Louis Alter's Jewels from Cartier

Louis Alter is known primarily for his "Manhattan Serenade," popularized by Paul Whiteman, and for writing the music for such standards as "Nina Never Knew," "My Kinda Love," "You Turned the Tables on Me" and "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans."

Today's post - courtesy of our great friend Ernie - captures Alter's 1953 suite "Jewels from Cartier," as released in 1956 on an RCA Victor LP. The artists involved are Claude Yvoire and his Orchestra, who do very well by the lush material that Alter has provided.

Yvoire was for many years a conductor for Radio-Genève, so it seems likely that this is a Swiss ensemble we are hearing. They are very well recorded, and Ernie's transfer is excellent.

Louis Alter

As you might have guessed, Alter has named each number in his suite after a Cartier jewel, not that there is any particularly significance to the titles, which for the most part could have been assigned at random for all the difference it makes sonically. The notes don't tell us whether Cartier commissioned the suite, but again, it seems likely.

Those of you who have downloaded my post of Alter's album of Manhattan may be expecting similar music, but instead you will hear light music that could have been written by any number of artists working in that genre at the time. Only "Cat's Eye in the Night" sounds like it is from the same pen as "Manhattan Serenade." Not that the music isn't enjoyable - a more pleasant half-hour would be hard to imagine.

Thanks again, Ernie!

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Meredith Willson and 'Modern American Music'

Paul Whiteman's 1924 Aeolian Hall concert is famous primarily for having introduced Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. But that event was just the beginning of what the conductor called his "Experiments in Modern American Music," with concert music commissioned from composers with pop and jazz roots. There were to be a total of eight such concerts, the last being held in 1938.

Whiteman's efforts inspired at least one other bandleader to undertake a similar endeavor, and this album is the result. In 1939, Meredith Willson was a radio conductor on the show Good News, which was primarily a showcase for M-G-M talent. For the show, Willson commissioned 10 notable pop composers to produce new works in a variety of forms, including the minuet, waltz, march and so on. Participating were Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Peter DeRose, Duke Ellington, Louis Alter, Sigmund Romberg, Morton Gould, Dana Suesse and Ferde Grofé. Ellington, Gould and Grofé had all contributed compositions to Whiteman's 1938 concert.

Meredith Willson

Willson convinced Decca to make an elaborate album of the resulting commissions, which contained two 10-inch and three 12-inch 78s. Willson and band (or "concert orchestra," as both he and Whiteman were then calling their ensembles) recorded the compositions in one session in early January 1941. The results are certainly listenable, although none of the pieces has become well known. But that was the case as well with the works that Whiteman commissioned - he never achieved a success to match Rhapsody in Blue, at least not with anyone but George Gershwin.

Willson's biggest triumph was to come many years later, with the hit musical The Music Man, which has at least five songs that became better known and loved than any of the compositions on this album. His own concert pieces, while enjoyable, will never be considered his main contribution to music.

Cover of 78 set

This transfer is from an early LP reissue of the 78 set, with good sound, now (March 2024) newly remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK to ambient stereo remaster

Louis Alter's Album of Manhattan

Louis Alter was a fairly well-known songwriter who made a specialty of Manhattan-themed music. This 10-inch LP collects several of those items as presented by Paul Whiteman's Concert Orchestra.

Whiteman had recorded Alter's first New York piece, Manhattan Serenade, in 1928, and it became quite popular. So Alter continued to write music inspired by the big city, to lesser effect, although all the items are attractive and redolent of other music of the period, including Gershwin.

Decca issued this particular LP in 1949, but I suspect the recordings were made about a decade earlier, although I haven't been able to confirm that. Whiteman made Gershwin recordings with the concert orchestra for Decca at that time, and these arrangements sound more like the 1930s than the late 1940s. I would guess that Decca reissued them later because of the popularity of Gordon Jenkins' Manhattan Tower.

The arrangements themselves are the work of George Leeman, who spent most of his career as an arranger for CBS, working 12 years with Arthur Godfrey. As for Alter, these days he is perhaps best known as the composer of Nina Never Knew, My Kinda Love, You Turned the Tables on Me, and Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans. The download includes a vintage Billboard bio on him.

Sound is good - very much worth hearing if you like Gershwin and similar music of the period.