Herb Jeffries on Exclusive

Former Ellingtonian and "bronze buckaroo" Herb Jeffries, one of the great ballad singers, died a few days ago. He has been featured here a number of times, most recently as a 100th birthday tribute, and now this post must be a memorial.

What you see above is the cover of a circa 1950 Mercury 10-inch LP, but the contents were recorded in the 1946-48 time frame for the Los Angeles label Exclusive and released as singles. Mercury acquired the Jeffries sides following Exclusive's 1949 collapse.

The discography I consulted insists  these all were recorded in 1946, but I believe "Just Naive," done a capella with the Celebrities vocal group, probably dates from the musicians' union recording strike of 1948. (As a bonus, I've included the flip side of the 78 issue of "Just Naive" - a cover of "Nature Boy" - in the download.)

The backing on most other items is by Buddy Baker, an arranger and radio maestro who later worked for Disney.

Jeffries is in superb voice for these records, and the sound is very good, except for one cut, which Mercury must have dubbed from a noisy pressing.

I also will be adding a Jeffries V-Disc to Buster's Swinging Singles today.

Mitropoulos Conducts Schönberg and Křenek

Continuing our exploration of Dimitri Mitropoulos' recordings, we encounter Arnold Schönberg's expressionist Erwartung from 1909 and Ernst Křenek's Symphonic Elegy (In Memory of Anton von Webern), which dates from 1946.

You might expect that these works would have appealed to the modernist Mitropoulos, but his biographer William Trotter claims that the Schoenberg was the source of a crisis of confidence for the composer.

"I am wondering sometimes if this kind of distorted and screwy beauty is of any transcendental value," Mitropoulos wrote to his great friend Katy Katsoyanis. She sensibly replied, "It's very natural, when you are battling desperately with one of these problematic creations, to question whether they are worth all that effort; your mission, however, is to play them, solving their problems, explaining them to the audience."

Dimitri Mitropoulos: a famed, if conflicted interpreter of the Second Viennese School

At this, the conductor was a master; he and the New Yorkers make Schönberg sound as effortless as Schubert. The concerts leading up to this recording were praised by the critics, and even the audience was pleased. You can hear why in this taping from November 19, 1951, from Columbia's 30th Street Studio. Dorothy Dow is fully in command of the ungrateful part of the protagonist in this overwrought monodrama from the pen of Marie Pappenheim.

Dorothy Dow

The critic C.J. Luten wrote, "Erwartung is shocking, violent, and more than a little morbid. It concerns a mature woman, who, upon taking a midnight stroll through the forest, runs into the dead body of her lover. The words of the play are the thoughts which occur to the protagonist throughout the 25-minute course of action."

Actually, Pappenheim and Schönberg were of two minds about the composition. Schönberg did suggest it, but he claims he gave the outline to the author; she says he did not. In the event, the composer thought of the work as expressing a heightened emotional state consistent with the scenario. Pappenheim, perhaps with an assist from later scholars, seemed to believe it had to do with a woman whose mental state was already in turmoil from her place in Viennese society, and "whose tortured emotions are symptoms of an illness she could have avoided by taking possession of her emotional life." (See Bryan Simms' article "Whose Idea was Erwartung?" for more.)

The 1909 work is a prime example of Expressionism, and has been likened both to the Expressionist writers of the era, and to such painters as Kokoschka, Kandinsky and the Der blaue Reiter circle. The composer himself was a talented artist who exhibited his works at the time.

Chaim Soutine - Mad Woman (1920), Schoenberg - Blaues Selbstportrait (1910)

Musically, Erwartung looks both back and forward. Writing in The Saturday Review, composer Arthur Berger noted, "Erwartung stems from an intermediate period separating Schönberg's frankly post-Wagnerian stage from his ultimate crystallization of twelve-tone technique. The Tristanesque contours evocative of love-death and frustration had not yet been subjected to the compression and abstraction that makes them, in his later music, barely recognizable as such... 

Arnold Schoenberg

"Instrumental colors are conceived with utmost imagination and aural sensitivity, and do much to establish the eerie atmosphere. But they almost never overpower the singer. The vocal line constantly inflects the word, its sound and feeling, and the background is a judicious commentary of chamber music."

And of course, Schoenberg was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. C. J. Luten observed, "Those who admire Alban Berg's powerful Wozzeck, and who do not know Erwartung, will have quite a surprise when they hear this recording. They will find, I think, a remarkable similarity in style, expression, and especially in harmony and instrumentation." Berg was one of the three principal figures of the Second Viennese School, along with Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and his Wozzeck and Lulu are the most noted Expressionist operas.

