'Inside Sauter-Finegan' (and S-F Reups)

The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, circa 1954. Eddie Sauter is at the microphone.
The singers may be Anita Darian and Andy Roberts.

Fourteen years ago I posted four Sauter-Finegan Orchestra LPs and stopped there, although I have several others. Today we have a much delayed restart of the series - along with newly remastered versions of the S-F albums that have appeared here before.

Way back when, I offered the first and second S-F albums, recorded in 1952-53; the fourth LP, from 1953-54; and the Rolf Liebermann Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra, from late 1954. More about them below, along with a link to a collection of non-LP recordings.

But first, the new item.

Inside Sauter-Finegan

Today's post centers on the third S-F LP, Inside Sauter-Finegan, recorded in 1954. We might as well start the discussion with the first thing you see - the spectacular Jim Flora cover above, with caricatures of Bill Finegan and Eddie Sauter, who appear to have ingested a few musical instruments for lunch.

The arrangers were actually sober looking fellows such as you might have encountered at a local church service. They just happened to be two of the finest musicians of the day, whose music indeed sounded more like the Flora cover than the Metronome cover below.

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan

Sauter and Finegan themselves provided extensive liner notes printed on three sides of the gatefold sleeve. For some reason known only to the producer, the notes on the pieces do not follow the order they appear on the LP. (Also, the type layout on the first page is all fouled up.) Enough griping; there is much good information here.

The title Inside Sauter-Finegan is designed to denote that the LP displays the individual talents of the musicians. Let me spotlight the soloists first; then I'll run down the rest of the numbers.

Nick Travis

The excellent trumpet player Nick Travis is featured on the Ralph Freed-Burton Lane perennial "How About You?", of Garland-Rooney fame, here called "How About Choo" for some reason. Travis is accompanied by a small ensemble selected from the band.

Bobby Nichols

Another trumpeter, Bobby Nichols, is heard in Bill Finegan's nocturne, "New York ... 4 A.M." The bandleaders commented, "Bobby has bushy red hair and looks like what most people think a trumpeter should look like." I dunno, he doesn't look a thing like Louis Armstrong or Dizzy Gillespie. Maybe Red Rodney.

Sonny Russo

Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke didn't write "Pennies from Heaven" for Sonny Russo (it was for Bing in the film of the same name), but the trombonist does his best to make it his own on this recording, particularly in the spectacular cadenza.

Joe Venuto

Joe Venuto was the xylophone (I believe) soloist in "When Two Trees Fall in Love," which Sauter wrote for him. The bandleaders tagged Joe as a young man with "unlimited potential." He became a long-time studio percussionist. (There's a nice tribute to him here.)

Andy Roberts

Andy Roberts is the vocalist in Willard Robison's second-greatest hit, "Old Folks," written with Dedette Lee Hill. Roberts had excellent diction and a lovely voice, but may have been a touch too urbane for Robison's small-town ethos.

Also on this excellent LP are:

• Sousa's "The Thunderer," called "The 'Thundisbreak'" here, which adapted surprisingly well to the Sauter-Finegan manner.

• Bill Finegan called his "Finegan's Wake" a "mock wake." He writes, "This piece frowns - but if you look (or listen) closely you will see the twinkling eye beneath the frown." His words rearrange the features of the face, but you get the idea.

• "Four Horsemen" is a feature for Bobby Nichols, Nick Travis and lead trumpet Al Maiorca, along with Harvey Estrin on clarinet.

• The other vocalist on the record is Sally Sweetland, whom we recently featured here. Included in that post was "Autumn Leaves" from this LP, but I somehow missed her skillful vocalese contribution to "10,000 B.C.," which as Sauter himself notes, is at base stereotypical "Chinese" music.

• Finally, "September's Sorrow" is Sauter's attempt to "capture the forlorn quality of pleasure irretrievably lost."

LINK to Inside Sauter-Finegan

Reup - New Directions in Music

My original post combined the 10-inch version of the album with the four songs that were later added to make a 12-inch version.

The article includes a brief early history of the band. I wrote, "Although the popularity of the band didn't last, it did start off life with a promising record called 'Doodletown Fifers,' an arrangement of a Civil War tune that became the band's theme. This LP contains that song along with other pieces that are among Sauter-Finegan's best-remembered numbers - 'Moonlight on the Ganges,' 'April in Paris,' a fine arrangement of 'Azure-Te,' and their version of the Troika from Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite, called 'Midnight Sleighride' here."

A newly remastered version of the LP in ambient stereo can be found via the original post here.

