Georgie Auld: The Tiger Bands

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld (above) was a born soloist. By the time he was 20 in 1939, Auld had recorded more solos than musicians twice his age. While in Bunny Berigan's band between 1936 and 1938, Auld had nearly as many solos on records as Berigan himself. Auld also was a standout in Artie Shaw's orchestra between 1938 and 1939. Later that year, he started the first of his many bands and recorded for the first time as a leader in February 1940.

On the tenor sax, Auld had a gruff attack, mirroring Coleman Hawkins on uptempo numbers and Ben Webster on ballads. Auld could weave and bob, and had a seemingly endless supply of inventive, huffing-and-puffing locomotive lines. He also was early to record bebop. For those who insist that bebop started in 1945, they may want to listen to Auld's recording of Salt Peanuts in May 1944, with Hawkins, Webster and Charlie Shavers. It precedes Dizzy Gillespie's recording for Manor by eight months.

In 1940, Auld recorded in bands led by Jan Savitt, Billie Holiday, Benny Carter and Benny Goodman, sticking with Goodman through June 1941 before swinging back to Shaw's new band with strings, where he remained until 1944. That year, Auld started the first of his many power bands. One of them that year featured Shavers, Hawkins and Webster.

In May 1944, Auld assembled another action-packed recording band that included trumpeter Sonny Berman and tenor saxophonist Al Cohn. After stints in other bands, including the Woody Herman Orchestra, Auld formed a new all-star band in February 1945 that included Gillespie, Billy Butterfield, Trummy Young, Cohn, Manny Albam, Erroll Garner, Chubby Jackson and Shadow Wilson. Cohn's arrangement of Come to Baby Do and Let's Jump are prime early examples of Cohn's writing gifts. In January 1946, Auld attracted another batch of superstars. Arrangements were by Tadd Dameron, Budd Johnson, Hugo Winterhalter and Al Killian.

But the turning point came in June, when his band sounded years ahead of many of its peers. Here's the personnel: Al Porcino, Sonny Rich, George Schwartz (tp); Neal Hefti (tp,arr); Johnny Mandel, Gus Dixon, Mike Datz (tb); Georgie Auld (sop,as,ts,vcl); Sam Zittman, Gene Zanoni (as); Al Cohn (ts,arr); Irv Roth (ts) or Joe Megro (ts); Serge Chaloff (bar); Harvey Leonard (p); Joe Pellicane (b); and Art Mardigan (d), with Sarah Vaughan (vcl) and Budd Johnson (arr). This was an insanely hip band, with Cohn and Hefti also contributing arrangements.

Auld didn't record much in 1947 and not at all in 1948, the year of the second AFM recording ban. By the time he revved up again in January 1949, his band was a much smaller unit: John Anderson (tp), Billy Byers (tb,arr), Georgie Auld (as,ts,vcl), John Rotella (as), Pete Terry (ts), Irv Roth (bar), Jimmy Rowles (p), Joe Mondragon (b), Alvin Stoller (d), Karl Kiffe (bgo) and Gerry Mulligan and Hal Vernon (arr). Mulligan's chart for They Didn't Believe Me and Nashooma are outstanding. There also were spectacular charts like Vox Bob by Vernon. [Photo above of Serge Chaloff, Georgie Auld, Red Rodney, Tiny Kahn, ca. August 1947 by William P. Gottlieb]

Auld would go on to record with a bunch of other bands before leading a quintet in 1951, which featured the charts of drummer Tiny Kahn. These included Seh! Seh! and Out of Nowhere. The quintet was quite something: Frank Rosolino (tb), Georgie Auld (ts), Lou Levy (p), Max Bennett (b) and Tiny Kahn (d,arr). Auld would continue to record ferociously through 1983. Auld died in 1990 at age 70.

Sadly, Auld's tiger bands of the 1940s have been mostly forgotten today. Labs for musicians who would go on to change the sound of orchestral jazz, Auld's bands always came to play and often sounded years ahead of the curve, thanks to a hard-charging leader, fresh and challenging arrangements, and musicians who could handle them with flair. Georgie Auld made it all sound so easy.

JazzWax tracks: Georgie Auld's leadership dates of the 1940s and early '50s can be found on three CDs on the French Classics label: Georgie Auld: 1940-1945, 1945-1946 and 1946-1951. They're out of print and selling for steep prices, but you'll find many of the good ones on Life in a Beautiful Light here. 

JazzWax clips: Here's This Is Romance from January 1940, arranged by Al Avola...

This Is Romance

Here's Time on My Hands from October 1945, arranged by Edgar Sampson...

Time on My Hands

Here's Al Cohn's Let's Jump from October 1945...

Let's Jump

Here's Budd Johnson's Canyon Passage from June 1946...

Canyon Passage

Here's Neal Hefti's Handicap from June 1946...

Handicap

Here's Gerry Mulligans arrangement of They Didn't Believe Me from January 1949...

They Didn't Believe Me

Here's Tiny Kahn's arrangements of Out of Nowhere from January 1951...

