The 'Cool Canaries' Chirp with George Shearing

"Cool Canaries" is typical terminology from the 1950s. It lets us know that we're going to hear some singers, and they are cool, man.

And they are cool - Billy Eckstine, Teddi King and the Ray Charles Singers, the latter of whom has appeared here a few times recently.

That said, in the 1950s, "cool jazz" had a specific meaning, and none of these artists will remind you of, say, Chet Baker's balladry.

George Shearing

Even so, they are all talented musicians, appearing here in the company of George Shearing's Quintet, which had a well-defined sound by this time - piano and vibes in unison, often with the guitar along, supported by bass and drums, with frequent solos by the leader.

The recordings date from 1951-54. Let's discuss them by the vocalists involved.

Teddi King

Teddi King

A native of Boston, Teddi King (1929-77) began her recording career with Nat Pierce and His Orchestra in 1949. (I've added two of those songs to the set as a bonus.) She began touring with George Shearing in 1952, when the six songs on this LP were recorded.

The set is successful even though the first item we hear is her weakest performance. King's a singer I admire, but she did occasionally make a meal out of some meager rations. "The Love Nest" was written by Louis Hirsch and Otto Harbach for the 1920 musical Mary, but by the 1950s was best known as the theme of the Burns and Allen Show on television. King takes the opening stanza - "Just a love nest, cozy and warm / Like a dove nest down on the farm" very slowly and intensely, as if it contained some profound meaning. Most of the performance is like that.

Things improve for the other numbers. Next up is "I Wished on the Moon," a standard written by Ralph Rainger and Dorothy Parker for The Big Broadcast of 1936. Bing Crosby introduced it; the first recording was by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson. Teddi does not suffer in comparison.

Four of the King-Shearing songs were issued on EP in England

"Love (Your Spell Is Everywhere)" (often called "Love (Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere)") comes from the 1929 film The Trespasser, where Gloria Swanson made her talkie debut by singing. The music is by the versatile Edmund Goulding, also the film's director, working with Elsie Janis, who was just as multifaceted, being an actor and screenwriter as well as lyricist. The song is well suited to King's emotive way of singing.

"Moonlight in Vermont" was a relatively new song when Teddi and George recorded it. Margaret Whiting had a hit with it in 1944. It was far and away the best-known song written by Karl Suessdorf or John Blackburn.

The next selection is an obscure one, but still a song that King had in her repertoire for some time. "Midnight Belongs to You" is a song by Clark and Gentile, of whom I know nothing. It's worth hearing in this sincere rendition.

The final number from Teddi is another standard introduced by Bing - "It's Easy to Remember (and So Hard to Forget)." A Rodgers and Hart song, it comes from the 1935 film Mississippi.

The bonus items with Nat Pierce's orchestra are covered at the end of the post.

The Ray Charles Singers

What is notable about the Ray Charles Singers' selections is that they were all written by Shearing himself. Leading off the LP is the most famous song of the group - "Lullaby of Birdland." Shearing wrote the piece for New York's Birdland club to use as its signature instrumental. He recorded it as such in 1952. George David Weiss (under the name B.Y. Forster) wrote the lyrics thereafter, which were first recorded by Ella Fitzgerald in 1954. The song itself was based on Walter Donaldson's "Love Me or Leave Me." Regardless, it's a brilliant, infectious work even if Weiss/Forster's words aren't up to Shearing/Donaldson's music.

Ray Charles in 1975

A few months after Ella's session, Shearing and Charles got together for their recording date, adding three other songs to the schedule along with "Lullaby." The other items were all written by a lyricist I believe to be Bill Hegner. They are attractive numbers that should be better known - "Nothing New Under the Sun," "Slowly but Surely" and "Adieu."

The Charles troupe does not sound much like they do in the albums I have posted already, and while they are highly accomplished and great to hear, they were not a jazz group. For whatever reason, the vocals on all these numbers were buried in the mix, which didn't do justice to either the vocalists or the songs. I've raised the singers' level accordingly.

"Lullaby of Birdland" and "Adieu" were issued on singles, but as far as I can tell this LP was the only outing for the other songs.

Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine was associated with the bop movement throughout his early career, leading a big band with luminaries of the new jazz. But on record, his biggest successes were as a balladeer, so when he moved to the M-G-M label in 1947, they recorded him primarily with plush backings provided by Hugo Winterhalter. A string of hits ensued.

In 1951, Eckstine met up with Shearing for what I believe to be their only recordings together. Billy is in sonorous voice for two standards. "Taking a Chance on Love" comes from the 1940 musical Cabin in the Sky. Ethel Waters introduced the Vernon Duke melody, with words by John Latouche and Ted Fetter.

English EP - the two did not sing together; the photo is a composite

Walter Donaldson returns with "You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)," a 1930 song from Smiles, where it was performed by Adele Astaire and Eddie Foy, Jr. Here, too, Donaldson's work was the basis of a well-known jazz number: "Moten Swing."

Bonus Songs with Teddi King

Teddi King made several recordings with pianist Nat Pierce's short-lived big band in 1949 and 1950. Two of them are included as bonuses.

Nat Pierce

Pierce had organized a stentorian band in the mold of Kenton, with idiosyncratic arrangements reminiscent of George Handy's work with Boyd Raeburn. Surprisingly, this is less noticeable in the jazz piece - "Goodbye Mr. Chops" - than it is in the nominal ballad, Don Raye and Gene de Paul's "You Don't Know What Love Is."

King's vocals are in two different styles as well - Anita O'Day hip in "Goodbye Mr. Chops" and more straightforward, if somewhat mannered, in the ballad. Her approach was more settled when she recorded with Shearing a few years later.

These are nonetheless impressive performances, well recorded for the small Motif label. Internet Archive is the source of the two 78s. The Cool Canaries LP is from my collection.

LINK to Cool Canaries and Teddi King bonus tracks

New Transfer of Shearing's First American Recordings

This unusual cover adorned the LP version of George Shearing's 1947 sessions for the Savoy label - his first American recordings.

I transferred the album many years ago, but have never been happy with the sound. Now I've done a new version with much better sonics, if hardly modern or even good for the time.

This is Shearing before his familiar quintet sound, with only bass and piano backing.

LINK to previous post on Shearing's 1947 recordings