The Complete Lee Wiley on Columbia, Plus Bonuses

Following her series of songbooks for small labels in the 1940s, Lee Wiley moved on to a major company, Columbia, for which she recorded three LPs in 1950 and 1951.

Today's post brings together all those albums, and adds a few bonus items as well.

Specifically, we have:

• Night in Manhattan - Wiley's first Columbia LP, from 1950
• Lee Wiley Sings Irving Berlin - A return to the songbook format, from 1951
• Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans - Recorded at about the same time as the Berlin album
• Treasury Department Guest Star - The songs from a program promoting savings bonds, circa 1951
• Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse - A 1950 LP by Wiley's piano accompanists for these LPs - Cy Walter, Stan Freeman and Joe Bushkin

All the Wiley recordings are from my collection. The piano disc was remastered from Internet Archive. There are separate links at the end of each section below.

Previously, Lee has been featured here in the music of Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, George Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart.

Night in Manhattan

For Wiley's first Columbia LP, she was co-starred with trumpeter Bobby Hackett, with pianist Joe Bushkin (and "His Swinging Strings") in smaller type. Both had often appeared with Lee, so this was a promising line-up.

The addition of strings was becoming a popular way to add some "class" to the proceedings. It became fashionable in jazz following Charlie Parker's 1950 LP. Previously, Sinatra often had used strings in his recordings, as had many other singers and big band leaders.

Perhaps it is the surroundings, but both Bushkin and Hackett sound more inhibited than they had in earlier recordings with Wiley, and the song treatments lack variety without the additional soloists that could be heard in the previous songbooks.

Bobby Hackett

That aside, the album is a complete success vocally. Lee, who is in great form, chose four songs by her mentor, bandleader Victor Young - "Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere" (which Wiley co-wrote), the fabulous "Street of Dreams," "A Ghost of a Chance" and the lesser-known "A Woman's Intuition," with an awkward lyric by the usually reliable Ned Washington.

Joe Bushkin

Also on the program was Bushkin's "Oh! Look at Me Now," with a special set of lyrics by Johnny DeVries. As vocal expert Will Friedwald noted, "the original hero sings of his desire to fall in love, the new heroine sings of her avaricious desire for checks and jewelry."

The other songs are two Wiley often recorded - "Sugar" and "Manhattan" - and the Gershwins' "I've Got a Crush on You," which she had revived for her 1939 songbook. Friedwald thinks the new version was influenced by Frank Sinatra's 1947 recording, which also features Hackett and perhaps not coincidentally Mitch Miller (on oboe). Mitch produced Lee's Columbia records.

Alternative 10-inch cover; 12-inch cover 

Night in Manhattan was originally a 10-inch LP. Columbia later issued it in 12-inch format, adding two songs each from Lee's Berlin and Youmans collections, which are discussed below.

LINK to Night in Manhattan

Lee Wiley Sings Irving Berlin

For her 1951 LPs, Columbia (probably in the form of Mitch Miller) teamed Wiley with the regular two-piano team of Cy Walter and Stan Freeman, who had appeared on radio as a duo, made a 1950 LP for M-G-M (see below) and would record separately and together for Columbia. 

Both were interesting characters. Walter was a fixture on the New York club scene, while Freeman is best known for playing the harpsichord on two hits - Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House" and Percy Faith's "Delicado." (Stan also was a comedian.)

Cy Walter and Stan Freeman looking glum in the radio studio

Friedwald speculates that this teaming was an attempt to appeal to cabaret habitues, as was Wiley's sophisticated appearance on the LP cover.

Whether the accompaniment works or not is a matter of some dispute. There's no question that Lee sings beautifully. Walter and Freeman mesh quite well. But they also can sound as if they are in a different world from the vocalist, like they are in a separate acoustic. And there is a lack of variety in the sound, even more so than on Night in Manhattan.

Wiley complained to her friend Gus Kuhlman that she was not too happy with the records, and others agree. I'm not among them. Taken by themselves, they are a joy to hear, not least because they include some seldom-heard songs.

The Berlin LP starts off with one of the composer's greatest songs, "How Deep Is the Ocean?" from 1932. (I am reminded here of Sinatra's 1960 recording with a famous bass trombone solo - probably by George Roberts.)

