Mega Remaster Collection, Featuring Buddy Clark

I enjoy remastering the old posts on this site because I can usually wring much better sound from my earlier efforts – and I don’t have to do any transferring or scanning. Everyone wins! So here is the latest collection of reups, all bright, shiny and as new as I can make 60-year-old recordings sound.

The featured artist for today is the wonderful 30s/40s crooner Buddy Clark, in a group of his earliest solo efforts. When I first offered these, a vocal collector huffily complained that the original issues were not pitched properly and I should have fixed that malady. Well, I have finally got around to doing so, and have added new transfers of two additional records to make belated recompense.

The collection contains almost all the singles Clark made for the budget Varsity label in 1939-40, now for the first time including “You Are Too Beautiful” and “Robert the Roué,” as reissued later in the 40s on the Sterling label. As a bonus I have added one of the singer’s earliest solo discs, “Lost” and “The Touch of Your Lips,” which he recorded for Melotone in May 1936.

Just a digression about “Robert the Roué”: this is a quite risqué (for the time) song that I believe came from the 1939 Broadway review Streets of Paris, where it was introduced by the vaudeville comic Bobby Clark. Music and lyrics are by the distinguished team of Jimmy McHugh and Al Dubin. Buddy delivers the double-entendres with great enthusiasm.

Here is the rest of today’s collection. Some of these benefit from a fuller explanation, so I have included links to the original posts, where you will find the download links in the comments. Links to all downloads are included in the comments to this post.

Juanita Hall. Hall achieved fame as Bloody Mary in South Pacific, but this post collates a blues LP she made in the 1950s and a choral collection she led in the 1940s.

Kathryn Grayson in Grounds for Marriage. Soundtrack from a 1951 Grayson romantic comedy, mainly operatic arias with the addition of a “toy symphony” from David Raksin.

Gordon Jenkins - 26 Years of Academy Award Winning Songs. An obscure Jenkins-conducted compilation of the various songs that had won Oscars.

Carole Simpson - Singin' and Swingin'. A fine singer in a enjoyable collection of Steve Allen songs, from am early stereo budget LP.

Marc Blitzstein - Songs of the Theater. Muriel Smith and composer Blitzstein perform some of his theater songs in this rare early LP.

Sheila Guyse - This is Sheila. Interesting vocal LP from a good singer; another rarity.

Stubby Kaye - Music for Chubby Lovers. The beloved actor/singer (Guys and Dolls, L’il Abner) in a vocal collection that shoulda been better – but is still pretty good. I have ironed out some of the pitch problems on the original.

Sue Raney – Singles. A collection of 50s and 60s Capitol and Imperial records from one of the greatest singers alive today.

Tonight We Sing. Soundtrack from the bizarre 1953 Sol Hurok biopic, with Ezio Pinza as a blustery Chaliapin, joined in the musical selections by Roberta Peters and Jan Peerce.

Young Vic Damone. One of the several early Vic Damone LPs and EPs to be featured here – and a very good one! Terrific singing.

Music for Mid-Century British Films. Contemporary British recordings of music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Lord Berners, Mischa Spoliansky, Allan Gray, Richard Addinsell – and one American ringer, Miklos Rozsa. A favorite of mine.

Jerry Fielding's 1953 Band

Jerry Fielding is remembered today as a film and television composer, but before that experience, he was an arranger, radio conductor and bandleader. It’s in the latter guise that we hear him today, in this 1953 10-inch LP for the short-lived Trend label.

A friend of mine posted this record on his blog, and observed that Fielding seems so young on the cover that he does not look like he’s begun to shave. Perhaps so, but by this time he had been a professional for nearly a decade, writing big-band arrangements and conducting the orchestras for a number of radio shows.

Fielding was born Joshua Feldman, and the claim is made that in 1947 the producer of Jack Paar’s radio show made him change his name as a condition of getting a job on that program. However, by that time the young bandleader had already made records under the Fielding name.

By whatever name, he was a notable success, and this record is testimony. It documents a working band that Fielding had assembled, with three or four trumpets, two trombones, four or five saxes, and rhythm. The soloists include Maurie Harris (trumpet), Hymie Gunkler (alto), Buddy Collette and Sam Donahue (tenors) and Gerald Wiggins (piano). The leader’s arrangements are varied and imaginative, making for a fine album. (Perhaps not as good as the review below, which touts this disc as “the best band album ever recorded,” to the surprise, no doubt, of Ellington, Basie and many others.)

Billboard ad - click to enlarge

The LP has 11 cuts, five of which are devoted to Fielding’s theme song, “Carefree,” which is heard in snatches at the start and end of each side of the record, and complete on the first side. It’s an attractive piece, but maybe not deserving of all that exposure.

As a bonus to the LP, I’ve added Fielding’s first single for the Trend label. It includes a band treatment of “Here in My Arms” backed by a vocal on “A Blues Serenade” by the young Ruth Olay, who was under the influence of Mildred Bailey at the time. Olay went on to record a number of albums, and was backed by Fielding on one of her records for Mercury.

The Trend label was started by Albert Marx, who had owned the Musicraft label and was at the helm of Discovery for many years. Trend also recorded blog favorites Matt Dennis and Claude Thornhill, among others. These masters later were reissued on Kapp.

After Trend’s demise, Fielding moved on to Decca. I’ll post one of the records from that association if there is interest.

Latest Group of Reups and Remasters

A large number of reups and remasters today, from the requests of loyal readers (at least I assume they are loyal).

As usual, these cover the range from the sublime (Beethoven piano concertos) to the ridiculous (Mel Blanc). Some have been remastered, as noted below, and now have much better sound.

Links to the lot are in the comments to this post.

Albeniz - Iberia (Philadelphia/Ormandy). The complete Iberia in fine performances from the Philadelphia forces, courtesy of Joe Serraglio.

Mel Blanc - Party Panic! The best thing on this early Capitol LP is Mel’s impression of Al Jolson, with cut-ins from Woody Woodpecker and Porky Pig.

Mitch Miller - Light Music. Taken from a promo album handed out by Mitch himself to Will Friedwald, who handed it out to us.

Mitch Miller Plays Oboe & English Horn (Saidenberg & Stokowski, conductors). More Mitch promos, this time including excellent classical material. Also courtesy of Will.

Mitch Miller - With Horns and Chorus (remastered). Where else but on a Mitch Miller record could you hear Greensleeves presented in oom-pah style? This one is from my collection.

Beethoven - Piano Concertos No. 4 and 5 (De Groot) (remastered). Outstanding artistry from Dutch pianist Cor De Groot, with orchestras led by Willem van Otterloo.

Morton Gould - Interplay, Spirituals (remastered). Surprisingly idiomatic renditions of these very American compositions from De Groot and Otterloo.

Juliette Gréco (remastered). Superb songs from the oh-so world-weary Gréco, via an American compilation of her early French records. Unforgettable!

More Chopin from Maryla Jonas

As a follow-up to the recent post of Polish pianist Maryla Jonas’ set of Chopin mazurkas, here is the first Chopin program she recorded for Columbia, during April 1946 sessions. This more varied selection contains three additional mazurkas, two nocturnes, two waltzes and a polonaise. Once again, the pianism displays the short-lived artist’s impressive command and ability to create mood.

The set was issued first in a 78 album with a Alex Steinweiss cover (above), and then in one of Columbia’s first 10-inch classical LPs in 1948, with the generic “tombstone” cover at top.

A Classical Discography does not list a location for the recording. The quality was somewhat boxy; I have ameliorated this a bit.

These were Jonas’ first records; my two posts comprise three of the six LPs she produced during her lifetime. She died in 1959.

LINK (April 2025 remastering in ambient stereo)

1948 Musical America ad
(click to enlarge)

The Brief Success Story of Adler and Ross

Richard Adler and Jerry Ross should have been one of the greatest Broadway success stories – and for a brief time, they were. The composer and lyricist, respectively, of two of the biggest musical hits of the 1950s – The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees – their rapid ascent was stopped only by the early death of Ross, at age 29 in November 1955, just six months after Damn Yankees opened.

