From the Back Room: Gloria Wood

Gloria Wood was a supremely talented singer who had the misfortune of being best known for the novelty records she made with Kay Kyser and later for Capitol records, although her career was far more diversified than those outings.

Today's "From the Back Room" post is the completed version of a project I started more than a decade ago, devoted to bringing together most of her singles output from the 1940s and 50s.

For these "Back Room" posts, the transfers, etc., are prepared with the usual care, but my commentary may be less elaborate than is sometimes the case.

This particular post includes 33 songs.

About Gloria Wood

Wood (1923-95) was the daughter of a professional singer, which set a career path both for her and for her older sister Donna. The elder sibling sang with Horace Heidt and then with Kay Kyser. When Donna died of a heart ailment at age 29, Gloria succeeded her in the Kyser band. Gloria would go on to be one of the most in-demand studio singers, for her rare virtuosity and range.

First Records with 4 Star

These days 4 Star records is mainly remembered as a country and western outfit, but the small West Coast outfit also recorded other types of music in its early days, mainly Latin outfits but also a few jazz and big band records as well. Wood's first records, dating from 1945 and 1946, were with these ensembles.

The 4-Star-5 was a traditional jazz combo with such well-known musicians as Zutty Singleton and Gus Bivona. Gloria's first record with that crew was a cover of Hoagy Carmichael's new "Memphis in June," followed by three songs by the obscure West Coast singer-composer Slim Coates: "Hitch Your Wagon," "Some Guy" and "Toy Boy." The first is, predictably, the best of the lot, but Coates' songs are not bad.

Wingy Manone

Wood's next assignment was with another traditional jazz figure, Wingy Manone, who led a raucous band backing her in the standard "My Blue Heaven" and the trumpeter's own "I Must Be Dreaming." She acquits herself well in both songs.

Finally, big band vet Ted Fio Rito used her voice on two songs, his own "Now That You're Gone" and the standard "East of the Sun." She's particularly impressive in the former.

With Kay Kyser

Kay Kyser

Kay Kyser had a polished and versatile band, but it was known for novelty records. Gloria's first record with the group in 1947 was a notable and catchy example. "The Possum Song" has the subtitle "Six, Tall, Slim, Slick, Sycamore Saplin'," which I cannot explain to you. This song was the work of singer-songwriter Terry Shand, working with a Dunham, who might or might not be bandleader Sonny Dunham.

Next was one of several duets with longtime Kyser singer Harry Babbitt, a polished performer. Gloria works well with him on Jack Brooks' "Saturday Date." Gloria then worked with the Campus Kids vocal group on the mock calypso "There Ought to Be a Society (For the Prevention of Cruelty to Poor Unfortunate Lovers)."

Now comes the big hit - "Woody Wood-Pecker," by Ramey Idriss and George Tibbles. Wood (who would have seemed to have been preordained to sing this song) manages to avoid having to imitate Woody's annoying laugh, and is otherwise charming.

Another Hoagy Carmichael song (and another faux calypso), "Too Much-a Manana" also did well for Gloria and Kyser.

Babbitt and Wood combined for another major hit, Frank Loesser's "On a Slow Boat to China." Finally, we have 1949's "I'll Wait," with Gloria billed over Harry Babbitt for the first time.

Kyser would soon wind down the band and Wood was off for a freelance career, working with Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires among others.

Capitol Recordings

Gloria recorded several songs for Capitol records in 1953. These started with two songs with keyboard player Buddy Cole, notably Vincent C. Fiorino's "Red Canary," which Cole (presumably) gave an African feel. Percussion is prominent, along with piccolo and a fascinating bass line produced in a manner unknown (to me).

"Hello Sunshine" has an old-timey feel that is accentuated by Wood's virtuosity, a tuba, banjo and some effects that Cole probably produced from his organ.

The next song is something of a classic. "Hey Bellboy" has Gloria singing insanely high (and loud), both by herself and in duet with Pete Candoli's trumpet, alternating with sexy calls of "hey bellboy!"

