David Allyn's 'I Only Have Eyes for You'

For some time, I have been planning a survey of the early career of the great singer David Allyn (1919?-2012). But it might be best to first post one of the LPs from his greatest period, the late 1950s, when he was making records with the likes of Johnny Mandel and Bill Holman.

This Warner Bros. album from 1959 is less celebrated than those two immediate predecessors, but even so represents a level of achievement attained by just a few popular singers in the 20th century.

David Allyn

Before I discuss the album, let me address the matter of his name. Throughout his career, Allyn was known alternately as "David Allen" or "David Allyn." For his best LPs, such as this one, it was "Allen." But usually it was "Allyn." No matter, his real name was Albert DiLella.

As a singer, Allyn/Allen had it all: total involvement, superb intonation and diction, and great warmth. Many vocalists have been termed a "singer's singer," but he was truly worthy of the title.

The selections on this LP mix favorite standards ("You Go to My Head," "When Your Lover Has Gone") with less often heard, but well chosen selections ("Soon," "Ev'ry Time," "With Every Breath I Take," "You're Laughing at Me"). My favorite is the Burke-Van Heusen "It's Always You," possibly done in tribute to Allyn's early idol, Bing Crosby.

The lush backings are by David Terry, a Kostelanetz arranger who accompanied many singers of the time and made several instrumental LPs of his own. This transfer is from an excellent stereo pressing in my collection.

As a bonus, I've added Allyn's second single on the Warner Bros. label, comprising "Pleasant Dreams," a song he wrote with Steve Allen, and the rhythm tune "Here's the Way It Is." His first Warner single was "Drifting," which is included on the LP under discussion.

A good overview of Allyn's career can be found in the two-part interview he did with Marc Myers for the JazzWax blog. Incidentally, Myers claims that Allyn was 90 in 2009, when the interview took place. This would mean that he was born in about 1919 rather than the usually cited 1923. The earlier birth date does make sense - Allyn joined Jack Teagarden's band in 1940, and he told Myers that he didn't get serious about singing until he was 18 or 19.

The download includes several reviews and ads.

My upcoming two-part survey of Allyn's early career compiles his recordings with Teagarden and Boyd Raeburn  with all his solo efforts of the 1940s. 

Ralph Flanagan Singles - and So Much More

I wanted to draw your attention to my other blog - Buster's Swinging Singles - where I've been posting unusual items every week for some time now.

The latest post is a collection of eight single sides by Ralph Flanagan's excellent postwar band, complete with introductions of each item by the bandleader himself. This, like many of the other items linked below, is a rare promotional item. As a lifelong record collector, I find these irresistible, but musically they are of great interest as well.

Here are links to the other posts from the last three months.

Fran Warren Takes Us from "Temptation" to "Envy" - On this promotional record, the fine pop singer traces the use of the beguine rhythm in pop music from Bing's 1933 hit "Temptation to her new 1949 single, "Envy."

Joe Mooney Obscurities - Mooney, an accomplished instrumentalist and singer, inspires passionate devotion among the few while remaining unknown to the many. This post gathers some of his more obscure postwar recordings - obscure even for Mooney.

Fred and Ginger's Commercial Recordings for Top Hat - This series is unusual in that it includes not just Astaire's Top Hat recordings for Brunswick, but Rogers' efforts for the rival Decca label.

Speed Riggs Proclaims "Sold to American!" - L.A. "Speed" Riggs was a famous tobacco auctioneer with an unforgettable patter. The American Tobacco Company used him in its ads for many years. He demonstrates his art in this 1938 promotional record. 

Mindy Carson Promotes Her New Record and a Sticky Candy - Carson was one of RCA's leading pop singers in the postwar era. Here are two promos - one for her new record, and one for Bit-O-Honey candy (which is still around, unaccountably).

Sokoloff Conducts Rimsky and Tchaikovsky - Following up on a post on this blog, here are two additional recordings from the Cleveland Orchestra and its first music director, Nikolai Sokoloff. Excellent, and little known.

Completing Gordon MacRae's Musicraft Sides - Before he became a well-known Capitol artist and movie star, Gordon MacRae recorded for the small Musicraft label. This post completes his Musicraft output, started several years ago via this blog post.

A Public Health Push from Frank and Dinah - One of the most obscure singles from either Frank Sinatra or Dinah Shore was this 1946 plea for public health measures in North Carolina. It's actually quite a good record!

