One of the recordings in WBIX # 141 is “Sugar” by Fred Elizalde. I had heard the record before several times, but not recently. I did not listen to it before I made the program. After I completed the program, I listened to the complete program to make sure there were no problems. When I got to ”Sugar” it finally dawned on me that Chelsea Quealy’s solo is an example of “Copying Bix.” At least, I think it is. Let me know if you agree or disagree
On Feb 28, 1928, Paul Whiteman recorded Maceo Pinkard’s tune “Sugar.” There were four takes. Two were destroyed. Take 1 was released on Jul 30, 1936. Take 2 was released on July 20, 1928. The arrangement by Bill Challis is terrific. For me, the highlight of the recording is the duet between Bix on cornet and Strickfaden on baritone (?) sax. Strickfaden plays essentially the same notes on both takes. But Bix, ah, Bix!! Very different solos (or obbligatos, if you like). We get 16 + 8 bars of Bix and Strickfaden separated by 8 bars of trombone by Bill Rank.
On Jan 15, 1928, Fred Elizalde and His Music (Chelsea Quealey and Norman Payne on trumpet; Bobby Davis on cl, ss, as, Harry Hayes on cl, as; Rex Owen on ts; Len Fillis on guitar; Dick Maxwell on bj,g; Ronnie Gubertini on drums) recorded the same tune, “Sugar,” using a very similar arrangement. This observation is startling because Elizalde waxed his recording six weeks before Whiteman!! There is a trumpet/sax duet also, very similar to the duets by Bix and Strickfaden in their two takes. I can almost state that what Chelsea does (I think it is Chelsea, not Norman Payne, OKeh?) is sort of a hybrid of the two Bix solos. Listen
How is that possible? Where did the arrangement used by Elizalde come from? Richard Sudhalter provides an answer in “Lost Chords, “[sugar was] a Goldkette holdover, it had been passed to the New Yorker band and brought across by Rollini.” Sounds reasonable for the complete arrangement. But what about Bix’s solo? Didn’t ordinarily Challis leave blank space for Bix to do his improvisations? Is this correct? If so, where did Chelsea learn about Bix’s solo? Maybe “Sugar” was in the New Yorkers book and Chelsea went to hear his buddies Adrian Rollini and Bobby Davis at the New Yorker and heard Bix doing his thing in “Sugar.” A few months later, he had a chance to play in the Elizalde recording what he had heard from Bix? Does this speculation sound reasonable to you?
On more question. Is the sax behind the trumpet in the Elizalde recording a tenor or an alto sax? If alto, is it Bobby Davis?