[Dixielandjazz] Louis, Lotte and Mackie

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

Bill H writes (in part):
>Then I realised that he was probably referring to the Lotte Lenya CD  'Lotte
Lenya Sings Kurt Weill' [Sony Classical MHK 60647] which is the sort of
thing listmate Anton Crouch probably has       8>)

Very droll, very droll ...     :-)

Actually I don't have the particular CD Bill refers to - I have no
enthusiasm for most of Kurt Weill's stuff and think that Lotte Lenya is
somewhat over-rated as a singer. That said, I'd like very much to hear
Lenya's version of Mack the Knife with the Turk Murphy band. 

What I do have is the 1997 Sony/Columbia issue (MHK 63222) of her singing
the Berlin material (including the Moritat, which is the actual name of the
piece that we call Mack the Knife). I also have the Capriccio compilation
(CD 10 346) of 78s from the period 1928 to 1931, including material from
the original cast members and the original Dreigroschenoper Band (the Lewis
Ruth Band). It should be noted that Lenya never sang Mack the Knife on
stage in Berlin - she played the role of Jenny. The CD also has some dance
band arrangements (Marek Weber and his orch; the Haller Revue Jazz Orch).

Bill's quotation from a review of the 1999 CD ("It's a delightful and
fascinating look at the great Lenya being instructed in how to sing
American jazz by the equally great Louis Armstrong ...") is fascinating in
itself. What would have resulted if Lenya had tried to instruct Armstrong
in how to sing 1920's Berlin cabaret?   :-)

Now for something radical - on the evidence of the Berlin 78s, I prefer the
louche swing of the German original production to the carefully-produced
"pop" of the 1950s.

On a final note, Lenya's problem with the Armstrongesque "Mack-eee" is
understandable. In the original, whenever "Mackie Messer" is sung, the
stress is always on "Mess-err".

All the best
Anton