George 'The Fox' Williams in Hi-Fi

It's about time for Christmas music shares, but before I start down that path, I thought I might feature one of the most repulsive covers of the 1950s, or any other decade.

Someone at Decca Records (and it my have been Alex Steinweiss) decided it was a great idea to honor bandleader George "The Fox" Williams by dressing up someone in a ratty fox costume, giving him a baton, putting the results on the cover, and expecting it to sell records.

You have to spend a few moments examining the magnificence of this misguided art direction - the evil eyes, the leering mouth and the mangy fur, accented by a scarf and matching gloves, all topped off by a pair of earphones.

Fortunately, the music is good! Like Buddy Morrow, Williams decided the way to the charts might lie in adopting the R&B style. Unlike Morrow, he wrote his own material, although it is mostly simple riff tunes. Performing the results are several groups of superb New York studio musicians, with one constant being the authentic R&B tenor sax of Sam "The Man" Taylor. I particularly like the way the arranger uses bass sax in the textures.

There is one vocal among the instrumentals, delivered by Belfast-born Cathy Ryan in a convincingly bluesy style. Ryan had made records with Art Mooney and Lucky Millinder, and went on to make several sides as a single for M-G-M, Cardinal and King.

The 12 items here were originally issued as Coral singles from early 1954 through 1955. The sound is excellent. For more on Williams, see the earlier posts here.