Georgie Auld in the late '40s

Georgie Auld should be better known today, but he isn't. In his prime, he was a furiously swinging tenor saxophonist and leader of some pretty hip bop bands of the '40s. Today, the late reedman is probably best known for appearing in Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977) as bandleader Frankie Harte, working as a consultant to help Robert De Niro with his sax fingering and dubbing all the sax solos. That is, if you remember this marginal film. [Pictured: Georgie Auld, circa August 1947]

Auld (born John Altwerger) started out on alto sax in his home town of Toronto, Canada—but when he heard Coleman Hawkins, he switched to the tenor. Auld traveled to New York in the '30s and was playing in Manhattan in 1936 when Bunny Berigan hired him for his band. As a result, Auld is on Berigan's famed recording of I Can't Get Started in August 1937.

In late 1938, Auld joined Artie Shaw's big band and was featured on hot solos. When Shaw abruptly quit his own band in November 1939 for a sabbatical in Mexico, Auld took over the leadership slot. But Auld lacked sufficient charisma to hold the band together and it folded within three months.

In Tom Nolan's Three Chords for Beauty's Sake, his biography of Artie Shaw, Nolan quotes Shaw on Auld:

"At Buddy [Rich's] funeral [in 1987], I'm talking to Mel Brooks, outside the funeral home. And Georgie Auld—he turned out to be a fucking gangster, horrible guy—he comes up: 'You're fulla shit. You're fulla shit.' 'Wadya mean, George? Wadya talkin' about?' I said, 'Is that your considered opinion? Is there anything you want to add to that?'

"George was disappointed he wasn't called on to speak [at Buddy's funeral] and was very angry. 'You're fulla shit.' That's all he could say! Chagrin! What—I dunno, he identified himself with me, and he never could quite make it, as a star, you know, whatever it was. Angered him. Infuriated him. When I quit the music, man [in 1939], I gave him the band; I gave him my book. He could not make it work. He didn't have the quality that it took. Certain people don't."

After Shaw, Auld went on to play with Jan Savitt, Benny Goodman and a revived Shaw band before he entered the Army in 1941. After being discharged in 1944, Auld led his own orchestra—a band that included trumpeter Sonny Berman and saxophonist Al Cohn.

In fact, Auld's bands throughout the '40s were rather spectacular, always featuring sterling talent and solid bop arrangements. Despite Shaw's assessment, Auld could attract and hold onto major players. For example, a 1946 band featured Al Porcino, Manny Fox, Al Aarons, Art House (tp), Rudy DeLuca, Tracy Allen, Mike Datz (tb), Louis Prisby and Gene Zanoni (as), Al Cohn (ts,arr), Irv Roth (ts), Serge Chaloff (bar), Harry Biss (p), Barry Galbraith (b-g), Ed Cunningham (b), Art Mardigan (d) and Lynn Stevens (vcl)—with additional arrangements by Tadd Dameron, Budd Johnson, Hugo Winterhalter and Al Killian. [Photo of Georgie Auld with Serge Chaloff (bs), Red Rodney (tp) and Tiny Kahn (d) in 1947 by William P. Gottlieb]

In 1949, Auld led another great band. This one included Neal Hefti (tp,arr), Billy Byers (tb,arr), Clint Neagley (as), Pete Terry (ts), Gerry Mulligan (bar,arr), Jimmy Rowles (p), Joe Mondragon (b), Alvin Stoller (d), Karl Kiffe (bgo) and Viginia Maxey (vcl), with additional charts by Hal Vernon.

In 1951 Auld put together a terrific quintet with Frank Rosolino (tb), Lou Levy (p), Max Bennett (b) and Tiny Kahn (d), who  wrote the arrangements.

Auld was featured on a range of excellent albums in the '50s, mostly for EmArcy, but he also spent too much time recording dreadful albums for Coral that included a miserable choir. Auld was always a solid player, but some of his best moments came between bebop's emergence and its triumph in the late '40s.

