Jussi Björling’s
autobiography Med bagaget i strupen (My Throat is my
Luggage) was published in 1945. There his many Swedish admirers
could read: “There was for a time a jazz singer – “whispering”
– whose name was Erik Odde. He became quite popular. He sang
hits by Fred Winter accompanied by Hanns Bingang’s jazz orchestra.
But Erik Odde disappeared as a gramophone singer – nobody knew
where. It is he who has written this book.”
That “classical”
musicians sometimes appeared under an assumed name was not that
unusual. As can be seem from the heading several of the composers
represented on this disc also chose to use a pseudonym. “Cross-over”
wasn’t always approved by serious institutions like the Royal
Opera. However Jussi Björling also sang popular songs under
his own name. To avoid over-exploitation his record company
‘divided him’ into two individuals. There is also a marked difference
between the two personas: Odde always appeared as a band singer,
with the orchestra getting the lion’s share of the playing time.
He never used his operatic voice, modelling his singing after
“Whispering” Jack Smith. Under his own name Jussi sang more
or less the same kind of popular songs as Odde but always showing
off his operatic top notes. Of course Erik Odde wasn’t a jazz
singer; and the orchestras were dance bands rather than jazz
bands. I doubt many people would have been interested in this
repertoire at all more than seventy years later, were it not
for the name of the singer. Tracks 2 – 13 on this disc are “The
collected works of Erik Odde” and the rest is the real Jussi
at approximately the same age in other light music.
I don’t feel it
necessary to go into detailed analysis of everything, but let
me mention a few things that might whet the appetite. The first
track, recorded under Jussi’s own name when he was not yet 21,
is noticeable for the simple naturalness of the delivery, his
articulation and also for the excellent violin soloist’s long
introduction complete with double stops. There are even some
nice compositional turns that make you listen. Track 3, Helge
Lindberg’s Bagdad, offers some orientalisms from the
fairly bouncy orchestra. The singing is unexaggerated, never
cheap. Track 5 is a real swinger with a jazzy trumpeter and
Jussi’s singing is tongue-in-cheek with some elegant falsetto.
Listening through the Erik Odde numbers chronologically one
can hear how the voice gradually fills out: by October 1933
his lowest notes are baritonal and sonorous. Two years earlier
they are more sketchy. From track 14 we are hearing Jussi Björling
as opposed to Erik Odde. Säg mig god natt is more suited
to an operatic voice. He sings it elegantly, and this was recorded
as early as 13 February 1931, only a week after his twentieth
birthday. On Slut dina ögon (track 15) from September
1932 he also displays some brilliant top notes but it is his
superb phrasing that really catches the listener. The 1933 sides
(trs 16 – 20) are authoritative and glowing. Then there is an
18 months’ jump to 1 May 1935 and the two songs he recorded
for the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Princess
Ingrid of Sweden, which took place on 24 May. The record was
issued with a special label portraying the Royal Couple. Jussi
also sang at a gala performance at the Royal Opera to celebrate
the wedding. A week later his own wedding took place. Then he
was still just 24, an age when most tenors are still in training.
At that stage Jussi had been a member of the Royal Opera for
four years and was an experienced singer with already 42 roles
behind him! Now he is the fully-fledged artist on the doorstep
to an international career and his voice is a perfectly obedient
instrument, even from top to bottom.
The musical material
on this disc may be slender but the singing of it is anything
but that. Anyone interested in the development of one of the
greatest singers of the last century should lend an ear to this
disc to get the full picture. The sound is as good as it could
be and Stefan Lindström could do little about the rather backward
balance of some of the Erik Odde numbers. The comprehensive
liner notes by Harald Henrysson are a model of their kind, Had
he had ten times the allotted space at his disposal he could
still have filled it with interesting background material.
Arguably the best
composer of popular songs from this period was Jules Sylvain.
Säg att du evigt håller mig kär (track 19) was one of
my favourite tracks on a long since worn-out Music for Pleasure
LP bought more than 35 years ago. I think I have to replay it
– and I recommend readers to try it as well. What a lovely voice!
Göran Forsling
see also Review
by Jonathan Woolf
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Jussi Björling (tenor)
