More Vocals by the Great Stuart Foster

My posts of vocals by Stuart Foster were so successful (artistically, anyway), that I wanted to bring him back for an encore. Today we have 19 songs from singles issued under his name or those of bandleaders Hugo Winterhalter, Gordon Jenkins, Russ Case and several others.

Foster was busy in the studio because he could sing almost anything convincingly, displaying great sensitivity or impressive power as the song demanded. Listening to him is always a pleasure.

Today's singles date from 1949-53.

"Wishing Star" is a pretty ballad that did fairly well for bandleader Russ Case and Foster in 1949. Case's arrangement is dated but lovely, and no one did this kind of wonderment better than Foster. The Modernaires were the market competition for this one.

Next, circa late 1950, we have four songs issued under Stuart's own name for the small PAB label. This were likely done at the invitation of bandleader Dick Freitas, who co-wrote all the tunes, two with the well-known Albert McCarthy, and two with Freitas' wife Mary. (Down Beat sneered at her contributions, observing that they "are a clear indication of why every third American is supposed to fancy himself a song writer." Actually, she is not as bad as all that, although no Ira Gershwin.) The songs are the ballads "If It Isn't Forever" and "Casually" and the contrasting Latin numbers "Carnival" and "Querida." 

In early 1951, bandleader Hugo Winterhalter had the happy idea of pairing Stuart with "Alice in Wonderland," the gorgeous title song of the Disney movie. Foster does wonders with this fine Sammy Fain-Bob Hilliard song. The flip is also good - "I'll Never Know Why," by lyricist Sammy Gallop and veteran songwriter Chester Conn.

A few months later, Foster was in the studio with Bill Snyder, who claimed to wield a "Magic Piano," although he sounds like all the other grandiloquent pianists who were popular back then. The songs are good, even so. Snyder wrote "My Dearest" with singer turned songwriter Sunny Skylar. "Unless" was an English number with music by Torchard Evans and lyrics from Robert Hargreaves and Stanley Damerell. Gracie Fields and Al Bowlly recorded it over there in the 1930s; Eddie Fisher and Guy Mitchell over here in 1951.

Billboard, August 11, 1951

Hugo Winterhalter brought Foster on board again in 1951 for "Make Believe Land," a song by Abner Silver and Benny Davis, who had been writing together for 30 years at that point. Nat Cole did a competing version for Capitol.

Also for RCA Victor at about the same time was "When I'm Gone," written by arranger Dewey Bergman working with Sunny Skylar. The bandleader's name on the label was "Bob Dewey" but that was a pseudonym for Bergman when he recorded for RCA. The song's trenchant lyrics were "You'll be sad, you'll be lonely, when I'm gone, when I'm gone, when I'm gone," in waltz time. The tune is basically the same as the wartime hit "In My Arms."

Russ Case called Foster in for a go at "Play, Fiddle, Play," which, you may have guessed, was a quasi-gypsy tune. The writer was, appropriately, fiddler Emery Deutsch, working with Jack Lawrence and Arthur Altman. The singer is effective in the tune, but it's undoubtedly kitschy.

In early 1952, Stuart issued a few sides under his own name on the small Abbey label, with backing by the experienced Dick Jacobs. "Chimney Smoke" is one of those quasi-folk tunes of the time that managed to insert extra syllables into words to make them sound more, well, folksy. So "chimney" herein comes out "chim-a-nee." Foster is persuasive as always, but these affectations drive me up the listening room wall. Abbey did Stuart no favor by pressing this one a half-step sharp.

The flip side was a revival of "Take Me," a nice Rube Bloom-Mack David song that was a success for Jimmy Dorsey a decade earlier. Foster, predictably, is much better in the song than Dorsey's scrawny-voiced and out-of-tune Helen O'Connell. Jacobs' arrangement starts off loud but settles down.

In late 1952, Stuart was back with Hugo Winterhalter for two memorable movie songs that are seldom heard these days. These, along with "Alice in Wonderland" and "Julie" (below) are the best recordings in the set. "Your Mother and Mine" comes from the Disney version of Peter Pan, with Sammy Fain providing the music, working this time with Sammy Cahn.

From Frank Loesser's score for the Danny Kaye film Hans Christian Andersen came "Anywhere I Wander," a beautiful song that became the first big hit for Julius La Rosa. Foster's reading is well worth hearing.

Making pop songs from classical works is an old trick and not one I enjoy, but the the next version is certainly unique. Jack Lawrence and Fred Spielman had the idea of turning Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune into a rapt pop song called "Afternoon Dream," and Gordon Jenkins thought that Foster would be just the right singer for the number. He was right; Foster did "rapt" about as well as anyone.

The other side of the record could not be more of a contrast - a noisy David Saxon-Norman Gimbel number called "Fury," which treatment befits its title. Foster shows his range here in his bravura singing.

The final song is another overlooked gem from a film of the time. "Julie" comes from 1953's Take the High Ground, a war movie whose principal female character is named Julie, played by Elaine Stewart. The glorious theme by Dmitri Tiomkin, working with Charles Wolcott, is superbly done by Foster backed by Le Roy Holmes. One of the finest things in this collection, it provides a fitting conclusion.

Most of these recordings were remastered from items found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally excellent.