Michael Tilson Thomas and Gershwin

The conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who had died age 81, was devoted to the music of George Gershwin. He came by that interest naturally - both his father and grandfather were friends with the composer.

So when MTT (as he was known) began recording as a young conductor, it was natural for him to turn to the Gershwin catalog for material.

Today we will examine some of the fruits of his exploration, in the form of his 1976 LP of the Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. An added attraction is MTT's 1983 recording of the Second Rhapsody, in its original form.

For more about Thomas' life and career, the New York Times had a very good obituary (gift link). Here, it's sufficient to note that he was a gifted conductor, pianist, composer and orchestra builder who was widely admired.

Rhapsody in Blue

The Rhapsody in Blue recording was something of a technical feat at the time. The idea of Columbia producers Tom Shepard and Andrew Kazdin, it featured the original "jazz band" orchestration as conducted by Thomas, accompanying Gershwin himself, with the performance taken from a piano roll the composer had made.

Producing the recording was a chore. The solo piano part on the roll had been augmented by additional notes designed to represent the accompaniment. So the producers laboriously covered over each of those punched accompaniment notes on the roll, leaving just the solo part. MTT then conducted the band while the player piano did its thing.

George Gershwin

The result is surprisingly effective. Gershwin's brisk pace is different from the somewhat sentimentalized readings that are often heard, and the pungent original Ferde Grofé orchestration is right in step with that approach. The members of the "Columbia Jazz Band" are unidentified except for clarinetist Charles Russo, who is credited with the famous opening clarinet glissando.

The recording is vivid, although the solo instruments had a tendency to pop out of the background in a different acoustic from the piano. I've added a small amount of natural reverb to the band (not the piano) to address this issue.

The Rhapsody of course premiered in 1924 in a performance with Paul Whiteman's orchestra. The composer and Whiteman's band then recorded the work in truncated form for Victor. Because the performance was abbreviated, and because it was done via a recording horn rather than the electrical method that would soon come into use, it has been at times overlooked. That recording appeared on this blog some time ago, and I have now revisited the sound, which is one of the best acoustic recordings I have heard. You can find it here. You'll notice that Gershwin is less relentless in this performance than he is on the piano roll - although fast tempos were more the norm than the exception in his pianism. That post linked above also includes several of his piano recordings, which tend to be quite brisk.

Gershwin also recorded the Rhapsody electrically a few years later, but I believe that was with the expanded "symphonic" arrangement that Grofé had prepared.

An American in Paris

Thomas and Columbia used the New York Philharmonic for the recording of Gershwin's 1928 piece An American in Paris. Rightfully so - the conductor of one of the orchestra's, predecessors, Walter Damrosch of the New York Symphony had commissioned the work. This time the composer wrote his own, highly effective orchestrations, auto horns and all.

Michael Tilson Thomas in 1985

An American in Paris is not afflicted by the urtext confusion that besets Rhapsody in Blue and its successor, the Second Rhapsody.

MTT conducts a charming, idiomatic performance of the piece, which was well recorded in Columbia's 30th Street Studio, a former church.

Gershwin himself appears on an early recording of An American in Paris, playing the celeste while Nathaniel Shilkret conducted. On that one - which can be heard on the same set as the acoustic Rhapsody - the Victor engineers emphasized the auto horns and xylophone to a distracting degree.

Second Rhapsody

Gershwin's unloved (not by me!) sequel to Rhapsody in Blue - the Second Rhapsody - started out as an assignment for the 1931 Janet Gaynor film Delicious. Gershwin was excited by the music he composed, which turned out to be much longer than was needed for the film. So he produced a cut down version for filmic use which came to be called Rhapsody in Rivets. Gershwin had the full Second Rhapsody recorded for his own purposes, and then it languished.

When the piece was finally published in the early 1950s, the publisher had had it reorchestrated by Robert McBride. So the original had seldom been heard until Thomas and Columbia had new parts made from the autograph score and recorded it with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1982-83 sessions.

At the time of he release, MTT sat for an interview with David Patrick Stearns for High Fidelity, which turned into a gushing article in which Thomas claimed - somewhat incomprehensibly - to have a "Gershwin gyroscope" and the writer posited that MTT's was the first recording of Gershwin's original version.

Trouble was, it wasn't the first. Gershwin biographer Edward Jablonski wrote the magazine to point out the composer's own run through, which had been released much later on. Also, Columbia - MTT's own label - had recorded the original version in 1949 with Oscar Levant and the Morton Gould Orchestra. Levant had championed the piece when it was nearly forgotten.

How does MTT compare with Levant? Well, the later version is certainly good and well worth hearing. But Oscar's is more strongly characterized and makes a better case for this fine music. It also provides a more truthful impression of an orchestra in a real acoustic, although the LA recording is certainly not bad.

The Levant-Gould version was one of the first records I ever posted, back in 2008. I've remastered the sound on that 10-inch LP, which includes the also-unloved "I Got Rhythm" Variations and the better regarded Three Preludes.

The interview and Jablonski riposte are included in the download, along with relevant reviews.

LINK to Michael Tilson Thomas recordings

LINK to Oscar Levant recording

Bob Wills and Milton Brown

Bob Wills and Milton Brown

It is sometimes said that Milton Brown was the founder of Western swing, and it's certain that Bob Wills was its most popular exponent. The genre has only been briefly covered on this blog - mainly through the complete Columbia recordings of Spade Cooley - so today we make amends by presenting some of the early recordings by these important figures.

Wills and Brown are often discussed together because they played together in a Texas group that became the Light Crust Doughboys, before starting their own bands in the early 1930s.

Before we get to the records, let's discuss the term "Western swing." Here's what I wrote about it a few years ago in the Spade Cooley post:

Western swing is generally considered to be a branch of country music, but its name also conveys two other influences. First, it is "Western" because it was produced by musicians who lived in the West, primarily California, with the best of them also appearing in Western films. And it was "swing" because it reflected the swing music of the time. The great Western bands - Cooley's among them - played for dancers, just as the city swing bands did. Some people believe that Cooley's promoter popularized the term "Western swing."

All that is true for the period under discussion back then - 1944-47. But the roots of the style were in Texas, the homes of both Wills and Brown. (Wills later moved to California.) And in the early years, the music did not "swing" in the sense of the swing bands who soon would become popular, who were characterized by a four-to-the-bar beat.

For the most part, the recordings we will present today are Western versions of string band music, and while Wills and Brown played for dancing, most of their records in this early period have a pronounced two-beat emphasis, unlike the rhythm that the swing bands would adopt.

That's not to say Wills and Brown were not innovative - their recordings were both musically interesting and highly influential, even though they themselves were influenced by earlier traditions, recordings and instrumentation, including jazz. Over time Wills updated the makeup of his band to reflect that of the big bands. You will hear many instrumental solos on these sides, and the later numbers pit saxes against trumpets, much like the swing bands of the time.

We'll start with Milton Brown, the lesser known musician.

Milton Brown and His Brownies - Country and Western Dance-o-Rama

You can find an detailed account of Milton Brown's brief career at boppinbob's blog From the Vaults. Brown's life was short - he died in a car accident in 1936 at age 32, just as his popularity was growing. By that time he had recorded a few sides for Bluebird and many more for Decca; it is from the latter collection that this early 10-inch LP was derived.

Six of these recordings come from January 1935, with the balance from March 1936. For the earlier session, the musicians were Milton Brown, lead vocal, Derwood Brown (Milton's brother), vocal and guitar, Ocie Stockard, vocal and banjo, Bob Dunn, steel guitar, Wanna Coffman, bass, and Fred Calhoun, piano. Fiddlers Cecil Brower and Cliff Bruner are listed for the 1936 recordings. There are fiddlers on the 1935 recordings, but they are unidentified.

Milton Brown and His Brownies

The first selection is on the LP is "St. Louis Blues," which shows off Milton Brown's excellent vocal skills, and the strong influence that the commercial blues had on the band.

"Sweet Jennie Lee" is a Walter Donaldson song from 1930 first recorded by Isham Jones, showing the impact of dance bands on the music.

"Texas Hambone Blues" is a compilation of blues stanzas that mostly exist to set off instrumental breaks.

"Brownie Special" is an amusing talking blues with Milton Brown playing the conductor. Future politician Jimmie Davis, also a Decca artist, is credited with the song.

"Right or Wrong" is another Tin Pan Alley song, by Arthur Sizemore, Paul Biese and Haven Gillespie, written back in 1921.

A college fight song is next - "Washington and Lee Swing," which provides a framework for solo outings by most members of the band.

The Brownies were a dance band, and the next song is a waltz - "Beautiful Texas," which is attributed to W. Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel, another quasi-musician later to become a politician. O'Daniel formed the aforementioned Light Crust Doughboys and recorded this song with them in 1934. (It also was done by Jimmie Davis.)

Finally, we have "Little Betty Brown." a traditional fiddle reel here with calls by Durwood Brown.

My transfer comes from a circa 1980 reissue where the engineer decided to twiddle with the bass and treble, throwing the balance way off. I've adjusted matters.

LINK to Milton Brown and His Brownies

Bob Wills Round Up / Bob Wills Special

To represent Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, we have what are possibly the first two LP reissues of their records. The earlier item is the 10-inch Bob Wills Round Up, one of the initial entries in Columbia's "American Folk Music Series" in 1949.

The 12-inch LP Bob Wills Special, which Columbia issued on its budget Harmony label in 1957, was a reissue of the 10-inch LP with two additional songs and inferior sound. To the 10 songs derived from these LPs, I've added a bonus number from a 78.

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys

The songs date from 1936-45. Among the musicians are Herman Arnspiger, guitar, Leon McAuliffe, steel guitar, Johnnie Lee Wills (Bob's brother), banjo, Smokey Dacus, drums, Wills and Jesse Ashlock, fiddles, and Al Stricklin, piano. Many of the dates, even as early as 1936, also include trumpet and saxes.

Round Up starts off with perhaps the most famous Wills number - "New San Antonio Rose," from 1940. Why is it "new"? Because it's a version of Wills' popular 1938 instrumental, "San Antonio Rose," only with lyrics. The remake is clearly an improvement, for two reasons. First, there is the vocalizing of the superb and influential Tommy Duncan, a notably relaxed and sonorous baritone whose disciples included Tex Williams and Ray Price. Also, the arrangement of the bridge was improved. In the earlier version it was a Leon McAuliffe solo. Here the first pass is a vocal with trumpets; for the second the distinctive mariachi-style twin trumpets carry the melody.

Tommy Duncan and Bob Wills

Duncan is also to the fore in a highly effective version of Richard M. Jones's 1924 quasi-blues "Trouble in Mind." This recording is notable for its strong beat, twin fiddle break and Stricklin solo. Wills' famed interjections, intros and "aa-haa's" also are prominent and as usual, perfectly timed. This is the earliest recording in the set.

"Take Me Back to Tulsa" from 1941 is one of the band's biggest hits. Here it is attributed to Wills, but it's possible that it makes use of traditional words and breaks, possibly worked out over time at live dates. 

The influential country music songwriter and publisher Fred Rose wrote "I Can't Go On This Way." Its first release was in 1946 by Roy Rogers, with Wills' far superior version soon to follow.

The only instrumental in this set is "Big Beaver," attributed to Wills. It comes from 1940, and features solos by unidentified musicians playing trumpet and sax. (By 1942, he would be recording with three trumpets and five saxes.)

"Time Changes Everything" is another notable record, dating from 1940. Here it's ascribed to Wills, but usually is considered to be a Tommy Duncan song.

Fred Rose also wrote the novelty "Roly Poly," which was a big hit for Wills in 1945.

"Miss Molly" from 1942 was an early song by the prolific Cindy Walker, who wrote many tunes for Wills at the time. The vocal here is by Leon McAuliffe and a trio.

Next are the two songs from Bob Wills Special, which, as noted, is otherwise a reissue of Round Up.

One song is the "San Antonio Rose" instrumental. The other is "The Convict and the Rose," a dreary death row tale first recorded by Vernon Dalhart in 1925. The authors were Ballard MacDonald and Robert King. The two songs first appeared on the same 78 single in 1942.

Finally I've added a personal favorite, Wills' version of "Ida Red," a traditional breakdown in a rousing 1938 performance. Tommy Duncan could not be better.

Wills and Duncan had a falling out in 1948, and Tommy left the band. Supposedly the issue was Wills drinking and not showing up for dates - and Duncan complaining about the habit. They later reunited. Duncan died in 1967, Wills in 1975.

LINK to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Haydn Masses in Splendid Performances

In my recent post of music from Handel's Messiah, I mentioned that the period instrument movement that gained strength in the 1970s was particularly suited to choral music. The more mellow sound of the old instruments seemed to blend better with voices - particularly those who sang in the same spirit.

This disc from nearly 50 years ago is an excellent example. In it, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and the Academy of Ancient Music join with distinguished soloists in two of Haydn's settings of the Mass. Simon Preston (1938-2022) is the conductor.

Simon Preston

Here is Eric Salzman in Stereo Review about Haydn's sacred music: "Haydn's church work is like his other music, which is to say charming. witty, entertaining, always attractive, never boring. Isn't it just as well to praise God with wit, technique, and beauty as with some forced re-creation of antique piety? That, at least, was the sentiment of the age.

"The enchanting Missa Sancti Nicolai, written in 1772, has a kind of pastoral, Christmasy quality undoubtedly connected with its date and circumstances. December 6 was consecrated to St. Nicholas, and it was thus the name-day of Haydn's patron, Prince Nicholas Esterházy; Haydn composed the Missa Sancti Nicolai as a birthday surprise."

