Boswell Sisters, Paul Whiteman's Orchestra - Was That The Human Thing To Do (1935)

The Boswell Sisters were a close harmony singing group that attained national prominence in the USA in the 1930s.

Sisters Martha Boswell (June 9, 1905 - July 2, 1958), Connee Boswell (December 3, 1907 - October 11, 1976), and Helvetia "Vet" Boswell (May 20, 1911 - November 12, 1988) were raised by a middle-class family on Camp Street in uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. Martha and Connee were born in Kansas City, Missouri. Helvetia was born in Birmingham, Alabama. (Connee's name was originally spelt Connie until she changed it in the 1940s.)

They came to be well known in New Orleans while still in their early teens, making appearances in local theaters and radio. They made their first recordings for Victor Records in 1925. However, the Boswell Sisters did not attain national attention until they moved to New York City in 1931 and started making national radio broadcasts. After a few recordings with Okeh Records in 1930, they made numerous recordings for Brunswick Records from 1931-1935. These Brunswick records are widely regarded as milestone recordings of vocal jazz. Connie's ingenious reworkings of the melodies and rhythms of popular songs, together with Glenn Miller's hot arrangements, and first rate New York jazz musicians (including The Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Bunny Berigan, Fulton McGrath, Joe Venuti, Arthur Schutt, Eddie Lang, Joe Tarto, Manny Klein, Dick McDonough, and Carl Kress), made these recordings unlike any others. Melodies were rearranged and slowed down, major keys were changed to minor keys (sometimes in mid-song) and rhythmic changes were par for the course. (Interestingly, the Boswell Sisters were among the very few performers allowed to make these
changes to current popular tunes as during this era, music publishers and record companies pressured performers not to alter current popular song arrangements). Connee also recorded a series of more conventional solo records for Brunswick during the same period.

The Boswell Sisters were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.


Boswell Sisters, Paul Whiteman's Orchestra - Was That The Human Thing To Do (1935)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Boswell
• Sisters
• Paul
• Whiteman's
• Orchestra
• 1935
• 20's
• 30's
• 40's

[grafonolafavorite]

The cool stuff starts at 1:46.

I need to get a life.

[JCJasion]

@aadjuijn - EXCELLENT bit of discographical sleuthing, my friend!  :-)

[JCJasion]

@MrPanetela - My Post-Millenial kids ( born 1985 and later ) at my jam sessions latch onto tunes from the Realbook such as Lullaby Of The Leaves and Autumn In New York. The future of the music is in good hands.

[aadjuijn]

@JCJasion The 2 other versions: February 19th 1932, 2/19/32 Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: Bunny Berigan, (tpt), Tommy Dorsey (tbn), Jimmy Dorsey (cl, as), Joe Venuti (vln), Arthur Schutt (p), Eddie Lang (g), Artie Bernstein (sb), Stan King (d), Glenn Miller (arr)

B-11320-A Was That The Human Thing to Do? (Sammy Fain-Joseph Young) 3:03 Brunswick 6257, [BSC1], [A], [32-34]

B-11320-B Was That The Human Thing to Do? (Fain-Young) 2:55 [BSC3], [OA] Grtz, Aad

[aadjuijn]

@JCJasion You`re right...there are 3 versions recorded (all 3 versions acc. by the Dorsey Brothers Combo`s) This one is the famous rejected version February 5th 1932 ( Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: Bunny Berigan, (tpt), Tommy Dorsey (tbn), Jimmy Dorsey (cl, as), Joe Venuti (vln), Arthur Schutt (p), Eddie Lang (g), Artie Bernstein (sb), Stan King (d), Glenn Miller (arr), New York City) Grtz, Aad

[roybo1930]

@JCJasion I believe You are correct I found out this record came from February 1932 for Brunswick!

[grafonolafavorite]

Nice. Thank you edmundusrex. You have wonderful posts.

[JCJasion]

I'm not sure this was from 1935 or that they were backed by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra on this. My guess is that this was for Brunswick and that it was a Dorsey-led studio combo. Be that as it may, without the Boswell Sisters, there would not have been the Andrews Sisters.

[MrPanetela]

OMG, this song is just so far ahead of its time! I'ld say late sixties early seventies. Some poeple just have a nack of writing truely timeless tunes.

[stlgtrace]

What a wonderful version of this song!! The Bozzies are incredible!!!! Highest Rating!!!!