Variety (April 1956)

74 MUSIC MS&n&ff Wednesday, April 18, 1956 On The Upbeat New York Songwriters Protective Assn, holding its annual membership meeting May 10 at the Warwick Hotel, N.Y. . . . Singer Herb Jeffries and songwriter Bobby Please heading up a new disk op¬ eration called Record Releasing Corp. Eddy Manson, who composed the background score for "Lovers and Lollipops,” cut two of the themes for M&M Records . . . Pete Ter¬ race, Tico pactee, currently at the Bachelorette Supper Club . . . Johnny Oliver on a three-week dee jay trek . . . Stuart Foster solos with the Queens Symphony at a Forest Hills High School concert April 28 . . . Ray Rivera set for the Canadian Automobile Show, Windsor, Canada, May 18 . . . Jutta Hipp, German jazz pianist, waxed an album for Blue Note at the Hickory House ... Art Farmer- Gigi Gryce into the Cafe Bohemia April 20 . . . The Mello-Larks open at the Lotus Club, Washington, to¬ morrow (Thurs.) . . . Richard Hay- man elected to ASCAP member¬ ship last week. Tunesmith Norman Gimbel man¬ aging The Neighbors, new vocal group on the ABC-Paramount label . . . Abbey Albert orch cur¬ rently at the Hotel Statler,- Buf¬ falo . . . Joni James leaves for Eng¬ land today (Wed.) for some tele¬ film work . . . Connie Francis cur¬ rent at the White Elephant, Pitts¬ burgh . . . Coast vocalist Rush Adams making the rounds of the disk jockeys in the east . . . A1 Calder on a midwestern hop plug¬ ging the Columbia Pictures’ tunes, "To Love Again” ahd "Picnic” ... Rene Touzet’s mambo orch held over at the Golden Slipper, Glen Cove, L. I. Erroll Gamer opens at Basin Street April 26 . . . Helen Fortes- cue Reynolds named promotion director of Sammy Kaye, Inc. . . . Bob Anthony begins a week’s en¬ gagement at the Raddison Hotel, Minneapolis, tomorrow (Thurs.). Roslyn Hosenblatt, RCA Victor publicity staffer, exiting the com¬ pany to take up residence in Cali¬ fornia . . \ Terri Stevens’ option picked up by RCA Victor. Thrush opened at the One-Two Club, To¬ ronto, last week (9) : . . Don Elliott Quartet held over at the Embassy Lounge, Allentown, Pa. . . . Mit- chell-Ruff Duo, Epic pactees, re- booked into the Cafe Bohemia, Greenwich Village jazz joint . . . Don Heller’s first album for Epic due later this month . . . Crooner Danny Winchell, back in town after three months in Miami, now being managed by Johnny Brown. Hollywood Warners has signed David But- tolph to score "The Burning Hills” . . . Ronald Stein set by Golden State Productions to score "Girls In Prison” . . . Buddy Bregman, Verve a&r chief, planning five more sides for Ella Fitzgerald, who already has 35 in the can . . . Gene Norman threw a going-away party for Billy Eckstine Sunday (15) prior to the singer’s European trek . . . The Treniers, now at the Mel¬ ody Room, have signed a personal management pact with Gabbe, Lutz and Heller . . . The Ames Bros, were given a testimonial dinner at the California Racquet Club Mon¬ day (16). Chicago Lola Dee back from her Aus¬ tralian and Asiatic tour with the Johnnie Ray package . . . Ginny Scott into the Chi-Chi, Palm Springs, May 6 for two frames Rusty Draper into Eddy’s, Kaycee, June 1 for two . . . Rita Raines currently at Iroquois Gardens, Louisville . . . Modern Jazz Quar¬ tet opens at the Blue Note, Chi, next Wednesday (25) for a pair . . . Hadflah Brooks into the Black Orchid’s Junior Room, Chicago, May 9, for an indefinite stint . . . The Jazz Messengers open at Chi’s Crown Propeller Lounge tonight (Wed.) for two . . . Nick Noble pen¬ cilled in for a July date at the New Frontier, Las Vegas . . . Sharkey Bonano into the Shamrock Hilton, Houston, April 26-May 9. Pittsburgh Howdy Baum left the Don' Mc¬ Govern Trio at Frankie’s to take his own band into Dore’s. Latter has just enlarged room and added a dancfe floor ... Ed Andrews solo¬ ing now on piano at Chuck’s Lounge . . . Joey Vance, bandlead¬ er, has opened a curb-service res¬ taurant near Greensburg . . „ Los Angeles Jazz Quintet into the Mid¬ way Lounge for a stay . . . Xavier Cugat band and revue, fronted by Enrique Cugat, booked back into White Elephant for a two-week stand in September following click there earlier this month . . . Walt Harper combo has returned to the Sky Vue for an indefinite stand . . . Phil Cavezza orch has followed the A1 O’Brien outfit into the White Elephant. Scotland ! Louis Armstrong All - Stars skedded for Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, May 15 . . . Dr. Crock and his Crackpots band, currently at Play¬ house, Glasgow, will visit Stock¬ holm in May . , . Kay Starr’s wax¬ ing of "Rock and Roll Waltz” topping local bestsellers on HMV label: Dream Weavers in second position on Brunswick with "It’s Almost To-morrow,” and Winifred Atwell third with "Poor People of Paris” on Decca. Valley Forge I Westbury Music Fair I Music Fair DEVON, PA. Second Season opens May 31 through Sept. 29 WESTBURY, L. I. First Season opens June 18 through Sept. 29 presently casting fifteen musicals CONTACTS: Witfyury Music Fair, c/o Gorham Hotel, 136 W. 55th St., N. Y. Valley Forge Music Fair, 1700 Locust St., Phil?. 