Audrey Morris: the 1950s Recordings

Audrey Morris is a name known to vocal connoisseurs but not more widely. This post collects her two albums from the 1950s, adding a broadcast from about the same period with Claude Thornhill's band. If you listen, you'll discover that she deserves to be remembered.

Morris (1928-2018) was a resident of Chicago during all or at least most of her life, making a living as a cabaret artist for many years.

She was supposedly influenced by several big names - Fitzgerald, Lee, Holiday and Bailey - but to me she is most reminiscent of Jeri Southern. Even so, her singing is distinctive, and her choice of unusual songs very welcome.

Bistro Ballads

Morris' first LP was done for RCA Victor's "X" label in 1955. She accompanies herself on piano, assisted by Johnnie Pate on bass and Charles Walton on drums. The latter were both members of the Johnnie Pate Trio, along with pianist Ronell Bright. Audrey's playing is strictly in the background; she is in no way a flashy instrumentalist.

The LP begins with "Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me," a 1942 Rodgers and Hart song from By Jupiter that was introduced by Constance Moore. Such vocalists as Louise Carlyle and Betty Bennett revived it in the 50s, but I doubt that their versions could be more affecting than Morris' plaintive singing.

The Jimmy McHugh-Harold Adamson song "Where Are You" is strongly associated with Frank Sinatra, but it was already 20 years old when the Voice made it the title song of a 1957 album. Frank is uniquely haunting, but Audrey's yearning quality is notable as well.

Johnnie Pate

"Good Morning Heartache" was made famous by Billie Holiday in 1946. It is by by Ervin Drake, Irene Higginbotham and Dan Fisher.

One of the lesser known songs on the LP is "Come in Out of the Rain" by Carl Sigman and Bob Russell; a shame because it's a fine number. The King Cole Trio introduced it in 1947. Morris is entirely persuasive here.

"Sweet William" is an obscure Wayne-Sherman song that is way too mawkish for my taste.

The Gershwins wrote "Blah, Blah, Blah" for a 1931 film called Delicious, where it was sung by El Brendel and Manya Roberti. It makes for a good change of pace to open the second LP side.

Charles Walton

The narrative "Guess Who I Saw Today" comes from the revue New Faces of 1952, as introduced by June Carroll. Audrey handles it well, until the too emphatic denouement.

"Guess I'll Hand My Tears Out to Dry," one of the best Cahn-Styne songs, was introduced by Jane Withers in the 1944 flop Glad to See You. Sinatra made famous recordings in 1949 and 1958.

Dick Charles and Eddie Waldman wrote "April Fool" in 1952, when it was recorded by a few singers. It's another song of regret, done well here.

Finally, Morris' "The End of a Love Affair" is notable because she sings the extended verse. Most vocalists can't wait to get to the wonderful chorus melody, so they leave out the verse. Surprisingly, the first recording of the tune was by Margaret Whiting. The best known is by Sinatra, but that was a few years after Morris' reading. The song was the biggest hit by Edward C. Redding.

The sound from this original "X" pressing is very good mono.

LINK to Bistro Ballads

The Voice of Audrey Morris

For her second LP, Morris was accompanied by a band led by the esteemed Marty Paich, recently heard here in two of his jazz LPs, from 1954 and 1955. In addition to trumpeter Stu Williamson, guitarist Bill Pittman, and rhythm, the ensemble included the so-called "Bethlehem Strings," led by Felix Slatkin. Curiously, this set was being recorded at about the same time in 1956 as Sinatra's Close to You, which featured the Hollywood String Quartet, also led by Slatkin.

Audrey starts with an excellent song, "I Never Mention Your Name (Oh, No)," by Don George, Walter Kent and Mack Davis, which was first recorded by Jack Leonard in 1940. There were a flurry of versions three years later, and then a lull until Morris' definitive reading.

Burke and Van Heusen's distinctive "It's Always You" sprung to life on the Road to Zanzibar with Bing, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour back in 1941. The song has been revived periodically, with Audrey's version among the best.