The unfamiliar "Some Sunny Day" comes from 1922, and is one of the many, many Mammy-Alabamy numbers of the time. This one does have the distinction of including a talking hen, which you won't find in many songs. While the lyrics aren't great, the tune itself is catchy.

Irving Berlin

"I Got Lost in His Arms" is from Berlin's 1946 hit Annie Get Your Gun. Introducing the song was Ethel Merman, a much different artist than Wiley, to be sure. But Wiley is at her best here, and the pianists appropriately scale back their sound.

The performance of "Heat Wave" is fascinating because it features Berlin's opening verse and an interlude that few other artists have included, making a seemingly simple number far more complex. The song comes from 1933's As Thousand Cheer, where it was performed by Ethel Waters, one of Wiley's influences. Waters' 1933 recording also reflects the complete as-written composition.

J. Harold Murray and Katherine Carrington introduced "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" in 1932's Face the Music. A popular success, it was recorded by many artists at the time, then revived by Dick Haymes in 1948.

Lee Wiley in performance, circa 1950

"Fools Fall in Love" is a superior song, although little known. Will Friedwald remarks that the few other singers who performed it included Teddi King (who learned it from Wiley) and Marlene VerPlanck (who learned it from King). Several artists did record the song upon its being published in 1940, but it was little heard thereafter until Lee's performance.

Back in 1926, "How Many Times" was popular with recording artists, but today it isn't one of Berlin's most recognizable compositions. Wiley handles this up-tempo number with great authority. It is one of the best items on this LP.

Finally, another Ethel Waters song from As Thousands Cheer - the wrenching "Supper Time," where the singer's husband isn't coming home any more. He has been lynched. The song and performance are brilliant.

LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Irving Berlin

Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans

Vincent Youmans is perhaps the only composer with a Wiley songbook who isn't a household name today. He was popular in his prime, but he wrote almost nothing after contracting tuberculosis in 1934, while still in his 30s. His neglect is a shame - there is much to admire here.

Youmans was famous for building melodies from short phrases. Lee starts off her LP with perhaps the best known example, "Tea for Two." It came from the composer's huge hit of 1924-25, No, No Nanette (which endured a campy revival in 1971). 

Vincent Youmans

Wiley's second song, "Sometimes I'm Happy," is even earlier and was first published with different lyrics before being cut from one show, used in a flop and eventually finding a home in the 1927 success Hit the Deck. It, too, is repetitive, but the initial melodic figure complements the lyrics and the song also has a soaring section to provide contrast. Both songs have Irving Caesar lyrics.

Lee herself had recorded the next selection, "Time on My Hands," soon after its introduction by Marilyn Miller in 1930's Smiles. The song is deservedly famous, and Wiley's knowing reading of Harold Adamson's languid lyrics is perfect.

In performance, about 1950

So, too, is the much different song "Rise 'n' Shine," a cheerful Depression-era ditty introduced by Ethel Merman in 1932's Take a Chance. I believe the song had fallen into obscurity until Lee revived it. Buddy DeSylva was the lyricist.

"More Than You Know" is one of Youmans' most famous compositions, and for good reason. This torch song has been featured by artists from Ruth Etting to Barbra Streisand. Here it is in an affecting version by Wiley. The song, which comes from the 1929 musical Great Day, has words by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu.

Like "Rise 'n' Shine, "Should I Be Sweet?" is from Take a Chance, and is just as unknown today. June Knight performed it in the original production. Victor Young recorded it in 1934, which may be where Wiley learned it. Buddy DeSylva wrote the words.

Cy Walter and Lee Wiley

The yearning "Keeping Myself for You" is beautifully suited to Wiley's sympathetic approach. The pianists are at one with her on this number. Youmans and Sidney Clare wrote the song for the 1929 film version of Hit the Deck. Jack Oakie (of all people) and Polly Walker sang it in the film, which is now lost. It is another song that fell into an undeserved oblivion before Lee revived it.

The LP concludes with "Why, Oh Why," another little-known song, although I suspect some of you may have heard it before. It comes from the stage production of Hit the Deck. The lyrics are by Clifford Grey and Leo Robin. It's an excellent song in a terrific performance.

