The Young Pearl Bailey with Cootie Williams

I don't know when the legendary singer-actor Pearl Bailey began recording, but I believe today's offering is one of the first, if not the first thing she did. The single is from early 1944, part of a series that bandleader-trumpeter Cootie Williams made for Hit Records that year, but apparently the only item that involved Pearlie Mae.

This was a few years before Bailey became a star on Broadway, first in St. Louis Woman (1946), then in Arms and the Girl (1950), House of Flowers (1955) and Hello, Dolly! (1967-9). She was famed for her ability to command the stage, and this presence is more than evident in today's two songs.

Cootie Williams was in the fourth year of his sojourn as a bandleader, after 11 years as a high-profile member of Duke Ellington's band. Cootie was no mean presence himself as a powerful trumpet soloist and occasional singer. He put together quite a band, including on this date alto saxophonist Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (who also sang, although not here), tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and the young pianist Earl "Bud" Powell. Williams and Powell were to make the first recording of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" later in 1944. (A celebration of that tune is coming up.)

For this date, Williams and Bailey collaborated on two songs from Danny Kaye's absurd wartime farce Up in Arms. These are numbers by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler - "Tess's Torch Song (I Had a Man)" and "Now I Know" - both introduced by Dinah Shore in the film, playing Kaye's love interest. Dinah is great - and did well with these songs in the market - but Pearl is more convincing in "Tess's Torch Song." (She seems less sure of "Now I Know," and in truth it's a weaker song.) Bailey was ideal for Arlen's music, as she showed in St. Louis Woman, although the best songs in that magnificent score were assigned to Ruby Hill.

The sound on this single is strikingly good as presented in ambient stereo, which benefits both Bailey's voice and Williams' vivid growl trumpet.

Revisiting Bing's 'Waikiki Wedding'

About five years ago I shared picture labels of Bing Crosby issued on a 78 with two songs from his 1937 film Waikiki Wedding. I had found the record in Iceland, about as far away from Hawaii as you can get.

Bing actually recorded four songs from the film, and I have now discovered the two missing picture labels amidst the bounty of Internet Archive. They adorn the 78 of "In a Little Hula Heaven," where Crosby is backed by Jimmy Dorsey's band, and "Sweet Leilani," with Lani McIntire and His Hawaiians. The latter song was the handiwork of bandleader Harry Owens; the other three were by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger.

"Sweet Leilani" was the big hit from the score. Not content to provide the background, McIntire or one of his troupe handle the first few vocal choruses, adding to the charm of the record and providing contrast to Bing's warbling. 

These picture labels were a product of UK Brunswick, which seemingly made "In a Little Hula Heaven" the lead number of the four, with Crosby's name highlighted with the tag "in his hits from Waikiki Wedding." "Hula Heaven" is forgotten, but another song from the score, "Blue Hawaii," lives on, thanks not so much to Bing but to Elvis and his 1961 film of the same name. The Robin-Rainger song was the only one carried over from the earlier film to El's epic. The other big song from the 1961 film was "Can't Help Falling in Love," where Elvis attempted to out-croon Bing.

The download includes all four songs from Bing's film, taken from an LP release because neither the Iceland nor the Internet Archive 78 was in good condition. This time around I have added an ambient effect that provides some air around the mono sound.

Shirley Ross, Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, Bob Burns

An Early Recording of Purcell's Music

Recordings of the music of Henry Purcell (1659-95) date back at least as far as 1909, becoming more frequent if not common in the 1920s. During that decade, important musicians such as Peter Warlock and John Barbirolli took up his cause, and the National Gramophone Society sponsored a number of discs.

Another Purcell proponent was the conductor Anthony Bernard (1891-1963), who had formed the London Chamber Orchestra in 1921. A decade later, he led his ensemble in a recording of Ayres for the Theatre by Purcell. Now, the composer wrote for the theatre for many years, and these "ayres" are unidentified, so I can't tell you more about their identity. But the performances are lively, and seemingly more "modern" - that is, less romantic - than some recordings from decades later.

Anthony Bernard

Bernard not only performed the music of baroque composers such as Purcell, he was a proponent of modern composers. He conducted the first recording of Delius' Sea Drift (although the discs were not attributed to him, likely for contractual reasons). He also led the first recordings of works by Vaughan Williams and Lennox Berkeley.

The conductor is little remembered today, although he recorded well into the stereo era. He is barely mentioned on the London Chamber Orchestra site and it was difficult to find a photo of him.

Purcell wrote much more than theatre music, including sacred and ceremonial works. Examples of these can be found on my other blog - the Funeral Music for Queen Mary and five anthems, and two Birthday Odes for the same regent.

The transfer of this recording is presented in so-called "ambient stereo," which provides a sense of air around the performance, similar to real stereo without the directional cues. It helps to overcome the confined quality that mono recordings can convey.

