More of 'Today's Hits' from 1955

Here's another in a series of Today's Hits EPs from RCA Victor's Camden budget line, this one dating from 1955. The vocalists are Jack Haskell and Jeannie McKeon; the bandleader Johnny Guarnieri.

The pop music landscape was changing at the time, and the chosen songs give some clues to the market: two ballads, one R&B song and a old-timey medley.

Haskell was the better known of the two singers. At the time he was a regular on the Today Show on NBC, not coincidentally owned by RCA. He made a few LPs, which I believe I have, some singles and at least two more of these Camden EPs.

Jeannie McKeon otherwise only recorded for the small Black & White label in the 1940s, including a 78 album that I may offer later on. I suspect she was a studio singer in the 1950s.

Johnny Guarnieri, who has appeared on my other blog a few times, made his name as a pianist in the Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw bands. He did a number of these Camden collections along with a variety of other albums.

Jack Haskell

Jack Haskell leads off the collection with a smooth reading of "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup." This Anna Sosenko song was first recorded by Hildegarde in 1935, but in 1955 the song was a hit for Nat King Cole. Jack had many good qualities - a nice voice, excellent diction - but he lacks Cole's unique charisma.

Jeannie McKeon

Jeannie McKeon does not have such formidable vocal competition for her solo song. "How Important Can It Be" was a chart success for Joni James, who had an appealing vulnerable quality but was not a strong singer. The song itself, by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss, is not a particularly good one, but Joni rode it almost to the top of the charts.

Johnny Guarnieri

Johnny Guarnieri gets to show off his virtuosity in the "Crazy Otto Medley." This was one of a series of rickety piano tunes that were popular in the postwar years for reasons that can only be imagined at this late date. The piece was inspired by a German pianist named Fritz Schulz-Reichel, who called himself "Crazy Otto." The American pianist Johnny Maddox slapped together a bunch of Schultz-Reichel's numbers into a medley he called "The Crazy Otto" that became popular over here. I don't believe that Guarnieri's selections match Maddox's - he includes a transgression against Dvořák's "Humoresque" yoked together with the 1918 pop song "Smiles."

Finally, McKeon and Haskell get together for the drab "Pledging My Love," the posthumous R&B hit by Johnny Ace written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey. They do what they can with it, which isn't much.

It occurs to me that after dissing Joni James and Johnny Ace I have albums by both in my collection. No Crazy Otto, though.

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Lambert Conducts Auber, Waldteufel and Chabrier

My recent post of Daniel Auber's Fra Diavolo Overture on my other blog reminded me that I have this set of French music - including another Auber treat - ready to go, as conducted by one of my long-time favorites, the English composer-conductor Constant Lambert (1905-51).

Auber's Les diamants de la couronne ("The Crown Diamonds") Overture leads off this collection, here in a 1938 performance with Lambert conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Auber (1782-1871) is seldom heard today, but his music is delightful, similar in spirit to the better-known Gioachino Rossini.

Daniel Auber and Émile Waldteufel as seen by their contemporaries

Lambert championed the music of Émile Waldteufel (1837-1915). In previous posts, we heard the composer's waltzes Les Patineurs and Pomona. Today we complete Lambert's set of Waldteufel's works with Estudiantina and Sur la plage. He handles the music wonderfully well in 1950 recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Finally, we have Lambert's last recording. As it happens, it is his own orchestration of a posthumous work by Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-94), a graceful Ballabile, written for piano.

The sound of these vintage recording is splendid.

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A Fantin-Latour painting of Emmanuel Chabrier at the piano. Vincent d'Indy is at right.

The Hits from Cole Porter's 'Can-Can'

In the mid 20th century, whenever a famous songwriter prepared a new musical, the record companies would quickly enlist their top acts to record the numbers likeliest to be the most popular.

Cole Porter's Can-Can of 1953 was set in the boîtes of 1890's Montmartre, a perfect setting for a lively score. And Porter did produce several songs that enjoyed some popularity in the day, and a few that are still heard today. The show was quite a hit, remaining on Broadway for more than two years. It was the career breakout for Gwen Verdon.

Capitol records had several of its top acts swing into action with recordings from the score. Four of these are collected on today's EP, with one more added as a bonus.

