Lee Wiley – Night In Manhattan (1951)

Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma.[1] At fifteen, she left home to pursue a singing career, singing on New York City radio stations.[2] Her career was interrupted by a fall while horseback riding. She suffered temporary blindness but recovered. At the age of 19 she was a member of the Leo Reisman Orchestra, with whom in 1931 she recorded three songs: “Take It from Me”, “Time On My Hands”, and her composition “Got the South in My Soul”.

Wiley began her radio career at KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She sang on the Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt program on NBC in 1932,[5] and was featured on Victor Young’s radio show in 1933. From June 10, 1936, until September 2, 1936, she had her own show, Lee Wiley, on CBS.

In 1939, Wiley recorded eight Gershwin songs on 78s with a small group for Liberty Music Shop Records. The set sold well and was followed by 78s dedicated to the music of Cole Porter (1940) and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart (1940 and 1954), Harold Arlen (1943), and 10″ LPs dedicated to the music of Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin (1951).

She sang with Paul Whiteman and later, the Casa Loma Orchestra. A collaboration with composer Victor Young resulted in several songs for which Wiley wrote the lyrics, including “Got the South in My Soul” and “Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere.”

On October 11, 1963, Bob Hope Theater on NBC-TV presented “Something About Lee Wiley”. Piper Laurie portrayed Wiley in the episode, which was produced by Revue Studios. Wiley’s singing voice was provided by Joy Bryan.

Lee Wiley was born with last name Willey. Lee was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and was buried in her family plot in Cherokee Nation. Wiley married the jazz pianist Jess Stacy in 1943. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as being as “compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline”; they divorced in 1948. Her response to Stacy’s desire to get a divorce was, “What will Bing Crosby be thinking of you divorcing me?”, while Stacy said of Wiley, “They did not burn the last witch at Salem.” (wikipedia)

Her husky, surprisingly sensual voice and exquisitely cool readings of pop standards distinguished her singing, but Lee Wiley earns notice as one of the best early jazz singers by recognizing the superiority of American popular song and organizing a set of songs around a common composer or theme — later popularized as the songbook or concept LP. She was also a songwriter in her own right, and one of the few white vocalists with more respect in the jazz community than the popular one. Even more tragic then, that while dozens of inferior vocalists recorded LPs during the late ’50s and ’60s, Wiley appeared on record just once between 1957 and her death in 1975.

Wiley was born in 1910 in Ft. Gibson, OK; early press reports claimed lineage from a Cherokee princess, as well as a birthdate five years later than the true one. Whatever her background, she began singing at an early age, influenced by the “race records” of the day by Mildred Bailey and Ethel Waters. She left Oklahoma for New York City as a teenager, and made a few demos in the late ’20s before hiring on with Leo Reisman. Her first hit, “Time on My Hands,” came in 1931 with Reisman, and earned her solo billing on a few radio programs. Wiley also began recording her own sides for Kapp, backed by the Casa Loma Orchestra, the Dorsey Brothers, and Johnny Green.

Her popular fortunes fell however, after the threat of tuberculosis kept her from singing for more than a year. In the late ’30s, Wiley began recording sides for the Liberty music shop. The results were a series of unique sessions, each organized around the work of one composer (first the Gershwins, then Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and Harold Arlen) and released on the standard catalog album — four 10″ records played at 78 rpm — for a grand total of eight songs by each composer. These “songbook” recordings also utilized the cream of the era’s hot jazz musicians, including Eddie Condon, Bunny Berigan, Pee Wee Russell, Joe Bushkin, Fats Waller, and Jess Stacy; the latter became her husband for several years during the ’40s. Wiley also performed often with Stacy’s big band and with smaller groups led by Condon during the ’40s. She signed to Columbia in 1950 and recorded several additional albums, including the excellent Night in Manhattan.

After recording a single album for Storyville, Wiley had moved again by the mid-’50s, to RCA Victor. Her two albums for the label, 1956’s West of the Moon and the following year’s A Touch of the Blues, were touching capstones to her career, the first with the delicate arranging of Ralph Burns proving the perfect accompaniment to her voice. Unfortunately, they were practically the last recordings of her career. After 14 years off-record, Wiley returned with one final session, 1971’s Back Home Again. She died four years later. (by John Bush)

Collectors’ Choice Music presents a rare compilation featuring Lee Wiley’s most prolific and oft-requested post-World War II extended-play platter, including three complete 10″ discs that the vocalist cut for Columbia in the early ’50s. When initially issued, Wiley had already experienced significant success as a traditional pop and torch singer circa the ’30s. During this era she was supported by such notables as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and the Johnny Green-led Casa Loma Orchestra. Due to its thematic nature, this project could rightly be considered as an early Songbook or concept album. That said, it is Night in Manhattan that perhaps most accurately exemplifies the moods, sounds,and auras of The Big Apple after hours. Wiley’s unmistakable voice yields a distinct, organic,and otherwise full-bodied timbre. She unleashes varying degrees of that charm, bringing to life the Great American Songbook classics “Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere” and “(I Don’t Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You)” with her trademark sense of a distant and at times flawed vulnerability.

