Ronnie Deauville - The Early Recordings, Vol. 1

Today almost unknown, the gifted vocalist Ronnie Deauville had a short career disrupted by accident and illness. While he was unquestionably a Sinatra disciple, what set him apart was a hushed intensity and sincerity - even when singing with the big bands where he made his living.

This new series will present almost all of his early recordings - his commercial and transcription discs with Ray Anthony, most of his solo output, and airchecks with Anthony and Tex Beneke. The three-part series will include 60 recordings in all, covering the years 1947-51.

This first volume has Ronnie's solo and Ray Anthony discs from the 1940s, along with a Beneke aircheck from 1948, for a total of 24 songs.

About Ronnie Deauville

Born in 1925, Deauville became interested in singing in the Naval Air Corps during the World War II, with his particular inspiration being Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey band.

His first professional engagement following the war was with Glen Gray, followed by dates with Tex Beneke's band. He also spent a productive period with Ray Anthony's emerging ensemble, eventually building a nightclub career. He endured two huge setbacks in 1956 - a serious car accident, soon followed by a case of polio that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Eventually he resumed his singing career, but his paralysis made singing difficult. Deauville passed away at the age of 65 due to cancer.

The Super Disc and Signature Recordings

Billboard, February 7, 1948

A one-off 1947 recording for the small Super Disc label was apparently Deauville's first. Backed by pianist Ram Ramirez's combo, he recorded the Jimmy Van Heusen-Eddie DeLange standard "Deep in a Dream," a rapt performance that immediately demonstrated his special qualities as a singer. 

The backing was "Mad about You," which Super Disc considered the plug side, possibly because Ramirez co-wrote it. The record was released in December 1947 to some acclaim. The hit recordings of "Mad about You," however, were by Herb Lance and the Five Changes and by the Ravens.

Meanwhile, Ronnie had joined the band of Ray Anthony, who had a recording contract with another small label, Signature. The 1948 Musicians Union recording ban was closing in on the industry, so the band spent December 30, 1947 in the studio.

Deauville was featured on two items - the standard "Bye, Bye Blues" from 1930, along with one of the singer's finest records -  Leon René's "Gloria," which had been recorded previously by crooner Bob Hayward and by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, with a vocal by Charles Brown.

Billboard, September 11, 1948

Deauville's intense version is clearly an interior monologue - "She's not in love with you," he tells himself. All other recordings seem impersonal next to his. The backing is largely celeste with rhythm, with Anthony allotted a trumpet solo.

Ronnie would record "Gloria" twice more - once as a solo for Mercury (also in this set) and once as a Lang-Worth transcription, which will be in a future post. The song would later become a doo-wop classic in a somewhat different form. A new post on my other blog presents all the versions of "Gloria" mentioned above - along with a competing version of "It's Too Soon to Know," discussed below.

Also on the same date, the band recorded another ballad, "Passing Fancy," by Bob Hilliard and David Mann. Its coupling was "Peace of Mind," an ephemeral song by Murray, Goldman and Lawrence.

Signature, which must have seen something in Deauville, had him record as a solo artist as well as with Ray Anthony. First was a cover of the Perry Como hit "'A' You're Adorable," where Ronnie is joined by the Riddlers vocal group and the Bob Curtis Quartet. Next was a version of the Franco-American hit "Comme Ci, Comme Ça," also with Curtis.

Deauville's next record, with Ray Bloch, was a real departure - "Someday" from Rudolf Friml's operetta The Vagabond King. Ronnie's voice was made for the microphone, not the stage, but he is convincing in the piece, aided by a lush backing by Bloch's band. The yearning quality in Deauville's voice is just right for Brian Hooker's lyrics.

Bloch and Deauville also revived the excellent Robin-Rainger song "With Every Breath I Take" to good effect. This reading is very Sinatra-like, but the song was actually introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1934 film Here Is My Heart. Frank himself didn't record it until 1956.

The Mercury Recordings

The Mercury label released 10 recordings by Ronnie, eight of which are in this collection. These are of uncertain provenance. All except the last coupling have no accompaniment information. These may have been Signature recordings that Mercury acquired - or may even have been sourced from another label. 

"It's Too Soon to Know" was a giant R&B hit in 1948 for the Orioles, whose manager, Deborah Chessler, wrote the piece. It's the kind of material that was suited to Ronnie, and his reading holds up well. (The recordings by the Ravens and by the Orioles are discussed in a post on my other blog.)

Mercury also released a version of "Gloria," with the accompaniment primarily guitar and clarinet. This is probably not an alternate take from the Signature session.

"In the Rain" is a lovely song, the sort of ballad that was made for Ronnie. I believe this may have been a cover of a Gladys Palmer release on the Miracle label.

Another cover was "Recess in Heaven," which Johnny Getz wrote for Willis Threats to record. The hit version was, however, by Dan Grissom.

Much different, although still a cover, is "Brush Those Tears from Your Eyes," by Al Trace, Oakley Haldeman and Jimmy Lee, which was first recorded by Evelyn Knight.