In summary, this record is a gem, and should be better known.

LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans

Treasury Department "Guest Star"

Wiley appeared on a US Treasury Department "Guest Star" transcription that radio stations broadcast in early 1952. I've included her two songs, along with an introduction by announcer John Conte and a plug for US Savings Bonds by Lee and Conte.

The label says that the program is with "Harry Sosnik and the Defense Bonds Orchestra," but the Lee Wiley Bio-Discography speculates that her songs are actually airchecks from a late 1951 radio program with trumpeter Billy Butterfield and Joe Bushkin's combo.

From the early 1950s

The arrangements are similar to the ones used on the Night in Manhattan album, and her two songs are selected from that record's repertoire - "Manhattan" and "A Ghost of a Chance," both of which she does well.

This transfer is from the original 16-inch transcription disc.

LINK to Treasury Department Guest Star

Cy Walter and Stan Freeman - Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse

Cy Walter and Stan Freeman performed together for a few years on a curiously name radio program, Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse. Among their guests on the program was Joe Bushkin, and the LP the three made for M-G-M in 1950 is a fitting way to close this post.

The seven selections include only one song on the Wiley LPs above - Irving Berlin's "Soft Lights and Sweet Music." That's one of the two numbers that includes Bushkin; the other is a double-length version of "Indiana."

Richard Rodgers in the radio studio with Cy Walter and Stan Freeman

Otherwise, Walter and Freeman present "Falling in Love with Love," "Orchids in the Moonlight," "Oh! Lady Be Good," "Younger Than Springtime" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World."

Note: In the first version of this transfer there was a truncated opening to Indiana due to an editing error. Corrected versions of both the song and the complete LP are below.

LINK to Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse (corrected)

LINK only to corrected Indiana (Parts 1 and 2)

I expect to devote a similar post to Wiley's RCA Victor recordings soon.

Lee Wiley Sings Harold Arlen

Here is the third in our exploration of the composer songbooks recorded by the great Lee Wiley from 1939-43. The earlier posts were devoted to Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart. The R&H article provides background on the singer.

This time, Wiley does wonders for Harold Arlen, a distinctive composer whose songs are suited to her vocal manner.

Lee Wiley Sings Songs by Harold Arlen dates from 1943 and was issued by the Schirmer label, in succession to the Liberty Music Shop (Gershwin and Cole Porter) and Rabson's (R&H). 

Along with the Schirmer album, for this collection I've added five other Wiley recordings of Arlen, dating from both earlier and slightly later in her career.

Wiley's Cole Porter recordings will be next in this series.

Shirmer's Lee Wiley Sings Songs by Harold Arlen

As with the previous songbooks, for the Harold Arlen album the vocalist is accompanied by a group of like-minded musicians, led in this case by guitarist Eddie Condon.

Eddie Condon

The album starts off with a jaunty version of "Down with Love," with a intensely swinging Billy Butterfield trumpet obbligato that plays off Wiley's vocal perfectly. She is in excellent voice here, and the session is notably well recorded. A strong opener.

Billy Butterfield

"Down with Love" comes from the 1937 musical Hooray for What, where Arlen worked with his frequent partner, lyricist Yip Harburg. Introducing the song was Jack Whiting, June Clyde and Vivian Vance.

The contrasting next number is "Stormy Weather," which was premiered by Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington in the 1933 Cotton Club Parade revue, but could have been written for Wiley. Her combination of weariness and wistfulness is ideal for the song. Butterfield is again a standout. Ted Koehler wrote the famous lyrics for this one.

Ernie Caceres

Lee sings the verse for many songs, including "I've Got the World on a String." Her vocal quality and presentation do wonders for the song. The clarinet soloist here is the versatile Ernie Caceres, who was at the time the baritone saxophonist in the Glenn Miller band. The song, again with Koehler lyrics, dates from the 1932 Cotton Club Parade.

"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is another celebrated number with a relatively unfamiliar verse, which sets off the chorus nicely. It comes from a 1931 Cotton Club show, again with words by Koehler. Ernie Caceres is featured.

Bobby Hackett

For the second set of four songs, the band is augmented by three trombones, with Billy Butterfield succeeded by Bobby Hackett, who also wrote the arrangements for the first two songs. The busy pianist you hear is Dave Bowman.

