Ray McKinley and Eddie Sauter - the Majestic Recordings

Eddie Sauter and Ray McKinley

The great arranger Eddie Sauter made his name with Benny Goodman, but the many songs he arranged for Ray McKinley's excellent postwar band deserve to be remembered as well.

Previously I've posted McKinley's complete RCA Victor recordings, including a number of Sauter compositions. I've now remastered that set in ambient stereo.

Today we'll explore: 

• The sides that McKinley made for the small Majestic label just before joining Victor, specifically the 19 songs that Sauter arranged for the band, including many of his own works

• As a bonus, excerpts from a radio appearance from the same time period, with two additional Sauter arrangements

The Ray McKinley Band, 1946

I want to acknowledge my friend and frequent collaborator, the indefatigable Dave Federman, who first covered these recordings in his new Substack site, Dave's Desk, which I heartily recommend. Before Dave hipped me (as they said in the 40s) to these recordings, I had not heard them. What a revelation!

Let me quote here from Dave's essay on Sauter and McKinley: "His [McKinley's] recordings for the Majestic label in 1946-7 are, for me, pinnacles of progressive jazz - mainly because they feature Eddie Sauter arrangements. These are so surrealistic and free-form that they represent a parallel to the abstract expressionist art then being developed by the likes of Arshile Gorky and Hans Hoffman. The arrangements often seem goofy and Keatonesque, and are mindful of the playfulness of abstract art before it left the realms of form and representation entirely."

The Majestic Recordings

Here, we'll examine the McKinley-Sauter Majestics in chronological order, as is our usual practice. The set includes all the Sauter arrangements that I know about; there may be more.

Eddie arranged more than his own compositions for the band, and we start off with something far afield from Sauter's own works, Ivor Novello's end-of-war ballad, "We'll Gather Lilacs," in a strikingly good arrangement with a vocal by Ann Hathaway. (She is probably the same vocalist who later issued a well received LP on Motif.)

[Note (November 2024): I discovered that this is not true. There were two singing "Ann Hathaways" in the late 1940s. One was Ann Baker, who appears on this record, a former Louis Armstrong and Billy Eckstine vocalist who also recorded a single for Keynote. She is the artist on "We'll Gather Lilacs." The other "Ann Hathaway" was Betty Ann Solloway, who recorded a single for Avalon and an LP for Motif in the 1950s. I plan to feature both of them later on.]

"Ann Hathaway" (Ann Baker)

Next is one of the many novelties that featured McKinley's genial singing: "In the Land of the Buffalo Nickel," lyricist Bob Hilliard's wacky visit to the old West. This was at about the time that Hilliard was tasting success with "The Coffee Song."

Drummer Paul Kashishian, trumpeters Nick Travis, Chuck Genduso, Joe Ferrante and Curly Broyles

Our first Sauter composition is "Sand Storm," which begins in a bop vein, then settles into an eventful band instrumental with breaks for (possibly) trumpeter Chuck Genduso and clarinetist Peanuts Hucko.

Next, another McKinley specialty - his remake of Gene Raye's "Down the Road Apiece," which had been a hit for Ray, Gene and the Will Bradley Trio in 1940. When Ray sings, "The drummer man's a guy they call Eight Beat Mack," he of course is referring to himself. It's worth hearing, but in truth, Sauter's arrangement could have had more of a boogie-woogie feel.

Teddy Norman

Another ballad was Burke and Van Heusen's "That Little Dream Got Nowhere" from the comedy film Cross My Heart, where it was sung by Betty Hutton. Here it gets a smooth rendition by the talented Teddy Norman.

Next we have three consecutive Sauter compositions, starting with "Tumblebug," a somewhat surreal exercise that starts off in a bop vein, but has guitarist Mundell Lowe throwing in interjections throughout. This is the "abstract expressionism" that Dave mentioned above.

"Hangover Square" was the title of a creepy 1945 film, but Sauter's namesake composition is rather a band tour de force, with the title possibly referring to the musicians' drinking habits.

Trombonists Vern Friley, Irv Dinkin and Jim Harwood

Trombonist Vern Friley was credited on the label for his solo work on "Borderline," another Sauter composition.

Sauter produced a fairly standard but still accomplished big band arrangement for McKinley's "Jiminy Crickets." I'm not sure about the trumpeter, but the alto saxophonist is probably Ray Beller,

In case there is any doubt who leads the band ...

We're back in McKinley specialty territory with his "Howdy Friends (E.T.O. Curtain Call)." (I have no idea what "E.T.O" stands for.) The label credits Ray four times - as the singer, composer, bandleader and via a second subtitle to the title - "Ray McKinley's Theme Song." It's a good piece that allows Ray to credit some of his notable band members. In this version he mentions Ray Beller, Mundell Lowe, Vern Friley, Peanuts Hucko and pianist Lou Stein. The lineup in the live version discussed below is different. 

Next, and moving into 1947 recordings, we have the Harold Arlen-Ted Koehler standard "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues," first recorded by the young Ethel Merman in 1932. Sauter provides space for some appropriate hot obbligatos and McKinley permits himself a few brief scat passages a la Louis Armstrong. The few instrumental choruses are much the most interesting part of this piece. Parenthetically, I'm an admirer of the composers, but this is not one of my favorite songs.

"Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume" is another off-center adventure from lyricist Bob Hilliard, perfectly suited to the talents of McKinley and Sauter.

