More André Previn on RCA Victor

Several years ago I offered two EPs and a 10-inch LP of Andre Previn's 1947-53 recordings on RCA Victor, a post I re-upped last year. Today we have two LPs from my collection with further examples of Previn's remarkable pianism from that era drawn largely from two Camden reissues - Mad About the Boy from 1958 and Love Walked In from 1964.

Now, record companies being record companies, there are a few duplications in this collection from my previous post. Heck, there are even duplications between the two Camden LPs, although I have eliminated those repeats in the download.

In addition to the 19 songs from these two LPs, I've added one non-LP single as a bonus. It comprises a tricky Latin-tinged arrangement of "The Gypsy in My Soul" with a unwanted revival of the 1919 chestnut "Dardanella," which has a vocal from Mack McLean of the Six Hits and a Miss vocal group. As far as I can tell, this the only time a vocalist appeared with Previn on his RCA records.

The songs in this collection feature three rhythm sections with some of Hollywood's finest accompanists. On the earlier sessions Previn used Al Viola on guitar, Chic Parnell or Lloyd Pratt on bass, and Jackie Mills on drums. Viola and Pratt were two-third of the Page Cavanaugh Trio at the time. Like that trio, the sound of Previn's groups throughout this period were influenced by the highly influential King Cole Trio, although Previn himself was an Art Tatum disciple.

In the second combo, Al Viola was replaced by Bob Bain and Jackie Mills by Ralph Collier. This group can be heard on the 1949-51 recordings, which sometimes also included a string complement. Finally, there are a few excerpts from a 1953 Gershwin session that included Al Hendrickson on guitar, Artie Shapiro on bass and Irv Cottler on drums. I have the complete Previn Plays Gershwin album and will post it at a later date.

Throughout, Previn chooses the best standards (Dardanella aside) and presents them with amazing fluidity and imagination. The sound is excellent. I can't help but give this a strong recommendation.

On my other blog, I've just uploaded a set of the four songs that Previn recorded for V-Disc in 1946, the year before he joined Victor.

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At a 1947 jazz conclave: Buddy Childers, Lee Young,
Previn, Eddie Laguna, Vido Musso, Jimmy Mundy,
Willie Smith, Eddie Safranski (click to enlarge)

Newport 1957 with Eddie Costa, Mat Mathews and Don Elliott

After my recent post of music by Johnny Costa, good friend David Federman suggested that I present that pianist's namesake, Eddie Costa.

It happens that I transferred an Eddie Costa record many years ago for a now-vanished blog, so here it is, all shiny and newly refurbished for David's and hopefully your enjoyment.

Costa shares the billing with accordionist Mat Mathews and multi-instrumentalist Don Elliott, each leading separate groups. The occasion was the Newport Jazz Festival of July 1957.

I must confess that I picked up this LP for Mathews and Elliott, both of whom I enjoy, more so than Costa, whose skill I admire but whose pianism I find too intense. Many people disagree - including I imagine David - and Costa was considered a bright star in the jazz world before his death in a 1962 car accident at age 31.

Like Elliott, Costa was a skillful vibes player, but here he confines himself to the keyboard. With him on two numbers are clarinetist Rolf Kuhn and alto saxophonist Dick Johnson, neither of whom make much of an impression.

Mat Mathews leads off the second side of the LP with a quartet including the reliable Hank Jones on piano. Mathews, who came to the US from the Netherlands in 1952, took up the jazz accordion after hearing Joe Mooney. (Both Mathews and Mooney have appeared here before.)

Finally, Don Elliott appears on vibes, the bongos and the mellophone, an instrument more often found in marching bands. Elliott also played the trumpet and sang, although he does neither here. Later he did film, Broadway and advertising work. He also invented the Nutty Squirrels with Sascha Burland, but let's not hold that against him.

Elliott features his pianist, the young Bill Evans, on one of the three cuts, "I Love You." This was before Evans joined Miles Davis, but he had already made a name for himself as a sideman and had made a few recordings under his own name, including his most famous composition, "Waltz for Debbie."

Just so there is no confusion, that is Elliott at the top right on the cover and Mathews at the bottom. Elliott appears to be playing a French horn, although that instrument does not feature on the record, as far as I can tell.

