Variety (August 1949)

An|pi>t 10» 1949 ORCBESTRAS-MIJSIC 4S Jocks, Jukes and Disks By BERNIE WOODS Williams*. “Slidin* and Glidin'’ (Mercury) . . . Louis Prima is try- ing the spaghetti circuit again with his ‘‘For Mari-Yootch” (Victor). Standout western, race, polka, hillbilly, spiritual, etc.: Spade Cooley, “Don’t Call Me Sweet- heart Anymore” (Victor); Johnson „ _ . . „, 5 *K itiM ' f*«*nily Singers, “God Is My Land- Como “Give Me J"'® *!?* I lord” (Columbia); Tennessee Ernie, r._ ...* 1 . ¥ XlnA Q 1 ^ KflOW, frOITl tllC 1 Mmintain “I Wish 1 Had a Record ?/! ♦/.r) One of the fine.st record K Como ever made, “Give M. Hand” has a hot chance to a solid smash. A dra- Tm” »"'• Como spins »t with Mies Impact than even his ®"i^..Smtation" and ‘'Prisoner of >. jjides. Flipover is a rhythm^ St ‘‘TemUtion iSwiy with little to recommend S liSepting Como’s bounce per- S,rS5in?e. which could move it. Andrews Sisters I Can Dre M-G-M film, “Midnight Kiss.” A rivp^vua ■ Jstrong ballad melody. Case batons it with salesmanship, aided by the Quintones’ vocal. Song and disk could hit heavily. He works well, too, with "All Year,” which isn’t quite as powerful a tune. Stuart Foster vocals. Eddy Duchin “There’s Yes Yes In .Your Eyes”-“Who Do You Know In Heaven”; “Through A Long and Sleepless Night” - “Now That I Need You” (Harmony). Columbia Smokey Mountain Boogie” (Cap- itol); Ray Smith, “I’m Throwing Rice” (Columbia); Jackie Paris Trio, “Lonesome Lover Blues”- “Tormented” (M - G - M); Dude Martin. “I Always Had A Way With Women” (Victor); Skeeto Yaney, “I’m Sealing This Letter With Tears” (Columbia); Joe Turner. “Boogie Woogie Baby’ (M-G-M). Key Mid-Maiihattan Music Merchant Views AD 3 Speeds as hevitable ♦ Meyer Rabson, who is a key : music-radio merchant in mid- Manhattan, and is often an im- portant barometer on public tastes to the music and radio bu.siness on Broadway, is of the opinion that the new phonograph record speed.s must eventually catch on. "All . . f ^ these are additions to the better a senes of . livlnc. Who would have thouKhI of the Nashville Youth Fund, under i on 9 ir..as« «.oi. Dinah’s Tenn. Benefits Nashville. Aug. 9. Dinah Shore is due here Aug. 19 for her first personal appear- ance in her home area in a couple of years. Singer has agreed to do Dream, \ Andrew* tMSiers f’jjii lUar-^ turning out good disks on its p"'.) ‘ De cs, Iwo ‘;«enen't'49c labe/ These four by Duchin lene «.hinh h'is a fine ''‘’‘•"y* Yes Yes and Heaven, •i.'ll’jl.' .0 cUck ^big. ^ "I Can ; •>oth >n rhythm and with vocals chance Dream rarrips**a easily topping the conipanion disk, most of which carries You“ Is okay, but Tommy standout solo "^^ohoims Mercer’s vocal of "Sleepless Night" »l^the'Go"rdo"in^^?ch5ra’ -'-"vn ,he averace. an** ctnoV, Qn ia tVig u a commercial cinch. So is the reverse, however, a smooth trio rersion of the top English hit now being pushed here. Ywo tunes, wpaFat?ly. are among the best the trio has cut. They re brings down the average. Platter Pointers BaDplayers On the auspices of the Nashville Ban- ner, afternoon daily. Miss Shore will also make an appearance in her home town, Winchester, 90 miles from here. Hubby George Montgomery won’t come along since he’s due to start a new film in Hollywood Aug. 10. ^ MB ca iiv ▼▼ laataA w Waxing BaD: piano team’s fam Columbia Records aims to take advantage of the many new re- cordings made for major labels by Bill Darnell presents an unsual 1 baseball stars, olus the great come- vie Damone “My Bolero’ and attractive style on his first Coral pairing, “So Much” - “Hot Cake, Hominy and Sassafras Tea back by Joe DiMaggio, by reissu- ing a disking of the pop tune, “Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio,” Song, by