CHET BAKER SINGS

Original released on 10" LP Pacific Jazz PJLP-11 (US, April 1954)

and on 12" LP Pacific Jazz PJ-1222 (US, 1956)

As Gerald Heard's liner notes point out, it's difficult to decide whether Chet Baker was a trumpet player who sang or a singer who played trumpet. When the 24-year-old California-based trumpeter started his vocal career in 1954, his singing was revolutionary; as delicate and clear as his trumpet playing, with a similarly bright and vibrato-free tone, Baker simply didn't sound like any previous jazz singer. His first vocal session, recorded in February 1954 (8 tracks), is so innocent-sounding it's like cub reporter Jimmy Olsen had started a new career as a jazz singer. The album's remainng six tracks, recorded in July 1956, are even more milk and cookies, thanks in no small part to syrupy material like Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been in Love Before" and Donaldson/Kahn's drippy "My Buddy." Choices from the earlier session like "My Funny Valentine" - arguably the definitive version of this oft-recorded song - and "There Will Never Be Another You" work much, much better. The spacious musical setting, a simple trumpet and piano-bass-drums rhythm section, is perfect for Baker's low-key style. Despite the few faults of song selection, "Chet Baker Sings" is a classic of West Coast cool jazz. (Stewart Mason in AllMusic)

ELVIS PRESLEY: The 2nd Album

Original released on LP RCA Victor LPM 1382

(US 1956, October 19)

If "Elvis" isn't quite as important historically as the "Elvis Presley" album that preceded it, that's only because it came second - musically, it's a more confident and bolder work than his debut, and in any other artist's output it would have been considered a crowning achievement. At the sessions for his first album, the singer and all concerned were treading into unmapped territory and not sure what they were doing or if they were ready for it - by September of 1956, when the three days of sessions behind the "Elvis" album took place, he was on top, a national phenomenon of a kind that hadn't been seen in music since Frank Sinatra a dozen years earlier, and he had some more experience recording. And with that confidence came better singing. The songs here were, for the most part, material that he knew well, with one new submission by Otis Blackwell. He slides through them seemingly effortlessly, transforming the 1940s country number "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" into a smooth rocker; roaring through the Little Richard numbers "Long Tall Sally," "Ready Teddy," and "Rip It Up"; returns to his blues roots with a killer rendition of Arthur Crudup's "I'm So Glad You're Mine" (a leftover, amazingly enough, from his first RCA session); and shows how refined his voice was becoming on the ballad "First in Line" and the sentimental favorite "Old Shep." (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

ELVIS PRESLEY Debut Album

Original released on LP RCA Victor LPM 1254

(US 1956, March 13)

Today it all seems so easy - RCA signs up the kid from Memphis, television gets interested at around the same time, and the rest is history. The circumstances surrounding this album were neither simple nor promising, however, nor was there anything in the history of popular music up to that time to hint that Elvis Presley was going to be anything other than "Steve Sholes' folly," which was what rival executives were already whispering. So a lot was unsettled and untried at the first of two groups of sessions that produced the Elvis Presley album - it wasn't even certain that there was any reason for a rock & roll artist to cut an album, because teenagers bought 45s, not LPs. The first of Elvis' RCA sides yielded one song, "Heartbreak Hotel," that seemed a potential single, but which no one thought would sell, and a few tracks that would be good enough for an album, if there were one. But no one involved knew anything for sure about this music. Seventeen days later, "Heartbreak Hotel" was released, and for about a month it did nothing - then it began to move, and then Elvis appeared on television, and had a number one pop single. The album Sholes wanted out of Elvis came from two groups of sessions in January and February, augmented by five previously unissued songs from the Sun library. This was as startling a debut record as any ever made, representing every side of Elvis' musical influences except gospel - rockabilly, blues, R&B, country, and pop were all here in an explosive and seductive combination. "Elvis Presley" became the first rock & roll album to reach the number one spot on the national charts, and RCA's first million dollar-earning pop album. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

YMA SUMAC: "Legend Of The Sun Virgin"

Original released on LP Capitol L299

(US, 1952)

