American Music for Strings

This is one of the many LPs of American music produced by Howard Hanson and Mercury when Dr. Hanson was the head of the Eastman School.

This program from circa 1955 presents three exceedingly beautiful pieces for string orchestra. The Thomas Canning work is an attempt to replicate Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis using a hymn tune by the American Justin Morgan. Louis Mennini's Arioso is recommended to anyone who enjoys Barber's Adagio for Strings. And Arthur Foote's Suite is a romantic work reminiscent of Tchaikovsky.

The Canning and Foote works have had more modern recordings, but not the Mennini, to my knowledge. Canning and Mennini were colleagues of Hanson at Eastman. Mennini's brother, Peter Mennin, was also a well-known composer.

I dubbed this record using two different cartridge-stylus combinations. I prefer the string sound on the version here, although it retains more surface noise. I've done my best to lessen the heavy tape hiss that is still somewhat evident.

NEW LINK

The Mellow Harry James

Here's a welcome contribution from our friend Mel, who has come up with a Harry James album that I did not have. Thanks, Mel!

Mel has gone to the trouble of typing out the original liner notes, so here they are:

The instruments of the brass choir, by their nature, seem predetermined for their use in brilliant, flaring music. Largely developed for use of military or high festive significance, they have to some extent carried that usage through to the present, and are most often heard when the music lends itself to (or requires) a bright, edgy tone. That this is a patent misuse of a versatile group of instruments has been demonstrated, again and again, as musicians keep hacking away at the idea. The enormously subtle and vigorous variations of Bix Beiderbecke on the cornet, the cool, fluid trombone of Tommy Dorsey and the velvet trumpet of Harry James have whittled no little chunks away from the feeling that brass must be brassy, and in this collection the inventive James trumpet is heard in a further exploration.

Among the most polished of popular musicians, Harry James has virtually lived with popular music all his life. Arriving on the commercial scene just too late for first-hand absorption from the great jazz masters, he worked with most of the swing greats, who had already culled the best of the jazz techniques and adapted them to their own styles. James’ first important job in popular music was with Benny Goodman and his Orchestra in the late thirties, where he brought to its peak the shining trumpet mastery that is has trademark. Learning from the brilliant musicians of the Goodman orchestra, and supplementing their work with his own fresh ideas and expert technique, he swiftly became one of the top-ranking stars in an orchestra of stars.

That he was already a musician upon joining the group is no accident: he was born into music, for his father was bandmaster with the mighty Haag Circus. The rousing brass of the circus band was part of his daily routine, and he worked with the band frequently during his early years, until the family retired to Texas. There, in Beaumont, he continued to study, and in his ’teens he played with local orchestras and supplied them with an occasional original number. One of these numbers got recorded, Benny Goodman heard it, and sent for the young composer.

After a number of fruitful years with Goodman, James started his own orchestra, and found the going at first a little difficult. The swing era, like everything else at the time, was going into a recession, and he found, with the changing mood of the country, that audiences wanted to dance rather than listen: the clusters of avid youngsters around the bandstand grew smaller. So he brought out the smooth, warm ballad technique that is so uniquely his, and, with a group of hit records, found himself the leader of one of the most successful orchestras in the land. The formula was not only commercial -- his group is one of the very few big orchestras still in existence -- but musical, and it produced music that is still listened to on records and is sill very much a part of the musical scene.

In this collection, Harry James plays eight evergreen popular songs, each so familiar that it requires something extra to make it catch fire. That vibrant extra something is present throughout in some of James’ finest playing, singing through the arrangements clear, strong and sweet. From 1925’s Manhattan to 1946’s If I’m Lucky the trumpet is heard weaving in and out of the orchestra in fascinating patterns of sound, keyed to a mood of romance and relaxation. This is the sweet trumpet of Harry James -- the soft lights are at your command.

More Harl McDonald

This is the second time that the music of American composer Harl McDonald has appeared on this blog - and in fact this record contains a reissue of his Children's Symphony from an LP featured here earlier. 

I wasn't especially kind to it the first time around, calling it "not very good." The second time around I would call it inoffensive, which I guess is an improvement. 

Harl McDonald

So why did I return to his music? Two reasons: first, because I heard a recording of a speech by film composer David Raksin, who was a McDonald pupil and had a high opinion of him. Second, because to my cynical mind the second piece on this record, "Builders of America," sounded like an attempt to replicate the popular success of Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" by setting words by both Lincoln and Washington to stirring music - and I wanted to hear how it sounded. 