Wiley is joined by Bobby Hackett and Joe Bushkin’s Swinging Strings on Night in Manhattan. Comparatively, the Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin anthologies offer collaborations with Stan Freeman and Cy Walter, who collectively continue building upon Wiley’s considerable back catalog of similar “songbooks” cut throughout the ’40s. These centered on the works of Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter, and George & Ira Gershwin. The original decision to cover both high-profile and obscure titles alike — such as the elegant “Tea for Two” compared to the equally engaging “Why Oh Why” — was an inspired one to be sure. Yet it is unquestionably Sings Irving Berlin that serves up one of the finest examples of the magic that can occur when a performer is given access to songs that at times sound as if they were penned specifically for them. Supported by a single keyboard, the classics “I Got Lost in His Arms,” “Fools Fall in Love” and “How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)” are haunting and ethereal — much like Manhattan herself. (by Lindsay Planer)

Personnel:
Lee Wiley (vocals)
+
Joe Bushkin And His Swinging Strings (Titel: 1 to 4, 7 to 10)
+
Stan Freeman (piano)
Bobby Hackett (cornet)
Cy Walter (piano)

The CD edition from Japan:

Tracklist:
01. Street Of Dreams (Lewis/Young) 3.14
02. A Woman’s Intuition (Washington/Young) 3.32
03. Sugar (Alexander/Pinkard/Mitchell) 3.08
04. Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere (Wiley/Washington/Young) 2.26
05. Manhattan (Rodgers/Hart) 3.25
06. I’ve Got A Crush On You (I. Gershwin/G. Gershwin) 3.26
07. A Ghost Of A Chance (Crosby/Washington/Young) 3.17
08. Oh! Look At Me Now (Bushkin/De Vries) 3.09
+
09. How Deep Is The Ocean (Berlin) 2.52
10. More Than You Know (Rose/Eliscu/Youmans) 3.11
11. Soft Lights And Sweet Music (Berlin) 2.33
12. Time On My Hands (Adamson/Gordon/Youmans) 2.48

*
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Charlie Parker – The Happy Bird (1961; recorded 1951)

Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), also known as Yardbird and Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique and advanced harmonies. Parker was a blazingly fast virtuoso, and he introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. Parker acquired the nickname “Yardbird” early in his career on the road with Jay McShann. This, and the shortened form “Bird”, continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as “Yardbird Suite”, “Ornithology”, “Bird Gets the Worm”, and “Bird of Paradise”. Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer. (by wikipedia)

The weak recording quality hurts this album a bit but it does offer extended performances of “Scrapple from the Apple” (over 15 minutes), “I Remember April” and “Lullaby in Rhythm” (mislabelled “I May Be Wrong”) in addition to a short blues. These jam sessions, in addition to altoist Charlie Parker, feature solos from tenor-saxophonist Wardell Gray, pianist Dick Twardzik and trumpeter Benny Harris; bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Roy Haynes are fine in support. Not essential music but recommended if seen at a budget price. (by Scott Yanow)

I first heard this when I was a teenager in the 1980s, borrowed as a scratched LP from a family friend. I remember walking to the bus stop each day with Wardell Gray’s solo on Lullaby in Rhythm (not “I May Be Wrong” as on all the listings) ringing in my head. Nearly 30 years later I got it digitally and the magic is still there in spades. It’s an amazing recording, a bunch of jazz stars recorded on home-made equipment in a fairly choppy restaurant (you can hear a fight almost breaking out in the background of one track) but the quality of the music shines through the years and the smoke. Wonderful music loaded with atmosphere. (by Paul)

Recorded April 12, 1951, live at Christy’s Restaurant, Framingham, MA
Recorded between Dec. 8 & 12, 1952, live at the Hi Hat Club, Boston

Alternate frontcovers

Personnel:
Wardell Gray (saxophone)
Jack Lawlor (bass)
Joe MacDonald (drums)
Howard McGhee (trumpet)
Charlie Parker (saxophone)
Nat Pierce (piano)
+
Joe Gordon (trumpet on 03.)
Roy Haynes (drums on 03.)
Charles Mingus (bass on 03.)
Dick Twardzik (piano on 03.)
Bill Wellington (saxophone 0n 03.)

Tracklist:
01. Happy Bird Blues (Parker) 2.57
02. Scrapple From The Apple (Parker) 15.49
03. I Remember April (Raye/DePaul/Johnston) 10.46
04. I May Be Wrong (Lullaby In Rhythm) (Ruskind/Sullivan) 12.52

*
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Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955)

 

Doris Day – On Moonlight Bay (1951)

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and animal welfare activist. After she began her career as a big band singer in 1939, her popularity increased with her first hit recording “Sentimental Journey” (1945). After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967, which made her one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century.

Day’s film career began during the latter part of the Classical Hollywood Film era with the 1948 film Romance on the High Seas, and its success sparked her twenty-year career as a motion picture actress. She starred in a series of successful films, including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. Her most successful films were the ones she made co-starring Rock Hudson and James Garner, such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Move Over, Darling (1963), respectively. She also co-starred in films with such leading men as Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Stewart, David Niven, and Rod Taylor. After her final film in 1968, she went on to star in the CBS sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973).

