harry Goodman, older brother of Benny, assisted Benny immeasurably in the years 1935-1939 to make the Benny Goodman band a tremendous success. Glenn Miller applied his band business lessons very successfully in the operation of his own band.

Here are links to other great recordings by Bob Crosby’s band:

https://swingandbeyond.com/2023/04/06/south-rampart-street-parade-1937-bob-crosby-ray-bauduc-bobhaggart-yank-lawson-eddie-miller-1959-glen-gray-with-conrad-gozzo-gus-bivona-shorty-sherock-and-nick-fatool/

https://swingandbeyond.com/2020/04/04/im-prayin-humble-1938-bob-crosby-and-bob-haggart-and-1969-the-worlds-greatest-jazzband-of-yank-lawson-and-bob-haggart/

https://swingandbeyond.com/2025/10/12/between-the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea-1937-bob-crosby-bob-haggart-with-yank-lawson-eddie-miller-and-matty-matlock-1972-billy-may-with-john-best-justin-gordon-and-abe-most/

Here is a unique jazz duet performed by Crosby sidemen Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc: https://swingandbeyond.com/2017/05/27/big-noise-from-winnetka-1938-bob-haggart-ray-bauduc/

And here is a tribute to the bassist and a musical creator Bob Haggart who played a big part in the success of the Crosby band: https://swingandbeyond.com/2017/05/27/big-noise-from-winnetka-1938-bob-haggart-ray-bauduc/