Ella Logan

Ella Logan will be forever associated with Finian's Rainbow, having introduced "How Are Things in Glocca Morra" on Broadway in 1947. Logan also recorded most of the songs from that Burton Lane - E.Y. Harburg score in 1954, for this Capitol LP.

Ella Logan and David Wayne

The Glasgow-born Logan was a veteran singer when she came to Broadway. She made her debut in 1930 in London, and was a club singer in the US, even appearing in several films and shows before hitting it big in Finian's Rainbow.

When this Capitol recording session was taking place, Logan was planning to be involved in an animated version of the show, along with such luminaries as Frank Sinatra. That version was never completed (although the songs were recorded), but this, apparently unrelated LP still came out in 1955.

Logan was a very self-assured, but mannered singer. If you like her vocals on the original cast LP, you will be sure to enjoy this album, which is in a similar style. The fussy arrangements are by George Greeley. The sound is excellent.

Chistmas Chimes

Church of St. Mary Magdalene

A final post before the holiday - familiar carols played on the chimes with organ and brass. The percussionist here is a famous one - at least as famous as an orchestral timpanist can get. He is James Blades, who recorded the "V for victory" tattoo heard on English broadcasts during World War II. (It was the letter V in Morse code, three dots and a dash, corresponding to the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.)

Blades takes to the chimes on this recording, made in London's Church of St. Mary Magdalene in  1952. I don't think chimes work that well with other instruments, so I can't pretend this gave me much pleasure, but I know others will disagree. Despite the self-praise for the sound on the back of the LP, it really is just adequate, even for that long-ago time.

Blades lived a very long time, to age 97, and must be the only timpanist to write an autobiography - which I read many years ago.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Carols by the Bach Choir

The Bach Choir is a large amateur ensemble that has been performing in London since 1875. Reginald Jacques was its conductor for 32 years.

Reginald Jacques

This present disk is one of its first recordings. The entirely conventional program of carols was inscribed in June 1950. The location was London's Kingsway Hall, a famous but now demolished venue for choral and orchestral recordings. Many great sounds were captured there; unfortunately this is not one of them. While the performances are perfectly fine, the sound is frustratingly opaque. Enjoyable enough, but not what it ought to be.

The impressively named Osborne Peasgood, sub-organist at Westminster Abbey at the time, handles the accompaniment.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois

Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois (the Little Singers of the Wooden Cross, also known as the Little Singers of Paris) were formed in 1907 by Paul Berthier. They were led for nearly 40 years by Mgr. Fernand Maillet, who directs the proceedings on this record of Christmas songs from France and other lands.

Mgr. Maillet

The cover photo above is a still from a film called Moineaux de Paris, in which the choir appeared. There is a clip from the movie on YouTube, in which the choir sings for a minute and a half and Mgr. Maillet speaks for four. I can't believe this was considered fascinating film making, even in 1952, but the good curé apparently liked to talk: he introduces all the songs on this record. I have banded his intros separately.

Even though the cover still is from 1952, this LP didn't come out until 1960. It was recorded in November of that year, possibly in the suitably resonant Salle Wagram, where the choir made other records.

The Christmas Music Box

Cook Records was a quirky label of the 1950s and 60s that was known for good sound and esoteric repertoire. If I think about the Cook releases in my own collection, I can come up with recordings of steam locomotives and steel bands - and this collection of the sounds of antique music boxes.

Emory Cook

Emory Cook was also a very early experimenter with stereophonic sound, even to the extent of inventing his own "binaural" system with two grooves on the same record. (He is demonstrating the binaural system in the photo.)

Regina music box

The record at hand is not a binaural LP. It is an atmospheric mono recording of music boxes in the collection of George and Madeleine Brown. True to his code, Cook did not edit out the mechanical noises of these devices, and the clacking and clunking is a little distracting for those of us listening at home and not watching these machines in action. But the tunes are nonetheless charming - even though some of them have little to do with Christmas ("Stabat Mater"??).

On the back of the record, there is a key to what music boxes you are hearing, but the descriptions are inexact and there are no photos. So while I have included photos of several of these boxes in the download, I am not certain that these are the exact models you are hearing. But least it will give you an idea.