Billboard January 8, 1949

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote the sublime "I Only Have Eyes for You" for Dick Powell to introduce in the 1934 musical Dames. Powell didn't record it until 1947, which disc may have stimulated Ronnie's recording. The Flamingos were to have a huge hit with the number in 1959.

Kurt Weill wrote one of his best songs, "Here I'll Stay," with Alan Jay Lerner for their 1948 concept musical Love Life. The song's earnest quality is perfect for Deauville.

Ronnie was apparently the first to record Gordon Burdge and J. Russel Robinson's "Portrait of Jennie," but another artist known for his quiet sincerity, Nat King Cole, had the hit.

Deauville apparently also recorded two songs for Mercury with Mitch Miller, but I have yet to come across them.

Airchecks with Tex Beneke

In 1948, former Glenn Miller vocalist/tenor saxophonist Tex Beneke was the leader of the official Miller ghost band. Deauville often performed with the band, with one of their broadcasts yielding six songs for this set.

Leading off, fittingly, is the Miller specialty "Moonlight Cocktail" from 1941. Ronnie was a very different singer from Ray Eberle (who recorded it first) and sounds a little ill at ease.

Tex Beneke

More in Deauville's line was "Laura," the eerily romantic song from David Raksin and Johnny Mercer. For some reason the arrangement keeps interrupting with loud snatches of Debussy.

"Encore, Cherie" is a song by Alice Simms and J. Fred Coots that Beneke had recorded with vocalist Garry Stevens. Here, Ronnie does it admirably.

Another Miller favorite is next - "Serenade in Blue" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, which is more suited to Deauville' strengths than "Moonlight Cocktail." Ronnie's lack of range trips him up at the close of the song.

Charles Trenet's "Beyond the Sea" has a haunted quality that suited Deauville very well.

The final song in this set, "Dreamy Lullaby," was a Frankie Carle specialty that the bandleader wrote with George Weiss and Bennie Benjamin. As the title may suggest, this was just right for Ronnie.

Next in this series will be a set of Lang-Worth Transcriptions and a group of airchecks, both with Ray Anthony and dating from about 1950.

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 3

Bill Reed (of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair) and I have been attempting to draw attention to the wonderful singer Ronnie Deauville lately by writing about him and sharing his recordings. (See my two previous posts on Ronnie for more information.)

Today I am pleased to present one of Deauville's best records, Gloria (yes, it's the same song that later became a doo-wop staple). This is, in my view, simply one of the great vocal records, with Ronnie perfectly in tune with the lyrics. The same is true of the second item for today, Deauville's version of The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful.

Both of these sides were made with Ray Anthony's band, where Deauville first made his name. The earlier record is on Signature. Most of the Anthony recordings (including The Night Is Young) were on Capitol, where the bandleader made records for many years. The Night Is Young is an excellent example of Anthony's many Glenn Miller-style arrangements.

See Bill Reed's blog for a real Deauville rarity, Ronnie's version of Comme Ci, Comme Ca.

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 1

I wrote a few days ago about the late singer Ronnie Deauville, and Bill Reed's attempt to stimulate interest in his little-known records. Deauville is a long-time interest of mine, so I am proud to do my part.

Hard luck was Deauville's companion. In 1956, he was in an auto accident that left him in a wheelchair, then contracted polio that confined him to an iron lung for an extended period.

Amazingly, he continued his career for a time and made several excellent records, among them this superb story-ballad.

At the time this record came out, Jerry Lewis featured Deauville's story on his television show and Era sent the single out to radio stations with a message from Jerry on the flip side (see below) asking them to play the record in advance of the show. This is the copy that went to WCKR of Hornell, New York.

More from Ronnie Deauville later.

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 4

Returning at long last to our series of recordings by the superb but neglected vocalist Ronnie Deauville, here we have two singles, both probably issued in 1950. These were among the sides Deauville made with Ray Anthony's orchestra - all of them that I have heard are excellent.

For more on Deauville and his interesting background, please see the previous posts in this series - and be sure to stop by Bill Reed's blog, The People vs. Dr. Chilledair. Bill has been assembling Deauville recordings from various sources, and there is much more background information about the singer on that site.

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Digression No. 12

One of my favorite singers is Ronnie Deauville, a superb vocalist who started out in the post-war big bands (Tex Beneke, Ray Anthony) and then had a solo career. Deauville was capable of creating an intimate mood and achieving a personal connection with the lyric rivalled only by the very finest singers. Yet he is almost unknown today.

Some of us who are among a small band of Ronnie collectors are getting together to make his out-of-print recordings available again. We're led by that indefatigable promoter of fine but neglected vocalists, Bill Reed, via his blog the People vs. Dr. Chilledair. I've mentioned Bill before in connection with two of my other enthusiasms, Page Cavanaugh and Jackie Paris.

Bill has already posted several sides, with more to come, including contributions from me. You can find much more about Deauville by doing a search on Bill's blog.

