Holiday Express Part 3 - New Year's

Our friend David Federman has graced the blog with two previous Holiday Express musical compilations - for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. This final installment of 31 nostalgic songs commemorates New Year's. 

Here are David's notes:

One happy holiday eve deserves another. So here as a Christmas Eve present is a New Year's Eve present. This mix is as vintage as I get. But I wanted to take your minds off our troubled present and possibly thwarted future.

The mix is an experiment in inversion. I am imagining a New Year’s Eve no longer possible for me and my wife since Covid drove us indoors and relative penury keeps us there. My wife and I are trying to reconstruct the good times of our parents on this occasion, with records mostly made between World War One and Two. New Years then were manly public and now they are mainly private. Climate change and the rapidly disintegrating politics bring reluctance with every resolution because they are too small and frivolous for the magnitude of this moment.

So we will take leave of the present and celebrate in pub and nightclub and any other gathering place meant for joyful, intimate socializing. Dress for an evening out and wear shoes shined and suited for dancing. And if you drink a little too much, or expect to, take cabs. You'll in a safe place where the future can be taken for granted. So toast a time when forever was an earnest expectation and could be expected to last forever.

The mix remains marginally mindful of the dangers of those times and ours and I call your attention to the sophisticated menace of Charlie Kunz’s masterful version of Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” and the impossible wish for time-suspension in Geraldo’s version of “Let’s Stop the Clock.” Early 20th Vaudeville provided some eternally timely novelty. A British big band songstress, Eve Becke, makes a couple of appearances, as does American expatriate pianist and bandleader Charlie Kunz, who settled in England in the 1920s and remained there all his very popular professional life. I end with the most imaginative and occasion-specific version of "Farewell Blues" I have ever heard. 

Please join me in toasting David for all his contributions to this blog through the years!

LINK to Holiday Express Part 3

Christmas Music by Bax, Holst, Rutter and Vaughan Williams

A quick post to conclude the Christmas season here - a very good LP of music by or arranged by the English composers Arnold Bax, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Rutter.

The performers are the Plymouth Festival Chorus and Orchestra, a Minneapolis organization, under their long-time director Philip Brunelle. This record dates from 1984. It is a follow-up to a 1983 LP I shared last year.

Philip Brunelle conducts

The most interesting music on the LP is the contribution by Arnold Bax, his "Five Fantasies on Polish Carols." The carols themselves are lovely, and are set off by Bax's heavily chromatic orchestral style, such a contrast to the simple carols. The effect is heightened by the charming performance of the Bel Canto Voices, a choir of high school-age girls.

Sir Arnold Bax

The Holst carols come from 1907 and were originally set with piano accompaniment. Producer Cary John Franklin contributed the effective orchestrations heard here.

John Rutter is famous for his carol settings today; even 40 years ago he was renowned for his music. This LP adds seven of his works to the like number contained on the 1983 album I mentioned above. Also, a few weeks ago I shared a "Carols for Choirs" LP that includes five of his compositions.

Today's album share is completed by that Vaughan Williams seasonal staple, the "Fantasia on Greensleeves."

My best wishes to everyone for a fine holiday!

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Gordon MacRae and Lena Horne Christmas Seals Shows from 1959

Following up on the previous set of Christmas Seals shows from Julius La Rosa and Jack Benny, here is an LP from 1959 featuring Gordon MacRae and Lena Horne.

Unlike the previous 16-inch record, which came from 1954, this LP was a 12-inch product and came in a sleeve. The cover is above, but I will confess I embellished it  -  the only thing in color on the original was the troupe of zombie children marching to the mailbox.

The other difference to at least the La Rosa program is that none of the musical specialties were recorded specifically for Christmas Seals. They all came from commercial LPs. The intros and spots, of course, were done for these programs.

Each program includes five musical selections, three Christmas Seals spots, and announcements. Here is a quick rundown of the selections.

Gordon MacRae Show

Gordon MacRae

Most of MacRae's songs came from his then-recent Capitol LP, The Seasons of Love - "It Might as Well Be Spring," "Autumn Leaves" and "It's Summer in Your Eyes." (There are no winter songs on that album, save for "June in January.")

Also on the Christmas Seals program were "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," likely his 1956 recording, and "Count Your Blessings," from 1954. The latter is sometimes considered a Christmas song because it was introduced in the film White Christmas. Van Alexander leads the band on all these selections.

Gordon is a big favorite around these parts. Here are links to his recordings on this blog and the singles blog.

