Lee Wiley - The RCA Victor Recordings

If you asked me to choose my favorite Lee Wiley records, her various circa 1940 songbooks would be the winners. But these 1956-57 discs would not be far behind.

Today's post includes all the 26 songs she recorded for RCA Victor during those years. The singer was for the most part in prime form; it is regrettable that she made no more records for 15 years thereafter - and those were disappointments.

The Victors include two complete albums and part of another:

• West of the Moon with Ralph Burns, from 1956

• A Touch of the Blues with Billy Butterfield, from 1957

• Two songs from a 1956 jazz miscellany issued under the name of TV host Dave Garroway. (The LP is included in full. It also has contributions from Barbara Carroll, Deane Kincaide, Helen Ward, Tito Puente and Peanuts Hucko.)

I've added a bonus EP, issued to promote a 1963 fictionalized television drama based on incidents in Wiley's life.

All items are from my collection. We'll start with the complete LPs, then circle back to the Garroway collection and the EP. 

West of the Moon

Wiley is in mostly commanding form throughout West of the Moon. She is surprisingly compatible with modernist arranger-conductor Ralph Burns, whose charts support her well - although I can't help but note that she seemed more attuned to the collective improvisations of the groups that backed her on the songbooks.

And in fact, she starts off with a song beloved of those throwback groups - "You're a Sweetheart," which I was intrigued to learn she had not recorded before. To me, Burns' repetitive arrangement is a disappointment, but the vocal is excellent.

Lee moves on unexpectedly to Kurt Weill's "This Is New," where she sounds uncomfortable with the melody line; a shame, it's a magnificent song from the score by Weill and Ira Gershwin for Lady in the Dark.

She's in more compatible territory with the bouncy "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," a movie song from 1938 by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. There are good solos by Billy Butterfield and Peanuts Hucko.

Lee does the highly sophisticated "Who Can I Turn To?" soulfully, an apt tribute to a 1941 piece by Alec Wilder and William Engvick. It is the first song they wrote together.

Burns wrote a lovely chart for Richard Whiting's "My Ideal," and Wiley graces it by including the wonderfully contrasting verse. This would be near perfection except that Lee was not in prime voice.

She is great, however, in "Can't Get Out of This Mood," which Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh wrote for Ginny Simms and the 1942 film Seven Days' Leave. But be sure to hear Sarah Vaughan's 1950 Columbia recording.

Ralph Burns and Lee Wiley

"East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" was the biggest hit for short-lived songwriter Brooks Bowman, who composed it for a Princeton show. Burns' gentle arrangement is just right for this song, which is usually done as a rhythm number.

Lee reached back to the 1920s for the Sammy Fain-Irving Kahal "I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain," almost never heard these days. She includes the verse, which I'm not sure I've heard otherwise. The song has contrived lyrics, but a memorable melody. The singer is near ideal, and the backing is sympathetic. There's a notable solo by Lou McGarity on trombone.

"Moonstruck" is a high quality song written for Bing to warble in 1933's College Humor, but forgotten these days. It is characteristic Crosby material from the time - but Lee is persuasive as well. The arrangement for the Arthur Johnston-Sam Coslow song is subtly done.

Like "This Is New," "Limehouse Blues" was introduced by Gertrude Lawrence. She performed it with Jack Buchanan in the 1921 West End revue A to Z. It's a fascinating song, although wildly dated, and Burns can't resist including the usual chinoiserie. The song is set up beautifully by the seldom-performed verse.

Wiley and Burns also use the verse to good effect in "As Time Goes By" - again, it leads into the the famous chorus very well.

The LP is rounded off by a return to a Dixieland-type arrangement on Fats Waller-Andy Razaf's perennial "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now," an upbeat end to the proceedings.

The recording captures Wiley's voice truthfully, but the engineers did swaddle the band in too much reverb.

LINK to West of the Moon

A Touch of the Blues

I will admit to preferring the second album, A Touch of the Blues, on all counts - the arrangements by Al Cohn and Bill Finegan, Wiley's singing, the material and the quality of the sound.