Also, Bill has graciously sent along a contribution to this blog, his rare copy of a 10-inch record devoted to the music of Alec Wilder (link in comments). These Octets were a specialty of the great songwriter/composer, whose style combines jazz and neoclassical influences, with perhaps a small piece of Raymond Scott. (The first item is titled Jack, This is My Husband.) Delightful stuff and highly recommended - as are the Ronnie Deauville recordings!

Ronnie Deauville, Part 2

I mentioned in the first post that singer Ronnie Deauville was in a serious traffic accident that left him paralyzed, then came down with polio. His story was told on the popular television program This Is Your Life, and this picture sleeve was designed to capitalize on that appearance. Amazingly, you can see the opening of the show via YouTube.

But the subject here should be Deauville's exceptional talent, which is shown in his outstanding performance of As Children Do, an obscure song that the singer makes his own. It is backed by the standard I Concentrate on You, in this Era records release from late 1957 or early 1958.

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Christmas with the Postwar Bands

The Ray McKinley Band

Interest in America's big bands tailed off in the postwar years, but the most popular bands were still active in the recording studio. And of course they produced that staple of the music industry, the holiday release, whether covering an old favorite or introducing the latest work from one of America's tunesmiths.

In today's post we'll look at 14 of these seasonal specialties. The recordings include both the newest songs and perennials revisited by the upcoming bands.

We'll concentrate on the postwar years, but let's start with two items from the late-war era.

Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak's band is largely forgotten, even though he was prominent and popular for quite a period. In 1944, he came out with the new song "A Wonderful Winter (For You and Me)" by Marty Symes and Al Kaufman. It went nowhere on the charts, but still it's a pleasant outing in the hands (lips?) of trumpeter Spivak and singer Jimmy Saunders. Alvin Stoller is the drummer in this band - he will appear at the end of this post in an unfamiliar role as vocalist in a Billy May number.

In early 1945, Les Brown's band was covering a good song with a holiday (or at least winter) veneer, "Sleigh Ride in July." Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke wrote the piece for Dinah Shore to introduce in the film Belle of the Yukon. The popular version of the song was by Bing Crosby, but Brown's Gordon Drake does it well, too.

Les Brown, Jack Haskell

The following year, Les came back with a two-sided Christmas offering. One side was the new "Christmas Song," presented by his popular vocalist Doris Day. It was backed by "When You Trim Your Christmas Tree," a worthy outing by Doris' male counterpart, Jack Haskell. I may have shared this item a long time ago, but it's worth a revisit. In later years, Haskell had a fair amount of success on television.

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" has become one of the most popular songs of the season. (Second Hand Songs lists 1,295 versions!) The first recording was by Bing in 1943, and there was a well-received release by Perry Como three years later. In 1947, the song was taken up by vocalist/bandleader Eddy Howard, who had a big hit the previous year with "To Each His Own." Eddy was not without his vocal mannerisms, but his reading of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is sincere and affecting.

Eddy Howard, Ray McKinley

Ray McKinley had a long career as bandleader, and before that was a noted drummer-singer with Jimmy Dorsey and Will Bradley. McKinley was a close friend of Glenn Miller, co-led the Miller AAF Band following Miller's disappearance, and later fronted the Miller ghost band. Even so, the arrangements for his own postwar band betrayed little Miller influence, being done by the noted Eddie Sauter and Deane Kincaid. There is an extensive survey of McKinley's postwar recordings on this blog, but today we'll just sample one - a new song for 1948 called "Little Jack Frost Get Lost" by Al Stillman and Segar Ellis. Ray is the vocalist, and manages as usual to be stylish even though he had very little range.

An Amos Milburn recording session

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers had a hit in 1947 with "Merry Christmas, Baby," with a vocal by Charles Brown. In 1949, another piano-playing singer, Amos Milburn, tried to duplicate this success by pretty much duplicating the song, rearranging the title into "Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby." It's a basic blues number, but tuneful and well done. The label credits "Amos Milburn and His Chicken-Shackers," not because they had opened a restaurant, but because they had recently enjoyed a chart success with "Chicken Shack Boogie."

Harry Prime

Ralph Flanagan led one of the first and most successful Miller-clone bands. In 1949 RCA Victor was giving him a big push on its Bluebird budget label, including his Miller-esque disc of "White Christmas," with an sonorous vocal by Harry Prime. Victor issued a series of promos at the time, including a Flanagan intro to this record. You can find it on my other blog. The bandleader also has been a frequent visitor on this site.

Freddie Mitchell

Tenor sax playing bandleader Freddie Mitchell could and did turn anything into a boogie, particularly after his 1949 success with "Doby's Boogie," named in honor of Cleveland Indians outfielder Larry Doby. For the holiday season that same year he came out with the "Jingle Bell Boogie," which works much better than you might expect, particularly if you have a taste for rip-roaring tenor saxes and plinkety-plunk upright pianos. The other side of that disc was the "Auld Lang Syne Boogie," which I uploaded several years ago. Sixteen more Mitchell sides (including "Doby's Boogie") can be found here.

