Paul Weston

The recent Matt Dennis post elicited some compliments for Paul Weston's arrangements, so I decided to bring forth one of his first LPs, called Music for Easy Listening.

Weston certainly didn't invent "easy listening" - records that are recognizably from that vague genre go way back. The numbers in this collection are far more varied in style than you would find in most albums of its type. Also, Weston, with his dance band background, generally establishes a firm pulse in his arrangements. It's not just swoop and swoon here. I wonder, though, how many albums had been called "easy listening" before this one came out.

This 1950 LP compiles Weston singles from the previous few years. Three items have soloists, identified on the original 78s but not on the album. They are pianist George Greeley in Swedish Rhapsody, Skitch Henderson at the keyboard in Full Moon and Empty Arms, and violinist Paul Nero with his composition The Hot Canary.

The latter is one of the most successful novelty instrumentals of all time - in my opinion - and this is the first version. The tune became so popular that at one time in 1951, Capitol had three versions on the market, all with Nero fiddling - this one, a vocal version and a Nero LP with a small instrumental group (which I may present here later on).

According to the label, Full Moon and Empty Arms was written by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman. If Sergei Rachmaninoff hadn't died a few years before this tune made its appearance, this might have finished him off. Considering that Rachmaninoff wrote the melody, Weston did the arrangement and there are no words, one wonders what Buddy and Ted contributed. Not even as much as Skitch, I'd say, who adds some pianistic curlicues that Rachmaninoff hadn't contemplated.

Weston these days is known best for being the husband of and arranger for Jo Stafford, but he had a very long and successful career on his own - and was the music director for Capitol when these sides were made. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of him where he didn't have the same grim look on his face. He bears something of an resemblance to actor Wally Cox (below). Looker or not, he made many fine records, and this LP provides a good sampling.

Juliette Gréco

About a year ago I posted the soundtrack from Bonjour Tristesse, with its title tune in a perfect, languid rendition by Juliette Gréco. At that time I said I would get out my Gréco records for a spin.

And so I did, producing this nice transfer of a 1957 LP, which I promptly forgot about. No time like now to bring it to light, I suppose.

Gréco's appeal is conveyed well in an article on the TCM web site; she has "an ability to convey a world weary quality mixed with a romantic fatalism"; also noting her influence on such singers as Leonard Cohen.

Gréco was called the "muse of the existentialists." (I have been called the "muse of the psychoanalysts," but that's another story.) Muse or not, there's no question that she was an important figure in postwar French pop music, collaborating with many writers and composers on a series of hit songs. This US LP collects a number of her earlier songs.

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.

NEW LINK

Jeri Southern Singles

Jeri Southern was something of a reluctant star - even a reluctant singer. She started as a pianist, and only began singing when her agent suggested it. She claimed that she didn't sing in her natural soprano, but in her speaking voice. After a little over a decade of being one of the most acclaimed vocal artists, she quit the business.

Despite Southern's diffidence, she has never lacked for admirers, and all of her LPs have been reissued.

Her first LP, a 10-incher, might have been a good candidate for this blog (and I do have it), but it was subsumed into the 12-inch LP Southern Hospitality, which has been reissued. The 1954 Billboard ad below, in which Southern congratulates Decca on its anniversary, makes reference to the title of the 10-inch LP - Warm, Intimate Songs in the Jeri Southern Style.

"Warm and intimate" does describe her style, but not fully. While her voice is warm, her approach can be inward, making the overall effect cool but intense. It's a fascinating effect, heard to full advantage in the song above, with one of Oscar Hammerstein's best lyrics. But it wasn't the extent of her range - one of her most popular records (also included here) was the title song for the film Fire Down Below, a bouncy calypso. (The soundtrack is here, FYI.) She also was not afraid to take on other singers' signature songs - this group of songs includes Billie Holiday's Don't Explain.

This post consists entirely of singles that Southern made for Decca that have not been reissued, as far as I can determine, since the 45s were released. This is the first of two posts I have planned of unreissued Southern singles. These eight titles date from 1955-57.

Ida Haendel in Brahms

Occasionally I draw attention to an under appreciated artist on this blog - most notably Noel Mewton-Wood. Here is a violinist I admire, Ida Haendel.

