Teddi King's Complete 'Out of the Blue' Recordings

Here's a real treat for fans of the great vocalist Teddi King. It's a complete set of her 1958 Out of the Blue programs for US Air Force Recruiting. There are 32 songs in all, many of which she did not record otherwise.

All this is courtesy of blog follower George of California, who was kind enough to send me the eight discs, which I have transferred for this post. Thanks so much, George for your generosity!

A few words of explanation about the programs: At this time, the Air Force was issuing its shows to radio stations on EP. Each side contained a single program lasting five minutes. This was enough time for an intro, a song, a recruiting pitch, another song, and an outro. The latter featured Teddi singing the "US Air Force Blue" song.

Don Morrow

The intro and outro are the same for each show. The recruiting spots differ. They sometimes include King, sometimes sonorous announcer Don Morrow goes it alone.

I am sure that most of you will only want the songs from the show, while others may want the total package. They are available separately at the end of this post.

Let me mention that the songs are all quite brief, each lasting about one and a half minutes to squeeze two into the five-minute programs. This actually played to a few of King's strengths - her professionalism and excellent diction. However, it also did not allow for much in the way of slower songs.

Wade Denning

Two musicians were at the helm of the programs. Wade Denning, who worked in films and commercials, handled the basic arrangements. Leading the small combo accompanying King is the amazingly facile keyboard artist Dick Hyman, who plays piano, organ and celesta at various times, no doubt to vary the musical texture. You also will hear contributions by unidentified clarinet, guitar and trumpet players.

Dick Hyman

Here is a discussion of the selections in the set. In general, the programs tended to include one newer song with a classic.

Program #1. The first program paired the superb Burke-Van Heusen song "It Could Happen to You" with the then-new Bacharach-David tune "In Times Like These." As far as I can tell, the first commercial recording of the latter number was Gene McDaniels' version in 1959, making this a very early rendition.

Program #2. Next, the Irving Berlin classic "Let's Face the Music" is followed by "Chances Are," the Al Stillman-Robert Allen song that was a huge hit for Johnny Mathis at the time. As always, King sings it with a great deal of charm.

Program #3. Cole Porter's "It's All Right with Me" came from the 1953 show Can-Can. Dimitri Tiomkin's wonderful "Friendly Persuasion," with words by Paul Francis Webster, is from the 1956 film of the same name.

Program #4. Marvin Moore and Charles Grean's "I Dreamed" was a hit for Betty Johnson in 1956. Teddi handles this novelty exceptionally well. The J. Fred Coots-Sam Lewis classic "For All We Know" comes from 1934. It gets a sincere reading from Teddi.

Program #5. Even older than "For All We Know" is 1931's "Them There Eyes" by Tauber, Pickard and Tracey. That song is paired with the new "Magic Moments," one of the first Bacharach-David hits. It was a success on disc for Teddi's RCA Victor labelmate Perry Como. He did it well, but King is in no way inferior.

Program #6. "(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know" by Phil Springer and Carolyn Leigh was a memorable 1956 release by Frank Sinatra. (It had the great advantage of a superior Nelson Riddle arrangement.) Also in this program is Burke and Van Heusen's "Imagination" from 1940, also the beneficiary of a stellar Sinatra outing. Teddi is appropriately wistful here.

Program #7. Speaking of Frank, while "The Lady Is a Tramp" may be identified with him, it comes from Rodgers and Hart's 1937 show Babes in Arms. "Catch a Falling Star" was another Como success. The Lee Pockriss-Paul Vance song was on the flip side of Perry's "Magic Moments" single.

Program #8. The Fields and McHugh "On the Sunny Side of the Street" dates from 1930, while Fain and Webster's "April Love" was a new item that had become a hit for Pat Boone, who also had scored with "Friendly Persuasion" and had starred in both films of the same names. Here, the arrangement for Teddi seems a bit rushed.

Program #9. "Taking a Chance on Love" was a feature for Ethel Waters in 1940's Cabin in the Sky. The song is by Vernon Duke, John Latouche and Ted Fetter. King captures its exhilaration. It is coupled with "Little Things Mean a Lot" by Edith Lindeman and Carl Stutz, a soupy but sincere song that was a hit for Kitty Kallen in 1954.

Program #10. The 1936 film King of Burlesque gave us the fine Jimmy McHugh-Ted Koehler item "I'm Shooting High." Teddi excels in the kind of material. It's paired with the grandiose "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" by Fain and Webster, written for the 1955 film of that name. The reading here is good, but the song does call for a more sweeping arrangement.