The Sportsmen Carol at Christmas

Capitol records put out this Christmas album in 1949, at the same time it issued the Jimmy Wakely set posted a few days ago.

These were among its first LPs, and they were brief, with their six songs replicating the three-record 78 and 45 albums that came out at the same time.

Here we have an entirely conventional program of Christmas material. The album is titled "Carols at Christmas," but this is only loosely the case. While carols do not have to be religious, "Wassail" is a drinking song that doesn't fit well with the stained glass on the cover.

The Sportsmen would have been very familiar to any American within earshot of a radio in 1949. They were a mainstay of Jack Benny's popular program, and appeared on several other shows as well. Their specialty on Benny's show was popping up in unlikely places to sing about the merits of sponsor Lucky Strike cigarettes, often to the star's disgust. This kind of loony vernacular surrealism was one of the main sources of humor on Benny's program. You can hear how it works in a Christmas audio clip included in the download. In this scenario, Jack is Christmas shopping in a department store, and the Sportsmen are elevator operators who sing about the wonders to be found on every floor (including plugs for Lucky Strikes) while ignoring Benny's loud demands to be let off on the mezzanine.

On the Capitol record, the Sportsmen are accompanied by organ. As with the Jimmy Wakely record, this is probably played by Buddy Cole, who was recording Christmas music on organ for Capitol at the same time. The other connection with the Wakely LP is that Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith of the Mellomen (who accompany the cowboy singer) were former members of the Sportsmen.

A Mennonite Christmas

The Mennonite Hour was on radio in the US for many years, starting in 1951, and was at its zenith when this recording was made circa the late 1950s.

The program was primarily music, and as was the practice at that time, it was entirely choral - no instruments.

In this 10-inch record of Christmas hymns, we hear male, female and mixed ensembles. The familiar material generally comes off well, although the more difficult music makes the men in particular uncomfortable.

The music is directed by J. Mark Stauffer, who also was responsible for the music on my previous post of a Mennonite revival meeting. The sound is reasonably good.

Christmas with Jimmy Wakely

In 1949, singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely was still churning out features for Monogram - five that year alone. And he was popular on the music charts as well - his biggest hit was the Floyd Tillman song "Slippin' Around," which Wakely cut with Margaret Whiting.

1949 lobby card

Later in the year, Capitol had Wakely in the studio to record a set of familiar Christmas songs, issued in time for the holidays in three-record 78 and 45 sets and this 10-inch LP.

The "male quartette" promised on the cover is the Mellotones, best known for including the cult bass Thurl Ravenscroft. The record also includes a few brief (and surprisingly effective) recitations by child actor Anne Whitfield. Five years later she played the General's daughter in that holiday film staple, White Christmas.

Anne Whitfield

Wakely is accompanied by Hammond organ, steel guitar and guitar. The organist is probably Buddy Cole, who did a solo Christmas album for Capitol that same year. The steel guitar could possibly be Speedy West, who was beginning to do sessions for the record company at about the same time.

Wakely was a fine singer; in his easygoing manner he was kind of a country Como. This is an exceptionally pleasant (if brief) album in good sound.

Wakely would go on to have his biggest Christmas hit in 1950 with "Silver Bells", done with his frequent partner Margaret Whiting, although they split the market with the Bing Crosby-Carol Richards version.

Several years ago I posted Wakely's later Christmas LP, which he issued on his own Shasta label. A link to a reup is in the comments.

Greetings from Sweden

I am kicking off the annual Christmas sharing season with this record of music from Sweden, chosen and originally purchased because I like the cover. Can't figure out, though, why the sleigh is shooting flames out the back. That can't be safe.

Egon Kjerrman

In truth, it's really only half a Christmas record. But since all the music is completely unfamiliar, at least to me, that doesn't matter much, particularly because it's all attractive - again, at least to me.

The record is from 1954, and the Christmas items feature Egon Kjerrman and his orchestra. Kjerrman was then with the Swedish radio. He accompanies three different groups and a soprano.

The second side has five traditional Swedish dances with the orchestras of Valle Söderlund and Kalle Nilo.

Good sound and pleasant listening for the holiday season.

