October 1 (I’ve been away) would have been my mom and dad’s 65th wedding anniversary. We lost Mom far too early, but I still see Dad almost every day. This Hoagy Carmichael hit was “their” song (they weren’t alone). My dad still keeps a little music box, a wedding present, that plays the tune. There are lots of good versions of this old standard. But I think to most people of my parents’ era, this Artie Shaw version was the definitive Stardust. The trumpet is Billy Butterfield. The clarinet, of course, is Shaw. Here’s to wonderful memories, Dad.
(And let’s steer clear of the bad ones. That 1931 Bing Crosby record of it qualifies as execrable, and the best-known Glen Miller version is pretty awful.)
4 comments:
I remember my late father telling me that Artie Shaw's orchestra played at his HIGH SCHOOL prom in Brooklyn in the 1930's!
Gerry
Ruston, Louisiana
I've been told it was my mom's parents song too - a classic of that generation to be sure! I was always most familiar with the Nat King Cole version.
Thanks both. Gerry, that must have been one big-time high school! In either 1939 or 1940, Dartmouth had both Shaw and Tommy Dorsey at Winter Carnival. I keep meaning to look up the appropriate back issues of The D to discover how that played out. As it were.
Kate, I know that NKC record, too. He's so smooth. Did you know he was a terrific jazz pianist with a small group in the '40s?
I have fond memories of both your parents. Please give your father my best.
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