[78-L] Hal Kemp Orchestra 1937 Rejected Recording of 'Roustabout' - Sample Record

[David Lewis]

Does that mean this is the only existing recording of that song by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra for the 11-17-37 session?? How many 'Sample Records' would have been made?? Would the orignal master have been saved?
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Would I be way off base thinking this might be the only known recording of Roustabout by the Hal Kemp Orchestra...??? (even if it is kind of screwed up)
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Comments??
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Thanks!? CDB


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CDB,


Nice find! There are commercial issues of Hal Kemp records -- like "Workout" -- which Rust doesn't list. Years ago I made my own list of Kemp's output in an excel file, which unfortunately perished in a hard disk crash. But it ran to about 330 entries which is a lot and I'm not surprised that some of them were missed in the ADBD. However, I don't see any indication at all that "Roustabout" issued in any form. And I don't agree with Julian's assessment that the title was rejected because it was mediocre; Victor issued many far more mediocre charts than this one. I'm really curious as to who might have composed this, as it is in the "egghead" style popular around 1937; it might be one of Kemp's own pieces, or something by Sid Phillips. Kemp also recorded his own "In Dutch with the Duchess" on this date. If it were Kemp's piece it may have been rejected as he was not satisfied with it, at least in comparison with "Duchess," which is a genuinely great egghead chart.


The main Hal Kemp repository is at Chapel Hill, but there is a secondary one at a remote university which contains a large number of radio transcriptions. At the moment I can't remember where, but it is mentioned in the piece on Kemp in the old, orange-backed Grove's Dictionary of Jazz. Bob Conrad once described it to me as a large collection that is uncatalogued and basically inaccessible, housed along with a batch of scores donated to the same institution by John Scott Trotter long ago. If there is a possible alternate performance of "Roustabout" in existence, it might be there. As there is no finder, online or otherwise, finding out might be a bit of a challenge (!)


I like the way the themes are laid out kind of tugs at one's memory in a funny way, although the lack of the usual kinds of transitions in the piece that would render it in a smoother, more predictable idiom indicates that this one really wasn't in a finished form when it was recorded here.


Uncle Dave Lewis

uncledavelewis at hotmail.com