Comments

[Mike Harris]

Say it ain't so Marc;"New York, New York" was one of DeNiro's most unforgettable performances! He had that jazzman schtick down to a "T"

[Larry Kart]

I have no personal or even second-hand knowledge of the kind of guy Georgie Auld was, but like so many of Artie Shaw's remarks about other people, his comments on Auld seem to me to be all about Shaw: "I dunno, [Auld] identified himself with me, and he never could quite make it, as a star, you know, whatever it was."

As for Shaw giving Auld his 1939 band, and Auld not being able to "make it work. He didn't have the quality that it took. Certain people don't" -- can you imagine anyone in the business at that time being able to make that situation work, let alone Auld, who was then age 20?

[John P. Cooper]

Larry Kart makes a good point about Auld's age working against his being a successful bandleader at age 20. By age 25 he had it going, so props to the Canadian kid. His work with Shaw's band is terrific.

Somewhere I read a quote from Auld about working with Robert DeNiro on "NY,NY". It was pretty much 'Working with Robert DeNiro was about as much fun as a case of the clap.'

Musicians!

[David]

Fresh Sound has released an anthology of four small group sessions that Auld made from 1951-1963 with bop and west coast oriented musicians. On the '51 session his wide vibrato on ballads and honking on barn burners sound a bit anachronistic. On the later sessions he de-emphasizes those elements and achieves a nice synergy with the younger musicians. The combination of Auld's tenor with Bunker's vibes and Johnny Gray's guitar, along with Levy, Vinnegar, and Lewis, on the July '63 session is especially lovely.

[Rsalvucc]

Yeah, Marc, Shaw was a genius, but an appalling egomaniac. I never met Georgie Auld, but I'm glad I never met Shaw. And I love his playing.

[Larry Kart]

On "Mo-Mo," beginning at the 1:30 mark, dig the trumpet figures that Hefti copped from "Petrouchka."

[Jery Rowan]

Marc - New York, New York a “marginal film”?!

Among working musicians -- as in, those who would actually have informed opinions on the subject -- NY, NY is constantly held up as one of the finest films depicting realism in music performance, thanks to the great coaching of Georgie Auld and brilliant performance of Robert De Niro. And, while not a box office bonanza, it more than made its money back for Chartoff-Winkler Productions.

And Auld’s playing on the sound track was superb. Come to think of it, when has his playing not been considered A-list? All you have to do is look at the musical company he’s kept in those dozens and dozens of albums he was hired to work on over the years.

Marc, the dude’s already an icon. What makes you think he “should be better known”?

Frankly, the only bad things I’ve ever heard about Georgie have come from the mouths of envious, lesser players who couldn’t handle his popularity.

[Jeff Sultanof]

Neal told me that he didn't like the recording of "Mo-Mo" because in trying to fit the piece onto a 78 side, the first strain of the melody was not repeated, which was the way Neal wrote it. It's too bad that the Auld book seems to be missing, as I'd love to see all of this great music published.

[stmichrick]

Still trying to figure why Georgie Auld would be asked to speak at Buddy Rich's funeral...?

[Bruno Leicht]

Georgie Auld's "Homage" album where he paid tribute to his former leader Benny Goodman will stand the test of time, though it is widely unknown.

It has been recorded on September 5, 1959 and features the legendary Don Fagerquist on trumpet, Howard Roberts on guitar, Lou Levy on piano, Larry Bunker on vibes, Leroy Vinnegar & Mel Lewis on bass 'n' drums. All in all a very swingin' affair with tinges of cool bop.

Georgie plays a very strong, a very modern sounding tenorsax on the twelve tracks, among them A Smooth One, Wholly Cats, or Soft Winds in freshly swinging new versions.

Alas, it came simply too late for receiving recognition: 1959 -- the year of "Kind Of Blue", of "Giant Steps" & "Time Out" ... this says it all, I guess.

Anyway, I love it. "Homage" appeared on the XANADU label (#190), and it can be found on the Fresh Sound CD twofer, recommended above by fellow commenter David:

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/airmail_special_1951-1963_2_cd_set-cd-3606.html