Joseph Haydn

Here is what the same critic had to say about the other work on the program: "The Missa brevis was a response to the impatience of an elegant and intellectual age with the tedium of the required church services. An abbreviated text, good fast tempos, even doubling up on the words - different portions of the text simultaneously in different parts! - all helped to cut a two- or two-and-a-half-hour service to a neat thirty minutes. The master of the Missa brevis was undoubtedly Joseph Haydn. Haydn could set the age-old Catholic texts in the most elegant, gracious rococo curlicues or classical symmetries without the slightest sense of disrespect."

As the for the performances, back then people were still getting used to the sound of period instruments. Salzman had no problem with them - but was not so sure about the singing: "The Academy of Ancient Music ... produces a mellow sound quite distinct from that of modern orchestras. The singing here also has a rounded, blended tone of great sweetness and beauty, though I would prefer a little less tastefulness and a little more bite. The soloists, especially, sound too restrained and well-behaved: modern High Church Anglican singers rather than the Italian opera singers who actually performed this music with Haydn." Wonder how he knew what 18th century singers sounded like.

Judith Nelson and Emma Kirby at the recording session

In fact, soprano soloists Judith Nelson (1939-2012) and Emma Kirkby (b. 1949) - not to mention the choir - are almost literally angelic. Roger Fiske in The Gramophone wrote: "[T]he two soloists really do contrive to sound like idealized choristers rather than sophisticated lady sopranos. In other words they sing without any vibrato, which is how the strings play, and it all adds up to a completely convincing performance of style and charm ... Both performances are of the highest class and with such happy music (most of it at least sounds happy) the effect is irresistible." 

It remains to be said that the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral is excellent. Finally, Christopher Hogwood, who directed the Messiah performance mentioned above, is heard here as an an accompanist on the chamber organ in the Missa brevis. Simon Preston was the choir director for his Messiah recording.

LINK

The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral with
its current director, Peter Holder

Rodgers and Hart's 'By Jupiter' Reconsidered

The final full-length collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart was their longest-running Broadway success, yet very few recordings were made of its songs at the time - none by the cast - and almost no trace remains of the musical itself, save for a few numbers that are still heard today.

The show was 1942's By Jupiter, the pair's second foray into the land of the ancient Greeks (The Boys from Syracuse was its predecessor). The musical does not deserve its obscurity, as I hope this post will demonstrate via the few contemporary recordings that were produced and a 1967 LP derived from an off-Broadway revival.

Thanks to the ever-imaginative Dave Federman for suggesting this post to me. Like me, he is a great admirer of Larry Hart - and Dick Rodgers, of course.

The Story

Ray Bolger and Benay Venuta - he gave her plenty of nothin'

Hart's book for the show was based on Julian Thompson's 1924 Broadway play The Warrior's Husband. The title couple are Hippolyta, queen of the warrior Amazons, and her stay-at-home husband Sapiens - played in the original production by Benay Venuta and Ray Bolger.

Ronald Graham and Nanette Fabray

The other couple is Theseus, a leader of the Greek soldiers who have arrived on the scene, and Antiope, head of the Amazon warriors. In the first production, these were Ronald Graham and Constance Moore (later replaced by Nanette Fabray, as in the photo and in poster at top).

This is a simplistic description, but it's enough to get our bearings.

The 1967 Cast Recording

The most complete account of the score can be found in the cast recording of the 1967 off-Broadway revival, which ran for four months. In this production, Bob Dishy was Sapiens and Jackie Alloway was Hippolyta. Theseus and Antiope were played by Robert R. Kaye and Sheila Sullivan.

Critic Paul Kresh of HiFi-Stereo Review offered this critique: "Although Bob Dishy cannot hope to compete with the original performance by Ray Bolger in the 1940's as Sapiens, Hippolyta's non-hero husband, he is certainly winning enough. In addition, Jackie Alloway as Hippolyta, Sheila Sullivan as Antiope, and Robert R. Kaye as Theseus all have lovable ways and forthright, pleasant voices."

Bob Dishy, Jackie Alloway
Sheila Sullivan, Robert R. Kaye

The production - or at least this recording - utilized bare-bones orchestrations, presumably not Don Walker's original charts. The LP's sound was cramped; I've opened it out a bit.

The recording allows you to hear nine pieces not discussed below: "For Jupiter and Greece," "Ride Amazon Ride," "Life with Father," "In the Gateway of the Temple of Minerva," "Here's a Hand," "The Boy I Left Behind Me," "Bottoms Up," and the finales for both acts.

Next we'll discuss the principal songs; that is, the ones that were commercially recorded back in 1942, most of which have retained some currency today, however slight. They are "Jupiter Forbid," "Nobody's Heart," "Ev'rything I've Got," "Wait Till You See Her" and "Careless Rhapsody."