beautifully backed by Jenkins , ^ delivered. Iliads ' di.i;-jiek"e; Xian” Courtney'rnd"'. ^ — for name bands, the two sides ex- -- - - y . “Through a Long and Sleepless ^ hibit a vocal groove far from that Night” (Mercury). Now riding. path. They’re different, and good, high with “You’re Breaking My l. , . Dennis Day delved into hill- Heart,” Damone has a chance at billy in good style with “Hand another hit in the “Bolero” side of Holdin’ Music” (Victor) . . . Car- this disk. An attractive tune, a men Cavallaro’s pianistics flare lightheavy of the “Ballerina type, brightly on “Miami Beach collaborator, was released origin- ally in 1941, cut by Les Brown’s orchestra. It was backed then by “Nickel ‘Serenade,” which will again become the companion piece. DiMaggio himself recently fin- ished recording a kiddie album for Mar” Capitol Records, which will be re- lea.sed soon. Prior to that, Pee Damone cuts it solidly and R^ts I Rhumba” - "Cancion D e 1 excellent assistance from a band (Decca), latin-beat tunes Erected by Glen Osser. Bscking; doubled Leeds’ plug tune, 1 Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson, is Mercury’s version of a nieloc y -someday.” into hillbilly, with Brooklyn Dodger players, had cut that doesnt Impress under a male Arthur Smith, backed by the best a kiddie set for Columbia Records. vocal, bamone’s work on it is fair. Doris Day “The Last Mile Home”—“Land of Love” (Colum- bia). Miss Day’s “Last Mile” is every bit as good as Bing Crosby’s (Decca). A fine tune with cvery- version of “Dime A Dozen” so far. . . . Tommy Tucker also cut a saleable version of “Someday” (Harmony) , . . One of the liveliest polka outfits to hit wax is batoned by Mickey and Mary Carton a kiddie set for Columbia Records. A while back. Decca Records is- m sued a tune, written and recorded j Spitzer Maps Lon^rcr by Buddy Johnson, titled. “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?” And there’s a disk by Dod- gers Ralph Branca. Carl Furillo television 20 years ago? Even with I radio we had sales resistance prob- lems but eventually prices were brought dpwn, radios were com- bined with phonograph record play- ers; and .so, in time, the manufac- turers will Combine the standard 78 rpm with the LP and the 4.'i.s, and all the present confusion will I be eliminated,” I He admits, of course, as with _ other dealers that for the moment DATE AND DECCA DISKS Eadie and Rack, piano team, will play at the Nieman-Mareus annual fashion show in Dallas over the Labor Day weekend. Rack is com- posing a special score for the event. Jacques Fath, fashion designer, will also be on handvto receive this year’s citation. Duo recently inked a recording pact with Decca. their first platters from the “South Pacific” score to be relea.sed .Aug. 22 . Team is currently at the Blue Angel, N. Y. Instead of shutter- ing during the summer months, the nitery is remaining open with only the keyboard couple playing in the outer room. thingreou red for h t classification^ their “County Fair” zooms,. ^ . . . jiimn fans and in^kc u-ill po fnr •''"d I'-rv Palica. on the Apollo label there are other factors. Besides I the uncertainty of which speed, the weather is naturally not conducive I to playing records at home, and then too the economic picture is even more uncertain than such I relatively minor thing as which of the three disk speeds will survive. As a practical retailer, in direct touch with his customcra, Rabson knows that the basic elements of ' space-saving and cost can’t be ig- nored, The average record collec- tor has from $100 to $1,000 worth of records, and when Rabson points up how much less space those disks