15. Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats, “Who’s Sorry Now”

(Ted Snyder-Bert Kalmar-Harry Ruby)

For use with Lessons #17 and #19.

 

Style: Swing

Personnel: John “Yank” Lawson trumpet, Julian “Matty” Matlock clarinet, Eddie Miller tenor saxophone, Warren Smith trombone, Bob Zurke piano, Hilton “Nappy” Lamare guitar, Bob Haggart bass, Ray Bauduc drums. Recorded in 1937.

Issued on Decca 1865.

Reissued on Acrobat 178, Jazz Archives 15766, Proper 2073, Swaggie 501, and Sounds of Yester Year DSOY750.

The Bob Cats was a featured octet from within the Bob Crosby Orchestra. The Crosby Orchestra played big-band swing arrangements that owed much to the New Orleans sound, and the Bob Cats (including several New Orleanians) functioned as a reduction of that approach, mixing arranged “tutti” horn passages with ensemble improvisation and solos. “Who’s Sorry Now” features a syncopated arranged intro and tag, as well as arranged riffs behind the tenor sax solo. Drummer Ray Bauduc’s rim work behind this solo owes much to Baby Dodds, while pianist Bob Zurke successfully deploys ragtime licks during his solo in this swing setting. The “flare” device first heard in the early Chicago Style recordings appears here twice, at 2:04-2:06 and 2:23-2:26. A clever outchorus caps the performance, as the horns come out of group improvisation one at a time to stack up on an arranged triad, building tension into a reprise of the tune’s last 8 bars. The final 4 bars consist of a tricky syncopated line arranged for the horns, that builds on the theme of the intro.

Sequence for this track

0:00 Intro: ensemble break, arranged (2 bars)

0:02 Ensemble chorus (largely arranged); ensemble break (arranged), 2 bars

0:42 Tenor sax solo (riffs throughout); piano break, 2 bars

1:22 Piano solo; ensemble entrance last 2 bars

2:01 Ensemble 4 bars, arranged (“flare”); clarinet solo 12 bars (with arranged harmony); ensemble 4 bars, arranged (“flare”); trombone solo 4 bars (with arranged harmony); ensemble 8 bars (improvised)

2:41 Ensemble repeat of last 8 bars (4 bars improvised, 4 bars arranged)

Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats