ON THE RECORD: Michael John LaChiusa's Little Fish and Rare Recordings of Rodgers
By Steven Suskin
Richard Rodgers: Command Performance [Harbinger HCD2501]
Piano rolls had been a big thing through the decade. Gershwin started recording them when he was still an unknown, looking to supplement his income (and working under multiple pseudonyms). When he began to write hit songs, he understandably took them over to the factory. Piano rolls were just another way of earning dollars; a fee for playing them, plus royalties on sales. (I recently examined Gershwin's royalty statements from the period. He could earn up to $1,000 from a piano roll that sold fairly well; his most popular items — "Swanee," "Somebody Loves Me," "Someone to Watch Over Me" — earned considerably more than that.) Rodgers made his first roll in 1926, when he moved to the Harms publishing house (already the home of Kern, Gershwin, and Youmans). One supposes that the song pluggers decided that if George could do well with piano rolls, Dick might as well give it a shot. I don't imagine any of the Rodgers rolls sold especially well; if they had, more of them would remain in circulation. And with the increasing popularity of the victrola, piano rolls were soon a thing of the past.
One might well listen to these rolls with a bit of surprise. Rodgers was far from an exceptional piano player; I suppose we can rate him as merely better-than-proficient. There are lots of notes here, and some nice countermelodies as well; but the only piano rolls I am familiar with are Gershwin's, which are so dynamic that they reach out at you. These are — well, merely better-than-proficient. Some passages do leap out at you, especially on the two longer rolls (multi-song medleys from Peggy-Ann [1926] and Spring Is Here [1929]). "Where's That Rainbow," for example, sounds like you've got three hands playing.
William Bolcom, one of several people who provide knowledgeable liner notes, sheds some light on the mystery. Apparently, the piano roll companies had staff editors who regularly went in and embellished the rolls after the fact. (Because these were recorded by making perforations on paper, you could go back to a section of the paper and add fills and flourishes — which was impossible to do on recordings at the time.) So it could well be that some of the surprisingly lively passages aren't Rodgers at all. But most of the playing is his. If it isn't brilliant, it is certainly authentic Rodgers-playing-his-songs and something that few of us have heard before. (A 1958 LP of Rodgers playing and Mary Martin singing was reissued on CD some years back, but it is rather tame.) Along with the two medleys, Rodgers gives us items like "The Blue Room," "The Girl Friend," "Mountain Greenery," and "My Heart Stood Still."
The piano rolls make up about a third of the CD. Next up is a demo of Rodgers playing and singing seven songs from the 1935 motion picture "Mississippi." This one is especially interesting in that we get Rodgers' singing voice, which I don't think was recorded elsewhere. A thin but not unpleasant voice, with a certain amount of charm. Only one of the songs is especially good, "Soon." Also of interest is "Pablo, You Are My Heart"; the way Rodgers plays it here, it sounds like the clear progenitor of "Johnny One Note" (which came along two years later). The best song from "Mississippi," "It's Easy to Remember," was not included on the demo; it is present, however, with Rodgers playing and a singer named Jerry Cooper on the vocal.
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The balance of the recording consists of radio air-checks and test recordings. There is a recording of two waltzes which is not very interesting until Rodgers starts playing "Lover." He includes a hesitation in his bass accompaniment, slightly distorting the waltz and giving it a wonderful lift which people who play the song today might want to incorporate. These air-checks, which come from the invaluable collection of Michael Feinstein, include one undiscovered gem, "A Little of You on Toast" (more formally known as "I'll Take a Little of You on Toast"). This was apparently written for a radio show called "Let's Have Fun" in 1935. The air check was taken from Edgar Bergen's "Chase & Sanborn Hour" in 1937. There is a spoken introduction in which Rodgers spars with Charlie McCarthy (Bergen's wooden friend), followed by Don Ameche, McCarthy/Bergen, Dorothy Lamour, and chorus singing the song. This includes new lyrics written by Hart for the occasion; the dummy even gets to joke lyrics about "Bill Fields' nose." (Bill Fields — W.C., to you — was a regular on the program.)
For those of us who are interested in all things Rodgers, "Richard Rodgers: Command Performance" gives us a fascinating and for the most part "new" hour with the songwriter at the piano (and even singing). And for more songs from Rodgers' piano, let me recommend "On Richard Rodgers' Piano," which is a few years old but just came into my hands. This is not Rodgers himself playing, mind you, which is why the playing is so much more expert. John Bucchino (of "Grateful" and A Catered Affair ) camped out in his friend Adam Guettel's loft for a few weeks, playing and improvising on the latter's grandfather's somewhat neglected Steinway. Thirteen songs, more or less evenly split between the Harts and Hammersteins. Bucchino does especially well with "My Favorite Things," "Isn't It Romantic," Where or When" and "You Took Advantage of Me." My favorite on the CD (apparently available only from www.johnbucchino.com) is the unjustly overlooked "My Romance" from Jumbo . As performed by Mr. Bucchino, it might become one of your favorites as well. But that's the magic of Rodgers (and Rodgers and Hart); every once in a while, you stumble on yet another great song that you might not ever have heard.
(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)