Out Of Nowhere

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Georgie Auld in the late '40s

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Georgie Auld should be better known today, but he isn't. In his prime, he was a furiously swinging tenor saxophonist and leader of some pretty hip bop bands of the '40s. Today, the late reedman is probably best known for appearing in Martin Scorsese'sNew York, New York (1977) as bandleader Frankie Harte, working as a consultant to help Robert De Niro with his sax fingering and dubbing all the sax solos. That is, if you remember this marginal film. [Pictured: Georgie Auld, circa August 1947]

Auld (born John Altwerger) started out on alto sax in his home town of Toronto, Canada—but when he heard Coleman Hawkins, he switched to the tenor. Auld traveled to New York in the '30s and was playing in Manhattan in 1936 when Bunny Berigan hired him for his band. As a result, Auld is on Berigan's famed recording of I Can't Get Started in August 1937.

In late 1938, Auld joined Artie Shaw's big band and was featured on hot solos. When Shaw abruptly quit his own band in November 1939 for a sabbatical in Mexico, Auld took over the leadership slot. But Auld lacked sufficient charisma to hold the band together and it folded within three months.

In Tom Nolan's Three Chords for Beauty's Sake, his biography of Artie Shaw, Nolan quotes Shaw on Auld:

"At Buddy [Rich's] funeral [in 1987], I'm talking to Mel Brooks,outside the funeral home. And Georgie Auld—he turned out to be a fucking gangster, horrible guy—he comes up: 'You're fulla shit. You're fulla shit.' 'Wadya mean, George? Wadya talkin' about?' I said, 'Is that your considered opinion? Is there anything you want to add to that?'

"George was disappointed he wasn't called on to speak [at Buddy's funeral] and was very angry. 'You're fulla shit.' That's all he could say! Chagrin! What—I dunno, he identified himself with me, and he never could quite make it, as a star, you know, whatever it was. Angered him. Infuriated him. When I quit the music, man [in 1939], I gave him the band; I gave him my book. He could not make it work. He didn't have the quality that it took. Certain people don't."

After Shaw, Auld went on to play with Jan Savitt, Benny Goodman and a revived Shaw band before he entered the Army in 1941. After being discharged in 1944, Auld led his own orchestra—a band that included trumpeter Sonny Berman and saxophonist Al Cohn.

In fact, Auld's bands throughout the '40s were rather spectacular, always featuring sterling talent and solid bop arrangements. Despite Shaw's assessment, Auld could attract and hold onto major players. For example, a 1946 band featured Al Porcino, Manny Fox, Al Aarons, Art House (tp), Rudy DeLuca, Tracy Allen, Mike Datz (tb), Louis Prisby and Gene Zanoni (as), Al Cohn (ts,arr), Irv Roth (ts), Serge Chaloff (bar), Harry Biss (p), Barry Galbraith (b-g), Ed Cunningham (b), Art Mardigan (d)and Lynn Stevens (vcl)—with additional arrangements by Tadd Dameron, Budd Johnson, Hugo Winterhalter and Al Killian. [Photo of Georgie Auld with Serge Chaloff (bs), Red Rodney (tp) and Tiny Kahn (d) in 1947 by William P. Gottlieb]

In 1949, Auld led another great band. This one included Neal Hefti (tp,arr), Billy Byers (tb,arr), Clint Neagley (as), Pete Terry (ts), Gerry Mulligan (bar,arr), Jimmy Rowles (p), Joe Mondragon (b), Alvin Stoller (d), Karl Kiffe (bgo) and Viginia Maxey (vcl), with additional charts by Hal Vernon.

In 1951 Auld put together a terrific quintet with Frank Rosolino (tb), Lou Levy (p), Max Bennett (b) and Tiny Kahn (d), who  wrote the arrangements.

Auld was featured on a range of excellent albums in the '50s, mostly for EmArcy, but he also spent too much time recording dreadful albums for Coral that included a miserable choir. Auld was always a solid player, but some of his best moments came between bebop's emergence and its triumph in the late '40s.

JazzWax tracks: Auld's 1946, 1949 and 1951 bands are all onGeorgie Auld 1946-1951(Classics France), which ishere but out of print. There's also an offering at iTunes that features Auld's 1949 band. The hidden album is called By George! Georgie Auld & His Orchestra. There are 10 tracks: So What's New? Sweet Thing, Nashooma, Lullaby in Rhythm, They Didn't Believe Me, Blues for Me, Flying Home, So What Can Be New, You Got Me Jumpin' and Mo-Mo. As best I can tell, it's an Armed Forces Radio Service date recorded live at Hollywood's Empire Room in February 1949.

JazzWax clip: Here's Mo-Mofrom June 1946 written by Auld and Neal Hefti with an arrangement by Hefti. The band: Al Porcino, Sonny Rich, George Schwartz (tp) Neal Hefti (tp,arr) Johnny Mandel, Gus Dixon, Mike Datz (tb) Georgie Auld (sop,as,ts,vcl) Sam Zittman, Gene Zanoni (as) Al Cohn (ts,arr) Irv Roth (ts) or Joe Megro (ts) Serge Chaloff (bar) Harvey Leonard (p) Joe Pellicane (b) and Art Mardigan (d)...

Used with permission by Marc Myers