Lee Wiley's Two Rodgers and Hart Albums

Lee Wiley sings with Eddie Condon, guitar, Cozy Cole, drums, Sid Weiss, bass, Jess Stacy, piano, 1943

Everything about vocalist Lee Wiley (1908-75) was distinctive - her singing style, her looks, her accompanists, even her choice of songs.

Not that she selected unusual numbers; rather that she pioneered the concept of albums devoted to one songwriter or songwriting team. Today's post is devoted to just such a team - Rodgers and Hart. They were the subjects of her second such compilation, dating from 1940, along with a later R&H album, which came out in 1954. While the former set has been reissued a number of times, the latter is more neglected - but still worthy.

About Lee Wiley

The young Lee Wiley

Born in 1908 in Oklahoma, Wiley (streamlined from "Willey") was in New York at a young age, and was engaged by one of the biggest bandleaders of the time, Leo Reisman, soon thereafter. She was making records with him as early as 1931, followed by dates with Victor Young and Johnny Green, along with radio work.

For whatever reason, following these early accomplishments, she moved back to Oklahoma for a period, returning to New York after a year or so. Her biggest successes followed, generally in the company of the so-called Chicago school jazz musicians, whose style was compatible with her own. The series of "songbooks" she made for small labels were all with those musicians - one of whom (Jess Stacy) she was to marry. The music was great; the marriage not so much.

Her career continued into the 1950s, when she made records for Storyville (the second album included here), RCA Victor and others. The market changed, and her career sputtered, like many others', but she was never forgotten, because she made memorable records.

"She moved easily in and out of the world of high society and the raucous, barrelhouse world of jazz. She often sought the sleek, sophisticated wealthy and brittle world of society, only to pull away to the warmth, love and uncertainty of the world of jazz," Frank Driggs wrote.

As for her legacy as a vocalist, critic Stanley Green wrote, "All Lee Wiley ever had to do was to sing a song and it was hers. For keeps. No one ever sang anything quite her way and no one ever could. And she managed this closeness of identity not through histrionics and bombast but through controlled nuances and phrasings."

Lee Wiley Rodgers and Hart Album

If you are at all susceptible to the Wiley magic, you will be enchanted before she makes it out of the verse on the first song on her first Rodgers and Hart album. The song is "Here in My Arms," a prime example of the songwriters' art and the singer's sorcery. Appropriately, it comes from the first R&H show, Dearest Enemy from 1925.

The Rodgers and Hart album was released on the Music Box label issued by Rabson's Music Shop of New York, which was then a new emporium on W. 52nd St. This was in a time when some record stores produced their own discs. In the recent past, we have encountered the products both of the Liberty and Commodore Music Shops, who were active in issuing Broadway, cabaret and jazz records.

The Rabson's album was a follow up to Liberty's album of Gershwin songs, which Wiley had recorded just a few months before. And three months thereafter she would be doing a Cole Porter collection for Liberty, followed by a Harold Arlen set for Schirmer in 1943. These boutique labels loved her, and its clear why - artistically, these are entirely successful records.

The songwriter sets were the idea of a young advertising artist and jazz buff, John DeVries. He came up with the expressionist cover above showing an 12-foot tall Wiley towering over Kaminsky and Bushkin, along with the covers for the other songbooks.

Max Kaminsky

The small groups that generally accompanied Wiley are one key to her success. They created an intimate, improvisatory atmosphere that set off her elegant, yet elemental singing. For some reason, the Rabson's records are attributed to two different leaders - pianist Joe Bushkin and trumpeter Max Kaminsky - although the same musicians appear on all items. The others are Bud Freeman, tenor sax, Artie Shapiro, bass, and George Wettling, drums. Two arrangers are credited, although the charts seem to be limited to who solos when. Regardless, those named are Brad Gowans and Paul Wetstein, later to become better known as Paul Weston.

Joe Bushkin

But back to the Rodgers and Hart songs. The second song is a contrasting fast number - "Baby's Awake Now," one of the more obscure items in the collection, derived from 1929's Spring Is Here. In that score it's overshadowed by the likes of the title song and "(With a) Song in My Heart."

