“The Right Somebody To Love”
Willie Bryant And His Orchestra; Jack Butler, vocal
(Bluebird B 6361 B) April 9, 1936
“All My Life”
Willie Bryant And His Orchestra; Taft Jordan, vocal
(Bluebird B 6361 A) April 9, 1936
Here’s a record I came across while browsing through a box of previously unlistened-to records in my personal collection looking for interesting selections to present on Radio Dismuke’s recent New Year’s broadcast.
Somehow, in all my years of collecting and being a fan of the era’s music, this was the first time I had come across a Willie Bryant record – and I was particularly impressed with the “The Right Somebody To Love” side.
Sadly, that side of the record has an edge flake about 7/8 of an inch wide and that goes about a quarter of an inch into the record impacting the first dozen or so grooves. The other side of the record is not impacted by it at all.
I decided to play the damaged side during the broadcast beginning just past where the damage ended as I knew that there was a strong possibility that I might not be able to include it in the station’s regular playlist. But after the broadcast I was, to my surprise, able to get a needle to track through the damaged portion. This resulted in some loud pops when I played back my transfer. But, because of the speed at which the record travels, the pops were short enough in duration that my software was easily able to repair them and interpolate the missing audio.
What I did not realize when I introduced the recording during the broadcast was that the song was first introduced by, of all people, Shirley Temple in the film mentioned on the label Captain January – which explains its rather odd lyrics. Thanks to the talents of vocalist Jack Butler, the band and whoever its arranger was, this recording is what I would consider to be the diametric opposite of how the song was presented in the film, which you can see on this YouTube clip. Nothing against Shirley Temple as she was certainly very talented, but let’s just say that, in my personal opinion, Bryant’s recording has aged far better than the scene from the film.
“All My Life” was introduced by Phil Regan in the film Laughing Irish Eyes. Several bands at the time recorded the song and I think Fats Waller had an especially good version.
– Dismuke