Variety (November 1954)

60 MUSIC BandRe views f ill 1 ■ | I THE PIERSON THAL ORCH (6) With Sol Feldman Flame, Phoenix Pierson Thai combo picks up the beat from the A1 Overend orch, which checked out after more than three years on the Flame bandstand, and is keeping the patrons happy with an arrest- ing dansapation output. Band lines up with piano, drums, bass, horn and two saxes, an in- strumental setup that favors a library of tunes leaning strongly to the sweet and mellow. Thai’s distinctive arrangements, combined with his knowing key- board work, lifts the band out of the routine category and imparts a beaucoup beat and polish that registers strongly with the hoof- ologists. Band plays two hours of dinner music prior to a lengthy rugcut- ting sesh, then cuts loose with a well-pad(ied book of pops, novel- ties and Latunes, Rhumbatempoed “What a Difference a Day Makes” and crisp version of “Tea for Two” are standouts, augmenting gener- ous helpings of old faves. and latterday standards. Sol Feldman handles the vocal output arid turns in an okay job. Jona. JOE VERA ORCH (5) Hotel Muelilebach, Kansas City. This is the second date In the Picardy Cafe of Hotel Muehlebaqh in less than a year for Joe Vera. His previous stand here lasted more than a year. This turn Vera is providing a slightly different flavor, featuring as always his able keyboard finger- ings, but adding a bit of uptown jazz to his acknowledged Latin and rhythm arrangements. Outfit is lined with vets here, Vaughn Busey on reeds, Turney Gibson doubling violin and vibra- harp, Rube Gomez on bass fiddle and Jack Miller on drums. Lead is switched back and forth between the fiddle, vibra-haYp and sax, with Vera always in the middle to back buo.vdcvst Mi'sir. i\r. SI.'. ' " 3 . ■ - ■ i I A ( PfiRi&rr up and take a big share of the lead work. " Vera rep stems from dates which go back six or eight years, and is now Well established. Crew Is one which upholds standards of pre- vious outfits, and is expected to hold the Picardy assignments for many weeks. Quin « Low-Budgeted Herman Pkge. in Philly Concert Philadelphia, Nov. 16. Cued by the costly failures of jazz shows that have been playing the Academy of Music with tops running as high a? $4 and even $4.75, Guber-Ford Attractions, of this city, has skedded a lower- budget package to play at the Met, North Philly arena which custom- arily houses fight bills. 'tabbed “Murder at the. Met,” concert will play two shows Nov. 30. Bill includes Woodj: Herman’s orchestra, Erroll Garner Trio, Bil- lie Holiday and the Orioles. Miss Holiday’s entrance into the package stems from the fact that she is headliner week of Nov. 29 at co- producer Lee Guber’s Rendezvous, midtown music name showcase. Emory Cook Continued from page 54 SSSSS Corpus Christi, Texas, jams the piano, with Dud Skiles on trumpet, to recreate Laredo, Texas, in their album, “Camp Has 'A Ball.” Hidden music from the Carib- bean (Vera Cruz, Port au Prince, 1 Haiti and Jamaica) is captured on the “Caribeana” album, with such odd instrumental cavalcades as Jarana & Harp, Asturian bagpiper, “calypsoid” band, the Huestecan Trio from Vera Cruz, Tiroro’s Drums from Haiti, and the like. “Calliope and Carousel” captures the fast-vanishing 19th century circus atmosphere; and “Marimba Band” has six rnen performing on a 23-foot marimba from Oaxaca, in the south' of Mexico, and this package is inelegantly subbilled “to hell with high-fidelity” or “high- fidelity recording" of a low-fidelity subject.” Tiroro, “the best drummer in Haiti” (see “Caribeana”) gets a solo treatment, just titled “Tiroro,” who uses a single drum but gets a lot of graduation and volume and pitch _out of it, although 12- inch of LP, two sides, is a lot of skin off one platter. More Ameri- cana is A1 Brundage’s “Square Dance.” * A 10-inch LP job, also on Cook’s, but this time as part of the ] “Sounds of Our Times” series is Bruce Prince Joseph's “Pedal Harpsichord.” And from Boston’s Unicorn label, in the same idiom, is a fancy 12-inch LP featuring twin Bodky in “Music of the Baro- que Era for Harpsichord and Cla- vichord.” It should be added that Unicorn, perhaps as an antidote to this harpsi and clavi jam ses- sion also issued simultaneously a 10-incher titled Bob (Elliott) & Ray (Goulding), those a.m. AM zanies around the Manhattan air- waves, in as slick an anthology of madcap humor as one would want on any platter. Their satirical stuff, sometimes too flip and fast for first-time sampling, may well be savored and resampled at leisure, thanks to this showmanly package. As the feller once said, In this day and age of offbeat and savvy, wax showmanship, we ain’t heard nuthin’ yet between the covers of an LP. Abel. Fisher Fans .mp—^ Continued from page 1 a— in past years has starred the orch with a pair of top singers and gave performances Friday and Saturday —admission free. This year, with a single star and one performance, auditorium was filled at 7 p.m., when manager Clarence Hoff had to close the doors and turn thou- sands away. Those who remained inside made almost a shambles of the concert, teenagers . flocking around the raised stage to glimpse Fisher in his two singing stints and crowding around the box in which Debbie Reynolds sat nearby. Although no one was seriously injured, the