[Dixielandjazz] Stock arrangements

[dwlit at cpcug.org]

Hi Al. I'm fascinated by the subject of stock charts, especially the
history. When you were working with Warrington, was the office sort of an
arranging "shop"? What was your role? My understanding was that Mason and
Bleyer, perhaps Frank Skinner, had "shops" where apprentices/journeymen
did much of the routine work, and apparently the Big Names did final
touches, something like that. Eddie Sauter worked in Bleyer's office. I
have a vague impression that Jimmy Dale had a shop.

As I understand it, these guys were commissioned by various publishers to
do charts. Many arrangers only did relatively few stocks--Gordon Jenkins,
Buzz Adlam. Some of the big band arrangers (eg. Jimmy Mundy, one of
Goodman's arrangers) did a bunch.

Stocks were made of the most popular Miller, Shaw, T. Dorsey hits. They
were "cover" charts that sounded like the records to general audiences,
and arranged so the average hotel band could play them, with only 10
pieces, sometimes fewer. Al mentioned Goodman and Jeff Hest. During the
1980s Hest published transcriptions "Sing, sing, sing" and "Don't pee that
way" because no cover charts were made; the stocks of "SSS" and "DBTW"
treated them merely as ordinary tunes and were dismally pallid. Hest also
did "Moonlight serenade", because the stock didn't sound like the record.
BTW, the sheet music of the tunes didn't try to reflect the records.

The only "hack" I can think of off hand was Walter Paul, who apparently
was a house arranger for Chapelle, Witmark, and Harms; he did stocks of
classic Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter tunes in the late 20s-early 30s, and for
the most part butchered them!

To partially answer to Steve Hoog: In the case of Jelly Roll Morton's Red
Hot Peppers classics, Morton used some stocks and modified them, eg. Elmer
Schoebel's "The Chant". In the case of his own compositions, stocks seem
to have been made after the record; Schoebel made stocks of several, but I
haven't gotten around to comparing them with the record.

We need to consider the pop and jazz tunes separately. As I understand it,
pop sheet music was the tune publishers' prime product, and to promote the
sales, publishers had stocks made so the tunes could be played by hotel
orchestras, and they sent out loads of freebies to entice the orchestras. 
Tunes were tunes, and multiple artists recorded them, and it didn't matter
whether the hotel orchestras sounded just like any particular records.

Jazz charts are a mixed bag. Some were clearly published after the records
became hits. In other cases the charts came first. Some seem to have been
published simultaneously with the records. Stocks of Ellington's "It don't
mean a thing" and "Rockin' in rhythm" are detailed transcriptions, and I
have no idea which came first.

--Sheik

> Johnny W's output was also immense. He almost
> always produced distinctive charts + some
> originals (stocks) such as "Satin Saxes".
> ==============================
> Anyone on the list wanting a glimpse at an
> original Sy Oliver / Tommy Dorsey chart send me
> an email off line. I'll send a mini score (.pdf)
> ===============================
> Just for fun. Who can name the composer
> of Swanee River?
>
> Cheers,
> Al
> Pianist, Composer, Arranger, Conductor, Teacher and Music Prep.
> Please visit me at
> http://alevy.com
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