Program #11. The Gershwins composed "'S Wonderful" for the 1927 show Funny Face. For this one, I am not crazy about Dick Hyman's electric organ, which sounds cheesy. The coupling is another oldie, "I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)" from 1931. It's by Fred Ahlert and Roy Turk. This is a torch song that needs a slower tempo.

Program #12. Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" is from the 1929 show Wake Up and Dream. Its mate on this program is the much different ballad "Tammy," by Livingston and Evans. Debbie Reynolds sang it in the film Tammy and the Bachelor and made a hit as well. (Music from the film is available here, newly remastered, with Reynolds' solo on "Tammy" now available as a separate track.) King is a little sophisticated for this material, but does pull it off.

Program #13. "The Gypsy in My Soul" dates back to the 1930s. Moe Jaffe and Clay Boland wrote it for a University of Pennsylvania Mask & Wig Show. Teddi excels in this rhythm number. "An Affair to Remember" was a new item - it was the title song of a Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr film. The writers were Harry Warren, Harold Adamson and Leo McCarey. Again, a grandiose number that is taken too fast.

Program #14. Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "Witchcraft," from 1957, is closely associated with Sinatra, but certainly suits King. "Who's Sorry Now?" is the oldie on the program - the Ted Snyder-Bert Kalmar-Harry Ruby tune dates back to 1923. Even so, it had been revived by Connie Francis at the time this program was recorded - and became a runaway hit. The trumpet obbligato gets in the way of Teddi's singing.

Program #15. "Sugartime," by the country singer Charlie Phillips and Odis Echols was a smash for the McGuire Sisters in 1958. King has fun with it. "If I Could Be with You" by pianist James P. Johnson and Henry Creamer goes all the way back to 1927.

Program #16. Cole Porter's "Ça, c'est l'amour" is one of the few songs in this set that was neither a hit nor a standard. Porter wrote it for the 1957 film Les Girls. It's quite a good song that should be better known. Milton De Lugg and Willie Stein's "Orange Colored Sky" is not well remembered today, but it was a winner in 1950 for Nat Cole. I like the way King sings it - which I could also say about most all of the songs in this program.

Thanks again to George for providing these rarities!

LINK to the complete Out of the Blue programs

LINK to the Out of the Blue songs only

Teddi King - the RCA Victor Singles

After making recordings for Atlantic, Coral and Storyville, the vocalist Teddi King landed at RCA Victor in 1956 - and was immediately successful.

These blogs have already chronicled some of her earlier career:

• Her 1952 dates with George Shearing, along with a few of her earliest recordings with Nat Pierce's band

• Her 1954 Brunswick EP, which recently appeared on my other blog

Now I've gathered together all her singles issued by RCA from 1956-58 - 16 selections in all. Teddi was fortunate that her first record was a hit. Victor continued to give her relatively good material to record over the next few years.

Hugo Winterhalter

Here's a rundown of the RCA sides, which are conducted by Hugo Winterhalter unless otherwise indicated.

In 1956, one of the big openings on Broadway was a showcase for Sammy Davis, Jr. called Mr. Wonderful. Unusually, the title tune was about him, not by him. Olga James had the honor of introducing "Mr. Wonderful" the song, written by Jerry Bock with his early collaborator Larry Holofcener and George David Weiss. King's single release of the song did so well that RCA took out a full-page trade ad proclaiming her "one of the world's great women." Not sure about that, but she did show signs of being one of the world's great pop singers.

"Mr. Wonderful" was backed by the country-tinged waltz "Are You Slipping Thru My Fingers" Not bad, but not "The Tennessee Waltz."

My transfers of the two songs above and the two that follow come from the RCA promotional EP (at left), issued by General Electric to promote its flash bulbs. For any of you young pups out there, indoor photography at the time was illuminated by disposable bulbs, rather than a flash built into your camera or phone. These bulbs had a tendency to explode, which added an air of danger to the process.

The EP's second side was taken up with another successful single coupling. The better known was Steve Allen's "Impossible," a memorable song even if the lyrics are a little contrived. I can't imagine that Steve was unhappy with King's effort.

The final song on the EP was Irving Gordon's "I Can Honestly Say It's a Lie," one of those "sure, we went dancing, but there was no romancing" songs, and a good example of the species.

The always-reliable Ralph Burns provided the orchestral backing for those two songs.

Ralph Burns

The next single was yet another success. Teddi is completely convincing in Gordon Jenkins' "Married I Can Always Get." This paean to female independence came from the composer's newly augmented Manhattan Tower, which was the subject of a television show and a Capitol LP, the latter of which you can find here, freshly remastered.