Claude Rains

Musically the piece is more distinctive that the kids' symphony, but as for the words . . . well, judge for yourself. Poet Edward Shenton has the chorus chant these words about Washington: "George was a grave man / a bold man / a brave man"; and Lincoln: "Abe was a long man / a sad man / a strong man." It's just silly. On the bright side, actor Claude Rains is just fine as the narrator.

"Builders of America" started out as a poem for the Saturday Evening Post. Shenton, primarly known as an illustrator, both wrote and provided artwork for that magazine, among others. 

Although "Builders of America" is listed as being by the Columbia Chamber Orchestra and Chorus, the instrumentalists are almost certainly from the Philadelphia Orchestra. The piece was recorded in the Academy of Music on a day in April 1953 when that orchestra also taped Prokofiev and Johann Strauss under Eugene Ormandy. The Children's Symphony is from March 1950. 

McDonald, who died in 1955 and is mostly forgotten today, had a knack for getting his works recorded, and not just by the Philadelphia Orchestra when he was its manager. He also shows up in the discographies of Stokowski and Koussevitsky.

The new 2020 download includes a remastered Children's Symphony and a new transfer of "Builders of America." It also contains reviews from The New York Times and High Fidelity. The sound is very good for its time.

Tammy and the Bachelor; Interlude

Back to our series of 50s soundtracks on 12-inch LPs. Here we have two Frank Skinner scores that haven't reappeared since the original issue in 1957 - odd, considering that the theme music from Tammy and the Bachelor was quite a big hit for Debbie Reynolds, who played the title character.

The Tammy theme and lyrics were actually the handiwork of the inescapable Livingston and Evans, not Skinner. As was noted by Carevaggio in a recent comment, Universal had a collaborative culture where several composers might contribute to the final product.

In that regard, Soundtrackcollector.com suggests that Henry Mancini was involved in the Interlude score, but there is no evidence of that on the record. Also no indication of who is playing the piano part.

I'm particularly fond of the cover of this LP; actually two covers, as sometimes happened with soundtrack albums of this vintage. A nice photo of the young Reynolds above. Below we have Rossano Brazzi looked ardent and June Allyson looking unconscious.

As a bonus, I've included the McGuire Sisters' hit recording of the Interlude theme.

Note (July 2025): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo. There also is a separate track devoted to Reynolds' singing of the Tammy theme.

LINK to ambient stereo remastering

Baxter Blue

Les Baxter is known these days as one of the high priests of exotica, but he also made many records in the closely related easy listening genre. Here are two EPs, Blue Tango and Blue Mirage, that present some of those early sides, along with the first recording of exotica's greatest hit, Quiet Village.

I am an easy mark for early-50s instrumentals, so April in Portugal, Ruby, and some of the other pieces here are big favorites. The harmonica player in Ruby is unidentified; I think it might be Leo Diamond, but that is just a guess.

Some of these songs feature a chorus; Baxter started out as a singer.

Capitol recycled a few of these recordings on later 12-inch LPs, some more than once.

Sooner or later I'll prepare a batch of Baxter's uncollected Capitol singles.

Frolicing with Flanagan

For the second in my series of post-war dance bands, I've chosen another college favorite, Ralph Flanagan. Here we have the Freshman-Sophomore Frolics, which was followed closely by another album called the Junior-Senior Prom.

These bands must have been fighting for campus gigs; the next in line in this series is Elliot Lawrence with a selection of college songs.

Flanagan's band was a Glenn Miller clone, with the Miller mannerisms down pat. It wasn't very original, to say the least, but I always enjoy the sound for some reason.

The vocalist on Smoke Dreams is Harry Prime, a pleasant singer devoid of personality or involvement. There is an interesting interview with Prime about his experiences with Flanagan here.

The Stars Are Singing (at Least Rosie Is)

The name of the movie was The Stars Are Singing, but the only star who sings on the 1953 soundtrack EP is Rosemary Clooney. The other stars - heldentenor Lauritz Melchior and teen canary Anna Maria Alberghetti - were otherwise occupied. Or, more likely, not under contract to Columbia, as was Rosie.

The film was an unlikely affair with Alberghetti as an illegal immigrant who wants to sing, Melchior as a kindly retired opera singer, and Don Wilson as Don Wilson. Clooney plays a pop singer who is a neighbor of Melchior.

This EP has her songs from the movie, three of which were written by the ever-present team of Livingston and Evans. The fourth tune is Come on-a My House, which was co-written by a Pulitzer Prize winner and the impresario of Alvin and the Chipmunks (William Saroyan and Ross Bagdasarian). It was, of course, a Mitch Miller production, featuring what must be one of the few recorded examples of boogie-woogie harpsichord, played by Stan Freeman.

