Al Hibbler, 'Unchained Melody' and 'Daybreak'

"Mannered", "overstated", "full of idiosyncrasies" and with "bizarre vocal pyrotechnics" - that's how Wikipedia describes Al Hibbler's singing style. I can't disagree, and would add that Hibbler tended to adopt an English accent, despite hailing from Tyro, Mississippi. Also, he was clearly influenced by the histrionic Billy Daniels, whose singing I dislike.

Even so, I love Al and have most of his records. He was a compelling singer with a terrific voice.

Hibbler came to prominence in the 1940s after replacing Herb Jeffries as Duke Ellington's male vocalist. After leaving that ensemble, he began recording as a solo for several labels, achieving his greatest success with US Decca.

This present post presents his biggest hit, a vocal version of "Unchained Melody," based on Alex North's theme from the 1955 film Unchained, a prison flick improbably starring Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch. Todd Duncan handles the song in the movie, but his warbling apparently did not rate a single release. So Decca hustled Hibbler into the studio shortly after the film came out and quickly issued its own 45. Despite Jack Pleis' unimaginative backing, Hibbler's rendition was very popular, rising to number three on the charts. Les Baxter's version for Capitol sold even better, hitting number one. (You can find the Baxter performance on my other blog.) A decade later, "Unchained Melody" was a major success for the Righteous Brothers, with Bobby Hatfield singing and Bill Medley producing.

Al Hibbler

But today's focus is on the flip side of Hibbler's single. It is the lovely song "Daybreak", and I am featuring it here as a companion post to one on my other blog, which presents Andre Kostelanetz's LP coupling Ferde Grofé's Mississippi Suite and Jerome Kern's Mark Twain Suite. As I note there, "Daybreak" is adapted from the "Mardi Gras" section of the Mississippi Suite, with lyrics by Harold Adamson. The suite dates from 1925 and the song from 1942. It's not clear why Hibbler dusted off the "Daybreak" sheet music at that late date, but his performance is sensitive and convincing.

I am sure I have the coupling on 45, but rather than search through my almost completely disorganized singles collection, I instead pulled out the LP Hits by Hibbler and transferred the songs from that source. The sound is very good, projecting the singer's vocal quality in a lifelike manner, English accent and all.

Martha Raye Swings It

Today we hear from Bing Crosby's other co-star in Waikiki Wedding, Martha Raye. We have her Brunswick recording of "(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It," also known by the title "Mr. Paganini." This song is from an earlier Crosby opus called Rhythm on the Range, which was Raye's first feature film.

Those of you who remember Raye probably think of her as a comic actor. She populated quite a number of films during the 30s and 40s. But she was literally born into vaudeville (backstage during one of her parents' shows), and had experience as a band singer and in nightclubs. As far as I can tell, this Brunswick 78 was her first issued recording. It dates from May 1939, three years after the film was made - and well after Ella Fitzgerald had a hit with the song.

In Rhythm on the Range, Raye is supported (if that is the right word) by a strange assortment of musicians including trumpeter Louis Prima, novelty musician Bob Burns and his home-made "bazooka," and the Sons of the Pioneers. It's too bad they couldn't have enlisted Leopold Stokowski to conduct.

Louis Prima, Martha Raye, Bob Burns

The accompaniment on the 78 is more straightforward, being under the direction of the young David (here Dave) Rose. Rose and Raye were married at the time, and made records for both Brunswick and Columbia in 1939. All were compiled on an Epic LP in 1954 (with "Mr. Paganini" in an alternate take).

The flip side of the Brunswick disc is a peculiar swing version of "Ol' Man River," which must have made Jerome Kern's gray hair stand on end.

Raye did not make many other records. There are a few songs on Decca and Mercury, a 1949 LP on the Discovery label that I have just reuploaded on my other blog, and a later joint LP with Carol Burnett, which I also have.

Vocal maven Will Friedwald takes Martha Raye very seriously as a jazz artist. His Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers has a chapter delving into her slim recorded opus in great detail. Will loves her singing; I much prefer someone like Shirley Ross who is less histrionic.

Shirley Ross in Songs from 'Higher and Higher'

In my last post, I promised some songs by Bing Crosby's Waikiki Wedding co-star, Shirley Ross. If the latter name sounds familiar, it's probably because of her famous duet with Bob Hope in The Big Broadcast of 1938, "Thanks for the Memory." Whatever fame she has rests on that and other duets with Hope, notably "Two Sleepy People."

Ross' memory should not reside solely with her several appearances in Bob and Bing movies, fine as they are. She was a superior vocalist. Unfortunately her sensitive style is captured on too few recordings.