"Hey Bellboy" EP

"By the Waters of Minnetonka" has Wood singing the melody quite high both in harmony with her own voice and with Candoli's trumpet. She also sings a chorus conventionally.

"Anybody Hurt?" has her scatting both extremely high and fast. Both this and "Hey Bellboy" were written by Candoli and Tom Mack.

Finally, for "Oh, Honey" she moved on to Dave Cavanaugh's semi-R&B outfit. Dave's band plays a riff over and over while Gloria alternately pleads "Oh, honey, please!" and again ascends into the stratosphere vocally.

Capitol's Music Views magazine devoted a two-page spread to Wood's vocal heroics in 1953. The pages are below - click to enlarge them.

With Decca-Coral

Wood recorded several songs for Decca-Coral in 1955. First was "Lover-Lover (Why Must We Part?)" written by Charles Wolcott for the film Blackboard Jungle, but not, as far as I know, used as such in the film. It is, unexpectedly, a country tune, which Gloria does idiomatically.

This was backed by "Teen-Time," which, far from being adolescent fare, is boppish high harmony vocalese accompanied by vibes, clarinet and rhythm.

Coral got in on the "Hey" songs with "Hey Mister," which leaves out the vocal pyrotechnics in favor of a simple ballad accompanied by growl trumpet, tenor sax groans and clarinet. The flip side is "I Keep Telling Myself," a nice tune with a good arrangement from George Cates.

Finally, Wood moved from Coral to the main Decca label for a single with another former Capitol artist, Jimmy Wakely. "Are You Satisfied?" melds Gloria's vocalese with some awkward harmony with Wakely. "Mississippi Dreamboat" is semi-R&B. Neither Jimmy nor Gloria seem convinced.

A Few Unpolished Diamonds

Billboard ad

In 1956 Gloria surfaced on the rejuvenated Diamond label, once headquartered in New York and headed by Irving Gwirtz. That concern went under in the 1940s, leaving a trail of lawsuits, but Gwirtz and Diamond seem to have be resurrected in Hollywood in 1956. At least a "Gwirtz" is listed as co-author of the tune "The Rock and the Roll," which apparently was the B-side of the record. "Honey Bee" (with the "vocal magic of Gloria Wood") was the plug side.

"The Rock and the Roll," as you might imagine, is rock 'n' roll. The label proclaims this to be a Billy May arrangement, and there are some trumpet squeals that might suggest his hand in the charts.

"Honey Bee" is an awful song, a marriage of "Be My Little Baby Bumble-Bee" of Doris Day infamy with the vocal approach of Teresa Brewer.

There are a few other Diamond sides that I don't have, and at least one 45 on Zephyr.

The Columbia Singles

Billboard ad

Wood was back with a major label in 1957, landing at Columbia Records, where she made a few singles and one LP that came out in early 1959. All were with Jerry Fielding.

The first item, "Back Door," is rock 'n' roll, although sung at a high level. The flip, "Mr. Sorrow," is a downcast ballad. At least this one gives Gloria a chance to be expressive, which she does beautifully. Fielding wrote both songs. 

The second single coupled a song co-written by Wood and Fielding, "Heartless Kisses," another R&R effort, with "I Won't Be a Fool Again," which is even more rock-lite.

The material on Gloria's Columbia LP, Wood by the Fire, is better than the singles. I have the LP if there is interest.

LINK

Trudy Erwin

Trudy Erwin (1918-2000) was a talented singer mostly remembered for her movie dubbing assignments and appearances with Bing Crosby. She had a lovely mezzo voice, perfect diction, careful intonation and great warmth. Her career lasted from the mid-1930s into the 1950s. 

This post, a comprehensive overview of her most productive period (1940-52), includes 35 commercial recordings, airchecks and soundtracks.

