Shaking The Blues Away by Paul Whiteman and his Orch.

"Shaking The Blues Away" recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. This great number was orchestrated by composer Ferde Grofe, who was associated with the Whiteman Orchestra as both an arranger and composer. Whiteman's orchestra, which was much larger than a standard dance orchestra, gave Grofe a lot to work with in terms of tone and color, and he used it all to great effect.

The record player is an Orthophonic Victrola model VE4-4X, or "Granada". The "E" in the model number indicates that the Victrola is fitted with a synchronous A/C motor instead of a wind-up motor. The machine has a full "orthophonic" playback system (for electrically-recorded records) including the special orthophonic sound box with a duralumin diaphragm and a folded exponential horn inside of the cabinet. Although the gigantic Credenza Victrola produced deeper bass, the Granada had the most accurate overall frequency response of all the acoustic Orthophonic Victrolas. The serial number indicates that this machine was probably manufactured in 1926.

I shoot my video with a Sony Digital 8 format camera. For audio, I use a Shure SM-57 microphone on a stand placed about 4 feet in front of the Victrola horn. I use "soft tone" needles to keep from overloading the microphone. The mic is plugged directly into the video camera. The videos are edited with Windows Movie Maker. I use Sound Forge 9 to clean up the audio, but don't worry -- you're hearing the record exactly as the Victrola plays it!

For more great music, videos, and trivia from this era, please visit my website, http://www.virtualvictrola.com.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Music
• 1920s
• jazz
• Paul
• Whiteman
• Ferde
• Grofe

[boojum2222]

This recording stands at the top of my favorites from this great era of American music. Irving Berlin's melody and the Whiteman orchestra deserve much of the credit. But the chief kudo goes to Ferde Grofe's orchestration, his choice of instruments featuring banjo and baritone sax. Including the vocal, good as it is, would have lessened the recording's terrific impact. effjay

[78timothy]

Next to the Selvin on Columbia w/Baur as the vocal this is the Next best I think. Grofe really gave Mike "Pinky" PIngatore a great bit giving him the whole verse for his Banjo lick - Pingatore was with Whiteman from 1919-1949 when he finally retired as an active bandleader.

[mmwiz]

Thanks so much for posting these!

[idasynco]

So many embellishments tastefully done..lots of pep! I love Whiteman's orchestra. Thx for sharing, really, you went to alot of preparation! *****

[kspm01]

Wonderful richness in orchestral colors and nuances!

[orionhhy]

good songs with a special rhythms

the more you hear it the more you love it

thnaks for sharing