From the Back Room: Jeannie McKeon

Jeannie McKeon was a radio vocalist who made a number of records for the Black & White label in about 1946. She later turned up on a 1955 RCA Camden EP with Jack Haskell, which is where I learned of her.

That EP - one of the many in the "Today's Hits" budget line - appeared on my singles blog last year. I liked Jeannie's singing, so I looked into her earlier recordings. I found 10 of her 12 Black & White label recordings on Internet Archive and cleaned them up for this post.

About Jeannie McKeon

As is often the case with obscure vocalists, the available information is scant. We do know that she was born Alice Collins in 1916, likely in Lewiston, Maine, where she died in 2003. She was married to Wilfrid Lessard.

Jeannie McKeon and Roy Bargy

She graduated from the University of Maine with a chemistry degree and moved on to the New England Conservatory. Eventually she ended up with a featured spot on radio's Stage Door Canteen, and a show of her own in the 1940s. She then appeared on the Green Light Review with music director Roy Bargy, once Paul Whiteman's pianist.

Roy leads the accompaniments for the bulk of this program.

Yesterdays

Eight of the 10 McKeon sides in today's program come from her 1947 album "Yesterdays," named for a Kern-Harbach standard that leads off the album. The 78 was backed by "It Had to Be You," the Isham Jones-Gus Kahn song.

Victor Young and Sam Lewis wrote the memorable Depression anthem "Street of Dreams" in 1933. Its mate is the much more upbeat "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me" by Clarence Gaskill and Jimmy McHugh.

Martin and Blane's "The Boy Next Door" was still a relatively new song, having been written for 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis. The backing was another fine Jones-Kahn tune, "Swinging Down the Lane."

Two Gershwin songs complete the program - "Embraceable You" and "Love Walked In."

Bonus Songs

Beside the album, McKeon recorded a few other numbers for Black & White, two of which are included in this set.

One is a favorite of mine, "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song." Jeannie's skillful version was a cover of Bing Crosby's recording. He had introduced the Irving Berlin classic in 1946's Blue Skies.

The backing was "I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful)," which Henry Sullivan and Harry Ruskin wrote for the 1929 revue Murray Anderson's Almanac.

Al Sack led the band for these two songs.

Hope you enjoy this brief program from a forgotten singer.

LINK

Paul Whiteman's 1938 Gershwin Recordings

Paul Whiteman will always be linked with George Gershwin's music. He commissioned Rhapsody in Blue, and introduced it during his famous Aeolian Hall concert in February 1924. The composer himself was the pianist.

George Gershwin

But Gershwin's other major concert works - the Concerto in F, An American in Paris, the Cuban Overture and the Second Rhapsody - were not premiered by Whiteman. They all were introduced by - and scored for - symphony orchestras.

The bandleader still retained a strong interest in the composer, however. For example, in 1928 he made the first recording of the Concerto, with Roy Bargy as the soloist. And he often performed Gershwin's works live with his Concert Orchestra, invariably including one work in his annual concerts of modern American music.

This present album shows what those concert performances must have been like. Whiteman puts aside the symphonic orchestrations that Gershwin himself produced for An American in Paris, the Cuban Overture and the Second Rhapsody. Instead, he employs excellent orchestrations from his staff arrangers. These were tailored to the Concert Orchestra's personnel at the time - a large jazz band plus oboe, seven violins, two violas and one cello. The results are irresistible.

Paul Whiteman

Is it a sacrilege to toss out the composer's own scores? Maybe, but consider that most performances and recordings have not used them either. Gershwin's scores were edited after his death by his publisher, and in one instance (the Second Rhapsody) completely re-orchestrated by composer Robert McBride.

The Whiteman recordings date from October 1938. They were first issued in a 78 set, then transcribed into LP form in 1949. Brief notes about each piece follow.

Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin's most famous work was orchestrated three times by Ferde Grofé, who was Whiteman's chief arranger from 1920-32 - the 1924 version, a revision in 1926 for theater orchestra, and a symphonic orchestration in 1942. It is believed that the 1938 recording uses the original arrangement, with some amendments and additional instruments. The piano soloist is Roy Bargy, who was in Whiteman's employ from 1928-40.

Cuban Overture. This composition, dating from 1932, was initially titled Rumba in honor of the Cuban dance that was then becoming popular in New York. In it, Whiteman's orchestra does a creditable imitation of a rhumba band - certainly far better than the symphonic versions that are often heard. The soloist is Rosa Linda, in her early 20s and already a superb pianist. She is more fluid and produces a more beautiful tone than Bargy. The bandleader had premiered this excellent orchestration by Allan Small in that year's Carnegie Hall concert of American music.

An American in Paris

An American in Paris. This piece, dating from 1931, benefits from another terrific arrangement, this time by Nathan Van Cleave, later a well regarded Hollywood orchestrator.

Second Rhapsody. Perhaps Gershwin's least-loved concert work, the Second Rhapsody (née Rhapsody in Rivets), is nonetheless an enjoyable work that benefits from the strong advocacy of Whiteman and Bargy. It dates from 1931. I haven't been able to determine who did the arrangement here, but it might be Small or Van Cleave.

Roy Bargy in Whiteman's 1930 film The King of Jazz

Now a few words about the sound. I used an original pressing of the LP for my first transfer. It has remarkably vivid sonics that show off Whiteman's terrific ensemble to advantage. However, the pressing is a bit noisy and there is some peak distortion in the louder piano passages. This should not be too distracting if you listen via speakers, but it will be noticeable on headphones.

That being the case, I also did a second transfer from a very clean later pressing. However, this pressing is a re-dub with added reverb, which was entirely unnecessary. The echo blunts the impact of the band's performance. Some of you may prefer this cleaner sound, of course, so I'll make the second transfer available for a limited time.

The caricatures of Whiteman and Gershwin above and the illustration of An American in Paris are by the wonderful artist Miguel Covarrubias, who regularly contributed to Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

The music of George Gershwin has been a constant presence on this blog - and continuously popular with readers. I hope you enjoy this latest addition to the Gershwin collection.