The J's with Jamie - Hey, Look Us Over! Plus Their Columbia Singles

So far this blog's slow-motion look at the career and recordings of the J's with Jamie hasn't included that group's best LP - their first, Hey, Look Us Over! That's because I owned only a mono copy until recently. Now, with a good stereo pressing in hand and digitized, I am presenting it along with a significant bonus - all the 14 single sides that weren't included on their second and final Columbia LP, The Remarkable J's with Jamie.

Hey, Look Us Over!

The title Hey, Look Us Over comes from the song "Hey, Look Me Over," which Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh wrote for the 1960 musical Wildcat, where it was introduced by Lucille Ball, of all people. This was one of a spate of show tune marches that may have been kicked off by Meredith Willson and The Music Man's "76 Trombones" in 1957. Its high spirits also may have spawned such songs as "I Ain't Down Yet" (The Unsinkable Molly Brown) and "If They Could See Me Now" (Sweet Charity).

The idea of using "Hey, Look Me Over" or its plural cousin as an album title appealed to any number of artists - including Jerry Vale, Vicki Carr, Julius LaRosa, Susan Maugham, the Pete King Chorale and even Stan Freberg.

On the J's with Jamie LP, "Hey, Look Me Over" is followed by a nice blend of old songs ("The Touch of Your Hand," "But Not for Me," "Smile") and recent pop or show tunes ("A Lot of Livin' to Do," "Fly Me to the Moon," "The Second Time Around"). The set closes with the wonderful Matt Dennis-Tom Adair "Will You Still Me Mine," which is perfectly suited to this group's sunny virtuosity.

The album's imaginative orchestrations were by Hoyt Jones, a Chicago-based arranger who later arranged the 1977 Art Van Damme/Singers Unlimited LP Invitation. Len Dresslar and Gene Shelton of the J's with Jamie were charter members of the Singers Unlimited. Jones also contributed charts for the local rock groups the New Colony Six and the Ides of March during the 60s.

The Columbia Singles

The J's with Jamie's two Columbia LPs both date from 1963, but the group released singles for the company from 1962-64. These were mainly show tunes, although not the most popular of the species. Even so, their choices make for good listening from lesser-heard sources.

The group's first single came out in April 1962 and coupled two songs from Harold Rome's I Can Get It for You Wholesale: "The Sound of Money" and "Momma, Momma, Momma." The former is distinctly superior to the latter, and was included on The Remarkable J's with Jamie. The latter is in this set.

The next single, from June, led with a good Cahn/Van Heusen song, "Let's Not Be Sensible," from The Road to Hong Kong. The 45 also had a Milton Schafer-Ronny Graham song, "One Little World Apart," from their short-lived musical Bravo Giovanni. Both are fine songs sympathetically handled.

The group's next effort was "Nowhere to Go But Up," which was introduced by Dorothy Loudon in the show of the same name. The J's issued their worthy version in September 1962; the James Lipton-Sol Berkowitz musical opened and closed in mid-November. The flip side of this 45 was "Laugh It Up," which also is on The Remarkable J's with Jamie. It came from the Irving Berlin show Mr. President.

Another show tune, Cahn and Van Heusen's "Come on Strong," was featured in the short-lived Garson Kanin production of the same name. The show Come on Strong was not a musical; however, the song was heard as incidental music in the second act, via a Lena Horne recording. It's a characterful number that fits Jamie as well as Lena. 

Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh followed Wildcat with the Sid Caesar showcase Little Me. It had a impressive score, but the J's chose the title song rather than "I've Got Your Number" or "The Other Side of the Tracks." "Little Me" does suit their upbeat, skillful style, admittedly. Both Little Me and Come on Strong date from late 1962.

"Your Dog" promo picture sleeve

The group's next single wasn't until August 1963, and represented a break from the parade of show tunes. Columbia matched the J's with Chicago-based arranger Dick Marx, who likely had done commercial work with them. The pick side was "Your Dog," is a rhythm song done to a turn. The other original was "For the Last Time," a compose-by-numbers pop song characteristic of its era.

The record label showcased the group during the September Music Operators of America convention, and they serenaded the crowd with a special version of "Wimoweh" called "MOA." Columbia issued it on a promotional copy of the "Your Dog"/"For the Last Time" single, and it's included in the download. Most enjoyable material, even with contrived lyrics.