Adler and Ross teamed up in 1950. Until The Pajama Game debuted, there was little in the duo’s output to suggest the range and skill displayed in that score. They did enjoy one big hit, Tony Bennett’s version of “Rags to Riches” in 1953, and they put together a good partial score for John Murray Anderson’s Almanac late that same year. Less distinguished was the work they did for the hyperactive R&B troupe, the Treniers, with their contribution of “Poon-Tang!”, a title derived from a vulgar American term referring to women as sex objects. (I should add that said title is the only racy thing about the song.)

(From left) Richard Adler and Jerry Ross demo their songs for director George Abbott (I believe) and Columbia Records honcho Mitch Miller

So when The Pajama Game opened in May 1954, it was a revelation. Every song was superb on its own and in context, and the music was complemented by an excellent book from co-director George Abbott and novelist Richard Bissell, a tremendous cast including John Raitt, Janis Paige, Reta Shaw, Eddie Foy Jr., and Carol Haney, direction from Abbott and Jerome Robbins, and choreography by Bob Fosse. The cast, with the wonderful Doris Day replacing Paige, repeated their performances for the 1957 film version.

Damn Yankees was hardly less successful, once again with a strikingly fine, if not as varied a score. I am less fond of this show, perhaps because the film is not as successful, with Tab Hunter (!) replacing Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy, who makes a deal with the devil to become a baseball star and lead the Washington Senators to victory over the hated New York Yankees.

In the 1950s, songs from Broadway shows were still a major contributor to the repertoire of pop singers. The publishers would cajole the record companies into having their artists record songs from the upcoming shows as part of the pre-opening promotional push. These would first be issued as singles, then may have been repackaged as a compilation EP or LP, often in the low-price bracket.

Today’s offering is an example. It combined some of the hits from The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees as a tribute to Adler and Ross, and was issued in Epic’s budget-priced 10-inch LP series just before Ross’ untimely death. The record company was then a relatively new offshoot of Columbia Records. The artists, the Mello-Larks and Jamie, Dolores Hawkins and Neal Hefti, were on its roster at the time.

The Mello-Larks: Bob Wollter, Joe Eich, Jamie Dina, Tommy Hamm

The Mello-Larks started off with the Tex Beneke band in the post-war period, making a number of singles at the time. The original female singer in the group was Ginny O’Connor (who was to marry Henry Mancini). By the time these sides were made, the lead singer was young Jamie Dina, who was so accomplished and such an attraction her name was appended to the group’s own. Dina was married to group founder Tommy Hamm for a brief time, leaving him and the group for another musician, Joe Silvia. Together they founded the J’s with Jamie, who have themselves appeared on this blog.

The Mello-Larks were often on television and are quite polished in an entirely conventional manner. For some reason, arranger Neal Hefti takes a very square approach to “Once-a-Year Day,” treating it like a polka rather than the exuberant romp conveyed by the lyrics. The prominent trombone choir isn’t a help. “Whatever Lola Wants,” a vocal feature for Jamie, is much better.

The other featured singer is Dolores Hawkins, a very good vocalist who is particularly effective on “Hey There,” although she does not radiate the charisma of John Raitt (or Sammy Davis, Jr., for that matter).

For “Small Talk,” one of the best Adler-Ross songs, Hawkins is joined by contract artist Bill Heyer, a sonorous baritone reminiscent of Bob Manning.

Composer Adler never recaptured the magic of his collaboration with Jerry Ross, although Doris Day had a hit with his “Everybody Loves a Lover,” and his scores to Kwamina (for Broadway), and The Gift of the Magi and Olympus 7-0000 (for television) were released on LP.

The sound on the LP at hand is vivid. Backing Dolores Hawkins on her songs is Artie Harris. Don Costa leads the band for “Whatever Lola Wants.”

