More Singles from Les Elgart

Not long ago I posted the earliest singles from the Les Elgart band, dating from 1946 and 1948. This was a companion to his Band of the Year LP, which captured many of the group's 1954 singles. Now here's a sequel with six varied and generally enjoyable single sides from late 1955 and early 1956.

The initial item is the first recording of "Devil May Care," a new song back then, written by jazz pianist-vocalist Bob Dorough with Terrell Kirk. The label doesn't identify the young and personable vocalist, but he seems to be Don Forbes, who does get a credit on the record below. He apparently recorded just a handful of songs, all with Les. Don was a young Sinatra follower with a hip approach, a la Buddy Greco.

"Devil May Care" is a good song, but it didn't really catch on until it was taken up by a whole flock of cabaret singers, starting with Meredith d'Ambrosio in the 1980s.

The flip side was "The Trouble with Harry," an exploitation song associated with Alfred Hitchcock's comedy of the same name. Les' version marks the third time this piece has appeared here The first two were in a post devoted to Hitchcock obscurities, where you can read about the genesis of the music. I described the first two versions as "equally annoying." This one is just a little annoying, thanks to the repeated calls of "That's the trouble with Harry!"

Don Forbes returns with "D.J. Jamboree," a not-unpleasant tune by Alden Shuman and Marshall Brown. Record artists of the day were keen on pandering to the nation's disk jockeys, who at the time were the gatekeepers of air time. (Thus the payola scandal just a few years hence.)

The next number is "Main Title - Golden Arm." That really ought to be "Main Title - The Man with the Golden Arm" because that was the full name of the Sinatra film about a junkie card dealer. 

It's an impressive theme from the gifted Elmer Bernstein. Elgart's version is well done, but please listen to Bernstein's own version, which tops it in swagger and menace.

The next item has the unprepossessing title of "La Chnouf." It is the theme from a contemporary French gangster film Razzia sur la chnouf ("Raid on the Dope"), with the great Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura. The song turns out to be a very good one by Marc Lanjean, here in a fine chart that gets a polished performance. Lanjean also wrote "Le Grisbi" ("The Touch") with Jean Wiener, recently featured here in versions by both Betty Johnson and Sy Oliver.

Finally, Alden Shuman and Marshall Brown (along with Earl Shuman) return with "Saddle Shoe Boogie," a simple riff tune designed to get Elgart's huge campus following out on the dance floor. It's a worthy follow-up to "Bandstand Boogie," which can be found on the Band of the Year LP.

The sound on all these numbers is excellent.

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