Reup - The Sound of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra

The band's second album was apparently slated to be another 10-incher, but was expanded to the 12-inch format late in the process by adding the bandleaders' "Extended Play Suite," which had appeared on an EP. To complete my post, old friend Ernie contributed the "Extended Play Suite, Vol. II," which did not appear on the album. 

From the original 2010 post: "The Sound of S-F, intended to appeal to the nascent hi-fi cult, was not designed to be a cohesive record. It offers up a potpourri of vocals, attempts to recreate the 'Doodletown Fifers' success, and even a rhythm and blues cover."

Notable are the three vocals by the great Joe Mooney, including the semi-hit "Nina Never Knew."

This LP also is newly redone in ambient stereo. The original post (and link) are here.

Reup - Concert Jazz

The Concert Jazz LP contains features for Joe Venuto, Nick Travis, Sally Sweetland and Andy Roberts (an elaborate take on "John Henry" that displays his acting ability). Also, Finegan riffs on Gershwin's Concerto in F. Vocalist Anita Darian is featured in the lengthy "Pictures from Sauter-Finegan Land," which has a narration by Roberts. It's a period piece that starts off "Busy, busy, busy highways," goes into generic bustling-city music, and proceeds from there to Vermont and other places.

You'll note that there is another Jim Flora cover on this album.

For some reason I wrote very little about Concert Jazz when I first offered it, so there's no sense sending you back to the original 2015 post. You can find the newly remastered version of the LP via the link below.

LINK to Concert Jazz

Reup - Liebermann - Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra

In late 1954, Sauter-Finegan got together with the formidable Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony for a recording of Rolf Liebermann's Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra. I posted the results as long ago as 2010, but have now reworked the sound in ambient stereo. 

Actually both the concerto and its disk mate, Richard Strauss' Don Juan, were recorded in stereo but not released as such until later. Back in 2010, a reader provided a link to the stereo tape version of the Liebermann (which still works), and I've now re-recorded the Don Juan from its first stereo release on LP, dating from 1968.

More information and the link can be found via the original post here.

Sauter-Finegan Obscurities

Earlier this year I collected nine non-LP selections from the Sauter-Finegan band for my other blog under the name "Sauter-Finegan Obscurities."

The selections are "Pale Moon" (with vocalese by Florence Fogelson), "Coco Bongo," "'O' (Oh!)," "Of Thee I Sing," "Joey's Theme," "Science Fiction," "Honey Babe," "Don't Be Angry" and "I Am a Camera."

Details on these pieces and the link can be found in the original post.

The LPs are all from my collection; the singles were cleaned up from Internet Archive.

The Voice of Sally Sweetland

Although she never became a big star, Sally Sweetland (1911-2015) had an extraordinary voice that led to a long career as a studio singer and later as a teacher.

Born Sally Mueller, she acquired the name "Sweetland" upon marrying her husband Lee Sweetland, himself a well-known studio singer and actor.

In this post, we'll examine the breadth of Sally's achievements, which spanned film dubbing, band work, solo recordings, backup vocals and children's records. There are 29 selections in all.

Film Work

Throughout the 1940s, Sweetland was busy in the studios, dubbing for Joan Fontaine, Brenda Marshall, Martha Vickers and particularly Joan Leslie in several films. In our first selection, she introduces the famous Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer song "My Shining Hour" in the 1943 Fred Astaire film The Sky's the Limit, dubbing for Leslie.

Joan Leslie and Fred Astaire in The Sky's the Limit

It's a song that's associated with Astaire, but Sally sang it first in the film - Leslie played a vocalist. Soon thereafter, Fred's brash character tells Leslie she sang it too straight, and proceeds to demonstrate how it ought to go, as the characters seemingly improvise new lyrics (which actually don't make too much sense).

Also from this film is the duet "A Lot in Common with You," which involves Fred intruding on Joan Leslie's act. (You will hear her telling him to "Get out!")

With Tommy Tucker

Tommy Tucker was not as famous as, say, Tommy Dorsey, but he did lead a good band for 25 years. Sally made several records with him in 1950 and 1951, starting with "Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter," where she did a pleasing duet with Don Brown. The disk did OK in the market, but I believe Bing and Mindy Carson did better.

Don Brown and Tommy Tucker

Next was "Hullabaloo," which, true to its title, was a noisy polka, a genre popular back then. "Sonny the Bunny" was a kiddie novelty possibly themed to Easter 1951. Don Brown is the lead on this one with Sally mainly providing harmony. They made a good pair.

