Bobby Troup - The Bethlehem Recordings

Singer-songwriter-pianist Bobby Troup didn't stay at Bethlehem records long, but long enough to record two or three LPs, depending on how you look at it.

His 1955 sojourn produced the 10-inch Songs of Bobby Troup, which was soon subsumed into the 12-inch Bobby Troup Sings Johnny Mercer, and then another 12-incher, The Distinctive Style of Bobby Troup. 

I have both/all three for you today, plus a bonus. These are a follow-up to my recent post of Bobby's Capitol recordings and his first Liberty LP.

The Songs of Bobby Troup / Bobby Troup Sings Johnny Mercer

Troup had his last session for Capitol in September 1954. On January 27, 1955 he recorded a "live" date for the stillborn Nocturne label that eventually came out as his first Liberty LP. The very next day he was in the studio to tape his initial effort for the Bethlehem label.

For the Bethlehem session, Bobby programmed songs associated with his mentor, singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer. I say "associated with" Mercer because two of the songs had no vocals, and Mercer only wrote the lyrics for them. (They are "Laura" and "Jeepers Creepers," with music written by David Raksin and Harry Warren, respectively.) For the LP, Mercer and Troup collaborated on a new song, the excellent "I'm with You."

Troup is in good voice for the session, although his pitch was at times errant, particularly in "(Love's Got Me in a) Lazy Mood." The standout numbers are the less-often-heard "Cuckoo in the Clock" and "Jamboree Jones," both highly amusing. The latter is the only song on the LP for which Mercer wrote music and lyrics. Mercer had a gift for this type of material, not to say he wasn't versatile, as his songs with Harold Arlen demonstrate. "Come Rain or Come Shine," "That Old Black Magic" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" are included here.

For some reason, Troup also programmed the awful "Midnight Sun," with its repetitive melody line and flossy imagery, in place of the many other wonderful Mercer songs.

Bobby Troup and Johnny Mercer

Working with Troup on the recording were his usual accomplices of the time - Bob Enevoldsen (here on trombone rather than bass), the excellent guitarist Howard Roberts and drummer Don Heath. Red Mitchell was the bassist for this session.

Bethlehem handled the release of this material in a peculiar manner. In May 1955 it issued eight of the songs in a 10-inch LP , titling it The Songs of Bobby Troup. This was despite the fact that Troup wrote only one of the songs ("I'm with You"), and that one was misattributed on the cover to Robert Allen and Al Stillman, who had written another song with the same title a few years earlier. Shirley Hoskins Collins (then wife of DJ Al "Jazzbo" Collins) wrote the discursive liner notes, which mention Mercer only in passing as a mentor of and influence on Troup. Burt Goldblatt's moody scrub grass cover could hardly be less appropriate to the contents of the LP.

In his article Bobby Troup on Record, 1948-55, James Harrod says that Troup's ensemble recorded four more Mercer songs on July 9 to fill out the 12-inch LP - "Lazy Mood," "Day In, Day Out," "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Jamboree Jones."

Bethlehem retitled the 12-inch version Bobby Troup Sings Johnny Mercer. The Collins notes were gone, replaced by Mercer notes in verse, which are entirely about the songs and mention Troup only briefly (as his collaborator on "I'm with You"). Goldblatt scrubbed the scrub grass in favor of a weird if striking dual portrait of Mercer and Troup eating each other's faces.

As usual with these dual 10-inch/12-inch releases, I've transferred the 10-inch LP, then added the four new songs from its bigger sibling. The 12-inch LP was mastered a quarter-tone sharp, which I've corrected.

The Distinctive Style of Bobby Troup

Troup and his quartet, with Enevoldsen on bass, were back in the studio in August 1955 to tackle the 12 songs that were to appear on his LP The Distinctive Style of Bobby Troup. All are standards, half by Rodgers and Hart, two by the Gershwins, one by Kern, and one from Martin and Blane. The final selection was "The Gypsy in My Soul" by Clay Boland and Moe Jaffe.

The latter song has an interesting history and connection to Troup, unmentioned on the cover. Boland and Jaffe wrote the song for the 1937 University of Pennsylvania Mask and Wig Show. This could have been when Troup was a Penn freshman, and it's possible that he saw or performed in the show. His own tune "Daddy," which led to his early fame, came from the 1938 Mask and Wig Show. Despite his hipster façade, Troup was a prep school grad and became Phi Beta Kappa at Penn's Wharton School.

