Composer-conductor Gordon Jenkins was a musical force in the 1940s and early 50s through his recordings with Decca records. He had hits backing up such diverse acts as the Andrews Sisters, Dick Haymes and the Weavers, and produced a long string of high quality discs under his own name. The two 10-inch LPs in this post bring together many of them. One is a collection of Jenkins' own songs, the other a miscellany. The 16 items feature an array of excellent vocalists, all obscure these days and deserving of recognition.
Gordon Jenkins Playing His Own Compositions
The LP of perhaps the greater interest is this 1950 disc of Jenkins songs, which tend to be romantic, nostalgic or regretful. Look at the titles, among them "Blue Prelude," "Blue Evening," "Homesick" and "Goodbye." He must have been a melancholy soul.
This is a new transfer of an LP that I first presented 14 years ago. Back then, I observed that, "Jenkins was a formidable songwriter whose material is of unusual emotional depth. He worked with fine lyricists - here Johnny Mercer, Tom Adair and Joe Bishop. His own lyrics for 'Homesick - That's All' (a war song) and 'Goodbye' are excellent, if occasionally awkward. The latter is one of the most wrenching pop songs ever composed."
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| Bob Stevens |
Three vocalists are featured on this disk. The first is the fine tenor Bob Stevens, who is heard on "You Have Taken My Heart," "With You So Far Away" and "Blue Evening." The lyricists were, respectively, Mercer, Adair and Bishop.
"With You So Far Away" was written for the 1949 Broadway revue Along Fifth Avenue, which ran for half a year. The number was apparently dropped before the show's opening; it doesn't appear in the first night's Playbill.
At various times Bob Stevens belonged to many busy studio groups, including the Norman Luboff Choir, Randy Van Horne Singers, Mellomen, Ralph Brewster Singers and the Sportsmen Quartet.
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| Bonnie Lou Williams |
Bonnie Lou Williams is the soloist on "Blue Prelude," "When a Woman Loves a Man" and "Goodbye." The words are by Bishop, Bernie Hanighen, Mercer and Jenkins himself, respectively.
The composer later made a memorable recording of "Goodbye" with Frank Sinatra, but this version is worthy, too. Jenkins also recorded "When a Woman Loves a Man" with Billie Holiday.
Bonnie Lou was previously a vocalist with Tommy Dorsey and Will Hudson.
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| Don Burke |
Another talented singer, the baritone Don Burke, presents "Homesick, That's All" and "P.S., I Love You." Both are full of nostalgia - the former with words by Jenkins, the latter by Mercer. In the first, the singer misses "the fragrant bonfires in the fall" - presumably a reference to burning leaves, which is generally illegal these days. In the latter, the singer asks his absent wife - no reason is given for her trip - "Was it dusty on the train?" This likely refers to the soot from a steam locomotive. These are things that were well known in my youth, but vanished from the world of today.
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Haymes and Jenkins also recorded another song supposedly from Along Fifth Avenue - "Maybe It's Because," written by Johnnie Scott and Harry Ruby. It was apparently cut from the show as well, and is not included in this set.
LINK to Gordon Jenkins Playing His Own Compositions
For You
The second Jenkins LP is For You, a 1951 compilation of 1945-49 singles. It too features fine if obscure vocalists.
First up are the Five Hits and a Miss, a group often heard on records and radio at the time. (Depending on who was on the date, the group could be called anything from the Three Hits and a Miss to the Six Hits, etc.) Bill Seckler was a founding member and still in the group at the time of recording. This "miss" in this configuration was Beverly Mahr, who married Jenkins in 1946.
The album's title tune features the group. "For You" comes from 1931, Joe Burke and Al Dubin, and was making a comeback in 1947.
Five Hits and a Miss also take on the quasi Russian folk song "Dark Eyes," which had become popular in a version by Chaliapin. It was frequently recorded during this period, even parodied.
Nat Simon and Jimmy Kennedy wrote "On the Painted Desert." Jenkins recorded it late 1947; the songwriters had recently had hits with "The Old Lamplighter" and "An Apple Blossom Wedding." Bob Stevens presents this tale - very well, too.
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| Charles La Vere |
Also in 1947, Gordon had a hit with "Maybe You'll Be There," the Sammy Gallop-Rube Bloom song that here has a fine vocal by Charles La Vere, a pianist that Jenkins often used for vocal chores. Charlie had a pleasing natural quality that suited such wistful numbers as this. In this collection, he also solos in "My Funny Valentine."
As a pianist, La Vere made many records with his Dixieland group Charlie La Vere and His Chicago Loopers. Years ago I compiled - but never posted - a set of these along with a number of other vocal sides he recorded for Decca with Jenkins and under his own name. La Vere also wrote songs; Andy Kirk recorded his "Cuban Boogie Woogie."
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| Joe Graydon |
The multitalented Ida Lupino introduced "Again" in the 1948 film noir Road House, where she played a torch singer. The film's music director, Lionel Newman, wrote the music, Dorcas Cochran the words. Jenkins did well with his recording that featured vocalist Joe Graydon, who is very good in this, his only hit.
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| Bill Seckler; Beverly Mahr and Gordon Jenkins |
The 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis brought the old folk dance "Skip to My Lou" to the fore, and Jenkins issued his own version, with Beverly Mahr and Bill Seckler doing a highly polished hillbilly routine, if that isn't a contradiction in terms. It's an interesting tune that came from the 19th century. While similar to a square or round dance, it uses the participants as singers, rather than a caller. This was apparently a way of getting around prohibitions on the other forms of dancing.
The final song is "Temptation," which bandleaders and singers were often tempted to record during this period. Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed wrote it for Bing to croon in 1933's Going Hollywood. Here it's done by chorus and orchestra.
LINK to For You
