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...
Here's Time on My Hands from October 1945, arranged by Edgar Sampson...
Here's Al Cohn's Let's Jump from October 1945...
Here's Budd Johnson's Canyon Passage from June 1946...
Here's Neal Hefti's Handicap from June 1946...
Here's Gerry Mulligans arrangement of They Didn't Believe Me from January 1949...
Here's Tiny Kahn's arrangements of Out of Nowhere from January 1951...