Early Experience

A native of Los Angles, Erwin was singing in ensembles in her teens. Among her first professional jobs was as period as a member of the Music Maids singing group on Bing Crosby's radio show, starting in 1939. At that time she was known as Virginia (Jinny) Erwin.

The Music Maids, with Jinny Erwin at center

Her first individual professional job, to my knowledge, was doing the singing for Lucille Ball in 1940's Too Many Girls, where she had the dubious honor of introducing the great Rodgers and Hart song "You're Nearer" without a credit. Our collection starts off with her performance from the soundtrack. (The noises you hear in the background are crickets - the scene takes place outside at dusk.)

Also from that film is "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," with a brief concluding vocal by Ball's co-star Richard Carlson.

With Kay Kyser

In 1941, Erwin joined Kay Kyser's band as a replacement for Ginny Simms, making her first recording in November. This was after Simms and Kyser had a personal and professional split, and the bandleader didn't want any more Ginnys (or Jinnys). So Jinny Erwin became Trudy Erwin.

Most of her singing was done as a member of the Kyser vocal ensemble, but she was featured on two records, the first of which was a giant hit -"Who Wouldn't Love You," written by future Frankie Laine music director Carl Fischer with Bill Carey. Trudy shared billing with Kyser mainstay Harry Babbitt. (They were credited as "Trudy and Harry" on the label.)

Like much of Kyser's output, the song veered toward the novelty side of the bandbook, as did her other feature, "There Won't be a Shortage of Love," which traded on the empty market shelves of wartime. Again, "Trudy and Harry" were the singing lovebirds, appropriate considering that the arrangement called for drum effects that sounded like Kyser had hired a woodpecker. (Come to think of it, he would later record the "Woody Woodpecker Song" with Gloria Wood.)

Trudy Erwin in 1942

Trudy's two songs were set down in January and March 1942, respectively. The Musicians Union embarked on a pointless two-year strike in July, and by the time that was over, Erwin had moved back to the Crosby show, as a soloist this time.

With Bing Crosby

This set includes her three commercial recordings with Bing and many high-quality airchecks from his Kraft Music Hall show.

Like other leading artists, Crosby had a big success even during the union ban by recording without union members. He and Trudy had a double-sided hit with songs from the new Rodgers and Hammerstein show Oklahoma! - "People Will Say We're in Love" and "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'."

The recording session managed to evade the union ban by not employing any instrumentalists - vocalists did not belong to the union. So the duo's accompanists were the members of "The Sportsmen Glee Club," an expanded version of the Sportsmen Quartet. The performances are pleasant if lugubrious, with the Sportsmen sounding more mournful than gleeful.

Because Trudy also was a member of the Kraft Music Hall cast, she and Bing also had a chance to perform both Oklahoma! songs with orchestral accompaniment.

The "People Will Say We're in Love" performance comes from a September 1943 broadcast. I wish I could say that John Scott Trotter's arrangement is much of an improvement over the Sportsmen, but it just plods along.

In December, another broadcast included a version of "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'" with accompaniment by Trotter's crew. Here the band chart is perhaps more flossy than the song and setting deserved.

Bing and Trudy

Also from that broadcast, Bing and Trudy sang "One Alone" from Sigmund Romberg's operetta The Desert Song. Bing calls the song new, probably because it was used in a recent film adaptation. The work itself dates from 1926.

Another 1943 broadcast allotted Erwin a solo spot on a Burke-Van Heusen song that Crosby had recorded the year before - "Constantly." I've included the lead-in to the number, which includes an amusing bit with Bing imitating Kyser and his North Carolina drawl.

"Wait for Me Mary" was the flip side of one of Dick Haymes' first big hits - "You'll Never Know." Bing and Trudy handled the piece sensitively during a September broadcast.

The unlikely 1943 hit "I Heard You Cried Last Night" was the subject of an superb Erwin performance. Written for the B-movie Cinderella Swings It, Helen Forrest and Harry James had recorded it in summer 1942, but Columbia delayed its release for a year. After it became a hit, Dick Haymes followed with an a capella version. Trudy's Kraft Music Hall rendition comes from another September show.