3, Penna. Inside Stuff-Music Fujita Rejoins Col As Label's Art Chief Broadening its campaign to push the ASCAP catalog, the Society has issued a new 66-page booklet titled "40 Years Of Hit Tunes,” a com¬ pilation of top numbers ranging from 1915, a year after ASCAP was formed, to 1955. Book was compiled for use by radio-tv program¬ mers and other users of ASCAP’s catalog who have requested year-by¬ year rundowns of the top hits. According to the booklet’s preface, the songs were chosen on the basis of "objective criteria,” such as lists and surveys as well as ASCAP’s own performance logs. One of the reasons that ASCAP had long shied away from drawing up lists of top songs is that some mem¬ ber publisher or writer would be sure to squawk that he was brushed off. ASCAP does underline that the booklet only represents a small segment of its repertory. Recordings can pile up on a tune over the years even if it never was a smash to begin with. "I See God,” written in 1948 by Raymond Leeveen and Murray Mencher, has now over 20 different wax versions on the market. Mahalia Jackson, for Columbia, and Red Foley, for Decca, are the latest to hit the market. Ben Bloom, publisher of the tune which has been selling copies steadily in the "Bible belt,” has assigned the choral folio rights to Bourne Music. S. Neil Fujita, formerly director of design and packaging at Co¬ lumbia Records, rejoins the disk- ery this week in the same capacity. Fujita exited the company about five months ago to set up his own designing firm. Latter firm will change its tag from Fujita Assoc, to Studio East and Fujita will serve it in an advisory capacity, ' Fujita steps into the post held for the. past five months by Roy Kuhlman. Kuhlman’s future plans haVe not yet been set. Five Big Records Disk Bargains Continued from page 69 field and a David Oistrakh groov¬ ing of Mozart’s Violin Concerto (No. 4 in D major) for the longhair field. Neither LP has been on re¬ lease before. The $2.98 platter drive has been initially scheduled as summer- month promotion but Cook may keep it rolling on a permanent basis if the results of the promo¬ tion come up to expectations. Columbia’s offer is made just as the Victor’s coupon deal promotion comes to a close. Under the Victor program, which was pushed for the last month through an extensive ad campaign, customers could buy a coupon from dealers for $3.95 which entitled them to purchase one special LP in the pop and clas¬ sical fields at $2.98 each per month. In addition, they are to be given three regular $3.98 LPs cuffo over the year. The Victor plan, like Columbia’s, is designed to get disk buyers to come back to the retailers on a regular basis. Even though Victor, for instance, doesn’t expect to . make any profit on its coupon plan, it anticipates that the plus traf¬ fic pulled into the stores will help biz across the board. ‘Tres Bien’ Piracy Suits Settled Out of Court Two suits for the alleged in¬ fringement on the tune, "Tres Bien,” were settled and discon¬ tinued in New York Federal Court last week. In one action, George Garfunkel representing Artmusic, sued Peer International and South¬ ern Music claiming that the lat¬ ter’s tune "The Cactus Polka” in¬ fringed "Tres Bien.” The other suit was against Joy Music, in which Artmusic claimed infringement on "Tres” by "Ching Ching-A-Ling.” According to the complaints, t}ie plaintiff’s tune was composed by Walter B. Eastwood prior to November, 1917, as an em¬ ployee for hire by Artmusic. The suits were settled and discontinued with prejudice and without court costs. Chi Distrib Staffers In Broad Reshuffle Chicago, April 17. Recent personnel shifts among Chi record distributors make for a revamped lineup of record pro¬ moters around town. Eli Phelps has ankled the Decca distributorship; no replacement has been an¬ nounced yet. Chuck Peele exits Music Distributors this week with Jerry Lattieri of Coral, replacing; firm distributes the MGM, Deed, Bethlehem and several other indie labels and is a subsidiary of James H. Martin. Inc., the Dot, London and Essex distributor. - Jack Sollinger has joined the James H. Martin distributorship as a record plugger; Howard Caro replaced Jerry Lattieri at Coral and Sandy Harbin now pushes the Dot label for the Martin distrib. Diaz, Rosner Go Wesf Herman Diaz and Ben Rosner, artists & repertoire chief and sales manager, respectively, for Vik Records are hitting the rbad this, week for a 10-day swing through the midwest and southwest terri¬ tories for confabs with label’s dis¬ tributors. They’ll also scout local talent. Duo recently completed a southern tour. Diaz’s trek will also take him to the Coast where he’ll record an album with Gordon Jenkins. ' HARMS. Inc. EDDIE LAYTON Commencing 4th Year AS FEATURED ORGANIST MERMAID ROOM Park Sheraton Hotel, New York Just Released NEW HI-FI WING ALBUM Westbury Music Fair | (45 Minutes from, Broadway) WESTBURY, L. I. CHORUS AUDITIONS Tuesday—April 24 Dancers: 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. Singers: 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. NOLA STUDIOS, 1657 B'way. N. Y. Studio 6