The sound is lively but a little raw, reflecting the outdoor venue, I suppose. At that time, the Jazz Festival was broadcast via the U.S. Government's Voice of America, so the record includes introductions by the annoying VOA announcer Willis Conover. I've tracked these separately for easy deletion.

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Robert Ward's Symphony No. 1; Alexei Haieff's Piano Concerto

Here are two fine mid-century works by two of the leading composers of the time, Robert Ward (1917-2013) and Alexei Haieff (1914-1994).

Robert Ward

Ward has appeared here before with his Third Symphony; today's work was his first effort in that form. This is the first time that I have featured one of Haieff's compositions on the blog.

Ward, born in Cleveland, attended the Eastman School as an undergraduate. His First Symphony dates from 1941, when he was a graduate student at Juilliard. It is a relatively brief, tonal but dramatic work, showing his early mastery.

Alexei Haieff

Haieff was born in Russia and came to the U.S. in 1931. He was a Juilliard student later in that decade, then went to Paris for work with Nadia Boulanger. He composed his piano concerto in 1947-48 while at the American Academy in Rome. It received its premiere in 1952 with Leo Smit as the soloist and Stokowski conducting.

This recording, made even before the premiere in October 1951, also features the excellent Smit. The conductor is Walter Hendl; discographer Michael Gray identifies the "American Recording Society Symphony" as the Vienna Symphony, which ARS often engaged for these sessions. Gray does not have a listing for the Ward symphony; however, it was likely recorded at about the same time, perhaps in 1951, when its conductor, Dean Dixon, was leading other ARS performances with the Vienna Symphony.

The orchestral work is very good for such unfamiliar scores, and the recordings are well balanced. The cover is unsigned, but appears to be by Peter Piening, a commercial artist who did much work for ARS.

Buddy Clark on OKeh, Columbia and Varsity

Buddy Clark

My friend Morris asked me to transfer a batch of Buddy Clark records - ones that are not often encountered. Not that you find too much of the singer's output around these days, save for his late 40s Columbia hits such as "Linda" and "I'll Dance at Your Wedding." Too bad - I consider Clark one of the finest pop vocalists of the last century.

Clark's career began in the 30s as a band and radio vocalist. He made some recordings early on for Vocalion and other companies.

Today's selections begin with two songs Clark did for the Varsity label in 1939. "In an Old Dutch Garden" is a Mack Gordon/Will Grosz song from Earl Carroll's Vanities. "Leanin' on the Old Top Rail" is a Nick and Charles Kenny song recorded by both country and pop artists in 1939 and later years.

"In an Old Dutch Garden" was also included in a batch of Varsity singles I uploaded several years ago. That bundle also includes a bonus of a 1936 Melotone single of "Lost" and "The Touch of Your Lips."

Clark moved on to the OKeh label in 1941 with a revival of "Lamplight," an attractive song that its composer, James Shelton, introduced in the 1934 revue New Faces. The flip side, "G'bye Now" comes from the long-running Olsen-Johnson revue Hellzapoppin'. The writers were Sammy Fain and Charles Tobias.

Also on OKeh were the great Martin-Blane song "Ev'ry Time" from Best Foot Forward. It was backed by "It Happened in Hawaii," which had the remarkable bad luck to come out in early December 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

After war service, Clark joined the main Columbia label. I believe that all the songs on that label in this group were recorded in 1947. The first effort is "I'm Waiting for Ships that Never Come In," a nice tune by Abe Olman and Jack Yellen that was seemingly inspired by "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" from 1917 - which was definitely "inspired" by Chopin.

On the other side, Buddy covers Bing's version of "The Emperor Waltz" from the film of the same name. And yes, it is a vocal version of the waltz by Johann Strauss II, and no, the new lyrics aren't very good, e.g., "Deep in your heart, joy seems to dwell / Like poets say, it's perfectly swell."

For these and the other Columbia singles below, Mitchell Ayres leads the orchestra, unless otherwise noted.

Recording with Mitchell Ayres

Showing his versatility, Clark then turns to the catchy Latin tune "It's Easy When You Know How," where he is paired with Xavier Cugat. He even brings the bandleader in for a brief vocal interlude, but Cugie should have stuck to waving a baton and holding a Chihuahua.

