Following her series of songbooks for small labels in the 1940s, Lee Wiley moved on to a major company, Columbia, for which she recorded three LPs in 1950 and 1951.
Today's post brings together all those albums, and adds a few bonus items as well.
All the Wiley recordings are from my collection. The piano disc was remastered from Internet Archive. There are separate links at the end of each section below.
For Wiley's first Columbia LP, she was co-starred with trumpeter Bobby Hackett, with pianist Joe Bushkin (and "His Swinging Strings") in smaller type. Both had often appeared with Lee, so this was a promising line-up.
The addition of strings was becoming a popular way to add some "class" to the proceedings. It became fashionable in jazz following Charlie Parker's 1950 LP. Previously, Sinatra often had used strings in his recordings, as had many other singers and big band leaders.
Perhaps it is the surroundings, but both Bushkin and Hackett sound more inhibited than they had in earlier recordings with Wiley, and the song treatments lack variety without the additional soloists that could be heard in the previous songbooks.
That aside, the album is a complete success vocally. Lee, who is in great form, chose four songs by her mentor, bandleader Victor Young -
with an awkward lyric by the usually reliable Ned Washington.
Also on the program was Bushkin's "Oh! Look at Me Now," with a special set of lyrics by Johnny DeVries. As vocal expert Will Friedwald noted, "the original hero sings of his desire to fall in love, the new heroine sings of her avaricious desire for checks and jewelry."
The other songs are two Wiley often recorded - "Sugar" and "Manhattan" - and the Gershwins' "I've Got a Crush on You," which she had revived for her 1939 songbook. Friedwald thinks the new version was influenced by Frank Sinatra's 1947 recording, which also features Hackett and perhaps not coincidentally Mitch Miller (on oboe). Mitch produced Lee's Columbia records.
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| Alternative 10-inch cover; 12-inch cover |
Night in Manhattan was originally a 10-inch LP. Columbia later issued it in 12-inch format, adding two songs each from Lee's Berlin and Youmans collections, which are discussed below.
LINK to Night in ManhattanLee Wiley Sings Irving Berlin
For her 1951 LPs, Columbia (probably in the form of Mitch Miller) teamed Wiley with the regular two-piano team of Cy Walter and Stan Freeman, who had appeared on radio as a duo, made a 1950 LP for M-G-M (see below) and would record separately and together for Columbia.
Both were interesting characters. Walter was a fixture on the New York club scene, while Freeman is best known for playing the harpsichord on two hits - Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House" and Percy Faith's "Delicado." (Stan also was a comedian.)
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| Cy Walter and Stan Freeman looking glum in the radio studio |
Friedwald speculates that this teaming was an attempt to appeal to cabaret habitues, as was Wiley's sophisticated appearance on the LP cover.
Whether the accompaniment works or not is a matter of some dispute. There's no question that Lee sings beautifully. Walter and Freeman mesh quite well. But they also can sound as if they are in a different world from the vocalist, like they are in a separate acoustic. And there is a lack of variety in the sound, even more so than on Night in Manhattan.
Wiley complained to her friend Gus Kuhlman that she was not too happy with the records, and others agree. I'm not among them. Taken by themselves, they are a joy to hear, not least because they include some seldom-heard songs.
The Berlin LP starts off with one of the composer's greatest songs,
"How Deep Is the Ocean?" from 1932. (I am reminded here of Sinatra's 1960 recording with a famous bass trombone solo - probably by
George Roberts.)
The unfamiliar "Some Sunny Day" comes from 1922, and is one of the many, many Mammy-Alabamy numbers of the time. This one does have the distinction of including a talking hen, which you won't find in many songs. While the lyrics aren't great, the tune itself is catchy.
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| Irving Berlin |
"I Got Lost in His Arms" is from Berlin's 1946 hit
Annie Get Your Gun. Introducing the song was Ethel Merman, a much different artist than Wiley, to be sure. But Wiley is at her best here, and the pianists appropriately scale back their sound.
The performance of
"Heat Wave" is fascinating because it features Berlin's opening verse and an interlude that few other artists have included, making a seemingly simple number far more complex. The song comes from 1933's
As Thousand Cheer, where it was performed by Ethel Waters, one of Wiley's influences. Waters' 1933 recording also reflects the complete as-written composition.
J. Harold Murray and Katherine Carrington introduced "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" in 1932's Face the Music. A popular success, it was recorded by many artists at the time, then revived by Dick Haymes in 1948.
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| Lee Wiley in performance, circa 1950 |
"Fools Fall in Love" is a superior song, although little known. Will Friedwald remarks that the few other singers who performed it included Teddi King (who learned it from Wiley) and Marlene VerPlanck (who learned it from King). Several artists did record the song upon its being published in 1940, but it was little heard thereafter until Lee's performance.
