Variety (Nov 1948)

ITedneeday, November 17, 1948 ORCHESTRA-lHrVSIC Woody Hennan's Band Blows Head' Tones When Court Grabs library Caphol Add PA's Woody Herman's orchestra had-f' its library impounded by the New York City sheriff last week as a result of a second suit filed agamst Hollywood, Nov 16 him by his foimer attorney-man- Capitol Records has hired Jack agers, Goldfarb, Mirenburg, and i Dailcy, lor last four years with Co- Vallon. Library was taken from jumbia Pictures' htiidio drum-beat- tlie leader at the Royal Roost, N.Y., where he is workingj and returned: ■ few days later pending a court ruling on an application to vacate the write of; attachment. N. y. supreme Court Justice Benedict D. Dineen yesterday (Tuesday) re- served decision on the motion. Herman, in the interim, has worked without the book of - ar- rangements, his band, like many others, 'being capable of doing so. In attempting to vacate the at- ,taehment writ, as it applied to the library, Herman's lawyers pointed out that under the American Fed- eration of Musicians' Form B con- tract, the buyer of the band is the employer, hence the money he pays for it does not belong to the leader himselfr but mostly to bis musi- cians. Form* B, however, is . no longer in existence. But, N. Y. state StllL agrees with its concepts in so • far as the payment of unemploy- ment and social security taxes are 'concerned. It demands the spot • owner pay them; On t h e other ; hand, Herman is said to be paying the taxes himself while at the Roost. In relation to the impoimded' library angle of the writ. Herman's attorneys contended that the ar^r rangements were the "tools of his trade." This was answered to the effect that the law states a man is entitled to retain such tools up to the value of $400 and the library of 200 tunes is worth approximate- ly $15,000. - Argument between Herman and his former handlers stems from last year, when Herman cancelled a pact with them that had four and j a . half years to go. At the same time, he left General Artists Corp; to ?o with a new booking agency called Continental Artists. He has ' Since . returned lo' .GAO and: Con- tlnental is. dissolved. Attorneys had filed an action against him in N.Y; supreme court. About a week afo they filed a second action, asking for commis- sions dive on tlie abrogated pact from the time the first suit was filed, until now. And the writ of attachment was applied for at the i«mt time, asking not only to Impound the band's library pend- ing the posting of a bond, but also on the band's salary at the Roost. Two weeks of Herman's coin was grabbed, but .the court subsequent: ly released one-half of it. Band is getting $3,500 weekly. 4S Prof. Clinton Lariy Clinton makes unusual use of the time spent travelling by bus between one-nighters. He's been conducting an acranging class for musicians within his band. Eight of the men now with his outfit are graduates of the Phila- delphia Schlllinger music school, and Clinton, who has for years had a reputation as one of the music industry's finest arrangers, is fill- ing out their book leamin' via his New AM Pay Rule on Touring Bands Makes Leaders Wary of Local Gunmick Fraskie Carle III East:.Liverp0ol, :O., Nov. 16.. ';■ Frankie Carle, had to cancel two engagements in Pennsylvania when - Bandleaders and booking agents are somewhat apprehensive about the American Federation • of Musi< clans ruling of last week, to the effect that, effective Jan. 1, salaries of name bands and musicians play- ing corps, as Coast publicity direc „„ uus. experience. Guys work with him i he suffered ptomaine here Wedncs- ing theatres will be governed bv on the bus they use to travel be-i.,„ nm either nationM ir.v^iin^n^ Addition of Dailey brings Cap's local crew of tub-thumpers to three. Courtney Jockeys For Window Dressing Alan Courtney launched what is probably New York's first show- window disk jock show Monday (15). He's doing a 90-minute broadcast daily except Sundays from Garrison's Restaurant, occu- PyinR a 12:30 to 2 p.m. spot on WLIB, and caUing it "Guesting from Garrison's " RESERVE VERDICT ON PUBS VS. DIAMOND N. Y. Supreme .Court Justice Bernard D. Dineen last week re- served decision on a motion for summary judgment made by Harry Fox and 12 publishers against Diamond Records. As trustee for various pubs. Fox and the other plaintiffs sought an accounting on the charge that Diamond had fail- ■ed to pay royalties on around 40 songs. Diamond already has a $40,000 day night (10). | either national traveling or local Leader was stricken after his or- "whichever is higher." They ehestra arrived from ^exingto. j ^^S'?, - Ky., and played for a local VFW j the traveling band scale established dance. Members of his outfit pre- by the national AFM office, as a ceded him to New York. Majestic Fed Tax Rap Claim For $449,345 Couitnev works in fh« . I Ju<l8™ent standing against it which , profits and unemployment taxes Playing an alien terri lai-^rSw using Kuests sf,rh^« ^^'^ Government to for 1946 to 1948. C Tomm V X^^pv Tjf l{f« t f . <lelinquent excise taxes. Head and^ Ah*. RnrrL. t ^1"*'"''"^ recording company is Irvin dhfk sninnin^ %n«t °. '"if ^i^u"?^**.