One More from George Enescu

A very late addition to the series of recordings that George Enescu made of his own music - here he tackles his "Romanian Rhapsody No. 2" in a good recording from one of the Parisian orchestras, issued by Remington.

I almost didn't transfer this LP because it has a radial crack that makes the pressing look like it was hit by a ball peen hammer. But with some careful handling and digital refurbishing, it doesn't sound too bad.

The performance of Smetana's "The Moldau" on the other side - a spirited one - is from the so-called Austrian Symphony under George Singer. Michael Gray's website tells us this is the Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra. NOTE (December 2018): the Smetana is a new transfer that eliminates the sonic problems on the original.

The cover is by Alex Steinweiss, post-Columbia. (I used to have a hat like that, but mine had a red plume.)

Freddie Mitchell

As the giant green saxophone suggests, this Boogie Bash is a honkin' sax outing for Freddie Mitchell, with his band of New York musicians.

Although this collection appeared on the "X" label in about 1957, the recordings were made for Derby from 1949-52, when Mitchell was its music director.

Mitchell had a propensity to update old tunes in jump style, so here we have everything from Mendelssohn's wedding march, to jazz riffs like Till Tom Special, to Maurice Chevalier's Louise.

In addition to the 10 numbers on the LP, I've added six from 78s, including Freddie's take on Easter Parade (below) and his hit, Doby's Boogie. The latter was a tribute to Larry Doby, the first African American baseball player in the American League. For a tribute, it isn't much of a tune, seemingly completely improvised.

The LP contains two vocals that are attributed to Sarah Dean (although I wouldn't have guessed they are by the same vocalist).

This post is a follow-up to the Todd Rhodes material below. Like Rhodes, one of Mitchell's records was adopted by disk jockey Alan Freed for theme music. Freed used Rhodes' Blues for the Red Boy when he was in Cleveland, and Mitchell wrote Moon Dog Boogie for Freed.

Miguelito Valdés with Machito's Band

Here's a departure for this blog - at least I can't remember featuring any Latin music before, unless you consider Carlos Chávez compositions to be a form of Latin music (and I suppose they are).

As the cover indicates, Miguelito Valdés was a Cuban singer who made these records with Machito's great band. And while these might be Cuban rhythms, the records were made in New York, where Valdés lived from 1940 on.

The music, while quite good of its kind, is not nearly as explosive (or as primitive) as the cover would have you expect. Heck, Bim Bam Boom is a song from a Fred Astaire movie! (I do love the cover though.)

The fact that Valdés was performing a 1942 song on this 1949 record leads me to suspect that it is a compilation of singles that he made for Decca throughout the decade. They are most enjoyable, and fairly early examples of the craze for Latin music in the US - one that continues today.

Two David Allyn Singles

Several bloggers have been drawing attention to the work of the great singer David Allyn, and this is my small contribution to the effort.

Allyn, who I believe is still active, began as a band singer, with Jack Teagarden and the legendary Boyd Raeburn ensemble. Although he is renowned among vocal aficionados as a ballad singer (with a beautiful voice and infinite sensitivity), he has always been associated with jazz as well. These two records, from the early and middle years of his career, concentrate on ballads.

The later item is a non-LP single he made for Warner Bros. circa 1959. (He was spelling his name "Allen" rather than "Allyn" at the time.) Allen/Allyn co-wrote the A-side above with another Allen, the prolific comedian/musician Steve Allen. The B side is an obscurity called Here's the Way It Is.

The earlier single below is from about 1945, and features tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson (a Raeburn colleague) on Snowbound. Penthouse Serenade, which Allyn also recorded later in his career, is the flip side. Some of you may already have this single from Bill Reed's blog The People vs. Dr. Chilledair; but I did want to share it here because it is a favorite of mine.

LINK

At a Mennonite Revival Meeting

This record takes us inside a Mennonite tent revival meeting of the mid-1950s, with both music and a message from evangelist Myron Augsberger. The Mennonites are a group of Protestant denominations that believe in adult baptism and pacifism.

