Yes - everybody was "quoting" the Tommy Dorsey (Sunset Royal) arrangement - Anthony Barnett just sent me a radio recording from Holland with Eddie South and Mabel Mercer (!) doing their version of that arrangement! (I will include this in part 2)
Believe it or not, I played in Doc Wheeler’s last band at Smalls’ Paradise in Harlem late 70’s! Nice old man. Never asked him about Marie. Maybe Phil interviewed him.
So the version of the song I heard by Louis Armstrong and The Mills Brothers was actually arranged and not something they improvised...
Yes - everybody was "quoting" the Tommy Dorsey (Sunset Royal) arrangement - Anthony Barnett just sent me a radio recording from Holland with Eddie South and Mabel Mercer (!) doing their version of that arrangement! (I will include this in part 2)
Believe it or not, I played in Doc Wheeler’s last band at Smalls’ Paradise in Harlem late 70’s! Nice old man. Never asked him about Marie. Maybe Phil interviewed him.
Is that Bunny on that air check?