Les Baxter

The record begins with a choral version of "I Love Paris" from a Les Baxter ensemble. The single did well on the charts (which may be why it leads off the record). Baxter effectively handles the transition from the dirge-like opening to the sunny proclamation "I love Paris every moment!" His instrumental chart is in the exotica style that was then becoming popular.

Gordon MacRae, Kay Starr

Gordon MacRae must have thought that "C'est Magnifique" required a bravura approach - he came out with an operetta-style performance that is effective of its type. Axel Stordahl is the conductor.

Kay Starr's intense singing is well suited to "Allez-vous-en (Go Away)," a good song that is less often heard that the two already mentioned. Providing the backing is Harold Mooney.

Nat King Cole

One of the label's biggest stars, Nat King Cole, was matched with one of the  weaker songs from the score - "I Am in Love." He handles it in his usual sincere manner, but it doesn't take flight, despite a chart by Nelson Riddle.

Bob Manning

Capitol entrusted the most famous song from the score - "It's All Right with Me" - to its new romantic balladeer, Bob Manning, in one of his first recordings for the label. Bob's smooth version did not make it onto the EP, possibly because the other artists were more established, but I've added it to the download file. Sid Feller was the conductor on Bob's single.

Manning's collected Capitol singles can be found here.

Such EPs with songs from the musicals of the day were common back then. At times they came from varied artists, such as this one, but just as often they featured one of the label's stars in all four songs. For example, just for Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 hit The King and I, RCA Victor issued an EP with Dinah Shore, and M-G-M did the same with Jane Powell. For the listener, it was an inexpensive way to get to know the new songs in versions by their favorite artists.

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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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Les Elgart's 1946-48 Singles

Les Elgart

To go with a new post on the main blog that features the Les Elgart band's singles from 1954, here we take a look at the first Elgart recordings, which date from 1946 and 1948.

The set includes six tunes in all, which I believe may have been the band's total commercial recordings before it temporarily disbanded in 1949. It would rise again to great popular acclaim in the 1950s.

While not revelatory, these numbers from the 40s are enjoyable - more for the band than the vocalists.

The first coupling is from Musicraft, which had made a big venture into pop music after the war. What appears to be the sole disc on that label is a combination of "Mabel Mabel" and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."

"Mabel Mabel" turns out to be Dvořák's Humoresque No. 7, even though it is here ascribed to Ervin Drake, Jimmy Shirl and Henry Manners. It must have taken all three of them to come up with "Mabel, Mabel, sweet and able / Take your elbows off the table / Get out of here and get yourself a guy!" The opening of the band bellowing "Hey, Mabel!" seems to be a precursor of the famous "Hey, Mabel" slogan for Carling's Beer.

The flip side is an instrumental of "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," in which arranger Bill Finegan does show off some of his Miller moves. Finegan is credited on the labels for both this and the "Mabel Mabel" arrangement. (Musicraft threw an extra "n" into Bill's last name at no charge.)

In 1948, Les and ensemble made four sides for the small Bullet label, all with vocal group choruses, two by the Uptowners, two by the Bobsters (for both, think the Pied Pipers, but not as smooth).

The first number is "Doodle Doo Doo," previously heard on my other site in a version by Tammy Grimes. This 1924 novelty by Art Kassel and Mel Stitzel was backed by "I Lost My Heart in Hartford" by Trace and Pines. ("Trace" is presumably bandleader-novelty composer Al Trace.) The band and vocal group are both more sluggish than desirable.

The second Bullet single led off with "I Went Down to Virginia," also recorded by a certain Frank Sinatra. It's a song by Redd Evans and Dave Mann that I've always liked. The arrangement shows some signs that it was done by Bill Finegan, but even so the record is no match for Sinatra and Axel Stordahl. The band's other arrangers were reportedly Nelson Riddle and Ralph Flanagan.

"Virginia" was backed by a charming oldie, "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?", written by Jimmy Monaco, Howard Johnson and Joseph McCarthy back in 1916 and revived by Betty Hutton in 1945. A good idea, but the Bobsters are lacking.

These singles all have reasonably good sound.

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Liszt from Moiseiwitsch and Lambert

Benno Moiseiwitsch

The distinguished Russian-born English pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) has appeared on these blogs only once before, in the Delius piano concerto. Today we find him in the company of conductor Constant Lambert (1905-51), who has often graced these pages (here and here), in the music of a composer whom they both found congenial - Franz Liszt.

