NAME CALLING
Among your treasured musical memories, I would think you might find an awareness of a time when musical groups had sensible names.
We called them “orchestras,” or “dance bands” or so-and-so’ “Trio,” “Quintet”, or “Combo” if they were smaller units. They were, most often, named for the instrumentalist, vocalist or composer who led them. Oh, yes – we had a few genial “stick wavers”, as we called them, who were not musicians all in a true sense. They fronted a group of musicians. They were usually movie stars at various levels of stardom on their way up or down, with an occasional Hollywood “had-been” seeking a new career in a promising field.
Today’s musical groups suffer needlessly under an unmerited burden of strange, often derogatory names, which, purposely, I’m sure, have little or nothing to do with music in any way. They are chosen for shock value which is thought to create a following among others who like to be different just the be different. I have often wondered for a long time how much longer they can keep digging up such degrading designations.
Do you remember when we used to speak of “Guy Lombardo and the Orchestra.” and most people around you knew who you meant and thought, immediately, of the ultra-sweet, soft, melodic tunes that group featured. You may or may not remember they were also known as “The Royal Canadians” but that was not their salient banner.
What about a band called “Barney Rapp and His Orchestra? They were a popular band for college proms and featured a bright girl by the name of Ruby Wright. I remember so well her singing of a song called “Rain” and did well in the movie “shorts: name bands made for theater use in those days. That band was also known by another name but it was kept in the background and used to give the group a regional identification. You may remember seeing posters advertising “Barney Rapp and His New Englanders.”
The “Big Band Era” brought scores of such bands and here was amazing variety among them. Some offered sweet music, but it was easily to identify the difference. Dancers knew how the Lombardo Brothers, Jan Garber, Jan Pearce, and Wayne King – also sweet music, differed and was subtitled “The Waltz King”
There were other bands which featured loud, faster music but they could all do what the other did on occasions if demanded. For the most part they refrained from using nasty names to designate what they did musically.
One of my troubles in not being ready to give total acceptance to today’s pop music may be that all of it seems to be so much alike. It offers echoes primarily. One pressing of noise is pretty much the same as the next. The only distinction is to be found in the strange name on the record label, so they,I suppose,to be considered as a necessary evil.
A.L.M. June 8, 2004 [c501wds]