"I've Got Five Dollars" is one of the two hits from 1931's America's Sweetheart, the other being the little-remembered but excellent "We'll Be the Same." I recently posted this particular Wiley recording on my other blog in conjunction with the Arden-Ohman single that came out when the show was new. Her personable interpretation was something of a corrective to the stiff Frank Luther vocal on the Arden-Ohman record.

"Glad to Be Unhappy" was still a relatively new song when Wiley recorded it, dating from 1936 and On Your Toes. It remains one of the enduring R&H favorites, seldom done better than here.

The next number is perhaps the best known in the set - "You Took Advantage of Me," from 1928's Present Arms, where it outshone such fare as "Crazy Elbows" and "Kohala, Welcome."

None of the songs from the next show, 1926-27's Peggy-Ann, are remembered today, but perhaps "A Little Birdie Told Me So" should be. It is entirely charming, sung with much grace by Wiley.

One of the selling points for this set was the presence of a new, unpublished Rodgers and Hart song, "As Though You Were There," a particularly fine example of Lorenz Hart's writing that amazingly may still be unpublished.

The final song is one of the duo's best, "A Ship without a Sail," with a soaring melody allied to one of Larry Hart's most personal set of lyrics. As he writes in the verse, "I go to this or that place / I seem alive and well / My head is just a hat place / My breast an empty shell / And I've a faded dream to sell." The number is from 1929-30's Heads Up!

The Rabson's recordings also came out on the Gala label in addition to Music Box. These transfers are a mix of pressings from the two original sets, restored from Internet Archive needle drops. "You Took Advantage of Me" and "A Little Birdie Told Me So" were mastered (or transferred) very sharp, which I've corrected.

The liner notes of the original album claim that Rodgers dropped everything to help ensure the success of this collection, which seems unlikely. Other observers have marveled that the composer approved a jazz approach to his songs, given that he reputedly preferred them to be sung as written.

Then again, as Rodgers himself pointed out in his notes to an Andre Kostelanetz collection, "Let it never be said that I resist the idea of large sheet music and record sales. Mr. Kostelanetz and I have formed the habit of eating and we like it." A practical man.

Lee Wiley Sings Rodgers and Hart

For this 1954 set on Storyville records, Wiley's song choices were more mainstream, perhaps reflecting the taste of producer George Wein. (He fancied himself a singer, making a vocal album for Atlantic in 1955.) "You Took Advantage of Me" and "Glad to Be Unhappy" are repeat choices from the 1940 album. The other songs are mainly items you might find on any Rodgers and Hart collection, then or now.

Lee Wiley, c1952

That's not to say they are unwelcome, and Wiley does them beautifully, if more cooly than in the 1940 album. Some of that was probably due to her vocal chords being 14 years older. Some may have to do with the musicians on hand. Pianist Jimmy Jones was an experienced vocal accompanist, having worked for years with Sarah Vaughan. But he was a much different stylist and much more linear pianist than others who had recorded with Wiley, such as Jess Stacy and Joe Bushkin.

Jimmy Jones

Ruby Braff was a young trumpeter who was contracted to Storyville. His playing is closer to what Wiley was used to hearing, but he was not always a distinctive player as yet. On "It Never Entered My Mind," for example, his obbligatos seem almost perfunctory (and are under-recorded). Meanwhile, on the verse Jones tries to stay out of the singer's way, and they end up sounding of two minds about the tempo.

Ruby Braff

But the next song, "Give It Back to the Indians," is much better. The trumpet obbligatos are more positive, and Braff provides a very good solo. Then too, Jones' support throughout is a plus. This is the best item on the LP; unfortunately it also is the last. (Mary Jane Walsh introduced "Give It Back" in Too Many Girls; her recording can be found here.)

About the other songs on the LP: "My Heart Stood Still" (written for a 1927 London revue) is done very well, including the verse, as was Wiley's usual practice. "My Romance" comes from 1935's Jumbo. The contrast here between Jones' horizontal playing and Wiley's more rhetorical singing is marked.