Most of the songs are not standards, but are all the more welcome because of it. The first three selections date from as long ago as 1909.

Al Cohn

"The Memphis Blues" is a W.C. Handy song with lyrics by George Norton that is seldom if ever heard these days. Lee and the swinging Al Cohn chart make an strong argument for it.

"From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water" is another case. One of Charles Wakefield Cadman's Indianist works, it's a period piece that should have been left in the period. Wiley was of Native American descent, but the material is not suited to her.

When I first saw the title "The Ace in the Hole," I thought of the Cole Porter song that Mary Jane Walsh introduced in Let's Face It. But this is an earlier piece, and an interesting one at that. James Dempsey and George Mitchell were the authors.

Bill Finegan

Louis Armstrong was the fellow behind "Someday You'll Be Sorry," a good tune not often heard. Bill Finegan's arrangement is entirely supportive. Most enjoyable, with Lee at ease.

"My Melancholy Baby" is certainly well known. Dating back to 1912, it was written by Ernie Burnett and George A. Norton (although Ben Light claimed he was the composer). By the time Wiley recorded it, the piece had become something of a punch line because of its use in the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, where a drunken heckler yells for Judy Garland to "sing Melancholy Baby." (Ex-vaudeville trouper William Frawley - Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy - claimed to have introduced the number. For the curious, his recording has appeared here.) As often on these records, Wiley graces the song by including the verse.

Billy Butterfield

She does not do so, however, for "A Hundred Years from Today," although the composition does have a beautiful introduction by trumpeter Billy Butterfield, who leads the band on the LP. This fine song is the handiwork of Victor Young (Lee's early mentor), Ned Washington and Joe Young.

I really enjoy Benny Carter's "Blues in My Heart," which suits Wiley perfectly. Finegan's sparse arrangement is tailored to the subject matter. Butterfield has a striking obbligato.

"Maybe You'll Be There" is one of Rube Bloom's best songs, with a sensitive lyric by Sammy Gallop. Cohn provides a simple arrangement. The present recording is good, but it will not make you forget Sinatra's recording of the same year, made with Gordon Jenkins.

"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," a celebrated number by Arlen and Koehler, is nicely done. This cut is marred by the strangely pinched sound of the muted trumpets.

Frank Loesser and Jule Styne were eminent musicians, but "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" was most effective in its period as a war song. Wiley doesn't seem all that involved.

"Make Believe" is one of the last songs I would have identified with Lee; it's a soaring, quasi-operetta piece that is one of Kern's greatest creations. She does pull it off, but she, Cohn and Butterfield never seem completely happy with the material.

The title song is another matter altogether. "A Touch of the Blues" is a lost gem from Eddie Wilcox, the pianist of the Jimmy Lunceford band, with words by Don George. A good Cohn arrangement, too.

The sound is generally very good, widely spaced early stereo.

LINK to A Touch of the Blues

Dave Garroway Presents the Wide, Wide World of Jazz

The name of this 1956 various artists LP, Dave Garroway Presents the Wide, Wide World of Jazz, was suggested by Garroway being the host of a television show called Wide, Wide World. And the songs do all relate to world locales.

The title is misleading, though, in that it presents a narrow view of jazz, with the exception of Tito Puente's presence. The other artists were from the vocal, Dixieland, swing and piano trio subgenres, and the same musicians play on most of the selections.

Lee Wiley was allotted two of the numbers, both accompanied by Deane Kincaide's Dixieland Band, which also performed two other songs sans vocal.

Deane Kincaide

"Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?", a late example of the longing-for-the-South genre that was so common in the first half of the 20th century, is an excellent song, here in a knowing performance by Wiley and Kincaide's forces. The piece comes from 1946, Louis Alter and Eddie DeLange.

