Customer Reviews

That's How Rhythm Was Born

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It's amazing that a domestic label like Columbia released such a comprehensive collection of the legendary Boswell Sisters(not even the European import labels have gotten around to releasing a coplete and chronological CD). Though this CD is just a compilation, it is an excellent overview of The Boswell Sisters. This excellent CD includes such classics as "Louisiana Heyride," "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," "Sophistocated Lady"(with an early Benny Goodman clarinet solo), "Minnie The Moocher's Wedding Day"(you will swear that you were listening to three black girls), "St. Louis Blues" and "The Object Of My Effection." Every track is a classic, with connee Boswell's lead vocals and her new Orleans accent, the sisters' hot harmonizing, and their mind boggling scat solos. On just about every track you will hear Benny Goodman, Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Red Nichols, Alex Hill, Martha Boswell(on piano), Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, and many others take extensive solos, since Connee Boswell did the arrangemets she always wrote in extra space so the musicians could have some solo space. This CD is a must have.

Some individuals mistakenly compare the Boswell sisters to the Andrews sisters. There are major differences between the two groups. The Boswells grew up in New Orleans, surrounded by jazz. Each of the Boswell sisters could play several musical instruments. Each had a beautiful voice and could handle solos perfectly. The Boswell sisters did their own brilliant arrangements. Connie Boswell deserves to be recognized for her musical brilliance - she did amazingly playful arrangements that toyed with the key, tempo, rhythm, vocalizing, and instrumentalizing of the songs. The result is that Connie would take a song and turn it inside out and reveal new angles to familar songs. The group's vocals were wonderful - peppy, jazzy, synchronized masterfully by the ever talented sisters. When the girls married, only Connie wanted to remain in show business. With her musical intelligence, it is difficult to imagine her giving up music altogether. This is a great group and their music deserves to be revived. And Connie Boswell deserves major rediscovery for her musical talents.

The Bozzies (as the bandleader calls them on the last track) are simply wonderful, and if some stylings and dialect sound a tad dated, the pleasure of their singing endures. There is a strange instinct to match them against the Andrews Sisters, both here and on the Andrews page. I suppose that's normal--like comparing Dempsey and Louis or Mantle and Mays--but for me, the Boswells are more jazzy and snazzy, the Andrews more brassy and sassy. You choose what you like. What I lament is the the fact that the Andrews have a spiffy, budget-priced, 4-CD set available, as do other early giants (Anita O'Day, Louis Jordan has a 5-CD set) but the Boswells' fans must either piece together individual discs, or hope for the pricely and hard-to-find collector's series. So, JSP, or Proper Box--please do the same for the wonderful Boswells! Later edition: Joy! The hard-to-find 5 CD set of their complete works (which has some overlap between discs, but only of titles, they are different takes) was rereleased by a Danish company, and I picked it up used at deep discount. Is that tinnitis acting up or angels singing?

Great vocalists like the Boswell Sisters never go out of fashion. "That's How Rhythm Was Born" remains the perfect introduction to the scat stylings and rhythmic harmonies of Connie, Martha and Helvetia. Legacy/Columbia has compiled 20 indispensable tracks from the 1930s, ranging from "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" to their biggest hit, "The Object of My Affection." Though little known today, the music of the Boswell Sisters is worth rediscovering.

Comparing the Boswell Sisters with the other sister act is not useful. The Boswell Sisters are, as another reviewer points out, jazz artists. The Andrews sisters were a pop act, good as far as it went but they weren't particularly original or creative.

The Boswell Sisters are probably not as well known for the same reason that Glenn Miller is better known than many greater artists, he produced easily digested music which became emblematic of the second world war. There's nothing wrong with it but in purely musical terms it isn't the same thing as Chick Webb or Artie Shaw.

Anyone who listens to the Boswell Sisters and fails to appreciate how much variety and contrast they could fit into a three minute song just doesn't know what they're missing. They definitely deserve to be mentioned in the line of musicians starting with Louis Armstrong. No less an artist than Ella Fitzgerald named them as a crucial influence on her. With that kind of recommendation it can't be doubted that they deserve a thorough try.