All hands on deck from Yma Sumac, those brave muchachos who support her towering multi-range octaves lucky not to get blown away to kingdom come. Differing between songs which concentrate on arousing body and mind, Sumac deals with each challenge making it a lasting pleasure, beautiful, twisting "Suray Surita", belly dancing cantina piece "Ccori Canastitay" typical of its rich lush genre, "Zana" making purists rattle their arthritic fists until Nurse Lopez comes around at 6pm with those nice multi-coloured pills. Sumac's vocals here are as more opera-inflected than on "Voice of the Xtbay," frequently sounding too over the top for the arrangements. While Sumac's voice fit perfectly over Les Baxter's tiki exotica, it feels a bit out of place over the music of Maises Vivatica with it's over-the-top Latin music feel. Slower tracks such as "Suray Surita" and "Lament" brings back some of the epic B-movie stylings of her last album, but most songs seem like they can't quite make of their mind what it is they're going for. It's never bad, but rarely captivating. Yma Sumac had a great voice with a wide range, and her command of it is impressive here. The songs by Moises Vivanco are sometimes light and fun, sometimes quite haunting. Admittedly, though, this album is an acquired taste. (in RateYourMusic)

NILLA PIZZI: "Souvenir d'Italia" (1954 - 1961)

Alfred Hitchcock's Five Movie Original Scores

On a Velvet Carpet

Original released on LP Capitol T-720

(US, 1956)

LOUIS PRIMA: "The Wildest!" + Bonus Tracks

Original released on LP Capitol T755

(US 1956, October 1)

A collection of jump blues and classic jazz numbers played with such frenetic energy and grinding libido that some of the songs almost swagger their way into rock & roll territory. Louis Prima (1910-12-07 > 1978-08-24) hams his way through the vocals in a way that is almost self-parody, but the music itself (including Prima's own peppy trumpet playing) is so bold and full of vitality that the singer's silliness can be ignored for the sheer pleasure of hearing what was then perhaps the best party band in the country. Wild, swinging, bombastic music which can be enjoyed by anyone of any age in any era. I loved this album so much (from the very first song) that I started dancing to it right away. And nope, I don't think I've heard of Prima before (feel free to flame me) but felt that his husky jazzy swinging voice was familiar. Oh wait, he was the King Louie orangutan in Disney's "Jungle Book" as the king of the swingers! Seriously, "The Wildest!" is just too much fun, especially the friendly banter duet with Louis' then-wife Keely Smith, who, incidentally passed away on 2017, December 16th. Their "Just a Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody" performance (which you may also recognize after David Lee Roth's cover) is hysterical (find it on YouTube) as the husband and wife act! The album is an infection collection of top big band, swing, and jump blues hits. This one is a keeper! Cha-ching! (in AllMusic)

The Swinging Guitar Of JORGEN INGMANN

 

Original released on LP Mercury MG-20200 

(US, 1956)

PAST PERFECT: Italiano Americano

PERCY FAITH: "Passport To Romance"

Original released on LP Columbia CL 880

(US, 1956)

PEGGY LEE: "Black Coffee"

Original released on LP 10" Decca DL 5482 (US 1953, August 3)

and on LP 12" Decca DL 8358 (US, May 1956)

Peggy Lee left Capitol in 1952 for, among several other reasons, the label's refusal to let her record and release an exotic, tumultuous version of "Lover." Lee was certainly no Mitch Miller songbird, content to loosen her gorgeous pipes on any piece of tripe foisted upon her; she was a superb songwriter with a knowledge of production and arrangement gained from work in big bands and from her husband, Dave Barbour (although the two weren't together at the time). The more open-minded Decca acquiesced to her demand, and watched its investment pay off quickly when the single became her biggest hit in years. "Black Coffee" was Lee's next major project. Encouraged by longtime Decca A&R Milt Gabler, she hired a small group including trumpeter Pete Candoli and pianist Jimmy Rowles (two of her favorite sidemen) to record an after-hours jazz project similar in intent and execution to Lee Wiley's "Manhattan project" of 1950, Night in Manhattan. While the title-track opener of "Black Coffee" soon separated itself from the LP - to be taught forever after during the first period of any Torch Song 101 class - the album doesn't keep to its concept very long; Lee is soon enough in a bouncy mood for "I've Got You Under My Skin" and very affectionate on "Easy Living." (If there's a concept at work here, it's the vagaries of love.) Listeners should look instead to "It Ain't Necessarily So" or "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You?" for more examples of Lee's quintessentially slow-burn sultriness. Aside from occasionally straying off-concept, however, "Black Coffee" is an excellent record, spotlighting Lee's ability to shine with every type of group and in any context. [When originally recorded and released in 1953, "Black Coffee" was an eight-song catalog of 78s. Three years later, Decca commissioned an LP expansion of the record, for which Lee recorded several more songs. The 2004 Verve edition is therefore a reissue of the 1956 12-song LP.] (John Bush in AllMusic)

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 21

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 20