Franz Liszt in 1847

With the London Philharmonic, they perform Liszt's Hungarian Fantasia (Fantasie über ungarische Volksmelodien, S123), dating from 1850. In terms of recorded repertoire, the pianist was actually far more inclined to Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Schumann than Liszt, but this outing finds him entirely sympathetic to one of the future Abbé's showiest (and most enjoyable) works.

The recording comes from 1939. When issued in 1940, the critic of The Gramophone wrote, "For music such as this I do not think one would easily beat this soloist. Dash is needed rather than delicacy; bravura, swank, not subtlety. I have never excessively admired Moiseiwitsch’s tone, especially in its more firmly dug-in moments, but it has most of the qualities, and all the dexterity, that one can best enjoy in this riot of mock-rurality."

Harold Schoenberg wrote of Moiseiwitsch that "he represented the last vestiges of romanticism as it was actually practiced in the romantic period - which means pliancy, a perpetually singing line, concentration on inner voices and a free approach to the notes. In Moiseiwitsch's case, freedom was always tempered by impeccable musicality."

Constant Lambert

Lambert, himself a fine composer, was a great admirer of Liszt. His accompaniment here is supportive, but, as The Gramophone noted, "the L.P.O is not, one might put it, brought up to these high jinks; nor, perhaps, does any British band quite abandon itself to folly with the most endearing candour."

The sound here is very good for its period.

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Max Steiner's 'Searchers' EP

In 1956, Max Steiner was nearly 30 years into a Hollywood career that made him one of the most recognizable names in film music. His scores for such films as Gone with the Wind and Now, Voyager had brought him fame and great renown.

Steiner's marquee assignment in 1956 was for The Searchers, today widely considered one of the best Westerns ever made.

No soundtrack LP was issued at the time; the closest approach was via an RCA Victor EP that included just one excerpt from Steiner's score, with the composer conducting a studio orchestra. The balance was devoted to other excerpts from his music, all as much (or more) intriguing than The Searchers music.

Here are a few words about each of the selections on this EP.

"Indian Idyll" from The Searchers

The Searchers is John Ford's violent film of obsession and revenge with John Wayne in the central role. The "Indian Idyll" is uncharacteristically calm music in this tense tale of the post-Civil War West.

"Forward the Light Brigade" from The Charge of the Light Brigade

This time we're not in the Old West, we're in India in 1856, but the motivation is the same - revenge. Errol Flynn's Capt. Vickers is out to seek vengeance for a massacre of women and children. The music is not an idyll; it is instead Steiner's version of a rousing march. The film is from 1936.

"Petite Waltz" from The Fountainhead

Steiner wrote one of his most admired scores for 1949's The Fountainhead, based on Ayn Rand's novel of an individualistic architect resisting conformity and the pressures of the marketplace. The critics hated the film, but it has been since re-evaluated as a major work from director King Vidor - one that is still influential today. Here we have the "Petite Waltz," which again is not characteristic of the score as a whole but is undeniably charming.

"Symphonie Moderne" from Four Wives

The three selections above were shoe-horned onto one side of the EP, with the second side devoted to what to me is the most interesting music on the disc. It is the so-called "Symphonie Moderne" from the 1939 film Four Wives. The music is of great significance, both in the film and in foreshadowing a fashion for quasi-piano concertos in the decade ahead.

In brief, Rosemary Lane is the widow of a composer who died while writing his "Symphonie Moderne." The widow resists the attentions of another composer, until she has discovered that he has completed the symphony. Yes, this is symbolic, folks - they fall in love.

But while the "Symphonie Moderne" was a precursor of the faux concerto trend, it was soon overshadowed by the extraordinary popularity of Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto," heard in the 1941 English film Dangerous Moonlight. The latter is a catchy bit of fake Rachmaninoff that surpassed the Symphonie Moderne in popular appeal. Even so, Steiner's piece is well worth hearing in this performance led by its creator.

These selections did appear on LP. RCA included them on a 1956 album mainly devoted to Steiner's music from Gone with the Wind. I believe those latter pieces were themselves excerpted from a 1954 LP entirely devoted to the 1939 score.

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