Troup at the piano

The only other song on the LP that is at all unusual is "I Still Suits Me," which Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein wrote for the 1936 film version of Show Boat, where it was introduced by Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel. Troup's performance is very effective.

By this time, Bethlehem's covers had been turned over to a certain Hannan, but again the artist did Troup no favors, rendering him as cross-eyed, moon-faced and orange-skinned.

Bonus - Julie London's Brief Bethlehem Career

Troup's protégé and future wife Julie London recorded four songs for Bethlehem before she departed for Liberty records and immediate fame via her single release of "Cry Me a River."

Bethlehem issued London's four songs on a 1956 EP, after her chart success with Liberty, and on a compilation LP, Bethlehem's Girl Friends. You'll find the four songs in a new post over at my other blog.

Romances and Serenades from Cleveland

My last post from the Clevelanders and conductor Louis Lane elicited a plea from long-time blog follower Douglas (coppinsuk), who wanted to hear the companion LP Romances and Serenades from the same source.

I warned Douglas that my copy is in mono, but that was fine with him, and I hope with you. (The sound is excellent, regardless.)

The previous LP was called Rhapsody, and included the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and such. This program has nothing so beefy. In keeping with its title, the works are generally much lighter.

Louis Lane

The longest work is Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. Britain's Classic FM says it is the nation's favorite classical work - and has been for 11 years.

The retailer Presto Music lists 168 releases of the piece, although presumably with some duplicates. So imagine a world where there was only one recording available - the 1952 effort by Jean Pougnet with Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic. That was the situation when this performance by Cleveland concertmaster Rafael Druian and the Cleveland Sinfonietta came on the market.

Rafael Druian

The reviewers uniformly praised the performance. Edward Greenfield in The Gramophone wrote, "I have a feeling that the very 'authenticity' of many English performances ... lies more than anything in their very tentativeness musically." He added, "Give me polish and confidence like this ... when it is allied with such warm, genuine emotions."

It's not just Druian who is outstanding here - there are notably assured contributions from the solo clarinet and horn. The cover notes say that the Sinfonietta is composed of "21 first-chair and supporting players from the internationally famous Cleveland Orchestra." This suggests that the musicians may be principal clarinet Robert Marcellus and principal horn Myron Bloom, but we can't be sure.

Druian also is featured in Delius' Serenade from Hassan, along with the orchestra's second harpist, Martha Dalton (who is identified on the label). Greenfield claims the overall performance is "soupy". This is the least successful item on the disc, but also its shortest.

Another English piece is contributed by Peter Warlock, his Serenade for Strings, sometimes called the Serenade for Frederick Delius on His 60th Birthday. Warlock wrote the piece in Delius' style. You can hear Constant Lambert's 1937 and 1941 recordings of the Warlock and Delius compositions via this post.

Much darker hued is the Sibelius Romance in C major of 1903. Greenfield says it emerges from this performance as "something more than an occasional piece."

The lightest work on the program is probably Jean Françaix's Serenade for Small Orchestra, a delightful piece that critics like to call "cheeky," and so it is. This is an accomplished performance, equal to the two previous recordings featured on this blog - a 1939 version from Hamburg under Eugen Jochum, and a 1968 reading from the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and Anshel Brusilow.

I mentioned that this record has fine sound - although I should note that it was bright enough to loosen your fillings until I adjusted the usual 1960s Columbia (and Epic) glare.

Lisa Kirk - More RCA Victor Singles

About five years ago, I presented 24 RCA Victor single sides from Broadway star Lisa Kirk, who had featured roles in Kiss Me, Kate and Allegro. Now I have 22 more from the same period, meaning that we've covered all or substantially all of her output for that label.

Here's some of what I wrote about her in 2017:

At least once before on this blog, I've proclaimed my allegiance to Lisa Kirk and the cause of seeking more recognition for her as a singer. The Broadway artist whose superb renditions introduced "The Gentleman Is a Dope," "Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Why Can't You Behave" ought to be more recognized as a master of the craft.

