When Tony Bennett Was 'Joe Bari'

Bennett / Bari

Yes, there was a time (at least several years) when the famous pop singer Tony Bennett was known as "Joe Bari." And before that, there was a time when Joe Bari was known as Anthony Benedetto, his birth name.

There was nothing unusual about stage names back in the day, or even today. But Bennett's days as Joe Bari are little known; one of the few pieces of evidence is a rare 78 "Joe" made for the tiny Leslie label in 1949, just before he became Tony Bennett and went to the much bigger Columbia label.

Anthony Benedetto chose the name Joe Bari when he started singing about 1940, and stayed with that tag when he came back from the war and renewed his career in show business.

One of his first breaks was the Leslie recording date. In his autobiography, Tony says he was excited to do the recording because it was being produced by George Simon, the editor of the influential magazine Metronome. Simon was co-composer of one of the songs on the disc, "Vieni Qui," done as a duet with singer Pat Easton.

I found this rare record on Internet Archive because I was searching for anything by Easton, who was married at the time to Joe Derise. This may be the only record she made under her own name.

Bennett recalls that the group backing him was called the Tattlers, who had recently made a recording of "Jamboree Jones" with Bing Crosby. Actually, the Crosby session was in April 1950, about a year after Tony's Leslie date. The accompanying vocal group isn't identified on the label, which only credits Marty Manning as leading the band. The presence of Pat Easton, however, suggests that it might have involved Derise, but that's speculation.

"Vieni Qui" is backed by "Fascinating Rhythm," a Gershwin classic that Bennett was proud to have recorded on his first date. In the event, the Italian specialty is better done than the Gershwin tune. Oddly, Bennett's sense of rhythm fails him on the latter number.

At about the same time as the Leslie date, Bennett caught the attention of Pearl Bailey. She added him to her stage show, Bob Hope saw him perform, took him on the road, and simplified his given name to Tony Bennett. Soon thereafter Tony's demo record of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" found its way to Mitch Miller, and his Columbia career began.

Note (July 2023): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

Joe Derise Obscurities

My last post about Joe Derise mentioned some obscure recordings he made as an arranger in the early 1950s. That note sparked a request for those items - here they are.

But before we get to them, let's listen to one of the numbers that Derise recorded with Claude Thornhill and the Snowflakes in 1949 for the transcription company Thesaurus. The Snowflakes and Derise did eight songs for Thesaurus, but I have just the one at hand, derived from an old bootleg.

The transcription is a version of "I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)," which the group also recorded for RCA Victor in a similar arrangement. (You can find the RCA disc in the earlier Thornhill collection.) 

The instrumental chart is by Gil Evans, with Derise responsible for the vocal arrangement on both 1949 recordings.

After Derise left Claude Thornhill in 1950, he formed a group called the Four Jacks and a Jill. As far as I can tell, they made only a few recordings. The first was in support of the Al Lombardi Quintet and vocalist Poppy Marin on the small Robin Hood label. The song was a cover of one of the many mildly risqué numbers that April Stevens specialized in, called "Don't Do It." This dates from 1951.

In 1954, Derise provided the arrangements and instrumental backing for a single by vocalist Ray King on the small Vitam label. The songs were "Can It Be Love" and "I'll Always Love You." If the label is to be believed, the latter was the title song of a film, but I can't find any trace of such a release. King's single did elicit a mildly positive review from Cash Box. 

King was probably the singer that Cash Box wrote about earlier in 1954: "Anchor Records has just released a pop single by singer Ray King, whom the diskery is billing as 'The Singing Truck Driver,'" helpfully adding, "He is being billed in this way because he makes his living as a truck driver."

For the final coupling in this group, the Four Jacks and a Jill return to back soloist Marie Peters for a release on another tiny label, Jester Records. Derise provided the arrangements for the vocal group and presumably the accompanying Les Barry Trio.

The first song is "Maybe, I'll Find You Tomorrow," which Peters sings earnestly. The flip side is a clumsy piece called "The Old Fashioned Way." The only information I can find about the singer is a 1957 Billboard report that she had taken a job as a disc jockey in Springfield, Massachusetts. It's not clear when the Jester record was made but I suspect it was before Derise joined Bethlehem as a solo artist.