We're back in the South for "Stars Fell on Alabama," a 1934 composition by Mitchell Parish and Frank Perkins. Lee is mostly relaxed and effective, although she strains to hit the highest notes. I do enjoy the arrangement, presumably by Kincaide. The vocalist is at her best in these surroundings, I think.

A few words about the other performers and songs:

Deane Kincaide's Dixieland Band - Kincaide's band has lively outings with Jelly Roll Morton's "Chicago Breakdown" and "Kansas City Stomp." Note that the "Dixieland Band" includes Billy Butterfield, Cutty Cutshall, Peanuts Hucko and Lou Stein, who also are in Hucko's Swing Band, discussed next.

Peanuts Hucko

Peanuts Hucko's Swing Band - I don't mean to imply that Hucko's band is bad - far from it. They have spirited outings with the Gus Kahn-Isham Jones "Spain" and Frank Loesser's "Wonderful Copenhagen" (written for the Danny Kaye film of Hans Christian Anderson). I enjoy this band, and may work up a post devoted to the LP that it recorded with Helen Ward.

Helen Ward

Helen Ward - Hucko's band backs ex-Goodman, James and Hal McIntyre singer Ward on two numbers: Louis Alter's "Manhattan Serenade" and the Gershwins' "A Foggy Day." Ward was a characterful singer whom I enjoy, although her intonation and control here were not impeccable.

Tito Puente

Tito Puente - It's good that Victor included Tito Puente under the jazz rubric, because he did profess to produce "jazz with a Latin touch," had just produced an LP called Puente Goes Jazz, and employed many jazz musicians, including Bernie Glow and Dave Schildkraut on this date. The songs are "Flying Down to Rio" by Youmans and Kahn and arranger Chico O'Farrill's "Havana After Dark."

Barbara Carroll

Barbara Carroll - The fluent pianist and her trio do well with "California, Here I Come" and Carroll's own "Paris Without You." She made several LPs for Victor in this period.

Most of these songs were otherwise unreleased, to my knowledge. "Flying Down to Rio" does appear on Puente's 1957 Night Beat LP, and "A Foggy Day" can also be found on Peanuts Hucko's With a Little Bit of Swing, released in 1958.

The sound is excellent on this LP.

LINK to Dave Garroway Presents the Wide, Wide World of Jazz

Something About Lee Wiley

Events in Wiley's life were the subject of the 1963 television drama Something About Lee Wiley, an episode in the NBC anthology series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre.

Piper Laurie played Wiley, with Joy Bryan dubbing her singing voice. I haven't seen the show, but it apparently deals with the time Lee fell from a horse and was temporarily blinded, and with her acrimonious marriage to pianist Jess Stacy.

Chrysler put out a promotional EP for the program. Rather than including songs from the episode, it contains two numbers from the West of the Moon LP - "East of the Sun" and "Can't Get Out of This Mood" - contrasted with two of Lee's earliest sides, both made as a band singer with Leo Reisman - "(Got the) South in My Soul" from 1931 and "Time on My Hands" from 1932.

LINK to Something About Lee Wiley

'Inside Sauter-Finegan' (and S-F Reups)

The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, circa 1954. Eddie Sauter is at the microphone.
The singers may be Anita Darian and Andy Roberts.

Fourteen years ago I posted four Sauter-Finegan Orchestra LPs and stopped there, although I have several others. Today we have a much delayed restart of the series - along with newly remastered versions of the S-F albums that have appeared here before.

Way back when, I offered the first and second S-F albums, recorded in 1952-53; the fourth LP, from 1953-54; and the Rolf Liebermann Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra, from late 1954. More about them below, along with a link to a collection of non-LP recordings.

But first, the new item.

Inside Sauter-Finegan

Today's post centers on the third S-F LP, Inside Sauter-Finegan, recorded in 1954. We might as well start the discussion with the first thing you see - the spectacular Jim Flora cover above, with caricatures of Bill Finegan and Eddie Sauter, who appear to have ingested a few musical instruments for lunch.

