Who's In This 1947 Andy Kirk Band?

[JSngry]

Really wonder who's in this 1947 Andy Kirk band besides announced tenorists Ray Abrams(!) & Shirley (sic) Green.

Some speculation here: http://jazzdocumentation.ch/john_young/young.html

Rene Hall gets a screen credit as "music by" or some such, so that's most likely him on guitar, but everybody else?

This is really a history lesson hidden inside a very low-budget movie!

 

[MomsMobley]

can you hang sec a do some research? thanks.

 

Edited February 9, 2017 by MomsMobley

[Big Beat Steve]

A history lesson indeed. Thanks for the link!

That tune by the Kirk band, "Gator's Serenade", really cooks but unfortunately it seems to have gone unrecorded. And I cannot think of any later release  of that movie excerpt on one of those "Jazz on Film"-style records either.

For a sequel to your history lesson and a look at how things evolved I'd recommend this one from 1955:

 

 

[JSngry]

I found it on some Roku channel. It's an obviously not-so-great print of a PD film that I don't know made much box office noise, but at least it has survived.

Seeing Andy Kirk's name really caught my eye, though, because 1947 was pretty late in the game for him as far as bandleading goes. There's probably some link to Rene Hall there, but I have no dots to connect, so that's entirely speculative

[gmonahan]

Amazon has it on DVD here. Most sources say Kirk broke up the band in 1948, and David Meeker writes in his Jazz in the Movies that Kirk provided all the backing music for the acts as well. Particularly liked the Nat Cole things. Thanks for posting about this Jim!

 

 

gregmo

[MomsMobley]

Atlanta 1947. Not getting warmer precisely but getting somewhere.

[Big Beat Steve]

If this is the typical company the Kirk band gigged with in 1947 (Ray Sneed aka Snead! Billy Wright!), it is no wonder that the music they played in "Killer Diller" had started to lean towards R&B here and there.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

21 hours ago, MomsMobley said:

Atlanta 1947. Not getting warmer precisely but getting somewhere.

The sponsor of this concert should remind us of the role that rail travel and rail travel workers played in both the dissemination of Black Music and the creation of the economy around it.

Curious who the connection for Kirk to get this gig was. Somebody of his age and experience was sure to have had more than ample opportunity to establish contacts within the rail workers world of that time.

[gmonahan]

6 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

If this is the typical company the Kirk band gigged with in 1947 (Ray Sneed aka Snead! Billy Wright!), it is no wonder that the music they played in "Killer Diller" had started to lean towards R&B here and there.

I noted that too Steve. The tenor battle tune sounded a lot like the kind of stuff Lionel Hampton was playing at the time.

 

 

gregmo

[Big Beat Steve]

Indeed. But that's right up my alley.

[gmonahan]

31 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Indeed. But that's right up my alley.

Mine too! In fact, I think a Lionel Hampton Decca set would be a great Mosaic release!

 

 

gregmo

[JSngry]

So when Bob Porter (railroad service pun unintentional) talks about the impact that Jacquet and "Flying Home" had, here is some of that!

[lipi]

I can't help you with the personnel of Andy Kirk's band, but I can tell you the dancers at 52:30 are Frankie Manning, Ann Johnson, Russell Williams, and Willa Mae Ricker. Frankie later complained that Andy Kirk played their music "too damn fast".

[JSngry]

Up, if only to say "Alfred Sack"!