The single's flip side was another fine item - "Traveling Down a Lonely Road," Nino Rota's theme from the film La Strada, with English lyrics by Don Raye.

Next, we have a surprising recording of an obscure Rodgers and Hart song - "There's So Much More," introduced in 1931's America's Sweetheart, which was only a moderate success. Teddi will have you thinking it's lost gem. Two better known songs from America's Sweetheart - "I've Got Five Dollars" and "We'll Be the Same" - can be found here in recordings made at the time of the production.

Jack Kane

Teddi is at her best in the next song, a standard for once: "Say It Isn't So." This number and the next two are in the hands of Canadian arranger Jack Kane, who had been brought to the US by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. His arrangement is very much like the work of Nelson Riddle.

Kane leaves the Riddle sound behind for "A Ride on a Rainbow," a good new song written by Jule Styne and Leo Robin for the 1957 televised musical of Ruggles of Red Gap, where it was sung by Jane Powell. (Her recording is here.)

King and Kane pull a surprise with the next item - an R&B/R&R song called "Should I Ever Love Again." Kane's backing is the usual simplistic rock 'n' roll formula heard on many records of the time. Teddi, however, has seemingly assimilated many of the R&B vocal techniques of the day, and is almost entirely convincing in her effort.

We're back in pop territory with "Every Woman (Wants to Make Her Man Over)," a cocktail jazz piece by composer Don Gohman and lyricist Mort Goode. It's very much of its time, but even so a good song that is done superbly by King.

"Then It Starts Again" leads off with a quasi-Rachmaninoff piano intro. The key is a bit too high for Teddi; she sounds uncharacteristically ill at ease in this grandiose piece.

The next song is by Gloria Shayne and Noel Paris (possible Shayne's husband Noel Regnery). It's a rollicking piece called "I Was a Child Until Tonight," with a bravura performance by King. Shayne later had hits with "Goodbye Cruel World" and "The Men in My Little Girl's Life."

Teddi is at her best with Johnny Parker's "A Lot in Common," an enjoyable catalog song that finds King sounding exhilarated with her new love. She also gets to show off her imitations of labelmates Perry Como and Harry Belafonte.

Speaking of Perry, King's next song was written by the authors of "Catch a Falling Star," one of the Groaner's greatest hits - Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance. King's "Baisez-Moi" was not among their other hits, but for an assembly-line tune, it's not bad and Teddi is fine, even some with Patti Page-style vocal doubling. [Addendum: friend and francophone Ravel writes the following: "the song «Baisez-moi» is a terrible translation. It should have been something like «Embrassez-moi»... as the other title means «F*** Me» in French... I'm not kidding :-)"]

"Say a Prayer (and Light a Candle)" is very much of its time, a quasi-religious item with King backed by a heavenly choir. The singing is good, but Hugo Winterhalter doesn't seem to know what to do with the simplistic melody.

These transfers are from my collection of King singles; the sound is generally excellent.

LINK

The 'Cool Canaries' Chirp with George Shearing

"Cool Canaries" is typical terminology from the 1950s. It lets us know that we're going to hear some singers, and they are cool, man.

And they are cool - Billy Eckstine, Teddi King and the Ray Charles Singers, the latter of whom has appeared here a few times recently.

That said, in the 1950s, "cool jazz" had a specific meaning, and none of these artists will remind you of, say, Chet Baker's balladry.

George Shearing

Even so, they are all talented musicians, appearing here in the company of George Shearing's Quintet, which had a well-defined sound by this time - piano and vibes in unison, often with the guitar along, supported by bass and drums, with frequent solos by the leader.

The recordings date from 1951-54. Let's discuss them by the vocalists involved.

Teddi King

Teddi King

A native of Boston, Teddi King (1929-77) began her recording career with Nat Pierce and His Orchestra in 1949. (I've added two of those songs to the set as a bonus.) She began touring with George Shearing in 1952, when the six songs on this LP were recorded.

The set is successful even though the first item we hear is her weakest performance. King's a singer I admire, but she did occasionally make a meal out of some meager rations. "The Love Nest" was written by Louis Hirsch and Otto Harbach for the 1920 musical Mary, but by the 1950s was best known as the theme of the Burns and Allen Show on television. King takes the opening stanza - "Just a love nest, cozy and warm / Like a dove nest down on the farm" very slowly and intensely, as if it contained some profound meaning. Most of the performance is like that.

Things improve for the other numbers. Next up is "I Wished on the Moon," a standard written by Ralph Rainger and Dorothy Parker for The Big Broadcast of 1936. Bing Crosby introduced it; the first recording was by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson. Teddi does not suffer in comparison.