The arrangers were actually sober looking fellows such as you might have encountered at a local church service. They just happened to be two of the finest musicians of the day, whose music indeed sounded more like the Flora cover than the Metronome cover below.

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan

Sauter and Finegan themselves provided extensive liner notes printed on three sides of the gatefold sleeve. For some reason known only to the producer, the notes on the pieces do not follow the order they appear on the LP. (Also, the type layout on the first page is all fouled up.) Enough griping; there is much good information here.

The title Inside Sauter-Finegan is designed to denote that the LP displays the individual talents of the musicians. Let me spotlight the soloists first; then I'll run down the rest of the numbers.

Nick Travis

The excellent trumpet player Nick Travis is featured on the Ralph Freed-Burton Lane perennial "How About You?", of Garland-Rooney fame, here called "How About Choo" for some reason. Travis is accompanied by a small ensemble selected from the band.

Bobby Nichols

Another trumpeter, Bobby Nichols, is heard in Bill Finegan's nocturne, "New York ... 4 A.M." The bandleaders commented, "Bobby has bushy red hair and looks like what most people think a trumpeter should look like." I dunno, he doesn't look a thing like Louis Armstrong or Dizzy Gillespie. Maybe Red Rodney.

Sonny Russo

Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke didn't write "Pennies from Heaven" for Sonny Russo (it was for Bing in the film of the same name), but the trombonist does his best to make it his own on this recording, particularly in the spectacular cadenza.

Joe Venuto

Joe Venuto was the xylophone (I believe) soloist in "When Two Trees Fall in Love," which Sauter wrote for him. The bandleaders tagged Joe as a young man with "unlimited potential." He became a long-time studio percussionist. (There's a nice tribute to him here.)

Andy Roberts

Andy Roberts is the vocalist in Willard Robison's second-greatest hit, "Old Folks," written with Dedette Lee Hill. Roberts had excellent diction and a lovely voice, but may have been a touch too urbane for Robison's small-town ethos.

Also on this excellent LP are:

• Sousa's "The Thunderer," called "The 'Thundisbreak'" here, which adapted surprisingly well to the Sauter-Finegan manner.

• Bill Finegan called his "Finegan's Wake" a "mock wake." He writes, "This piece frowns - but if you look (or listen) closely you will see the twinkling eye beneath the frown." His words rearrange the features of the face, but you get the idea.

• "Four Horsemen" is a feature for Bobby Nichols, Nick Travis and lead trumpet Al Maiorca, along with Harvey Estrin on clarinet.

• The other vocalist on the record is Sally Sweetland, whom we recently featured here. Included in that post was "Autumn Leaves" from this LP, but I somehow missed her skillful vocalese contribution to "10,000 B.C.," which as Sauter himself notes, is at base stereotypical "Chinese" music.

• Finally, "September's Sorrow" is Sauter's attempt to "capture the forlorn quality of pleasure irretrievably lost."

LINK to Inside Sauter-Finegan

Reup - New Directions in Music

My original post combined the 10-inch version of the album with the four songs that were later added to make a 12-inch version.

The article includes a brief early history of the band. I wrote, "Although the popularity of the band didn't last, it did start off life with a promising record called 'Doodletown Fifers,' an arrangement of a Civil War tune that became the band's theme. This LP contains that song along with other pieces that are among Sauter-Finegan's best-remembered numbers - 'Moonlight on the Ganges,' 'April in Paris,' a fine arrangement of 'Azure-Te,' and their version of the Troika from Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite, called 'Midnight Sleighride' here."

A newly remastered version of the LP in ambient stereo can be found via the original post here.

Reup - The Sound of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra

The band's second album was apparently slated to be another 10-incher, but was expanded to the 12-inch format late in the process by adding the bandleaders' "Extended Play Suite," which had appeared on an EP. To complete my post, old friend Ernie contributed the "Extended Play Suite, Vol. II," which did not appear on the album. 