Desmond, Dale and Cornell Promote Their Wares

Alan Dale, Don Cornell and Johnny Desmond

Coral Records had three fine crooners on the rolls in 1953, and so decided to merge their talents and hopefully their audiences by having them record the 1926 Ben Ryan chestnut, "(The Gang that Sang) Heart of My Heart." Probably responding to the publisher's stimulus, Decca (which owned Coral) had the Four Aces do the same, and the two versions battled it out on the airways and record charts. Jack Pleis provided the orchestral backing on both records.

The three Coral artists were Alan Dale, Don Cornell and Johnny Desmond, who despite the Anglo names were all of Italian descent, being baptized Aldo Sigismondi, Luigi Francisco Varlaro and Giovanni Alfredo De Simone.

Coral decided it had to do something different to promote the record to disc jockeys, so it prepared two promotional tracks, one by the trio and one by labelmate Eileen Barton that DJs could program to intro the cut. The trio's cut is amusing, but Barton sounds ill at ease.

These promos were on one side of the 78; the other was devoted to touting the flip side of the commercial 78, "I Think I'll Fall in Love Today," an good new song by the duo of Robert Allen and Al Stillman.

The "I Think I'll Fall in Love Today" promo was a complicated bit in which the DJs were to engage in rhythmic colloquy with the trio. The promo record went so far as to have Eileen Barton provide an example of how this was to be done. Honestly, I wonder if anyone actually used this contrived bit.

Eileen Barton

The combination of two or more top artists on one record was becoming more common in 1953 and 1954, although the phenomenon was not new. Typically it involved female-male combinations such as Jo Stafford with Frankie Laine or Gordon MacRae, or Margaret Whiting with MacRae or Jimmy Wakely. Same-sex couplings were less common, although there were pairings of Lisa Kirk with Fran Warren, and Rosemary Clooney with Marlene Dietrich, among others.

A June 1954 Billboard article (in the download) notes the phenomenon, mentioning Dale-Cornell-Desmond along with Dale-Desmond-Buddy Greco, and a quartet encompassing Jane Russell, Della Russell, Connie Haines and Beryl Davis. The latter contingent had some sticking power. Jane, Connie and Beryl recorded a gospel LP for Capitol in 1957 called The Magic of Believing. The following year Coral issued a record called Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord by the four of them, with Rhonda Fleming replacing Della Russell on some songs. The Coral LP was largely a repackaging of earlier single releases.

The download includes both the promo record and the commercial release of the Dale-Cornell-Desmond materials.

Fred Astaire's 'Swing Time' Recordings

We continue our series of the commercial recordings associated with Fred Astaire's films with Swing Time from 1936. Unlike the last post, devoted to A Damsel in Distress, this film has Ginger Rogers as Fred's love interest.

Swing Time is considered one of Fred and Ginger's best films, and the dancing and music are extraordinary. However, the plot is contrived and the viewer has to contend with Victor Moore, who was inexplicably popular as a side-kick character at the time. That said, the cast also features the great Helen Broderick and Eric Blore. The two appeared in three Astaire-Rogers films, as did Edward Everett Horton, who is not in Swing Time.

Johnny Green

Unlike Follow the Fleet, Top Hat and Carefree, Ginger Rogers made no commercial recordings of the songs from this film (as far as I can tell). Pianist-bandleader Johnny Green took up the slack, however, with a recording of "The Waltz in Swing Time" and a two-sided medley of the movie's Jerome Kern songs, all of which are in the download.

Green's piano and orchestra also provide the backing for Astaire's records. Green is joined by future bandleader Dave Terry for the duo-piano medleys.

As with most if not all Astaire films, the score delivered a few songs that have become standards - here, "The Way You Look Tonight" and "A Fine Romance." A few others have achieved some renown - "Pick Yourself Up" and "Never Gonna Dance." All are graced by the excellent lyrics of Dorothy Fields.

