Looking for a specific recording of "If I Could Be With You"

October 15, 2017 1:15 PM

I'm looking for a particular recording of the jazz standard "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)" written by James P. Johnson and Henry Creamer. The recording I heard was probably from the 40s or 50s, and features a few male vocalists (three tenors I think), all singing the melody in unison together (not harmonizing) over a pretty sparse arrangement. It was a pretty cool sound. Thanks for any help!

Other details:
- There were solo breaks, first for a saxophone section, and next for a trumpet.
- I heard it first in the mid-to-late 90s on an old jazz radio station when I was in Minocqua, Wisconsin. Extra points if anyone can identify the station. I taped this song off the air, but can't find the tape, and have been curious about the artists ever since.

posted by dmalashock to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Three person unison is an extremely unusual configuration for that era. That plus the sparse arrangement makes me suspect it was a one-off (but recorded) radio thing rather than a commercial recording. Even more so given the topic of the song, which makes vocal performance by three dudes a prospect that'd never come close to passing commercial muster (people paid attention to lyrics back then). Your best bet is to figure out the station, and, if it's gone, who got its tapes (check universities). Probably reel-to-reel.

Also, not to be pedantic, but in case you query elsewhere, the correct terminology is a sax section soli followed by a trumpet solo. "Solo breaks" is more of a rock & roll concept, and "solo" means one player improvising (the sax players were surely reading, not improvising....look up Supersax for some great examples of that sort of thing).
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:52 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

OK, this is a VERY wild guess, considering I haven't actually heard the recording I'm recommending....BUT there is a 1949 recording of the song by Guy Lombardo, featuring Kenny Gardner and the Lombardo Trio on vocals. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to exist on the Internet or Spotify. But other Lombardo recordings featuring the vocal trio have that sort of unison sound you describe.

So, this may be totally wrong but it might be a place to start, if you can dig up a copy.
posted by neroli at 12:38 PM on October 19, 2017