Jerry Fielding's 1953 Band

Jerry Fielding is remembered today as a film and television composer, but before that experience, he was an arranger, radio conductor and bandleader. It’s in the latter guise that we hear him today, in this 1953 10-inch LP for the short-lived Trend label.

A friend of mine posted this record on his blog, and observed that Fielding seems so young on the cover that he does not look like he’s begun to shave. Perhaps so, but by this time he had been a professional for nearly a decade, writing big-band arrangements and conducting the orchestras for a number of radio shows.

Fielding was born Joshua Feldman, and the claim is made that in 1947 the producer of Jack Paar’s radio show made him change his name as a condition of getting a job on that program. However, by that time the young bandleader had already made records under the Fielding name.

By whatever name, he was a notable success, and this record is testimony. It documents a working band that Fielding had assembled, with three or four trumpets, two trombones, four or five saxes, and rhythm. The soloists include Maurie Harris (trumpet), Hymie Gunkler (alto), Buddy Collette and Sam Donahue (tenors) and Gerald Wiggins (piano). The leader’s arrangements are varied and imaginative, making for a fine album. (Perhaps not as good as the review below, which touts this disc as “the best band album ever recorded,” to the surprise, no doubt, of Ellington, Basie and many others.)

Billboard ad - click to enlarge

The LP has 11 cuts, five of which are devoted to Fielding’s theme song, “Carefree,” which is heard in snatches at the start and end of each side of the record, and complete on the first side. It’s an attractive piece, but maybe not deserving of all that exposure.

As a bonus to the LP, I’ve added Fielding’s first single for the Trend label. It includes a band treatment of “Here in My Arms” backed by a vocal on “A Blues Serenade” by the young Ruth Olay, who was under the influence of Mildred Bailey at the time. Olay went on to record a number of albums, and was backed by Fielding on one of her records for Mercury.

The Trend label was started by Albert Marx, who had owned the Musicraft label and was at the helm of Discovery for many years. Trend also recorded blog favorites Matt Dennis and Claude Thornhill, among others. These masters later were reissued on Kapp.

After Trend’s demise, Fielding moved on to Decca. I’ll post one of the records from that association if there is interest.