Back in 1926, "How Many Times" was popular with recording artists, but today it isn't one of Berlin's most recognizable compositions. Wiley handles this up-tempo number with great authority. It is one of the best items on this LP.
Finally, another Ethel Waters song from As Thousands Cheer - the wrenching "Supper Time," where the singer's husband isn't coming home any more. He has been lynched. The song and performance are brilliant.
LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Irving Berlin
Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans
Vincent Youmans is perhaps the only composer with a Wiley songbook who isn't a household name today. He was popular in his prime, but he wrote almost nothing after contracting tuberculosis in 1934, while still in his 30s. His neglect is a shame - there is much to admire here.
Youmans was famous for building melodies from short phrases. Lee starts off her LP with perhaps the best known example, "Tea for Two." It came from the composer's huge hit of 1924-25, No, No Nanette (which endured a campy revival in 1971).
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| Vincent Youmans |
Wiley's second song,
"Sometimes I'm Happy," is even earlier and was first published with different lyrics before being cut from one show, used in a flop and eventually finding a home in the 1927 success
Hit the Deck. It, too, is repetitive, but the initial melodic figure complements the lyrics and the song also has a soaring section to provide contrast. Both songs have Irving Caesar lyrics.
Lee herself had recorded the next selection,
"Time on My Hands," soon after its introduction by Marilyn Miller in 1930's
Smiles. The song is deservedly famous, and Wiley's knowing reading of Harold Adamson's languid lyrics is perfect.
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| In performance, about 1950 |
So, too, is the much different song "Rise 'n' Shine," a cheerful Depression-era ditty introduced by Ethel Merman in 1932's Take a Chance. I believe the song had fallen into obscurity until Lee revived it. Buddy DeSylva was the lyricist.
"More Than You Know" is one of Youmans' most famous compositions, and for good reason. This torch song has been featured by artists from Ruth Etting to Barbra Streisand. Here it is in an affecting version by Wiley. The song, which comes from the 1929 musical Great Day, has words by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu.
Like "Rise 'n' Shine, "Should I Be Sweet?" is from Take a Chance, and is just as unknown today. June Knight performed it in the original production. Victor Young recorded it in 1934, which may be where Wiley learned it. Buddy DeSylva wrote the words.
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| Cy Walter and Lee Wiley |
The yearning "Keeping Myself for You" is beautifully suited to Wiley's sympathetic approach. The pianists are at one with her on this number. Youmans and Sidney Clare wrote the song for the 1929 film version of Hit the Deck. Jack Oakie (of all people) and Polly Walker sang it in the film, which is now lost. It is another song that fell into an undeserved oblivion before Lee revived it.
The LP concludes with "Why, Oh Why," another little-known song, although I suspect some of you may have heard it before. It comes from the stage production of Hit the Deck. The lyrics are by Clifford Grey and Leo Robin. It's an excellent song in a terrific performance.
In summary, this record is a gem, and should be better known.
LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans
Treasury Department "Guest Star"
Wiley appeared on a US Treasury Department "Guest Star" transcription that radio stations broadcast in early 1952. I've included her two songs, along with an introduction by announcer John Conte and a plug for US Savings Bonds by Lee and Conte.
The label says that the program is with "Harry Sosnik and the Defense Bonds Orchestra," but the Lee Wiley Bio-Discography speculates that her songs are actually airchecks from a late 1951 radio program with trumpeter Billy Butterfield and Joe Bushkin's combo.
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| From the early 1950s |
The arrangements are similar to the ones used on the Night in Manhattan album, and her two songs are selected from that record's repertoire - "Manhattan" and "A Ghost of a Chance," both of which she does well.
This transfer is from the original 16-inch transcription disc.
LINK to Treasury Department Guest Star
Cy Walter and Stan Freeman - Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse
Cy Walter and Stan Freeman performed together for a few years on a curiously name radio program, Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse. Among their guests on the program was Joe Bushkin, and the LP the three made for M-G-M in 1950 is a fitting way to close this post.
The seven selections include only one song on the Wiley LPs above - Irving Berlin's "Soft Lights and Sweet Music." That's one of the two numbers that includes Bushkin; the other is a double-length version of "Indiana."
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| Richard Rodgers in the radio studio with Cy Walter and Stan Freeman |
Otherwise, Walter and Freeman present "Falling in Love with Love," "Orchids in the Moonlight," "Oh! Lady Be Good," "Younger Than Springtime" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World."
Note: In the first version of this transfer there was a truncated opening to Indiana due to an editing error. Corrected versions of both the song and the complete LP are below.
LINK to Maggy Fisher's Piano Playhouse (corrected)I expect to devote a similar post to Wiley's RCA Victor recordings soon.