"I'm a Slave to You" is a good if formulaic torch song that Mitchell Ayres had a hand in. The other side of the single is the soupy "Where the Apple Blossoms Fall," backed by organ.

Billboard ad from December 1948

I posted the final coupling on my singles blog several years ago, but here in a new transfer are "Gloria" and "The Money Song." Leon René's "Gloria" became a doo-wop favorite in the 1950s, but in 1948, it was a pop song recorded by a number of crooners. "The Money Song" came from the Harold Rome revue That's the Ticket, which closed in Philadelphia before making it to Broadway. You may have heard the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis version of the song. If so, don't be put off by that monstrosity. Clark does much better by this mock calypso. On both songs, he is backed by the Modernaires and the Skylarks.

These discs are from my collection, and all are in vivid sound. See my other blog for a new post of the four Clark songs on V-Disc that aren't just dubs of his commercial recordings. These include two airchecks, one alternate take from a Columbia session, and a "Fluffs at a Record Session" recording where Clark makes up his own lyrics then launches into a Jolson imitation.

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More Aafje Heynis and "Haunted Heart"

Let me clarify the header - Dutch contralto Aafje Heynis does not attempt the Dietz-Schwartz semi-standard "Haunted Heart." She leaves that fine number to several great pop singers. Instead, she favors us with an Elgar song cycle.

To clarify further, this post is a follow-up to my two most recent items - the contemporary recordings of the 1948 Dietz-Schwartz revue Inside U.S.A., and a 1962 Brahms collection featuring Heynis, the Vienna Symphony and its chief conductor, Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Ilene Woods

First, Inside U.S.A. and its ballad "Haunted Heart." In the comments of my post, I decided to include a link to my remastering of a Frank Sinatra aircheck from Your Hit Parade. (Sinatra never did a commercial recording of the song, to my knowledge.) Old friend David Federman one-upped me (actually five-upped me) by posting contemporary versions from Bing Crosby, Don Rodney with Guy Lombardo, Jo Stafford, Margaret Whiting and the very young Ilene Woods (soon to be the voice of Cinderella). The latter is particularly interesting because it includes a vocal bridge that I have not heard in any other recording. I've now added Frank to the Federman collection, and included a fresh link in the comments to this post.

Aafje Heynis

Meanwhile, reader Andrew alerted me to the existence of an 1962 aircheck of Heynis as the soloist in Elgar's cycle, "Sea Pictures," Op. 37. I quickly hunted it down, remastered what I found and am pleased to offer it to all of you who were enchanted by Heynis' singing in the "Alto Rhapsody." She is accompanied by the Netherlands Radio Orchestra under its chief conductor, Henk Spruit. The sound is good quality mono. Here, too - as always - the link is in the comments.

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Brahms from Vienna with Wolfgang Sawallisch and Aafje Heynis

This post was inspired by nothing so much as my own desire to post something by the radiant Dutch contralto Aafje Heynis (1924-2015), who is a particular favorite of mine.

Aafje Heynis

Heynis first gained wide acclaim for a performance of Brahms' "Alto Rhapsody" with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Eduard van Beinum, recorded in 1958. Almost exactly four years later, Philips called on her again to perform the same work, this time with the Vienna Symphony under its chief conductor, Wolfgang Sawallisch (1923-2013). That is the version contained on the LP before us today.

Also on the LP are the "Variations on a Theme of Haydn" and the "Schicksalslied" (Song of Destiny). Both are accorded worthy performances by Sawallisch and his forces, which also included the Vienna Singverein.

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Sawallisch was then engaged in a survey of Brahms' symphonies and other works with the Vienna Symphony. The Haydn Variations were among the first to be recorded, in October and November 1959. The Alto Rhapsody and Schicksalslied sessions were in January and February 1962. My transfer comes from a pristine pressing that appears to have been done for the British market.

While I am particularly taken with the Alto Rhapsody performance, in truth all three are beautifully done, and notably well balanced by the conductor and recording crew.

