Word: vocalion
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Nonsense ! Mildred Bailey . . . was a bigger name in those eight years than she ever had been before. With Husband Red Norvo she led one of the first great bands of the so-called swing era. She made many very successful recordings for the Vocalion, Columbia and Decca labels. She sang on such "obscure" radio shows as the Camel Caravan, with such "obscure" bands as Bob Crosby...
...good old days people used to know of Mildred Bailey even if they didn't make a point of buying her records. Not a month went by without at least two of her vocals coming out on Vocalion or Brunswick. Now, having produced no records in the past year, less than a dozen the year before, Mildred is fast becoming one of the most unheard and unappreciated artists in the business...
Altogether Mildred made at least fifty Vocalions and Brunswicks, nearly every one a gem. On Brunswick she sang the better songs of the day with husband Red Norvo's baud. It was on Vocalion, though, that Mildred really cut loose and made an epic series of records. She had everything her own way. She sang old songs, new ones, anything good. For accompaniment she got the best musicians available. Some of them, like Teddy Wilson, Artic Shaw, Chu Berry are well known; others, like Hank d'Amico, Chris Griffin are not. But the most ignominious musician on her dates complemented...
Leafing back through its own catalogue and those of Okeh, Vocalion and Brunswick (which it controls), Columbia reissued 40 discs of oldtime hot stuff-Trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke, Fletcher Henderson's band, Singer Bessie Smith, et al. Further Columbia reissues will enable latecomers among the jazz collectors to plug gaps in their libraries...
...some comparison, listen to Tommy Dorsey's smooth work on his recording, or Jimmy Lunceford's Deccording with its beautiful brass work behind the vocal. Then listen to Louis Armstrong's (Vocalion) disc for what most critics consider to be the greatest solo work on "Stardust," and Benny Goodman's (Victor) for the top orchestral rendition. Unusual versions are Art Tatum's fast but flashy pianistics (Decca), the binging of the one and only Crosby (Brunswick), and movie star Anita Louise's harp pluckings for Royale