Pérez Prado's First US LP

More Latin music - this time the first US LP of music by bandleader Pérez Prado.

Prado was born in Cuba, but in the late 40s he moved his base of operations to Mexico City, where his version of a new dance called the mambo became wildly popular.

This 1950 US LP compiles 78s that brought Prado fame in Mexico. The back cover says it contains Prado's biggest hit, Qué Rico el Mambo. Not that I can tell, it doesn't.

Anyway, that song was covered by bandleader Sonny Burke (from exotic Scranton, Pennsylvania), and he turned it into a hit under the title Mambo Jambo. That led to major mambo mania in the US.

You can learn more about this convoluted history (including the tale of the two Pérez Prados) on the Pérez Prado Pages. The discography there says that this is Prado's first US LP, and may be his first LP anywhere.

Now - after that painful exposition - what about the music? In a word, it's terrific. The brass screams, the drums jump, and the saxes slurp (displaying clearly the source of Billy May's trademark sound). Two of these numbers feature the superb singer Beny Moré - I think I have an LP by him; may have to break that out. I also have the Sonny Burke Mambo Jambo LP; I may put that one into the queue as well.

If you want to do the mambo yourself, take a look at the lessons on the back cover below. (You are advised to put down the laptop before attempting these steps.) The instructions are by Jerry Wexler, then a writer for Billboard, later a famous producer for Atlantic records.

Vaughan Williams from Cincinnati

This is another request - Vaughan Williams' second symphony, called the London symphony. This is a 1941 recording from the Cincinnati Symphony conducted by Eugene Goossens, reissued on RCA's budget label Camden in the early 1950s.

Eugene Goossens

OK, if it's the Cincy Symphony, why does it say the Cromwell Symphony on the cover? Well, RCA used pseudonyms with all or almost all its early LP reissues on Camden. It's not clear why - although they probably did not want to cannibalize sales from their higher priced line by parading low-cost reprints touting famous names like Stokowski and Koussevitzky. So the Philadelphia Orchestra became the Warwick Symphony, the Boston became the Centennial and so on - and the conductors became anonymous.

The requestor was interested in this recording because it is the only version to use Vaughan Williams' 1920 edition of the score, which contains more music than the final edition, which is the one usually recorded. (Notably, the epilogue is extended.) That's not to say that the timing of this particular recording is longer than others - Goossens does not take the repeat in the scherzo, and is generally quite swift in his tempos. Not that I'm complaining - I love this work, but an urgent approach does it no harm and there is no lack of warmth in the rendition. Goossens was a talented conductor who was music director in Cincinnati from 1931-46. The sound of this recording is good as well.

It remains to be said that this is not the most "complete" version of the symphony out there. The late Richard Hickox and the London Symphony recorded the original (1914) version a number of years ago, and it does include substantially more music. It's worth seeking out.

LINK (August 2025 remaster in ambient stereo)

Vic Damone

Continuing our series of records that feature gigantic disembodied heads on the cover, here we have Vic Damone, his voice and visage, via a circa 1953 Mercury LP.

Vic's titanic tête is overlooking a tender riverside tête-à-tête and a Parisian cafe scene. (The artist must have thought that "amor" is a French word.)

The record recycles a number of singles that Damone made for Mercury in previous years, and it displays some of the typical repertoire being presented on the pop singles of the day. Damone often is in excellent form, notably on the ballad Rosanne and on The Breeze and I.

As a bonus I've added a 1951 single of It's a Long Way (From Your House to My House) entirely because it contains an arrangement by George Siravo, whom we've been featuring in the recent past. (I have to say that the arrangement is too busy for my taste.) The flip side is Calla Calla (that is, Bride Bride), a Yiddish song arranged by George Bassman. This and the Latin items on the LP show how singers and producers were searching for new and different material, which also led them to cover R&B and country songs. One of the latter (Afraid) appears on this LP.

The recording quality for the LP is fair, even though it was pressed on cheap vinyl. The 45 is another story - the sound here is at once dull, disembodied and shrill. I've done my best to compensate.

NEW LINK

Josef Marais

I had a request for music by Marais and Miranda, and while I do not have any records by that early folk duo, I do have this record made by Josef Marais before he met Rosa de Miranda.

The rustic cover image is deceiving. Marais was a well-trained South African violinist who started singing folk songs almost by accident. He had settled in London, and somehow was engaged to record folk songs in Africaans for HMV to sell in South Africa. This led to BBC work, with Marais later moving his base of operations to New York.

Marais made his first recordings for American Decca in 1941; this is a 10-inch LP version of his second set, which dates from shortly thereafter. His popularity was deserved; these songs can be very charming, although I have to say that Siembamba has one of the most bizarre lyrics I have ever heard. "Twist his neck and hit him on the head; throw him in the ditch and he'll be dead!" And this is a lullaby? Pleasant dreams!

[August 2019 update: newly available discographical information shows that Marias' first recordings were in 1939. This set was recorded in 1941.]