The group's follow-up single was the title song from Meredith Willson's show Here's Love, which appeared on the second album. It's backing was "Au Revoir," a Gilbert Bécaud composition. It's not one of his best songs and not particularly suited to the J's style.

Late in 1963, Columbia came out with a coupling of Stuart Hamblen's "This Ole House," which was featured on the second album. It was backed with the non-album track "London (Is a Little Bit of All Right)," a Noël Coward song from The Girl Who Came to Supper. The noisy Tessie O'Shea introduced the latter number. You have to enjoy cod-English accents to like this one.

At the end of the year, the J's won an award for "Most Played Vocal Group," which they celebrated via the Billboard ad above.

March 1964 saw a release of "Yoshiko" coupled with Stephen Sondheim's "Everybody Says Don't" from Anyone Can Whistle. The latter is the group's most successful show tune recording, and can be found on their second LP. The former is, as far as I can tell, an attempt to follow up on the success of Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue o Muite Arukō," which had been nonsensically retitled "Sukiyaki" for the US market. The "Yoshiko" composer was Elijah Whitney, Jr. It's actually one of the catchiest items in this collection.

The J's final Columbia single is one of their best. The A-side is a vocal version of the "Theme from A Summer Place," which had been an instrumental hit for Percy Faith in 1960. The reverse is Bock and Harnick's "Popsicles in Paris." This came from the 1964 New York World's Fair show To Broadway with Love, and seems tailor made for the group.

Hey, Look Us Over! comes from my collection. I am indebted to a very old series of posts on the WFMU site for the single transfers. These were lossy originals in the strident and boomy sound that Columbia favored for its singles of the time, but have been suitably tamed and pitch-corrected in this remastering.

Despite my occasional complaints about the material, this is a highly enjoyable collection that finished the group's best period. The British Invasion had arrived by the time the J's with Jamie switched to ABC Paramount records late in 1964 and changed their name to Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers. Beatles songs and the like were much less well suited to them than show tunes. Even so, I plan to present the second and final release by the successor group before too long.

Ravel and Debussy from Cleveland, Rodziński and Leinsdorf (Plus a Bonus)

The Cleveland Orchestra did not spring into being upon the accession of George Szell to the music directorship in 1946. Three chief conductors had preceded him: Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodziński and Erich Leinsdorf.

This blog has concerned itself with Rodziński's recorded output since its founding, including several Cleveland efforts: Jerome Kern's Showboat Scenario for Orchestra, Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and 1812 Overture, in addition to many recordings from New York, one from Vienna and one from Chicago.

Last year I posted several of Leinsdorf's Cleveland outings: the Schumann Symphony No. 1, Rimsky-Korsakov's Antar, plus pieces by Schubert and Mozart.

Today we return to Cleveland for music of the Impressionists: Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 and Rapsodie Espagnole and Debussy's La Mer from Rodziński, and instrumental music from Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, as arranged and conducted by Leinsdorf.

A single link to all these items is at the end of the post. 

Today's bonus is in the form of another welcome compilation from David Federman: "From Dearth to Mirth," a concept we can all support, I am sure. Details and a link below.

Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 and Rapsodie Espagnole

Artur Rodziński

After the Cleveland Orchestra and Rodziński began recording for the reorganized Columbia Records company in 1939, it wasn't long until the conductor turned his attentions to the music of Ravel, first the Rapsodie Espagnole in 1940, then the Suite No. 2 from the Daphnis et Chloé ballet music the next year.

Critics differ about the merits of his readings. In the reviews included in the download, some contemporary writers longed for the more lush sounds of Stokowski or Koussevitzky. However, I am inclined to agree with critic Donald Rosenberg, who wrote, "Rodziński's limber approach and his attention to balance and tuning are ideal for the two French scores" and Howard Taubman of the New York Times, who praised the Rapsodie's "precision, rhythmic vitality and rich orchestral color."

My transfer comes from a circa 1949 first-generation LP transfer with good sound and surfaces. The download also includes the second generation cover in addition to the 1949 "tombstone" above.

Debussy's La Mer

Rodziński added a recording of Debussy's La Mer to his Cleveland discography during late 1941 sessions that also included the Daphnis et Chloé music, and the Kern and Mendelssohn works mentioned above.