Ray Anthony, Ronnie Deauville

Peter De Rose and Carl Sigman penned "A Marshmallow World" in 1950. It's a winning song, and while never a huge hit, did attract the attention of some heavy hitters, including Bing and Vic Damone. Our entry will be the version by the Ray Anthony band, another part-time Miller clone outfit that was very popular for years. The vocal here is by Ronnie Deauville, a particular favorite of mine. I devoted several posts to him and his sad story in the early days of this blog.

Louis Jordan

"May Every Day Be Christmas" is a sentiment that has long been a popular with songwriters (and others). This 1951 iteration is by alto saxophonist and vocalist Louis Jordan, one of the greatest hitmakers of the postwar era. Here he fronts a big band plus organist Wild Bill Davis. The earnest results are quite a contrast with such jaunty Jordan hits as "Five Guys Named Moe."

Tex Beneke and Cash Box ad

Also in 1951, Tex Beneke came out with a two-sided Christmas special - "The Santa Claus Parade" and "A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus." By this time, Tex had left the Miller scene behind and was making records for M-G-M without a trace of Glenn's trademark sound. These two are engaging novelties from the saxophonist-vocalist, whose other work can be found here.

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan

As the 1950s wore on, bands tried to distinguish themselves by trying something different - in the case of Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan's band, it was to drop any pretense of playing for dancers, rather presenting themselves as a concert ensemble. The musical results were often exciting, but seldom commercial - not pop enough to be popular and not classical enough to attract the high-toned crowd. The band's 1952 Christmas issue is a good example of the Sauter-Finegan approach - a winning arrangement of the "Troika" movement from Sergei Prokofiev Lt. Kije Suite, called "Midnight Sleighride" by the arrangers. Prokofiev's piece has become associated with the season, and the band's sleigh bells point up that connection. The Sauter-Finegan Band has been featured here several times.

Billy May

Finally, Billy May's "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo" from 1954. This was one of May's contributions to the mambo mania of the time. Drummer Alvin Stoller does a knocked-out Perez Prado routine - instead of Prado's "ugh" he shouts "May!" and a number of other interjections, some I can even understand. The chart's slurping saxes were characteristic of May and well suited to this kiddie favorite.

May was another bandleader (his was a studio band) who had a Miller connection - he played trumpet in the band (as did Ray Anthony). Bill Finegan was a Miller arranger. As noted, Ray McKinley was in the AAF band and later led the Miller ghost band. Tex Beneke was in the prewar band and led the official Miller band postwar.

These selections were remastered from needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally vivid, as is often the case with old 78s (believe it or not).

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Digression No. 15

A fellow by the name of Zorchman stopped by the other day, thanked me for the Lord Buckley album on this site, and invited us all to visit his emporium, Zorch's Inner Sanctum.

Well, I did stop by, and I have to say it's quite a lot of fun for a record guy. He says nice things about this site, and inspired by our focus on 10-inch LPs shares a few of his own, both of which are very desirable. One is a Bob and Ray album (don't see too many of those), and the other is an album by a fellow named Dick Wetmore (don't see any of those). He also offers an alternate take of one of the Lord Buckley sides.

Zorchman's main interests are 78s and 45s, with an emphasis on the obscure and incongruous, such as Edith Piaf doing Black Leather Trousers and Motorcycle Boots or Jo Stafford doing Ray Charles' I Got a Woman (which became I Got a Sweetie). There's also a 78 of Robert McBride performing Sweet Sue on the english horn. I am fairly sure this is the same Robert McBride whose violin concerto is coupled below with Ives' Three Places in New England.

And related to the previous post on Ronnie Deauville, coincidentally Zorchman shares a Mills Brothers version of Gloria that is contemporaneous with the Deauville record.

Will Friedwald Stops By

Although I have been a record collector since I was just a Little Wonder, I am always looking for new artists and musics to investigate. The result is the fairly wide and eclectic taste displayed on this blog. One of the strongest influences on me has been the music writer and producer Will Friedwald. When his book Jazz Singing came out in 1990, I was not only amazed at how much I agreed with Will's taste, I was amazed at how many singers unknown to me he was touting. I quickly began looking into some of the singers he suggested. They included Jackie Paris, David Allyn and Ronnie Deauville, all of whom have been featured here.

So I owe a debt of gratitude to Will - and I am sure many others do, as well. Just recently he stopped by this blog - and had nice things to say about it, I am pleased to say. Amazingly I was able to introduce him to a few Jackie Paris sides he hadn't heard and then supply an obscure Billy Eckstine record he was looking for.

Speaking of Jackie Paris, Will is sharing with us (courtesy of his friend Ed Noble) a wonderful Paris record - the jazz version of the Broadway show Oh Captain! Here, Jackie shares vocals with Moody Marilyn Moore, with the instrumentals supplied by such artists as Coleman Hawkins. I can't recommend this too highly - Paris' version of All The Time is one of my favorite vocal records.

Thanks, Will, for the record and for the inspiration.

