[Dixielandjazz] Bob Crosby Library - Discovered

[Don Ingle]

Eddy's son is a retired doctor, I think his initials are E.J., who last I
knew was living in Ventura, CA, just below Santa Barbara. He was a
classmate, though a couple years ahead of me at North Hollywood High school
(Gene Estes was of my graduating class as was John Williams). You might try
a search of the Ventura
phone area, or the local medical association there. Hope that helps.
The charts must be mostly by Matty or Bob Haggart. What a find.
I have a sketch of Stomp Mr. Henry Lee that Matty gave me when I was
studying arranging with hi in the 1960's before I left for Chicago.. Eddie
recorded that with a studio band for Capitol as Eddie Miller and his
Orchestra, an old black label Cap.
That one was a Matty Matlock chart.
Don Ingle
----- Original Message -----
From: <Edmetzsr at aol.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 7:28 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Bob Crosby Library - Discovered


> Dear Listmates,
>        For those of you who have expressed interest in the Bob Crosby
> Orchestra and the Bob Cats during the past half dozen years, and for those
of you
> jazz historians in our group, I have some exciting and almost remarkable
news.
> Further, I've chosen today, June 1, 2003 to share the news with you. June
1,
> 1935, 68 years to the day, was the date that the first four sides ever
recorded
> for Decca under Bob Crosby's name were completed.
>        During the past two weeks, I have taken delivery of a big band
> library, reviewed it in a fair amount of detail the nearly 5000 pages
contained
> therein, sorted it all and then filed it all for easy access in the weeks
and
> months ahead. I am pleased to report to all interested jazz loving parties
that the
> "original" (1935 to 1942) Crosby library, in large measure, has been
> recovered and will be preserved. Included in the collection is the
original
> arrangement of "Beale Street Blues" recorded on this day in 1935.
>        About a month ago, I received a phone call telling me that someone
in
> Florida was contacting big band leaders, claiming to have the Crosby
library.
> I immediately assumed that if this was true, it was the library that Bob
> Crosby had at the time of his death in 1993. That was the collection I've
been
> looking for at least 8 years to no avail.
>        Never did I even consider that it could be the "original" 1930s and
> 40s library. After all, Crosby himself told me that the original was
destroyed
> after Eddie Miller took it to New Orleans for safekeeping in 1943. His
story
> was that Miller, who received a medical discharge went back to New
Orleans, took
> the music with him, placed it carefully in the garage of a friend, which
> garage developed a leaky roof, which in turn led to the disintegration of
the
> paper, etc., etc., etc. I've told this story hundreds of times from the
bandstand
> as I explained that we've had to rewrite all of our charts in order to
present
> the Crosby music in any form.
>        Well, it turns out that Mr. Crosby didn't have all the facts quite
> right. Eddie Miller took over the leadership of the Bob Crosby Orchestra
in 1943,
> after being elected to do so by the band members, and with Mr. Crosby's
> concurrence. This didn't last for too long because wartime conditions made
it
> virtually impossible for the band to travel to engagements, and also
because more
> and more available musicians were being drafted, making it difficult to
field a
> band, even in the Los Angeles area. So Eddie gave up and resorted to
becoming
> a studio musician in Hollywood, where he stayed until the late 50s.
>        Sometime near the end of the 50s, Eddie got a call from Pete
Fountain
> to come back to New Orleans to join Pete's band. He did so and stayed on
until
> the late 60s. Somewhere along the way, he returned to California where he
> passed away in the 1980s.
>        The best that I can tell, Eddie took the big band library that he
had
> for his leader's stint in the LA area with him to New Orleans. I have no
> information as to whether he ever led a big band after the 1950s. When he
left New
> Orleans to return to California, he left the library behind, except for
the
> Tenor sax parts, which I am sad to report are missing. My guess is that he
> pulled the Tenor book for some reason, and carried it with him.
>        How did I get the library, you ask? I contacted the fellow in
Florida
> to let him know that I was interested. After a short "getting to know you
> dance" period, and after I received information from him as to the
contents of the