"Fun to Be Fooled" is a strikingly good song that is not heard often enough. It comes from the 1934 revue Life Begins at 8:40, where Frances Williams introduced the number. Yip Harburg and Ira Gershwin were the lyricists.

The earliest song in the set is "You Said It," from the 1931 college musical of the same name, with book and lyrics by Jack Yellen. It has an ecstatic element that is well suited to Lee's vocal quality.

"Let's Fall in Love" is another Ted Koehler collaboration from a 1933 film of the same name. Ann Sothern sang it on screen. This is another favorite song of mine, and Wiley does it well. She does not include the distinctive verse, though.

One of the least known songs in the Schirmer set is the final one, "Moanin' in the Mornin'," another number from Hooray for What, sung on Broadway by Vivian Vance. It's an extraordinary piece, one of the most attractive songs in Arlen's catalog. Wiley is superlative; Hackett too is memorable in this fine composition.

Harold Arlen

More Arlen Songs

We have five additional Arlen songs that Lee recorded both before and after the Schirmer album, starting relatively early in her career. The first song comes from a 1933 Dorsey Brothers date that remained unissued until decades later, when it turned up on a Epic LP set devoted to 1930s recordings.

The young Dorseys

The song is "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues," from a 1932 Earl Carroll Vanities. It is very much suited to Lee's talents and temperament. She is in splendid voice and already a full formed artist at age 24. The obbligato is by Bunny Berigan. I've also included an alternate take that has appeared on bootlegs over the years, but it doesn't differ markedly from the Epic release.

During the 1940s, Eddie Condon promoted a variety of jazz concerts, at times with Lee as vocalist. A second version of "Down with Love" is taken from a March 31, 1945 date at the Ritz Theater in New York. It uses the same arrangement as the Shirmer recording, and even the same trumpeter - Billy Butterfield. Unsurprisingly, it's just as good a performance.

Jess Stacy

A few months later, Lee was in the Victor studios with her erstwhile husband, pianist Jess Stacy, and a relatively large ensemble. The subject was one of Arlen's most familiar songs, "It's Only a Paper Moon." That number was written for the 1932 play The Great Magoo, where it was known as "If You Believed in Me." The next year, it was interpolated into the screen version of the musical Take a Chance. A number of artists recorded it at the time, including Paul Whiteman.

In 1944, Nat Cole revived it and had some success, which apparently stimulated other recordings, perhaps including the Stacy-Wiley session. The easygoing arrangement features Stacy's idiosyncratic pianism, followed by Wiley's equally idiosyncratic singing. In truth, Russ Case's chart is not all that suited to either pianist or vocalist, but it's well played even so.

Dick Jurgens

Finally, we have a second version of "Stormy Weather," taken from a 1948 aircheck of the Dick Jurgens band. This large ensemble is very good indeed - and Lee is too - but she is best in a small group setting.

These selections for this post are taken from Internet Archive needle drops and my own collection, cleaned up for listening. The sound is generally splendid.

LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen Sings Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen himself was a singer who began making records in the 1920s and was still at it in the 1960s. As a performer, he was sly, witty and attuned to conveying the meaning of the lyrics. He had everything but a great voice, but even so is fun to hear. I've gathered 13 of his 1930s recordings in a new post on my other blog.

Lee Wiley Sings Gershwin

I introduced Lee Wiley to the blog a few months ago with her two Rodgers and Hart albums. That post was a great success with readers, so today we have a follow-up in the form of the singer's 1939 Gershwin set, augmented by three additional tunes from the 1940s.

That first Wiley post provided background on the vocalist, and an introduction to the songwriter-focused albums that came out on small labels in the late 30s and early 40s. Today's Gershwin album was issued by the Liberty Music Shop, which specialized in cabaret music and society bands but also had a hand in jazz.

Lee Wiley

Most of Wiley's records from this period were made in the company of the Chicago-style musicians whose gutsy sound suited her down to the ground. The striking cover above - by John De Vries, who inspired these various sets - depicts the some of the musicians: from bottom, Joe Bushkin (piano), Bud Freeman (tenor sax), Max Kaminsky (trumpet), George Wettling (drums) and Eddie Condon (guitar).