^' *s involved in a disk spinning. Spot is a half-block legal battle with pianist Jan Au- gust. . from Radio City. Songwriters Allowed I To Intervene in Suit j On Disking Royalties! Songwriters Larry Barbro and| Marty Napoleon last week were | granted the right by N. V. Federal, Court Judge Samuel H. Kaufman' to intervene in a suit brought by 1 Thomas Jordan against Jimmie Franklin and Harry Fo,\:. Action 1 involves royalty money received, by Fox as agent and trustee on I earnings of the tune. "They All' Recorded to Beat the Ban." Intei'venors claim that prior to ^Nov, 1947, they, alon« with, Franklin, wrote "Beat the Ban,", and in Jan., 1948, handed Frank-; lin the publication rights Barbro i and Napoleon also alleKe llial Fox jssue a license to Damon Record-1 mg Studios to wax the number for! Franklin's Royal Mu.sic Publish-1 ing Co., but an accounting of the' profits has not been made on thi.s' deal. I . Suit seeks an injunction en- joining Fox from paying Royal and al.so a.sks that Franklin be com- pelled to account to the inter-1 venors. Action further alleges that, ■ .JW : purported agreements . be^ ] tween Jordan and his publisher-1 partner Franklin were made with-] out the intervenors' consent. In , "IS own suit Jordan wants half the profits from the song's recording! royalties. Last July he was granted a temporary restraining' order by Federal Judge Sylvester «yan halting Fox from disposing Oi the royalty coin. means of keeping traveling bands out of thei? territory h6t>ing to in* crease the \yotk ©ppbjritunities foir • local musicians, 'i': Though it isn't likely ili.it AFM I6cs(fe win be-able =tb: induce a d^^^^ jluxe vaudfilmer to bypass n&nies Chicago, Nov. 16. i^^^°r of local combos by raising Federal tax claim for $449,345 scales, since the locals in most was filed here last week against i couldn't produce the same Majestic Radio and Television ' p-"-value, agents and maestros see Corp., and its subsids. Classic Rec- ' 'o"ls trying it. Too, increased ords and Majestic Records. Claim fp^'es for even travelling musicians 1.5 for income, withholding, excess i boosts a local's take, since each ~ ■ name banti playing an alien terri- . /tory: pays the local involved a tax Claim was filed in connection .."i 'ts salary. , . with the reorg of the corporation,' When it issued the new scale di- foUowlng the sale by court action Tective over, a week ago, the. AFM of Majestic Records and Classic | did not inform individual locals ot ~ ' . . - . . • jits move, preferring to let them jlearn of it through the next issue iot thte ijyFM's International Must^ jcian, ^ It; notified M agencies, ; }hbw«ver, but did hot suMly- tljein ; writh; ' the ;,. vaWous., local ::'s^^ ! thrQUghout the cotintry. Agents , have had to contact each iiidiyidual local to dfetei-mine ■ where mUsi' ;cians' prices will be effected. So i far, only New York, Cleveland and ^ ilfartford have been found to have J local scales that are higher than [traveling band scales. New Ydri^'ljs . Lbcal 802; incidentalijf, ihtroducea the measure to the AFM. ■ ■ Records assets in October. F. MARTIN (Victor) 15 E .. "Slow Boa t to China;; PATTI PAGF-V. DAMONE (Mer) 15P "Say Something Sweet". FIVE TOP ALBUMS CHRISTMAS ALBUM Ring Croiby Decca . ;■ ■ <5-,V;''"./ PROGRESSIVE JAZZ Album No. 2 Slan Ktnlen C'lpitol I JAZZ AT ■•HIIHARMONIC Album No. 8 Mercury PREVIN flAYS THE PIANO Andro Provin Victor SONO HITS l»J7-43 Varitd ArNttt Decca . Duke Ellington Boffo At Carnegie Hall In 6tli Annual Concert Duke Ellington rocked Carnegie Hall, N Y., with one of his old- fashioned jump recitals Saturday night (13). Returning for his ■ sixth annual one-niter in this staid ; concert liall, the jazz maestro broke , away from a stuffy tradition estab- lished during his previous engage'- : ments in Carnegie Hall. This year the Ellington crew beat a retreat I from its recent pseudo-classical Imelanges into the domain of solid 1 jazz, where ' it has few, if any, equals. As a result, the near-capaci- ty house, at a $3.60 top. responded with far more spirit than was evi- dent formerly and paid $5,400 into the till. Teeing off with a series of pow- erful numbers such as "Three Cent Stomp" and "Suddenly It Jumped," Ellington's orch displayed its trade- mark characteristic ot executing intricate arrangements in a clean, I sharp, freewheeling and yet firmly controlled style. Backed by his superlative crew of . sidemen, El- lington fa.shioned driving jazz patr - terns without the eccentricities of be-bop or the cliches of straight ■ pop bands. Three 'new pieces were show-- cased among a flock of standards. "The Tattoed Bride," by Ellington, and "Manhattan Murals," by Billy Strayhorn and Ellington, arc straight instrumenlals with tricky elaborations. "Lush Life," a sophis- ticated torch number by Strayhorn, bowed in with a sock vocal by Kay DjiVis: Miss Davis also delivered an olf,stage soprano accompaniment to "Creole Love Call" with plenty of dramatic appeal. Albert Hibbler,! the band's blind crooner, also, scored heavily late in the program with "Don't Be Mean To Me" and "Love Come Back To Me." High points of the , concert were " furnished, however, by the instru- mentalists whe were spotlighted in a scries of solos. Johnny Hodges, on the alto sax, was flawless in I'Brown Betty," while Ben Webster, . in a tenor sax solo on ''How High the Moon," rated the night's hefti- est applause. Ray Nance and Al Killian, on trumpet; Harry Carney, baritone sax: Lawrence Brown, trombone; Al Sears, tenor sax, and Wendell Marshall, strfng bass, were among the other standout solo per- formers. Herm,