Ernst Křenek

The companion work on this LP is impressive as well. Mitropoulos had become acquainted with Křenek when the conductor was in Minneapolis and the composer was on the faculty of Hamline University in adjacent St. Paul, and consistently championed Křenek's works. 

During his career, the composer wrote in many styles, but Alfred Frankenstein observed that the Elegy "is a legitimate son of Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht. It is a work for string orchestra of great character and expressive resonance." The recording dates from April 21, 1951, also from the 30th Street Studios.

The sound on both sides is excellent, and has now been remastered in ambient stereo (September 2023). The download newly includes many reviews, notes on Schönberg and his music by Robert Craft, and the text and an English translation of Erwartung.

The J's with Jamie Sing and Sell

Not long ago, a reader asked me to reup a Nelson Riddle promotional record made for the Schlitz Brewing Company in the late 1950s. That contained the Schlitz ad, "The Real Joy of Good Living," as sung by Jamie Silvia of the group the J's with Jamie. (You can read more about the record on the original post.)

After working on that reup, I decided to pull out my collection of J's with Jamie records. The group was along the most successful specialists in commercial work of the day, for good reason - they were superb. Comprising Jamie and Joe Silvia, Don Shelton (or Marshall Gill) and Len Dresslar, the group recorded hundreds of ads, and several LPs.

This present album presents their "two sides" - one side of the commercials of the day (early 1960s), most of which I remember, and one of their recordings for Columbia.

If I prefer the ads, it may be for nostalgic reasons, but there is no denying that their craftsmanship was remarkable. Listen, for example, to their dead-on hootenanny routine during the Alka-Seltzer spot. You will hear ads for vanished products (Plymouth, Valiant and Corvair cars, Northwest Orient Airlines), items that are no longer advertised in this way (three different cigarette brands), and a number of brands that are still around 50 years later.

The ads are knit together by a clunky Dragnet-style narration. I believe the anonymous narrator may be Ken Nordine. The LP was probably made for distribution to both advertising agencies and clubs.

The Columbia selections are drawn from the group's two albums and handful of singles. The best cut is probably the single "Everybody Says Don't," from the contemporaneous Stephen Sondheim musical flop Anyone Can Whistle. The ensemble also recorded two LPs for ABC records under the name Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers.

The J's with Jamie went out of business in 1968. Thereafter, the Silvias concentrated on production work. Shelton (who had been in the Hi-Lo's) went on to form the Singers Unlimited with Dresslar, fellow Hi-Lo's alum Gene Puerling, and Bonnie Herman, another vocalist who specialized in commercial work.

More Reups and Remasters

I have another pile of reupped transfers for you today. Some of these are by request; some are remastered versions that I have done to improve on my early work. The remastered files are in Apple lossless format; those that don't say "remastered" are the original mp3s. In general, the redone transfers have vastly better sonics than the originals.

Today's bill of fare:

Axel Stordahl - Dreamtime (by request; an early Stordahl LP on Capitol)

Copland by Koussevitzky (by request; the classic recordings in a remastered version with a new transfer of "Appalachian Spring")

Kabalevsky - Symphony No. 2 (by request; the version conducted by Jacques Rachmilovich)

Leo Sowerby - Prairie; From the Northland (remastered version of the ARC recordings led by Dean Dixon)

Lena Horne - Lena Horne Sings (remastered version of an excellent M-G-M LP)

Pérez Prado - Plays Mucho Mambo for Dancing (remastered edition of Prado's fantastic first US LP)

Roy Harris - Fantasy; Abraham Lincoln (remastered edition of the composer-led performances)

Links to all the above are in the comments to this post and individually can be found by looking up the original post

I also had requests for the "Love in the Afternoon" EP and the "Joy of Living" Schlitz promo. I intend to redo the EP and the Nelson Riddle - J's with Jamie ad is coming up, along with a complete J's with Jamie promo LP.

Doris Day Plugs 'On Moonlight Bay'

Not long ago, I was looking around for something to transfer in honor of Doris Day's 90th birthday. (I hope it won't be considered caddish for me to mention that some people think she is actually 92.)

Promo 78

It's not so easy to find unusual Day material - everything she ever recorded has been reissued. But finally I remembered a promotional disc for her 1951 album of songs from the film On Moonlight Bay, so here it is, along with the album itself.

On the record, Doris introduces four titles from the LP with opening and closing remarks. The idea is that radio stations would make a 15-minute program out of the songs and her comments. Columbia would have sent the record to deejays along with an opening script (which I don't have).