Johnny Green, Kay Thompson and Ralph Blane

In 1944, composer-pianist-bandleader Johnny Green, vocalist-arranger Kay Thompson and composer-vocalist Ralph Blane were all among the great array of talent that had been assembled to make musicals at M-G-M.

All had achieved a measure of fame before going to Hollywood; the relative anonymity of the studio would chafe on Green and Thompson, who had been headliners; perhaps less so on Blane, who was content to sing in ensembles with Thompson's singers even as he was co-composing (with Hugh Martin) the songs for Meet Me in St. Louis, one of the greatest musicals ever.

Kay Thompson

The three were friendly, and when Green was commissioned in 1944 to produce an album of his own songs by Decca, he called on the others to help. The resulting eight-song set includes three vocals by Thompson and her group (which almost certainly includes Blane), two by Blane, an excellent singer, two by the obscure Barbara Ames, and one instrumental featuring Green's piano.

Ames, who appeared in a few movies as a singer - although not at M-G-M - actually is not a bad singer at all. Blane is particularly persuasive in "I'm Yours," although "Out of Nowhere," a tough melody to sing, isn't his finest moment. And Thompson's outings are a delight, particularly "The Steam Is on the Beam". Green wrote that song for a short-lived Broadway musical in 1942. This version was in effect a demo for a version of the song filmed for (but not used in) Ziegfeld Follies.

Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin

The cover notes say that the musicians on the date were from Hollywood studios. It seems likely that they were from the M-G-M orchestra. No arranger credits are given, but the orchestrations are very reminiscent of those heard in M-G-M musicals of the time, and I like to imagine that people like Conrad Salinger and Wally Heglin may have been involved.

Although these songs were projected as an album from the start, they actually did not appear in assembled form until September 1947, although most of the items had been issued as singles by then. This transfer is from the 10-inch LP issued in 1950.

Note (June 2024): The August and September 1944 sessions in Los Angeles actually yielded 10 songs - the eight on the LP and two other Green compositions, "Serenade to a New Baby" and "Hello, My Lover, Goodbye." I've now included the latter two in the download, transferred from a Decca single. All songs have been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK to remastered version

Alexander Young in Peter Warlock Songs

I wrote in early 2009 about Alexander Young's recording of Vaughan Williams' settings of poems from Housman's "A Shropshire Lad". I mentioned that work's influence on Peter Warlock's 1920-22 setting of works by William Butler Yeats, "The Curlew". Today we have Young's recording of that setting, together with a fine selection of other songs by the same composer.

As in the previous record, Young is accompanied by the Sebastian String Quartet and pianist Gordon Watson. Lionel Solomon (flute) and Peter Graeme (English horn) are heard on "The Curlew." As before, the recordings originate with Argo and are from slightly later American Westminster pressings.

Alexander Young

Peter Warlock, a pseudonym for Philip Heseltine, mainly wrote songs during his short life, which ended in what is most likely suicide at age 36. He is lightly regarded as a composer - possibly because he was a miniaturist, but his songs are of a very high standard. "The Curlew" cycle is his masterpiece, his music fitting extraordinary well to Yeats' bleak poetry. ("No boughs have withered because of the wintry wind; the boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams.") But the composer responds just as strongly to joyful verse such as the Shakespeare setting "Pretty Ring Time." This dual aspect of Heseltine's work is sometimes thought to express the dual Heseltine/Warlock identity.

Young is the right artist for this work; he encompasses all its facets beautifully, and the other musicians also are excellent. As is standard for Argo recordings of this vintage (1953), the voice is backwardly balanced.

The Argo cover is above; scans of the inappropriate Westminster cover (of Big Ben!) and texts are included in the download.

I have Young's recording of Roger Quilter songs somewhere and will transfer it when I find it.

LINK to June 2025 remastering in ambient stereo

Ninth Batch of Reups

When lots of people ask for reuploads, that usually coincides with periods when I don't have much time to comply. This by way of explanation of why it takes me so long to follow through.

But the time has come, and so here are tonight's gems, and there are quite a lot of them. The links below go to the original post, where you can find some background and a new download link. All the new download links can also be found in the comments to this post.