Ross began her career as a band vocalist in the early 1930s. Her few 78s with Gus Arnheim came to the attention of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, who began using her as a demo singer.

Following her appearances in several Hope or Crosby films, the Rodgers-Hart team called upon her to fill one of the lead roles in their latest Broadway musical, Higher and Higher, which opened in April 1940. That work had a superb score, but it did not impress either the critics or the public, so closed relatively quickly.

Shirley Ross, Jack Haley and Martha Eggert in Higher and Higher

Before the opening, Ross recorded "It Never Entered My Mind," "Nothing But You," "From Another World" and "Ev'ry Sunday Afternoon" for Decca, with Ray Sinatra's orchestra. Ross herself introduced "It Never Entered My Mind" and "From Another World" in the show. The former song has probably my favorite Lorenz Hart lyrics, with seemingly every couplet containing a subtle double-entendre (e.g., "You have what I lack myself / And now I'll even have to scratch my back myself"). Ross' rueful reading is affecting, and especially worth hearing because it contains the complete lyrics, which are almost never heard these days.

Ross herself thought she was better suited for the screen than the stage. After the failure of Higher and Higher, her career dimmed. Her death more than 30 years later was little noticed, probably because she was then known as Bernice Blum - her real first name and her husband's last name. But Hope and Crosby reportedly found out and sent flowers.

The download includes my transfer of the 78 coupling of "From Another World" and "Ev'ry Sunday Afternoon." The other two songs are included as well. While they are not my transfers, I did work over the sound.

Next up, we'll hear from Bing's other Waikiki Wedding co-star, Martha Raye.

Bing in Hawaii (and Iceland)

This is a tale of four locales - Hawaii, Hollywood, England and Iceland. They all pertain to the Bing Crosby picture-label 78 shown at right.

As you can see at right, the Hawaii location is the setting of The Groaner's 1937 flick Waikiki Wedding, produced of course in Hollywood. Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger wrote the tune "Blue Hawaii" for the film. Bing sang it with the wonderful Shirley Ross on the screen. For shellac purposes, he did a solo with Lani McIntire and His Hawaiians. McIntire was a steel guitar whiz who earned his island cred as a member of the legendary Sol Ho'opi'i Trio. "Blue Hawaii," although popular at the time, didn't really make a lasting impression on the public until murmured by Elvis Presley in the 1961 film of the same name.

Waikiki Wedding's big hit, which won an Academy Award, was "Sweet Leilani," a Harry Owens tune that Bing insisted on using in the film over the producer's objections. Owens led the band at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, where Crosby first heard the number. On the commercial record, Bing cedes the first two vocal choruses to unnamed vocalists, presumably from the McIntyre ensemble.

Lobby card: Martha Raye and Shirley Ross flank Bing

Bing waxed two other songs from the score, both Robin-Rainger efforts. Victor Young provided the backing on "Sweet Is the Word for You"; Jimmy Dorsey handled "In a Little Hula Heaven." Young, Dorsey and McIntire were all on the payroll at Decca, where Crosby was the chief money-maker.

This post is designed to show off the nifty picture labels that Decca affiliate Brunswick slapped on the lacquer for sale in England and probably other markets. I found my copy in a interesting shop in Iceland, of all places. Brunswick issued two such 78s for Waikiki Wedding, and two additional discs for Bing's songs from Double or Nothing, also from 1937. I only have the "Blue Hawaii"/"Sweet Is the Word for You" coupling, alas. I'm not sure if Decca in the US employed a similar picture-label scheme, but I've never seen an example, if so.

My 78, visually mint, was almost unplayable. So I pulled out one of Decca's "Bing in Hollywood" reissue LPs from the 1960s and transferred the four Waikiki Wedding songs from that source. All are in the download.

Now that this blog has made a dramatic return to life, I'll see if I can locate a 78 or two by Crosby's co-star, Shirley Ross. Watch this space, just not too intently.

Gene Kelly Promo for 'Invitation to the Dance'

A few years ago I shared the soundtrack LP to Gene Kelly's 1956 film Invitation to the Dance, with music by Andre Previn, Jacques Ibert and Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, I forgot that I had this M-G-M promotional record for the film, which I came across a few days ago while looking for something else (which I never found).

This is a 10-minute interview of Gene Kelly transcribed onto a 12-inch, 33-1/3 RPM record pressed on red vinyl. The interviewer is the very radio-announcery Dick Simmons. And indeed the record would have been sent to radio stations in the hope that they would play this lengthy promo, or excerpts anyway.