The final recording with Tommy Tucker was "Whisp'ring Shadows," where Sweetland duets with Peter Hanley, who became Tucker's male singer following Don Brown's death in a traffic accident. Hanley too was a talented vocalist. This is a charming waltz.

Religious Fare, Grandma Moses and Ted Maxim

Tucker recorded for M-G-M, which also engaged Sally for a series of religious songs. I've included "Our Lady of Fatima," where she contends with an organ and male quartet.

At about the same time, Columbia Records brought her in for one of her specialties - high-register vocalese. The song was "Lullaby," one of the numbers in the suite that Hugh Martin and Alec Wilder put together for a film on the painter Grandma Moses. This is truly gorgeous singing. The entire suite is available here.

Also in 1951, Sweetland was at Decca for two waltzes by polka bandleader Ted Maksymowicz (here credited as Ted Maxim). First was "Beautiful Brown Eyes," which had been written in the 1930s by the country artists Arthur Smith and Alton Delmore. Maxim's record would seem to have been a cover of Rosemary Clooney's revival of the song on Columbia.

Pat Terry and Ted Maksymowicz

The second Maxim record, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One," also was associated with Smith and the Delmore brothers, who recorded it in the 1930s. It was, however, a traditional tune. On both records, Sally works seamlessly with the excellent studio baritone Pat Terry.

Work for RCA Victor

We move on from Decca to RCA Victor, where Sweetland's first assignment was to record the vocal on Bob Dewey's record of Franz Lehár's "Vilia" from The Merry Widow score. It's not clear why RCA and Dewey (actually Guy Lombardo arranger Dewey Bergman) decided to record an operetta selection in sweet band style in 1951, but Sally does fine.

One of her most noted records was Perry Como's 1952 version of "Summertime." There could be no better singer than Como to present a number describing how "the living is easy." Sweetland's vocalese is heard throughout the record, which perfectly sets off Como's low-register vocal. A superb record.

Perry Como and Eddie Fisher

Victor repeated this formula the next year for Eddie Fisher's massive success "I'm Walking Behind You." Here, in addition to the vocalese, Sally  does some high-register duetting with Fisher, which is very striking. It's a memorable record - one I owned myself when I was four. (I started collecting records early.)

Solos with Enoch Light

Sweetland recorded several cover records for bandleader/impresario Enoch Light in 1952. This type of work required the ability to sing many genres convincingly, a Sweetland specialty. We've already heard her in operetta, polka, and kiddie material. Her first record for Light was a cover of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," which suits her well. Here, I suspect the real intention was to cover Jo Stafford's pop version for Columbia. This is a thread that runs through her other Enoch Light records.

Enoch Light

Jessie Mae Robinson's "Keep It a Secret" was a hit for Stafford in 1952-53. Sally and Stafford also recorded Pee Wee King's "You Belong to Me." Sally sounds particularly like Jo in this recording.

The melodramatic "Kiss of Fire" is based on a 1906 song "El choclo" by Victor Argentine. Louis Armstrong revived it in 1952, but the hit was by Georgia Gibbs. Sweetland does what she can with this overheated item.

The Ice Capades Brigadoon; "Getting to Know You"

In 1953, the Ice Capades traveling show presented an ice skating version of the Broadway hit Brigadoon. Columbia records decided to issue a potted version of the show in honor of the program, with Lee Sullivan and Sally as the fine soloists in the seven-minute presentation. Sullivan had been in the original cast of Brigadoon in 1947.

Brigadoon picture sleeve; Lee Sullivan

Sally is heard in abbreviated versions of "Almost Like Being in Love," "Heather on the Hill" and "From This Day On." I've presented this record before, but this is a new version.

Sweetland made a substantial number of children's records. I've included one of the group she recorded for Golden Records - "Getting to Know You" from The King and I. It's a brief rendition, but nonetheless effective. As with many of the Golden records, the support is by the Sandpipers vocal group and an orchestra led by Mitch Miller.

With Sauter-Finegan

Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan engaged Sally for several records by their Sauter-Finegan Band. First was their sumptuous 1952 version of "April in Paris," where Sweetland does nicely both in vocalese and snatches of the lyrics. This was the first superior big band version of the song from the 1950s, along with Count Basie's much different arrangement from a few years later.

Bill Finegan and Eddie Sauter

Speaking of different, "The Moon Is Blue" is a quirky pop song with lyrics by Sylvia Fine and music by Herschel Burke Gilbert, written for the 1953 film of the same name and performed by the S-F band. Sauter and Finegan (or RCA Victor) did not give Sally a label credit for "April in Paris," but rectified that omission on this release.