The stereotype of a revival meeting is one of overt emotionalism intended to evoke a commitment to God. This example could hardly be less like that stereotype. The familiar songs are sweetly presented and unaccompanied. The evangelist presents an almost intellectualized version of Christ's death. He does not make demands on, cajole, or warn his listeners about sin. His message is of faith and redemption. (He also speaks as rapidly as any preacher I have ever heard.)

Indeed the typical revival experience and the Mennonite culture were always somewhat at odds. As Theron Schlabach writes in a review of a book on this very movement (a movement called Christian Laymen's Tent Evangelism, headquarted in north central Ohio), revivalists have been criticized for "manipulating people in ways that have victimized children or the spiritually and psychologically insecure," but Myron Augsberger's approach was different. These recordings bear that out.

The LP was made sometime after Augsberger took over the movement in 1955 and before it changed its name to the Christian Laymen's Evangelistic Association in 1958. The movement itself continued until 1962. Augsberger, whom I believe is still alive, went on to become president of Virginia's Eastern Mennonite College, which he served for many years.

The sound on this record is fairly good; but the rustling and occasional peak distortion show that it was heavily used and clearly well-loved.

NEW LINK

Patrice Munsel as Melba

This is the 1953 soundtrack to a sanitized version of the life story of famous soprano Nellie Melba. True to form, Hollywood cast young singer Patrice Munsel, who was much better looking than Melba, and made her version of the diva into a sweet character, whereas the real thing was a pain in the larynx region.

Munsel did very well in the role, on the aural evidence. Her attractive soprano and forthright approach suited the familiar arias and songs nicely, and she was well accompanied by Covent Garden forces under Muir Mathieson and Warwick Braithwaite.

Patrice Munsel as a glamorized Nellie Melba

This 10-inch LP consists almost entirely of popular opera arias, from Gounod, Puccini, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi, salted with the usual chestnuts (now there's a mixed culinary metaphor): the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria," Mendelssohn's "On Wings of Song," and, be it ever so humble, "Home Sweet Home."

Munsel pushes Melba toast

What it does not include are the songs written for the film by Mischa Spoliansky and lyricist Norman Newell. This is an odd omission because RCA Victor recorded the two songs with Munsel and an orchestra conducted by Henri René, and issued them as a single. For this revised (2021) post, I've included these numbers, which although delightful are somewhat similar waltzes, via an HMV pressing. Completing the package is Victor Young's instrumental recording of the "Melba Waltz."

Melba was Munsel's only starring role in film, although she often appeared on American television, either as a talk show or musical variety guest, and occasionally as an actor in roles that generally involved singing. She had her own television show in 1957-58. One of her TV roles was in The Stingiest Man in Town, which has appeared here.

Munsel was in the Met company from 1943, when she was just 18, until 1958. She continued appearing in opera and eventually musical comedy until 1981. She died in 2006.

Back then, opera stars often appeared in ads. Above, Munsel endorses Old London brand Melba toast. Below, she does away with "fingertip monotony." And in common with many singers, she also appeared in cigarette ads.

The download includes more ephemera, including a Life magazine article on Melba.

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.

Two Sides of Juanita Hall

Juanita Hall is the third in our series featuring the original stars of South Pacific, following Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza.

This being a 10-inch record blog (or so it says above), my intent was to present only the recording depicted below, Juanita Hall and Choir in Stephen Foster Songs. But when I listened to it, I discovered that she appears on only one song - and I am not even positive that the singer is her. The style is very different from her other recordings. So I decided to also present the later 12-inch LP shown above, even though it has been reissued on CD.

Let's start with the older item first. As far as I can tell, these recordings were made for the old Varsity label in December 1939, and at least some of them were issued on 78s under the name of the Plantation Singers. As you might guess from the name of the group, the repertoire and the LP cover, these records are products of a very different time. They may make you cringe, but they are well done musically.

