[Dixielandjazz] FW:"Star Dust"

[Fred Spencer]

Dear Bill,
Perhaps a few more versions of Star Dust have been added since the 1927-1990 
listing of 1,065 in Arthur Bradley's "Silver Threads.".In a 'lore-filled' 
chapter entitled "Sixty Years of Star Dust" there is another list of "Record 
Labels (Number) of Primary Star Dust Recordings" which has about 450 entries 
from AAMCO to Zodiac--not surprisingly Capitol (29 ) Columbia (50) and 
Victor (35) have the most.The most popular vocal "Star Dust" is probably by 
Nat "King " Cole, and the Ramon Raquello-War of theWorlds broadcast fake 
comment "is available on Murray Hill 44217." Purely by chance Glenn Miller's 
AAF stringy " Star Dust" is playing on my machine. Incidentally, I think 
that the acknowledged swing of the AAF band compared to GM's civilian outfit 
is partly from Ray McKinley's relaxed drums which differ from Moe Purtill's 
stilted style. This may have been more of an asset when Mo taught in his 
drum school. Of course Mel Powell and others were swingers too. All the 
best.
Fred
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au>
To: "dixieland jazz mail list" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 5:40 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] FW:"Star Dust"


> Dear friends,
> This interesting article courtesy of our Australian Dance Bands list.
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
> ______________________________________________________
> Maybe If It Had Some Lyrics: A Century of 'Star Dust'
>
> by David Hinckley
> New York Daily News, April 22, 2005
>
> Like all smart music publishers who honed their chops in Tin Pan
> Alley, Irving Mills knew no song would be a hit if you didn't work
> it.
>
> In 1931, then, he decided to dust off a composition that had already
> done pretty well for Mills Music, an instrumental called "Star Dust"
> by a kid from Indiana.
>
> Maybe if it had some lyrics, Mills figured, he could promote it into
> a new round of recordings. The composer, one Hoagy Carmichael, had
> recently moved to New York. Carmichael wasn't a lyricist, though, so
> his arrival didn't bring the song any closer to a set of words.
>
> Mills first tried to write "Star Dust" lyrics himself. When they all
> turned out lousy, he assigned the project to one of his staff
> writers, Mitchell Parish.
>
> Parish later remembered that he took on this job only reluctantly --
> but in fact, writing lyrics "cold" like this was more or less his
> specialty. Over the years he added lyrics to hundreds of melodies,
> from "Sophisticated Lady" to "Deep Purple" and "Sleigh Ride."
>
> As an instrumental, "Star Dust" had been performed two ways. The
> Chocolate Dandies and Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra had done it as
> a "hot" tune, while Isham Jones slowed it down to waltz tempo.
>
> For his part, Parish heard it as a sad song.
>
> An unbearably sad song.
>
> And he wrote lyrics to match:
>
> Sometimes I wonder why I spend
> The lonely nights
> Dreaming of a song.
> The melody haunts my reverie
> And I am once again with you
> When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.
> But that was long ago, and now my consolation
> Is in the stardust of a song...
>
> Critics thought the whole thing was brilliant, 26 seamless lines
> rich
> in metaphor and yet beautifully direct in their sense of aching
> loss -
> - crushing sorrow expressed so exquisitely it almost makes you want
> to go on living:
>
> Though I dream in vain, in my heart you will remain
> My stardust melody
> The memory of love's refrain.
>
> There is some evidence Mills didn't share that initial enthusiasm.
> He
> waited two years, until 1933, to send the lyrics to the Library of
> Congress for copyright.
>
> He did, however, immediately put them into circulation.
>
> Within days the song, with its new words, was being performed on a
> remote broadcast from the Cotton Club by Mills' Blue Rhythm Band,
> fronted by Irving's brother Sidney Mills. The Blue Rhythm Band was
> also the first to record it, in May 1931, with Chick Bullock on
> vocals.
>
> By August, Bing Crosby had chimed in, and soon it had become a
> favorite with sweet bands. Eddy Duchin played it as a theme during
> his long run at the Central Park Casino. In November, three "hot"
> versions recorded by Louis Armstrong gave "Star Dust" a new
> dimension: hip glamour.
>
> Daily Mirror columnist Walter Winchell, whose prestige and reach
> made
> him one of the most influential music critics of the day,
> declared "Star Dust" a song against which all other popular songs
> would be measured.
>
> And indeed, far from fading away in the manner of most popular
> music, "Star Dust" just kept twinkling.
>
> In 1936, RCA had two of its most popular artists, Benny Goodman and
> Tommy Dorsey, record versions it put back-to-back on a 78 rpm
> single.
> Goodman's was instrumental, Dorsey's vocal, and RCA reported it was
> the company's best-selling record of both 1936 and 1938.
>
> Interestingly, the most popular version, recorded in the late '30s,
> was an instrumental, by Artie Shaw. To this day, many
> traditionalists
> consider Shaw's to be the definitive "Star Dust."
>
> In fact, many traditionalists respect anyone who can do a good "Star
> Dust," for the song was never easy for anyone to record. Carmichael
> himself had tried to record it at a 1930 session where his musicians
> included Bix Beiderbecke, and he finally gave it up, saying he and
> the band could never find a comfortable enough groove.
>
> But that didn't stop the flow, and by the late '30s "Star Dust" had
> itself a reputation. Orson Welles' famous "War of the World" radio
> broadcast on Halloween night 1938, a fiction written as if a series
> of real news bulletins were interrupting real programming, included
> a
> musical segment with a hotel remote of "Star Dust" by "Ramon
> Raquello's Orchestra."
>
> Soldiers landing in the Philippines during World War II were greeted
> by a native combo playing "Star Dust." The song became Glenn
> Miller's
> first V-Disc. Soon it had been translated into 36 languages.
>
> And Mitchell Parish grew to be a very old man, and still the world
> was playing his song.
>
> By the early 1990s, more than 1,200 versions of "Star Dust" had been
> recorded -- not counting Ramon Raquello's, but including Frank
> Sinatra's, Elke Sommer's, Lionel Hampton's, Wynton Marsalis' and
> Liberace's. Parish always said there was only one version he never
> liked much, Ringo Starr's.
>
> And by now an evening sky full of Broadway luminaries had mounted a
> Parish tribute show, brimming with the most famous of the hundreds
> of
> standards he had put words to over the many years. "Star Dust," of
> course, was the standout -- and that, of course, was what the show
> was titled, six decades after Parish put the words on paper.
> _____________________________________________________________
>
>
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