The J's with Jamie Return, Plus Who Wants to Be Happy? (and More)

Today we celebrate the return of favored vocal group the J's with Jamie (although under another name) and we offer two other items, both courtesy of old friend David Federman - his compilation of "I Want to Be Happy" recordings and a pioneering album of the music of Silvestre Revueltas.

The J's with Jamie = Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers

The J's with Jamie vocal group have made periodic appearances here, plus there have been a few other sides that featured their lead singer Jamie Silvia. 

The group had a busy schedule recording commercial spots, while also cutting a few LPs for Columbia in the early 60s. My previously uploaded J's with Jamie material (including some of their commercial work) can be found here.

By 1966, they had changed their name to Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers. This could have been done to put Jamie out front (she was the star of the group), or to work the name of her husband (Joe Silvia) into the title. Or it could have been to avoid confusion with the Jamies, who had a hit in 1958 with "Summertime, Summertime."

Whatever the reason for the name change, Jamie's photo dominates the cover of this, the first of the group's two recordings for ABC-Paramount.

Music was changing at the time, and the group tried to change with the times. Some of the LP's material was similar to what it would have performed in earlier years: recent movie songs ("The Shadow of Your Smile," "The Days of Wine and Roses," "A Taste of Honey"), relatively recent traditional pop ballads ("This Is All I Ask," "Softly, as I Leave You"), older songs ("Lost in the Stars," "Nature Boy"), and a novelty (Dick Hyman's setting of "It Was a Lover and His Lass," similar to the Peter Warlock setting available here).

Added to this was the ration of Beatles songs that was mandatory at the time ("Yesterday," "Eight Days a Week," "We Can Work It Out"), also the schlock of "It's Not Unusual." Predictably, the group did not handle this material as well. Some of it was dependent on the talents of the original artists: only John Lennon and mates could put over "Eight Days a Week," and "It's Not Unusual" is only suited for the bombast of Tom Jones, which is far away from the J's with Jamie sound. Meanwhile, "Yesterday" was overexposed, at the time being emoted by every singer in every lounge in the land, and this version is not distinctive. 

J's with Jamie aficionados believe the ABC-Paramount recordings are not as good as the Columbia records, and it's hard to disagree, although there are some good moments. Jamie and her associates were to make only one more LP, which I will transfer later on.

'I Want to Be Happy' x 21

Speaking of the Beatles, that group was indirectly the impetus behind David F.'s latest compilation. He had run into a young Beatles fanatic who believed "there was no greater music than that made by the Fab Four 20 years before she was born." So David put together a 20-version medley of 1925's "I Want to Be Happy," with the thought that "as good as McCartney's 'Yesterday' is, I can't imagine it inspiring the diversity of performances you will find here."

The first recording in David's collection comes from June 1924, even before "I Want to Be Happy" made its Broadway debut in the Youmans-Caesar-Harbach show No, No Nanette. It was likely recorded during the musical's successful Chicago run before moving to the West End and then Broadway. This initial recording is from industry figure Gus Haenschen, under his disc pseudonym Carl Fenton.

Many of the subsequent interpretations are from the jazz realm, running from the swing styles of Chick Webb and Benny Goodman on to the bop inflections of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. There also are several famous vocalists, including June Christy, whom I added at David's suggestion. It's the first version that popped into my head when he mentioned his compilation.

The Music of Silvestre Revueltas

David's other contribution is a vintage LP of the music of Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940). This M-G-M LP is one of the first of the composer's music, being preceded only by albums from Argeo Quadri and Luis Herrera de la Fuente a few years earlier.

David comments, "The late novelist and poet Jim Harrison wrote that whenever he thinks of Spain he thinks of Federico Garcia Lorca, and his assassination as a homosexual by a Franco firing squad in August 1936. Silvestre Revueltas wrote a three-movement homage to the poet in 1937 whose slow movement always moves me to tears. It's a highlight on this long out-of-print 1956 MGM LP devoted to the Mexican composer's music conducted by Carlos Surinach. Revueltas wrote this in Spain where he was sent as part of a cultural delegation by his government in support of the Spanish Republic in 1937."

Thanks as always to David for his generosity.

Silvestre Revueltas

20th Century Concertos with William Masselos

M-G-M was best known for its films, but it also had an excellent record company for many years. Beside pop records from Billy Eckstine, George Shearing and Joni James and soundtracks from its movies, it had an active classical label that stressed unusual repertoire.

I've featured several of these records through the years, most recently an LP of music by Peggy Glanville-Hicks and Paul Bowles, and one of Griffes' piano music with Lenore Engdahl, both a few years ago.

M-G-M at times commissioned music for its recordings, including the two substantial works on today's program - Marga Richter's Concerto for Piano, Violas, 'Cellos and Basses and Carlos Surinach's Concertino for Piano, Strings and Cymbals. Both were written for and premiered by pianist William Masselos, and brought into the studio for recordings with the M-G-M String Orchestra, as conducted by Surinach. On the cover above, Masselos, Surinach and Richter are contemplating an Altec 639 microphone, presumably during one of the sessions.

The three were among M-G-M's favorite musicians. Surinach was frequently heard as both conductor and composer, M-G-M devoted several LPs to Richter's work, and often called upon Masselos as performer.

Marga Richter

Richter, both in 1926, was a student of William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti at Juilliard. Critic Alfred Frankenstein wrote of this work, "I do not recall hearing a new piano concerto with such keen interest since the second concerto of Ravel was unveiled. The strong tawny color of the piece is one of its special virtues; others are its wealth of modal-sounding melody, its crackling energy, and its shrewdly placed contrasts whereby a work of small proportions takes on large importance." Richter was and is an original voice who is too little heard.