From the original 2010 post: "The Sound of S-F, intended to appeal to the nascent hi-fi cult, was not designed to be a cohesive record. It offers up a potpourri of vocals, attempts to recreate the 'Doodletown Fifers' success, and even a rhythm and blues cover."

Notable are the three vocals by the great Joe Mooney, including the semi-hit "Nina Never Knew."

This LP also is newly redone in ambient stereo. The original post (and link) are here.

Reup - Concert Jazz

The Concert Jazz LP contains features for Joe Venuto, Nick Travis, Sally Sweetland and Andy Roberts (an elaborate take on "John Henry" that displays his acting ability). Also, Finegan riffs on Gershwin's Concerto in F. Vocalist Anita Darian is featured in the lengthy "Pictures from Sauter-Finegan Land," which has a narration by Roberts. It's a period piece that starts off "Busy, busy, busy highways," goes into generic bustling-city music, and proceeds from there to Vermont and other places.

You'll note that there is another Jim Flora cover on this album.

For some reason I wrote very little about Concert Jazz when I first offered it, so there's no sense sending you back to the original 2015 post. You can find the newly remastered version of the LP via the link below.

LINK to Concert Jazz

Reup - Liebermann - Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra

In late 1954, Sauter-Finegan got together with the formidable Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony for a recording of Rolf Liebermann's Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra. I posted the results as long ago as 2010, but have now reworked the sound in ambient stereo. 

Actually both the concerto and its disk mate, Richard Strauss' Don Juan, were recorded in stereo but not released as such until later. Back in 2010, a reader provided a link to the stereo tape version of the Liebermann (which still works), and I've now re-recorded the Don Juan from its first stereo release on LP, dating from 1968.

More information and the link can be found via the original post here.

Sauter-Finegan Obscurities

Earlier this year I collected nine non-LP selections from the Sauter-Finegan band for my other blog under the name "Sauter-Finegan Obscurities."

The selections are "Pale Moon" (with vocalese by Florence Fogelson), "Coco Bongo," "'O' (Oh!)," "Of Thee I Sing," "Joey's Theme," "Science Fiction," "Honey Babe," "Don't Be Angry" and "I Am a Camera."

Details on these pieces and the link can be found in the original post.

The LPs are all from my collection; the singles were cleaned up from Internet Archive.

The Almost Complete 'Orchestra Wives'

About eight years ago I prepared what I described as the "almost complete Sun Valley Serenade," which involved wrangling the soundtrack recordings to the Glenn Miller band's first movie. They had appeared piecemeal across a few different releases over the years.

Today I am doing the same for Miller's second and final film, Orchestra Wives, an uneasy amalgam of musical and melodrama, with a score just as glorious as the first Miller film. And again, the recordings have been cobbled together from several sources.

Meanwhile I've revamped and added to the Sun Valley Serenade post, which you can find here. The music from both films is available in sterling ambient stereo.

The primary sources for both films are the RCA Victor albums that came out in 1954, timed to the release of Hollywood's Glenn Miller Story, and the 20th Century Fox LPs that were issued about five years later. Each set contains materials that can't be found on the other. For this go-round, I've added an alternate take for each film, derived from a long-ago bootleg.

Here are the details of the Orchestra Wives recordings. This second Miller film comes from 1942, just a year after Sun Valley Serenade. The bandleader was to enter the Army soon after its completion. Two years later his plane disappeared over the English Channel.

The Orchestra Wives score opens with a brief version of Miller's theme, his own composition "Moonlight Serenade," heard over the titles. This is an alternate version that adds a swirling harp opening.

Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Ray Eberle and the Modernaires tighten their belts

Respecting its wartime setting, the next song, "People Like You and Me," is half sentiment and half patriotism, concluding with a "let's pitch in" stanza:

We'll have to roll up our sleeves, 

Tighten our belts,

But through the dark we'll see
The lady with the liberty light for
People like you and you and you,
And people like me,
People like you and me!