Day and MacRae make music; Smith makes waves

Day shares the LP with singer-actor Jack Smith. He was in the film as well, but not as the romantic lead. Gordon MacRae had that role, but he was contracted to Capitol records. Smith, later a television game-show host, played a rival suitor favored by Day's father. Smith was a pleasant singer who does better here than he did with Doris in the movie.

Arranger of the LP is the estimable Paul Weston, who also appears on the promotional disc. The sound is excellent.

This is the first time I have presented Day here. It's a pleasure - she is one of my favorite singers and actors.

1951 promotional tie-in

Curtain Going Up in Boston

This 1957 LP shows off one of the specialties of the house for the Boston Pops during the long Arthur Fiedler reign - medleys from famous musicals.

Curtain Going Up features mash-ups from the recent Broadway hits My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Carousel, Can-Can, Wonderful Town and South Pacific, along with a selection of Richard Rodgers' waltzes.

All feature the typical Fiedler élan that stops just this side of seeming rushed. This works particularly well with such tunes as "It's a Grand Night for Singing," which ends the program on a high note. If there is little depth in this approach - well, it is the Pops, after all.

The sound also is typical of RCA Victor's efforts for this ensemble. Depending on your own preferences, you could call it big and glamorous, or woolly and indistinct. Note (January 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo).

Several arrangers are credited for these medleys: Leroy Anderson for Carousel and Brigadoon, Jack Andrews for Can-Can, and Dave Terry for Wonderful Town. Also, the arrangement for South Pacific is Anderson's work as well.

The cover is by Mozelle Thompson (a favorite of my friend Ernie). It appears to depict an operetta that is being presented on a particularly tiny stage.

LINK to Curtain Going Up

The artist as shoe salesman

Ray Price, Floyd Tillman, Carl Smith and Cowboy Copas

Today we have a doubleheader with music from four of the best singers in country & western history - a set of early hits from Ray Price, Floyd Tillman and Lefty Frizzell, and a bonus LP of gospel songs from Cowboy Copas.

Ray Price, the "Cherokee Cowboy," on stage in 1956

I transferred "Greatest Western Hits" a while back following the death of Price, one of the finest singers in any genre. It contains "Crazy Arms," perhaps the singer's best record, and a gigantic success for him in 1956. Price's performance is haunting - it only takes a few notes for his voice to give me the shivers. By the way, the excellent harmony singing on this record is by Van Howard.

Nearly as famous is Frizzell's "If You've Got the Money, I've got the Time," the sly anthem of the honky-tonk lothario, which came out in 1950. (I actually prefer Willie Nelson's jaunty 1976 remake.)

Among the the Carl Smith hits here is "Hey Joe," a number one record in 1953, also the first top hit for writer Boudleaux Bryant.

Price, Smith and Frizzell were mainstays of the Columbia catalogue of the early 50s. During that period, Cowboy Copas was one of the big stars on the King label of Cincinnati. His 1959 LP of "Hymns and Gospel Songs" collects songs he recorded in the early 50s.

By the time the album came out Copas had moved on to the Dot and Starday labels. This is a good record, but the production may be a little too smooth and bland for the material.

Early Cy Coleman

Before he became famous as a Broadway composer, Cy Coleman was a fixture in the better clubs with his piano trio - even as a very young man.

This obscure 10-inch LP is from 1955, when Coleman was either 25 or 26. (The back cover says 24, but news accounts from 1950 had him as 22, so that's unlikely.)

This was not Coleman's first record - he had a contract with Coral as early as 1950 - but it may be his first LP.

The young Cy Coleman

Coleman was a very effective pianist. The back cover says he offers "an almost symphonic form of jazz," which is nonsense: he was not really a jazz artist. Although he offers his own takes on some very familiar tunes, little here sounds improvised.

Coleman's cohorts were jazz players, though. Bassist Ernie Furtado had stints with Bill Evans, Chuck Wayne and Morgana King. Drummer John Cresci played with Helen Merrill and Lena Horne, later, oddly, with Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield.

By the time this LP came out, Coleman had already written such songs as "Why Try to Change Me Now." The only song here that may be his work is the opener, "One-Two-Three."

The cover makes it look like Coleman played the accordion, but there's none of that here.

My singles blog has a post of one of Coleman's greatest hits - "Playboy's Theme" - along with his own vocal on "You Fascinate Me So."

[Note (June 2023): The piano on this LP has a plonky sound, probably because it was recorded too closely. I've remastered the record in ambient stereo with a small amount of natural reverberation to help counteract this effect.]