This Liberty Music Shop album was the first in the series of songwriter collections done by Wiley. It came out just a few months before the first Rodgers and Hart album covered in my earlier post. As with the R&H set, the Gershwin recordings are ascribed to Max Kaminsky's Orchestra or Joe Bushkin's Orchestra seemingly at random - the personnel mostly remained the same.

Max Kaminsky, Lee Wiley, Joe Bushkin

In his windy liner notes, Ernie Anderson asserts that four of the eight songs in the Gershwin set were first recordings. That seems to be true for three of them - "I've Got a Crush on You," "But Not for Me" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?" (The fourth, "My One and Only" was recorded several times after its 1927 introduction in Funny Face.)

Bud Freeman

But let's run down all the songs on the Liberty Music Shop album, starting with "How Long Has This Been Going On?" The label claims it comes from Funny Face, which is true, although it was cut from that show in the run-up to Broadway, and then used in 1928's Rosalie, where it was sung by Bobbe Arnst. Apparently this brilliant song did not merit a recording until Wiley and company entered the studio 11 years later. The rendition has a nice Bushkin accompaniment, a ripe Freeman tenor solo and some annoying clattering by Wettling.

"My One and Only" did indeed originate in Funny Face, where Fred Astaire, Betty Compton and Gertrude McDonald premiered it. The Wiley performance is distinguished by the inclusion of the excellent verse, which has a clever verbal segue to the chorus. The instrumental break with Kaminsky and Freeman is in double time.

"I've Got a Crush on You" was featured in two Gershwin shows - Treasure Girl of 1928 and Strike Up the Band of 1930. But it was otherwise ignored until the Wiley recording. Why was this so? Here are some thoughts from the University of Michigan's Gershwin Initiative:

Musicologists such as Walter Rimler have said that “Crush”’s failure was originally because Treasure Girl and Strike Up the Band were received so poorly; however, others, such as Howard Pollack and Philip Furia, have said that Wiley’s version became so beloved because she turned the song into a ballad . . . [She] softly cooed the words, rather than punching them, as was the style in Treasure Girl and Strike Up the Band.

Lee changed the verse's opening lines from "How glad the many millions of Annabelles and Lillians would be to capture me" to "How glad the many millions of Toms and Dicks and Harrys would be . . .", which doesn't scan. Today, female vocalists usually replace "Lillians" with "Williams." 

Note that the pianist on "Crush" was apparently Fats Waller, who also appears on the next selection in the guise of "Maurice" the organist. 

Fats Waller, aka Maurice

The song is "Someone to Watch Over Me," which Gertrude Lawrence first sang in 1926's Oh, Kay! (You can find her recording and others from the time here.) Wiley includes the verse - which for once is not a novelty, being heard on many other disks. Waller was a tremendous musician, but Lee misses the rhythmic backbone that the full ensemble lent her. She would return to the song five years later, as is discussed below.

The seldom-heard "Sam and Delilah" was premiered by none other than Ethel Merman in 1930's Girl Crazy. This number is in the vein of "Frankie and Johnny," although it is a much better song. Wiley and her backing musicians are perfect in the piece. Surprisingly, the first recording was by Duke Ellington, with a Chick Bullock vocal.

"'S Wonderful," unlike some of these tunes, was popular with recording artists pretty much from the time that Adele Astaire and Allen Kearns first sang it in Funny Face. Wiley's reading is a remarkable one, not least because she includes the verse and has sympathetic piano backing, by Joe Bushkin, I believe.

Ira and George Gershwin

A song that is not heard as often as it might be is "Sweet and Low-Down," the earliest number in this collection, dating from 1925's Tip-Toes. It did merit a recording at the time by the Singing Sophomores, but then not often until Lee took it up, after which it again receded into something like obscurity. The verse begins with brief, mournful solos from Kaminsky, Freeman and Bushkin, followed by Ira's superb intro, which Lee handles beautifully. The ensemble then switches into mid-tempo mode for this rousing piece - "Professor, stomp your feet!" Lee commands. Max Kaminsky has a fine muted solo.