Here again, some critics longed for the coloristic effects of a Koussevitzky, but I find Rodziński's control and clarity to be well suited to a score that is as fascinating and impassive as the sea it depicts.

La Mer was originally issued in a 78 set with the cover above. My transfer comes from a first-generation 10-inch LP with very good sound.

Artur Rodziński ... 'as featured in Collier's'

Debussy (arr. Leinsdorf) - Pelléas et Mélisande Suite

Erich Leinsdorf

Erich Leinsdorf made all his recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra in late February 1946, after George Szell had been appointed to succeed him as music director. Included were the recordings mentioned above, along with Dvořák, Brahms and Leinsdorf's own arrangement of instrumental interludes from Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande.

Critic Edward Tatnall Canby was taken with Leinsdorf's work, not the least because it was, in his view, "a fine way to sample a rare opera." But the music is not particularly characteristic of the complete score, where the vocal lines are primary. The composer wrote the interludes to cover scene changes, and his debt to Wagner is more apparent in this music than elsewhere.

Leinsdorf was a volatile conductor at this early stage in his development, but that tendency is not in evidence here. The performance is enjoyable, but it does not (and perhaps could not) capture the unique sound world of the opera.

This transfer has been cleaned up from needle drops of the original 78 set, as found on Internet Archive. The sound is very good, but there is some surface rustle that will be apparent on headphones.

Although the recording was made in early 1946, the album did not come out until 1949, by which time Leinsdorf was the music director in Rochester. It was issued simultaneously via the 78 set and the new LP format.

Bonus: 'From Dearth to Mirth'

In his collection "From Dearth to Mirth," David has assembled a 27-song set from days gone by (the only days we recognize on this blog). He notes, "I seek out music that consoled my parents in times equivalent to ours when tyrants trod the earth. I call it 'Three-Cheers-For-Good-Times' music and I’m presenting a generous sampling of it in this mix."

He adds that "your job as listener is to try to take this music as sincerely as it was intended and be cheered by it. As you will see, George and Ira Gershwin invested heavily in the effort to cheer up America--contributing two largely forgotten Jazz Age gems, 'Clap Yo' Hands' and 'Oh Gee Oh Joy,' songs to this giddy mix. So there's no need for smirks, just smiles. They will come fairly easy to regular patrons of Buster’s blog. Or at least I am counting on it."

LINK to Ravel and Debussy

LINK to 'From Death to Mirth'

The Vagabond Alfred Drake, Plus Singles

This post presents Alfred Drake's sole operetta recording, Friml's The Vagabond King, dating from 1951, and adds nine of his lesser-known single sides from that period, including four Kiss Me. Kate songs not derived from the original cast album.

The site already has covered quite a lot of Drake's recorded output from mid-century - Roberta, Brigadoon, Sing Out Sweet Land and Down in the Valley, while avoiding his biggest hits, Oklahoma! and the Kiss Me, Kate cast album.

The Vagabond King

Friml's operetta was based on the legend of François Villon, as related in Justin Huntly McCarthy's book and play If I Were King. The musical version dates from 1925. It had a brief Broadway revival in 1943, and there have been a few Hollywood productions.

Drake's recording is from 1951, and while it is the only operetta he officially recorded (if I am not mistaken, which is always possible), he was not a stranger to the genre. His first appearances on Broadway were in the Civic Light Opera Company's 1935 repertory stagings of Gilbert & Sullivan, and his next New York role was in Benatzky's White Horse Inn. These all were in the ensemble, but he soon was to break out singing the title song in Rodgers and Hart's 1937 hit Babes in Arms, a piece that must have been wonderfully well suited to his powerful baritone. He wasn't to become famous, however, until 1943 and Oklahoma!

For The Vagabond King, Decca paired him with soprano Mimi Benzell, with mezzo Frances Bible also making a few appearances.

Mimi Benzell was the first and only vocalist with 'no time for applause,' if this 1952 ad is to be believed

Benzell (1918-70) was one of the many opera singers of the day who branched out into the popular arts. She was often on television and even had a nightclub act, along with a presence in the ads of the day. On this LP she seems one-dimensional, which may have been the idea, I suppose.

Frances Bible

Frances Bible (1919-2001) appeared with the New York City Opera for 30 years, and with several other US companies. Although she was quite accomplished, she never became widely known, probably because her career was confined to America.

