Early Singles from Jerri Adams

Singer Jerri Adams had a relatively brief career, but everything she recorded is worth hearing. Her two Columbia LPs have been reissued on CD, but not, to my knowledge, some of these early singles.

Adams' early career was spent as a band singer in her hometown of Cincinnati. Her first record, from about 1952, was for the Dee Gee label, owned by Dizzy Gillespie, as a member of the Tattletales vocal group. She solos on "What Else Is There to Do," a song that makes "Gloomy Sunday" sound like "On the Sunny Side of the Street." That said, her vocal is very fine, with perfect control and intonation, and total involvement with the despairing lyrics. The other side is a chipper group outing on "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street." Dee Gee also issued another Tattletales single, but it doesn't appear to have an Adams solo. (I don't have the record.)

Frankie Laine heard the group and brought it to the attention of Mitch Miller, his producer at Columbia. Miller had no need for the group, but engaged Adams as a single. Her first Columbia session was in September 1953, with an orchestra led by Percy Faith. It produced two songs on the EP above, "Moonlight in Vermont" (her first Columbia single) and "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" (her second). The other two songs on the EP appear on Adams' first LP, "It's Cool Inside." "Love for Sale" was apparently a specialty of hers, but it sounds even more melodramatic than usual here.

The final item for today is her 1957 single of "Suddenly (The Meeting)," sounding much like Eydie Gorme, and "A Little Bit of Kindness." The backing here is my Ray Conniff, and is very much of its time. She handles this material very well.

Adams made only a few more records before retiring. The download includes a podcast interview with her produced several years ago by a family friend, Josh Burker.