The Songs of Mae West's I'm No Angel - Mae West's 1933 pre-code opus I'm No Angel had a fascinating set of songs here performed by the star and others such as Shirley Ross. "They Call Me Sister Honky-Tonk" is a real hoot.

A Special Gordon MacRae 78 Promoting Community Chest - MacRae and the orchestra from his radio show The Railroad Hour got together to promote the 1950 Community Chest campaign via this special song. Community Chest was the precursor of today's United Way.

Bing's Welcome Stranger - the Promo Discs and Commercial Releases - Welcome Stranger is not one of Crosby's best remembered films, but it had the usual excellent Burke-Van Heusen songs. Here we have Bing's commercial discs along with the soundtrack versions as released on Paramount promo 78s.

Dennis Day's 1950 St. Patrick's Day Message and Single - In 1950, crooner-comedian Dennis Day was trying to replicate the success of his 1949 Irish-themed song "Clancy Lowered the Boom." This promotional record for disk jockeys asked for their help with his new tune "How Can You Buy Killarney?" (It didn't work.)

Astaire and Rogers in Songs from Carefree - More dueling Astaire and Rogers songs from their 1938 hit Carefree. "Change Partners" is the highlight. All these film posts include extensive restored posters and stills.

Mozart Concertos with Gaby Casadesus

Gaby Casadesus (1901-99) never became as famous as her husband Robert, but she was a distinguished pianist in her own right. Today we have two examples of her art in the form of Mozart concerto recordings from the 1940s. Both were done in Paris for the Polydor label. I transferred them from American Vox LP pressings in my collection.

Concerto No. 9 in E flat, K.271

The Piano Concerto No. 9 was for many years called the "Jeunehomme" concerto because it was thought to have been written for a young man. Today it is known to have been written for a young woman, Victoire Jenamy, so now it is sometimes named in her honor.

Regardless of its subtitle, many critics consider it one of Mozart's first masterpieces, written when he was just 21. Casadesus does well both with the spritely outer movements, and particularly with the lovely slow movement. Some critics complained that she was clattery in the fast passages, but this was likely the effect of the recording, made in what sounds to be a small hall, and particularly the Vox pressing, which was a half-step sharp.

Paul Paray

The backing by the Lamoureux Orchestra is alert, if hardly glamorous. Here the ensemble is conducted by Paul Paray (1886-1979), who was its director in the 1920s. The recording is from 1947.

Today Mozart's piano concertos are heard more often (at least on record) as they were in the 1940s. Casadesus' only competition on disc was Walter Gieseking. Today the retailer Presto Music lists 168 recordings (or at least releases) of the work.

Concerto No. 25 in C major, K.503

The Concerto No. 25 is generally thought to be one of the composer's masterworks in the genre, although it was neglected for many years.

When Casadesus recorded it in 1949, there were two other recordings on the market, those of Kathleen Long and Edwin Fischer. These days Presto offers 171 such discs.

Eugène Bigot

Casadesus' performance again is very good; she is equally adept at the fast and slow movements; here shining in the difficult finale.

The orchestral support is again reliable, again with the Lamoureux Orchestra, this time conducted by its then-current music director, Eugène Bigot (1888-1965).

The recording is from the Salle Pleyel and is good for its time, although the pressing was again a half-step sharp. The surfaces on both records were abysmal, and there is some minor residual noise, which should only be noticeable on headphones.

Elliot Lawrence Plays Gerry Mulligan, Plus 'Just a Minute!'

Two contrasting sides of bandleader Elliot Lawrence today - in the main attraction, he plays the compositions and arrangements of West Coast jazz icon Gerry Mulligan. In the bonus, he shows his commercial side by presenting a bunch of minute-long instrumentals designed for easy airplay. Both are from the 1950s.

Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements

Mulligan and Lawrence had been affiliated since 1945, when the 18-year-old began writing arrangements for Lawrence's Philadelphia radio band. Lawrence himself was only 20 at the time.

The bandleader looked on admiringly as Mulligan became one of the prime movers in cool jazz. Within a few years he was composing and arranging for Miles Davis' "birth of the cool" ensemble, one of the most famous in jazz history.