As a bonus I've added a 1941 recording by the Gordon String Quartet of "The Way You Look Tonight," from the second of the ensemble's two Kern albums. Quartet namesake Jacques Gordon was a former concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony. Violist William Lincer was to become the New York Philharmonic's principal in a few years. Cellist Fritz Magg had been the Met Opera principal.

To-night vs. Tonight

If you examine the 78 labels carefully, you'll notice that the Astaire recording spells "The Way You Look To-night" with an hyphen (as does the sheet music). By the 1941 Gordon recording, that hyphen had been abandoned.  Someone has done research on this phenomenon, and found that the written usage of the hyphen in "to-night" (and "to-day") was surpassed by the simplified spellings in the early '30s, to the point that the hyphenated versions are seldom if ever seen today.

The sound on these items is good. They originated with Internet Archive and were cleaned up by me. The download includes refurbished stills, posters and lobby cards.

Joe Derise with the Snowflakes and Claude Thornhill

Joe Derise in 1949

Singer-pianist-arranger Joe Derise joined Claude Thornhill's influential big band in 1948 as a guitarist, singer and arranger, and began recording with the band in early 1949. He stayed with the group until about mid-1950, making a total of 10 commercial recordings - as a member of the Snowflakes, as an arranger and two as a solo vocalist. This post gathers together those 10 sides, all on the RCA Victor label. Derise's guitar presumably is also present on Thornhill's instrumental numbers of this period, but those aren't covered here.

The first two songs in this set come from January 6, 1949, with Derise as a member of the Snowflakes, who at the time also included Nancy Clayton, Jim Preston and Hugh Baker. The arranger for these two numbers is Gil Evans, but I suspect that Derise handled the vocal charts.

"I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)" leads off the set, a standard by Fred Ahlert and Roy Turk dating from 1931. Among others, Tommy Dorsey, with Stuart Foster on vocals, revived it in 1946. (That recording can be found in this collection.) Thornhill's version is easy-going and dreamy, as his recordings tend to be.

From that same date came "There's a Small Hotel," a Rodgers and Hart song from 1936's On Your Toes. This version probably was occasioned by Betty Garrett's vocal in the film Words and Music, released just a week before this recording session.

The Thornhill Band - I think that might be Derise on guitar at center

We move on to an April session and Derise's first arrangement for the band, presumably both vocal and instrumental. "Moonlight and Roses" is a song with an unusual story. Organist Edwin Lemare wrote it as an instrumental Andantino way back in 1888. In 1921 Ben Black and Neil Moret added words, turning it into "Moonlight and Roses." Lemare objected, but they eventually worked things out. The song was a standard at one time - and was a hit most recently as 1964, for Jim Reeves. As the title may suggest, it's a highly romantic piece, well suited for Thornhill and the Snowflakes. 

Russ McIntyre

"On the 5:45" was an English song new in 1949, a simple ditty with Nancy Clayton and the band's boy singer, Russ McIntyre, playing newlyweds. This is from a June 1949 session, and like the balance of songs here, was a Derise arrangement. On these records, McIntyre can't decide whether he wants to sound like Bing, Perry or Vaughn Monroe. Here Crosby is to the fore.

Next we have one of Meredith Willson's more peculiar inventions, "The Iowa Indian Song (Io-Wuh)," which is mostly concerned with the growth of corn ("Knee high by the Fourth of July!"), to the accompaniment of a stereotypical "Indian" tom-tom drum. Willson did love his home state.

The song must have had some merit; Bing himself recorded it. Don't confuse it with the better known (to me, anyway) "All I Owe Ioway," which Rodgers and Hammerstein had written for the film State Fair a few years before.

Coming from the same November 1949 session was Derise's first solo vocal, on a novelty called the "Johnson Rag," one of any number of old-timey songs that were in vogue during the postwar period. This tune actually dated from 1939, when Glenn Miller recorded it. For whatever reason, a decade later all the bands decided to get in on the action. I generally can't stand the old-timey genre; as soon as I hear the tinny plunk of an upright piano, I lunge for the on-off switch. But I must admit the Derise-Snowflakes-Thornhill version is catchy and enjoyable. This was the only Thornhill record where Derise received a label credit, to my knowledge.