Also that month, Bing and Trudy combined for "The Way You Look Tonight," the Kern-Fields song from 1936 and Fred Astaire's Swing Time. This is one of the best songs and performances in the set. Bing had recorded it with his wife Dixie Lee in 1936.

"My Ideal" comes from an early December show. It's a revival of the 1930 Richard Whiting, Newell Chase and Leo Robin song that was introduced by Maurice Chevalier. The version by Bing and Trudy probably was suggested by the Capitol recording by Whiting's daughter, Margaret. Trudy's obbligato in this performance is strikingly effective.

Rodgers and Hart wrote the standard "My Heart Stood Still" for a West End review in 1927, then had to buy the song back so they could use it in A Connecticut Yankee. Bing and Trudy did well with this classic number.

"The Right Kind of Love," a new song by Mabel Wayne and Kermit Goell, was recorded by a number of artists in 1943, not including Bing. He did program it for an August show as a duet with Trudy. The composition is just OK, but the singing is fine.

Erwin left Crosby's show when she and her husband, Crosby's engineer-producer Murdo MacKenzie, were expecting a child in 1944.

Commercial Recordings

In 1945, Trudy was the featured vocalist on bandleader Ray Noble's summer replacement radio program. Noble also brought in Trudy for one of his many Columbia sessions. One side was "The Wish That I Wish Tonight," a lovely song by M.K. Jerome and Jack Scholl from the classic film Christmas in Connecticut. David Rose and Leo Robin came up with the other side, "So-o-o in Love," another film song, this one from the Danny Kaye specialty Wonder Man. On the film's soundtrack, Virginia Mayo's vocals were dubbed not by Erwin but June Hutton, the subject of an upcoming post.

Both Noble songs are attractive numbers in polished performances. Erwin (misspelled "Irwin" on the labels) is in good form. The trumpet soloist on "The Wish That I Wish" is ex-Miller hand Clyde Hurley. "So-o-o in Love" was even nominated for an Academy Award. Its formidable competition included "It Might as Well Be Spring" (the winner), "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," "Aren’t You Glad You’re You?," "I Fall in Love Too Easily," "I’ll Buy that Dream," "Sleigh Ride in July," "More and More" and "Some Sunday Morning."

Trudy's next record was her only one as the featured performer - songs for the mainly country label 4-Star in 1946. The result is sterling performances of the well-remembered "To Each His Own" and of "Whattya Gonna Do?" These came out on two different 78s, backed by instrumentals from bandleader and sometime actor Opie Cates. 

"To Each His Own" is a Livingston and Evans song from the film of the same name, and is best known these days for its Ink Spots recording, although it was a hit for Eddy Howard among others. This pressing is noisy, unfortunately.

There may be a third Erwin release on 4-Star - "Would You Believe Me?" - but I haven't found a copy.

At about the same time, Bing came through with another task - a commercial recording of "See You in Cuba" from his 1946 film Blue Skies, which had an Irving Berlin score. The composer called the piece "See You in C-U-B-A" when he wrote it as a prohibition song in 1920. Crosby's partner in the film was the charming Olga San Juan, but Erwin was a better singer.

More Movie Dubs

Crosby became a film producer with the 1945 release of The Great John L., based on the life of boxer John L. Sullivan and set in the late 19th century. Bing engaged Trudy to dub the vocals for Sullivan's love interest, played by Linda Darnell. Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke provided two songs for the character. "A Perfect Gentleman" is a brief period piece. The main event was "A Friend of Yours," a high quality ballad that should be better remembered. Erwin is in prime form for both.

Erwin dubbed the singing voice of Lucille Bremer in two films. There were two numbers in the 1945 musical fantasy Yolanda and the Thief, where Bremer was the love interest of Fred Astaire -"Angel" and "Will You Marry Me?" Both were by Harry Warren and Bremer's patron, producer Arthur Freed. The former is a pleasing melody, wonderfully well performed by Trudy, beginning with her excellent vocalese. The second song is lyrically insipid, reflecting the fantasy aspect of the film. 

The 1946 Jerome Kern filmic bio Till the Clouds Roll By was the source of another opportunity to dub Bremer's vocals: a short but sonorous solo from Trudy on "The Land Where Good Songs Go." The song is briefly interrupted by comments from Robert Walker as Kern, the best friend of the father of Bremer's character. (Walker sounds oddly like Ronald Colman in the part.)

More Radio Spots

In 1946 Trudy made one of the "Personal Albums" that the Armed Forces Radio Service produced for several years. She included "The Coffee Song," a hit for Bob Hilliard and Richard Miles that several artists recorded. It's a shame that she was saddled with an awful backing combo. The pianist thinks he is accompanying a dancing class; his rhythm could not be less suggestive of Brazil.

Trudy Erwin in 1947

The next song is quite a contrast. It comes from the Jack Paar Show, a 1947 summer replacement for the Jack Benny Show. Erwin's relaxed singing blends well with the modern sounds of a band led by the young Jerry Fielding, who himself had been associated with Kay Kyser, as an arranger. Trudy and Jerry present "I Believe," a terrific Cahn-Styne song introduced by Frank Sinatra in It Happened in Brooklyn.

Paar, later a television star, was just starting on network radio with the show. He did so well that the network continued the program in the fall. Our second selection comes from a September 1947 program, again with Fielding's band. The number is "Ivy," which Hoagy Carmichael wrote as the title song for a film starring Joan Fontaine. The melody is memorable but awkward to sing. Trudy handles it deftly.

Erwin also starred on other radio shows, and even an early television program that she shared with old friend Harry Babbitt.

More Songs from Films

Erwin appeared on screen in 1947 in a typical Jack Carson comedy, Love and Learn, where she helped to introduce the main song from the film, "Would You Believe Me?", a relatively popular number that attracted several commercial recordings. The song is presented by a montage to show how popular it had become. (Carson was a songwriter in the film.) The sequence leads up to Trudy as a glossy nightclub singer. M.K. Jerome, Ray Heindorf and Charles Tobias wrote the song.

In 1951, Erwin sang for Lana Turner in the Ezio Pinza starrer Mr. Imperium. Three selections were included. Her own solo was the unusual "My Love and My Mule," by none other than Harold Arlen and Dorothy Fields. Trudy shared the lively Arlen-Fields "Andiamo" with Pinza. Finally, the duo performed Augustin Lara's fabulous "Solamente una vez" (You Belong to My Heart). The great bass has most of the vocal line in the latter two songs.

Intended for Mr. Imperium?

The next item is the one that gave me the idea of doing this post devoted to Erwin. It is "Hello, My Lover, Goodbye," written by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman for the 1931 musical flop Here Goes the Bride. Frances Langford introduced the number in her only Broadway appearance. It's a striking composition that Erwin elevates with her soulful performance in this 1951 recording for M-G-M. 

My unproven theory is that this performance was intended for Mr. Imperium. It could have been used as a Turner/Erwin solo as the climax of the parting scene when Pinza (as a crown prince) is called back to his country to take over from his dying father. Johnny Green was the conductor both of the Mr. Imperium soundtrack and this song, and they are from the same year. I will say it's a better number than "My Love and My Mule."

Finally, another soundtrack assignment, also issued on record with Erwin credited. It is Frank Lehár's "Merry Widow Waltz," with the addition of Paul Francis Webster lyrics. For some reason, the studio's leadership thought Fernando Lamas and Lana Turner would make people forget Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald's performances in the earlier Merry Widow film. Oh well, at least they engaged Erwin to double Turner's singing voice again, partnering Lamas in the recording.

