[78-L] Ruth Gaylor, Peg LaCentra

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

I have quite a few of the Hudson-DeLange Brunswicks and must say that, 
like Peg LaCentra, Ruth Gaylor is an acquired taste. After multiple 
plays of various Hudson-DeLange discs, I got used to her sound and 
style and accepted it for what I thought she was: A “period” singer. To 
me, Peg LaCentra had more of a 1920s voice than a mid-1930s big-band 
voice. Shaw claimed he liked her singing. She recorded with him for 
Brunswick and Thesaurus. She even sang with Goodman for several months, 
but because she was still recording with Shaw on Brunswick, did not 
record with Goodman. Her six Bluebird sides with Jerry Sears do not 
serve her well, stuff like “Big Mouth Minnie” and “Who Threw the Mush 
in Grandpa’s Whiskers?”

Another Miller reissue of his 1935-1938 Brunswick sides is “Glenn 
Miller and His Orchestra” Epic LN3236.