Carlos Surinach

The Spanish-born Surinach (1915-97) studied composition with Enrique Morera, Max Trapp and Richard Strauss. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1951, he quickly gained notice for his compositions and performances.  Frankenstein wrote in a High Fidelity review of this record (included in the download), "The Surinach is in Spanish folk style; it is a drier, more tough-textured version of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain."

William Masselos

Masselos (1920-92) studied with Carl Friedberg and Nelly Reuschel. He became known for his performances and advocacy of contemporary music, while not neglecting the standard repertoire. He premiered the Ives Piano Sonata No. 1, Copland's Piano Fantasy, and works by Ben Weber, Alan Hovhaness, William Mayer, John Cage, Dane Rudhyar, Robert Helps and Carlos Chávez. Critic Harold Schonberg wrote of him, "He has everything. To look over some of the virtues: tone, technique, musicianship, style, imagination, sensitivity. That will do for a start."

The LP came out in 1957, although the Richter at least was recorded the previous year. The performances and recordings are excellent.

Sylvia Marlowe Plays Falla, Surinach and Rieti

After my recent post of harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe playing the music of Vittorio Rieti, friend of the blog centuri asked if I had her recording of the Falla Harpsichord Concerto.

I do, indeed, and it is the centerpiece of this 1955 Capitol LP. Also on the record are Carlos Surinach's "Tientos" and the second of Marlowe's three traversals of Rieti's Partita.

Sylvia Marlowe

Marlowe is accompanied by the Concert Arts Players. "Concert Arts" was a nom de disque that Capitol hung on a variety of studio ensembles in the 1950s. I haven't been able to track down any further information about the musicians. The lack of credit seems ungenerous on the part of Capitol and perhaps Marlowe - these are all chamber works. The Falla is scored for six instruments, the Rieti for seven and the Surinach only three!

Regardless, it is a good record. The Falla is widely considered a masterpiece and the beguiling Rieti work is here even more persuasive than in the 1966 recording I posted not long ago. If I don't much care for the overbearing timps in "Tientos," it is a relatively brief work. (It seems to me that I also own Surinach's own recording of this piece, made in the same year for M-G-M.)

As I mentioned in my earlier Marlowe post, she specialized in contemporary music as much as the more often-heard baroque repertoire for the harpsichord. She also ventured into the realm of popular music - earlier in her career she made a living as a cabaret and radio attraction, and her first records were of popular music. Earlier this week I posted two boogie-woogie pieces that she borrowed from the repertoire of pianist Meade "Lux" Lewis, from a 78 dating from about a decade before this LP. Boogie on down to my other blog for those sides.

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Paul Bowles and Peggy Glanville-Hicks

Here is a second entry in a series devoted to M-G-M's classical recordings of the 1950s. This LP presents two works by composer-author Paul Bowles, and one by composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, setting words by Bowles. The two were close friends.

Bowles's "The Wind Remains" is a 1943 setting of an excerpt from Federico García Lorca's 1931 play Así que pasen cinco años. The work was introduced in 1943; this recorded version is an adaptation that Glanville-Hicks commissioned for a 1957 concert series at the Metropolitan Museum. It was prepared with her assistance and that of conductor Carlos Surinach, per Edward Cole's detailed notes. The recording was made shortly after the concert.

Paul Bowles

The M-G-M record does not include the text nor a translation, but the synopsis provided in the notes may be helpful. (Here is a link to the text of Lorca's play.)

Also by Bowles is "Music for a Farce," composed in 1938, performed here by an ensemble led by Arthur Winograd, who was just beginning a career as conductor after leaving the Juilliard Quartet, where he was the founding cellist.

Arthur Winograd

The contribution by Glanville-Hicks is "Letters from Morocco," her 1953 setting of excerpts from correspondence to her from Bowles. He had left the U.S. in 1947 to take up residence in Tangier, intending to write the novel that became The Sheltering Sky, a major literary success in 1949. Bowles had always been both a composer and writer, but the balance shifted to literary endeavors after the novel was published. Bowles said he was tired of writing things "for other people" - principally incidental music for plays. (An example of that output can be found on this blog - music for Jose Ferrer's 1946 production of Cyrano de Bergerac.)

Peggy Glanville-Hicks

Glanville-Hicks, born in Australia, was a music critic for the New York Herald-Tribune when these recordings were made. She in fact succeeded Bowles in the post. Both were appointed by Virgil Thomson. A few years ago I transferred a promotional recording of her brief "Prelude and Presto for Ancient American Instruments," which can be found on my other blog.

Loren Driscoll

Tenor Loren Driscoll is featured in "The Wind Remains" and "Letter from Morocco." A specialist in contemporary music, he sang the lead role in the 1958 production of Glanville-Hicks's opera The Transposed Heads. Soprano Dorothy Renzi, heard in "The Wind Remains," also was noted for performances of new music. She sang on the M-G-M recording of works by Marga Richter.

The performances here are sturdy (although I do not care for Driscoll's voice), and the sound is good. [Note (July 2023): I've now remastered the recording in ambient stereo.]

Quick note: this transfer is from a 1960s reissue series. To save money, M-G-M reprinted some of its classical titles in simpler packaging. The color covers were jettisoned, and the original back covers became the front. The cover you see above was sourced from the web. There are high-res scans of the front and back in the download.