Day was usually one of the top ten singers between 1951 and 1966. As an actress, she became the biggest female film star in the early 1960s, and ranked sixth among the box office performers by 2012. In 2011, she released her 29th studio album, My Heart, which became a UK Top 10 album featuring new material. Among her awards, Day has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award from the Society of Singers. In 1960, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and in 1989 was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush followed in 2011 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award. She was one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. (by wikipedia)

And here are some songs from the Warner Bros. movie “On Moonlight Bay”

On Moonlight Bay is a 1951 musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth which tells the story of the Winfield family at the turn of the 20th century. The movie is based loosely on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington. There was a 1953 sequel, By the Light of the Silvery Moon.

In a small Indiana town in the mid-1910s, the Winfield household – banker father George, his wife Alice, their grown tomboyish daughter Marjorie, their precocious trouble-making son Wesley, and their exasperated housekeeper Stella – have just moved into a larger house in a nicer neighborhood.

No one but George is happy about the move, until Marjorie meets their new neighbor, William Sherman, home on a break from his studies at Indiana University. The two are immediately attracted to each other, which makes Margie change her focus from baseball to trying to become a proper young woman. Their resulting relationship is despite, or perhaps because of Bill’s unconventional thoughts on life, including not believing in the institution of marriage, or believing in the role money plays in society.

The road to a happy life between Margie and Bill is not only hindered by distance as Bill returns to school and Margie’s attempts to learn feminine things, but also George’s dislike of Bill because of their differing beliefs, the stuffy Hubert Wakely also trying to court Margie (he who is George’s choice as an appropriate suitor for her), Wesley’s continual meddling in his sister’s life, and World War I. One of those issues may be overcome when Wesley receives a gift from Aunt Martha that used to be his father old slingshot that he used to kill Aunt Martha’s’ best hen. His father discovers the old slingshot after Wesley cracks a window with it, his father gets emotional after he sees it and everything is resolved in time for a happy ending. (by wikipedia)

And this is of course the perfect story for all these romantic, sentiental and old fashioned songs ….

RIP … Doris Day

Alternate frontcover

Personnel:
Doris Day (vocals)
+
Jack Smith (vocals)
+
Paul Weston & His Orchestra
The Norman Luboff Choir

Tracklist:
01. Moonlight Bay (Madden/Wenrich) 2.32
02. Till We Meet Again (Egan/Whiting) 2.42
03. Love Ya Tobias (De Rose) 2.19
04. Christmas Story (Walsh) 3.12
05. I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles (Kenbrovin/Kellette) 2.19
06. Cuddle Up A Little Closer (Harbach/Hoschma) 2.55
07. Every Little Movement (Harbach/Hoschma) 2.45
08. Tell Me (Tell Me Why) (Callahan/Kortlander) 3.20
+
09. Closing Remarks (acoustic record ad) 0.26

*
**

 

Day was married four times. She was married to Al Jorden, a trombonist whom she first met in Barney Rapp’s Band, from March 1941 to February 1943. Her only child, son Terrence Paul Jorden (later known as Terry Melcher), resulted from this marriage; he died in 2004. Her second marriage was to George William Weidler, a saxophonist and the brother of actress Virginia Weidler, from March 30, 1946, to May 31, 1949. Weidler and Day met again several years later; during a brief reconciliation, he introduced her to Christian Science.

On April 3, 1951, her 29th birthday, she married Martin Melcher. This marriage lasted until Melcher’s death in April 1968. Melcher adopted Day’s son Terry, who, with the name Terry Melcher, became a successful musician and record producer (The Byrds, Paul Revere & the Raiders and many more)

Lightnin’ Hopkins – A Legend In His Own Time (1969)

Samuel John “Lightnin'” Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Centerville, Texas. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

The musicologist Robert “Mack” McCormick opined that Hopkins is “the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act”.

Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas, and as a child was immersed in the sounds of the blues. He developed a deep appreciation for this music at the age of 8, when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas. That day, Hopkins felt the blues was “in him”. He went on to learn from his older (distant) cousin, the country blues singer Alger “Texas” Alexander. (Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.) Hopkins began accompanying Jefferson on guitar at informal church gatherings. Jefferson reputedly never let anyone play with him except young Hopkins, and Hopkins learned much from Jefferson at these gatherings.

In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm; the offense for which he was imprisoned is unknown. In the late 1930s, he moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s, he was back in Centerville, working as a farm hand.

Gold Star Records promotional photograph, 1948

Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946. While singing on Dowling Street in Houston’s Third Ward (which would become his home base), he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum of Aladdin Records, based in Los Angeles. She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles, where he accompanied the pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first sessions in 1946. An Aladdin executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins “Lightnin'” and Wilson “Thunder”.

Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947. He returned to Houston and began recording for Gold Star Records. In the late 1940s and 1950s he rarely performed outside Texas, only occasionally traveling to the Midwest and the East for recording sessions and concert appearances. It has been estimated that he recorded between eight hundred and a thousand songs in his career. He performed regularly at nightclubs in and around Houston, particularly on Dowling Street, where he had been discovered by Aladdin. He recorded the hit records “T-Model Blues” and “Tim Moore’s Farm” at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid- to late 1950s, his prodigious output of high-quality recordings had gained him a following among African Americans and blues aficionados.

In 1959, the blues researcher Mack McCormick contacted Hopkins, hoping to bring him to the attention of a broader musical audience engaged in the folk revival. McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in California. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960, alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, performing the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep”. In 1960, he signed with Tradition Records. The recordings which followed included his song “Mojo Hand” in 1960.