take in the new sizes, not to men- tion their unbrcakability since they’re all in vinylite, all argument ! ceases. It must follow that, even though the 78 rpm customers will rjx * xj remain important for years to olRyS in ilOliyWOOu lome, the retooling of new phono- Henry Spitzer, who set up his ' graph players to include all three music publishing firm last fall after speeds must eventually work to the it’s given a smart run by Miss Day and a choinis. backed by John . . , Jump fans and jocks will go for ^ ^ Ziggy Elman’s “Carolina In The Brooklyn Dodger Jump. Rarig’s orchestra. Jocks will be Morning” - "Boppin’ With Zig, spinning it aplenty. Backing is a (M-G-M) two solid sides . . . Varsity most interesting melody hard to, reissued three Majestic items by describe. It may or may not catch attention, but it’s worth any jock’s Percy Faith’s large band; they’re all powerfully played standards. time. Singer performs it beau- j "Hancing In The Dark”-“Tempta- “Wouldn't It Be Scotch Polka tifully. Art Mooney Fun” — "Hop (M-G-M-). First tune is a novelty-type tune chorused by, Mooney’s entire band in staccato -1 rhythm style. It’s playable. On' the reverse he planted an ar- j rangement of "Scotch Hop,” which j is getting a lot of attention; it’s j close musically to Billy Whitlock’s | (London) version, but an added Ingredient is the band’s chorus- ing again. It’s good and could: click. i Anne Shelton “Wedding of Lili Marlene”—“Hold Me Ju.st a Little j Closer, Dear” (London). A good ^ version of “Lili.” Miss Shelton’s i try is not the equal of the Andrews j trio disk, but in itself proves a very worthwhile face. Wardour Singers and Paul Fenoulhet’s; orchestra back the Engli.sh singer j who by now has established her-, wlf to .some extent in the U. S. | Backing is a fair tune unlikely to mean much. Inrlnr Fields “Scalawag”—“That' Wonderful Girl of Mine” (Victor). | Neither of these sides may be hits,, hut they’re worthy of jock attention ! because they’re off the beaten ar- MBgement path, yet commercial. Fields’ piano, a sort of shuffle rtythm and chorusing by the small hand make the "Scalawag” side hstenable over and over. “Girl” hasn’t the same amount of appeal, hut is good ne^rtheless. Dick Haymes “Song of Surren- der"—"Circus” (Decca). Haymes a much better job on “Sur- render” than any prior recordings ®t the title tune of a new Para- mount film. But It still isn’t im- as a possible hit. A chorus and Victor Young’s orchestra back him. “Circus” is .something else. A good tune, it’s smartly done by naymes and a chorus, almost matching Tony Martin’s face (Vic- Goon-Bones Aint slie Sweet”-“Shiek of Ara- ^ 'Ciysfalite). These Crystalite huggest where Milt llerth f®!” ‘lis "Ain’t She 1 which Variety ^ weeks ago as a possible -4 i)iL These disks w'cre then «-- 3 *hg in the midwest. Paired ■^angements involving two stand- organ and sore/a dicky and should hationallv. They «nd they re dilltrent tion”: “That Old Black Magic”- “All Through the Night”; “Begin the Beguine” - “Touch of Your Harmony reissued fair Hhnd” Artie Shaw’s “The Blues' Jump kids will click with Cootie Tops of the Tops Retail Disk Best Seller “.Some Enchanted Evening” Retail Sheet Music Seller “Some Enchanted Evening” “Most Requested” Disk “Some Enchanted Evening” Seller on Coin Machines “Some Enchanted Evening” leaving as general manager of the Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris organiza- tion, has Ica.sed, with an option to buy, a home outside Hollywood. ^ Hereafter, he will divide his time between Nev/ York and the Coast. Spitzer made the move mainly because of his family, but also be- cause he expects to spend a con- siderable time in Hollywood strengthening business conncction.s that couldn’t be made while he was with Morris, since the Hollywood end was handled by Morris himself. merchandising upbeat of the new records. Disk Jockey Review t 2. ROOM FULL OF ROSES (3) (Hill & 3. AGAIN (21) : 5. 