Slaughter and Other Ballet Favorites from Boston and Fiedler

New reader "rev.b" asked me for this LP last month, promising to be patient while I attended to other urgent business.

At this point, I'm not sure what those pressing matters were, but I have now gathered myself together enough to produce a transfer of this sterling album from 1952, one of the best of the many, many collaborations between the Boston Pops and their longtime conductor, Arthur Fiedler.

Arthur Fiedler

The LP is composed of ballet selections, built around Richard Rodgers's score "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" from the 1936 musical On Your Toes.

Perhaps appropriately, considering the gruesome cover, the balance of the album consists of "bleeding chunks" from popular 20th century ballets - two excerpts from Copland's Rodeo, Stravinsky's Petrouchka and Gould's Interplay, three from Bernstein's Fancy Free and Falla's Three-Cornered Hat, and one each from Shostakovich's Age of Gold, Khachaturian's Gayne (the Sabre Dance, natch) and Menotti's Sebastian.

Even "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," which annotator Irving Kolodin proclaims as being presented for the first time in its entirety, is cut. The Fielder rendition runs for eight minutes; the version on the 1983 LP of the On Your Toes revival lasts over 14. (Nor is it the original orchestration. I believe this version is by Robert Russell Bennett, which is generally heard in place of the Hans Spialek original.)

I'm just stuffy enough to sneer at such hacking away at integral works - but after all, most of these are intended as suites, and the superb results justify the means. This is quite the glorious record, in splendidly impactful sound from Symphony Hall.

It's perhaps worth noting that the scores for all but Petrouchka were written within 20 or so years of the making of this record. Could such a record be made today, I wonder?

Roger Voisin

Two soloists are credited on the label, pianist Leo Litwin in Interplay and cornetist Roger Voisin in Petrouchka.

I've written before about the one-time ubiquity of the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" music. This marks the fifth time I've presented some version of the music on this blog. in the wings is the soundtrack album from the 1957 film Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, in which stolid prosecutor Richard Egan takes on a waterfront mob boss, improbably played by Walter Matthau, to solve a killing on the docks - to the accompaniment of Herschel Burke Gilbert's arrangement of Rodgers's music.

Jolson and Levant on the Radio

We have heard a lot of Oscar Levant in recent months in his guise as piano virtuoso. Let's explore another aspect of his persona - the comical sidekick.

Today Levant is known for his roles as filmic friend to Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, but he also filled that role on radio. From October 1947 to May 1949, he was the comedic accomplice and musical accompanist to the erstwhile "World's Greatest Entertainer," Al Jolson, on the latter's weekly radio appearance hosting the long-running Kraft Music Hall.

Jolson was enjoying a late career renaissance sparked by the success of the 1946 film biography, The Jolson Story. Larry Parks played the singer in the film, with Al dubbing the vocals himself. He had lost none of his musical swagger over the years, and is in great vocal shape on the radio program, his voice having deepened over the years into a remarkably resonant bass-baritone.

Oscar and Al with Groucho Marx

Levant was never a great actor, and here his line readings are even stiffer than they were in films, a trait that is endearing or annoying depending on how you feel about him. Neither he nor Jolson are particularly well served by the material: half of of the jokes take aim at the host's supposed great age (he was in his 60s), the other half at his musical illiteracy when compared to Levant.

But the singing is good and Oscar is a surprisingly sympathetic and fluid accompanist, more evidence that he was at home in many genres.

This Decca record of excerpts from the Jolson radio show dates from the 1950s (correction - Randy writes to say it is from 1961), and according to producer Milt Gabler is the result of one thousand hours of work. Considering that Jolson only taped 35-1/2 hours of material, it's hard to figure how Gabler spent so much time selecting the songs that appear here. But they are well chosen, showing a good bit of Jolson's repertoire.

We cannot recapture what made Jolson special in the early decades of the last century. He was by all accounts a riveting live performer, but there are only traces of that kinetic presence here. Jolson died in 1950.

Levant Plays Rubinstein and Liszt

There has been a revival of interest in Oscar Levant's recordings on the music blogs and sharing sites lately, and I've done my part with a number of posts already. Today that continues with Levant's rendition of Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 4.

The Rubinstein work has the dubious distinction of being of being perhaps the best-known of the "forgotten" Romantic war-horse concertos. Seldom if ever performed live, it has nonetheless been the subject of at least 10 commercial recordings, beginning with this  March 1952 date with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New Yorkers. It was followed in just a few months by a Friedrich Wührer session in Vienna for Vox.

Caricature by David Levine

In truth, the concerto does deserve its semi-renown. It boasts a number of memorable themes, which the composer give a vigorous if not rigorous workout. Levant is just the right keyboard athlete for the task, betraying not a hint of the irony that was integral to his public personality on the radio or in films.

As a bonus I've included two pieces from the pianist's 1955 Liszt collection - the Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104 and the Valse Oubliée No. 1 in F-sharp Minor. My transfer comes from the 1960s Odyssey reissue of the Rubinstein concerto, where they were included as filler. (The 1955 LP, which I do not own, also included a selection of Hungarian Rhapsodies.)

For the Rubinstein, I transferred the first two movements from the original pressing, and switched to the reissue for the third movement because of groove damage on the earlier disc. The first issue is marginally more present in sound, but there isn't much difference, and overall the sonics are excellent, as is often the case with recordings from Columbia's 30th Street Studios in New York.