Of Polish origin, but for many years resident in England, Haendel had a long career, but made relatively few records. One of the finest is surely this commanding performance of the Brahms violin concerto, made for HMV in 1953. She is accompanied by the London Symphony, conducted by Sergiu Celibidache (who was making his final appearance on commercial recordings before he renounced them as being wrong, or something).

Ida Haendel and Sergiu Celibidache

The mono recording is quite good, providing that welcome you-are-there sensation - even if it is the sensation that you are there in an empty hall. [Note: this now has been remastered in ambient stereo and has excellent sound.]

Above is the cover from the HMV issue, although I have dubbed this from an RCA Bluebird LP of about the same vintage. The RCA has a generic cover, so I have not included it. Instead, I've included the four-page HMV insert to the February 1955 issue of Gramophone that includes an announcement of this recording (see the center spread below). Also part of the package is an August 1955 interview with the artist, containing many questionable details of her life as a child virtuoso (e.g., her father interrupting Joseph Szigeti while he was shaving to demand that he audition little Ida for tutelage - I think I saw something like that in a bad musical). Well, the facts may be fanciful, but the music making is spectacular. I hope you agree.

From the February 1955 Gramophone (click to enlarge)

On Your Toes

I recently came across this, the original edition of the 1952 Columbia studio recording of On Your Toes, the 1936 Rodgers-Hart musical.

This was one of a notable series of studio recordings of Broadway shows guided by Columbia's Goddard Lieberson. For many years this series was the only way to hear scores like On Your Toes, Babes in Arms and other shows. The Columbia edition of Pal Joey inspired a Broadway revival - and there was also a revival of this show soon after this LP appeared. (That production was recorded by Decca.)

Lieberson had a tendency to use the same singers in several of these recordings, most notably Mary Martin, but also Portia Nelson and Jack Cassidy, who are featured here. I admire both Nelson and Cassidy, but they weren't quite right for their roles. Possessors of perhaps the most prominent vibratos in New York, neither sounds especially youthful (even though they were). Nelson also has little sense of rhythm. That's important in this score, which after all is about dancers.

You can hear the difference in approach in the 1983 recording of the revival, where the timing of Christine Andreas and Lara Teeter is much more acute - helped no doubt by it being a recording of an actual cast.

Now that I am through caviling, let me assure you this recording is very enjoyable. The score is wonderfully varied, the lyrics are by turns witty and touching, and the crowning touch is the glorious ballet Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, with its remarkably beautiful slow music. The sound from Columbia's 30th Street Studio is very good, as well. And despite my carping above, it's always a pleasure to hear Portia Nelson and Jack Cassidy.

While the cover above is from the first issue, I have made the dub from the second issue, circa 1956, which had a different cover but used the same matrices for its pressings.

REMASTERED VERSION

Bobby Troup!

By request, some Bobby Troup - the first LP by the singer-pianist-composer-actor, the 10" version of "Bobby Troup!", from 1953.

Troup first came to notice as a songwriter, with Daddy as early as 1941, followed by Route 66, a big hit for Nat Cole. Later compositions included Girl Talk and The Girl Can't Help It. (Too bad Little Richard didn't do a whole album of Troup, eh?)

This album has three of Troup's own numbers - The Three Bears (offered here previously in two different Page Cavanaugh renditions), Hungry Man and Lemon Twist. The latter is set to a familiar bop riff that I can't quite place.

Within the limits of his style, Troup was an enjoyable performer. He never had much of a voice, but what he had he used stylishly, although on these early sides the style can veer into mannerism. He sounds remarkably like Bob Dorough - who, I should add, did not begin recording until three years later.

The West Coast style arrangements are by trombonist-saxophonist Bob Enevoldsen, who often worked with Troup. The other musicians are Newcomb Rath, Jack Dulong, Bill McDougal (ts), Don Davidson (bar), Howard Roberts (g), Harry Babasin (b), and Don Heath (d). (That info is courtesy of my friend Mel - thanks!)

Note: I've now expanded this post to include the four additional songs contained on the 12-inch version of this LP, plus three more sides never issued on LP. There is a new post here, and the link also is in the comments to this post.