Ronnie Deauville - The Early Recordings, Vol. 1

Today almost unknown, the gifted vocalist Ronnie Deauville had a short career disrupted by accident and illness. While he was unquestionably a Sinatra disciple, what set him apart was a hushed intensity and sincerity - even when singing with the big bands where he made his living.

This new series will present almost all of his early recordings - his commercial and transcription discs with Ray Anthony, most of his solo output, and airchecks with Anthony and Tex Beneke. The three-part series will include 60 recordings in all, covering the years 1947-51.

This first volume has Ronnie's solo and Ray Anthony discs from the 1940s, along with a Beneke aircheck from 1948, for a total of 24 songs.

About Ronnie Deauville

Born in 1925, Deauville became interested in singing in the Naval Air Corps during the World War II, with his particular inspiration being Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey band.

His first professional engagement following the war was with Glen Gray, followed by dates with Tex Beneke's band. He also spent a productive period with Ray Anthony's emerging ensemble, eventually building a nightclub career. He endured two huge setbacks in 1956 - a serious car accident, soon followed by a case of polio that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Eventually he resumed his singing career, but his paralysis made singing difficult. Deauville passed away at the age of 65 due to cancer.

The Super Disc and Signature Recordings

Billboard, February 7, 1948

A one-off 1947 recording for the small Super Disc label was apparently Deauville's first. Backed by pianist Ram Ramirez's combo, he recorded the Jimmy Van Heusen-Eddie DeLange standard "Deep in a Dream," a rapt performance that immediately demonstrated his special qualities as a singer. 

The backing was "Mad about You," which Super Disc considered the plug side, possibly because Ramirez co-wrote it. The record was released in December 1947 to some acclaim. The hit recordings of "Mad about You," however, were by Herb Lance and the Five Changes and by the Ravens.

Meanwhile, Ronnie had joined the band of Ray Anthony, who had a recording contract with another small label, Signature. The 1948 Musicians Union recording ban was closing in on the industry, so the band spent December 30, 1947 in the studio.

Deauville was featured on two items - the standard "Bye, Bye Blues" from 1930, along with one of the singer's finest records -  Leon René's "Gloria," which had been recorded previously by crooner Bob Hayward and by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, with a vocal by Charles Brown.

Billboard, September 11, 1948

Deauville's intense version is clearly an interior monologue - "She's not in love with you," he tells himself. All other recordings seem impersonal next to his. The backing is largely celeste with rhythm, with Anthony allotted a trumpet solo.

Ronnie would record "Gloria" twice more - once as a solo for Mercury (also in this set) and once as a Lang-Worth transcription, which will be in a future post. The song would later become a doo-wop classic in a somewhat different form. A new post on my other blog presents all the versions of "Gloria" mentioned above - along with a competing version of "It's Too Soon to Know," discussed below.

Also on the same date, the band recorded another ballad, "Passing Fancy," by Bob Hilliard and David Mann. Its coupling was "Peace of Mind," an ephemeral song by Murray, Goldman and Lawrence.

Signature, which must have seen something in Deauville, had him record as a solo artist as well as with Ray Anthony. First was a cover of the Perry Como hit "'A' You're Adorable," where Ronnie is joined by the Riddlers vocal group and the Bob Curtis Quartet. Next was a version of the Franco-American hit "Comme Ci, Comme Ça," also with Curtis.

Deauville's next record, with Ray Bloch, was a real departure - "Someday" from Rudolf Friml's operetta The Vagabond King. Ronnie's voice was made for the microphone, not the stage, but he is convincing in the piece, aided by a lush backing by Bloch's band. The yearning quality in Deauville's voice is just right for Brian Hooker's lyrics.

Bloch and Deauville also revived the excellent Robin-Rainger song "With Every Breath I Take" to good effect. This reading is very Sinatra-like, but the song was actually introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1934 film Here Is My Heart. Frank himself didn't record it until 1956.

The Mercury Recordings

The Mercury label released 10 recordings by Ronnie, eight of which are in this collection. These are of uncertain provenance. All except the last coupling have no accompaniment information. These may have been Signature recordings that Mercury acquired - or may even have been sourced from another label. 