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Dancing with Hal McIntyre

The latest in our series of post-war dance bands is Hal McIntyre. Here Columbia invites you to a dance date with Hal and his band - apparently at another college prom, as with the previous bands in this series.

This one came out in 1950, just two years after Columbia introduced LPs, and when it was battling RCA's competing microgroove format, the 45-rpm single. So the Columbia marketing wizards were touting the advantages of the LP - for dance music this meant continuous music, so you needn't let go of your beloved even for a few seconds. "No interrruptions between numbers," the cover proclaims. In practice, however, what Columbia has done is to stitch together the normal complement of eight tunes with a few bars of snoozy celeste transition. Not exactly revolutionary.

Well, enough of the marketing and on to the music. Hal McIntyre's band was in effect a spin-off of the Glenn Miller organization. Hal, a Miller saxophonist, struck out on his own in 1941 with Miller's backing, and remained popular (or at least in business) into the 50s. But while a Miller spawn, the McIntyre band does not display the familiar Miller mannerisms, thankfully. The smooth arrangements put me in mind of the Claude Thornhill band, and the two vocal cuts from the excellent Sinatra disciple Frankie Lester are reminiscent of Ronnie Deauville, who has appeared here on several occasions. Good stuff.

I should mention that there is a bit of pitch instability on the first side, and a few unavoidable skips.

The Early Jackie Paris

It's been nearly 20 years since the death of jazz singer Jackie Paris (1924-2004), who didn't achieve the acclaim he deserved in his lifetime, and has not fared much better since.

That neglect is hard to understand. As Will Friedwald wrote before Paris' death, "He was and is an uncompromising jazz singer who happens to have an enormous - albeit unrealized - pop appeal ... Here is a musician saturated with the virtues of modern jazz - the harmonic sophistication, the cool attitude, the bright clean tone - who never sounds like he's doing anything way-out or complex."

One of the early posts on this blog 14 years ago was devoted to Paris' first LP, the 10-incher That "Paris" Mood on Coral. It was followed in 2010 by a selection of his early singles. Today, we greatly expand those offerings by combining all the songs on the 10-inch LP and its 12-inch successor, Skylark, with the bulk of the singles that Paris produced from 1947-55. All told, there are 33 selections in this set.

I hope to follow this post with another that will include Paris' EmArcy LP of 1955-56 with a few other songs issued by that company.

1947-55 Singles

We start with Paris' first record, a 1947 78 released by M-G-M and coupling "Your Red Wagon" and "Skylark" (which he later remade for Coral). This first effort shows off the two sides of his vocal personality - the hip and forceful singing on "Red Wagon," and the intense sincerity and sweetness of "Skylark."

Paris first became popular in jazz circles after the war while appearing on New York's 52nd Street. He had a trio at the time with pianist Deryck Sampson and bassist William Lalatte. Although they certainly were influenced by the King Cole Trio (and Sampson by George Shearing), they also were paying attention to the Page Cavanaugh Trio, as can be heard in the next M-G-M single, "I've Got a Way with Women," backed by the standard "I've Got a Crush on You."

Paris moved on in 1949 to National, which announced his arrival with the ad below for his debut single, coupling "The Old Master Painter" and a "surprise rendition" of "Goodbye Sue." I hope I am not spoiling things by telling you that the surprise is a spoken interlude in hipster lingo in which Paris tells Sue "I dig you the most!" among other entreaties for her to come back. Billboard dug this not, however, calling the spoken section "silly hip talking." (I think it's fun.)

During this same 1949 session, Paris cut the first vocal rendition of Thelonious Monk's bop anthem, "'Round Midnight," with Bernie Hanigan's lyrics. It eventually came out on EmArcy; I'll include it in the subsequent collection devoted to Paris' work for that label.

Friedwald tells us that Paris was the favorite singer of bassist-composer-bandleader Charles Mingus, who had worked with him in Lionel Hampton's band circa 1949. Mingus wrote several compositions for the vocalist in 1952, which were among the first things Mingus released on his Debut label.

Will wrote, "Mingus could devise as much formless abstraction as he liked - for example the entrancingly meandering 'Portrait' - knowing that Paris could 'sell' the number as convincingly as Sinatra could put over a Cole Porter show tune. Likewise 'Paris In Blue' veers off into all kinds of odd directions. Yet Paris effectively anchors all narrative and melodic motion to the blues framework that the piece begins and ends with." Today's set also includes the flip side of "Paris in Blue," "Make Believe."

Later in 1952, Paris did a one-off single for RCA Victor with a mannered singer named Tamara Hayes, who made some other records for RCA at the time. The record coupled the old R&B hit "I Miss You So" with "Chance of a Lifetime."

Paris moved on to Decca's Brunswick and Coral labels in 1953. A session for Coral with Norman Leyden produced a few singles that later appeared on the Skylark album below, along with an affecting revival of Harry Warren's beautiful "I Know Why (and So Do You)," written for Glenn Miller's film Sun Valley Serenade.

