“Me Neenyah” – Fletcher Henderson and his Orchestra f/ Louis Armstrong (1925)

Here’s an interesting record: A straightforward dance number by Fletcher Henderson with Louis Armstrong present at the recording session that *doesn’t* feature a hot solo. Though Satch is heard soloing quite prominently on “Poplar Street Blues” and “12th Street Blues” – the two songs recorded immediately before this one – I’m not hearing his distinctive signature on this tune at all. So he either just laid back and played it straight as an ensemble player or sat this one out. What do you think? Am I missing something?

This sweet dance tune, whose title is an anglicization of “Mi Niña”, was presented by music publishers as a “Spanish Love Song”. It was composed by Herbert Spencer, who also composed “Fancies” – which the Henderson Dance Orchestra recorded on the Black Swan label in 1921.

As was common at the time, this track was attributed to pseudonyms on the other record labels it was simultaneously released on: It was attributed to the “Lenox Dance Orchestra” on Perfect label and ironically, to “Lanin’s Arcadians” on Homochord. Henderson’s band had been headlining with Sam Lanin’s dance orchestra at the Roseland in NYC throughout 1924.

At the end of the track, a ukulele can be heard. it has been speculated that this could have been played by Fletcher Henderson himself, as he accompanied Clara Smith on ukulele in 1924 on “Backwoods Blues”. Alternately, since Cliff Edwards (“Ukulele Ike”) recorded on the next matrix number immediately following “Me Neenyah”, it also could have been him popping in for a brief cameo.

0:00 Intro / Main theme
1:14 – Trumpet – Elmer Chambers
1:36 – Alto sax – Don Redman
2:12 Trombone – Charlie Green
2:22 Outro – Main theme restatement

Recorded in New York City on February 1925.
Released as Pathé Actuelle 036213.

Credits:
Fletcher Henderson – piano, arrangement, director, ukulele?
Elmer Chambers, Howard Scott, Louis Armstrong – trumpet
Charlie Green – trombone
Buster Bailey, Don Redman – clarinet, alto sax
Coleman Hawkins – clarinet, tenor sax
Charlie Dixon – banjo
Ralph Escudero – tuba
Kaiser Marshall – drums