Freddy Martin: Closet C-Melodist

[paulwl]

A certain, increasingly forgetful segment of the public still remembers Freddy Martin...sweet-music tenorman, inventor of the "Tenor Band" idea in the 30s and "Shmalzing the Classics" in the 40s. Now we learn that he was an at least occasional devotee of the straight neck Conn C melody, and even occasionally flaunted one in plain sight. This autographed picture (on eBay till May 7) proves it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2526971134

http://www.autographsofamerica.com/images/autographsforsale/-ebay-MartinSP.jpg

[OLDAIR]

Cool picture. I like the sort of Mohawk thing he's done with his pattern baldness! I wonder how many recordings are out there that were never properly attributed to the C-Melody? It was often probably a detail that few people thought was worth the ink.

[paulwl]

Mohawk?! Rug, more like it...

I think you're right about C melody kind of going undercover. Everybody and his pet rabbit played one during the '20s. It probably reeked of amateurishness to even own one.

Also, it's hard to tell from an alto unless you know your stuff. If you look at the earliest of swing popularity polls (1936 or so) you see Frank Trumbauer placing fairly high - on alto. He did play it, but did most all his solo work on the C.