Halloween Stomp: Jazz & Big Band Music for a Haunted House Party
(Jass)
No finer collection of horror-themed novelty tunes and one-offs from Depression-era acts and giants of the big band era exists. And it's mean of us to even bring this disc up because Halloween Stomp has been out of print for years -- probably soon after the initial 1993 pressing on a rarities-and-reissue imprint from Germany.
"Mysterious Mose" by Harry Reser, and The Ray Noble Orchestra's "Haunted House" sound just like the pre-war, public-domain cartoons that local TV stations ran on weekday mornings during the '70s alongside vintage Popeye and Walter Lantz offerings -- right down to the voice work and sound effects.
The Casa Loma Orchestra offers the first of several doses of melancholy romance with "This House Is Haunted (By the Echo of Your Last Good Bye)", a pleasing break before the disc flings out more madcap numbers.
The Italian and Cockney counterparts to Louis Armstrong make good showings, respectively, with Louis Prima's "Mr. Ghost Goes to Town" and Nat Gonella's "Skeleton In the Closet."
Kay Starr shows them all up with her superior reading of "Headless Horseman." The song was sung by Bing Crosby in the 1949 animated Disney double-feature, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad, for the portion based on Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
While there's absolutely nothing wrong with Der Bingle's grandpadamous take, Starr shades her version with some hepcat speak. Besides, who would you rather hear sing about an 18th century urban legend?
The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra ends the show with "Dry Bones" -- a tepid party closer that can't match the Kay Starr track that precedes it. Drink 'em up and hit the road folks.
Since copies of Halloween Stomp are going for $40 plus change on Amazon, securing your own copy means scouring used CD racks, trying your luck at online auction sites or begging your friend for a dub. Good luck.