This sampling of Erwin's artistry comes primarily from Internet Archive and my collection.

LINK

Mary Kaye's Lone (and Excellent) Solo LP

This fine LP was requested by gimpiero, a motion seconded by woolfnotes. I've had it in the queue for transfer since my previous upload of the Mary Kaye Trio nine years ago. (I work slow.)

Gimpiero and woolfnotes have good taste - to me, this is a superior product but is fairly unknown. It is the only solo album by Mary Kaye, the singer-guitarist and namesake of the trio that was a fixture in the Las Vegas lounges of the time. All her other LPs were made with the trio and include as much ensemble as solo singing.

Mary Kaye

The trio was an excellent act, but that may have masked the real skills of Kaye, who was at once an assured and technically skilled singer with a great deal of emotional depth.

As bandleader/producer Sonny Burke writes in his liner notes, "Her timing, invention, phrasing and delivery are beyond reproach... [She] sings the words with exactly the feeling that the lyricist had in mind when he added his thoughts to the music." 

In the first song, "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," you may note the influence of Sarah Vaughan in her phrasing at the beginning of the number. But reflecting Kaye's Las Vegas background, she then seamlessly changes tempos so that the torch song turns into a swinger. 

Even so, Mary Kaye's approach can be more inward than Vaughan - striking in someone who made a living in Las Vegas lounges. Sarah herself made notable early recordings of two of the songs herein - "You Taught Me to Love Again" and "You're Mine, You."

The first side of the LP is composed of standards, with more adventure on side 2, which starts off with the terrific and not-often-heard "Real Love" by the team of Matt Dennis and Don Raye. The singer continues her salute to her peers with Mel Tormé's second biggest hit, "A Stranger in Town," which benefits from a particularly fine interpretation.

"Old Maid in April Weather" is a bit of a peculiar song by Mary's brother Norman, and the singer herself adds "I Must Have You," written with John Kruglick. "When I Go, I Go All the Way" is another unusual item, penned by arranger Russ Garcia and Bob Russell.

The LP benefits from charts by Jerry Fielding, which are worth hearing on their own. Decca's sound is very pleasing on this 1958 release.

Jerry Fielding

Bonus Items

I've added two items as bonuses - an RCA Victor single from 1954 along with one of Mary Kaye's earliest recordings, which gives a clue to her background.

The RCA single couples the dramatic "Almost," with music by Fred Spielman and lyrics by the father-daughter team of Ogden and Isabel Nash, with "Don't Laugh at Me," the theme song of English comedian Norman Wisdom. Not sure how they came up with this coupling, but these offbeat items are done very well. Hugo Winterhalter conducts.

The earlier recording is a selection from a 1947 Apollo album, when Mary Kaye's act was known as the Mary Ka'aihue Trio. She and her brother had been in show business from an early age, performing in her father's act, Johnny Ka'aihue’s Royal Hawaiians. The trio's first records were of Hawaiian music, including "Hooheno No Beauty" (The Beauty Hula) and "Makalapua" (Your Eyes Are Like Flowers), which were coupled on one of the three records in the Apollo set. Mary and Norman soon changed their last name to Kaye so that people would not assume they only performed the music of Hawaii. 

Both the RCA and Apollo records were cleaned up from Internet Archive needle drops. The Victor sound is good; the Apollo is a bit noisy.

There is more about Mary Kaye and her act in this 2013 post. Also you can hear her (and, separately, Julie London) sing the title song from Boy on a Dolphin.

Ruth Olay with Jerry Fielding

Last summer I posted an Jerry Fielding LP from 1953, with a bonus single featuring the young vocalist Ruth Olay. At that time I had a request for more Olay, so here she is, appropriately accompanied by Fielding in this 1958 date for Mercury.

By that time, Olay had become more established in the West Coast clubs, and had even become a familiar face on television. The cover above pitches her as the "singing discovery of the Jack Paar Show" - Paar at that time was the host of the late night Tonight Show on U.S. television, with Olay as a frequent guest.