"Jupiter Forbid"

"Jupiter Forbid" is a rousing ensemble piece of a type that is or was a staple of musical comedy. The lyrics were inspired at least in part by patriotic sentiment in wartime America:

Maybe there's a place where people never laugh 

Maybe there's a place where kids don't kid

Maybe there's a place for just the upper half

Not here, Jupiter forbid

 

Maybe there's a place whеre people nеver sing

Where you have to hide each thing you did

Where they have a sign "Keep Off the Grass" in spring

Not here, Jupiter forbid

This is the second least known song in the group. It merited one recording in 1942, and only a few since - by Jackie and Roy, Andrea Marcovici and Peter Mintun (all not included in this set).

The 1942 recording was by Hildegarde, a popular cabaret performer of the time who sounds vaguely continental despite being from Milwaukee. It was one of four she sang for a Decca album of the time, which had backing by Harry Sosnik, also of the time. The other three songs are discussed below.

Hildegarde may not be not the first name that springs to mind when you think of rousing ensemble songs, but she does "Jupiter Forbid" very well.

"Nobody's Heart"

Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers at a By Jupiter rehearsal

In the musical, "Nobody's Heart" is a lovelorn lament by Antiope. The song is still heard in cabarets, few that they may be. It's perhaps most notable for how the lyrics and melody support one another. The words are unremarkable, although I have always admired this verse:

Nobody's arms belong to me

No arms feel strong to me

I admire the moon

As a moon

Just a moon

Nobody's heart belongs to me today

This is another song selected by Hildegarde for her set. She dispatches it smoothly. As far as I can tell, "Nobody's Heart" then went unrecorded until several singers took it up in the mid-1950s. For this collection, I've added the 1955 reading by Audrey Morris, recently the subject of a post here.

"Ev'rything I've Got"

"Ev'rything I've Got" is perhaps the most notable example of sex-role reversal in the score. Queen Hippolyta threatens hubby Sapiens in a manner that today might be considered macho:

I've a powerful anesthesia in my fist

And the perfect wrist to give your neck a twist

Hammerlock holds, I've mastered a few

But ev'rything I've got belongs to you

 Meanwhile, Sapiens has his own method, expressed in one of my favorite Hart stanzas:

Then at night we'll sleep and sleep

Sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep

Sleep and sleep, sleep and sleep

I'll give you plenty of nothin'

At the end of the musical, by the way, the sex roles revert to "normal".

"Ev'rything I've Got," perhaps surprisingly, was the most recorded song from the score in the early days. In addition to Hildegarde's performance, we have a version from the band of Freddy Martin - with a male singer bragging about the "powerful anasthesia" in his fist, which today sounds grotesque.

In the years since, it's mainly been performed by women, although the next recording would appear to be a Betty Garrett and Milton Berle duet from 1947 (you can listen to it here, assuming you can stand Uncle Miltie). Note that both Berle and Garrett sing the lines threatening violence; the "sleep and sleep" stanza is left out.

Hart wrote the song for Benay Venuta, who told the lyricist's biographer Frederick Nolan: "He [Hart] told me, 'I'll write a big number for you, babe, you'll stop the show with it.' And he did. He wrote 'Ev'rything I've Got' while we were in rehearsal, and it turned out to be one of the smash hits of the show."

"Wait Till You See Her"

In the play, "Wait Till You See Her" is a waltz declaring Theseus' love for Antiope. The song as written has a verse that is seldom used by singers today. It sets the warrior Theseus' infatuation in relief:

My friends who knew me

Never would know me

They'd look right through me

Above and below me

And ask, "Who's that man?

"Who is that man?

"That's not my lighthearted friend"

Meeting a girl was the start of the end

Love is a simple emotion a friend should comprehend

You can hear the verse in the 1967 cast album, which also uses a chorus effectively.

David Allyn

This song, somewhat familiar today, was ignored by the recording artists of 1942. The earliest version I've found was David Allyn's from 1949, which can be found in this post from a few years ago, and which I've also included in the present set of early recordings.

Also in that set is a relatively early (1952) instrumental version from Andre Kostelanetz. His recording treats the number as if it were a precursor to Rodgers' sweeping "Carousel Waltz" of 1945.

Frederick Nolan asserts that the song "was one of the prettiest waltzes Rodgers ever wrote, and Larry's lyric, with its unconventional rhyming scheme, had a lovely, matching tenderness. They all loved it, [director Joshua] Logan especially."

That said, there was some thought that it didn't fit the show. I've read both that it was dropped after opening night and that it was cut late in the run.

"Careless Rhapsody"

"Careless Rhapsody" is not a lost masterpiece, but it doesn't deserve its oblivion. The song, written as a duet for Antiope and Theseus, merited two recordings when the show opened, both solo. One, by Hildegarde, includes the opening verse. The second, by Clyde Rogers with Freddy Martin's band, does not do so.