Directing the orchestra is Broadway veteran Jay Blackton, who conducted many of the great musical productions of the 1940s through 70s, starting with Oklahoma! Blackton was an arranger, too, but I don't know if he handled the orchestrations for this recording.

This was one of a series of operettas the Decca released around mid-century, but the only one that featured Drake or the other vocalists appearing here.

1944-51 Decca and RCA Victor Singles

Drake primarily recorded for Decca during this period, starting with his appearance in Oklahoma! During that show's run, the US Army asked the Music War Committee of the Theater Wing for a song celebrating the infantry. Oscar Hammerstein chaired that committee, so he and Richard Rodgers produced "We're on Our Way (Infantry Song)," and Drake recorded it with Waring's Pennsylvanians. That was on June 1, 1944, a few days before D-Day.

While Drake was starring in Kiss Me, Kate on Broadway, in addition to the Columbia original cast production he also, strangely, recorded four of its numbers for RCA Victor, where he had signed early in 1949. "So in Love" and "Were Thine That Special Face" were solos, with Jane Pickens joining him for "Wunderbar" and "Why Can't You Behave." (He did not sing the latter in the show.) The backings are by old friend Lehman Engel.

Jane Pickens and Alfred Drake

RCA also had Drake do a bravura version of "Malagueña" during the same 1949 sessions, backed with the more placid "In the Spring of the Year," an Alec Wilder composition I somehow missed for my recent Buster's Unusual Spring compilation. Arranger Henri René unaccountably introduces Lecuona's "Malagueña" with what sounds like a cimbalom solo. (It works, though!) This was touted as the first vocal recording of "Malagueña," with lyrics by Marian Banks, but Jimmy Dorsey and Bob Eberly had done the song earlier in the decade with Bob Russell lyrics under the title "At the Cross-Roads." You can hear the latter in my Lecuona compilation from a few years ago.

Our final 78 comes from 1951. Decca had Drake revive two songs for this release. "The World Is Mine (Tonight)" is a George Posford song with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, writing as Holt Marvell. Maschwitz is best known for "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "These Foolish Things." Nino Martini introduced the song in the 1936 film The Gay Desperado. 

The flip side was even older: 1911's "Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold" with lyrics by George Graff, Jr., and music by Ernest R. Ball.

The Vagabond King comes from my collection; the singles were cleaned up from lossless copies on Internet Archive. The sound in all cases is very good.

1949 Billboard ad

The J's with Jamie Return, Plus Who Wants to Be Happy? (and More)

Today we celebrate the return of favored vocal group the J's with Jamie (although under another name) and we offer two other items, both courtesy of old friend David Federman - his compilation of "I Want to Be Happy" recordings and a pioneering album of the music of Silvestre Revueltas.

The J's with Jamie = Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers

The J's with Jamie vocal group have made periodic appearances here, plus there have been a few other sides that featured their lead singer Jamie Silvia. 

The group had a busy schedule recording commercial spots, while also cutting a few LPs for Columbia in the early 60s. My previously uploaded J's with Jamie material (including some of their commercial work) can be found here.

By 1966, they had changed their name to Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers. This could have been done to put Jamie out front (she was the star of the group), or to work the name of her husband (Joe Silvia) into the title. Or it could have been to avoid confusion with the Jamies, who had a hit in 1958 with "Summertime, Summertime."

Whatever the reason for the name change, Jamie's photo dominates the cover of this, the first of the group's two recordings for ABC-Paramount.

Music was changing at the time, and the group tried to change with the times. Some of the LP's material was similar to what it would have performed in earlier years: recent movie songs ("The Shadow of Your Smile," "The Days of Wine and Roses," "A Taste of Honey"), relatively recent traditional pop ballads ("This Is All I Ask," "Softly, as I Leave You"), older songs ("Lost in the Stars," "Nature Boy"), and a novelty (Dick Hyman's setting of "It Was a Lover and His Lass," similar to the Peter Warlock setting available here).

Added to this was the ration of Beatles songs that was mandatory at the time ("Yesterday," "Eight Days a Week," "We Can Work It Out"), also the schlock of "It's Not Unusual." Predictably, the group did not handle this material as well. Some of it was dependent on the talents of the original artists: only John Lennon and mates could put over "Eight Days a Week," and "It's Not Unusual" is only suited for the bombast of Tom Jones, which is far away from the J's with Jamie sound. Meanwhile, "Yesterday" was overexposed, at the time being emoted by every singer in every lounge in the land, and this version is not distinctive. 