Lena Horne Show

Lena Horne

Lena Horne has appeared here only a few times, mainly because her recordings are widely available. I did transfer her first LP (on M-G-M) as a memorial 13 years ago, only to find that the songs were to be reissued the following week. And with her Black & White singles, those too have been reissued, as I discovered recently in preparing a post devoted to those early discs.

I've newly redone the M-G-M LP in ambient stereo for those interested.

Horne's Christmas Seals program starts off with a song that Billy Strayhorn wrote for her - "You're the One," a very good piece that surprisingly is otherwise unrecorded. 

The Strayhorn number, "You Do Something to Me" and "It's All Right with Me" come from her 1956 LP It's Love. "Just in Time" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" come from 1958's Give the Lady What She Wants. The orchestra is led by Lennie Hayton on all songs.

Happy holidays to all!

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Glad Tidings from 17th Century Europe

In 1968 Roger Norrington was embarking on a recording career that lasted more than 50 years. His first LP was this collection of Christmas music from the baroque era.

For the Argo record, Sir Roger (as he is now) brought along the Heinrich Schütz Choir he had founded in 1962, the London String Players (which were actually the illustrious Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, then a string ensemble), the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, and the Camden Wind Ensemble, presumably led by oboist Anthony Camden.

Roger Norrington at a 1968 recording session

Norrington later became famed for historically informed performance practices, but this does not reflect that interest. It is instead used the halfway measures that were common back then: reduced forces and a de-emphasis on the Romantic style that was the norm in concert programs. 

Derek McCullough's sleeve explains the aims of the program: "The selection of music on the present disc limits itself in time to a period of about 100 years and sets out to show how great, minor and anonymous composers from all over Western Europe sought to translate the mystery and joy of the Incarnation into music. The result is a startling diversity of styles, ranging from the gentle sentimentality of an anonymous Spanish song to the sophisticated unpredictability of a madrigale spirituale by Heinrich Schütz."

The works were composed from c1585 (Giovanni Gabrieli's "O magnum mysterium") to 1687 (Henry Purcell's Christmas Anthem "Behold I bring you glad tidings," the most substantial work on the program).

The result: The Gramophone's Denis Arnold found the disc was, "Altogether a very creditable and enjoyable affair, and a most suitable Christmas present for a favourite graduate uncle." I do hope you and your graduate uncles all like it.

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Christmas with the Postwar Bands

The Ray McKinley Band

Interest in America's big bands tailed off in the postwar years, but the most popular bands were still active in the recording studio. And of course they produced that staple of the music industry, the holiday release, whether covering an old favorite or introducing the latest work from one of America's tunesmiths.

In today's post we'll look at 14 of these seasonal specialties. The recordings include both the newest songs and perennials revisited by the upcoming bands.

We'll concentrate on the postwar years, but let's start with two items from the late-war era.

Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak's band is largely forgotten, even though he was prominent and popular for quite a period. In 1944, he came out with the new song "A Wonderful Winter (For You and Me)" by Marty Symes and Al Kaufman. It went nowhere on the charts, but still it's a pleasant outing in the hands (lips?) of trumpeter Spivak and singer Jimmy Saunders. Alvin Stoller is the drummer in this band - he will appear at the end of this post in an unfamiliar role as vocalist in a Billy May number.

In early 1945, Les Brown's band was covering a good song with a holiday (or at least winter) veneer, "Sleigh Ride in July." Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke wrote the piece for Dinah Shore to introduce in the film Belle of the Yukon. The popular version of the song was by Bing Crosby, but Brown's Gordon Drake does it well, too.

Les Brown, Jack Haskell

The following year, Les came back with a two-sided Christmas offering. One side was the new "Christmas Song," presented by his popular vocalist Doris Day. It was backed by "When You Trim Your Christmas Tree," a worthy outing by Doris' male counterpart, Jack Haskell. I may have shared this item a long time ago, but it's worth a revisit. In later years, Haskell had a fair amount of success on television.

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" has become one of the most popular songs of the season. (Second Hand Songs lists 1,295 versions!) The first recording was by Bing in 1943, and there was a well-received release by Perry Como three years later. In 1947, the song was taken up by vocalist/bandleader Eddy Howard, who had a big hit the previous year with "To Each His Own." Eddy was not without his vocal mannerisms, but his reading of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is sincere and affecting.

Eddy Howard, Ray McKinley

Ray McKinley had a long career as bandleader, and before that was a noted drummer-singer with Jimmy Dorsey and Will Bradley. McKinley was a close friend of Glenn Miller, co-led the Miller AAF Band following Miller's disappearance, and later fronted the Miller ghost band. Even so, the arrangements for his own postwar band betrayed little Miller influence, being done by the noted Eddie Sauter and Deane Kincaid. There is an extensive survey of McKinley's postwar recordings on this blog, but today we'll just sample one - a new song for 1948 called "Little Jack Frost Get Lost" by Al Stillman and Segar Ellis. Ray is the vocalist, and manages as usual to be stylish even though he had very little range.