Guitarist Mundell Lowe, Ray McKinley, baritone sax Deane Kincaide, vocalist Teddy Norman

"Comin' Out" is a rocking instrumental from the band, featuring McKinley on drums. This, "Red Silk Stockings" and the next number, "The Chief," were apparently unissued on Majestic, but later came out on Savoy and Allegro Elite. The transfer of "Red Silk Stockings" is from a Hit pressing, the others from an Allegro 10-inch LP in my collection.

The following two numbers amount to Bob Hilliard's ventures into ethnic stereotypes - then taken as comic, today as questionable to say the least - "Pancho Maximilian Hernandez (The Best President We Ever Had)" and "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)." The latter song was a big hit. The McKinley version did well, but not as well as the Andrews Sisters/Danny Kaye disc.

The bandleader's contract with Majestic was running down but there was time for two more numbers before he and the band were off to Victor. First we have Sauter's "Mint Julep" (not the same song as the Clovers' "One Mint Julep" of several years later).

Finally, a pensive Lynn Warren sings "Over the Rainbow," dragging the beat out so much that the band seems to be getting impatient.

A Band Remote from 1946

Finally, we have several items from a June 25, 1946 radio remote from Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook, a well known club in New Jersey. This comes from a long-ago bootleg with fairly good sound.

Ray predictably starts out with "Howdy Friends," this time with a shout-out to Sauter. He then segues into a really fine performance of Sauter's "Hangover Square," a bit looser than the Majestic recording above.

Sauter then contributes a dynamic arrangement of "The Carioca," an impressive workout for the band. The set ends with another Sauter arrangement, this one of "Tuesday at 10."

These materials were remastered from items on Internet Archive and from my collection. Majestic's sound was not as polished as Victor's, but is still reasonably good.

Sauter of course went on to form the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra with Bill Finegan. The band's output has been covered on this blog fairly extensively. The most recent post is here; it will lead you to all the previous articles on the band that I've published.

LINK to Ray McKinley and Eddie Sauter - the Majestic Recordings

Sam's 'Mood to Be Wooed' Plus Singles

With this LP, one of the most dynamic of all performers, Sammy Davis, Jr., turned reflective for the first time. For Mood to Be Wooed, a 1957 Decca release, the singer is backed only with a solo guitar, played by noted studio musician Mundell Lowe.

Davis returned to this concept in 1966 for a better-known Reprise album, albeit with a new song list. There, he was accompanied by Laurindo Almeida.

This post combines the Decca LP with six single sides from the same label that haven't had an official re-release for several decades.

Mundell Lowe

For his Decca repertoire, Davis turned to his great friend Frank Sinatra for inspiration. Most of the songs on the LP are associated with Frank. He had recorded one number ("Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered") only a few months earlier in conjunction with his lead role in the film of Pal Joey. Jimmy Van Heusen wrote "I Could Have Told You" for a 1953 Sinatra single. Frank had featured three of the other songs on his moody 1955 LP In the Wee Small Hours - including "This Love of Mine," which he co-wrote. And he had recorded several of the other numbers back in the 1940s.

I also suspect, without any evidence, that Davis' sparse accompaniment was inspired by Sinatra's chamber music LP, Close to You, recorded in 1956 with the Hollywood String Quartet and a few winds and brass.

Sam had an extroverted style, so even in Mood to Be Wooed he never seems as inward as Frank was in the latter's more subdued recordings during this period. In "What Is There to Say" (not really a ballad anyway), Davis can't resist belting out "what is there to DO-HEE-YOU-HOO-HOO" in the climax of the song. A similar use of melisma, a stylistic trademark of his, pops up several times in this collection.

But don't let me make too much of these matters. Mood to Be Wooed is a very good record, well sung and nicely accompanied by a talented guitarist. (FYI - two Mundell Lowe LPs appeared here in 2019, courtesy of David Federman.)

Davis at about the time the LP was recorded

Bonus Singles

The bonus singles all date from 1955. I remastered the files from lossless originals found on Internet Archive. These are all fast-paced numbers with big-band backings, and provide quite a contrast to the Davis-Lowe LP.

"It's Bigger Than You and Me" was a Styne-Robin song written for the musical film version of My Sister Eileen. There it was introduced by Jack Lemmon, who made several albums as a singer and pianist. He is, however, no match for Sammy, who is fully in his element, and enjoying terrific backing by Sy Oliver. This single was apparently released before the film, which the label identifies with its working title, Here Comes Eileen.

The flip side of "It's Bigger" was a cover of an early Gilbert Becaud song with new English lyrics, called "Back Track!" The exclamation point is fully warranted as Davis is at his exuberant best.

Bob Russell's "Circus" is a standard pop number of the time, well backed by Oliver. Another ephemeral number is "Dangerous," which was co-written by guitarist Billy Mure. The bombastic arrangement is by Morty Stevens.

Davis returned to Sinatra territory with his cover of "Adelaide," which Frank sang in the then-current film version of Guys and Dolls. This piece is much better suited to the Voice in character as Nathan Detroit than to Mr. Entertainment.

The final number is "All About Love," which Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon wrote for Eddie Fisher to perform in Bundle of Joy, the film Fisher made with then-wife Debbie Reynolds. It's a tricky melody, which Davis just about negotiates successfully. In truth, the performance and the Morty Stevens arrangement are better than the song.

The sound on the LP and singles is good; please forgive some slight background noise at the opening of the album. The download includes several short reviews and a vintage ad.

My friend John Morris asked for this transfer a while back; happy to provide it for him and anyone else interested.