J's with Jamie aficionados believe the ABC-Paramount recordings are not as good as the Columbia records, and it's hard to disagree, although there are some good moments. Jamie and her associates were to make only one more LP, which I will transfer later on.

'I Want to Be Happy' x 21

Speaking of the Beatles, that group was indirectly the impetus behind David F.'s latest compilation. He had run into a young Beatles fanatic who believed "there was no greater music than that made by the Fab Four 20 years before she was born." So David put together a 20-version medley of 1925's "I Want to Be Happy," with the thought that "as good as McCartney's 'Yesterday' is, I can't imagine it inspiring the diversity of performances you will find here."

The first recording in David's collection comes from June 1924, even before "I Want to Be Happy" made its Broadway debut in the Youmans-Caesar-Harbach show No, No Nanette. It was likely recorded during the musical's successful Chicago run before moving to the West End and then Broadway. This initial recording is from industry figure Gus Haenschen, under his disc pseudonym Carl Fenton.

Many of the subsequent interpretations are from the jazz realm, running from the swing styles of Chick Webb and Benny Goodman on to the bop inflections of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. There also are several famous vocalists, including June Christy, whom I added at David's suggestion. It's the first version that popped into my head when he mentioned his compilation.

The Music of Silvestre Revueltas

David's other contribution is a vintage LP of the music of Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940). This M-G-M LP is one of the first of the composer's music, being preceded only by albums from Argeo Quadri and Luis Herrera de la Fuente a few years earlier.

David comments, "The late novelist and poet Jim Harrison wrote that whenever he thinks of Spain he thinks of Federico Garcia Lorca, and his assassination as a homosexual by a Franco firing squad in August 1936. Silvestre Revueltas wrote a three-movement homage to the poet in 1937 whose slow movement always moves me to tears. It's a highlight on this long out-of-print 1956 MGM LP devoted to the Mexican composer's music conducted by Carlos Surinach. Revueltas wrote this in Spain where he was sent as part of a cultural delegation by his government in support of the Spanish Republic in 1937."

Thanks as always to David for his generosity.

Silvestre Revueltas

American Music with Foldes and Winograd

Today's subject - as it often is around here - is mid-century American music. The sources are two albums that are not often seen. The first is an anthology of piano works by eight composers performed by an artist whom I did not associate with this repertoire - Andor Foldes. The second is the first recording of Aaron Copland's Music for Movies, coupled with a suite derived from three of Kurt Weill's American musicals, as conducted by Arthur Winograd on one of his many M-G-M LPs.

Andor Foldes Plays Contemporary American Music

I was surprised to discover this 1947 album of Andor Foldes (1913-92) playing American piano music. I associate his name with the music of his teacher Bartók and other stalwarts of the European canon. He was, however, a naturalized American citizen, having emigrated here in the 1930s, remaining until he returned to Europe in 1960 for professional reasons.

Foldes' 1941 debut in New York was devoted to Bach-Busoni, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Bartók and Kodaly, but by the time of his 1947 Town Hall program, he had added works by the Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson and Paul Bowles to the mix, likely the items on this Vox album.

In addition to the three Americans, the Vox collection includes short works by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and William Schuman. These were among the first recordings of these compositions.

The album was also among the first from the now-venerable American Vox label. (There had been a German Vox earlier in the century.) The US company started up in 1945, and made this recording the following year, per A Classical Discography. The resulting set apparently did not come out until 1947, when it was reviewed late in the year both in the New York Times and Saturday Review. Both brief notices are in the download, along with reviews of Foldes' 1941 and 1947 recitals.

Andor Foldes

The album reviews were good; the recital notices were mixed. Foldes was praised for his accuracy, but at least in 1941, the recital reviewer found his sound hard and his playing loud. By 1947, this had moderated into the notion that his secco tone was well suited to the contemporary repertoire, borne out by these recordings.