Mewton-Wood in Tchaikovsky 1

Yet another late edition to our ongoing series devoted to the recordings of Noel Mewton-Wood, the wonderful Australian pianist who died very young.

This time out he does full justice to that warhorse of warhorses, the Tchaikovsky first concerto. Normally this is a work that makes my ears sag in anticipation, but I enjoyed preparing this version a great deal. Mewton-Wood's usual conductor, Walter Goehr, gets good playing from his anonymous players, and the sound isn't bad at all.

That said, the producers must have scoured the vinyl farms of the world in search of the noisiest substances to use for this pressing. The quiet opening of the second movement arose from a strange backwash of rustles, rattles, and even squeaks, which I have nearly eradicated in the latest remastering. Thankfully any remaining noise should not detract from a glorious performance.

But then I am a convert - judge for yourself!

LINK

Written on the Wind; Four Girls in Town

One more in our ongoing series of Hollywood soundtracks from the 1950s on 12-inch LPs. This one brings together several of the biggest names in film scoring.

The music for Written on the Wind seems to have been written by committee. The main theme, here in a pseudoemotive version by the Four Aces, is by Victor Young, with words from that lyric machine Sammy Cahn. The "background music," which presumably means everything else, is by Frank Skinner. Everything, that is, except for the Nacio Herb Brown standard Temptation, which gets inserted here and there.

The real attraction, at least for me, is the other side of the record, which contains a composition called Rhapsody for Four Girls in Town, based on Alex North's music for the movie. The sleeve gives an orchestration credit to the young composer Henry Mancini. Playing the piano is yet another notable, Andre Previn. The music has echoes of everything from Bernstein's West Side Story music to Copland and Gershwin, all in the characteristic Mancini sound of the period. Most enjoyable.

Short technical note: this record says it was processed with the RIAA curve. True on the first side, but not on the second. That side sounds shrill when you play it back that way. I have corrected for that anomaly - clever, eh?

REMASTERED VERSION

Jimmy Blythe

Returning to our series of the first reissues of early blues and jazz records, here is a Riverside LP of Chicago pianist Jimmy Blythe.

These records were made for the legendary Paramount label of Wisconsin in 1924, 1925, and 1928, a time when Blythe was active for the company, mostly as an accompanist. The sides here, in contrast, are primarily a showcase for Blythe's considerable solo skills.

The LP begins with 1924's Chicago Stomps (or Stomp, as it usually is given), which is reputedly the first recorded boogie-woogie tune, although elements of the style can be found in earlier records. These and the 1925 efforts sound to be acoustic recordings, with their limited frequency range. It's not until the final two items, made under the name of the Dixie Four in 1928 and electrically recorded, that you can fully hear Blythe's ringing tone. But even in the acoustic items, his rhythmic drive and vivid imagination are quite startling. This is compelling playing, full of the joy of living. Sadly, Blythe lived only a few more years after these sessions, dying in 1931 of meningitis. He was only 30.

Although this is a Riverside record, it was produced by the Bill Grauer-Orrin Keepnews team that did the "X" Records reissues that I have been presenting. The cover artist (Paul Bacon) is the same, as well. However, the Riverside item is pressed on red vinyl. I just love colored vinyl, although I am not sure why.

The LP sound was somewhat filtered, probably to lessen some of the noise of Paramount's poor quality shellac. I have opened out the sound, at the cost of bringing forward some of the grunge. I think it's worth it to hear a facsimile of what Blythe must have sounded like. Blythe also made many piano rolls, and I checked this record of Chicago Stomp(s) against a reissue of his piano roll of the same tune. The sound is much better on the latter, of course, but something is missing - even if it's only my emotional reaction to listening in on a great recording session some 85 years later.

REMASTERED VERSION - MARCH 2015

Dancing with Ralph Marterie

Here is the beginning of yet another new thread on this blog (how many do I have going? 30?), this one devoted to the post World War II dance bands.

You don't hear too much about these bands today, except for some of the jazz bands, leftovers from the big band heyday, and Miller-derived ensembles like Ray Anthony and Tex Beneke.

This post presents Ralph Marterie, who made many records over quite a few years, won polls such as the one touted on this cover, and yet has fallen into something very much like obscurity.

Too bad. He had a good ensemble that played a variety of music quite well - from ballads to post-Hampton big band r&b.

Marterie's band started off as a recording orchestra, then after gaining some notice, he formed a touring ensemble. This is a pattern that was also followed by Ralph Flanagan, who also will make an appearance in this series.

All these sides were recorded in 1952, according to the very helpful Mercury Records site.

The truth is, I am starting off this series with Marterie because of the very cool cover - what could be better than a disembodied cartoon face and a Down Beat magazine? Outstanding!