An Amos Milburn recording session

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers had a hit in 1947 with "Merry Christmas, Baby," with a vocal by Charles Brown. In 1949, another piano-playing singer, Amos Milburn, tried to duplicate this success by pretty much duplicating the song, rearranging the title into "Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby." It's a basic blues number, but tuneful and well done. The label credits "Amos Milburn and His Chicken-Shackers," not because they had opened a restaurant, but because they had recently enjoyed a chart success with "Chicken Shack Boogie."

Harry Prime

Ralph Flanagan led one of the first and most successful Miller-clone bands. In 1949 RCA Victor was giving him a big push on its Bluebird budget label, including his Miller-esque disc of "White Christmas," with an sonorous vocal by Harry Prime. Victor issued a series of promos at the time, including a Flanagan intro to this record. You can find it on my other blog. The bandleader also has been a frequent visitor on this site.

Freddie Mitchell

Tenor sax playing bandleader Freddie Mitchell could and did turn anything into a boogie, particularly after his 1949 success with "Doby's Boogie," named in honor of Cleveland Indians outfielder Larry Doby. For the holiday season that same year he came out with the "Jingle Bell Boogie," which works much better than you might expect, particularly if you have a taste for rip-roaring tenor saxes and plinkety-plunk upright pianos. The other side of that disc was the "Auld Lang Syne Boogie," which I uploaded several years ago. Sixteen more Mitchell sides (including "Doby's Boogie") can be found here.

Ray Anthony, Ronnie Deauville

Peter De Rose and Carl Sigman penned "A Marshmallow World" in 1950. It's a winning song, and while never a huge hit, did attract the attention of some heavy hitters, including Bing and Vic Damone. Our entry will be the version by the Ray Anthony band, another part-time Miller clone outfit that was very popular for years. The vocal here is by Ronnie Deauville, a particular favorite of mine. I devoted several posts to him and his sad story in the early days of this blog.

Louis Jordan

"May Every Day Be Christmas" is a sentiment that has long been a popular with songwriters (and others). This 1951 iteration is by alto saxophonist and vocalist Louis Jordan, one of the greatest hitmakers of the postwar era. Here he fronts a big band plus organist Wild Bill Davis. The earnest results are quite a contrast with such jaunty Jordan hits as "Five Guys Named Moe."

Tex Beneke and Cash Box ad

Also in 1951, Tex Beneke came out with a two-sided Christmas special - "The Santa Claus Parade" and "A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus." By this time, Tex had left the Miller scene behind and was making records for M-G-M without a trace of Glenn's trademark sound. These two are engaging novelties from the saxophonist-vocalist, whose other work can be found here.

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan

As the 1950s wore on, bands tried to distinguish themselves by trying something different - in the case of Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan's band, it was to drop any pretense of playing for dancers, rather presenting themselves as a concert ensemble. The musical results were often exciting, but seldom commercial - not pop enough to be popular and not classical enough to attract the high-toned crowd. The band's 1952 Christmas issue is a good example of the Sauter-Finegan approach - a winning arrangement of the "Troika" movement from Sergei Prokofiev Lt. Kije Suite, called "Midnight Sleighride" by the arrangers. Prokofiev's piece has become associated with the season, and the band's sleigh bells point up that connection. The Sauter-Finegan Band has been featured here several times.

Billy May

Finally, Billy May's "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo" from 1954. This was one of May's contributions to the mambo mania of the time. Drummer Alvin Stoller does a knocked-out Perez Prado routine - instead of Prado's "ugh" he shouts "May!" and a number of other interjections, some I can even understand. The chart's slurping saxes were characteristic of May and well suited to this kiddie favorite.

May was another bandleader (his was a studio band) who had a Miller connection - he played trumpet in the band (as did Ray Anthony). Bill Finegan was a Miller arranger. As noted, Ray McKinley was in the AAF band and later led the Miller ghost band. Tex Beneke was in the prewar band and led the official Miller band postwar.

These selections were remastered from needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally vivid, as is often the case with old 78s (believe it or not).

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Carols for Choirs with Sir David Willcocks

One of the greatest contributions of the eminent choral director Sir David Willcocks (1919-2015) was the Oxford University Press' series of Carols for Choirs. The first volume, issued in 1961, was intended to codify the best traditional carols and settings by modern composers as well. It succeeded so well it became the OUP's top selling title, and led to five additional volumes.