For a change of pace we have "How'dja Like to Love Me" from Frank Loesser and Burton Lane, written for College Swing in 1938. The show starred Burns and Allen along with singing comics Martha Raye and Bob Hope, who duetted on "How'dja." (FYI - Raye's late 40s album on Discovery is available here.)

Marty Paich and Audrey Morris

"Glad to Be Unhappy," with what is perhaps Lorenz Hart's most masochistic lyric, has been a torch standard since it was introduced in 1936 via On Your Toes. Audrey had already demonstrated her prowess with this type of material in her first album, and does so again here.

In a similar vein is "What More Can a Woman Do," in which lyricist Peggy Lee's lyric professes, "I'd rather give and not receive." Her recording with Dave Barbour came out in 1945.

Noel Coward wrote the brilliant "If Love Were All" for his operetta Bitter Sweet in 1929. Morris' recording is sensitive and touching. It's too bad she doesn't sing the verses, where it is made clear that the vocalist is a diseuse. That fact explains the lines, "I believe that since my life began / the most I've had / is just a talent to amuse."

Fats Waller and Andy Razaf were the authors of "Blue Turning Gray Over You," with Waller the first to record the piece in 1929. It's an enjoyable item that's said to be a standard, but who sings it these days? Audrey is appropriately wry.

Stu Williamson

A song that is a standard is Todd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now," which he and lyricist Carl Sigman wrote for Sarah Vaughan. (Her first recording is here.) Audrey was not Sarah (no one was), but even so this is a fine version.

Sigman and Frank Loesser wrote "I Go for That" for the 1938 film St. Louis Blues, where the chanteuse was Dorothy Lamour. For once she was not with Bing 'n' Bob; Lloyd Nolan was the unlikely hero of this comedy. The song had not often been heard until Morris' welcome revival.

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer composed "I Wonder What Became of Me" in 1946 for St. Louis Woman, where it was performed by Ruby Hill. Audrey, Anita Ellis and Chris Connor all recorded it in 1956. In a Gloomy Song Hall of Fame, this one would be admitted on the first ballot.

Audrey cuts through the melancholy mood with "You Irritate Me So," Cole Porter's brittle duet from 1941's Let's Face It, where the singing pair was Nanette Fabray and Jack Williams. It's not a piece that has been recorded often. When I produced a compendium of recordings from the show a few years ago, I resorted to Nancy Walker's 1959 version.

The LP closes with "My Old Flame," which Arthur Johnstone and Sam Coslow wrote for Mae West to warble in the 1934 film Belle of the Nineties. For me, the most memorable recording is Billie Holiday's Commodore disc with Eddie Heywood - but Audrey is a contender.

The Bethlehem sound is very good. Morris was not to record again until the 1980s.

LINK to The Voice of Audrey Morris

Five Songs with Claude Thornhill (Updated)

Note: this post was updated January 25 with new information and more importantly two new songs, both courtesy of my friend bicho. Many thanks to him!

As a bonus, we have five songs that come from airchecks with Claude Thornhill's band, two from August 23, 1956 and three from the following day. These are from appearances on NBC radio's Bandstand program.

The first song is old favorite "Moonlight in Vermont" (Karl Suessdorf and Joh n Blackburn), dating from 1954. The second has an interesting background. "My Prayer" was surely programmed because the Platters version of the song was on the charts at the time. But the melody dates back to 1924 and the Romani musician Georges Boulanger. Jimmy Kennedy wrote lyrics for it in 1939.

For the next day's songs, let me first mention that this tape dub was afflicted with severe wow and other speed issues. I have been able to iron out most of the problems, but there is momentary pitch uncertainty and a few drop outs here and there. The sound is otherwise good.

The August 24 songs are all standards: Henry Nemo's "Don't Take Your Love from Me" from 1940, Rodgers and Hart's "There's a Small Hotel" from 1936's On Your Toes, and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" from 1931, written by Harry Barris, Billy Moll and Ted Koehler. On the latter, Audrey duets with Gene Williams.