American Music for String Orchestra

An early Howard Hanson record of music by Thomas Canning (a gorgeous gloss on Vaughan Williams), Louis Mennini and Arthur Foote. Remastered. Apple lossless. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Stravinsky - Mass

Stravinsky's own first recording of his Mass. Remastered. Apple lossless. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Ferrante and Teicher - Xmas Hi-Fivories

This is a remaster of my second recording of this, the most popular item I have ever offered here - an icon of the incredibly strange music crowd. I didn't like it much the first two times. It's beginning to win me over. Apple lossless. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

The Charioteers - Sweet and Low

Columbia recordings from the 40s by the Billy Williams-led gospel-pop group. Available in mp3 only. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Frank Sinatra - Perfectly Frank Radio Shows

Laboriously cleaned up from two awful bootlegs, these include songs from his early 50s radio program. Apple lossless. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST 1 | LINK TO ORIGINAL POST 2

Britten - Simple Symphony

Nice recording of music from Britten's youth, conducted by Goossens, with notes by the composer. Available in mp3 only. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Gordon Jenkins - Time to Dance

Early Capitol recordings from the composer-arranger, with Martha Tilton, Connie Haines and the great but forgotten Bob Carroll. Remastered, Apple lossless. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Harl McDonald and Max Brand

Music from the American composer Harl McDonald and the Austrian-American Max Brand (not the Western novelist!), from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Available in mp3 only. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Polly Bergen - Little Girl Blue

An early LP from the singer-actor-capitalist. Available in mp3 only. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Omar Khayyam; The Mountain

Film scores from Victor Young and Daniele Ampitheatrof. Available in mp3 only. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Morton Gould - Christmas Music for Orchestra

Two suites from the great American composer of orchestral and pop music. Available in mp3 only. LINK TO ORIGINAL POST

Hugh Martin, Alec Wilder and Grandma Moses

In the aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II, there was a profound hunger for peace, normality and simple, homespun virtues in the US. In this environment, the naive, idealized, country paintings of octogenarian Anna Mary Robertson Moses became very popular.

Grandma Moses, as she became known, was "discovered" by an art collector who saw her work in a small town drug store window (or so the story goes). This was in 1938, and in only a few years Moses' paintings had become quite well known and began to be used for commercial purposes. (One obvious use was Christmas cards - see the 1948 Hallmark ad below.)

"Country Fair" - 1950

It didn't hurt that Moses was a good looking woman who was the very image of the idealized Grandma; nor that she was highly quotable. (It's hard to say at this remove whether she was truly a font of bon mots, or if reporters embellished to make a better story.)

Anna Mary Robertson Moses

As for her art, it displays a kind of rural transcendentalism, with the perspective usually that of an observer in a low-flying blimp. Not that I am against this kind of thing - it is undoubtedly charming and evocative, and I have to admit that there is a pretty good example of the genre in my basement.

Alec Wilder and Hugh Martin

"Charming and evocative" is also a apt description of the music on this disc, which dates from 1951. It contains music from a film documentary on Moses, composed by Hugh Martin, better known for Broadway and Hollywood musicals such as Best Foot Forward, Meet Me in St. Louis and Athena. Martin was primarily a vocal arranger, so he called on fellow composer Alec Wilder to "develop and orchestrate" his tunes. The result is firmly in the Americana genre - one I find irresistible. It's a nice tribute to two of my favorite composers. Daniel Saidenberg conducts; there are vocals by the excellent studio singer Sally Sweetland.

[Note (June 2023): These recordings have now been remastered in atmospheric ambient stereo.]

Completing the RCA "Show Time" Series

I have been shamefully neglectful of this blog lately, but will be doing my best to make amends.

When I have had little to offer in the past, my friends have bailed me out, and this is yet another time when that is the case. So Parchisi and MusicalGuy38 are the heroes of this particular post. Together they are helping us complete the run of recordings in RCA's "Show Time" Series of 1953, with that label's potted versions of one big hit (Show Boat), one lesser although worthy musical (The Cat and the Fiddle), both from Jerome Kern, and, of all things, one of Victor Herbert's lesser operettas, Mlle. Modiste.

