The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
Encyclopedia
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a musical variety radio program which began on the Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
in 1940. The magazine Radio Life described it as "one of radio's strangest offsprings... a wacky, strictly hep tongue-in-cheek burlesque of opera and symphony."
It was a weekly half-hour of jazz, played by leading practitioners of the day. The format was a dry satire of the stuffy symphonic and operatic broadcasts announced by the dignified Milton Cross
Milton Cross
Milton John Cross was an American radio announcer famous for his work on the NBC and ABC radio networks.He was best known as the voice of the Metropolitan Opera, hosting its Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts for 43 years, from the time of their inception in 1931 until his death in...
. The Basin Street opening, intoned by announcer Jack McCarthy, usually went along these lines:
- Greetings, music lovers, and that includes you too, Toots. Once again you are tuned in on a concert by the no doubt world-renowned Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, whose members have consecrated their lives to the preservation of the music of the Three Bs: Barrelhouse, Boogie-Woogie, and the Blues. Present with us on this solemn occasion: Mademoiselle Dinah (Diva) Shore, who starts fires by rubbing two notes together; Maestro Paul LavalPaul LavallePaul Lavalle was a conductor, composer, arranger and performer on clarinet and saxophone. He was born Joseph Usifer on September 6, 1908 in Beacon, New York and died in Harrisonburg, Virginia on June 24, 1997....
and his ten termite-proof woodwinds; Dr. Gino Hamilton, as our chairman and intermission commentator; and Dr. Henry Levine, with his Dixieland Little Symphony of eight men and no!
The society's low-key chairman, the witty Gene Hamilton (always introduced as "Dr. Gino Hamilton"), would then call the meeting to order, peppering his formal speech with slang: "There are those critics of the saxophone who say it is merely an unfortunate cross between a lovesick oboe and a slap-happy clarinet. To those critics we must say, 'Kindly step outside with us a moment' and 'Is there a doctor in the house?'" These off-center comments were actually scripted by Welbourn Kelley, but Hamilton's deadpan deliveries often made the musicians laugh out loud.
The program then delivered 30 minutes of blues and hot jazz, with Dr. Gino stepping in between numbers to deliver such comments as, "A Bostonian looks like he's smelling something. A New Yorker looks like he's found it."
Two resident bands provided the music. Henry Levine and His Dixieland Octet offered traditional "readings" of jazz standards such as "Farewell Blues
Farewell Blues
"Farewell Blues" is a 1922 jazz standard written by Paul Mares, Leon Roppolo and Elmer Schoebel. The song was recorded on August 29, 1922 in Richmond, Indiana and released as Gennett 4966A. It was first released by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and soon was covered by several jazz bands...
," "St. Louis Blues," and "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street." Trumpeter Levine, a former member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, was quite familiar with these arrangements. Paul Laval and His Woodwindy Ten (which included some of Levine's personnel) played the same type of music on more symphonic instruments, demonstrating that such instruments as oboe, bassoon, and celeste were equally capable of producing hot jazz.
Each week Hamilton would feature a notable guest from the jazz world, either a musicologist or a performer. Such celebrated soloists as Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
, Bobby Hackett
Bobby Hackett
Robert Leo "Bobby" Hackett was an US jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late thirties and early forties.-Biography:...
, Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
, and Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
sat in with Levine's band. On one occasion Hamilton introduced a W. C. Handy
W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy was a blues composer and musician. He was widely known as the "Father of the Blues"....
tune, adding that if Mr. Handy was listening from his home in New York, it was hoped he would approve. Handy was indeed listening, and the delighted Hamilton invited him to appear on the following week's broadcast. On another occasion, probably at the urging of Hackett, comedian Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
showed up with a monologue about jazz musicians. Gleason was paid $350 for this appearance, which was so well received by listeners that he was invited back to the program.