The first Carols for Choirs

The editors of the original book were Willcocks and his older colleague Reginald Jacques (1894-1969), who was the conductor of the Bach Choir in London. Willcocks succeeded him in that role in 1960, while remaining the director of the King's College Choir, Cambridge, a post he held from 1957 to 1974.

Following Jacques' death, Willocks and OUP sought a new collaborator for the carols series, selecting Cambridge undergraduate John Rutter (1945- ). Splendid choice - Rutter has become one of the most popular choral composers and conductors of our time.

John Rutter and David Willcocks

In 1976, OUP sponsored a recording of 14 carols as led by Willcocks, 13 of which had been published in one of the Carols for Choirs compilations. The program mirrored one led by Willcocks with the Bach Choir in the Royal Albert Hall that year. Participating were the choir, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and organist Richard Popplewell.

The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble

On the LP, the traditional carols are "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Away in a Manger," the Sussex Carol, and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," all arranged by Willcocks (the first and last with his descants), and "Silent Night," arranged by Donald Cashmore. Willcocks' "Birthday Carol" also is on the program, together with five compositions by Rutter: "Jesus Child," "Shepherd's Pipe Carol," "Star Carol," "Donkey Carol" and "Nativity Carol." The program also includes three other works by then-living composers, William Mathias' "Sir Christèmas," Alun Hoddinott's "Puer Natus" and Peter Hurford's "Sunny Bank."

Here is an excerpt from Rutter's tribute to Willcocks:

I learned many lessons from him by example: perfectionism, attention to detail (he was a crackshot proof-reader), leadership, willingness to work exhaustingly long hours without weakening, the psychology and technique of training and conducting choirs, and above all the value of life itself and the crime of wasting any of it.

Everything he wrote (including the iconic descant to O come, all ye faithful, scribbled on a train journey) met an exacting standard of craftsmanship, and his Christmas music still lights up the sky.

I am immensely the richer for having been his student, assistant, and friend.

The recording was made in St. George's Church, Hanover Square. The sound is very good.

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The present-day Bach Choir at Cadogan Hall

The Margaret Whiting Holiday Collection

The distinguished vocalist Margaret Whiting (1924-2011) made records for 50 years but never produced an complete album of holiday songs. This post collects the ones she did make, dating from 1947-93. By using a broad (very broad) definition of seasonal music, I've been able to corral 19 items in all.

Whiting was born into a musical family. Her father was the songwriter Richard Whiting, who wrote the music for many standards in his short life (he died when Maggie was 14) - including "Beyond the Blue Horizon," "My Future Just Passed," "She's Funny That Way," "Till We Meet Again," "Too Marvelous for Words" and "You're an Old Smoothie."

With Johnny Mercer

Maggie became a professional singer at a young age, and quickly showed that she had great talent - excellent intonation, clear diction, sensitivity to lyrics, lovely tone, and so on.

Her father's former co-writer, Johnny Mercer, brought her into the studios the day before her 18th birthday for a Capitol recording date that included her father's "My Ideal." It was the beginning of regular Capitol sessions, but it wasn't until five years later that Maggie set down a holiday song - and that's where our chronological review begins.

The 1940s

Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" was new when Whiting recorded it in May 1947. Hers was the first recording of this standard, and it's a good one, with backing by her frequent collaborator, bandleader Frank De Vol. Loesser did not intend his song to be a seasonal item - he pictured it being sung earlier in the year - but no one else seems to agree. This collection includes both Capitol's originally-issued take and an alternate.

With Frank De Vol

These days, "While the Angelus Was Ringing" is better known by its original title, "The Three Bells." It is a Swiss-French song, first a hit for Édith Piaf and Les Compagnons de la chansons as "Les trois cloches." In the US, "Angelus" was originally more popular than the competing "The Three Bells," but that was to change, particularly following the Browns' 1959 hit under the latter title.

In common with many other American artists, Whiting recorded "Angelus" in 1948. (On the record label, Capitol managed to mangle the title into "When the Angelus Is Ringing.") Under any name, the song's simplicity and sincerity make it well suited to the season. Whiting herself was to record "The Three Bells" years later - we'll get to that below.

Maggie set down another new Frank Loesser song in 1949, this one definitely seasonal - "Baby, It's Cold Outside," here in a duet with Johnny Mercer. Paul Weston conducted. It's a good, professional version; I prefer a little more nuance, a la the Pearl Bailey-Hot Lips Page rendition.