Moving ahead to January 1950, we have one of the best Snowflakes records, a great song from the Gershwins, "Bidin' My Time," from the 1930 musical Girl Crazy. Thornhill included it in his album Claude Thornhill Plays George Gershwin for Dancing, one of a series that RCA was recording with bandleaders. (Ralph Flanagan's take on Rodgers and Hammerstein is here.)

Claude Thornhill

Joe's final recording session with Thornhill was in April 1950. It began with another 1931 song, the enduringly popular "Sweet and Lovely," which bandleader Gus Arnheim both wrote and recorded. Thornhill's effort is mainly a feature for Russ McIntyre. You can contrast his reading with that of the young David Allyn here.

Derise recorded his second rhythm specialty next - the "Sugarfoot Rag," a terrific country tune that made the 18-year-old guitarist Hank Garland famous. Joe is wonderfully relaxed and swinging in this number, and the Snowflakes get a chance to rock for once. Too bad that Derise did not get a label credit for his performance.

The final song in this collection is "Honolulu," another 1939 revival. Harry Warren and Gus Kahn wrote it for the film of the same name. This one has the Snowflakes to the fore and the Thornhill band more extroverted than usual.

Thornhill did not make any additional commercial records until 1953. By that time Derise had moved on to his own group, called Four Jacks and a Jill. That ensemble did make some records for small labels, mainly backing a few terrible soloists. I have the records if anyone is interested in hearing them.

I should mention that Derise did record some transcriptions with Thornhill, and I expect to transfer a few of those soon. The items above mainly originated with the Internet Archive. The sound is generally good after I cleaned it up, but a few sides have some residual wear and noise. The recording of "Bidin' My Time" comes from my collection.

This post is a companion to one on the main blog covering Derise's 1955-56 LPs for Bethlehem.

Frankie Laine Promotes His Latest LP and Singles

In early 1951 Columbia Records was able to wrest the dynamic singer Frankie Laine away from Mercury. This was mainly because Columbia had recruited Laine's producer, the prodigious hitmaker Mitch Miller. The bigger label's marketing prowess also might have been a factor.

In only a few months, Frankie and Mitch were churning out hits ("Jezebel," et al) and also a 10-inch LP that didn't include Laine's singles of the time, and that had him singing if not subtly at least at a lower volume than his single releases generally displayed.

To plug both the LP and singles, Columbia had the vocalist and producer tape a two-sided promotional record that is the subject of today's post - which is a companion to a post on the main blog about Frankie's One for My Baby LP.  For the two programs below, I've added appropriate songs from Laine's Columbia output as a DJ might have done some 70 years ago.

A Frankie Laine - Mitch Miller Program

The first side of the promo record contains the voice tracks for a 15-minute show with Laine and Miller introducing three songs from the singer's new Columbia album - "Tomorrow Mountain," "To Be Worthy of You" and "One for My Baby."

As those things generally were, the scripted banter is stiff, but it does reveal that Frankie relied on Mitch to help select the songs and that they tried to make the material diverse. At that they succeeded, with only the title tune and "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" being standards.

Beyond that, Frankie gives kudos to bandleader Paul Weston and pianist Carl Fischer - and their work is predictably polished and professional throughout the album.

The download includes the three songs from the LP along with their intros.

Frankie Laine and Mitch Miller

Greetings from Frankie Laine

The second side of the promotional single has Frankie delivering four record introductions, two "singing salutes" and one spot offering an autographed photo.

These spots were designed to be used whenever the DJ had an appropriate record - presumably Laine's - ready to air. They are generic - no specific cut is mentioned, although one does make reference to Christmas.

I've turned the spots into a second program lasting about 17 minutes by sequencing the salutes and intros with Laine's singles of the time. The result demonstrates the diverse materials he was recording - both the blockbusters like "Jezebel" and the delightful duets with Jo Stafford.

