Remembering Jack Jones

Considering that Jack Jones has long been one of my favorite singers, his neglect on this blog is a bit odd - just one post devoted to him, four years ago.

Now I will make amends with two more of his LPs, sadly presented in remembrance of this talented artist, who died a few days ago at age 86. (His New York Times obituary is here.)

My post in 2020 was focused on Jack's LP Lollipops and Roses, named for his first big hit, back in 1962. But as I mentioned back then, he had recorded previously for Capitol, and even had released an earlier album for Kapp records.

To quote myself from four years ago: "Capitol had him record the LP This Love of Mine in 1959. But that was it. A few years later, producer-arranger Pete King heard one of his personal appearances, and brought him to Kapp.

"That label issued a blizzard of Jones LPs during his six years with the organization - there are 20 or so." The first was Shall We Dance?, which is where we start this post.

Shall We Dance?

Although producer-arranger Pete King brought Jones to the Kapp label, the formidable Billy May was in charge of the Shall We Dance? sessions.

May is highly regarded, although I have to admit he has never been one of my favorites. Too many gimmicks, too many mannerisms for my taste.

Even so, he makes a good partner for Jones on this fine 1961 LP, most of which consists of songs oriented to the album title.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein title song is dispatched neatly, with Jack concluding the proceedings with a Sinatra-like "C'mon, let's dance!"

"The Spin I'm In" is an enjoyable contemporary song by Richard and Robert Sherman along with Dave Cavanaugh and May himself. This type of light material is suited to Jones' voice and approach.

Jack is in Astaire territory with Irving Berlin's "Change Partners," which he handles with the polish of Astaire, but without his yearning quality. Jack continues on the standards track with Cole Porter's "At Long Last Love."

Billy May

May pays homage to the Glenn Miller band in his chart for Jerry Gray's "A String of Pearls." (May played trumpet on the 1940 recording.) The arranger incorporates some of Bobby Hackett's famous cornet solo in his orchestrations, and even includes some of Chummy MacGregor's piano figures.

Jack sings the lyrics that Eddie DeLange later added to the tune. The lyricist put great stress on the word "Woolworth's" ("A string of pearls out of Woolworth's"), undermining the song's elegant feel.

"Takes Two to Tango" is a fun Al Hoffman-Dick Manning song first recorded, I believe, by the incomparable Pearl Bailey. Jack does not have Pearl's personality, but he does well.

The second side begins with "Dancing on the Ceiling," one of the best Rodgers and Hart songs, which had been memorably recorded by Sinatra and by Ella Fitzgerald a few years earlier. Jones was unafraid of comparisons.

We're back in Astaire territory with "Carioca," which comes from 1933's Flying Down to Rio. Next, "Ballerina," which Bob Russell and Carl Sigman wrote in 1947. The most popular version was by Vaughn Monroe. Jack is lighter toned that Monroe, helpful in this number.

Bronislaw Kaper's "Invitation" is a superior piece, with lyrics added by Paul Francis Webster. Its haunting quality (and complexity) has made it a favorite of jazz musicians. The first vocal version may have been by Jo Ann Greer with Les Brown in 1953, which I somehow missed in my post devoted to them. Jones makes light work of the melody. The song doesn't fit the "shall we dance" theme, but is welcome even so.

Bernie Hanighen and Johnny Mercer wrote "The Dixieland Band" for Benny Goodman back in 1935. It's a clever novelty, with lyrics typical of Mercer.

I mentioned that Jones was unafraid of comparisons. His final song is "The Last Dance," which Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote for Sinatra in 1959. It appeared on Frank's LP Come Dance with Me, also arranged by Billy May.

First cover

The image at top is actually the second cover for this LP. The first had Jack against a backdrop of Reynolds Wrap, as seen above. I transferred the LP from its second incarnation because my copy of that one was in stereo. The sound is vivid, although it features the exaggerated stereo separation that was in vogue back then.

LINK to Shall We Dance?

I've Got a Lot of Livin' to Do!

The title song comes from the musical Bye Bye Birdie, where it was an ode to Conrad Birdie's id, at least in the 1960 stage production. But the film and vocalists of the time treated it as one of the positive-thinking marches that became popular in the 60s.

Jones' version, with an idiosyncratic chart by Marty Paich, is a good example of the latter kind.

The next two items are associated with Sinatra, who had a remarkable ability to make songs his own: "It's a Lonesome Old Town" and "You Make Me Feel So Young." The second song comes from one of Frank's best LPs, Songs for Swingin' Lovers. but Jack acquits himself nicely. Paich conducted the former number, Pete King the latter.

Pete King

"Swingin' through the Park" sounds like something that Frank could have recorded, but no, this relatively early song by Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Lew Spence was first done by the Polka Dots with Wally Stott. The song is just what you'd think from hearing the title, and a pleasant stroll it is, too. King conducts.

"Bye Bye Baby" is associated with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, but it was first heard not in the film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but from Carol Channing in the Broadway staging. Sinatra recorded the Styne-Robin song in 1949.

"The Donkey Serenade" is associated with an earlier singer - Jack's father Allan, who recorded the song the night before his son was born. The session was on January 13, 1938; Jack took his first bow on the 14.

Alternate album cover

"I Love Paris" comes from Cole Porter's Can-Can score. Much of the song is oddly dirge-like, I suppose to set off the soaring "I love Paris every moment" and what follows.

"When I Take My Sugar to Tea" is a 1931 pop song that has been revived periodically by such as Nat Cole and Bing, and just the year before by Sinatra.

Jack as a Cockney?

The West End yielded "Big Time," which Lionel Bart wrote for the musical dramedy Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be. There was a cast album that did not include this piece, but it did appear on a "songs from" LP with popular artists of the day. There it was alloted to Adam Faith, backed by John Barry. Jones' version (issued as a single as well) may have been the only other recording. The song was apparently supposed to be a climactic moment, and Jones' passionate reading, hugely abetted by a riff-happy Billy May chart, is most impressive. That said, Jones' nice-guy persona does undercut the menace implicit in the lyrics - "gonna use my wits, 'stead of just my mitts," etc. Visualizing Jack as a Teddy Boy takes some imagination.

Lew Spence returns with "Me and My Big Ideas," an obscure tune he wrote with lyricist Jerry Gladstone, I believe. It may be unknown, but it's accomplished, and it suits Jones beautifully. An effective Pete King chart, too.

Ollie Jones composed songs for many famed artists, including "Send for Me" for Nat Cole. "When a Man Cries" is less noted, but not unworthy of a listen in the version by Jones and Marty Paich.

Yip Harburg and Vernon Duke's "I Like the Likes of You" is certainly well known, and it brings this varied LP to a satisfying close. Pete King conducts.

LINK to I've Got a Lot of Livin' to Do!

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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