Before she became an RCA artist, Kirk came to public attention via her first Broadway appearance, in the 1947 Rodgers-Hammerstein show Allegro. In that show, she was the lovelorn nurse to the show's protagonist, Dr. Joe Taylor. Her version of "The Gentleman Is a Dope" is the high point of the cast album.

The next year she was cast in the important role of Lois Lane in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, in which she introduced "Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Why Can't You Behave" (as well as "Tom, Dick or Harry").

After that, Kirk was less seen in Broadway and more on television and in nightclubs, although in 1963 she replaced Janis Paige as a lead in Meredith Willson's Here's Love and in 1974 had a featured role in Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel.

Kirk was with RCA from late 1949 to 1953. Today's selections are primarily from late 1949 through early 1951, with a few from 1952-53.

The first number in this group (and Kirk's first single) is "Charley, My Boy," an oldie from 1924 made popular by Eddie Cantor and revived in 1949 by the Andrews Sisters. Kirk has just the jaunty approach this piece needs. 

The flip side is "Shame on You," which was the greatest hit by Western Swing's Spade Cooley, back in 1946. I'm not sure why RCA wanted to revive it with a boogie-woogie beat and hand-clapping by the Three Beaus and a Peep, but here it is. Kirk's coy vocal doesn't work as well as Tex Williams' deadpan original. Henri René is the maestro here and on the majority of records below.

Billboard ad, March 11, 1950

"Dearie" was opportunity for a comic duet with another star RCA vocalist, Fran Warren, arguing about who's older. It's fun, although Kirk is the better actor. The B-side, "Just a Girl that Men Forget," is another battle of the divas, also enjoyable. Victor often paired Kirk with other singers - last time out we had Bob Haymes and Don Cornell. 

In "Sweet Promises and Good Intentions," the Three Beaus, a Peep and hand-clapping return for yet another light number. Nice tune, but it does not make the most of Kirk's talents. Its discmate, "Kiss Me," also lightweight, is better suited to Kirk's style, without any other voices or hand-clapping.

Speaking of Eddie Cantor, as we were a few paragraphs ago, he pops up for Lisa's next single, "The Old Piano Roll Blues" coupled with "Juke Box Annie (Doodle-Oodle-Oo)." Victor enlisted Sammy Kaye's orchestra for the backing. Kirk and Cantor are surprisingly compatible. "Juke Box Annie" was the plug side, and a hit in the various versions on the market. "The Old Piano Roll Blues" is fine, but it uses a strange sounding piano. But please, RCA, enough of the novelties!

Oh well, the quasi-gospel "Faith and Determination" was next on the recording docket, and the hand-clapping returns, although the Beaus and Peep have ceded the mic to the talented Honeydreamers. The flip, "Love Me a Little Bit" is a continental-style production, complete with accordion and violin. Very well done.

One of the stand-outs in the set is the little-known "Love Like Ours," taken from Dimitri Tiomkin's music for the Marlon Brando melodrama The Men. The words are standard-issue, but the material is well-suited to Kirk's abilities. The flip side is "I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell," a popular item in 1950 that Lisa does nicely. (She should have slammed the studio door on the whistler, however.)

Kirk is outstanding in "Gotta See Ya Once More," although René's gimmicky orchestration is not entirely welcome. She reaches back to the '20s again (actually, 1918) for the coupling, "Ja-Da." Not sure why Victor kept having her record songs from a quarter-century earlier, but she is very good here, too, showing off her sense of rhythm. René's band provides a suitable Dixieland backing.

Finally, Victor handed her the sheet music for a standard! "I'm in the Mood for Love" is not a great song, but well suited to Kirk's strengths. The backing is another (and better) Jimmy McHugh item, "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me," which is one of the best pieces in this collection. Kirk is splendid but the anonymous backing is just OK. She recorded six McHugh songs at the same time, presumably for an album, although I don't believe it was issued as such.

Her next song is another welcome respite from the novelties and the hectic pop screamers we are about to encounter. While not a standard, it is a good song by Ralph Freed, "I Thought of You Last Night," here in a sensitive performance backed by the excellent David Terry. On the pop charts, I believe that the Jeri Southern single did a little better.