Sweetland is heavily featured in the band's version of the Rodgers-Hart "Where or When," both with the lyrics and a climactic venture into high vocalese. This comes from the album Concert Jazz. The principals comment on the cover, "Our first love, Sally Sweetland. We hope you appreciate her as we do."

Two SF covers - one by Jim Flora (left), the other in his style

The band's 1954 LP Inside Sauter-Finegan features Sally in a muted and very lovely version of "Autumn Leaves."

Sauter-Finegan's "Where's Ace" is a spoof of the crime jazz genre of the time. The band keeps asking Sally "Where's Ace?" and she replies "Who??" They search him for in various locales. Sally ends up asking the band, "Where's Ace" and they reply "Who?"

With Hugo Winterhalter

The popular maestro Hugo Winterhalter engaged Sweetland for a few records as well. In 1953 she joined with studio vocalist Bud Dee to present an enjoyable reading of Jessie Mae Robinson's "The Lovers' Waltz."

Hugo Winterhalter

In 1955, she recorded one of her best discs - "Autumn Rhapsody," a conventional but attractive ballad by Carolyn Leigh and Alex Alstone.

An Unusual Children's Record

Sally Sweetland and Marni Nixon

We complete this exploration of Sally's legacy with a slightly later record - from 1964, the story of "Hansel & Gretel" with music from Humperdinck's opera. (A orchestral suite from the work can be found here.) Sweetland combines with another eminent studio singer, Marni Nixon, for two superb and all too brief selections: "Brother, Won't You Dance with Me" and "When at Night I Go to Sleep." I believe that Sally is the voice of Hansel. Tutti Camarata leads the band.

* * *

This collection was inspired by David Federman, as have many things I posted over the years. I believe that David was enchanted by Sweetland's stratospheric vocalese - me too - but there are many other items to appreciate here. I was surprised to find that I liked in particular her children's records of "Getting to Know You" and the Humperdinck adaptations. She also works beautifully with the relatively little-known Don Brown and Pat Terry (among others). A wonderful legacy by this talented and much loved singer and vocal teacher.

This selections are cleaned up from Internet Archive and my collection. 

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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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More from Sauter-Finegan, Florence Henderson and Bruno Walter

More today from the Satuter-Finegan Orchestra, Florence Henderson and Bruno Walter (not together, I should add). These are quick follow-ups to some of the posts that have appeared here in recent months. I'd like to say you have been clamoring for them, but that wouldn't be true, so I'll just say that I hope some of you enjoy them!

A few words about each (you can tell I am tired of writing about these particular artists):

Sauter-Finegan Orchestra - Concert Jazz. This is the troupe's fourth LP (I have the third but can't find it), and it follows a familiar path, with some compositions by the individual maestros, some vocals, including an odd version of John Henry, and interesting arrangements. Great sound, a Jim Flora cover and a scan of the second cover, depicting Sauter and Finegan on stage. Recorded in 1954-55.

Florence Henderson - The Best from Fiorello! and The Sound of Music. My first post by the future Mrs. Brady was surprisingly well received by people who didn't know she sang, or who knew she sang but had never heard her do so. Like that initial LP, this album has potted versions of two Broadway hits of the time (1960) - Fiorello! and The Sound of Music. Henderson once again sounds like Mary Martin, which is especially appropriate in the latter score. The Sid Bass arrangements are loungy, which isn't to my taste in this repertoire.

Bruno Walter/Philadelphia Orchestra - Beethoven Symphony No. 6. Another installment from Walter's Beethoven cycle of the 1940s. Here he takes a break from the New Yorkers, and travels to Philadelphia and the Academy of Music for January 1946 sessions. This to my ear is a less successful performance and recording than the efforts with the PSONY, but enjoyable enough. Below, a Columbia ad from 1946 touting this new release among others. The transfer is from an early LP.

The Second Sauter-Finegan LP - and Bonus EP

My first foray into Sauter-Finegan territory was a resounding success with you, so I have quickly put together this post of the band's second album, from 1953, plus a bonus EP.

The Sound of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra came out as a 12-inch LP that was possibly intended to be a 10-inch LP when first conceived. The artwork on the cover is for a 10-inch LP - perhaps a clue that RCA had plans to issue this in the smaller format.