If Marching to Pretoria sounds familiar, it was a staple of the Smothers Brothers repertoire. If I remember correctly, it was generally the jumping off point for the folk duo's comedy act.

See this detailed site for more on Marais and Miranda and some of their recordings together.

Chris Connor

The great singer Chris Connor died earlier this week, and this is my small tribute to her. She's been an artist I've liked ever since the day I picked up a remaindered copy of her Atlantic LP Chris In Person almost 40 years ago. My admiration has only grown with preparing this post.

Connor was (as she acknowledged) in the Anita O'Day/June Christy mold - husky voiced and light on the vibrato. But she was nonetheless her own singer - intense, introspective, idiosyncratic, and a master of the art.

This LP is her first, and it is a wonderful example of that artistry, with Connor's approach contrasting beautifully with Ellis Larkins' bright and imaginative pianism. This is inspired work - and if the liner notes are to be believed, Larkins and Connor had never played together before these August 1954 sessions. She had in fact recently departed from the Kenton band and was pleased to leave the blaring brass behind for a trio setting.

Even though Connor and Larkins were not regular associates, that doesn't mean this date was unrehearsed. The songs are carefully worked out - much more so than on most recordings of this type.

I was surprised to see that this album is out of print (or seems to be, although it has been reissued on a number of occasions), so I made a copy of my well-worn original pressing. It's a little noisy, folks, but there is gold amidst the grunge.

If you want to learn more about Connor and read about these sessions in frightening detail, go to the online Chris Connor bio-discography.

Parenthetical note: Chris is singing into two classic microphones on the cover - a Neumann U 47 on the front and in the top photo on the back, and an RCA 44-BX in the lower back photo. You can learn more about these important instruments on the Microphone Home Page, which has a profusion of details and intimate photos that amount to microphone pornography. I can't recall who tipped me to this site, but thanks!

REMASTERED VERSION (JUNE 2014)

Theatre Music by Maurice Jarre

The distinguished film composer Maurice Jarre died recently. Rather than presenting one of his many film scores as a tribute, I've uploaded this LP of incidental music he composed for the stage. The music was for productions of the Théâtre National Populaire, which Jarre served as music director early in his career. The 1950 music for Le Prince de Hombourg, included here, was his first score. 

This record's presentation is exceptionally confusing. The LP has only a few bands and there are no breaks between most of the items. The back of the LP (see below) is opaque about the contents. When combined with my rudimentary command of French, I did have to struggle to figure out the various items. But I think I did straighten them out at last, and have separated the contents into 44 tracks for the download.

The autograph on the back cover below is by Gérard Philipe, a wonderful actor who died very young. Also in the cast are TNP director Jean Vilar, Huguette Forge, Maria Casares, and Monique Chaumette. The singer is André Schlesser. The orchestra is conducted by Serge Baudo.

The sound is good, except for two very brief patches. Hope you enjoy this unusual item - the music is quite worthwhile.

The Naked City

Just to clarify, this "Naked City" is not the 1948 film, it's the television show of a decade later. That was the first incarnation of a trendsetting TV program that later came back on a different network with a somewhat different cast - and different music.

The music here is by George Duning, a solid Hollywood craftsman. The words and narrative are by lyricist Ned Washington. And the spoken narration is by radio actor John McIntyre, who took the leading role in the first season of the police drama.

Those of you who are looking for crime jazz, look elsewhere. This is a solid middle-of-the road effort, and the first voices you hear will be those of Jud Conlon's singers, who were perhaps best known for backing Bing Crosby. They present the title tune along with future teen idol James Darren. This was before Darren hit it big with Gidget, so his name is nowhere to be seen on the cover.

Gritty, this isn't. It is closest in concept to, and appears to have been inspired by, Gordon Jenkins' Manhattan Tower. Radio actor as narrator - check. Story in song - check. Singing lovers - check. Throw in a gangster named Big Harry, and you have The Naked City.

The plot involves Lt. Dan Muldoon (McIntyre) playing guardian angel for a Broadway hopeful voiced by Jo Ann Greer, a band singer and vocal double who is a superb vocalist and the best reason for hearing this record. She is being menaced by Big Harry, and the whole thing ends up in a chase. I suppose that's what is depicted on the cover, although if so, Big Harry must have been the only mobster in New York history to wear Pat Boone-style white bucks.

Naturally, this being the 50s and all, the story ends with the ingenue leaving the big city behind for her cowpoke boyfriend (played by Darren, improbably). "Give me solid food, solitude and you," she tells him. (Not sure what she was being fed in New York; must have been a liquid diet.)

I doubt that this plot came from one of the televised episodes, which were written for the most part by the famous Hollywood screenwriter Stirling Silliphant.

The record is particularly recommended to all the fans of Manhattan Tower and anyone who wants to hear fine singing (by Greer; Darren isn't that good).

REMASTERED VERSION