The Freed number is backed by "Look Up," an attractive, hymn-like song by Joop de Leur and Harold Rome. I suspect that Rome's contribution was English lyrics to the Dutch composer's tune. Rome had done this for other songs, notably Henri Laurent Herpin's "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings." Kirk is completely convincing here.

Now on to the noisy numbers, staring with "Boomerang," a loud Leon Pober item that was making the rounds in 1952. This commotion was backed, appropriately, by "Hurricane," a Janice Torre-Fred Spielman storm front that passes over in a few minutes, thankfully. Kirk belts as required. Interestingly, the anonymous chart uses a figure that is identical to one that would resurface in the James Bond theme a decade later.

"Catch Me If You Can" features Lisa being coy with a backing male quartet. "Do you wanna?" she asks. "Yes, we wanna!" they reply. And so on. She even asks them if they wanna see her etchings. (Addendum - frequent commenter Boursin informs me that the vocalists are the Ray Charles Singers and the band is none other than the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra!)

This nonsense is backed with one of her finest records, which fully shows what she could accomplish with the right material. It is the rueful Bernstein-Comden-Green ballad "O-HI-O" from Wonderful Town, then (1953) on Broadway. It's superior material, and Kirk is exceptional in it. 

"O-HI-O" is sung by the character Ruth in Wonderful Town, one of the roles most associated with Rosalind Russell. I can't help but speculate that Kirk would have been right for the role as well. As it was, she ended up dubbing most of Russell's songs in the movie version of Gypsy a decade later.

The exigencies of the commercial market meant that talented singers like Kirk were assigned the current pop songs and novelties in a search for a hit. It often was fruitless for both artist and label, although it is fun to revisit the pop tunes from mid-century, and it always is a pleasure to hear from Lisa Kirk.

The previous Kirk recordings came from my collection. Most of these present records have been remastered from the massive Internet Archive of 78s, with the addition of a few from my collection and a few other lossy originals. The latter sound good, although with some sacrifice of detail and warmth.

Kirk models the Playtex company's products for a 1949 ad

Previn Conducts Britten's Spring Symphony

My recent upload of William Mathias' This World's Joie was surprisingly popular. Mathias had at least two inspirations - the Vaughan Williams choral works that have appeared in this series (notably Hodie and Sancta Civitas) and in particular Benjamin Britten's brilliant Spring Symphony from 1949.

Britten himself led the first commercial recording of the work in 1960, but today we have a transfer of André Previn's 1978 reading, beautifully performed and recorded. It has been a favorite of mine since it was issued. This transfer is from an original EMI Electrola pressing.

André Previn and Benjamin Britten in 1976

As with the other recordings in this series of choral works, this production offers some of the finest artists then active in Britain - soprano Sheila Armstrong, contralto Janet Baker and tenor Robert Tear. Previn conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the St. Clement Danes Boys' Choir.

The recording also is notable for its superb late-analogue sound, as derived from Kingsway Hall by producer Christopher Bishop and engineer Michael Sheady. To pick one example, I like the way the important tuba part is notably clear while remaining part of the ensemble. (Edward Greenfield in his Gramophone review identified the tuba player as John Fletcher, who is not credited.)

Front: Janet Baker, Sheila Armstrong, Robert Tear. Rear: Christopher Bishop, André Previn 

Britten called the work a symphony, but it actually is a song cycle with texts chosen primarily from the 13th to 19th century - "Sumer is icumen in" through to John Clare. The 20th century is represented by "Out in the lawn I lie in bed" from W.H. Auden's 1933 poem A Summer Night. The Auden piece, sung by Janet Baker, takes up the central portion of Britten's work, which points up its ominous reference to "Where Poland draws her Eastern bow," adding, "Now ask what doubtful act allows / Our freedom in this English house / Our picnics in the sun." Greenfield notes, "Both Previn and Baker are children of the inter-war years, Previn in Berlin very immediately so."

The London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Kingsway Hall

But the majority of the work is notably sunny, appropriate to one celebrating spring. "Previn goes farther [than Britten] in realizing the dramatic-evocative aspects of the work, as shown in the pointing of instrumental witticisms and the unrestrained enjoyment of the open-end cadenza or bird sounds in 'Spring, the sweet spring'," writes Richard Freed in the Stereo Review. "The overall effect is one of mystic fantasy, evoked to a degree that Britten did not attempt in his own recording." It is this atmosphere that makes the Previn recording such a source of delight.