The lyrics link music and love - heartstrings, etc. Nolan says Logan claimed that "Careless Rhapsody" doesn't sound like Hart's work at all. While it's not the best effort of the lyricist - or Rodgers - it's entirely pleasing.

To my knowledge the song has not been recorded since the show closed, except in a By Jupiter medley done by pianist Peter Mintun many years ago.

* * *

Why isn't the show better remembered? The simplest reason is that it is eclipsed by both the earlier Rodgers and Hart hits and the later Rodgers and Hammerstein blockbusters. It's about on the level of I Married an Angel, but not as remarkable as Babes in Arms, both of which have been discussed on this site.

Second, a Musicians Union recording ban began not long after the show opened, killing any additional recording plans that might have been contemplated.

Here's critic Paul Kresh's 1967 judgment of the show: "The score of By Jupiter is not as likely to stir your pulses as often as that of The Boys from Syracuse, but it has its moments, and the best of them are in the second act: the graceful, hummable 'Wait Till You See Her,' the casual 'Careless Rhapsody,' and the exuberant 'Ev'rything I've Got.' They don't make 'em like that any more. Not lately, anyhow." Still true nearly 60 years later.

LINK to 1967 cast recording

LINK to contemporary recordings

Buster Searches for More Lost Treasures

Yes, it's time again to return to Buster's Back Room, where musical treasures (or travesties) await the curious listener.

As with the last foray into the Back Room, I've compiled a list of projects that are more or less complete but unpublished for one or the other reason - either I was tired of it, concerned that no one would be interested, or didn't feel like writing about it.

A list of these items us below. Let me know in the comments if any appeal to you.

Finally, a caveat that for any resulting posts I may not write the voluminous nonsense that is typical around here.

The Music of Trevor Duncan. This gifted English composer of light music for stock libraries wrote superb melodies. Extensive transfers direct from the original issues.

Ray Charles Singers - Music from The Pajama Game and 8 Top Hits. Two LPs from Ray's Cadence period in the early 1950s, before his M-G-M recordings.

Dottie Evans - 20 Selections. Dottie was a versatile and talented studio singer who made many recordings for budget labels in the 1950s.

Cowell - Symphony No. 7, Ward - Orchestral Works. A good LP from two fine 20th century American composers.

Early Delius Recordings. Electrical recordings conducted by Geoffrey Toye and John Barbirolli.

Saint-Saëns - Septet, D'Indy - Suite in Olden Style. M-G-M recordings of the Guilet String Quartet with Harry Glantz, Julius Baker, and Claude Monteux. (Not particularly well recorded.)

Ivanov Conducts Tchaikovsky. A 1959 recording of Konstantin Ivanov leading a performance of the composer's Symphony No. 1. (Also not particularly well recorded.)

A Bell for Adano. The soundtrack to a 1956 TV musical by Dietz and Schwartz with the excellent Edwin Steffe and the OK Anna Maria Alberghetti.

Silk Stockings. The songs from the 1957 Cole Porter film score with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Based on Ninotchka.

Jeannie McKeon. 10 songs from an obscure vocalist of the 1940s. (You can sample her singing here.)

Jug Bands. A short set of 1920s-30s recordings by the Memphis Jug Band et al.

Shirley Collins. This one is far afield - 1960s-70s recordings by the English folk singer with the Albion Country Band, among others. Fleeting appearances by Christopher Hogwood and David Munrow, not to mention Richard Thompson.

Vaughan Williams - The Pilgrim's Progress. The classic recording led by Sir Adrian Boult. (I still need to finish recording this one.)

Mozart from ASMF and Marriner

Neville Marriner's records with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields are always a good listen, so here they are with two familiar Mozart masterworks and one piece that is less well known.

These recordings come from 1970 and were made not in St. Martin's, but in St. John's, Smith Square, a historic church that is now a concert hall.

A print of St. John’s, Smith Square from 1814

The reviews were generally favorable. Here's Eric Salzman in Stereo Review: 

[The LP] offers an extraordinary amount of pleasure in the form of a warm and highly poetic version of K. 364 [the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola] - much more satisfactory than some highly touted and illustrious versions - and an elegantly melodic "night music." 

Marriner's favorite melodic phrasing - an arch with a subtle crescendo in the middle and a falling away at the end of the phrase - is heard to particularly good advantage in K. 525 [Eine kleine Nachtmusik]. It gives the music a kind of breathing, sighing, pastoral quality that is just right. 