In 1968, Hopkins recorded the album Free Form Patterns, backed by the rhythm section of the psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, he released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major folk music festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally. He toured extensively in the United States and played a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.

Hopkins was Houston’s poet-in-residence for 35 years. He recorded more albums than any other bluesman.

Hopkins died of esophageal cancer in Houston on January 30, 1982, at the age of 69. His obituary in the New York Times described him as “one of the great country blues singers and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players.”

His Gibson J-160e “hollowbox” is on display at the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and his Guild Starfire at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC, both on loan from the Joe Kessler collection.

Hopkins’s style was born from spending many hours playing informally without a backing band. His distinctive fingerstyle technique often included playing, in effect, bass, rhythm, lead, and percussion at the same time.[citation needed] He played both “alternating” and “monotonic” bass styles incorporating imaginative, often chromatic turnarounds and single-note lead lines. Tapping or slapping the body of his guitar added rhythmic accompaniment.

Much of Hopkins’s music follows the standard 12-bar blues template, but his phrasing was free and loose. Many of his songs were in the talking blues style, but he was a powerful and confident singer.[citation needed] Lyrically, his songs expressed the problems of life in the segregated South, bad luck in love and other subjects common in the blues idiom. He dealt with these subjects with humor and good nature. Many of his songs are filled with double entendres, and he was known for his humorous introductions to songs.(by wikipedia)

And here´s an album with previously unreleased recordings from 150/1951 published in the “Anthology Of The Blues – Archive Series”:

More albums from the “Anthology Of The Blues – Archive Series”

Initial a series launched approximately September 1970 by the Kent label. It includes 12 releases with sometimes a couple of unissued tracks, so not always clear whether this are compilations. Early releases still show the orange label design with white spot. The early versions had a gatefold cover with sometimes different colored background at later releases. It is still not clear how many releases were initial release with the orange label design. At least the later one was initial released with the hexagonal successor label design. Later reissues wear the purple United Records label design and have different covers. In the late 70s the label changed once more to the yellow Kent labels. Please state at least clear notes for the label design and the innerspread, possibly provides images.
Due to the linked Wirz-page the French reissues were released in 1976 throughout. The cover was very similar to the US releases and mention Musidisc-Europe as the distributor.

Without any question: Lightnin Hopkins was a legend of these early acoustic Blues … listen to all his guitar licks, listen to the voice of a man who knew what he is singing about.

Alternate front+ back cover

Personnel:
Lightnin’ Hopkins (vocals, guitar, piano on

Tracklist:
01. War News Blues 2:45
02. Black Cat 2:28
03. Bad Luck And Trouble 2:33
04. Mistreated Blues 2:38
05. Candy Kitchen 2:41
06. Needed Time 2:50
07. Appetite Blues 2:28
08. One Kind Favor 2:47
09. House Upon The Hill 2:33
10. Everyday I Have The Blues 2:20
11. Someday Baby 2:30
12. Ticket Agent 2:37

All songs credited to Lightnin’ Hopkins, but as we all know … most of the songs were Traditionals

 

*
**

“Lightnin'” Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982)

Some of his songs were of warning and sour prediction, such as “Fast Life Woman”:

You may see a fast life woman sittin’ round a whiskey joint,
Yes, you know, she’ll be sittin’ there smilin’,
‘Cause she knows some man gonna buy her half a pint,
Take it easy, fast life woman, ’cause you ain’t gon’ live always…

Judy Garland – A Rare Performance (1977)

Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and vaudevillian. During a career that spanned 45 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Special Tony Award. Garland was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her live recording Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961).

Garland began performing in vaudeville as a child with her two older sisters, and was later signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She made more than two dozen films with MGM and is often best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Garland was a frequent on-screen partner of both Mickey Rooney and Gene Kelly, and regularly collaborated with director and husband Vincente Minnelli. Other film appearances during this period include roles in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), Easter Parade (1948), and Summer Stock (1950). Garland was released from MGM in 1950, after 15 years with the studio, amid a series of personal struggles and erratic behavior that prevented her from fulfilling the terms of her contract.

Although her film appearances diminished thereafter, Garland went on to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Star Is Born (1954), and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She also made record-breaking concert appearances, released eight studio albums, and hosted her own Emmy-nominated television series, The Judy Garland Show (1963–1964). At age 39, Garland became the youngest and first female recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the 10 greatest female stars of classic American cinema.

Despite profound professional success, Garland struggled in her personal life from an early age. The pressures of adolescent stardom affected her physical and mental health from the time she was a teenager; her self-image was influenced and constantly criticized by film executives who believed that she was physically unattractive. Those same executives manipulated her onscreen physical appearance. Into her adulthood, she was plagued by alcohol and substance abuse, as well as financial instability; she often owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. Her lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol ultimately led to her death in London from a barbiturate overdose at age 47. (by wikipedia)

And here is a fun compilation from the 1970’s, featuring several of Judy’s radio performances from her appearances on the CBS Radio show “The Bing Crosby Show/The General Electric Program”.