The cool Gerry Mulligan

After a few more years of increasing renown, Mulligan moved to the West Coast and soon began playing with young trumpeter Chet Baker from Oklahoma. Their combo became a sensational success, only broken by Mulligan's 1953 imprisonment on drug charges.

That detour hardly interrupted Mulligan's successes - he was remarkably busy throughout the 1950s. One notable project was this 1955 Lawrence LP. It was billed as being "Gerry Mulligan arrangements," but it was mostly his compositions as well - only "Bye, Bye Blackbird," "My Silent Love," "Strike Up the Band" and "But Not for Me" are not by Mulligan.

As always, Lawrence selected the finest studio musicians for his band - Al Cohn, Hal McKusick, Nick Travis, Eddie Bert, Don Lamond and many others. Mulligan himself does not appear, although the leader was in the piano chair, as usual. It's a wonderful band, fully attuned to Mulligan's aesthetic. 

This is a highly enjoyable, beautifully played and recorded LP. You can explore Lawrence's other records via the many posts here, which cover a variety of styles.

'Just a Minute!'

This is one of the more unusual of Lawrence's many records. Dating from 1958 or 1959, it presents 16 selections of barely more than a minute's duration. It's one of a series put out by the publishing rights organization SESAC, and, I believe, sent to radio stations.

The idea may have been to provide instrumentals that programmers and disc jockeys could use to fill up those awkward bits before the station broke for news or other programming. I would guess that these were royalty-free pieces, and that would serve as an additional inducement.

It would be idle to pretend that this session is musically as interesting as the Mulligan record, but it's fun in its own right, and of course if you don't like the tune, just wait a few seconds and the "Maple Leaf Rag" turns into "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

The composers were presumably all SESAC members, and those who weren't, like Mozart and Tchaikovsky, weren't around to complain. The standout compositions include "Skullduggery" and "Skin and Bones," which I believe are by trumpeter-composer Rusty Dedrick.

The sound is OK, but has had a fair amount of reverb added, which engineers of the time found irresistible.

The LP is billed as being by "Elliot Lawrence, His Biting Brass and Hi Fi-ing Winds," with the brass and winds appearing on separate sides of the record. (A full "Hi Fi-ing Winds" LP can be found here.)

These albums are both from my collection, but let me acknowledge my friend and fellow blogger, the illustrious Ernie, who sent the SESAC LP to me as a gift. Thanks, pal!

Malcolm Arnold First Recordings

Malcolm Arnold came to the public's attention in 1943 via his overture Beckus the Dandipratt, written while he was the principal trumpet of the London Philharmonic. The first recording of the work was led by Edward van Beinum in 1947, when that fine musician was the LPO's principal conductor. (I believe Arnold was still in the LPO at the time.) There would be no further recordings of Arnold's compositions until 1953. Then there would be several within a few years' time, many of which I've gathered for this post.

During this period, Arnold's music became known for its instrumental color, great contrasts and melody. Some critics even complained that he was not serious enough. That side of his personality would soon show itself, but today we are concerned with the brilliant works that made his reputation in the concert hall, most of them in their first recordings.

The post encompasses two LPs - one devoted to Arnold's music; the other split between Arnold and Benjamin Britten.

Symphony No. 2, Tam O'Shanter Overture

As with Beckus the Dandipratt, Arnold's Tam O'Shanter Overture quickly became popular after the composer conducted its premiere during the 1955 Proms season.

Two recordings quickly followed, one with the composer and the Philharmonia, the other with John Hollingsworth and the Royal Philharmonic. As far as I can tell, these sessions took place on the same day, September 19.

What makes it more unusual is that Arnold had devoted September 17 and 18 to recording Beckus and the Symphony No. 2 with the RPO for Philips. He then left the conducting of Tam O'Shanter to Hollingsworth while he motored across town to record the same work for UK Columbia.

Philips licensed the resulting recordings to US Epic, whose LP is the source of the current transfer. The wonderfully colorful cover illustration above depicts the legend of Tam O'Shanter, as set down by Robert Burns. After a night of revelry, Tam and his horse lose their way and encounter the ghouls depicted on the cover.

John Hollingsworth

This was just the sort of thing to spark Arnold's imagination (and empathy - he was a notorious carouser), and the overture is completely successful, especially in this beautifully recorded interpretation from the RPO and Hollingsworth, a fine conductor who was too little recorded.