The other side of the record contains Kelly's remarks sans the questioning from Simmons. This would have been sent out with a transcript, allowing DJ to use his own voice to query Gene, as if he were there in the studio. Golly!

Lobby card

Did it work? Sure, it did, to some degree, even if it was played only on relatively small stations at odd hours. The news director would say something like, "Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance is opening in town this weekend, and we had a chance to ask Gene how he got the idea for this all-dance, no-talk musical. Here's what he had to say."

In the end, Invitation to the Dance wasn't very popular, and didn't lead to more examples of the type. The studio, despite this promotional push, had little faith in the film, shelving it for four years.

FYI - the soundtrack LP is still available via the link above. Also a note that there is some background rustle on the transfer of this promotional record.

Mercer Ellington and Carmen McRae

One of the most fascinating people I've encountered in the collecting world is Mark Cantor, one of the leading collectors of and experts on jazz on film. Mark has a rewarding website, Celluloid Improvisations, where he shares and comments on filmed performances by jazz and other artists.

Mark's latest effort focuses on the 1946 film Sepia Cinderella and a rare appearance by a band led by Mercer Ellington, the trumpeter son of Duke. The link above takes you to Mark's exploration of the film and its production, notes on the plot and the stars, and other material of absorbing interest. The leads in the movie were Billy Daniels (less histrionic here than he would later become) and Sheila Guyse, a hard-luck singer whose sole LP has appeared on my other blog.

Mercer Ellington

For some reason the Mercer Ellington band appears under the name of arranger Gil Fuller. A clip from the film (featuring a tenor sax solo from Budd Johnson) can be found via Mark's home page under “2nd Chorus: Watch.” It's a song titled "Ring Around My Rosie"  - look for a thumbnail image located at the bottom of the list, the last item on the page.

In connection with this, I thought I might share Mercer Ellington's only Musicraft single, which is worthy in its own right. It couples "Metronome All-Out," a simple riff that Mercer's father concocted for a Metronome All-Stars date earlier in 1946, with Mercer's own tune, "Pass Me By," with a vocal by the great Carmen McRae, making her first appearance on record. At the time, McRae was married to drummer Kenny Clarke, and so is billed on the label as Carmen Clarke.

McRae is already an assured and soulful singer, portending the great things she was to accomplish in her career. Fittingly, the song opens with an alto sax solo heavily reminiscent of Johnny Hodges of Duke Ellington's band.

As a bonus, I've also included another early McRae single, this one on the Sunrise label and dating from circa 1953. The singer contributes a effortless version of "A Foggy Day" backed with the less-often heard Romberg-Hammerstein song, "Wanting You." The backing is by the wonderful accordionist Mat Mathews and his combo, featuring flutist Herbie Mann, who contributes an unexpected tenor sax solo (in a Stan Getz mode) on the Gershwin song.

These singles are very much worth hearing, with vivid sound from the vintage 78s.

Carmen McRae

Ray Anthony on Parade

Ray Anthony started his band in the Glenn Miller mode, but grew out of the Miller manner into a more varied approach as the years went by. This 1954 EP adopts the Dixieland style, collecting single sides from 1949, 1950 and 1953.

The bandleader had for some time included Bob Crosby-style big-band Dixieland in his book, probably in an attempt to recognize the popularity of the Dixieland revival that began in the 1940s. That movement had room for such rediscovered musicians as Kid Ory and George Lewis, as well as the Chicago school of Bud Freeman and others and such revivalist bands as Turk Murphy.

Anthony himself has a credible Dixie solo on the first tune, "Darktown Strutters' Ball," with phrasing reminiscent of Louis Armstrong and Bobby Hackett. "When the Saints Go Marching In" adopts a quasi-live ambiance most likely created in the studio with a dubbed-in audience. Anthony himself leads the singing - or, more accurately, shouting - of the lyrics.

While bands such as Anthony's tried to co-opt the Dixieland style, the musicians also tended to look down on Dixieland ensembles, so they tended to kid the Dixie style at the same time as they tried to capitalize on its popularity. This can be heard on "Spaghetti Rag," where pianist Eddie Ryan uses what sounds like a tack piano, which is associated with the corniest versions of the style, later giving rise to such phenomena as "Crazy Otto" and his ilk, with the bowler hats and sleeve garters. Yikes.

Anthony would go on to record an entire Big Band Dixieland LP in 1955, including a remake of the "When the Saints Go Marching In."

This EP is a companion to a post on my main blog of Anthony's 1951 LP Houseparty Hop.

"Thanks, Fred, for congratulations" (?) - a 1954 Billboard ad