Paris' efforts for Brunswick are represented here by live versions with a Terry Gibbs combo of "You Go to My Head" and "Cool Blues." The former is one of Paris' best records. The latter is wonderful swinger, at least until Paris indulges in that reprehensible jazz custom, scat singing. Although these two tracks did appear on a single, I have transferred them from a various artists LP called Jazztime USA, Vol. 3.

Back on Coral, Paris recorded a few songs with clarinetist Tony Scott (not included here), then a solo on "When I Lost You," the beautiful and affecting Irving Berlin waltz, which is another of Jackie's finest records. It was backed by the lesser "Idle Gossip," which was included on the Skylark LP discussed below, as were most of the other songs he cut for Coral in 1953-54.

One of the songs orphaned from the LP was a remake of the 1940 Mills Brothers hit, "Java Jive," well suited to Paris' style. The flipside is an odd reworking of "O Sole Mio" as "True," which Paris plays straight. The backing is by Neal Hefti.

The final Coral single - and the last in this collection - was 1955's "Love Is a King" and "I Need Your Love." Not great songs, but graced by Paris' sincerity.

That "Paris" Mood/Skylark

Coral brought Paris into the studio in June 1954 to record his first album, That "Paris" Mood. It mainly consisted of standards, with the exception of two songs. "Detour Ahead" is a good ballad perfectly suited to Paris' style, with his emotions under control but near the surface. Bassist John Frigo wrote it in 1948 (with two bandmates co-credited). The best song is "Who Can I Turn To?", not the Anthony Newley piece but an elegant 1941 item from composer Alec Wilder and lyricist William Engvick.

Otherwise, the standouts are Johnny Green's great "You're Mine You," even though Jackie gets carried away by the "I own you!" line. He's so intense, it's a little frightening. Paris also does well with the Cahn-Style classic, "The Things We Did Last Summer."

The whole LP is beautifully done, but Charlie Shavers would not have been my first choice to play the trumpet obbligatos, which are at times intrusive, at other times off-mike.

By 1957, 10-inch albums had become passé, and many labels were expanding their inventory of little LPs into the 12-inch variety. Decca accordingly turned That "Paris" Mood into the 12-inch Skylark, in the process switching it from Coral to the Brunswick marque.

It wasn't a straight expansion, however. "The Things We Did Last Summer" was left off the Skylark bill of fare, while five songs were added. These all had previously been issued as singles: the second version of "Skylark," "Only Yesterday," "If Love Is Good to Me," "Idle Gossip" and "I Had a Talk with a Daisy." Today's collection includes all songs from both albums. 

"Skylark" was a song dear to Paris, and the single had achieved some success, so it became the title song of the 12-inch LP. Also semi-successful as a single was "If Love Is Good to Me," which showed off Paris' talent for the near-miss. As the singer explained to Will Friedwald, "I introduced that song [on Brunswick] and my record had just started to sell. The next thing I know, Redd [Evans, the composer] told me, 'Listen, Nat Cole wants to do the song and I can't turn him down.' Cole had already made hits out of a half dozen Evans songs. So Nat recorded it, and though Cashbox picked mine over his. Nat's record became the biggest record in the country."

The cover displays Decca's penchant for dorky photographic assemblages. I don't know what kind of bird that is on the cover, but I don't believe it is a skylark. As far as I know they are colorless creatures that would not be as photogenic perched on a RCA 77-DX microphone.

Returning to the subject, it is a shame that Paris never achieved fame commensurate with his great gifts. The download includes a long 1996 interview with the singer in which he recounts his career. 

Most of these records came from my collection, helpfully augmented by Internet Archive materials. The sound is generally vivid, except for some rustle on the 78s.

Coming up are a second Paris collection, plus posts devoted to two of my other favorite vocalists, David Allyn and Ronnie Deauville.

The Songs of Dana Suesse

Dana Suesse in 1932

For today's post we examine the songs of Dana Suesse (1909-87), who wrote popular works while maintaining an interest in classical music, which her success in pop music later allowed her to pursue.

Suesse was versatile: her best known piece is "You Oughta Be in Pictures," but also popular is the gorgeous, moody "My Silent Love," which began as an instrumental.

We have recordings of both works, along with many more worthy songs in this collection of 21 of her compositions dating from 1929 to 1954.

About Dana Suesse

Like many songwriters, Dana did not start out to compose popular music. Classical music was her inspiration and aspiration. But in the 1930s, there wasn't much of an appetite for her "serious" works.

"I had arrived in New York with a trunk full of instrumental music ... I quickly found that there was no market for them; publishers didn’t want things like that. They were too expensive to publish and they simply were not going to be popular with the public. So I looked around and saw that people were making money writing popular songs."

She found out she was good at it, too, and began working with noted lyricists such as Edward Heyman and Leo Robin. But her initial efforts were focused on instrumental music.

"At that time popular instrumentals were in vogue, sort of a hybrid between a serious piece and a pop tune. Duke Ellington, Lou Alter, and Rube Bloom were writing these kinds of works. There was a very distinctive, certain style and form to this kind of melody."