As with many Miller performances, what makes the song work so well is the brilliant arrangement (by Jerry Gray or George Williams) and the meticulous execution by the band and the vocalists - Marion Hutton, Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke and the Modernaires. The song itself is a highly professional effort by the stellar Hollywood team of composer Harry Warren and lyricist Mack Gordon. They also wrote most of the Sun Valley Serenade songs.

The next number is an instrumental, "Boom Shot," which the band plays at a dance in Iowa and which kicks off the plot. (Per a blog post by Miller expert Dave Weiner, the title relates to the overhead camera technique used during the sequence.) This is a Billy May original with a George Williams arrangement.

Pat Friday

"At Last" is one of the most enduringly popular songs in the Miller canon, not least because of Etta James' 1960 cover version. But the performance in the film is perfect in its own right. The song is one of Harry Warren's best, with a fine Mack Gordon lyric, and a powerful vocal by Pat Friday dubbing for Lynn Bari's viperish band singer. Friday's excellence is matched by Ray Eberle, in fine voice, the Modernaires, and a crack chart by Jerry Gray and Bill Finegan. (Miller at the time employed several famous arrangers - Gray, Finegan, George Williams and Billy May).

"At Last" was actually written for (and cut from) Sun Valley Serenade (available here), where Friday also dubbed for Lynn Bari. Her partner that time was male lead John Payne, who sang for himself but was no match for Eberle. The Orchestra Wives version is more romantic; it also has a slightly revised melody line.

"American Patrol" is a joyous swing march, an arrangement by Jerry Gray of F.W. Meacham's "American Patrol March" of 1885. As with all these songs, the playing is flawless.

Moe Purtill

"Bugle Call Rag," which dates from 1922, is from the New Orleans Rhythm Kings band book. This spirited version, arranged by Miller himself, has a feature for the band's flashy drummer, Moe Purtill.

"Serenade in Blue" is one of the Miller band's best known songs. Written for the film by Warren and Gordon, it receives an almost impossibly romantic treatment by Billy May and Bill Finegan, vocalists Pat Friday and Ray Eberle, the Modernaires, cornetist Bobby Hackett and tenor saxophonist Tex Beneke. This version from the RCA release is much longer than what is heard in the film; notably it has a moody instrumental opening that is a marked contrast with the balance of the song.

Following this swooning number is the jaunty specialty (also by Warren and Gordon) "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo." It was an entirely successful attempt to replicate the popularity of Sun Valley Serenade's "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." Once again, Beneke is on the move to see a girl in another town, and again he is interrogated by the Modernaires in the process. Instead of "Hi there, Tex, what you say?" we get "Hi there, Tex, how's your new romance?" The performance is polished and the Jerry Gray arrangement is most effective.

The amazing Nicholas Brothers

As with "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," "Kalamazoo" was the basis of an extended dance sequence featuring the astonishing Nicholas Brothers. The extended version of the song, with the brothers' contribution, only appeared on the RCA Victor release.

Marion Hutton

Now for three songs that were cut from the film, but appeared on the later 20th Century Fox LPs. The first is a feature for Marion Hutton, a personable singer who was not quite as explosive as her sister Betty. "That's Sabotage" makes use of a wartime concern to admonish a wayward suitor - "If you've been untrue, that sabotage!" Hutton insists.

Glenn Miller and Chummy MacGregor

"Moonlight Sonata" is a Bill Finegan arrangement of Beethoven featuring pianist Chummy MacGregor and Beneke on tenor sax. It is better than the usual run of such things. Miller expert Dave Weiner says that it probably was meant as a feature for Cesar Romero, who played a pianist in the film. Miller had recorded a commercial version of the song in 1941.

George Montgomery, Cesar Romero, Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Lynn Bari

The final unused song was "You Say the Sweetest Things, Baby," a song that Warren wrote for the Alice Faye film Tin Pan Alley. Here, a subset of the Miller troupe parodies the overripe sound of a society band until it is interrupted by a raucous trumpet solo. Dave Weiner says this was apparently supposed to be the soundtrack of a scene in which trumpeter George Montgomery, the film's lead, interrupts a square ensemble with his hip playing. The trumpet you hear is Billy May.