The cover art here is especially evocative of the time. (by thejudyroom.com)

She was accompanied by the John Scott Trotter Orchestra:

John Scott Trotter (June 14, 1908– October 29, 1975), also known as Uncle John was an American arranger, composer and orchestra leader.

Trotter was best known for conducting the John Scott Trotter Orchestra which backed singer and entertainer Bing Crosby on record and on his radio programs from 1937 to 1954, as well as his work with Vince Guaraldi scoring some of the early Peanuts cartoons. (by wikipedia)

Mr. Trotter worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Bix Beiderbecke, Hal Kemp, among others, and in his own groups.

Personnel:
Judy Garland (vocals)
+
John Scott Trotter Orchestra

Tracklist:
01. Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody (Young/Lewis) 2.43
02. Carolina In The Morning (Kahn/Donaldson) 2.49
03. You Made Me Love You (Monaco) 2.42
04. Over The Rainbow (Harburg/Arlen) 2.50
05. Alexander’s Ragtime Band (Berlin) 1.48
06. When You’re Smiling (Goodwin/Shay/Fisher) 2.30
07. Wish You Were Here (Rome) 2.07
08. You Belong To Me (Price/King/Stewart) 2.39
09. A Pretty Girl (unknown) 2.38

*
**

Source: thejudyroom.com

Shorty Rogers And His Giants – Modern Sounds (1952)

Milton “Shorty” Rogers (April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played both the trumpet and flugelhorn, and was in demand for his skills as an arranger.

Rogers worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and Red Norvo. From 1947 to 1949, he worked extensively with Woody Herman and in 1950 and 1951 he played with Stan Kenton.

Rogers appeared on the 1954 Shelly Manne album The Three and the Two along with Jimmy Giuffre. Much of the music he recorded with Giuffre showed his experimental side, resulting in an early form of avant-garde jazz. He also made notable recordings with Art Pepper and André Previn, among others.

From 1953 through 1962 Rogers recorded a series of albums for RCA Victor (later reissued on RCA’s Bluebird label), as well as a series of Atlantic albums with his own group, Shorty Rogers and His Giants, including Shorty Courts the Count (1954), The Swinging Mr. Rogers (1955), and Martians Come Back (1955), the album title alluding to the tune “Martians Go Home” which Rogers had composed and performed on The Swinging Mr. Rogers earlier the same year. These albums incorporated some of his more avant-garde music. To some extent they could be classified as “cool” jazz; but they also looked back to the “hot” style of Count Basie, whom Rogers always credited as a major inspiration.

Credited with the composition of the music for UPA’s Mr. Magoo cartoon Hotsy Footsy and the Looney Tune Three Little Bops, Rogers eventually became better known for his skills as a composer and arranger than as a trumpeter.

In the critically acclaimed 1955 film The Man with the Golden Arm, starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin, and directed by Otto Preminger, the film’s jazz soundtrack was played by Shorty Rogers and His Giants with Shelly Manne.

Shorty Rogers and his Giants appear performing “Wig Alley” (a version of “Morpo”) and the opening bars of “Manteca” in the club scene of the surreal 1955 cult film Dementia aka “Daughter of Horror” with Adrienne Barrett as The Gamin who is caught in a nightmarish maelstrom of deeds.

In the 1950s, when Igor Stravinsky began experimenting with dodecaphony, one of the twelve-tone techniques originally devised by Arnold Schoenberg, Stravinsky was very impressed with Rogers’s playing, which, as Robert Craft reports in his book Conversations with Stravinsky, influenced the composer’s 1958 choral work Threni.

In the 1958 Peter Gunn TV series episode The Frog Shorty plays flugelhorn as Lola Albright sings How High the Moon at Mother’s. Rogers conducted the orchestra and chorus for Ray Peterson’s 1959 hit “The Wonder of You”.

After the early 1960s Rogers stopped performing on trumpet, and left the jazz scene for many years. Among other composing and arranging activities, he arranged a series of records for the Monkees (including “Daydream Believer”) in the late 1960s, and in the 1970s wrote the jazzy background score to TV’s The Partridge Family during the show’s first season. He also contributed episode scores for the fourth season of Starsky & Hutch. Finally, in 1982, he was persuaded to pick up his trumpet and return to performing in jazz ensembles, playing first with Britain’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra and soon with Bud Shank and others. In the 1990s he was part of a Lighthouse All Stars group along with Shank, Bill Perkins, Bob Cooper, Conte Candoli, Claude Williamson, Monty Budwig, and John Guerin.

Rogers died of melanoma in Van Nuys, California, at the age of 70 (by wikipedia)

Shorty Rogers’ first album as leader was on the Capitol label, MODERN SOUNDS, SHORTY ROGERS & HIS GIANTS.  The session was produced by Gene Norman and licensed to Capitol for release.  Shorty’s compositions and arrangements on this album would come to typify the west coast sound.  The “Giants” description of Shorty’s sidemen would apply to any number of musicians that Shorty would assemble for concerts and recording sessions depending on who was in town and available at the time.