"It's Too Soon to Know" was a giant R&B hit in 1948 for the Orioles, whose manager, Deborah Chessler, wrote the piece. It's the kind of material that was suited to Ronnie, and his reading holds up well. (The recordings by the Ravens and by the Orioles are discussed in a post on my other blog.)

Mercury also released a version of "Gloria," with the accompaniment primarily guitar and clarinet. This is probably not an alternate take from the Signature session.

"In the Rain" is a lovely song, the sort of ballad that was made for Ronnie. I believe this may have been a cover of a Gladys Palmer release on the Miracle label.

Another cover was "Recess in Heaven," which Johnny Getz wrote for Willis Threats to record. The hit version was, however, by Dan Grissom.

Much different, although still a cover, is "Brush Those Tears from Your Eyes," by Al Trace, Oakley Haldeman and Jimmy Lee, which was first recorded by Evelyn Knight.

Billboard January 8, 1949

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote the sublime "I Only Have Eyes for You" for Dick Powell to introduce in the 1934 musical Dames. Powell didn't record it until 1947, which disc may have stimulated Ronnie's recording. The Flamingos were to have a huge hit with the number in 1959.

Kurt Weill wrote one of his best songs, "Here I'll Stay," with Alan Jay Lerner for their 1948 concept musical Love Life. The song's earnest quality is perfect for Deauville.

Ronnie was apparently the first to record Gordon Burdge and J. Russel Robinson's "Portrait of Jennie," but another artist known for his quiet sincerity, Nat King Cole, had the hit.

Deauville apparently also recorded two songs for Mercury with Mitch Miller, but I have yet to come across them.

Airchecks with Tex Beneke

In 1948, former Glenn Miller vocalist/tenor saxophonist Tex Beneke was the leader of the official Miller ghost band. Deauville often performed with the band, with one of their broadcasts yielding six songs for this set.

Leading off, fittingly, is the Miller specialty "Moonlight Cocktail" from 1941. Ronnie was a very different singer from Ray Eberle (who recorded it first) and sounds a little ill at ease.

Tex Beneke

More in Deauville's line was "Laura," the eerily romantic song from David Raksin and Johnny Mercer. For some reason the arrangement keeps interrupting with loud snatches of Debussy.

"Encore, Cherie" is a song by Alice Simms and J. Fred Coots that Beneke had recorded with vocalist Garry Stevens. Here, Ronnie does it admirably.

Another Miller favorite is next - "Serenade in Blue" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, which is more suited to Deauville' strengths than "Moonlight Cocktail." Ronnie's lack of range trips him up at the close of the song.

Charles Trenet's "Beyond the Sea" has a haunted quality that suited Deauville very well.

The final song in this set, "Dreamy Lullaby," was a Frankie Carle specialty that the bandleader wrote with George Weiss and Bennie Benjamin. As the title may suggest, this was just right for Ronnie.

Next in this series will be a set of Lang-Worth Transcriptions and a group of airchecks, both with Ray Anthony and dating from about 1950.

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Christmas with the Postwar Bands

The Ray McKinley Band

Interest in America's big bands tailed off in the postwar years, but the most popular bands were still active in the recording studio. And of course they produced that staple of the music industry, the holiday release, whether covering an old favorite or introducing the latest work from one of America's tunesmiths.

In today's post we'll look at 14 of these seasonal specialties. The recordings include both the newest songs and perennials revisited by the upcoming bands.

We'll concentrate on the postwar years, but let's start with two items from the late-war era.

Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak's band is largely forgotten, even though he was prominent and popular for quite a period. In 1944, he came out with the new song "A Wonderful Winter (For You and Me)" by Marty Symes and Al Kaufman. It went nowhere on the charts, but still it's a pleasant outing in the hands (lips?) of trumpeter Spivak and singer Jimmy Saunders. Alvin Stoller is the drummer in this band - he will appear at the end of this post in an unfamiliar role as vocalist in a Billy May number.

