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Bumble Boogie cover

Loose Cuts

Bumble Boogie

Freddy Martin and His Orchestra

Composers
Rimsky-Korsakov; Rachmaninoff
Released
1946
Label
RCA Victor
Forces
piano; big band
Catalogue
20-1829

Jack Fina’s piano writing follows Rachmaninoff’s transcription of Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral showpiece closely, then kicks it into boogie-woogie. A contemporary Los Angeles magazine ranked it as the biggest record of 1946 and noted that its popularity ran from early in the year into the summer. Two years later, Freddy Martin’s orchestra and Fina’s piano accompanied a bee’s surreal nightmare in Disney’s Melody Time.

Hear both

The classical side carries the source work this cut came from. The jazz side carries the cut itself. Each player holds what is available, and the two need not match.

The originalsRimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee, from The Tale of Tsar Saltan, by way of Rachmaninoff’s piano transcription
Jazzed upBumble Boogie
Open track in Spotify

Spotify’s player is here for convenience; the cut remains listed below for everyone.

The cut

The classical-derived cut from this record, with its source work.

  1. Bumble BoogieRimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee, from The Tale of Tsar Saltan, by way of Rachmaninoff’s piano transcription