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Roaring 20s: Irving Aaronson & His Commanders - Evening Star, HMV 1928

1,394 views · Published 21 January 2016 · 3:30 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2016 · Music

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Irving Aaronson & His Commanders – Evening Star (Help Me Find My Man), Fox Trot (Turk – Ahlert) with Vocal Refrain, HMV 1928 (recorded in USA; UK pressing)

NOTE: Born in New York in 1895, Irving Aaronson started his musical career in age of 11, playing piano in nickelodeons. In 1920, he formed his first dance ensamble called the Versatile Sextette and later the Crusaders Dance Band. They made their first recording for Edison Diamond Discs  in 1925. A year later, they started recording regularily for Vioctor, as Irving Aaronson and the Commanders (their start at the Victor being anmormous success with "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune," containing the catchy chorus "vo-do-dee-oh/vo-do-do-dee-oh-doh" – which soon became a sort of a “tribal call” for the newest generation of the jazz-lovers of the Roaring Twenties (although the California Ramblers had recorded "Vo-do-de-o Blues" in 1924, the Aaronson title was the record that spread this term to the American public). The Aaronson's Commanders were loved in the US for their bright, peppy sound and rich arrangements, that quickly made them a favorite in the era of collegiate capers and raccoon coats. The band was filled with talented instrumentalists -- for example saxophonists Artie Shaw and Tony Pastor, the pianist Chummy, who later developed thje chorus concluding Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”, or the wild vocalist Phil Saxe. In 1928, Aaronson's Commanders appeared on Broadway, backing up French chanteuse Irene Bordoni in Cole Porter's show “Paris” – which included such immortal hits as “Let's Misbehave," "Let's Do It," and "Don't Look at Me That Way”. Aaronson’s Commanders made the first recordings of all these songs, some with Bordoni https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmwc9artTUM and some without https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBl05afAiCk  . Both "Let's Misbehave" and "Let's Do It" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOpd-xfTVOE became best-selling records that regularly appear on compilations of vintage 1920s dance band music. The Black Tuesday in 1929 ceased the series of Aaronson band’s success. The Victor recordings stopped after just 27 titles, and over 1,5 year was to pass before the band recorded again for Brunswick - two sides recorded during the Great Depression, which went virtually unotioced and were forgotten soon after their release. By 1933, Saxe and Aaronson had put together a new incarnation of the Commanders, the early swing band which included drummer Gene Krupa, future bandleader Bob Chester, and vocalists Harmon Nelson and Kay Weber. The group played at the boardwalk in Atlantic City or in the Avalon Ballroom on Santa Catalina Island, and recorded again for ARC, producing about 20 sides that appeared on Vocalion and Columbia. However, all that was just a swan’s song. In 1935 the Commanders disbanded and next two decades Irving Aaronson spent at MGM studios as an assistant musical director. He retired at age 65 in 1960, and died from a heart attack three years later.

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