We'll discuss these in order of popularity, and few musicals have been more popular than Show Boat (or Showboat as it is sometimes spelled). A few words about the singers who have not previously appeared here. William C. Smith was Joe in the 1948 revival of this show, and appeared in several other shows in the 1940s. (I couldn't find a photo of him.) John Tyers duets with (and was married to) Helena Bliss. He had been in Arms and the Girl and was to be seen in a revival of Die Fledermaus in 1954. Completing this excellent cast is the always superb Carol Bruce.

MusicalGuy38 insists that Show Boat was mastered a half-step sharp, and now that I have listened I have no doubt he is correct. So there are two versions of this file in the download - a lossless, restored version at the original pitch, from Parchisi as remastered by me, and a speed-adjusted mp3 version from MusicalGuy38.

Stephen Douglass

Patricia Neway

The Cat and the Fiddle features two fine but neglected artists of the time - Stephen Douglass and Patricia Neway. Douglass had been in Make a Wish and was to be in The Golden Apple in 1954. He was yet to experience his greatest role - Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees.

Edward Roecker

The excellent contralto Patricia Neway mostly appeared in opera, with many appearances in contemporary works, notably in Menotti's The Consul. She later won a Tony as the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music.

Mlle. Modiste comes from 1905, and features Doretta Morrow and Felix Knight, who have appeared here before, as well as the relatively obscure Edward Roecker, who appeared in operetta and on radio.

Thanks again to MusicalGuy38 and Parchisi for their contributions, which have helped me complete the collection of this series that documents some of the notable talents on Broadway at mid-century.

Another in RCA's "Show Time" Series

The latest installment in our slow-motion examination of RCA's "Show Time" series from 1953 is notable for documenting that year's revival of Porgy and Bess - but I particularly enjoyed the songs from Girl Crazy on the other side of the record.

Leslie Scott

This recording presents Cab Calloway, Leslie Scott and Helen Thigpen from the Broadway Porgy. Calloway is Sportin' Life, as he was in the 1953 production. Scott is Porgy, and he was one of the Porgys on Broadway. Thigpen is Bess, although she was Serena in the stage play.

Helen Thigpen with William Warfield

Calloway is vivid in this role, but as usual remarkable in the wrong way. Scott is a vulnerable Porgy, lighter voiced than such singers as Paul Robeson or even William Warfield. Thigpen is a shrill Bess. Jay Blackton conducts here; the music director for the stage was Alexander Smallens.

The LP was in effect a Gershwin double-feature, with songs from Girl Crazy on the other side.

Edie Adams and Rosalind Russell

Edith (Edie) Adams, a talented singer-comic actor, is delightful in "Embraceable You," complete with verse. She was in Wonderful Town with Rosalind Russell at the time of this recording. Also terrific are two then luminaries of Broadway, whom we have seen before in this series. Lisa Kirk does "But Not for Me" and Helen Gallagher "I Got Rhythm". Their previous appearances in the RCA series can be found here. Milton Rosenstock conducts.

RCA didn't bother much with documentation on these records. There is no identification of who sings what. "Bidin' My Time" is sung by a completely anonymous male quartet to close out the record. It's strange that the company was so off hand about such a well-produced, enjoyable series that shows what great talent there was on Broadway at the time.

Inghelbrecht Conducts Fauré

There has been quite a selection of recordings by the French conductor Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht appearing on the classical newsgroups lately, so I thought I would do my part by transferring this recording of Fauré's surpassingly beautiful Requiem, which I had at hand.

Inghelbrecht, who died in 1965, had little reputation outside France, although his recordings did circulate in other countries - I have several of them on US labels. This recording of the Fauré Requiem and other choral works by that composer comes from 1955, when the conductor was 75.

D. E. Inghelbrecht

It is not entirely a success, in truth, both as a performance and as a recording. I have not been able to track down where the recording of the Requiem was made, but it sounds like a church - a church with  truck idling outside the windows. The balances can be awry as well - the first entrance of the male voices sounds like they are outside the church and down the block (perhaps they were looking for the idling truck making all the racket).