Later in the year, Whiting was to go to work on several seasonal songs, along with a special Capitol promotional record.

First is "(It Happened at) The Festival of Roses," which is a nice song but only the most generous of judges would consider it a holiday item. Fortunately I am just such a benevolent character. The song is by Al Goodheart and Dick Manning, the latter of whom also wrote the words for "While the Angelus Was Ringing."

Whiting's big Christmas coupling for 1949 was "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" along with the "Mistletoe Kiss Polka." The former, a Martin and Blane classic, came from the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. Maggie is suitably sensitive. For the contrasting latter number, she is appropriately bouncy. Polkas were popular in the late 40s - this entry is unexpectedly by the Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy, working with Constance Palmer. De Vol again is the bandleader, with the Mellomen as supporting vocalists.

"Season's Greetings from Capitol" was a fun promotional record from 1949 aimed at the jukebox operators of the nation. I first posted it last year; you can read more about it here.

The 1950s

Also in 1949, Whiting had begun recording with singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely. They were successful right out of the gate with a cover of Floyd Tillman's honky-tonk anthem "Slipping Around." The next year, Capitol decided to have them attempt some seasonal fare, and again the results were pleasing. One side was a cover of Livingston and Evans' "Silver Bells," which was written for the Bob Hope epic The Lemon Drop Kid. The Bing Crosby-Carol Richards recording of the song became a hit in 1950, well before the film's 1951 release.

Vocally, Whiting and the unassuming Wakely were well matched, and their "Silver Bells" is nicely sung. The backing is by yet another singing cowboy, Foy Willing, and his ensemble. It lacks impact and has little holiday flavor so the record was never a threat to Bing's disk.

Willing, Wakely and Jack Kenney collaborated on writing the flip side, "Christmas Candy," which is more lively. Musically, the song is strongly reminiscent of 1947's "Here Comes Santa Claus."

Whiting was to remain at Capitol for several more years, but no more Christmas songs were forthcoming from that label. However, let me add another "bells" number - 1952's "Singing Bells" by George Wyle and Eddie Pola, who were responsible for the Christmas classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." "Singing Bells" is sort of a clog dance, which you can do around your Christmas tree if you so choose. Lou Busch - then Whiting's husband - leads the band.

On the radio

Also from this period we have an aircheck of Maggie doing "It's Christmas Time Again," a very good song by Sonny Burke, Jack Elliott and James Harwood that was introduced by Peggy Lee in 1953. The Whiting edition likely comes from a 1953 or 1954 Bob Hope Show - she performed it both years.

Let's zoom ahead to 1959 and Maggie's new home at Dot records. There, she remade two of the songs discussed above. First was a version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with studio vocalist Bill Lee, a member of the Mellomen group that assisted on the "Mistletoe Kiss Polka." Lee was a talented singer, but he is too bland for this song. This cut comes from the LP Margaret Whiting's Great Hits. It's one of those early stereo affairs with extreme separation of the two voices. At one point, they change sides, which I imagine is supposed to suggest Bill Lee pursuing Maggie. Russ Garcia conducts.

Circa 1960

Next we revisit "The Three Bells," recorded in the wake of the Browns' chart success. The Whiting version, which comes from the LP Ten Top Hits, includes the tolling bells vocal backing ("bum, bum, bum, bum") identical to the Browns and similar to Les Compagnons de la chanson on the original. Milt Rogers was arranger and conductor.

Later Recordings

Maggie was to produce no more seasonal records for another 20 years. For her 1982 album Come a Little Closer she included the obscure (and depressing) "After the Holidays," where she implores her mate to stay with her for one more season. As a downer, it is right down there with Gordon Jenkins' "Happy New Year."

Circa 1980s

Whiting contributed two numbers to pianist Loonis McGlohon's 1990 album We Wish You a Merry Christmas - "White Christmas" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." McGlohon was an excellent musician and these are accomplished readings, although Maggie's voice is not as fresh as it once was.

Loonis McGlohon

McGlohon's follow-up was 1992's A Christmas Memory. Whiting is heard on a remake of "Silver Bells," thankfully without Foy Willing.

The following year, Maggie recorded "The Christmas Waltz" for the album A Cabaret Christmas. Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne wrote the piece for Frank Sinatra. Whiting's rendition includes a bridge that sounds improvised; the entire performance is quite free, interestingly so. Her music director, Tex Arnold, is the pianist.

That's all we have from Maggie's sporadic holiday output. It's a shame there was no seasonal album from such an accomplished artist. This collection was assembled from a variety of sources, including Internet Archive and my collection. The sound is generally very good.

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