first aid station had one of its busiest nights. In a vain effort, maestro Hans Schwieger switched a Becond-half program number from the soft “Clair de Lune” to the more bom- bastic “Stars and Stripes Forever,” but possibly gained a faint margin over the near-rioting bobbysoxers. Concert announcer Ken Heady had Wednesday, November 17, 1954 his hands full ordering the crowd back at regular intervals, but with short-lived success. Among other events, Fisher was made an honorary corporal in the Marine Reserve, in token of his support of the local “Toys for Tots” program. Even during the Fisher singing session, the big orch played in sup- port, and what was to have been a night saluting the Philharmonic, courtesy of Katz Drug Co., turned out to be Eddie Fisher night. ASCAP Entry aasa a Continued from pace 5S on ASCAP’s board of directors, squawked on two points: (1) they were not informed that such a form had been circulated among writers on ASCAP stationery; and (2) it was not true that writers owned the rights to the music, since the^publlshers were the copy- right ow*ners of the music. In cases where original music for films is involved, the film producer’s copy- right also covers the ownership of the music; rights; Reps of the top publishing com- panies and ASCAP met Monday (15) to straighten out the misr understanding caused by the form letter and it’s understood that the ASCAP execs involved in sending out the letter without authoriza- tion would be rebuked by the board* Phono Parts ‘War . Phonograph manufacturers are finding it difficult.to hold the price line on their equipment. With a surge in the sales of phono-players and component parts for hi-fi sets the cutraters have begun to move in on key areas with that 30%-off lure. Latest development in the equipment price war is the entry of mail order .cutrate houses. The mail order operators, prl- marily working out of New York, are flooding the hinterlands with flyers and pamphlets pushing their cutrate wares. Local retailers are putting up a strong squawk but no definite action has yet been taken. Many retailers in the New York area as well as the hinterlands be- lieve that the equiphtent price war will just be a repeat on the battle to hold the price on the longplay. platters. The cutraters then got a solid footing with the 30%-off gim- mick and forced many small disk retailers out of business because they couldn’t exist on so small a markup. | The mail order cutraters have even moved into the international field. Ads are being placed in overseas editions of the N. Y. Times to get in on the rising phono interest abroad. Since-the court test of the Swiss exhibitors has been deferred until next month, plans to send a U.S. publishers’ rep overseas have like- wise been delayed. Copyright ex- pert and music biz attorney Julian T. Abeles (& Bernstein) is con- sidered likely to handl^the matter for the U.S. publishers when it comes to bat. Also involved are the background film writers, the Screen Composers Assn., whose president, Adolph Deutsch, Re- turned a couple of weeks ago from Switzerland to protect the interest of his composers. While the Swiss suit is being watched carefully, many industry execs believe that there’s small chance that the exhibitors will win. Firstly, the European governments are extremely careful in protecting the performing rights societies and, secondly, similar cases were brought by. film exhibitors In Belgium, Holland and Germany, all without success. Jocks Aiding a Continued from pago 1 tion of jukebox operators, supply- ing jukeboxes, records and Service. Disk Jockeys will participate at the parties, which will be held in each of the city’s 14 police pre- cincts. Teenagers attending the parties will be enrolled as members of “The 97% Club.” The name Is based on police statistics that only 3% of Detroit’s juveniles get into trouble. Hence, the tribute to the “good” 97%. Plan is being backed by police, businessmen, youth group reps and the Dept, of Parks and Rec- reation. An organizational meet- ing is being held today (Tues.). Decca’s Graas LP Hollywood, Nov. 16. Second big jazz album to come from Decca Coast studios will be a 12-inch LP featuring the arrange- irients and compositions of French horn virtuoso John Graas. Work will get under way next week when label's Coast Jazz producer Tom Mack, huddles with Graas on the latter’s return from his trek as a member of the Liberace orchestra. Album, a followup to the “Jazz Studio Two” package, will include a portion of the new major jazz symphony which Graas is complet- ing on commission for the Cincin- nati Symphony. Package will fea- ture a small combo. It's for release early next year. Recorded by Hilltoppers Stet»tsu9 f REMICK MUSIC CORP. TMV Ml) , , . JUST MUMM The Ntwrtf Mu4>v0l Ponrolti From Whlm»icol Pen of Leroy Anderson's. lij\lAl J T • w DM) SON* OF THE BELLS im «***4 * umt »*r m* m r*t\ ■ c**m* ****** — »»<« *ttm w asOut I'lnooociwo im H amvoa w* •* m -a.i iwov rttf'AUS * r i*. i «•..*« h i sr«# Tn««— Vi la — F«*e* — * I.O* -> ttnuewsJ 0*\ — WI'II A* cm — — 0*1 I* ton — trto*'*' * ' A*4 Ktf. — — mi «rmr etto* MILLS MUSIC. Inc. It's Music by JESSE GREER Program Today Yesterday’s FLAPPERETTE MILLS MUSIC, INC. (1419 Broadway, Naw York) America's Fastest f Selling- Records!