Inghelbrecht was a dry-eyed conductor, and he did not let the emotional temperature get too high in this performance. The rendition of "Pie Jesu" is much too fast, whether at the choice of the soloist or conductor. (Or maybe the idling engine was their waiting car?)

The other pieces are better done, seemingly in a different location, and the Madrigal and Pavane (with its optional choral part intact) have not been reissued, as far as I can tell.

Although the Requiem is attributed to the Champs-Élysées orchestra, I believe that is a pseudonym, and the actual musicians are from the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.

The Honey Dreamers

The Honey Dreamers are all but unknown today, but they had some renown back in the 1950s. I enjoy their sound and have quite a number of their records. Here is their Gershwin LP, presented by request.

The Honey Dreamers were founded in 1946 by Keith Textor, but by the time this record was made in 1955, he had moved on and the group was led by Bob Davis, whom I believe to be the chap in the glasses and Hawaiian shirt on the cover above. In this group, the lead female voice is Nan Green, the blonde in the center of the photo. (She had replaced Patty McGovern, perhaps the best known singer to have appeared in the group.) Also on the cover to Green's left are Marion Bye, Bob Mitchell and Jerry Packer. That appears to be bandleader Elliot Lawrence snuggling up to Bob Davis.

Bob Davis, Nan Green, Marion Bye, Bob Mitchell and Jerry Packer

As the liner notes say, on this record, the group makes an attempt to take on instrumental lines in their singing. That's an idea that goes back as least as far as the Mills Bros. in the 30s, but in doing so the Honey Dreamers predate such better known groups as Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, although their soft-centered attack is in no way reminiscent of LH&R. While they had jazz leanings, the Honey Dreamers were decidedly a pop group.

Hope you enjoy this; I intend to present more of their records in the future. Good sound on this one. [Note (July 2023): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo. The sound is vivid.]

Dardanelle

The post was occasioned by the coincidence of my coming across the LP while unpacking some records on the same day that Mark Cantor posted a rare Soundie of the artist on his superb YouTube channel.

Dardanelle (full name Dardanelle Breckenridge) was a pianist-vibist-singer who had a peculiar career. The Soundie captures her near the beginning of her career, in 1946, and this LP was issued in 1950, just before she closed its first phase by retiring from night clubs and recording for the better part of three decades. She emerged just as strong in the late 70s and made several albums.

Dardanelle was a very talented artist, as you will discover on this LP, with a beautiful sound and bountiful imagination. This record was issued in Columbia's "Piano Moods" series, which was notable only by virtue of the fact that there is no pause between selections, for whatever reason. The label also had a similar band series.

Dardanelle in 1946

The songs are all standards, with the possible exception of Margarita Lecuona's "Tabu", which did later become a mainstay for tiki bands everywhere.

I offer this LP with the caveat that its condition was rough. While it cleaned up fairly well and the sound is good, there is some distortion on the piano's loudest notes. UPDATE: My latest remastering has cured the sonic ills afflicting this transfer.

I think one of my friends asked me about this LP a number of years ago. Sorry it took so long to come up with it!

Vic Damone - Ebb Tide

This is certainly one of the more understated covers you will find from the early 50s. I imagine that Mercury's art department thought they were being tasteful in using this painting, although I'm not sure what barren rocks have to do with the romantic title song, in which the waves "plant a kiss on the shore". What shore?

Billboard ad

"Ebb Tide" was a hit for Damone in late 1953, although it was a bigger hit in Frank Chacksfield's instrumental version. The transfer on this LP sounds sharp to me. I don't know whether the single was cut at the same speed (don't have a copy at hand), but I have included a alternate version of the song, which I took down a half step. This sounds more natural - in the higher version he sounds very much like early Sinatra. The arrangement is by Mercury stalwart Richard Hayman.

The LP also includes two other vocal versions of songs better known as instrumentals, the theme from Limelight, here called "Eternally", and  "April in Portugal". These are also from 1953. Some of the other recordings may be earlier, such as "Four Winds and the Seven Seas," a 1949 hit.

The post itself was inspired by my recent remastering of an earlier Vic Damone entry, which I enjoyed so much that I decided to pull another of his early Mercurys down from the shelves. The sound is good.