{"id":1264,"date":"2024-04-27T14:17:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T19:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2024-04-27T14:17:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T19:17:38","slug":"sacasas-royal-havana-orchestra-1940","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/2024\/04\/27\/sacasas-royal-havana-orchestra-1940\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacasas Royal Havana Orchestra &#8211; 1940"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Decca3377B.jpg\" alt=\"Decca 3377-B label image\" width=\"521\" height=\"519\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Decca3377B.jpg 521w, https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Decca3377B-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Decca3377B-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 521px) 100vw, 521px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Elube Chango&#8221;<br \/>\nSacasas Royal Havana Orchestra; Doroteo Santiago, vocal<br \/>\n(Decca 3377-B mx 67988)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0August 19, 1940<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1264-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sacasas-Royal-Havana-Orchestra-Elube-Chango.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sacasas-Royal-Havana-Orchestra-Elube-Chango.mp3\">https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sacasas-Royal-Havana-Orchestra-Elube-Chango.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Breeze And I&#8221;<br \/>\nSacasas Royal Havana Orchestra<br \/>\n(Decca 3377-A\u00a0 mx 67986)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0August 19, 1940<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1264-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sacasas-Royal-Havana-Orchestra-The-Breeze-And-I.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sacasas-Royal-Havana-Orchestra-The-Breeze-And-I.mp3\">https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Sacasas-Royal-Havana-Orchestra-The-Breeze-And-I.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here are two rumba recordings from 1940, too recent for Radio Dismuke&#8217;s 1920s &amp; 1930s format.\u00a0 But I was sufficiently impressed by the sound of this band that I cannot resist sharing them.<\/p>\n<p>Cuban dance bands were very popular in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly on the East Coast and in New York City, where, for many years, the<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Xavier_Cugat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Xavier Cugat<\/a> Orchestra was the house band at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Waldorf_Astoria_New_York\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Waldorf-Astoria Hotel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anselmo_Sacasas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anselmo Sacasas<\/a> was a Cuban pianist who, in 1937, founded the Casino de la Playa Orchestra which became one of Cuba&#8217;s most highly regarded bands. While the band was successful, it was organized as a cooperative and Sacasas did not feel he was being appropriately compensated and left to form a new band in the United States in 1940.<\/p>\n<p>When this recording was made, the band had an extended engagement at the Colony Club in Chicago, an upscale mobster-owned nightclub where patrons could also engage in illegal gambling. The club was raided and closed the following spring. Sacasas continued to lead Latin bands throughout the 1940s and 1950s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Breeze and I&#8221; is an adaptation of a 1927 piano piece called &#8220;Andaluza,&#8221; which was part of the &#8220;Andalucia Suite&#8221; by Cuban composer\/musician <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ernesto_Lecuona\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ernesto Lecuona<\/a>. In 1940, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Salvador_Camarata\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Salvador &#8220;Toots&#8221; Camarata<\/a>, a trumpet player and arranger for the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jimmy_Dorsey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jimmy Dorsey<\/a> Orchestra, reworked the song with lyrics by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Al_Stillman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Al Stillman<\/a> as &#8220;The Breeze And I.&#8221; Dorsey&#8217;s recording of the song was very successful, rising up to the number 2 position on the Billboard charts. Xavier Cugat also had a successful recording of the song.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1272\" style=\"width: 444px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1272\" src=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ColonyClub.jpg\" alt=\"Colony Club Chicago\" width=\"434\" height=\"470\" class=\"wp-image-1272 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ColonyClub.jpg 434w, https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ColonyClub-277x300.jpg 277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy https:\/\/chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com\/<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &#8220;Elube Chango&#8221; Sacasas Royal Havana Orchestra; Doroteo Santiago, vocal (Decca 3377-B mx 67988)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0August 19, 1940 &nbsp; &#8220;The Breeze And I&#8221; Sacasas Royal Havana Orchestra (Decca 3377-A\u00a0 mx 67986)\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/2024\/04\/27\/sacasas-royal-havana-orchestra-1940\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":62,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions\/1273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.early1900s.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}