There is no doubt about the Boswell Sisters' musical talents.They recorded with many of the most major and influential jazz artists in the 20s and 30s.And they were good friends with countless more,Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Prima(who was a New Orleans native like the girls)come to mind.
But sadly there is also no doubt of the neglect they have received over the years for their accomplishments.
Happily now however we are starting to see re-releases of much of their material and this disc is an excellent way to introduce you to them.
My next recommendations would be "The Boswell Collection",on Storyville,all volumes,the "The Boswell Sisters",both volumes on Collectable,if you want their first recordings seek out "It's the Girls" on Living Era and for some live material which I highly recommended is "Airshots and Rarities" on Retrieval.
This and all these CDs display a group of ladies with no peers whatsoever.There were female singing groups before them and many to come later but NOONE could put a song over in the same way the "Bosies"(pronounced 'bozzies')could....noone.
They were raised in New Orleans and sang and/or played instruments at a very early age.They were exposed to much Black gospel and blues music,which certainly influenced their vocalization and harmonic capabilities and in their "selling" of songs.
They cut their first records in the mid 20s and slowly started touring.Their popularity climbed quickly.By the early 30s the girls had truly "made it" and were in a mad swirl of recording,touring and eventually movie making.Connie played cello,sax and guitar but for the most part let her pipes "do the walking".Her sister Helvetia or Vet played bango,guitar and violin.Her wonderful violin accompaniment can be heard on numerous recordings.Last sister Martha played a wonderful bluesy piano and also can be heard tinkling the ivories while at the same time" harmonizin' ".
They were a powerful force to be reckoned with and they were dearly loved among all jazz musicians.It is absolutely remarkable how mid song,indeed mid bar!.....the sisters could suddenly trade
off singing parts which was as natural as breathing to them.The recordings are certainly marvels to listen to and are as fresh today as when they were first recorded.
As the 30s and the Depression roared on so did the sisters.Come late /35 things started to wind down for them.Connie married in December,Martha who already had a 10 year old son re-married on News Years day of /36 and Vet by that same time was already pregnant with a daughter.
So in mid /36 after over ten years of recordings,movies and constant touring of the US and Canada and two successful tours of Europe,the sisters called it quits.
Connie who later changed her name to Connee, was the only one of the sisters to continue her singing career.She had a moderately successful career into the 70s.
I don't care what kind of music you like but one listen to the dulcit tones and intricate harmonies of the Boswell Sisters,and you will definitely be hooked.
And there's no better place to start than with this CD!

The Boswell Sisters were the 1st group to truly use jazz in vocal harmony, there arrangements by lead singer Connie Boswell were innovative, and full of jazz syncopations and the blues. This pioneering jazz vocal group would influence and pave the way for groups as diverse as Lambert, Hendricks & Ross to todays Take 6. A great cd of great new Orleans jazz harmony vocals. The Bozzies are backed here by combos that feature such solosists as Bunny barigan, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey, among others.

It's too bad that the Boswell Sisters are hardly known nowadays. Although they preceded the Andrews Sisters by several years (1932-35) these ladies from New Orleans had a lot more jazzy feel and cleverness than the Andrews. The Andrews Sisters sound stilted and stiff compared to these girls. Listen to "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" "42nd Street" and "Louisiana Hayride" as an example, quick scat harmonies with sophisticated playfulness. Their slow numbers are poignant and dramatic like "Sophisticated Lady" and more. Far more adventurous than the Andrews, the Boswell Sisters offer 20 great cuts of early 30's art deco vocal jazz with clever wit and natural southern musicianship. Fun!

Comparisons to the Andrews Sisters are inevitable because they were a sister act of about the same era, singing some of the same songs or similar songs. As one reviewer said, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Andrews Sister had a sweeter and smoother sound and some great songs, but all the songs sounded alike. The Boswell's, on the other hand, seem to really make each song sound different and unique and even put a lot of different variety into a given song. It makes them far more interesting than the Andrews Sister, where a little goes a long way. The Boswell's arrangements keep you interested. You can listen over and over again and hear something new every time. For nostalgia buffs who like 30's music, this is a MUST HAVE album. Sound quality is pretty good for the age of the recordings too. This album is pure delight from start to finish. No it isn't the Andrews Sisters; it's far, far better.

Even my mum, born in 1927, cannot remember how a vocal trio of white women in the 30s could completely emulate black singing styles and "emotion", and yet remain extremely popular. Was there really an opportunity (completely lost for decades) for a really quite pleasant and artistic black-white "American" popular culture to develop? I can only think of Ella Mae Morse in the 40s and early 50s as another example of a white singer perfectly happy to be identified as "sounding black".

Great material, and they could be performing the same arrangements today!