To close the set we have an alternate take of "Serenade in Blue." This one has a different moody intro to the main melody, a modified arrangement and no vocals. Please excuse the noise and pitch wobble on this decades-old bootleg.

Why do I call this the "almost complete" Orchestra Wives? I believe there may be a snippet or two I don't have that can be found on a limited edition of the soundtrack.

Several of the musicians mentioned above have appeared elsewhere on this blog: arrangers Jerry Gray, Bill Finegan and George Williams, vocalists Pat Friday (here and here) and the Modernaires, cornetist Bobby Hackett and tenor saxophonist/vocalist Tex Beneke.

The photo below of the band on set shows three actors in place of the real musicians: Cesar Romero is at the piano for Chummy MacGregor, Jackie Gleason is on bass instead of Doc Goldberg, and George Montgomery is at the left in the trumpet section, replacing Johnny Best - who is in the photo as well.

More from Sauter-Finegan, Florence Henderson and Bruno Walter

More today from the Satuter-Finegan Orchestra, Florence Henderson and Bruno Walter (not together, I should add). These are quick follow-ups to some of the posts that have appeared here in recent months. I'd like to say you have been clamoring for them, but that wouldn't be true, so I'll just say that I hope some of you enjoy them!

A few words about each (you can tell I am tired of writing about these particular artists):

Sauter-Finegan Orchestra - Concert Jazz. This is the troupe's fourth LP (I have the third but can't find it), and it follows a familiar path, with some compositions by the individual maestros, some vocals, including an odd version of John Henry, and interesting arrangements. Great sound, a Jim Flora cover and a scan of the second cover, depicting Sauter and Finegan on stage. Recorded in 1954-55.

Florence Henderson - The Best from Fiorello! and The Sound of Music. My first post by the future Mrs. Brady was surprisingly well received by people who didn't know she sang, or who knew she sang but had never heard her do so. Like that initial LP, this album has potted versions of two Broadway hits of the time (1960) - Fiorello! and The Sound of Music. Henderson once again sounds like Mary Martin, which is especially appropriate in the latter score. The Sid Bass arrangements are loungy, which isn't to my taste in this repertoire.

Bruno Walter/Philadelphia Orchestra - Beethoven Symphony No. 6. Another installment from Walter's Beethoven cycle of the 1940s. Here he takes a break from the New Yorkers, and travels to Philadelphia and the Academy of Music for January 1946 sessions. This to my ear is a less successful performance and recording than the efforts with the PSONY, but enjoyable enough. Below, a Columbia ad from 1946 touting this new release among others. The transfer is from an early LP.

The Second Sauter-Finegan LP - and Bonus EP

My first foray into Sauter-Finegan territory was a resounding success with you, so I have quickly put together this post of the band's second album, from 1953, plus a bonus EP.

The Sound of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra came out as a 12-inch LP that was possibly intended to be a 10-inch LP when first conceived. The artwork on the cover is for a 10-inch LP - perhaps a clue that RCA had plans to issue this in the smaller format.

 Here's what may have happened. After the 10-inch LP was assembled, RCA decided to switch formats by adding two songs that had originally come out on an EP. The 7-inch EP (Extended Play) format was new, and to mark the occasion, the record company had asked Sauter and Finegan to compose an "Extended Play Suite". This consisted of the suitably titled originals "Child's Play" (from Finegan) and "Horseplay" (from Sauter).

Not that this change makes any difference. The Sound of S-F, intended to appeal to the nascent hi-fi cult, was not designed to be a cohesive record. It offers up a potpourri of vocals, attempts to recreate the "Doodletown Fifers" success, and even a rhythm and blues cover.