'Middlebrow' Music from Kermit Leslie

My great friend and fellow blogger Ernie has been busy posting "Christmas in July" shares over at his Ernie Not Bert site this month. These consist of individual songs with a seasonal bent that come from non-holiday LPs. One such tune, "The Little Toy Shop" caught my eye because it came from a 10-inch LP I had never seen - "Middlebrow" Music for the Hi-Fi Fan by the Kermit Leslie Orchestra.

As soon as I expressed interest, Ernie was kind enough to send me a transfer of the entire album, and - even better - agreed to letting me share it with you.

I'm so glad he did, because the record is one of the best light music records I've heard, consisting entirely of songs written by Leslie and his brother Walt presented in Kermit's imaginative arrangements.

It's unlikely that you have heard of Kermit Leslie, so some background may be in order. As many musicians of the era did, Leslie had big band experience. The earliest mention of him (at least as found by me) was as an alto saxophonist in Alvino Rey's big band in 1940, under his birth name of Kermit Levinsky. The 20-year-old was already a composer, having produced Rey's opening theme "Blue Rey."

The liner notes for the LP say he stayed with Rey until joining the Army in 1941, spending the war arranging and conducting for broadcasts and shows. Postwar, he embarked on formal musical studies, became a free-lance arranger, and joined the Tommy Dorsey staff in 1952.

Anne Phillips and Kermit Leslie

Apparently Leslie was often an uncredited "ghost" arranger, similar to other musicians who have appeared on this blog, such as George Siravo and Heinie Beau. In 1959 Leslie did the charts for a fine LP by singer Anne Phillips, who tells the story: "At the end of the song's first run-through, a beautiful thing happened. Every musician in the room put his instrument down and applauded—not for me but for Kermit. Some years later I learned that Kermit had been 'ghosting' for many arrangers for some time. I think this was his first session with his name on the work, and the musicians were overjoyed for him."

In the early 1960s, Time Records engaged Leslie for three LPs. I've also uncovered some credits for his arrangements for both Les and Larry Elgart albums, and for two of the once-ubiquitous Christmas records sponsored by Firestone Tires. He also did much commercial work, and arranged Marvin Hamlisch's score for Woody Allen's second film, 1969's Take the Money and Run. Leslie's brother Walt, who generally used the family name Levinsky, himself worked on several of Woody's films, in addition to becoming a well-known reed player in big bands and studio orchestras. Kermit died in 1973, Walt in 1999.

Once again thanks to Ernie for bringing this enjoyable record to our attention, and producing an excellent transfer for all to enjoy.

Kay Armen Sings to No One but You

I had a request from long-time reader Ravel for something by the pop singer/actor Kay Armen. I hope he (and you) will find this 10-inch LP from 1955 to be appealing. Armen had a lovely alto voice, with good intonation, excellent diction and an enveloping warmth, all on ample display here.

Kay Armen

M-G-M records couldn't make up its corporate mind about the title of the LP. Called Sings to No One but You on the cover, the label tags it as Kay Armen Sings and the notes on the back cover claims it is By Candlelight.

Nicholas Brodszky plays for no one but Mario Lanza

By whatever name, the album's theme is actually the melodies of M-G-M tunesmith Nicholas Brodszky, who wrote all the songs here, even though that fact goes unmentioned on the cover. Seven of the eight items were composed for M-G-M films, four with lyricist Sammy Cahn. The only exception is "I Just Love You," which he did with studio producer Joe Pasternak as a present for the latter's wife.

Brodszky was mainly active in the 1950s, passing away at a relatively young age in 1958. He is best known for the Mario Lanza hits "Be My Love" and "Because You're Mine," both of which show up here. I am more fond of "Wonder Why," which Jane Powell introduced in Rich, Young and Pretty, and "No One But You," which was sung by the relatively obscure Carlos Thompson in Flame and the Flesh. The soundtracks to Rich, Young and Pretty and Flame and the Flesh have appeared on this blog in years past.

Armen was not a prolific recording artist. Her first recordings were on Decca in 1943, then a few with Guy Lombardo in 1945. She also did various sides for RCA, King, London and Majestic. Her only LPs seem to be this one, an inspirational LP for M-G-M and a Tin Pan Alley LP for Decca, which I have if there is interest.

Hit the Deck's "Ciribiribin" sing: Vic Damone, Jane Powell,
Tony Martin, Kay Armen, Russ Tamblyn, Debbie Reynolds

These days Armen is perhaps most noted for her role in Hit the Deck, which is plugged on the back cover of this LP. (She played Vic Damone's mother, even though she was only 12 years older than he was.) As a bonus, I've included her two songs from the film, "Ciribiribin," taken from the soundtrack LP, and "Hallelujah," from the soundtrack itself (the LP's version cuts Armen's chorus). Among others, you will hear Damone and Tony Martin on these songs. Hit the Deck was Armen's only film in the 50s, but she was on TV as a guest singer and actor both, and also appeared in a few later films.

The cover of this LP is a striking example of the 50s idea of romance. A couple smooching on the floor with their M-G-M records, him in a suit, her in pearls and a voluminous skirt, with a four-times life-size Armen monitoring the proceedings from the wall. I could not like it more!

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