 Here's what may have happened. After the 10-inch LP was assembled, RCA decided to switch formats by adding two songs that had originally come out on an EP. The 7-inch EP (Extended Play) format was new, and to mark the occasion, the record company had asked Sauter and Finegan to compose an "Extended Play Suite". This consisted of the suitably titled originals "Child's Play" (from Finegan) and "Horseplay" (from Sauter).

Not that this change makes any difference. The Sound of S-F, intended to appeal to the nascent hi-fi cult, was not designed to be a cohesive record. It offers up a potpourri of vocals, attempts to recreate the "Doodletown Fifers" success, and even a rhythm and blues cover.

The vocals include three by the great Joe Mooney, including the semi-hit "Nina Never Knew," the excellent "Love Is a Simple Thing," derived from New Faces of 1952, and "Time to Dream." Former big-band warbler Anita Boyer does a good job with the awful "Now That I'm in Love," a travesty of Rossini that was a hit for Patti Page. "The Honey Jump" is a cover of Oscar McLollie's number one R&B single, with a typically disastrous band vocal and a kazoo out-chorus.

Also on the LP are the joint S-F compositions "Tweedledee and Tweedledum" and "Yankee Doodletown."

My great friend Ernie has contributed a very significant bonus - Sauter-Finegan's "Extended Play Suite - Volume II," which only came out on EP, in 1954. It contains "Dream Play" (Finegan) and "Holiday" (Sauter). This is complete with scans. Thanks, Ern!

1956 cover - Bill Finegan at the keyboard

I've completed the package with scans of the second issue LP cover, from 1956 (above). Instead of the hi-fi illustration, we have a portrait of the maestros, looking like insurance agents who had wandered on stage. The back cover has a selection of miniature color covers framing the liner notes - one of my favorite motifs from this era. Interestingly, RCA chose to advertise classical records to the Sauter-Finegan buyer. No Elvis records here, although Mario Lanza does sneak in.

The Sound of S-F was a labeled as being "Specially Recommended for High Fidelity Fans" on the original cover, and the sonics are indeed excellent.

Note (August 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo, and sounds even better.

LINK

Sauter-Finegan's First LP

My recent repost of the Rolf Liebermann Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra led to a request for more music by the band that played on that record, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.

So here is the first LP by that hyphenated ensemble, in its original 10-inch format (cover above), with the bonus of the four songs added on in 1956 to make the 12-inch album (cover below).

The group was named for Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, two leading arrangers of the big band era. Sauter worked for many of the top ensembles, starting with Red Norvo and most notably for Benny Goodman. Finegan was on Glenn Miller's staff, and then wrote for Tommy Dorsey.

The two came together in 1952, aiming to program only original compositions. They were, however, talked out of that idea by their management, who were concerned that the results would not be palatable to a broad public. And finding an audience did turn out to be a problem for the pair - the band only stayed together for five years. Their music was not danceable for the most part and was not hip enough to appeal to Kentonites. Despite the association with contemporary classical music implied by the Liebermann piece - and the promise of "New Directions in Music" on the LP cover - this was not a high-brow group, nor did it include much jazz improvisation.

First Billboard ad, 1952

What it was, was an outgrowth of the big swing bands led by two skillful arrangers who produced delightful light music. It was mainly influential with other arrangers who scored television shows, produced pop instrumentals or backed singers. (A good example can be found in the work Sid Bass did on the Florence Henderson record I posted recently.)

Although the popularity of the band didn't last, it did start off life with a promising record called "Doodletown Fifers," an arrangement of a Civil War tune that became the band's theme. This LP contains that song along with other pieces that are among Sauter-Finegan's best-remembered numbers - "Moonlight on the Ganges," "April in Paris," a fine arrangement of "Azure-Te," and their version of the Troika from Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite, called "Midnight Sleighride" here.

The bandleaders appeared on the Camel Caravan radio show in 1953

For me, the highlight of the four songs added on to the 12-inch version of the LP was Joe Mooney's vocal on his own "It's Mutual." Not a great song, but Mooney does a persuasive Billie Holiday impression that makes it enjoyable. He and the band were to go on to have a semi-hit with the great "Nina Never Knew." (This cut is on their second album, which also will appear here.) Less successful are the vocals by Florence Fogelson and Andy Roberts, who toured with the band.

In making this transfer, I worked from the 10-inch LP because it seemed to have less added reverb than the later record. I appended the four songs that were added to the 12-incher. The sound is good, with some slight noise on a few of the 10-inch cuts. The download includes a good thesis on Sauter by Alex Chilowicz that contains a useful discography.

Note (August 2024): This material has now been remastered in ambient stereo. The sound is excellent.

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