For some reason, Columbia had Frankie begin all his intros in the same way - "Hiya DAD! This is Frankie Laine." Hiya DAD" must have been a Laine catchphrase - Mitch refers to him as Dad in the program above. Even so, it's annoying.

The "singing salutes" that begin and end the program both include a snatch of Laine's theme song, his  first big hit, "That's My Desire."

Cash Box, April 21, 1951

Now for the song selections.

"Jezebel" was a huge hit for Laine right off the bat, as well as the first success for songwriter Wayne Shanklin, who later was to pen "Chanson d'Amour" and "The Big Hurt." This was Frankie at his most unbridled, and the public wanted more.

In response, Laine, Miller and Columbia came out with "Jealousy," a similar tale of temperament, using Jacob Gade's 1925 tango melody and a 1930 set of lyrics by Vera Bloom.

Billboard, November 3, 1951

The two duets with Jo Stafford provide a welcome contrast. One is the light-hearted and deftly sung "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" - the Johnny Mercer-Hoagy Carmichael tune introduced by Bing and Jane Wyman in Here Comes the Groom. Frankie and Jo sing somewhat different lyrics than Bing and Jane. It's not clear where this special material came from, but it is a welcome addition to one of my favorite songs of the era.

The second duet is "Christmas Roses," an enjoyable uptempo song done beautifully by the pair. It was from the team of Hy Zaret, Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer, who earlier wrote the wonderful "It All Comes Back to Me Now." Unlike the rest of the songs in this set, this was a 1952 release.

The final number is "Snow in Lover's Lane," an obscure song by Al De Vita, Jerry Ball, Fred Kelly and Jerry Kanner. I believe Frankie may have introduced it - his face is on the sheet music, at least.

It makes for an entertaining program - "Hiya DAD" aside - in vivid sound. All tracks were refurbished from originals found on Internet Archive.

Gordon MacRae on Apollo

Most recently we have heard from vocalist (and future film star) Gordon MacRae in his early Musicraft recordings, dating from 1945. Today we examine two 78s he made for the Apollo label in 1947, just before he joined Capitol, where he did his best-known discs.

Apollo was only a few years old at the time, and was known primarily for gospel and R&B releases, although it also had a pop line. The catalogue featured a few releases by the young Dean Martin, made at about the same time as MacRae's efforts for the label. All this was shortly before Apollo was to sign its biggest star, Mahalia Jackson. 

MacRae's selections for the label were all songs that had achieved some popularity at the time, three on the charts and one on Broadway.

Gordon MacRae

His first coupling was "Heartaches" b/w "If I Had My Life to Live Over." The former, written by Al Hoffman and John Klenner, dated from 1931 but had been revived in 1947 as an instrumental by bandleader Ted Weems.

"If I Had My Life to Live Over" is another oldie, written by Moe Jaffe, Larry Vincent and Henry Tobias in 1939. Larry Vincent and the Feilden Foursome revived it in 1947 with some success. Vincent was the owner of the Pearl label, which primarily issued party records.

MacRae includes the verse on both the above songs.

"I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)" was a new song that Savannah Churchill wrote and recorded for Apollo. It was to hit number one on the R&B charts. MacRae's effort was presumably a cover for the pop market. (This is not the same song as "I Wanna Be Loved," a 1933 effort by Johnny Green and Eddie Heyman that may be more familiar.)

The backing for Savannah Churchill's composition was "Old Devil Moon," a great song by Burton Lane and Yip Harburg from the current Broadway hit Finian's Rainbow.

MacRae is in good voice and generally does well, although he seems uncomfortable with "I Want to Be Loved." The singer displays more of a Bing influence here than on the Musicraft sides, where he sounded more like Dick Haymes.

Leading the band on both records was tenor saxophonist Jerry Jerome, who had played with Glenn Miller, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. The backings on the first two songs were lush in the manner of the time, including strings. The arrangements on the second coupling were less elaborate, with the chart for "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)" an odd amalgam of R&B and Dixieland. Jerome was presumably the tenor soloist on that number.

Jerry Jerome had an usual physique