On the last Ghost Train gig, Michael Attias and I were
talking about Don Redman. I was familiar with his work as the musical
director of Fletcher Henderson in the early 1920s. Redman was one of
the first great jazz arrangers. Michael was really excited telling me
about Redman's work with a band called McKinney's Cotton Pickers. This
was a band out of Detroit who nabbed Redman from Henderson in 1927. By
the early 1930s, Redman was leading his own band and in 1933, Dave
Fleischer hired him to score and appear as "special guest" in this
Betty Boop cartoon "I Heard". (Redman is the voice of the singing
waiter.) I think it's clear the Fleischer brothers enjoyed jazz
because they did something similar with Cab Calloway (not to mention
the fact that Betty herself loved jazz, being a flapper and all.)
Redman's
own compositions, including his "The Chant Of The Weed", featured here,
have a mysterious quality to them. McKinney's band played this piece
at about twice the tempo here. Check out this hilarious opening bit
with Redman's orchestra swaying as part of Betty Boop's saloon. Pee
Wee's Playhouse, anyone??
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