A note about the way that record companies would repackage material: Epic issued six-cut LPs by the Mello-Larks and Jamie and by Dolores Hawkins, both of which include two of the songs here. The record company also had an EP of hits from The Pajama Game with all three Hawkins tunes on this LP along with the Four Esquires’ version of “Steam Heat.”

Note (October 2024): This LP has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

Chopin Mazurkas from Maryla Jonas

This recording was the subject of a discussion on one of the classical sharing sites, which motivated me to transfer my very good copy of the LP, which contains an exceptional performance of 18 Chopin mazurkas by the neglected Polish pianist Maryla Jonas.

My friend Fred of the Random Classics blog also offered this album some time ago, but the links are now dead. I hope he doesn’t mind if I quote some of his description of the performance, because my reaction is the same: “This is not the Chopin that you are used to hearing and it is a polar opposite from the elegant, aristocratic approach of Rubinstein.” Fred’s response on first hearing the record: “Never had I heard such melancholy, such world weariness, from these brilliant miniatures. Indeed, Chopin had painted, below the surface, a sadness of seeing his Polish nation subjected to rule and desecration by others.”

Postwar promotional leaflet

Jonas herself had a most difficult life, and was the victim of Nazi persecution, which may have contributed to her early death at the age of 48. Her small discography, made in the US for Columbia in the post-war years, centers on Chopin but also includes a smattering of other composers. This particular LP reissue from 1956 combines two sets of mazurkas, which Jonas inscribed in September 1947 (set M-810) and September 1949 (set M-897), both of which also came out on 10-inch LPs. Sessions for the latter set were in Columbia’s 30th Street studios in New York. No location is listed for the 1947 dates in Michael Gray’s discography, but since that predates Columbia’s use of the 30th Street location, the site may have been Liederkranz Hall. The sound is quite good.

A note about the cover: Columbia had engaged the relatively new design firm Push Pin Studios to prepare a series of covers for its Entré reissue series. Push Pin had been founded by Seymour Chwast and Edward Sorel, who both were to become noted graphic artists. Sorel, soon to leave Push Pin, designed the cover of the Jonas LP in a style far removed from the biting political caricatures that he is known for today.

LINK (remastered in ambient stereo, April 2025)

Caballé and Wyn Morris in Debussy, Chausson

I transferred this unusual record as the result of a request on one of the classical music newsgroups, and thought some of you might be interested in it.

It is one of the few issues on producer Isabella Wallich's Symphonica label of the late 1970s. As usual with her productions of this time, it featured the talented but tempestuous conductor Wyn Morris, the so-called "Welsh Furtwängler," this time in French music rather than his usual Germanic repertoire.

Unusually for the fledgling company, the record starred soprano Montserrat Caballé at the peak of her fame. The diva's representative had proposed recording the Debussy to EMI, but the firm was not interested. Symphonica stepped in, proposing a coupling of Chausson's gorgeous Poème de l'amour et la mer.

Wyn Morris, Montserrat Caballé, Isabella Wallich

In her autobiography, Recording My Life, Wallich says the results were "neither the happiest nor the most successful sessions I ever undertook," citing problems with getting the scores from France, utilizing an unfamiliar hall and engineer, and working around Caballé's operatic commitments in London. For her part the soprano was "unfamiliar" with the Chausson and "somewhat unfamiliar" with the Debussy, per Wallich, although she does praise Caballé's vocal skill and professionalism.

All that aside, the record is decidedly successful. It is well recorded and nicely performed, with Morris seemingly at home in what may be the only French music he recorded, and Caballé in fine voice.
The Debussy is an early work, when he was under the influence of Wagner and the Pre-Raphaelites. La Damoiselle élue is a setting in translation of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem The Blessed Damozel, also the subject of Rossetti's later painting, a detail of which is shown on the record cover. The work by Debussy's older colleague, Chausson, is from the school of Franck.

The recording was laid down in All Saints Church, Tooting, in June 1977. This transfer is from my copy of the subsequent vinyl issue. As usual, the download contains hi-res scans of the covers, some related materials and the audio files in Apple lossless format.

LINK to remastered version (September 2025)