Ruth Olay

The term "discovery" may suggest that the singer was a newcomer to the studio, which was not the case. I believe this was her fourth LP recording, with previous entries for the Zenith label, Mercury and Mercury's EmArcy mark (although the latter may have been released later than Easy Living).

Her singing on the Trend single was assured, if seemingly under the spell of Mildred Bailey. On this session she retains her characteristic rapid vibrato, but has adopted a more individual manner, with overtones of Lena Horne and Kay Starr. In a revealing interview with Bill Reed, Olay herself insists her greatest influences were blues singers. In any case, she was a highly accomplished artist whose current neglect is curious - especially considering she is still with us.

Easy Living embodies the peculiarities of early stereo, made during the period when engineers were still experimenting with the new format. On most tracks, Ruth comes at us from the left speaker, with the Mercury folks occasionally moving her to the right channel mid-song, seemingly just for the heck of it. On "Undecided" (of course), she keeps switching back and forth. These artificial shenanigans were common when stereo was young, the better for buyers to show off their new two-channel set-ups. (I distinctly remember the first time I heard a stereo record. It was at the house of friends of my parents, and seemed like quite a big deal to nine-year-old Buster.)

As a bonus, I have added a non-LP single that Olay made with Fielding early in 1958. Apparently the only title issued from that January date, it is a lively version of the Mercer-Donaldson song "On Behalf of the Visiting Firemen." (The other side of the single was "I Wanna Be a Friend of Yours" from the Easy Living album.)

By the way, the mention of Jack Paar on the LP cover inspired me to dig out one of the comic's few singles - a surprisingly good one (no thanks to Paar). The curious can find it on my singles blog.

Jerry Fielding's 1953 Band

Jerry Fielding is remembered today as a film and television composer, but before that experience, he was an arranger, radio conductor and bandleader. It’s in the latter guise that we hear him today, in this 1953 10-inch LP for the short-lived Trend label.

A friend of mine posted this record on his blog, and observed that Fielding seems so young on the cover that he does not look like he’s begun to shave. Perhaps so, but by this time he had been a professional for nearly a decade, writing big-band arrangements and conducting the orchestras for a number of radio shows.

Fielding was born Joshua Feldman, and the claim is made that in 1947 the producer of Jack Paar’s radio show made him change his name as a condition of getting a job on that program. However, by that time the young bandleader had already made records under the Fielding name.

By whatever name, he was a notable success, and this record is testimony. It documents a working band that Fielding had assembled, with three or four trumpets, two trombones, four or five saxes, and rhythm. The soloists include Maurie Harris (trumpet), Hymie Gunkler (alto), Buddy Collette and Sam Donahue (tenors) and Gerald Wiggins (piano). The leader’s arrangements are varied and imaginative, making for a fine album. (Perhaps not as good as the review below, which touts this disc as “the best band album ever recorded,” to the surprise, no doubt, of Ellington, Basie and many others.)

Billboard ad - click to enlarge

The LP has 11 cuts, five of which are devoted to Fielding’s theme song, “Carefree,” which is heard in snatches at the start and end of each side of the record, and complete on the first side. It’s an attractive piece, but maybe not deserving of all that exposure.

As a bonus to the LP, I’ve added Fielding’s first single for the Trend label. It includes a band treatment of “Here in My Arms” backed by a vocal on “A Blues Serenade” by the young Ruth Olay, who was under the influence of Mildred Bailey at the time. Olay went on to record a number of albums, and was backed by Fielding on one of her records for Mercury.

The Trend label was started by Albert Marx, who had owned the Musicraft label and was at the helm of Discovery for many years. Trend also recorded blog favorites Matt Dennis and Claude Thornhill, among others. These masters later were reissued on Kapp.

After Trend’s demise, Fielding moved on to Decca. I’ll post one of the records from that association if there is interest.