This recording comes to us from reader Steve Banks, who also donated two other unusual early recordings of baroque music: discs of Corelli's Christmas Concerto in a 1932 or 33 reading from Berlin under Frieder Weissmann, and a Matthew Locke suite in a 1929 performance from the International String Quartet. Thanks once again, Steve!

Eve Symington

Eve Symington was an intriguing cabaret singer with a brief career in the best night spots of 1930s New York City. A post on my other blog devoted to Rodgers and Hart's 1938 score for I Married an Angel includes her poignant recording of "Spring Is Here." This post presents three other recordings from the same period.

Symington (1903-72) came from a prominent family - her father was US Sen. James W. Wadsworth, Jr. She married Stuart Symington, a New York business leader, later a prominent Senator and presidential candidate. A long tribute to her can be found here.

She recorded only two 78s that I have found, both on Internet Archive. One was for Liberty Music Shop, with "Spring Is Here" backed by "My Romance," from the 1936 Rodgers and Hart show Jumbo. Symington's "My Romance" is just as good as her "Spring Is Here," well accompanied by the eminent Cy Walter and ensemble. She was a robust alto with excellent diction and intonation, and her singing was simple but heartfelt. Symington includes the verse of "My Romance," which was unfamiliar to me. (Sorry - this side has quite a bit of rustle.)

Her other two recordings come from the 1937 album A Night at the Waldorf, which also includes items from the bands of Leo Reisman and Xavier Cugat. For the album, Symington performed two unfamiliar songs, accompanied by Reisman. 

"La Petite Amie" is a charming number from a 1937 operetta by the French composer Georges Van Parys. Symington sings it in French. The operetta was co-composed by Philippe Parès, but the label credits Roger Bernstein, so that's a bit of a muddle.

The second side is a song called "Blackman's Lullaby" by Newt Oliphant. Like other such songs of the time, it was well-intentioned but is now embarrassingly dated. An excellent arrangement, though, with Reisman making eloquent use of a string section. These contrasting songs show the range of Symington's repertoire.

Symington's career in music ended not long after these records were made, when she moved to St. Louis with her husband, who became the head of Emerson Electric.

Vic Damone and Patti Page Chat and Sing

By 1948, Patti Page and Vic Damone, both 20 years old, had emerged as stars for the young Mercury record company. Each had enjoyed a hit or two - Patti with "Confess" and Vic with "I Have But One Heart," among other songs. So the label decided to put them together for a few numbers. 

For promotion, Mercury sent a special record to disk jockeys that contained a scripted dialogue between the two, laboriously called "Patti Page and Vic Damone Interview Each Other for Your Radio Show." This post brings you that three-and-a-half minute conversation, along with the four sides that it was designed to promote.

The first record paired "Isn't It Romantic" with "Say Something Sweet to Your Sweetheart." The former is a wonderful Rodgers and Hart song written for Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald to introduce in the 1932 film Love Me Tonight. The Damone-Page duet was stimulated by the 1948 Veronica Lake-Billy De Wolfe musical Isn't It Romantic, which reintroduced the song but otherwise had tunes by Livingston and Evans. Vic is fine here, but Patti tends to sing not to him but to the microphone.

Patti and Vic gyrate and sing

"Say Something Sweet" is a strikingly old-fashioned soft-shoe from Sid Tepper and Roy Brodsky - not unpleasant, actually, although Vic tries too hard.

This record was a fairly early example of overdubbing, with the orchestral backings pre-recorded by English bandleader Eric Robinson. It came out in October 1948, and did achieve some popularity.

Damone and Page were back in the studio in December for a session led by Mercury A&R chief Mitch Miller. The first song is "You Was!", written by bandleader Sonny Burke with lyricist Paul Francis Webster. It's a number that was popular with the record companies - Doris Day and Buddy Clark recorded it, along with Peggy Lee and Dean Martin, and several others.

The flip side was "Yes, Yes, Yes!", with Damone sounding a great deal like Sinatra. Page is fine here, and the harmony passages are good, but Vic struggles with the melody line. I can't tell you much about this particular song, but I did look to see if there were other songs with the same title. I discover two different tunes titled "Yes, Yes, Yes" with no exclamation point (Larry Fotine and Walt Solek), "Yes! Yes! Yes!" with three exclamation points (Blind Blake and His Royal Victoria Calypsos), and the final variation, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" with four (Joe "Fingers" Carr).

The promo record came out a bit after the release of the second single - during the conversation, Patti and Vic make reference to the weather getting warmer, so late winter or spring of 1949.

Cash Box, January 22, 1949

Shirley Ross and The Foursome Sing Gershwin

A few Gershwin recordings today from one of my favorite artists, Shirley Ross, backed by The Foursome vocal group - who also get two songs on their own.

The four numbers were recorded in July 1939, and came out in two Gershwin albums issued by Decca soon thereafter.