When the Foster songs were recorded, Hall was leading a Works Progress Administration choir, according to this biographical sketch. (The WPA was a Depression-era government effort that funded many arts programs.) She went on to develop a nighclub act, and then achieved a level of fame after being cast as Bloody Mary in South Pacific. At that time, record entrepreneur Joe Davis, who had taken over the Varsity catalogue, reissued the Foster songs on LP as being by Juanita Hall and Choir.

In the 1958 film version of South Pacific, Hall again appeared as Bloody Mary (although, strangely, her singing was dubbed by Muriel Smith). After the movie came out, Hall made a blues LP for Counterpoint, accompanied by a number of famous jazz musicians. The results are quite good, if a little studied. She is very much at home in the idiom - it's remarkable that she could be so accomplished in so many different styles.

Todd Rhodes Reappears

I wanted to post this ad along with the Todd Rhodes material last week, but I couldn't find it then. It promoted 1955 appearances by Rhodes and Sonny Stitt at the Loop Lounge, a downtown Cleveland jazz club.

Music will return soon - I've been out of town, and it's hard to carry a turntable on airplanes.

By the way, thanks to Lee Hartsfeld of Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else for touting this blog over at his place. Like me, Lee features a wildly eclectic assortment of tunes - and, as he says, you won't find them elsewhere.

Ezio Pinza Sings "Enchanted Melodies"

The second in our series of 10-inch LPs from the stars of the original production of South Pacific - this one featuring Ezio Pinza.

Pinza's big tune in the show was "Some Enchanted Evening," and Columbia makes reference to that in the LP's title without actually including the song. Instead this 1950 album resurrects some items that Pinza had recorded for Columbia at various times in the 1940s.

In truth, it makes an attractive if not enchanted program, and gives the singer ample opportunity to display all his best qualities.

The cover is by Alex Steinweiss, who thought that Pinza would look good with green skin and teeth.

Cyrano de Bergerac

José Ferrer could have made quite a career out of doing just this one role - Cyrano de Bergerac. He won a Tony Award on Broadway, followed by an Oscar for this filmed version in 1953. He also was nominated for an Emmy for a televised version.

This Capitol recording is primarily excerpts from the film, with linking narrative. There also is some incidental music by classical composer Paul Bowles.

This is in response to a request. I hope my friend filmpac doesn't mind that I appropriated his cover scans for this post!

R&B with Todd Rhodes

One of the first LPs ever presented here was an R&B album (by Steve Gibson), but I've neglected the genre since then. The reason is largely that 10-inch R&B LPs are scare (and very expensive). So I've decided to break out 12-inch LPs from a few of the R&B bands that were so popular after the war. These LPs in themselves can be rare and pricy - this original King issue by Detroit pianist and bandleader Todd Rhodes has auctioned as high as $900.

The LP collects singles Rhodes made for Vitacoustic, Sensation, and King from about 1949-53. Rhodes' basic style was post-Hampton riff blues, but he varied that with pretty ballads reminiscent of the kind of thing that Johnny Hodges did with Duke Eillington. It's a good band, although its tuning can be adventurous.

Rhodes also had vocalists, including the young LaVern Baker, but only Connee Allen is featured here, with an opus called Rocket 69. Double-entendre records were quite popular on the R&B charts back then.

The sound here is pretty good, although whoever did the LP transfer for King slapped on a bit of reverb.

I'll be back later on with Freddie Mitchell's band and perhaps some others.

Cash Box ad, November 1947

Mary Martin Sings for You

I recently saw the outstanding revival of South Pacific at New York's Lincoln Center. As a tribute to the original cast, I'm preparing posts featuring 10-inch LPs from the show's leads, Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, and Juanita Hall.

Here is the first one, Mary Martin Sings for You, which was recorded while South Pacific was in rehearsals in February 1949. The dated sounding arrangements are by Broadway orchestrator Ben Ludlow.

This is quite a good record in better sound that Columbia usually offered. The cover is by Alex Steinweiss.

The first Mary Martin record featured here was quite popular, and I suspect this one will be as well.

NEW LINK (remastered)