10 Best Sellers on Coin-Machines .6 1. 4 . 6. BALI HA’I (8) (Williamson) 7. WONDERFUL GUY (8) (Williamson) 8 . 9. 10 . Second Croup 'X FOUR WINDS. SEVEN SEAS (Lombardo) . YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART (Algonquin) MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE (Triangle) EVERYWHERE YOU GO (Lombardo) I Sammy Kaye Victor I Guy Lombardo Dccca Vic Damone Mercury ( Dick Hayrne.i Decca I Connie llaines Coral )Guy Lombardo Decca I Doris Day Columbia DIXELAND JAZZ With Roger Wolfe 6U Mins., Sat. Sustaining, WDSU, New Orlcons “Dixieland Jazz’ is 60 minutc.s of good jazz—the real, mellow stuff and Roger Wolfe really sells it. One of tho.se credited with the re- naissance of jazz in the old Crescent City, Wolfe is a lover of Dixieland, knows and tells why it is good. His enthusiasm and knowledge come warmly over (he airlani'S. .Style is on informal, ea.sy-going side,With Wolfe interpolating facts and information on disks, tunes and sidemcn, as w'cll as interviews with jazz notables to hold audience. His approach to the business of plat- tcr-.spinnlng is considerably more adult than that of the standard needleworker. Among other things, bebop and such decadence is scorned by Wolfe, but per- formers like Sharkey Bonano, Wingy Manone, Kid Ory, Bunk John.son and Papa Celestin are among tho.se who give out. Wolfe’s n>anner is friendly with- out slopping over, and his ch.nlter between tunes rates much higher than filler. Linz. YES YES IN YOUR EYES (Remick) WHERE ARE YOU (Famous) MERRY GO ROUND WALTZ (Shaplro-B) bounce ^ Kqpw. T Know. I Case u ♦ Round’’ (M-G-M). disks TV.- ®®* exceptional excelion* second, carried two ot string-full arrangements LET’S TAKE OLD FASHIONED WALK (Berlin) \‘'perry^ Como \ Blue Barron M G M (Carmen Cavallaro Dccca Doris Day Columbia \ Guy Lombardo Decca I Art Mooney M-G-M S Bing Crosby Decca (Kay Starr Capitol . Billy Ecksiine M G M ( Vaughn Monroe V'icfor I Mills Bros. Dt cca \ Evelyn Knight Decca I Blue Barron .MOM 1 F'ran Warren Virior I Dinah Shore Columbia HOW IT LIES (Morris) SOMEHOW (Algonquin) SOMEDAY (Duchess) .. YOU’RE SO UNDF.R.STAXDING (Barron-Pemora) HOMEWORK (Berlin) IFigures in parentheses indicate number oj veeks song boa been in the Top 10.1 Band Review HENRY BUSSE ORCH (16) With Phil Gray. Moose Prager Statler Hotel, N. Y. Henry Bu.sse’.s initial location (late in a long time brings him into ihe Statler with a surprisingly good commercial type band, one that works cleanly and with good mu.cicianship, all based on a com- paratively brief hearing- opening night (Monday), It’s composed of five bra.ss, four sax, three violins and three rhythm, plus the rotund personality of the leader and his sugary, b.o.-aimed trumpet. Busse still employs the com- mercial touches that have for > eai s marked his bands—the shuffle rhythm, trumpeting style, etc., but it’s ail coupled to a more varied arranging style. The band will often work through arrangements that are more or less modern in approach to pops and novelties, then turn and deliver one of older arrangements geared more closely to (he shuffle rhythm idea. ! Briefly, Ru.sse turns in extremely plea.sant music that is neither fish nor fowl, that is. it’s neither strictly modern nor old timey. but a combination of both. And it’s good to listen to. Whether he will do bu.sine.ss in this room, however, is another que.stion. In recent months it has been a toughie for any combination of values. Wood.