Recorded in Hollywood ; October 8, 1951

Alternate front+backcover

Personnel:
Don Bagley (bass)
Gene Englund (trombone)
Jimmy Giuffre (saxophone)
John Graas (french horn)
Hampton Hawes (piano)
Shelly Manne (drums)
Art Pepper (saxophone)
Shorty Rogers (trumpet)

Tracklist:
01. Popo (Rogers) 3.03
02. Four Mothers (Guiffre)  2.51
03. Over The Rainbow (Arlen/Harburg) 3.03
04. Didi (Rogers) 2.26
05. Sam And The Lady (Rogers) 3.07
06. Apropos (Rogers) 2.38

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**

 

 

John Lee Hooker – House of the Blues (1959)

In 1951 Delta emigre’ John Lee Hooker was a Detroit resident enjoying the raging success of recent singles and gearing up to wax his urgent folk blues for a host of record companies under various noms de blooze. Chess was one of the firms, and twelve sides cut between 1951 and 1954 eventually turned up on this 1959 long-player. Hooker’s singing, lubricious and steely, inveighs against annoying women; his rudimental guitar is exciting; and his stamping the plywood floor in ruttish insistence makes for exemplary blues rhythm. Most of the tracks have him solo. Caveat emptor: Two songs have atrocious sound. (Frank John Hadley)

John Lee Hooker is in my opinion the first true Detroit rock and roll artist that follows in a fine tradition of the Stooges, The MC5, and Motown. The music on this album is probably the heaviest type of blues of ever heard. A little more ferocius, and darker than most stuff I’ve heard. If you like your blues squeeky clean like something Eric Clapton would record these days then you’ll probably feel like the reviewer below that only gave this album two stars. But if you’re like me and can just appreciate an individual with a lot of soul then this album will shake the foundation. (by Hippie Smell)

Personnel:
John Lee Hooker (vocals, guitar)
+
Eddie Kirkland (guitar on 09., 11. + 12.)
Bob Thurman (piano on 04.+12.)
Tom Whitehead (drums on 12.

Tracklist:
01. Walkin’ The Boogie 2.44
(with double-tracked vocal and speeded up guitar – recorded April 24th, 1952)
02. Love Blues 3.01
(Recorded April 24th, 1952)
03. Union Station Blues 2.58
(Recorded circa April, 1951)
04. It’s My Own Fault (a.k.a. Baby, I Prove My Love to You)  2.59
(Recorded circa 1952)
05. Leave My Wife Alone 2.48
(Recorded circa April, 1951)
06. Ramblin’ By Myself 3.20
(Recorded circa April, 1951)
07. Sugar Mama 3.16
(Recorded April 24th, 1952)
08. Down at the Landing 2.56
(Recorded April 24th, 1952)
09. Louise 3.06
(Recorded circa April, 1951)
10. Ground Hog Bluesb2.58
(Recorded circa April, 1951)
11. High Priced Woman 2.44
(Recorded April, 1951)
12. Women and Money 2.53
(Recorded 1952)

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**

Amalia Rodrigues – The Queen Of Fado (2011)

When Amalia Rodrigues died October 6th, 1999 (aged 79) the government of Portugal declared three days of national morning. Political activity in the country’s general election campaign came to a halt. The president was the chief mourner at the singer’s state funeral. It was a singular expression of national grief and in some ways a peculiar one.

Entertainers, however famous, rarely, if ever, depart in such ceremony. It did not happen to Maria Callas, perhaps the most celebrated opera singer of recent times, when she died in 1977; or to Frank Sinatra, who died in 1998. There was some sadness, certainly; a lot of reminiscences, of course; but life went on largely uninterrupted in Greece and America. The sanctifying of Amalia Rodrigues may say something about the nature of the Portuguese as well as about what the prime minister called “the voice of the country’s soul”.

She was known simply as Amalia. The diminution of her name was itself a reflection of her fame (as was Britain’s Diana, or Di, whose death in 1997 also briefly interrupted the life of her country). Her style of singing is called fado, the Portuguese word for fate. “I have so much sadness in me,” Amalia said. “I am a pessimist, a nihilist. Everything that fado demands in a singer I have in me.” Amalia’s message of fatalism seems to have echoed a mood among her admirers. Portugal is still among the least modern of European countries, though it has been modernising rapidly of late. It expects its economy to grow by about 3% this year, compared with an average of only 1.9% growth for the rest of the euro area. But GDP does not change a country’s sentiment overnight. Portugal was the first European country in modern times to carve out a great trading empire. Go almost anywhere in the world and you find traces of Portuguese architecture, language and genes. Generation by generation, the once-rich Portuguese have seen their empire slowly vanish, and not very gracefully. East Timor is still formally Portuguese. “I sing of tragedy,” Amalia said, “of things past.”

Amalia Rodrigues was never sure of her exact birthday. Her grandmother said it was in the cherry season, so she assumed she was born in early summer. Other details of her childhood were also obscure. Some accounts said her father was a shoemaker; others that he was a musician. The story that as a teenager she sold fruit on the docks of Lisbon, capturing the hearts of her customers with her singing, was willingly believed by those who adored her. The adoration was put to the test in 1974 when Portugal emerged from half a century of dictatorship. Amalia’s critics said she had benefited from the patronage of the most enduring of Europe’s fascist regimes.

“I always sang fado without thinking of politics,” Amalia responded angrily. It was a claim impossible to contradict. Yet fado, with its melancholy fatalism, was an appropriate accompaniment to the thinking of the Portuguese leader, António de Oliveira Salazar. Not for him the ruthless urgency of Hitler. Rather, in his corporate state he wanted to preserve Portugal as a rural and religious society where industrialisation and other modernising influences would be excluded. He kept Portugal out of the second world war. It was too wearisome.