Copland - Music for Movies; Weill - Music for the Stage

Conductor Arthur Winograd (1920-2010), once the cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet, made any number of recordings for the M-G-M label in the 1950s, when it was active in the classical realm. Quite a good conductor, Winograd these days is remembered primarily for his long tenure as the head of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

This particular recording dates from 1956 and was made with the "M-G-M Chamber Orchestra," probably a New York studio group. The LP combines two appealing scores, one prepared by the composer, the second by other hands following the composer's death.

Aaron Copland's Music for Movies, which comes from 1942, assembles themes he wrote for The City, Of Mice and Men and Our Town. The best - and best known - are "New England Countryside" from The City and "Grovers Corners" from Our Town. I believe this was the first recording of this suite in orchestral form, although "Grovers Corners" had been recorded on piano twice - including by Andor Foldes in the album above, under the name "Story of Our Town." The other recording, by Leo Smit, is available on this blog in a remastered version. It is from a 1946-47 Concert Hall Society album Smit shared with Copland himself.

Arthur Winograd at work

Kurt Weill's Music for the Stage was arranged for this recording by M-G-M recording director Edward Cole and composer Marga Richter, whose own music has appeared here. The arrangers followed Weill's own procedure, utilized in Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, of employing the theater arrangements while substituting a solo instrument for any vocal lines. It works seamlessly for this suite assembled from lesser-known (to me, anyway) items from Johnny Johnson (three pieces), Lost in the Stars and Lady in the Dark (one each).

Contemporary reviewer Alfred Frankenstein pronounced the Copland suite to be effective and the Weill "trash," strange considering that the latter composer influenced the former. Reviewers were more to the point back then, and held (or at least expressed) stronger opinions.

Frankenstein also opined that the "recording and performance are of the best." I can agree with the latter judgment, but the recording is another matter. It was close and harsh, so I have added a small amount of reverberation to moderate those qualities. [Note (July 2023): these files have now been remastered in ambient stereo.]

By the way, Winograd had almost no conducting experience when he began recording for M-G-M. Edward Cole had turned up at a Juilliard concert that Winograd conducted, was impressed, and offered him a recording session. This anecdote is contained in an interview with the conductor included in the download. Also on this blog, Winograd can be heard conducting music by Paul Bowles.

Both these recordings were cleaned up from lossless needle drops found on Internet Archive.

LINK

Buster's Unusual Spring

If your heart doesn't go dancing at the thought of another spring-themed compilation, I hope this collection, "Buster's Unusual Spring," will at least start your feet tapping.

In these 28 selections, I've avoided the usual spring songs - "Spring Is Here," "It Might as Well Be Spring," and so on - in favor of more esoteric fare. Multiple genres are represented - pop, classical, jazz and country among them. I myself was unfamiliar with most of these numbers. The best known are probably "It Happens Every Spring" and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" - and you will recognize a few classical melodies in new settings.

As usual, the recordings are discussed below in chronological order.

The first selection is the only acoustic recording in the set, and a late one at that - it's from 1926 and the technology-challenged Gennett label. Chic Winter (other sources say it's Winters) and orchestra offer the peppy "Spring Is Here" (not the Rodgers and Hart song). Winter(s) led a fancy outfit that was in residence at the impressive but long-gone Hotel Gramatan in Westchester County, north of New York City.

The following year, HMV had the incomparable John McCormack in London's Queen's Hall for a session devoted in part to settings by Granville Bantock of poems by Launcelot Alfred Cranmer-Byng (the name itself is poetry) that were based on ancient Chinese texts. "A Dream of Spring" is from a work by the eighth century writer Ts'en Ts'an. McCormack sings with his usual penetrating intelligence, sympathy for the text, sweet tone and faultless diction.

Harry McClintock by R. Crumb

We abruptly switch genres from Sir Granville to the musings of Haywire Mac, the author of "Big Rock Candy Mountain." Here, under the name of Radio Mac, the America folk singer Harry McClintock presents the "Hobo's Spring Song," done for Victor in 1929. Mac was a colorful character who was a member of the International Workers of the World and spent time as a union organizer.

Harold aka Scrappy aka Burt

Also from 1929, we have tightly-muted trumpeter Henry Busse with orchestra and the much-recorded vocalist Scrappy Lambert under the name Burt Lorin. They offer up "Like a Breath of Spring-Time," which makes me wonder when "springtime" became a compound word. The song comes from the lost film Hearts in Exile, which was issued both as a silent and a talkie. Presumably the song was more effective in the latter version. By the way, this song was also recorded by Dr. Eugene Ormandy's Salon Orchestra before the conductor went uptown.