But the most notable recording on the album was the first of any of Arnold symphonies - the Symphony No. 2, again a colorful and melodious work, well presented here by the composer and the RPO.

Arnold's conducting of Beckus the Dandipratt is everything one might wish; and again the performance and conducting are excellent.

Some critics were not fully satisfied, however. Writing in The Gramophone, critic and composer Malcolm MacDonald complained that "this constantly faultless presentation of an undeviatingly cheerful mood is perhaps becoming too much the exclusive province of Arnold's music." That would soon change, however; Arnold was to develop a pronounced dark side as a result of alcoholism and mental illness. One biography of him is subtitled "The Brilliant and the Dark," another "Rogue Genius."

Gramophone ad, December 1955

English Dances, Scottish Dances - Plus Britten-Rossini

Previously on this site, I've shared Adrian Boult's 1954 recording of Arnold's justly famous English Dances. Boult conducted the first performance of the first set of dances (there are two) in 1951, but did not record them until 1954.

Robert Irving

In the meantime, Robert Irving, music director of the Sadler's Wells Ballet, had recorded both sets for HMV in 1953 with the Philharmonia. These were released with the incongruous backing of the Les Sylphides ballet music, which made use of Chopin piano works in orchestrations by Roy Douglas.

In 1956, Kenneth MacMillan adapted the English Dances for his ballet Solitaire. Probably spurred by this, HMV reissued the Irving recordings in 1957 (mentioning the Solitaire connection on the cover), adding a new recording of Arnold's Scottish Dances, which the composer had just written for the BBC.

HMV's cover

The discmate for the Arnold works was more compatible this time: Britten's reworking of Rossini into the two suites, Matinées Musicales and Soirées Musicales. George Balanchine had used the music in his 1941 ballet Divertimento.

In the US, the HMV recordings were issued by Capitol, which trumpeted the Britten works on the cover, presumably because he was better known in America than Arnold.

Irving's conducting of the excellent Philharmonia is just fine, and the LP is very successful.

Throughout this period, Arnold was making a name in film music, as well. His scores for The Key, Trapeze and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness are available here.

As usual, the downloads include scans, photos and reviews. The Epic LP is from my collection. The Capitol album has been cleaned up from a lossless needle drop on Internet Archive.

A Dolf in Wolf's Clothing

I enjoyed presenting my recent post of LPs by Dutch light music maestro Dolf van der Linden, so I've prepared another one - with a difference.

The change is that van der Linden is not credited with the two albums in this post. Instead, they are attributed to a made-up bandleader named "Daniel De Carlo." It's not clear why the Decca company decided to issue these fine records under a pseudonym. Perhaps van der Linden had a contract with another company?

"Daniel De Carlo" smudges one of his records

Whatever the reason for the obfuscation, Decca then decided it would market its De Carlo LPs with a whole series of hideous covers, as if to repel the record buying public. One wonders what the motivation would be to encase a perfectly delightful album of melodies with a photo of a man in a mangy wolf's head, his vulpine leer proffering One Night of Love. I can't imagine a less inviting promise.

It's not as though this was a one-time occurrence, either. The Decca art director ordered three such beastly covers (to my knowledge). In one, a ratty fox wearing earphones advertises George "The Fox" Williams' LP The "Fox" in Hi-Fi. There also is one featuring a tattered tiger costume, also inflicted on van der Linden (you can see it advertised on the back of both of these De Carlo albums).

For the second De Carlo LP in this post, This Is Romance, Decca didn't concoct anything so repulsive, just one of its usual derpy concepts, this one involving a boy, a girl, and a papier-mâché tree.

The music in these albums, in contrast, is elegant and well recorded. For One Night of Love, van der Linden mixes works by European composers with better-known pieces like "Lullaby of Birdland" and "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" (which songs, come to think of it, are also by Europeans). The second record is similar, with the unfamiliar alongside such items as "Once in a While" and even the "Tennessee Waltz." The conductor also includes one of his own compositions, "Angele" in the This Is Romance set.

Dolf van der Linden and the Metropole Orchestra

Strangely, Decca provides a straightforward biographical sketch of van der Linden on both LPs, attributing his life events to De Carlo. Even more strangely, Decca issued other van der Linden records under another pseudonym - "Van Lynn." This was at least closer to the conductor's real name.

There is more about van der Linden in my first post of his LPs.