> collection, we negotiated a "deal". Basically what I learned, was that
this
> collection contained lots of things that the 1993 library did not contain.
I
> knew that because I played from the Crosby book many time during the
1980s.
> What's in the collection that I now have in my possession are the
following:
>        About 50 tunes recorded by the Crosby band prior to WWII.
>        About 80 tunes never recorded by Bob Crosby, but which are tunes
that
> I know.
>                 It's likely that many of these tunes were carried by the
band
> as dance            tunes, standards, some of which were written during
the
> war after the             band broke up, during which time Eddie Miller
was
> looking for more            work.
>        About 30 or so tunes for which I have no reference source, likely
pop
> tunes of             the day that didn't make it, or perhaps movie tunes
that
> didn't make it.
>        Quite a few of the arrangements are missing parts in addition to
the
> tenor sax parts, e.g., second trumpet, third trombone, guitar or drums.
They
> can be fixed by recreating the parts. Some of the titles are missing an
> extensive number of parts and are simply not fixable. Obviously, those
tunes for which
> I have the Crosby recordings (which is all of them, thanks to the Halcyon
CD
> series) will be fixed eventually.
>        At any rate, I share this long winded tome with you because I'm
very
> excited as I'm certain many of you will be. To us, this is like finding
Venus
> de Milo (even without arms, she's been a source of joy, a thing of beauty
and a
> treasure). However, I have a favor to ask. If anyone on the DJML, or any
of
> your friends can lead me to the family of Eddie Miller, I'd appreciate it
very
> much. What I'd like to ascertain, is whether Eddie's possessions at the
time
> of his death included the missing tenor parts. If so, and I can at least
copy
> them, it would save hundreds or thousands of hours required to reconstruct
> them. After that work is complete, it is my intention to turn this
material over
> to one of the major jazz archives such as the ones at the Rutgers
Institute of
> Jazz Studies in New Jersey or the Tulane archives in New Orleans.
>        Further, if anyone can provide additional information regarding
other
> Crosby arrangements (after all, there were well over 300 tunes recorded by
the
> band) that might have been owned by other recording companies, other
> vocalists, other   musicians, etc., I'd sure like to hear from you. In
particular, I'm
> certain that Decca had an arrangement library, as they underwrote much of
the
> band's expenses. I know this was true of Capital and Columbia records.
>        Oh, you ask how the music was recovered??? Here's the rest of the
> story.....
> A few months ago, a house painter in New Orleans discovered two beat up
cases
> in the attic of a house on which he was working in New Orleans. Upon
> inspection, he discovered that the cases contained moldy smelling music.
After
> inquiring and finding that no one wanted this "junk", he contacted an old
friend of
> his father who lived in south Florida and collected music. After it was
> shipped, the gentleman in Florida did what he could to air it out to get
rid of the
> smell, including hanging individual parts of it out on the back yard wash
line,
> and getting rid of the cases, replacing them with  cardboard boxes. That's
> precisely how the music arrived here in New Jersey two weeks ago!!!
>        For those festival fans out there, the Bob Cats will be in
Davenport
> for the Bix In July, in Orange County California for John Dieball's
Classic in
> August and at the Fresno Mardi Gras in February, 2004. Some of the Cats
will
> be appearing in Morristown, NJ at the Bickford Theater on Monday 8/18.
Then in
> April 2004, we'll have the Bob Crosby Orchestra on the American Queen for
a
> five day cruise between Memphis on the Mississippi River and Henderson, up
the
> Ohio River. Anyone in any of those audiences will hear the debut, or
rather,
> the first authentic recreation of this Crosby music in 60 years. Just a
quick
> plug for those who don't know us, we've already included about 200 "Crosby
> tunes" in our Bob Cat Library. That's about enough material for all the
festivals I
> just mentioned above, without a repeat -- except for "Big Noise From
> Winnetka" and "South Rampart Street Parade", which if they left us cave
in, we'd have
> to do every set.
>
>        Thanks for you interest.  Best Regards from all the guys in the
> band!!!
>
>        Ed Metz for the Bob Cats
>        Edmetzsr at aol.com
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