Here is \"Singing My Way Round The World\" by Fred Elizalde And His Band, labelled as the \"Celebrity Dance Orchestra\" and featuring the superb Bixian cornet playing of Norman Payne.
FRED ELIZALDE AND HIS BAND (AS \"CELEBRITY DANCE ORCHESTRA\")
Fred Elizalde, piano? and arranger, directing: Norman Payne, cornet / Philip Buchel or Leslie Norman, alto sax / Jack Foss, baritone sax / George Hurley, violin / Dave Axford, string bass / Dan Ingman, drums / Jack Hart, vocals. London, March, 1930
294-1 Singing My Way Round The World Celebrity 4384
294-2 Singing My Way Round The World Film 134
\"Singing My Way Round The World\" was recorded in the London studios of the short-lived Dominion Gramophone Records company and issued on both their own label (on the rare C series, as by Jack Hart And His Band) and also on the associated - and even rarer - Celebrity record label (as the \"Celebrity Dance Orchestra\").
This transfer of take 1 is taken from the Celebrity….the only Celebrity in my collection! As a bonus, after this version I am also including the second half from the alternative take 2, issued on yet another label that Dominion had ties with - namely Flimophone (labelled as \"Phil Regent And His Orchestra\"). I am not including the entire Filmophone version as the start of the recording is very worn and noisy, and in any case it is only the solos by Norman Payne, Philip Buchel (or Leslie Norman?), George Hurley and the pianist (Elizalde?) that are significantly different from the Dominion/Celebrity take. I think take 1 is the better take.
Apart from vocalist Jack Hart, all the sidemen are drawn from the pit orchestra put together by Fred Elizalde for an ill-fated revue called \"The Intimate Revue\", which had a record-breaking short run of just one night at the Duchess Theatre, London on 11th March 1930 (it was intimate, one wag noted in a London newspaper critique that appeared the following day, because the stage was so small that the dancers' elaborate headsets kept getting entangled with each other). Elizalde had a leading role in the first scene of Act One of the review, playing a character named, appropriately enough, \"Fred\"!
The personnel given above is significantly different from the personnel given by Brian Rust in his discographies (which differ depending on the discography!) but I believe this line-up to be more accurate. The musicians who played in the band at the Intimate Review are also listed in one of the images in the video, reproduced from the original programme for the revue.
From the piano solo heard towards the end of the recording (both takes), it seems obvious that the pianist is Fred Elizalde himself. For comparison, listen to the piano solos he recorded for Decca in 1932 and 1933, such as \"I've Got The World On A String\", which Jonathan Holmes has uploaded on YouTube. However, I'm putting a question mark against Elizalde as the pianist simply because the other side of the Dominion issue is \"Cryin' For The Carolines\" and the pianist on that side doesn't sound anything like Elizalde, unless Elizalde was trying out something radically different! Perhaps there were two pianists and the other one was Cecil Norman (who was also in the Intimate Review band).
It also seems logical to assume that Fred Elizalde directed this Dominion session, which produced three other sides, and that he is also responsible for the arrangements used. There may have been contractual reasons for Elizalde's name being omitted from the labels. He made recordings for Columbia at the same time, though these sides (all written for the Intimate Review) were rejected for some reason.
