SAVOY, THE HOME OF SWEET ROMANCE,
SAVOY, IT WINS YOU AT A GLANCE,
SAVOY, GIVES HAPPY FEET A CHANCE,
TO DANCE…,
YOUR FORM, JUST LIKE A CLINGIN' VINE,
YOUR LIPS, SO WARM AND SWEET AS WINE,
YOUR CHEEK, SO SOFT AND CLOSE TO MINE,
DIVINE…,
HOW MY HEART IS SINGIN',
WHILE THE BAND IS SWINGIN',
NEVER TIRED OF ROMPIN',
AND STOMPIN' WITH YOU, AT THE SAVOY,
WHAT JOY, A PERFECT HOLIDAY,
SAVOY, WHERE WE CAN GLIDE AWAY,
SAVOY, THERE LET ME STOMP AWAY,
WITH YOU.
Benny Goodman, when he started to hit it big, discovered he didn't have nearly enough music to tour or play long engagements. Somebody, possibly John Hammond said "Go out and get a Harlem Book (of arrangements). First he did that, and then he hired Fletcher Henderson who had led his own band to prepare new charts for old and new songs. The difference between Benny and Chick is the difference between Burbon and Scotch. It's all a matter of taste. They were both the Greatest. Rob
konidolfine - Thank you! Stompin' at the Savoy is most often associated with Benny Goodman, but it was originally arranged for Chick Webb's band. When I first heard Benny Goodman's version I couldn't understand where the "Stompin" was suppose to be. I didn't know it was a Chick Webb and His Orchestra piece until I was an adult. NOW the title makes sense; Chick Webb blows Benny Goodman's version away!
I always hate that the original Savoy Ballroom was made into a parking lot,
IMHO it was just as much a landmark as The Village Vanguard, Birdland,
& The Cotton Club and it's a damn shame it's gone.
Ridarse, I'm with you.I like BOTH BANDS myself. There's room in our beings for MANY VARIATIONS of everything. One does not always have to be acclaimed "better" than another.
Sandy Williams was incredible on the trombone. It is something i miss about the old music, where every one had to figure it out on their own, they grew into their own sounds. Now, all too often it feels like folks just pull a prescribed musical template off the internet, and mimic -imitating but never really duplicating that sound they hear. For example, i play banjo -i am not the best banjo player around -but i sound like the style i have cultivated over the years -being the "best" was an approach i realized early on i was never going to cut. For me, to be the "best" would have to take form in just being myself -and communicating that self as honestly as i could.
Chick Webbs version leaves Benny Goodman's in the dust. The night Webb and Goodman played a battle of the bands, Goodman was know to say to his boys, "If ever you have played good, tonights the night it has to be better. This was the song that cintched for Webb..... Goodman alway made trference to this, and had a tremendus amount of respect for Webb. Thanks for posting....
Man, ya had to have place where the hoy come to ploy...that's the cat's corner! Careful, bearful, if you can't cut that rug, even with a little taste of the that brown jug, you just might get cut! Nuff said.
The Savoy Ballroom was a dancer's paradise because it generally employed 2 bands. Chick had one end of the ballroom, and when his boys and he took a break, Jimmie Lunceford an equally compelling danceband had taken the stand at the other end. All you needed to do, was turn around. The Lindy Hop, later called the Jitterbug was an incredibly athletic performance and when done right was a bravura performance. Chick was best known as the drivingest band leader around and despite his illness. R
This IS REAL Music!!! it touches your heart, your soul, your everything. Thank you Chick Webb and all thousands other incredible musicians and music writers for enriching our lives in music-less 21st century!!!