Fado was the music of Portuguese tradition. If it had any foreign ingredients they were from Africa, but these were acceptable: huge areas of Africa had been Portuguese. And here was Amalia, the queen of fado, clad all in black, her throbbing voice accompanied by two guitarists, her head thrown back, her eyes closed. She was the essence of sadness, bearing the memories of two marriages; both unhappy. When Salazar heard “O Grito” (“The Cry”) he allowed himself a tear.

Unsurprisingly, the Portugal that followed the dictatorship wanted cheering up, as well as modernising. The question of whether Amalia had been a supporter of the old regime became irrelevant. Fado itself fell out of fashion. Rock was the music of democracy.

Amalia, however, had built up other audiences abroad. The Brazilians, whose language is Portuguese, flocked to see her dozen or so films. A six-week tour to Rio and other cities had to be expanded to three months. In the United States record collectors said that her songs, with their four-line stanzas, were like the blues, and she did indeed make some recordings with a jazz saxophonist, Don Byas. Italians claimed to see links between fado and opera. The French said Amalia reminded them of Edith Piaf, who sang nostalgically of the tragedies in her life. A fado song given the English title “April in Portugal” became a hit in several countries.

In Portugal fado and Amalia gradually made a comeback. Amalia showed that she was really a democrat at heart by recording “Grandola Vila Morena”, the song that had swept the country when the dictatorship ended. The socialist government presented her with the country’s highest decoration, the Order of Santiago. She was giving concerts up to a year ago, and every one was sold out. “The sadder the song, the more the Portuguese like it,” she said. In this new time of change, pessimism was back in fashion. For Amalia, it was the happiest of endings.(by economist.com)

And this is a unique collection of her greatest and most popular songs from a glittering career spanning more than 50 years.

Personnel:
Amalia Rodrigues (vocals)
+
various orchestras and musicians

Titel:
01. Barco Negro (1955) (Mourão/Ferreira/Velho) 4.12
02. Nao Digas Mal Dele (1953) (Barbosa/Armandinho) 3.26
03. Uma Casa Portuguesa (1953) (Ferreira/Seqeira/Fonseca) 2.28
04. Novo fado da Severa (1953) (DantasdeFreitas) 3.11
05. Perseguicao (1945) (deSousa/Pereira/da Maia) 2.35
06. Duas luzes (1945) (de Mata/do Amaral) 3.20
07. Faz hoje um ano (1952) (Galhardo/Ferrao) 4.40
08. Passei Por Vocк (1945) (de Brito/Marceneiro) 2.55
09. Fado do ciume (1945) (do Vale/Valério) 2.57
10. Sei finalmente (1945) (Barbosa/Armandinho) 2.53
11. As penas (1945) (Caldeira/Bacalhau) 3.10
12. A tendinha (1945) (Gallhardo/Ferraro) 2.06
13. Fado Amalia (1951) (Gallhardo/Valerio) 3.01

*
**

Alternate frontcover

Maynard Ferguson His Orchestra and Octet – Band Ain’t Draggin’ (2005)

When he debuted with Stan Kenton’s Orchestra in 1950, Maynard Ferguson could play higher than any other trumpeter up to that point in jazz history, and he was accurate. Somehow he kept most of that range through his career and since the 1970s has been one of the most famous musicians in jazz. Never known for his exquisite taste (some of his more commercial efforts are unlistenable), Ferguson nevertheless led some important bands and definitely made an impact with his trumpet playing.

After heading his own big band in Montreal, Ferguson came to the United States in 1949 with hopes of joining Kenton’s orchestra, but that ensemble had just recently broke up. So instead, Ferguson gained experience playing with the big bands of Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, and Charlie Barnet. In 1950, with the formation of Kenton’s Innovations Orchestra, Ferguson became a star, playing ridiculous high notes with ease. In 1953, he left Kenton to work in the studios of Los Angeles and three years later led the all-star “Birdland Dreamband.” In 1957, he put together a regular big band that lasted until 1965, recorded regularly for Roulette (all of the band’s recordings with that label are on a massive Mosaic box set) and performed some of the finest music of Ferguson’s career. Such players as Slide Hampton, Don Ellis, Don Sebesky, Willie Maiden, John Bunch, Joe Zawinul, Joe Farrell, Jaki Byard, Lanny Morgan, Rufus Jones, Bill Berry, and Don Menza were among the more notable sidemen.

