More Jo Ann Greer with Les Brown

Jo Ann Greer

Singer Jo Ann Greer was the subject of a long post on my main blog in 2022, along with additional recordings made with band leader Les Brown here and here. I since have found five more Greer/Brown recordings on Internet Archive, and have prepared remastered ambient stereo versions for this post.

The first song comes from Greer's initial session with the Brown band - a June 1953 date for Coral that produced "Forty Cups of Coffee." It was a cover of Danny Overbea's R&B recording with the King Kolax band. Unfortunately for Danny and Jo Ann, Ella Mae Morse's record for Capitol was the most popular of the three.

Les, Jo Ann and band moved on to the Capitol label in 1955; the remaining four items come from their association.

The initial Capitol side is an oddity, in that I wouldn't have expected Brown to choose it and in that it has an uncharacteristically poor arrangement. It is "Sincerely Yours," the title song of Liberace's only film, with music by the pianist and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. The record mates a predictable melody with the usual tuneless band vocal and an ill-advised spoken chorus from Greer before she starts singing.

Les admires his saxophone

Fortunately, the next song is perfectly suited to Jo Ann's talents, and she is in superb form. It is "Hit the Road to Dreamland," a song that Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote for the 1942 film Star Spangled Rhythm.  

The Brown recording was stimulated by the song's revival for the 1956 Bob Hope comedy That Certain Feeling. The film took its name from a song the Gershwins wrote back in 1925. Brown and Greer included their version of "That Certain Feeling" as the flip side of "Hit the Road to Dreamland." On screen, Pearl Bailey sings both numbers.

The last selection in this set, also from 1956, is "The Best Years of My Life," an enjoyable ballad with an passionate vocal by Greer, deploying her vibrato to good effect, and dispassionate vocal support, likely sourced from the band.

LINK