You will notice that as a band singer, Morris is far more extroverted than in a recording studio, and sounds much less like Jeri Southern - to the point where I began to doubt that this was Audrey after all. Were there two Audrey Morrises?

LINK to Five Songs with Claude Thornhill

From the Back Room: Two from Marty Paich

The cool fellow above is the distinguished pianist-arranger-composer Marty Paich (1925-95), who issued many fine albums under his own name and as music director for others. Today we have one LP where he shares the lead role with John Graas; and other that is devoted to the Marty Paich Octet. The former was recorded first, so we'll discuss it first.

This is another in a series of posts from Buster's Back Room, where I keep the many projects I have completed but never offered on this blog.

For these "From the Back Room" items, the transfers, etc., are prepared with the usual care, but my usual long-winded commentary may be abbreviated.

Jazz Studio 2 from Hollywood

For this 1954 LP, Decca assembled an octet of leading West Coast jazz musicians - Don Fagerquist (t), Milt Bernhart (tb), John Graas (frh), Herb Geller (as), Jimmy Giuffre (ts, bar, cl), Howard Roberts (g), Paich (p), Curtis Counce (b) and Larry Bunker (d),

Paich wrote one item - "Paicheck" (which it was) - and arranged two standards - Jimmy Van Heusen's "Darn that Dream" (a cool school specialty) and David Raksin's "Laura."

John Graas

Graas, one of the few jazz French horn players, wrote two numbers - "Graas Point" and "Here Come the Lions," while arranging Gershwin's "Do It Again."

Graas (1917-62) recorded fairly prolifically through the 1950s and until his early death, both as a leader and with the Stan Kenton band, among others.

Herb Geller

The LP starts out lyrically with Howard Roberts' guitar introducing "Laura," followed by graceful solos from Herb Geller on alto and Don Fagerquist on trumpet. Milt Bernhart follows with a more assertive break on trombone, before Graas' horn completes the slow tempo section, which is followed by a more swinging close.

Milt Bernhart

So it goes throughout the album. Graas' "Here Come the Lions" has a very catchy theme; Paich's "Paicheck" is an uptempo workout. The soloists for all items are identified in the included discography; note that the information there is in order of recording, not the order presented on the LP. 

LINK to Jazz Studio 2 from Hollywood

The Marty Paich Octet / Tenors West

The year 1955 was ground zero for the great LP switcheroo, where labels took their old 10-inch albums, added a few songs and reissued them as 12-inch albums.

Today we have a good example, starting with the 10-inch Marty Paich Octet LP, recorded for GNP in February 1955, relatively late in the 10-inch LP lifecycle. In a few paragraphs, we'll discuss how this turned into the 12-inch album Tenors West.

Jack Costanzo

For the February session, consisting entirely of Paich compositions, the musicians were: Harry Klee (f, as, ts), Bob Cooper (ts), Bob Enevoldsen (ts, vtb), Jack DuLong (bar), Conte Candoli (t), Paich (p), Joe Mondragon (b), Art Mardigan (d) and Jack Costanzo (bgo). The latter appeared on the two-part Caribbean-themed "Ballet du Bongo."

Harry Klee, Joe Mondragon

Also featured were flutist Harry Klee in "Paich-ence" (using the composer's name in the title was big back then) and bassist Joe Mondragon in "The Dragon."

In November of the same year, more or less the same crew assembled for another recording session, with Jimmy Giuffre taking the place of Bob Cooper and Frankie Capp the drum chair of Art Mardigan. This time there were no Paich compositions.

The added tunes were the Gerry Mulligan theme "Line for Lyons," Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train," Hal Hopper's "There's No You" and the Count Basie-Harry Edison "Shorty George."

When the 12-inch version came out in 1957, GNP downplayed the Marty Paich Octet, stressing the tenors of Giuffre, Cooper, Klee and Bob Enevoldsen (who also played valve trombone), and adopting the Tenors West title from one of Paich's compositions.

For this post, I've presented the 12 numbers as follows: first the 10-inch LP in its original order, followed by the songs added to the 12-inch Tenors West LP.

LINK to the Marty Paich Octet / Tenors West

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!