In early 1945, Les Brown's band was covering a good song with a holiday (or at least winter) veneer, "Sleigh Ride in July." Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke wrote the piece for Dinah Shore to introduce in the film Belle of the Yukon. The popular version of the song was by Bing Crosby, but Brown's Gordon Drake does it well, too.

Les Brown, Jack Haskell

The following year, Les came back with a two-sided Christmas offering. One side was the new "Christmas Song," presented by his popular vocalist Doris Day. It was backed by "When You Trim Your Christmas Tree," a worthy outing by Doris' male counterpart, Jack Haskell. I may have shared this item a long time ago, but it's worth a revisit. In later years, Haskell had a fair amount of success on television.

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" has become one of the most popular songs of the season. (Second Hand Songs lists 1,295 versions!) The first recording was by Bing in 1943, and there was a well-received release by Perry Como three years later. In 1947, the song was taken up by vocalist/bandleader Eddy Howard, who had a big hit the previous year with "To Each His Own." Eddy was not without his vocal mannerisms, but his reading of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is sincere and affecting.

Eddy Howard, Ray McKinley

Ray McKinley had a long career as bandleader, and before that was a noted drummer-singer with Jimmy Dorsey and Will Bradley. McKinley was a close friend of Glenn Miller, co-led the Miller AAF Band following Miller's disappearance, and later fronted the Miller ghost band. Even so, the arrangements for his own postwar band betrayed little Miller influence, being done by the noted Eddie Sauter and Deane Kincaid. There is an extensive survey of McKinley's postwar recordings on this blog, but today we'll just sample one - a new song for 1948 called "Little Jack Frost Get Lost" by Al Stillman and Segar Ellis. Ray is the vocalist, and manages as usual to be stylish even though he had very little range.

An Amos Milburn recording session

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers had a hit in 1947 with "Merry Christmas, Baby," with a vocal by Charles Brown. In 1949, another piano-playing singer, Amos Milburn, tried to duplicate this success by pretty much duplicating the song, rearranging the title into "Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby." It's a basic blues number, but tuneful and well done. The label credits "Amos Milburn and His Chicken-Shackers," not because they had opened a restaurant, but because they had recently enjoyed a chart success with "Chicken Shack Boogie."

Harry Prime

Ralph Flanagan led one of the first and most successful Miller-clone bands. In 1949 RCA Victor was giving him a big push on its Bluebird budget label, including his Miller-esque disc of "White Christmas," with an sonorous vocal by Harry Prime. Victor issued a series of promos at the time, including a Flanagan intro to this record. You can find it on my other blog. The bandleader also has been a frequent visitor on this site.

Freddie Mitchell

Tenor sax playing bandleader Freddie Mitchell could and did turn anything into a boogie, particularly after his 1949 success with "Doby's Boogie," named in honor of Cleveland Indians outfielder Larry Doby. For the holiday season that same year he came out with the "Jingle Bell Boogie," which works much better than you might expect, particularly if you have a taste for rip-roaring tenor saxes and plinkety-plunk upright pianos. The other side of that disc was the "Auld Lang Syne Boogie," which I uploaded several years ago. Sixteen more Mitchell sides (including "Doby's Boogie") can be found here.

Ray Anthony, Ronnie Deauville

Peter De Rose and Carl Sigman penned "A Marshmallow World" in 1950. It's a winning song, and while never a huge hit, did attract the attention of some heavy hitters, including Bing and Vic Damone. Our entry will be the version by the Ray Anthony band, another part-time Miller clone outfit that was very popular for years. The vocal here is by Ronnie Deauville, a particular favorite of mine. I devoted several posts to him and his sad story in the early days of this blog.

Louis Jordan

"May Every Day Be Christmas" is a sentiment that has long been a popular with songwriters (and others). This 1951 iteration is by alto saxophonist and vocalist Louis Jordan, one of the greatest hitmakers of the postwar era. Here he fronts a big band plus organist Wild Bill Davis. The earnest results are quite a contrast with such jaunty Jordan hits as "Five Guys Named Moe."

Tex Beneke and Cash Box ad

Also in 1951, Tex Beneke came out with a two-sided Christmas special - "The Santa Claus Parade" and "A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus." By this time, Tex had left the Miller scene behind and was making records for M-G-M without a trace of Glenn's trademark sound. These two are engaging novelties from the saxophonist-vocalist, whose other work can be found here.