Ginger Rogers and Willie Howard sang "But Not for Me" in Girl Crazy, but it doesn't look as though a commercial recording appeared before Wiley's. Thereafter, it hasn't lacked for admirers - there have been more than 700 recordings since Wiley took it up, including another by Lee that we will discuss in a moment.

So, this is truly a exceptional album. It is memorable artistically, it started the fashion for songwriter-themed albums and it revived several excellent Gershwin songs. It even has a striking cover, a year before Alex Steinweiss supposedly "invented the album cover" - one of the most nonsensical boasts ever to take hold in the music industry.

Eddie Condon with album cover

Now let's turn to the three additional Gershwin songs that Wiley recorded in the 1940s. The first two come from a George Gershwin Jazz Concert that Decca issued under the name of Eddie Condon in 1944, with many of the same musicians who appeared in the Liberty Music Shop set - Wettling, Kaminsky, Bushkin and clarinetist Pee Wee Russell. Wiley sang two songs - "Someone to Watch Over Me," a repeat of the LMS repertoire, and "The Man I Love."

Bobby Hackett

Both are sung well, but a bit more impersonally than on the LMS date, perhaps because this session was not focused on her. "Someone to Watch Over Me" benefits from not having Maurice's organ accompaniment, but the Bobby Hackett trumpet obbligatos are too loud and intrusive for Lee's sensitive vocal. Jack Teagarden's solo is more apposite.

The engineer dialed Hackett back for "The Man I Love," which has solos from Teagarden and baritone saxophonist Ernie Caceres. This song suits Wiley so well, it could have been written for her. For such a famous song, it had the dubious honor of being cut from Lady, Be Good, inserted in Strike Up the Band, which closed out of town, and rejected for Rosalie.

Lee Wiley and Jess Stacy

"But Not for Me" returned via a 1947 date with a band led by pianist Jess Stacy, during his tempestuous and short-lived marriage to Wiley. Again, a good performance, but not a match for the LMS version. It appeared on several labels, but first on Majestic, I believe.

Wiley and Hackett would turn to another of the LMS songs - "I've Got a Crush on You" - for their 1951 album Night in Manhattan, with backing by a Joe Bushkin ensemble. I hope to present that LP later in this series - but first will come her sets devoted to Harold Arlen and Cole Porter, and then perhaps a selection of her early recordings.

These recordings have generally vivid sound, remastered in ambient stereo from Internet Archive originals.

LINK to Lee Wiley's Gershwin recordings

Marion Harris

Finally, let me mention that Buster's Swinging Singles has a new post of three early Gershwin recordings by the sadly neglected singer Marion Harris - "Nashville Nightingale," "Somebody Loves Me" and "The Man I Love." These are very much worth hearing.

A Rendezvous with Bobby Hackett, Plus Many Ambient Stereo Remasters

Following up on my last post, which had a dozen new ambient stereo remasters, today we have a second set of 12, this time from the pop, jazz and soundtrack catalogues.

One of this week's remasters is an LP of 1938 and 1944 records featuring cornetist-trumpeter Bobby Hackett, reminding me of how much I enjoy his playing. Those early records are squarely (no slight intended) in the Chicago-style jazz vein, but Hackett also made a career of being the lead voice for easy listening instrumentals, including the LP depicted above. That disc is newly transferred for today's post.

Bobby Hackett

Hackett (1915-76) was just 23 when the Chicago-style records commenced in 1938, but was in his mid-40s and very much in his prime when Capital engaged him for the lovely instrumental LP, Rendezvous, in 1957.

He had became known for these types of LPs through his solos on several popular easy listening LPs issued under the name of TV personality Jackie Gleason. Hackett was never paid much for those spots, but Capitol and later other companies engaged him for a long series of instrumental albums under his own name. There were both mood music records and small group jazz performances with such like-minded artists as Jack Teagarden.

Glenn Osser

The backings on Rendezvous were led by studio veteran Abraham "Glenn" Osser (1914-2014). Like many in the industry at the time, he was a former big-band arranger who had moved on to providing charts for recording artists on the Mercury and Columbia labels, along with a few LPs of his own.