K. 318 [the Symphony No. 32] is an oddity. It is called a symphony, but it obviously is not. It has a single movement - a big allegro, interrupted by a long andante and has the festive scoring of horns, trumpets, and drums in addition to the more common winds and strings. There are other peculiarities: the ambiguous opening, the unexpected andante in the original key, the truncated reprise, all of which somehow suggest the theater. It makes a nice, although hardly needed, extra. 

Neville Marriner

The Sinfonia Concertante is the masterwork on the program. Richard Wigmore described it as follows in The Gramophone:

The initial entry of the soloists, suspended high above the orchestra’s cadential phrases, is one of the most magical moments in any Mozart concerto; and as several performances reveal, the music’s grandeur, poetry and almost erotic yearning need not preclude a vein of frisky playfulness reminiscent of Mozart’s violin concertos. The Andante is a transfigured love duet triste that touches depths of desolation found elsewhere only in the Andantino of the Jeunehomme Piano Concerto, K271, and the Adagio of the A major Piano Concerto, K488. Mozart’s own cadenza then pushes the music to a new pitch of chromatic pathos. After the bereft, disconsolate close, the contredanse finale, virtually unshadowed by the minor key, bounds in with a glorious sense of physical relief.

Alan Loveday, Stephen Shingles

Shirley Fleming of High Fidelity was disappointed with the recording balance in the Sinfonia Concertante - she thought the soloists (Alan Loveday, violin, Stephen Shingles, viola) were too much in the background, a view I share.

Marriner obviously takes the work's designation to heart and conceives of it as an ensemble piece featuring two prominent instruments. I'm afraid I conceive of the work as a two-solo concerto, and I am therefore frustrated by the fact that the soloists - particularly the violist - often tend to be eclipsed by the orchestra.

Otherwise, the recording is excellent - and the disc should provide much listening pleasure.

LINK

Ronnie Deauville - The Early Recordings, Vol. 1

Today almost unknown, the gifted vocalist Ronnie Deauville had a short career disrupted by accident and illness. While he was unquestionably a Sinatra disciple, what set him apart was a hushed intensity and sincerity - even when singing with the big bands where he made his living.

This new series will present almost all of his early recordings - his commercial and transcription discs with Ray Anthony, most of his solo output, and airchecks with Anthony and Tex Beneke. The three-part series will include 60 recordings in all, covering the years 1947-51.

This first volume has Ronnie's solo and Ray Anthony discs from the 1940s, along with a Beneke aircheck from 1948, for a total of 24 songs.

About Ronnie Deauville

Born in 1925, Deauville became interested in singing in the Naval Air Corps during the World War II, with his particular inspiration being Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey band.

His first professional engagement following the war was with Glen Gray, followed by dates with Tex Beneke's band. He also spent a productive period with Ray Anthony's emerging ensemble, eventually building a nightclub career. He endured two huge setbacks in 1956 - a serious car accident, soon followed by a case of polio that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Eventually he resumed his singing career, but his paralysis made singing difficult. Deauville passed away at the age of 65 due to cancer.

The Super Disc and Signature Recordings

Billboard, February 7, 1948

A one-off 1947 recording for the small Super Disc label was apparently Deauville's first. Backed by pianist Ram Ramirez's combo, he recorded the Jimmy Van Heusen-Eddie DeLange standard "Deep in a Dream," a rapt performance that immediately demonstrated his special qualities as a singer. 

The backing was "Mad about You," which Super Disc considered the plug side, possibly because Ramirez co-wrote it. The record was released in December 1947 to some acclaim. The hit recordings of "Mad about You," however, were by Herb Lance and the Five Changes and by the Ravens.

Meanwhile, Ronnie had joined the band of Ray Anthony, who had a recording contract with another small label, Signature. The 1948 Musicians Union recording ban was closing in on the industry, so the band spent December 30, 1947 in the studio.

Deauville was featured on two items - the standard "Bye, Bye Blues" from 1930, along with one of the singer's finest records -  Leon René's "Gloria," which had been recorded previously by crooner Bob Hayward and by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, with a vocal by Charles Brown.

Billboard, September 11, 1948

Deauville's intense version is clearly an interior monologue - "She's not in love with you," he tells himself. All other recordings seem impersonal next to his. The backing is largely celeste with rhythm, with Anthony allotted a trumpet solo.

Ronnie would record "Gloria" twice more - once as a solo for Mercury (also in this set) and once as a Lang-Worth transcription, which will be in a future post. The song would later become a doo-wop classic in a somewhat different form. A new post on my other blog presents all the versions of "Gloria" mentioned above - along with a competing version of "It's Too Soon to Know," discussed below.

Also on the same date, the band recorded another ballad, "Passing Fancy," by Bob Hilliard and David Mann. Its coupling was "Peace of Mind," an ephemeral song by Murray, Goldman and Lawrence.