Shirley Ross made relatively few recordings, some of which I've posted on this blog. These include her earliest disc, made with Gus Arnheim (it can be found in a post mainly devoted to Mae West) and four songs from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart show Higher and Higher, in which she took a starring role on Broadway. Today she is remembered, if at all, as Bob Hope's partner in the movie songs "Thanks for the Memory" (from The Big Broadcast of 1938) and "Two Sleepy People" (from the follow-up film called, confusingly enough, Thanks for the Memory).

Shirley Ross

In this set, she sings two of my favorite Gershwin songs, "Mine" (from Let 'Em Eat Cake) and "That Certain Feeling" (from Tip-Toes). On both songs, she is backed by Victor Young's band along with The Foursome.

The latter group's solo songs are "Bidin' My Time" (from 1930's Girl Crazy) and "Oh, Lady Be Good" (from 1924's Lady Be Good). The former is another favorite of mine, and is particularly notable here because The Foursome introduced it in the original production. For this performance, the group includes the seldom-heard and very effective verse.

The members of The Foursome at the time of the recording were Del Porter, Dwight Snyder, Marshall Smith and Ray Johnson. The group was unusual because its members not only sang but played ocarinas, an ancient wind instrument that can be heard in quite a few records of the time, in part because of the group's advocacy.

The Foursome

The Foursome appeared in films as well. You can see them in the 1936 Eleanor Powell musical Born to Dance in such numbers as "Rap, Tap on Wood". In 1940, Bing Crosby recorded the Burke-Monaco song "Sweet Potato Piper" for Decca with The Foursome's backing. For those not familiar with the ocarina, it resembles a sweet potato, thus the song title.

The Foursome also appeared on Decca records by Dick Powell and Pinky Tomlin and made a number of other discs on their own. Later on, Del Porter started a band called the Feather Merchants, which eventually turned into Spike Jones and the City Slickers.

This post is now available in excellent ambient stereo.

The Many Washerwomen of Portugal

One of the most engaging singles of the 1950s was called "The Portuguese Washerwomen," or "Les Lavandières du Portugal" as it was known to its authors, the French songwriters André Popp and Roger Lucchesi. It became a hit in the US as an instrumental by pianist Joe "Fingers" Carr in 1956, about a year or so after the song achieved popularity in Europe.

In France, the best selling record was probably by vocalist Jacqueline François, backed by the band of Michel Legrand. But there were many other versions, including an instrumental by Popp himself. There also were cover records in several other languages. For the US market, new lyrics by Charles Tobias turned it into a song called "Kiki," which came out well before Carr's single became a hit. This post examines all those different permutations.

We start with the instrumental by André Popp, issued by Philips. Popp had a long career, but in his youth, he had a penchant for wacky compositions - one such effort was issued in the US as by "Elsa Popping and Her Pixieland Band." Later Popp mellowed into the composer of such easy listening staples as "Love Is Blue." He was a well-respected and recognized writer and musician.

Jacqueline François had become a star in France following the success of "Mademoiselle de Paris" in 1948. She was quite a good singer - I have many of her records - and "Les Lavandières du Portugal" was deservedly popular. As the title suggests, the song has to do with Portuguese washerwomen, who beat their linens at the river while ogling young men and drinking manzanilla. (An English translation is in the download.)

Giving us the ol' side-eye are Joe "Fingers" Carr, Jacqueline François and André Popp

For the US market, the thought apparently was that such a tale would be of minimal interest, so the well-known lyricist Charles Tobias came up with the charming story of a Parisian girl named Kiki. We have already encountered a terrific version of "Kiki" by Betty Clooney, which can be found on the main blog. This set includes a single by Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra with chorus. The song works much better in Clooney's deft solo reading, but this one is entertaining, too, if a little overblown for the subject. Unfortunately for Betty and Hugo (and Charles Tobias), the "Kiki" version went nowhere.

Billboard, September 3, 1955

For the next attempt to crack the US market, Capitol went back to the original title, "The Portuguese Washerwomen," but jettisoned the words in favor of an instrumental by old-timey pianist Joe "Fingers" Carr, the stage name for arranger-producer Lou Busch. I am generally averse to bowler-hat and sleeve-garter piano plunkers, but this isn't so bad.

I mentioned that the tune was popular in other countries - Secondhand Songs lists versions in Czech, Danish, Finnish, German, Polish, Spanish and Swedish. I've included one of the Danish recordings - "Vaskepigerne I Portugal" by a group called Lørdaspigerne (which is "The Saturday Girls" in English).

I haven't found a record about the washerwomen in the Portuguese language. I did find a blog post from Portugal that complained that the music used a Spanish, not Portuguese rhythm, and that the washerwomen were even drinking Spanish wine (manzanilla). The author also grumbled about sports commentators pronouncing Portuguese names with a Spanish accent, but that's not germane to our discussion.

These recordings come from Internet Archive and my own collection. The sound is excellent.