Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Blue Rhythm Ramble

Blue Rhythm Ramble

Performed by Mills Blue Rhythm Band (Ray Linn - Jimmy Zito trumpet; , Juan Tizol valve trombone; Eddie Rosa clarinet; Willie Smith alto sax; Herbie Haymer tenor sax; Butch Stone baritone sax; Moe Wechsler piano; Charles Garble vibes; Barney Kessel guitar; Arnold Fishkin bass; Irv Cottler drums)

Parlophone R.3116

Originally recorded November 15, 1947

Irving Mills was born in 1894 in New York City. He was a songwriter, bandleader, music publisher, manager, talent scout, and vocalist. He started working professionally in 1912 as a song plugger, and in 1919 formed the Mills Publishing Company with his brother Jack. He started making records in 1928, with a band known variously as The Hotsy Totsy Gang, Mills' Merry Makers, Mills' Musical Clowns, Irving Mills and His Modernists, and Irving Mills and His Orchestra—this band featured such great musicians as Jimmy McPartland, Fud Livingston, Jack Pettis, Eddie Lang, Benny Goodman, Harry Reser, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Pee Wee Russell, Phil Napoleon, Miff Mole, Hoagy Carmichael, Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, and Gene Krupa. Mills himself would occasionally sing with this band.

In 1926, Mills became the manager for Duke Ellington's Orchestra. As Ellington's manager and head of the firm that published Ellington's music, Mills would routinely give himself writer's credit (along with Ellington) for Ellington's work. He also managed Cab Calloway, Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford and Don Redman, and he presumably did the same thing with these artists' works. Ellington was once asked whether it bothered him that Mills took credit and got royalties for Ellington's compositions—Ellington replied that he didn't mind, since Mills stuck with him through hard times when he was getting started. However, because of this practice, one has to take Mills' songwriting credits with a grain of salt. He is credited with co-writing "Caravan"; "Down South Camp Meetin'"; "Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now"; "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart"; "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"; "'Long About Midnight"; "Minnie the Moocher (The Hi De Ho Song)"; "Mood Indigo"; "Prelude To a Kiss"; "Ring Dem Bells"; "Rockin' in Rhythm"; "Solitude"; "Sophisticated Lady"; "Straighten Up and Fly Right"; "Washboard Blues"; and "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street".

The drummer Willie Lynch formed the Blue Rhythm Band in 1930 (it was also known as the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, and accompanied Louis Armstrong on several recordings). Mills became the band's manager in 1931, at which point the band's name was changed to the Mills Blue Rhythm Band (although it recorded under other names, such as Blue Rhythm Boys and Mills Music Masters). Mills was the bandleader in name only—he never performed with the band. When Lynch left the band in 1931, Baron Lee became the true leader for a while. He was followed by Eddie Mallory for a while. In 1934, Lucky Millinder took over leadership of the band, a role he held until the band broke up in 1938. The band started recording again some time later. The band's membership changed a lot over the years—at times it included Henry Allen, J.C. Higginbotham, Alex Hill (as arranger), Wilbur de Paris and Danny Barker.

The record label credits "Blue Rhythm Ramble" to Alexander and Mills. I believe the former is Van Alexander, who acted as diector and arranger for two other sides in the same recording session as the one that produced this record. Mills was Irving Mills, who probably didn't have anything to do with the writing of this piece (as noted above, Mills was in the habit of slapping his name on pieces he published so he could get royalties).

Van Alexander also wrote "Blue Rhythm Chant", which is on the flip side of this record. I don't know of any other recordings of "Blue Rhythm Ramble".

Thanks to Julian Vein for giving me the line-up on this record.