Four of the King-Shearing songs were issued on EP in England

"Love (Your Spell Is Everywhere)" (often called "Love (Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere)") comes from the 1929 film The Trespasser, where Gloria Swanson made her talkie debut by singing. The music is by the versatile Edmund Goulding, also the film's director, working with Elsie Janis, who was just as multifaceted, being an actor and screenwriter as well as lyricist. The song is well suited to King's emotive way of singing.

"Moonlight in Vermont" was a relatively new song when Teddi and George recorded it. Margaret Whiting had a hit with it in 1944. It was far and away the best-known song written by Karl Suessdorf or John Blackburn.

The next selection is an obscure one, but still a song that King had in her repertoire for some time. "Midnight Belongs to You" is a song by Clark and Gentile, of whom I know nothing. It's worth hearing in this sincere rendition.

The final number from Teddi is another standard introduced by Bing - "It's Easy to Remember (and So Hard to Forget)." A Rodgers and Hart song, it comes from the 1935 film Mississippi.

The bonus items with Nat Pierce's orchestra are covered at the end of the post.

The Ray Charles Singers

What is notable about the Ray Charles Singers' selections is that they were all written by Shearing himself. Leading off the LP is the most famous song of the group - "Lullaby of Birdland." Shearing wrote the piece for New York's Birdland club to use as its signature instrumental. He recorded it as such in 1952. George David Weiss (under the name B.Y. Forster) wrote the lyrics thereafter, which were first recorded by Ella Fitzgerald in 1954. The song itself was based on Walter Donaldson's "Love Me or Leave Me." Regardless, it's a brilliant, infectious work even if Weiss/Forster's words aren't up to Shearing/Donaldson's music.

Ray Charles in 1975

A few months after Ella's session, Shearing and Charles got together for their recording date, adding three other songs to the schedule along with "Lullaby." The other items were all written by a lyricist I believe to be Bill Hegner. They are attractive numbers that should be better known - "Nothing New Under the Sun," "Slowly but Surely" and "Adieu."

The Charles troupe does not sound much like they do in the albums I have posted already, and while they are highly accomplished and great to hear, they were not a jazz group. For whatever reason, the vocals on all these numbers were buried in the mix, which didn't do justice to either the vocalists or the songs. I've raised the singers' level accordingly.

"Lullaby of Birdland" and "Adieu" were issued on singles, but as far as I can tell this LP was the only outing for the other songs.

Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine was associated with the bop movement throughout his early career, leading a big band with luminaries of the new jazz. But on record, his biggest successes were as a balladeer, so when he moved to the M-G-M label in 1947, they recorded him primarily with plush backings provided by Hugo Winterhalter. A string of hits ensued.

In 1951, Eckstine met up with Shearing for what I believe to be their only recordings together. Billy is in sonorous voice for two standards. "Taking a Chance on Love" comes from the 1940 musical Cabin in the Sky. Ethel Waters introduced the Vernon Duke melody, with words by John Latouche and Ted Fetter.

English EP - the two did not sing together; the photo is a composite

Walter Donaldson returns with "You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)," a 1930 song from Smiles, where it was performed by Adele Astaire and Eddie Foy, Jr. Here, too, Donaldson's work was the basis of a well-known jazz number: "Moten Swing."

Bonus Songs with Teddi King

Teddi King made several recordings with pianist Nat Pierce's short-lived big band in 1949 and 1950. Two of them are included as bonuses.

Nat Pierce

Pierce had organized a stentorian band in the mold of Kenton, with idiosyncratic arrangements reminiscent of George Handy's work with Boyd Raeburn. Surprisingly, this is less noticeable in the jazz piece - "Goodbye Mr. Chops" - than it is in the nominal ballad, Don Raye and Gene de Paul's "You Don't Know What Love Is."

King's vocals are in two different styles as well - Anita O'Day hip in "Goodbye Mr. Chops" and more straightforward, if somewhat mannered, in the ballad. Her approach was more settled when she recorded with Shearing a few years later.

These are nonetheless impressive performances, well recorded for the small Motif label. Internet Archive is the source of the two 78s. The Cool Canaries LP is from my collection.

LINK to Cool Canaries and Teddi King bonus tracks

New Transfer of Shearing's First American Recordings

This unusual cover adorned the LP version of George Shearing's 1947 sessions for the Savoy label - his first American recordings.

I transferred the album many years ago, but have never been happy with the sound. Now I've done a new version with much better sonics, if hardly modern or even good for the time.

This is Shearing before his familiar quintet sound, with only bass and piano backing.

LINK to previous post on Shearing's 1947 recordings