Carroll Gibbons & The Savoy Hotel Orpheans, Vol. 13: Rustic Rhapsody

Carroll Gibbons (1903-1954) was one of several prominent British bandleaders who started out as U.S. citizens. Born in Clinton, MA, he spent his college years in England at the Royal Academy of Music, went home for a minute, and then boomeranged back to London where he performed at the Savoy Hotel as a member of the Boston Orchestra. Plunging into the professional atmosphere surrounding the Savoy, young Gibbons became one of the founding members of the Savoy Orpheans, a dance orchestra initially led by Debroy Somers. Sometimes engaging in piano duets with Frank Herbin (and later Billy Thorburn), Gibbons participated in the initial 1923 Columbia sessions that led to years of steady recording activity for HMV (where he served as musical director) and Zonophone. By 1927 he was billed as the leader of the Savoy Orpheans. Although he also served as a staff composer at MGM films back in the U.S.A. during 1930-1931, Gibbons continued to lead the Orpheans until his sudden death at the age of 51 from coronary thrombosis. Released in 1991, Pearl Flapper's 22-track tribute to Carroll Gibbons & the Savoy Hotel Orpheans plows a historical (if chronologically obfuscated) furrow from January 1930 to September 1, 1939, the day that Nazi Germany invaded Poland. This compilation contains broadcast transcription recordings of peculiarly pleasant and attractively accessible dance music, perfectly in step with the prevailing swing and pop elements of the 1930s. Gibbons is heard as pianist, saxophonist, violinist, and announcer. Vocalists include Cecile Petrie, Anne Lenner, Maurice Elwin, and the multi-instrumental George Melachrino, destined for success in the Technicolor world of instrumental mood music and easy listening. More than half of the selections heard here were performed by a scaled-down version of the Orpheans billed as Carroll Gibbons & His Boy Friends.