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'Inside U.S.A.' with Bea Lillie, Jack Haley, Buddy Clark and Pearl Bailey

The 1948 Broadway revue Inside U.S.A. is not generally considered to be the best such production from composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz. That honor is reserved for their 1931 staging of The Band Wagon, which boasted the Astaires and "Dancing in the Dark." But Inside U.S.A. was nonetheless a hit for the team and the revue's stars, Beatrice Lillie and Jack Haley.

Inside U.S.A. borrowed its title if little else from a popular 1947 book by John Gunther, one in a series that Gunther had begun with Inside Europe in 1936. The revue used the title as a pretext for a series of songs and sketches, each focusing on a different state or locale. Lillie and Haley were both comics, so the focus was squarely on fun, but the score did feature one gorgeous ballad, "Haunted Heart." It became a hit in the versions by Perry Como and Jo Stafford, but even so is not often heard today.

There is no "original cast album" per se for Inside U.S.A. However, RCA Victor did bring Lillie and Haley into the studio to record several songs for an Inside U.S.A. album, filling out the contents with Como's hit version of "Haunted Heart" and Victor artist Billy Williams' recording of "My Gal Is Mine Once More." Meanwhile, Columbia Records was busy assembling a competing album with Buddy Clark and Pearl Bailey handling the vocals. Apparently both albums were rushed to completion before the 1948 recording ban could hit on January 1, several months before the show opened. The Columbia LP includes one song ("Protect Me") dropped before the show opened.

Today's download includes both the Victor and Columbia albums and restored artwork for both, along with a number of production stills and sketches, a Life magazine feature on the revue, and other ephemera.

Lillie and Haley were ideally suited to the revue format. Haley, who was nearing 50 when the show opened, had had extensive vaudeville and film (notably, The Wizard of Oz) experience. In 1940, he had been a lead in Rodgers and Hart's Higher and Higher on Broadway. (See this post for the Shirley Ross recordings from that show.) Haley was an excellent song-and-dance artist.

Lillie was another veteran trouper, noted both for her West End and Broadway appearances. Song parody was her métier; it was what made her famous and is in full flower in Inside U.S.A.

Haley and Lillie win "First Prize at the Fair"

Beside the opening number, the Victor album includes songs set in, celebrating or at least parodying New Orleans ("At the Mardi Gras"), Wisconsin ("First Prize at the Fair"), Rhode Island ("Rhode Island Is Famous for You"), Atlanta (err, "Atlanta") and so on. Lillie's mock madrigal "Come, O Come to Pittsburgh" makes fun of the air quality in that steel town. While this may be mystifying to those familiar with the clear-skied city of today, here is what its air looked like in the 1940s.

"Rhode Island Is Famous for You" is probably the best remembered song in the score, except for "Haunted Heart." Haley duetted with Estelle Loring in the show; here he is partnered by an anonymous studio singer. Billy Williams, heard in "My Gal Is Mine Once More," was a former Sammy Kaye vocalist who led (and recorded with) a Western group called the Pecos River Rogues. That song and "Haunted Heart" were sung on Broadway by John Tyers, who had experience both in musicals and opera.

The Broadway orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett, but the arrangements on Victor are led by Russ Case and Irving Miller.

Buddy Clark and Pearl Bailey

The Clark-Bailey album includes two songs not in the Victor set - "Blue Grass" and "Protect Me" - both delivered by Pearlie Mae. In 1946, she had made a tremendous impression in St. Louis Woman, with its fabulous Arlen-Mercer score.

Buddy Clark - one of my favorite singers - is heard in "Haunted Heart," "My Gal Is Mine Once More," "Rhode Island Is Famous for You" and "First Prize at the Fair," all of which he does very well, particularly "Haunted Heart." Clark, who had been on the radio in the 1930s, became a big star for Columbia in the postwar years. He died in a 1949 plane crash.

Mitchell Ayers provides the backings for Clark and Bailey. The sound on both albums is lively and present. The raw transfers were found during my recent expedition into the boundless reaches of Internet Archive, but I have remastered them for this post.

One final note for anyone who likes (or even remembers) 1950s and 60s American television. Comics Carl Reiner and Louis Nye both were in the Broadway production, and can be seen in the production still below. Reiner is at center left, Nye at center right. Jack Haley is at the right.

Click to enlarge

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