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan

As the 1950s wore on, bands tried to distinguish themselves by trying something different - in the case of Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan's band, it was to drop any pretense of playing for dancers, rather presenting themselves as a concert ensemble. The musical results were often exciting, but seldom commercial - not pop enough to be popular and not classical enough to attract the high-toned crowd. The band's 1952 Christmas issue is a good example of the Sauter-Finegan approach - a winning arrangement of the "Troika" movement from Sergei Prokofiev Lt. Kije Suite, called "Midnight Sleighride" by the arrangers. Prokofiev's piece has become associated with the season, and the band's sleigh bells point up that connection. The Sauter-Finegan Band has been featured here several times.

Billy May

Finally, Billy May's "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo" from 1954. This was one of May's contributions to the mambo mania of the time. Drummer Alvin Stoller does a knocked-out Perez Prado routine - instead of Prado's "ugh" he shouts "May!" and a number of other interjections, some I can even understand. The chart's slurping saxes were characteristic of May and well suited to this kiddie favorite.

May was another bandleader (his was a studio band) who had a Miller connection - he played trumpet in the band (as did Ray Anthony). Bill Finegan was a Miller arranger. As noted, Ray McKinley was in the AAF band and later led the Miller ghost band. Tex Beneke was in the prewar band and led the official Miller band postwar.

These selections were remastered from needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally vivid, as is often the case with old 78s (believe it or not).

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 4

Returning at long last to our series of recordings by the superb but neglected vocalist Ronnie Deauville, here we have two singles, both probably issued in 1950. These were among the sides Deauville made with Ray Anthony's orchestra - all of them that I have heard are excellent.

For more on Deauville and his interesting background, please see the previous posts in this series - and be sure to stop by Bill Reed's blog, The People vs. Dr. Chilledair. Bill has been assembling Deauville recordings from various sources, and there is much more background information about the singer on that site.

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 3

Bill Reed (of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair) and I have been attempting to draw attention to the wonderful singer Ronnie Deauville lately by writing about him and sharing his recordings. (See my two previous posts on Ronnie for more information.)

Today I am pleased to present one of Deauville's best records, Gloria (yes, it's the same song that later became a doo-wop staple). This is, in my view, simply one of the great vocal records, with Ronnie perfectly in tune with the lyrics. The same is true of the second item for today, Deauville's version of The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful.

Both of these sides were made with Ray Anthony's band, where Deauville first made his name. The earlier record is on Signature. Most of the Anthony recordings (including The Night Is Young) were on Capitol, where the bandleader made records for many years. The Night Is Young is an excellent example of Anthony's many Glenn Miller-style arrangements.

See Bill Reed's blog for a real Deauville rarity, Ronnie's version of Comme Ci, Comme Ca.

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 2

I mentioned in the first post that singer Ronnie Deauville was in a serious traffic accident that left him paralyzed, then came down with polio. His story was told on the popular television program This Is Your Life, and this picture sleeve was designed to capitalize on that appearance. Amazingly, you can see the opening of the show via YouTube.

But the subject here should be Deauville's exceptional talent, which is shown in his outstanding performance of As Children Do, an obscure song that the singer makes his own. It is backed by the standard I Concentrate on You, in this Era records release from late 1957 or early 1958.

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Ronnie Deauville, Part 1

I wrote a few days ago about the late singer Ronnie Deauville, and Bill Reed's attempt to stimulate interest in his little-known records. Deauville is a long-time interest of mine, so I am proud to do my part.

Hard luck was Deauville's companion. In 1956, he was in an auto accident that left him in a wheelchair, then contracted polio that confined him to an iron lung for an extended period.

Amazingly, he continued his career for a time and made several excellent records, among them this superb story-ballad.

At the time this record came out, Jerry Lewis featured Deauville's story on his television show and Era sent the single out to radio stations with a message from Jerry on the flip side (see below) asking them to play the record in advance of the show. This is the copy that went to WCKR of Hornell, New York.

More from Ronnie Deauville later.

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