The results are smooth and entirely pleasant, similar to what Osser might have devised for such vocalists as Vic Damone or Mindy Carson, albeit with Hackett as the voice. You will hear echoes of Glenn Miller (a former employer of Hackett) and the style of George Shearing (also contracted to Capitol at the time).

The songs were all standards, with the possible exception of the following:

• "Autumn Nocturne" - written by Kim Gannon and Josef Myrow and first recorded in 1941 by Claude Thornhill
• "When I'm with You" - by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel, introduced by Shirley Temple in the 1936 film Poor Little Rich Girl
• "Two Cigarettes in the Dark" - by Lew Pollack and Paul Francis Webster, from the 1934 Broadway comedy Kill That Story
• "Love Me" - a Victor Young-Ned Washington song, also from 1934
• "One Kiss" - written by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1928 operetta The New Moon

The jacket suggests that Hackett plays trumpet on this date rather than cornet, but it really didn't make much difference in how he sounded. He seldom used the bigger instrument's more brilliant upper register.

I do love the colorful cover for Rendezvous, with the ambiguous nature of the establishment the couple is entering.

Ambient Stereo Remasters

Today's ambient stereo remasters are in a variety of styles, perhaps something to interest you...

Bobby Hackett - Horn A-Plenty. This is the collection of 1938 and 1944 jazz sides mentioned above, all from the Commodore label. The LP ascribes them to Hackett, but several of them were issued under other names, such as "Jam Session at Commodore."

Duke Ellington - Mood Ellington. The Duke's 1947 recordings are not among his most celebrated, but they are plenty good in their own right. This is a classic band, led by one of the greats, and showing off Ellington's current interest in tonal colors.

Georges Auric's Music for Bonjour Tristesse. A gorgeous score by the French composer Auric in support of the 1958 film version of Françoise Sagan's popular novel. Juliette Gréco's languid rendition of the title song defines the term "world weary."

William Warfield - Deep River. The distinguished bass-baritone in magnificent recordings of folk and folk-derived repertoire. Note: all Warfield's solo recordings are available on the blog, except for his remake of Copland's Old American Songs.

Dick Haymes Sings Irving Berlin. Haymes' complete Berlin LP with pianist Carmen Cavallaro is the basis of this collection of numbers from the great songwriter's canon. It also includes seven other 78 sides from 1945-49, including numbers from Annie Get Your Gun.

Neal Hefti on Coral. The arranger-bandleader's 10-inch Coral Reef LP and its 12-inch successor are the sources of this post, which also includes Count Basie's contrasting readings of two of the Hefti compositions - "Why Not?" and "Sure Thing." From the early 1950s.

Ella Mae Morse - Barrelhouse, Boogie and the Blues. R&B covers can be a dreary listening experience, but not these specimens. The marvelous Miss Morse is backed by a Big Dave Cavanaugh combo, and the whole LP sizzles. Also has one of the greatest covers ever.

Hugh Martin and Alec Wilder - The Grandma Moses Suite. The two distinguished songwriters combined to produce the score for a 1951 documentary on folk painter Grandma Moses, producing this treasurable (and almost unknown) piece of Americana.

Victory at Sea - the 1953 Recording. The awesome score to the televised Victory at Sea series of documentaries is as much a tribute to orchestrator and collaborator Robert Russell Bennett as it is to composer Richard Rodgers. This is the original recording.

Andre Kostelanetz Conducts Grofé and Kern. An LP combining Kosty's recordings of Ferde Grofé's Mississippi Suite and Jerome Kern's Mark Twain, the latter of which the conductor commissioned. Interesting works, again in the Americana vein.

Cy Coleman Trio - Piano Patterns. The distinguished songwriter was also a formidable pianist. This was his first LP (or so I believe). It came out on the small Benida label in 1955, several years before Coleman's celebrity as a Broadway composer.

Bing Crosby - High Tor. The excellent soundtrack to a 1956 television adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's fantasy High Tor. With lyrics by the author, music by Arthur Schwartz, and vocals by Bing and the young Julie Andrews. A particular favorite of mine.

The links above will take you to the original posts. There, check the end (or near the end) of the comments for the download links. All these posts feature new artwork as well.

The link to Bobby Hackett's Rendezvous is in the comments to this post, as usual.