From 1930, Waring's Pennsylvanians give us "It Seems to Be Spring," written for the film Let's Go Native. With a title like that, the movie had to be offensive in some manner, but the plot summary just sounds inane, as does the casting - Jack Oakie and Jeanette MacDonald. One hopes that MacDonald rather than Oakie introduced the song. In either case, they had to be better than the anemic Three Girlfriends who assist Fred Waring on the record.

"Spring in Manhattan" of 1934 is one of the earlier releases from the Liberty Music Shop label, which specialized in cabaret music. Most of its artists were familiar from New York nightlife, but here, despite the song's title, we have Los Angeles' Bruz Fletcher, who recorded very little but has a following even today. Fletcher's song comes from the album above.

Ray Noble

We now transport you from Manhattan to France for "Paris in Spring," which Mack Gordon and Harry Revel wrote for the film of the same name. Despite the titles of movie and music lacking the definite article, Al Bowlly sings "Paris in the spring." The South African vocalist had come to the US with English bandleader Ray Noble, who assembled a superb American band. The troupe began recording in 1935, including this fine song, here in a wonderfully polished and presented arrangement with a characteristic vocal by Bowlly, an exceptional singer. Noble was to stay in the States, but Bowlly moved back to England in 1937 and perished in the London blitz.

Ella and Chick

"I Got the Spring Fever Blues" is from 1936 and and the band of Chick Webb with the young Ella Fitzgerald sounding surprisingly like Connie Boswell with a touch of Mildred Bailey. Ella is great, and the band, led by the short-lived drummer Webb, is as well. In the ensemble are such luminaries as Taft Jordan, Teddy McRae and Sandy Williams.

Peg LaCentra

Another great band was led by Artie Shaw, here with one of his first recordings, also from 1936. At this early date Shaw was known as "Art Shaw." Some of you may be familiar with "There's Frost on the Moon (Spring in My Heart)," which turns up in Christmas compilations. Shaw already had started incorporating strings in his arrangements - unusual for a swing band at the time. One of the violinists here was Jerry Gray, later a famed arranger for Glenn Miller (who himself was a Ray Noble sideman and played trombone on the "Paris in Spring" date above). The success of the Shaw record, though, is largely due to the excellent singer Peg LaCentra.

Teddy Wilson

Moving to 1939, we hear the evocative song "Some Other Spring," from the band of pianist Teddy Wilson and vocalist Jean Eldridge. Billie Holiday fans will likely be familiar with her Columbia recording of this song. Although Holiday made many great recordings with Wilson earlier in her career, she had moved on by this point. Eldridge was a sensitive singer, but didn't have a strong voice. Wilson's piano is excellent, as always.

Fletcher Henderson

The fashion for adapting classical airs for swing numbers was in full flower when Benny Goodman and band decided to adopt Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" for a 1939 record with a Fletcher Henderson chart. I can't imagine the composer approving this version, but he had been gone for almost a century at the time. More than 80 years later, we can enjoy both Mendelssohn's piano piece and the Goodman-Henderson swing interpretation.

Earl Robinson and Paul Robeson

A very different "Spring Song" comes to us from the great Paul Robeson and frequent collaborator Earl Robinson, working with Harry Schachter. Robeson and Robinson had their biggest success with "Ballad for Americans" in 1939. "Spring Song," an anti-war ballad, was issued in 1941 during the run-up to the American involvement in World War II. Robeson and Robinson were Communists, a group that wanted to keep the US from waging war on Germany, which had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviets in 1939. "Spring Song" was released shortly before the German invasion of Russia.

Jerry Mazanec

From 1942, Jerry Mazanec and his Bohemian polka band regale us with "Spring Awakening." I believe Mazanec was from Cleveland, but his more traditional approach soon was supplanted on Columbia records by the propulsive Slovenian band of that city's Frankie Yankovic, who became nationally popular after the war.

Larry Green led a Boston society band in the Eddy Duchin mold. He offers "Spring Is Really Spring This Year" (as opposed to being autumn, I suppose). It's a nice song and the leader's florid Carmen Cavallaro-style piano playing occasionally gives way for a good Gil Phelan vocal. This one comes from 1946; I have a Green LP on Vik from about 10 years later, but it tells us nothing else about him.