Our collection starts with just such a composition.

1929-32 Recordings

"A Syncopated Love Song" was the title of the first recording in the set, a 1929 work that is listed as a collaboration between Suesse and Nathaniel Shilkret, although it's not clear how much of it was Shilkret's work. Even so, he was an proficient musician who was director of light music for Victor and a prolific recording artist.

It's a strikingly well-wrought piece, with a memorable main strain. Dana presumably wrote that melody, for the credit to Shilket was nowhere to be found a few years later when it was turned into the torch song "Have You Forgotten?" with lyrics by Leo Robin and recorded by Ruth Etting.

Rudy Vallée

Also from 1931, "Whistling in the Dark" has another catchy melody and words by Allen Boretz, whose later claim to fame was writing the hit farce Room Service. Presenting the song was bandleader Rudy Vallée, who hadn't much of a voice, but did have a polished band, fine taste in music and a record contract. He must have liked Dana's songs - he appears later in the collection as well.

George Gershwin, Paul Whiteman and Dana Suesse

Suesse continued to compose works that were the classical-jazz hybrid that George Gershwin favored. In 1932, Gershwin champion Paul Whiteman commissioned her to write a "Concerto in Three Rhythms" for one of his concerts. The New Yorker proceeded to dub her the "girl Gershwin.” You can hear the piece on YouTube.

Loyce Whiteman

With "Ho Hum!" Dana attracted the attention of another important figure, bandleader Gus Arnheim, who engaged vocalists Loyce Whiteman and Bing Crosby for the record. Whiteman was then 19; it was her first record. This is the first song in this collection with lyrics by the young Edward Heyman, a distinguished figure with whom Suesse would work extensively. 

"Jazz Nocturne" is a second instrumental that would become a popular song. Nathaniel Shilkret is again the leader but does not share the songwriting credits for this one. With Heyman's lyrics, the work turned into "My Silent Love," an exceptional song. We will get to it later in this collection.

Edward Heyman

1933-35 Recordings

For our first selection from 1933, Rudy Vallée returns with "Free," a good pop song with one of the bandleader's better vocals. Heyman was again the lyricist.

Also from 1933, we have a recording of "Moon about Town," written for the Ziegfeld Follies production that opened in early 1934. It's not one of lyricist Yip Harburg's best efforts, although the song is occasionally revived. 

Another song from the same show, introduced by the same singer, Jane Froman, is "You Oughta Be in Pictures." An irresistible combination of clever words and cheerful music, it became a huge hit.

As far as I can tell, Froman did not record either song. Our version of "Moon about Town" is the one for Columbia by society bandleader Emil Coleman with a vocal by Jerry Cooper. 

For "You Oughta Be in Pictures," we return to Rudy Vallée for his popular recording. One oddity is that Vallée's Victor label says the song is from a film called New York Town. I can't find evidence of such a film from that year, nor of the song being used in another movie of the time. Also, IBDB does not list "You Oughta Be in Pictures" as being part of the 1934 Follies, which may mean it was added after the opening. In any case, Vallée's disc was not recorded until March 5, 1934, a few months into the run of the 1934 Follies.

"Missouri Misery" from the Dorsey Brothers is much different. Pianist Peter Mintun, who edited a collection of the composer's works, said that "Suesse preferred this over any other commercial recording of 'Missouri Misery.' She liked the bluesy treatment rather than the danceable versions." Singer Bob Crosby, who was working with the Dorseys at the time, did not care for the record; he thought the key was too low for him. Harburg was the lyricist.

Another miniature concert piece is next, with Dana on piano accompanied by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. It's the highly enjoyable, Gershwinesque "Blue Moonlight."

The next two songs come from a 1935 film called Sweet Surrender, filmed in Astoria, New York, and featuring radio and stage personalities such as Frank Parker and Tamara. It's a shipboard musical with a labyrinthine story line and seven numbers from Suesse and Heyman.

First we have the Jan Garber band and singer Lee Bennett with "The Day You Were Born," a predictable song in a grainy pressing. Much better, musically and technically, is "Love Makes the World Go Round," which may not have been the first time that was used for a title and certainly wasn't the last.

The Al Donahue Band; the leader is up front with violin

Even so, it's a pleasing song in a creditable performance from the Al Donahue band and singer Tommy Norato.

1936-37 Recordings

In 1936, Suesse spent three months in Fort Worth, Texas, composing the music for impresario Billy Rose's Casa Mañana, an attraction for that city's Frontier Days Celebration, which was designed to compete with Dallas's concurrent Texas Centennial Celebration. Casa Mañana was a 4,000-seat outdoor dinner theater and stage show that turned out to be very popular.

The big hit from the show was one of Dana's greatest songs, "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful," with lyrics by Rose and Irving Kahal. The story is told that Rose ran into Kahal in the lobby of his Fort Worth hotel and convinced him to stay and write with him and Suesse.

