| Recorded by
| - Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra, Whispering Jack Smith, Harry James, Chet Atkins, Bix Beiderbecke, Ben Bernie, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Stephane Grappelli, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Mark Murphy, Les Paul, Hank Penny, Django Reinhardt, Nellie McKay, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Gene Nelson, Benny Carter with Coleman Hawkins
|
| abstract
| - "Crazy Rhythm" was first recorded (on Victor 21368-B) by Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra in New York on 1928 April, with Franklyn Baur singing the chorus: Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway I'll go my way, you'll go your way Crazy rhythm, from now on We're through. In addition, a well-received and quite elegant version of the song was recorded by Whispering Jack Smith (noted for his soft, but crystal clear 'whispered' delivery over the air waves); his recording quickly became one of the most recognised and favorite renditions of the song to flappers, their beaux, and other Bright Young Things of the Jazz Age. It has been covered by a full range of artists from mainstream jazz to hillbilly bebop. At least 150 covers have been recorded. Harry James, Chet Atkins, Bix Beiderbecke, Ben Bernie, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Stephane Grappelli, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Herman's Norwegian Jazz Group Soloist: Ragnar Robertsen (Recorded on October 27, 1954 and re-released on the extended play Odeon GEON 2), Mark Murphy, Les Paul, Hank Penny, Django Reinhardt, Nellie McKay, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra have all recorded this catchy tune. Most, but not all, are strictly instrumental. The song was also covered by MECO for his 1978 album, Encounters of Every Kind. Of special note is the performance by Doris Day and Gene Nelson in the 1950 film Tea for Two. This is a frame tale around a putative production of No, No, Nanette (written in 1925 by the prolific Caesar, Otto Harbach, and Vincent Youmans); "Tea for Two" being a number inserted into the original Nanette. "Crazy Rhythm" is presented in this film as a demonstration for backers of the production-to-be. Thus, it has come to be associated with the popular "Tea" and Nanette, while Here's Howe is largely forgotten. Day and Nelson also recorded "Crazy Rhythm" on the album Tea for Two—not a soundtrack but a distinct studio recording in which Nelson does a tap solo, not seen or heard on film. Another notable recording of the song is on 1961's Further Definitions, by Benny Carter with Coleman Hawkins. This is one of Carter's most acclaimed recordings. "Crazy Rhythm" is, for the working jazz musician, inescapable. At a 2006 Birdland performance, post-bop pianist Andrew Hill "...who never plays anyone's standards but his own, began playing the opening motif from Meyer and Caeser's 1928 'Crazy Rhythm.' The drums played against the piano and the bass repeated an off-kilter Latin beat, but Tin Pan Alley was somewhere buried in the subtext... It was a clever moment, a rare nod to accessibility in an extremely opaque evening." Another use of the tune was by Stephen Temperley in his play with music, Souvenir (2004). Pianist,songwriter, and singer Cosmé McMoon sings and accompanies himself in this song throughout the play in snippet form while he tells the story and acts with the other character in the play, soprano Florence Foster Jenkins.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)