The vocals include three by the great Joe Mooney, including the semi-hit "Nina Never Knew," the excellent "Love Is a Simple Thing," derived from New Faces of 1952, and "Time to Dream." Former big-band warbler Anita Boyer does a good job with the awful "Now That I'm in Love," a travesty of Rossini that was a hit for Patti Page. "The Honey Jump" is a cover of Oscar McLollie's number one R&B single, with a typically disastrous band vocal and a kazoo out-chorus.

Also on the LP are the joint S-F compositions "Tweedledee and Tweedledum" and "Yankee Doodletown."

My great friend Ernie has contributed a very significant bonus - Sauter-Finegan's "Extended Play Suite - Volume II," which only came out on EP, in 1954. It contains "Dream Play" (Finegan) and "Holiday" (Sauter). This is complete with scans. Thanks, Ern!

1956 cover - Bill Finegan at the keyboard

I've completed the package with scans of the second issue LP cover, from 1956 (above). Instead of the hi-fi illustration, we have a portrait of the maestros, looking like insurance agents who had wandered on stage. The back cover has a selection of miniature color covers framing the liner notes - one of my favorite motifs from this era. Interestingly, RCA chose to advertise classical records to the Sauter-Finegan buyer. No Elvis records here, although Mario Lanza does sneak in.

The Sound of S-F was a labeled as being "Specially Recommended for High Fidelity Fans" on the original cover, and the sonics are indeed excellent.

Note (August 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo, and sounds even better.

LINK

Sauter-Finegan's First LP

My recent repost of the Rolf Liebermann Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra led to a request for more music by the band that played on that record, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.

So here is the first LP by that hyphenated ensemble, in its original 10-inch format (cover above), with the bonus of the four songs added on in 1956 to make the 12-inch album (cover below).

The group was named for Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, two leading arrangers of the big band era. Sauter worked for many of the top ensembles, starting with Red Norvo and most notably for Benny Goodman. Finegan was on Glenn Miller's staff, and then wrote for Tommy Dorsey.

The two came together in 1952, aiming to program only original compositions. They were, however, talked out of that idea by their management, who were concerned that the results would not be palatable to a broad public. And finding an audience did turn out to be a problem for the pair - the band only stayed together for five years. Their music was not danceable for the most part and was not hip enough to appeal to Kentonites. Despite the association with contemporary classical music implied by the Liebermann piece - and the promise of "New Directions in Music" on the LP cover - this was not a high-brow group, nor did it include much jazz improvisation.

First Billboard ad, 1952

What it was, was an outgrowth of the big swing bands led by two skillful arrangers who produced delightful light music. It was mainly influential with other arrangers who scored television shows, produced pop instrumentals or backed singers. (A good example can be found in the work Sid Bass did on the Florence Henderson record I posted recently.)

Although the popularity of the band didn't last, it did start off life with a promising record called "Doodletown Fifers," an arrangement of a Civil War tune that became the band's theme. This LP contains that song along with other pieces that are among Sauter-Finegan's best-remembered numbers - "Moonlight on the Ganges," "April in Paris," a fine arrangement of "Azure-Te," and their version of the Troika from Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite, called "Midnight Sleighride" here.

The bandleaders appeared on the Camel Caravan radio show in 1953

For me, the highlight of the four songs added on to the 12-inch version of the LP was Joe Mooney's vocal on his own "It's Mutual." Not a great song, but Mooney does a persuasive Billie Holiday impression that makes it enjoyable. He and the band were to go on to have a semi-hit with the great "Nina Never Knew." (This cut is on their second album, which also will appear here.) Less successful are the vocals by Florence Fogelson and Andy Roberts, who toured with the band.

In making this transfer, I worked from the 10-inch LP because it seemed to have less added reverb than the later record. I appended the four songs that were added to the 12-incher. The sound is good, with some slight noise on a few of the 10-inch cuts. The download includes a good thesis on Sauter by Alex Chilowicz that contains a useful discography.

Note (August 2024): This material has now been remastered in ambient stereo. The sound is excellent.

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