Britten's music has appeared several times on this blog - vintage recordings of his Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and A Simple Symphony are newly remastered.

1979 Gramophone ad

Bob Manning - Lonely Spell

Big-voiced baritone Bob Manning (1926-1997) sang with an abundance of warmth, so much that Capitol's publicity machine touted his "black velvet and stardust" voice. That's not far off, either.

I will be offering two posts devoted to Manning's 1947-55 singles, but first I thought I would present the high point of his career. It's his only Capitol LP, Lonely Spell, recorded in 1955.

Bob Manning listening to a playback

As with most singers of this era, Manning started off as a band vocalist. In one of my later posts, I'll  share his recordings with Ziggy Elman, Buddy Williams and Art Mooney. Unlike many other vocalists, however, Manning was virtually a finished product when he started. His first records (with Elman) are excellent - smooth, sensitive and secure.

As soon as he started recorded, Manning became known for being a virtual vocal clone of Dick Haymes. He even adopted Haymes' mannerisms seamlessly into his performances. But he soon moved on, while retaining the warmth and security of his idol.

Manning hit his stride when he joined Capitol in early 1953. As was the case with most vocalists of the time, his singles were devoted to novelty material and ephemeral pop songs, along with a few standards. So, for example, one of his early Capitol records was titled "Venus Di Milo," where he is made to plead, "Where are the arms and heart of you?" One issue may have been that he wasn't being offered the best new songs for those singles - after all, Capitol had Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, Dean Martin and Gordon MacRae among its male singers. And even those luminaries recorded some dismal material.

With Lonely Spell, Manning was given high quality songs to work with, and he handled them very well. The title and cover set the tone for the album, which starts off with "Alone Together." This apparently was the original title tune for what was planned to be a concept album about love and loss. And indeed those are still the themes of the songs that he ended up recording.

But despite the title Lonely Spell, none of the first three tunes explore loneliness - "Alone Together," "You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)" (Russ Columbo's signature song) and "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" (one of Ray Noble's best compositions) all are love songs dating from the 1930s.

The next three are about lost love, however. "When Your Lover Has Gone" is another '30s item that Sinatra included on his own moody LP, In the Wee Small Hours, which was recorded earlier in 1955. (Manning holds up to the comparison.) The two final songs on Lonely Spell's first side are the excellent "I'm Thru with Love" and "You've Changed."

The second side again brings songs that are heartfelt, but again not necessarily "lonely." It starts with my favorite of all the selections, "Time Was," by the Mexican songwriter Miguel Prado with English words by S. K. Russell. (This beautiful song will be the subject of an upcoming post.)

The next two selections are lovelorn laments: "My Ideal," another exceptionally beautiful ballad, and "I Had the Craziest Dream." The balance of the LP is composed of love songs: "These Foolish Things," Victor Young's gorgeous "Love Letters," and another song that Sinatra recorded to great effect, Gordon Jenkins' "P.S. I Love You," with its evocative and slightly mysterious Johnny Mercer lyrics. (Where did the singer's spouse go and why?) Fittingly, the song and LP close with a ravishing tenor sax coda, which I believe is the work of Ted Nash.

Monty Kelly

Throughout, the lush backings are by Monty Kelly (1910-71), who later released instrumental LPs on the Carlton, Essex and Somerset labels, and did arrangements for vocalists Al Martino and Anita Bryant.

Lonely Spell was both the culmination and the virtual completion of Manning's Capitol career. After one more single, he left the label for a brief stay at RCA Victor. Later, he remade his signature tune, "The Nearness of You," for M-G-M, recorded an LP of wedding songs for Everest and did a few other things. The RCA recordings and "Nearness of You" remake can be found here. The original "Nearness of You" will be in the Capitol singles post.

Capitol unexpectedly (to me) included Manning in its '90s reissue series of "Great Ladies and Gentlemen of Song." That release included most of Lonely Spell and several other items. The complete Lonely Spell has not been reissued, except for a 2005 Japanese CD. This transfer comes from my own LP, which has excellent sound.