Our first version of "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful" comes from Jan Garber, this time with vocalist Russ Brown. It starts off with a martial cadence, for some reason, but Garber quickly turns things over to the overripe saxophones and choppy brass that were favored by the sweet bands of the time. Brown is a little too ripe himself, but this period piece nonetheless has its charm. We'll have a better performance later in the program.

Jolly Coburn

Also from the Casa Mañana show is "Gone with the Dawn," from the Jolly Coburn band, with a vocal by the pleasant Bill Hawley, who sounds like he could have been from Texas himself. Coburn hailed from New York, where his band played at the Rainbow Room.

There is a 20-minute short with excerpts from the Casa Mañana show on YouTube.

The Aquacade on Lake Erie

Rose next turned his attention to the Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland, where he dreamed up an "Aquacade," another dinner amphitheater, this time with a water show along the shores of Lake Erie. "Happy Birthday to Love" comes from the score, heard here in the version by Tommy Dorsey with the talented Jack Leonard on the vocal. Dana worked with four different lyricists to concoct this number.

Post 1937 Recordings

Bob Allen and Hal Kemp

Rose transported his Aquacade concept to the 1939 New York World's Fair, bringing Suesse along to provide the music. She worked with the impresario and lyricist Ted Fetter on "Yours for a Song," the Aquacade theme, which we have in a recording by Hal Kemp and his orchestra. The vocalist is Bob Allen, who had replaced Skinnay Ennis the year before. Kemp was to die in an auto accident the following year.

Dick Todd

For our next number, we greet the sonorous Dick Todd, "Canada's Bing Crosby," as he was called, with a fine recording of "A Table in a Corner," which Dana wrote with the experienced Sam Coslow. Todd was in the midst of his brief heyday, when he recorded prolifically for Bluebird.

Next is one of Dana's most accomplished songs in one of the standout performances in this set - "Time for Me to Put My Heart Away," in a Liberty Music Shop disc from the esteemed cabaret singer Greta Keller, with backing by a Cy Walter band.

Greta Keller

In addition to the music, Suesse apparently wrote the lyrics for this song, which she seldom did. "Lyrics, I think are very difficult," she once said. "It took me approximately 20 years of apprenticeship to write what I’d term a presentable lyric. What I mean is, a lyric that satisfied me, that was up to the standard I felt a lyric should be. I learned a great deal from Billy Rose, and I worked with some extremely competent and gifted writers such as Yip Harburg, and the wonderful, creative Ira Gershwin."

The Viennese Keller had come to the US in 1938 and was already a feature in some of New York's top locations. Her voice may remind you of Marlene Dietrich; that's because Dietrich based her singing on Keller. Whatever you may think of her voice, her identification with the lyrics is total.

"This Changing World" was one of the composer's own favorites. "In 1940, I wrote a song called 'This Changing World,' with a wonderful lyric by Harold Adamson," she said. "The song is so relevant even today, and the lyric, as well as the melody, was ahead of its time. It had a strong harmonic progression, although simple in structure, but the song didn’t go anyplace. There were several recordings, but it just didn’t hit the charts the way I had hoped." The fluent performance is by Ginny Simms with the Kay Kyser band.

In the 1940s, Dana continued her association with Billy Rose, writing songs for his Diamond Horseshoe club, which operated from 1938-51 in New York's Paramount Hotel. Following the war, she studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris for three years.

Dick Haymes, who appears to be orbiting the moon

I wanted to include two later recordings of Suesse songs that were discussed above. First we have Dick Haymes' disc of "My Silent Love," made in 1947 with the backing of Gordon Jenkins. The second is Ray Anthony's 1950 recording of "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful," with a sterling vocal by Ronnie Deauville.

Finally, two recordings of the theme song from the hit stage production of The Seven Year Itch, which opened in late 1952 with incidental music by Suesse. First "The Girl Without a Name," performed by pianist Art Lowry and his orchestra. The published version lists lyrics by Dana and Scott Olsen, but I haven't found a recording of that version. The Lowry record credits "Engvick" presumably lyricist William Engvick, along with Suesse, but it's an instrumental.

There's yet another version of the tune. Eddie Bracken, who had succeeded Tom Ewell in the leading male role on Broadway, wrote his own words for  Suesse's music and recorded it under the name "That Girl" for the R&B label Chance, where he and Barbara Cooke coo to one another. (Update: my friend Geoconno informs me that "Barbara Cooke" is actually the wonderful Barbara Cook, in what must be one of her first recordings.)

Most of these recordings were remastered from Internet Archive 78s.

LINK

More by Dana Suesse

In 1941, Dana contributed to an album of "Modern American Music" put together by then radio conductor Meredith Willson. Her composition was "American Nocturne," a lovely piece somewhat tentatively played by the ensemble. You can hear the work - and the entire album - newly remastered via this post. "American Nocturne" is a different composition from the "Jazz Nocturne" above.

Finally, I am preparing a post of recordings by the short-lived jazz harpist Casper Reardon that will include Suesse's suite "Young Man with a Harp." I hope to finish that project soon.