After economics forced him to give up the impressive band, Ferguson had a few years in which he was only semi-active in music, spending time in India and eventually forming a new band in England. After moving back to the U.S., Ferguson in 1974 drifted quickly into commercialism. Young trumpeters in high school and colleges were amazed by his high notes, but jazz fans were dismayed by the tasteless recordings that resulted in hit versions of such songs as the themes from Star Wars and Rocky and much worse. After cutting back on his huge orchestra in the early ’80s, Ferguson recorded some bop in a 1983 session, led a funk band called High Voltage during 1987-1988, and then returned to jazz with his “Big Bop Nouveau Band,” a medium-sized outfit with which he toured the world up until his death from kidney and liver failure on August 23, 2006. (by Scott Yanow)

Maynard Ferguson + Stan Kenton

This great CD was released in 2005 and it includes many of Maynard’s tracks from the early 1950s. It starts off with MF fronting what was essentially the Kenton Orchestra on the tracks Band Ain’t Draggin’, Short Wave, Love Locked Out, and Take the “A” Train (9/13/50). Next are What’s New? and The Hot Canary (5/31/51), Roses all the Way, And So I Waited Around, Homing Pidgeon, and Wow! (2/25/52), then finishes off with Thou Swell, The Way You Look Tonight, All God’s Chillun Got Rhythym, Willie Nillie, Hymn to Her, Lonely Town, and Over the Rainbow (2/19/54). Great, GREAT stuff!!!

The music on these sides is the product of different sessions that represent, between them, a veritable Blue Book of West Coast jazz. At the head of each ensemble, enjoying himself to the full, is trumpeter extraordinary Maynard Ferguson. Most of the men heard in this CD were old friends, either colleagues from the Stan Kenton band or Californians with whom he had worked on and off for several years. 18 total tracks originally recorded in 1950-54. (by amazon)

Maynard Ferguson in 1962

Personnel:
Alfred ‘Chico’ Alvarez (trumpet)
Don Bagley (bass)
Milt Bernhart (trombone)
Harry Betts (trombone)
Ralph Blaze (guitar)
Kay Brown (vocals)
Bart Caldarell (saxophone)
Bob Cooper (saxophone)
Curtis Counce (bass)
Gene Englund (tuba)
Maynard Ferguson (trumpet, valve trombone, vocals)
Bob Fitzpatrick (trombone)
Russ Freeman (piano)
Bob Gioga (saxophone)
Jimmy Giuffre (saxophone)
Bob Gordon (saxophone)
John Graas (french horn)
Herbie Harper (trombone)
John Howell (trumpet)
Dick Kenney (trombone)
Stan Kenton (piano)
Barney Kessel (guitar)
Shelly Manne (drums)
Joe Mondragon (bass)
Abe Most (saxophone)
Frank Patchen (piano)
Art Pepper (saxophone)
Al Porcino (trumpet)
Shorty Rogers (trumpet)
Joe Rotundi (piano)
Jimmy Salko (trumpet)
Bud Shank (saxophone, flute)
Paul Weigand (bass trombone)

Tracklist:
01. Band Ain’t Draggin’ (Greene) 2.10
02. Short Wave (Rogers) 2.35
03. Love Locked Out (Noble/Kester) 2.57
04. Take the “A” Train (Strayhorn) 2.53
05. What’s New (Haggart/Burke) 3.11
06. The Hot Canary (Nero/Gilbert) 2.21
07. Roses All The Way (Carpenter/Weber) 2.38
08. And So I Waited Around (Altman(Kaye) 2.52
09. Homing Pidgeon (Drake/Shirl/Jerome) 2.36
10. Wow! (Roders) 2.06
11. Maiden Voyage (Maiden) 3.00
12. Thou Swell (Rodgers/Hart) 2.44
13. The Way You Look Tonight (Kern/Fields) 2.54
14. All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm (Kaper/Jurman) 2.55
15. Willie Nillie (Maiden) 3.04
16. Hymn To Her (Maiden) 2.34
17. Lonely Town (Comden/Green/Bernstein) 3.08
18. Over The Rainbow (Arlen/Harburg) 3.03

*
**

John Coltrane & Dizzy Gillespie – Trane’s First Ride 1951 (2013)

Here’s another slice of jazz history.

Thanks to u014945 who uploaded the tracks; and to ShaReeF who shared them at HungerCity.

Uploader’s notes:

Typical of many jazz bootleg LPs, this one contains no dates nor any information beyond song titles and the year of 1951 (despite having a long liner essay by one “E.S.Spoe”). After a good bit of research (and matching some of it with my recollections from countless hours of listening to the pedantic, yet informative Phil Schaap on Bird Flight here in New York City weekday mornings on WKCR), I have come up with the following probable list of dates and line-ups.

The venue is always Birldand.

Recorded live at Birdland, NY. Very good radio broadcasts. Ripped from vinyl, slight crackling noises and hiss.
Tracks 01, 02, 03 – January 6, 1951
Tracks 04, 06, 08 – February 3, 1951
Track 05 – January 13, 1951
Track 07 – March 17, 1951

Personnel:
Art Blakey (drums)
John Coltrane (saxophone)
Carl “Kansas” Fields (drums on 07.)
Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet)
Percey Heath (bass)
Milt Jackson (vibraphone)
JJ Johnson (trombone on 04., 06. + 08.)
John Lewis (piano on 07.)
Billy Taylor (piano)

John Coltrane & Dizzy Gillespie

Tracklist:
01. Congo Blues (Norvo) 3.06
02. Night in Tunisia (Gillespie/Paparelli) 6.24
03. Yesterdays (Harbach/Kern) 3.06
04. Birk’s Works (Gillespie) 4.50
05. Good Bait (Dameron) 3.33
06. I Can’t Get Started (Gillespie) 2.53
07. Birk’s Works (Air Check 2) (Gillespie) 5.16
08. Jumping With Symphony Sid (Young) 302

*
**