Charlie Spivak

The trumpeter Charlie Spivak was at the helm of a swing band for many years and many recordings, among them "Spring Magic" from 1946. You will immediately recognize the melody for this one. Alexander Borodin invented it for one of his string quartets. Alec Wilder rudely appropriated it without attribution for this pleasant tune with vocal by Jimmy Saunders and the Stardreamers. Several years later, Wright and Forrest borrowed the same melody for "And This Is My Beloved" from Kismet.

Old friend Johnny Johnston peeks in with "I Bring You Spring" with the assistance of the Crew Chiefs and bandleader Sonny Burke. This is a good tune with a sonorous vocal that wasn't included in my 2019 compilation of Johnston's recordings. It comes from 1947.

Hal McIntyre

That same year, excellent Hal McIntyre band featuring the sorely underrated vocalist Frankie Lester produced an M-G-M single of "Spring in December" - another song that features in holiday compilations. Some of Hal's later recordings have appeared here.

Fans of Frank Sinatra and Dick Haymes may be familiar with "It Happens Every Spring," which originated in the 1949 film of the same name. The tune is nothing special, but Mack Gordon's lyrics paint a charming American scene at mid-century. This interpretation is from the future talk-show host and media mogul Merv Griffin, working with Freddy Martin's band.

Bill Farrell

The talented but now-forgotten vocalist Bill Farrell sings "Spring Made a Fool of Me" with support from Russ Case. Farrell, supposedly discovered by Bob Hope, had been listening to two other Bills - Billy Eckstine and Billy Daniels - but his singing is nonetheless impressive. He recorded for a few labels circa 1950, then made a few albums for Dobre in the 1970s.

At the same time and also for M-G-M, Russ Case recorded instrumentals under his own name, including an inoffensive "Symphony of Spring," which is our next selection.

In December 1951, Mercury invited Paul & Roy the Tennessee River Boys (seems like there should be some punctuation in there) to Nashville's Tulane Hotel to set down their own "Spring of Love." Paul & Roy were in the Bill Monroe bluegrass mold, minus the banjo. Good stuff.

Early the following year, the popular Four Aces Featuring Al Alberts did "Spring Is a Wonderful Thing" for Decca. Al's vocal gyrations have never been a favorite of mine, and here he is at his most elaborately emotive.

Back to the country genre for the Maddox Brothers and Rose and their "The Time Is Spring." This comes from 1953 and a group that is always entertaining, here supplemented by guitarists Joe Maphis and Johnny Bond.

The Four Freshmen

The Four Freshmen and the illustrious arranger Nelson Riddle turned their attentions to Matt Dennis' excellent ballad "Love Turns Winter to Spring" for a 1954 release on the Capitol label.

Next, an obscurity - the multi-talented Ken Moore, who not only sang and played the piano on "Spring May Come," but wrote the piece and released it on his own Lucky label in 1954. Billboard called it "listenable after-hours wax" and so it is.

Kitty Kallen came out of a big-band background for a successful solo career, with her biggest hit being "Little Things Mean a Lot" in 1954. "Come Spring" is from the next year, about the same time that Kallen began having the vocal problems that impeded her career for several years. I don't know if this is why Decca turned the vocal reverb up to 11 for this record; I do know that the sound would be better without the intrusion.

Jimmie Rodgers

Bobby Troup's touching song "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" is perhaps better known as the reworked Beach Boys tune "A Young Man Is Gone," yet another James Dean homage that is beautifully sung but pointless. The Boys' harmonies were modeled on those of the Four Freshmen in that group's recording of the original. Here we have the excellent folk-oriented pop singer Jimmie Rodgers backed by Hugo Peretti. His rendition was on the flip side of his big 1957 hit "Honeycomb."

Our final selection will be familiar - perhaps overly so - to any fan of the cabaret singer set. It is "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," a wonderful Tommy Wolf-Fran Landesman song that is done perfectly by jazz vocalist Mark Murphy. This is taken from the singer's 1962 LP Rah, which I have featured in its unexpurgated version. (See the post for an explanation.)

Except for the final number, these files have been remastered from lossless needle drops found on Internet Archive.

Hope your spring is going well; it snowed here today.