Whistle Blues

Mary Lou Williams wrote Camel Hop and Roll 'Em for Benny Goodman while she was still with Andy Kirk's band, and in late 1946, she started writing for him again. At the time, he had his own radio show with pianist Victor Borge, and in 1947, he would begin a new recording contract with Capitol Records. Goodman recorded Williams' Lonely Moments and Whistle Blues, a novelty that was recorded a few times during 1946 and 1947. Although the original parts exist for the Goodman version of Whistle Blues, this is the stock arrangement. It is very similar to the recording made by Milt Orent's orchestra for Moe Asch's Disc label, and is a more interesting treatment of the material. The original publication has a bit of history. In 1947, Goodman's publishing company Harman Music issued both Lonely Moments and Whistle Blues as octavo-sized stock arrangements with Goodman's image on the cover. The copyright notices on both are credited to Harman, but this was an error. It is believed that Goodman thought that he was buying the copyrights themselves and released the stocks with that understanding, but Williams refused to sell them to him. Both publications were promptly withdrawn.