Hart assures Rodgers that beans could get no keener reception in a beanery

"Mountain Greenery," from 1926's Garrick Gaieties, can be heard on what seems like three-quarters of the R&H albums ever issued. Vocalists love to sing "Beans could get no keener reception in a beanery." It's an up-tempo song, so it makes a good change of pace for such ballads as "Spring Is Here." Wiley does it well.

Finally, "My Funny Valentine," a no-doubt great song that suits Wiley down to the ground, although her limited vocal range comes into play on the higher notes. The song comes from Babes in Arms.

As for the album cover, we go from the giant Wiley on the Rabson's album cover to a photo of her singing in a darkroom for the Storyville LP. This second image is the handiwork of art director/photographer Burt Goldblatt, who specialized in murky covers featuring underexposed photos further obscured by a saturated color overlay (cf., the Joe Derise Sings album).

I transferred the Storyville LP from a slightly later reissue with very good sound. If you have a few moments, read over the garrulous liner notes on the Storyville back cover by the journalist George Frazier, in which he admits he wants to have sex with Wiley, laments the end of his marriage, and criticizes the clothing choices of author and radio personality Clifton Fadiman. He even writes a bit about the record, which he likes.

And in that regard, let's give Frazier the last word: "Wiley is one of the best vocalists who ever lived, with a magical empathy for fine old show tunes and good jazz. Indeed, I know of no one who sings certain songs so meaningfully, so wistfully."

I expect to post more of her records as time goes by.

Art Hodes Revisited

Art Hodes

A few posts back, I reuploaded a 10-inch Blue Note LP collecting some sides that pianist Art Hodes made with various small groups in the 1940s. At the time I lamented that the LP, called Out of the Back Room, sounded more like "Out of the Bath Room" because of the clumsy reverberation that the engineers applied during the LP mastering.

Frequent commenter Charlot wondered if the original 78s would have better sound, and I speculated that they would. Shortly thereafter, I decided to see if my assumption was true, and acquired 14 Hodes needle drops from Internet Archive, including four of the eight numbers found on the LP.

Max Kaminsky

I found out that the 78s do sound better - much better - and today's post is the proof.

The items I chose generally fall into two camps. The first includes seven blues or quasi-blues riffs with Hodes leading a few small ensembles, all of which included the estimable Max Kaminsky on trumpet. A couple of the records feature trombonist Sandy Williams, once of the Chick Webb band.

Pops Foster, Sidney Bechet, Art Hodes and Albert Nicholas

The second group includes six songs from the standard "Dixieland" repertoire. I selected these because they all feature the wonderful Sidney Bechet on clarinet or soprano sax. Bechet was one of the preeminent jazz musicians of the pre-bop era. Also on these sides are trumpeter Wild Bill Davison and bassist Pops Foster, two more legendary names.

The final song is the only one not issued under Hodes' name, although it was included on the Hodes LP. It is "Feelin' at Ease" from drummer Baby Dodds' Jazz Four. Also on the date along with Hodes were clarinetist Albert Nicolas and bassist Wellman Braud. Beside "Feelin' at Ease," the other songs on both the LP and in the 78 collection are "Blues 'n' Booze," "Low Down Blues" and "Jug Head Boogie."

These sides all emanate from New York and were recorded in 1944 and 1945.

A brief note about Hodes: he was never a virtuoso pianist, but he nonetheless was a leading light among the traditional musicians that the newly ascendant boppers called "moldy figs." (The "moldy" pejorative I get; the fig reference eludes me.) For one thing, for several years in the 40s, he edited a magazine called The Jazz Record that was devoted to traditional jazz music.

Hodes also had a record contract with Blue Note, and for his sessions brought in many of the stars of the traditionalist movement. They included both musicians who came from New Orleans, such as Bechet, Foster, Nicholas and Braud, and those associated with "Chicago-style" jazz, artists from that city such as Jimmy McPartland and Bud Freeman who were inspired by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings of the 20s.

It is sometimes said that the New Orleans style emphasized ensemble, the Chicago style solo playing. Maybe, but the two greatest soloists who played this music were Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, both from New Orleans. Hodes himself was from Chicago, and spent most of his career there, except for several years in the 1940s when New York was home base.