Featured vocalists Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
received national exposure from their Lower Basin Street appearances. Linda Keene joined the show in 1941. Later programs used singers Dixie Mason and Dodie O'Neill.
Each broadcast ended with the ritual of Levine's band playing "Basin Street Blues" in "the 'Farewell Symphony' arrangement" -- gradually, each musician would bow out of the song, until finally bassist Harry Patent was playing solo, "dolefully drubbing on his dog house."
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street made its debut on February 11, 1940. During its first months on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
it was a sustaining feature (meaning unsponsored) in a late-Sunday-afternoon (4:30 p.m. ET) time slot. It soon developed a loyal following, and on September 16, 1940 NBC began airing the show in prime time, on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET. The final broadcast was aired on October 8, 1944.
Revival
NBC returned the Society to its schedule in 1950, where it remained through 1953 as a sustaining "educational feature." Henry Levine was back with a revamped dixieland eight, including regulars Fletch Philburn on trombone, Harry Patent on bass, and Nat Levine on drums, and new pianist Frank SignorelliFrank Signorelli
Frank Signorelli was an US jazz pianist of the 1920s. He was a founder member of the Original Memphis Five in 1917, then joined the Original Dixieland Jazz Band briefly in 1921. In 1927 he played in Adrian Rollini's New York ensemble, and subsequently worked with Eddie Lang, Bix Beiderbecke, Matty...
, with blues vocalist Martha Lou Harp. Each Saturday half-hour was presented before an enthusiastic studio audience. The scripts, again written by Welbourn Kelley, had the same jazz slang couched in dignified language. British character actor Arthur Treacher
Arthur Treacher
Arthur Veary Treacher was an English actor born in Brighton, East Sussex, England.Treacher was a veteran of World War I. After the war, he established a stage career and in 1928, he went to America as part of a musical-comedy revue called Great Temptations...
lent punctilio to the proceedings, with commentaries from guest performers. Comedian Orson Bean
Orson Bean
Orson Bean is an American film, television, and Broadway actor. He appeared frequently on televised game shows in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including being a long-time panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth....
guested in 1952, delivering Kelley's humorous scripts with his own New England accent and droll diction. Bean caught the spirit of the series so completely that he became its new and final host, assuming the mantle of "Dr. Orson Bean." Bean was perhaps the best host since Gene Hamilton, assuming a professorial tone for Kelley's prose, punctuating his remarks with exclamations, and muttering ad-libbed asides. NBC announcer Wayne Howell
Wayne Howell
Wayne Clay Howell Chappelle , known professionally as Wayne Howell, was a voice-over announcer for the NBC television and radio networks from 1947 through 1986...
joined in the fun, introducing the Society's chairman as "Boston's half-baked Bean."
Recordings
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, featuring the Levine and Laval bands, recorded for RCA VictorRCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
. One side of each record was an instrumental by one of the bands, with opening remarks by Gene Hamilton; the other side generally featured a vocal, accompanied by the other band. These 78s from the 1940s were reissued on RCA LPs years later, spotlighting the contributions of Lena Horne and Dinah Shore but omitting most of the instrumentals and the spoken material. Music from the series has been reissued on CDs from Harlequin Records and Nostalgia Arts.
Henry Levine's 1956 album for RCA, Dixieland Jazz Band, was newly recorded with an uncredited studio band. The only reminder of his Lower Basin Street days was a re-recording of his "Bugle Call Rag
Bugle Call Rag
"Bugle Call Rag" is a jazz standard written by Jack Pettis, Billy Meyers and Elmer Schoebel. It was first recorded by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1922 as "Bugle Call Blues", although later renditions as well as the published sheet music and the song's copyright all used the title "Bugle Call Rag"...
" arrangement.
The only visual record of The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street is the group of four Soundies
Soundies
Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946, often including short dance sequences. The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was...
films featuring Henry Levine's Dixieland band. These were filmed in New York in 1941; vocalist Linda Keene appears in three of them.