Signature, which must have seen something in Deauville, had him record as a solo artist as well as with Ray Anthony. First was a cover of the Perry Como hit "'A' You're Adorable," where Ronnie is joined by the Riddlers vocal group and the Bob Curtis Quartet. Next was a version of the Franco-American hit "Comme Ci, Comme Ça," also with Curtis.

Deauville's next record, with Ray Bloch, was a real departure - "Someday" from Rudolf Friml's operetta The Vagabond King. Ronnie's voice was made for the microphone, not the stage, but he is convincing in the piece, aided by a lush backing by Bloch's band. The yearning quality in Deauville's voice is just right for Brian Hooker's lyrics.

Bloch and Deauville also revived the excellent Robin-Rainger song "With Every Breath I Take" to good effect. This reading is very Sinatra-like, but the song was actually introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1934 film Here Is My Heart. Frank himself didn't record it until 1956.

The Mercury Recordings

The Mercury label released 10 recordings by Ronnie, eight of which are in this collection. These are of uncertain provenance. All except the last coupling have no accompaniment information. These may have been Signature recordings that Mercury acquired - or may even have been sourced from another label. 

"It's Too Soon to Know" was a giant R&B hit in 1948 for the Orioles, whose manager, Deborah Chessler, wrote the piece. It's the kind of material that was suited to Ronnie, and his reading holds up well. (The recordings by the Ravens and by the Orioles are discussed in a post on my other blog.)

Mercury also released a version of "Gloria," with the accompaniment primarily guitar and clarinet. This is probably not an alternate take from the Signature session.

"In the Rain" is a lovely song, the sort of ballad that was made for Ronnie. I believe this may have been a cover of a Gladys Palmer release on the Miracle label.

Another cover was "Recess in Heaven," which Johnny Getz wrote for Willis Threats to record. The hit version was, however, by Dan Grissom.

Much different, although still a cover, is "Brush Those Tears from Your Eyes," by Al Trace, Oakley Haldeman and Jimmy Lee, which was first recorded by Evelyn Knight.

Billboard January 8, 1949

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote the sublime "I Only Have Eyes for You" for Dick Powell to introduce in the 1934 musical Dames. Powell didn't record it until 1947, which disc may have stimulated Ronnie's recording. The Flamingos were to have a huge hit with the number in 1959.

Kurt Weill wrote one of his best songs, "Here I'll Stay," with Alan Jay Lerner for their 1948 concept musical Love Life. The song's earnest quality is perfect for Deauville.

Ronnie was apparently the first to record Gordon Burdge and J. Russel Robinson's "Portrait of Jennie," but another artist known for his quiet sincerity, Nat King Cole, had the hit.

Deauville apparently also recorded two songs for Mercury with Mitch Miller, but I have yet to come across them.

Airchecks with Tex Beneke

In 1948, former Glenn Miller vocalist/tenor saxophonist Tex Beneke was the leader of the official Miller ghost band. Deauville often performed with the band, with one of their broadcasts yielding six songs for this set.

Leading off, fittingly, is the Miller specialty "Moonlight Cocktail" from 1941. Ronnie was a very different singer from Ray Eberle (who recorded it first) and sounds a little ill at ease.

Tex Beneke

More in Deauville's line was "Laura," the eerily romantic song from David Raksin and Johnny Mercer. For some reason the arrangement keeps interrupting with loud snatches of Debussy.

"Encore, Cherie" is a song by Alice Simms and J. Fred Coots that Beneke had recorded with vocalist Garry Stevens. Here, Ronnie does it admirably.

Another Miller favorite is next - "Serenade in Blue" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, which is more suited to Deauville' strengths than "Moonlight Cocktail." Ronnie's lack of range trips him up at the close of the song.

Charles Trenet's "Beyond the Sea" has a haunted quality that suited Deauville very well.

The final song in this set, "Dreamy Lullaby," was a Frankie Carle specialty that the bandleader wrote with George Weiss and Bennie Benjamin. As the title may suggest, this was just right for Ronnie.

Next in this series will be a set of Lang-Worth Transcriptions and a group of airchecks, both with Ray Anthony and dating from about 1950.

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Big 10 on X (Twitter) - Yea or Nay

The Big 10-Inch Record has had a Twitter (now X) feed for several years, but I think it's time to put it to rest. X deprecates posts with links and favors posters who have a paid membership. Also, the site prizes "engagement" - i.e., provocative content and extreme opinions. My sense is that any posts I make to X are seen by only a minority of people who follow the account, making the work involved not worth the while.

However, I would be happy to find that there is a groundswell of support for continuing the feed. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.