Charlie Barnet And His Orchestra – Cherokee / (Stay Up "Stan") The All Night Record Man
Charlie Barnet And His Orchestra - Cherokee / (Stay Up "Stan") The All Night Record Man album cover
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Label: Bluebird (3) – B-10373
Format: 
Shellac, 10", 78 RPM
Country: US
Released: Aug 1939
Genre: Jazz
Style: Big Band
A  Cherokee
Written-By – Ray Noble
B  (Stay Up "Stan") The All Night Record Man
Vocals [Refrain] – Charlie Barnet, Judy Ellington
Written-By – Ray Mayer, Willard Robison

Alto Saxophone [Uncredited] – Gene Kinsey, Kurt Bloom
Double Bass [Uncredited] – Phil Stephens
Drums [Uncredited] – Ray Michaels
Guitar [Uncredited] – Bus Etri
Piano [Uncredited] – Bill Miller (2)
Soprano Saxophone [Uncredited], Alto Saxophone [Uncredited], Tenor Saxophone [Uncredited], Directed By [Uncredited] – Charlie Barnet
Tenor Saxophone [Uncredited] – Don McCook, James Lamare
Trombone [Uncredited] – Ben Hall (4), Bill Robertson, Don Ruppersberg
Trumpet [Uncredited] – Bobby Burnet
Trumpet [Uncredited], Arranged By [Uncredited] – Billy May


Both sides were recorded on July 17, 1939, New York, NY. 

Orig Issue Bluebird 10" 78 rpm record
JUKEBOX RECORD with wear on one side

Condition:

EXCELLENT MINUS light rubs, CHEROKEE has some greying=VG++  , plays EXCEPTIONALLY QUIET rare ticks
CHEROKEE  plays VG++  quiet some hiss

STILL A GREAT COPY

   Charlie Barnet Orch.
b. Oct. 26, 1913, New York, NY, USA, d. Sept. 4, 1991.
Theme Songs:
Early On: "I Lost Another Sweetheart"
Later On: "Redskin Rhumba"

Charlie Barnet was known to a great many folks (mostly "insiders") as "The Mad Mab of the Millpond". The exact derivation of this appellation is lost in the mists of history. It refers somehow to Charlie's very first orchestra. They played a date in a dancehall on the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio. Next to the dancehall was a pond, which may have been called the 'the Millpond'.

Barnet was a rich kid, his maternal grandfather, Charles Daly, was first VP of the New York Central Railroad. When he was 12 years old, his family gave him a C-Melody sax. After hearing Coleman Hawkins playing with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, he switched to the tenor. Later, he became enamored of Ellington's Johnny Hodges. His parents, quite well-to-do, owned lots of land in Manhattan. He attended both Rumsey Hall and Blair Academy, two fine boarding schools for young men, and then was enrolled in Yale University. His family supposed that he would become a corporate lawyer. But, by the middle of his freshman year, Charlie left Yale, and began working in various bands as a reedman.

Barnet was always a big Duke Ellington fan who really surprised all the hardcore jazz folks who wondered if a wealthy white boy could really swing. His early tunes were pretty pedestrian by standards of the day, but his 1940's bands were arguably the most rhythmically inventive white outfits of the era. Drummer Cliff Leeman, a Papa Jo Jones [Count Basie Orch.] disciple, had a tremendous sense of drive that took the band into groove territory that had yet to be explored by mainstream white musicians.
(Thanks Charles Mohnike for the above paragraph.)

Charlie formed his first band in 1933 with trumpeter/arrangers Tutti Camarata and Eddie Sauter, and Chris Griffin as third trumpet. A young Harry Von Zell (later the announcer on the Eddie Cantor Show) was the vocalist, although Barnet also sang at times. It is interesting to now recall that Metronome Magazine called his orchestra 'The blackest white band around.' Barnet's tenor sax could at times be rocking and rhythmic, and at other times, soulfully appealing.

In Barnet's 1934 band, a young unknown clarinetist had his first featured solo on "I Surrender Dear" (and "The Night is Blue"). It was Artie Shaw. Trombonist Jack Jenney and pianist Teddy Wilson were also there. It should be noted that Barnet judged musicians by their abilities, and not by the color of their skin. It was not unusual to find black men playing in the band. Some critics have noted that Barnet may have missed opportunities that other bands found because of his strong principles. Still, he was in very good company. Benny Goodman felt the same way.

During the 1936 summer season, Barnet's band, then playing the 'The Glen Island Casino' in New Rochelle, N.Y., introduced a new vocal group from Buffalo, N.Y. They called themselves, The Modernaires, and would later achieve greater fame with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. A year later, in 1937, two fine black musicians joined the band; John Kirby and Frank Newton.

Here's a 1939 photograph of the Hollywood's famed 'Palomar Ballroom', where Barnet's band was playing that year. There was a fire and the building burned to the ground. Barnet lost everything, -all of the band's scores, even their instruments and uniforms. Indicative of the high regard in which he was held by other musicians, it should be noted that Duke Ellington and Benny Carter immediately sent him many of their best scores. (The first song the band played when they got organized was "We're All Burnt Up".)

Still, 1939 turned out to be a very important year in the Band's history. Two important events occurred. Barnet recorded a Ray Noble tune called "Cherokee". More than anything else that had gone before, this song made the Barnet ochestra an overnight sensation. So much so, that it was briefly Barnet's theme song. The other event was that arrangers Billy May and Skip Martin joined the band.

Of the many scores that the band used, one, "Redskin Rhumba" is worthy of some note. At that time, ASCAP was engaged in a small war with the Radio networks. ASCAP believed that radio stations should pay a small royalty on the records that were played on the air. The radio stations thought otherwise. In the ensuing battles, ASCAP refused to allow radio stations to play any of their copyright music. Since "Cherokee" carried an ASCAP copyright, Barnet's band could not play it 'on air'. "Redskin Rhumba" was not an ASCAP copyright, and so during the protracted ASCAP/Radio Station War, "Redskin Rhumba" became the orchestra's 'on air' theme song. But never lose sight of the fact that, "Redskin Rhumba" was a rompin', stompin' number the way that the Barnet band played it. Incidentally, the band vocalist at this time was Mary Ann McCall.

In 1941, vocalist Lena Horne joined the band.