Variety (January 1957)

Wednesday, January 3Q» X957 ttisanerf MUSIC "43 Gillespie’s Glory in Greece Athenian Kids Salvo Him With ‘Bravo, Deezie9 After ; Scary Start— Trumpeter9* Reaction to Frisco Ban Clerics’ Rock V Roll Hubbub In Hub: ‘Not Immoral But Too Commercial’ ; By BILL STEIF 1 v. San Francisco, Jan. 29. ; Dizzy Gillespie, whose band was barred from Frisco’s public Vet¬ erans Auditorium, thinks that “jazz is the one thing we have to give the rest of the World that it. hasn’t already got.” ; The bespectacled trumpeter sucked at his pipe and reminisced about his two ANTA-State Dept, overseas tours last year. “Man,” he said, “you don’t know what kind of a reception we got .-. .. let me just tell you about Athens, Greece.” And he did. ' '"There was a lot of nervousness 'in town. The Greeks arid the Cyp¬ riots were plenty sore at, the Brit.. isji. And they were sore at us Americans), tbo, . 1 because they thought we approved of what the British were doing; Just two . or three days before we got there, a bunch of Greek kids had thrown rocks through the windows of the . U* S. Information Service. . “We gave a concert on Sunday. There was a big crowd, mostly youngsters. They cheered and ap¬ plauded . . . but I was still nervous over what kind of reception we’d get later. I hung around in my ; dressing room for half an hour, and then sneaked out the back door. . As soon as I got out the door, a big mob of boys and girls rushed me. “I was really scared. Man, was I scared. . I thought to myself, I made it safe out of South Carolina • and now I’m going to get it in Greece. But they grabbed me and boosted me up in the air, and as they carried me along I could hear them . shouting, ‘Bravo, Deezie.’ Then I knew we had it made.” Dizzy was full of this kind of disarming anecdote last weekend, . between concerts of his 17-piece band at nearby San Jose, Berkeley and Frisco’s New Fillmore Audi¬ torium, where he played a Satur¬ day (26) night dance instead of ■ the Vets Auditorium concert Oak¬ land promoter Mannie Schwartz had originally planned. As for his being banned, he was tolerant, almost forgiving — public¬ ly, at least. When he was asked if he thought the ban was because of, the color of his skin, he said: “Well, I don’t know. Nothing . . like this ever happened before. We’ve never — never— had trouble before finding a place to play.” As to those who banned him, au¬ ditorium manager William B. Dorsett and the American Legion War Memorial Commission, he re¬ marked, “These folks were lust misinformed.” Dorsett and the commission • claimed a Gillespie jazz concert * might get out of hand, but Dizzy (Continued on page 46) Gordon Gray to MGM As Field Rep; Staffers’ Trek Gordon Gray has joined MGM Records ps field representative and promotion man on a national level. He’ll cover all territories not han¬ dled by Billy Taylor, who works out of Garland, Tex., for the south and southwest territories. Gray has been tied up with MGM in one way or another for the past several years. He had been associated with Sanford and Zenish, former New York distributors for the label, and has disk-repped Joni James, diskery’s top-selling thrush. Meantime MGM’s homeoffice staffers have been hitting the road plugging the 1957 line. On the road trek were sales chief Charles Hasin, syndicate stores chief Har¬ old Drayson and publicity head Sol Handwerger. Jones’ Custom for Cap Hollywood, Jan. 29. George R. Jones, a veteran in the custom disk field, has resigned as Coast manager for Langlois Filmusic Inc. to become custom service department manager for Capitol Records’ custom division. He succeeds Tom Mack, who re¬ signed to become album artists & repertoire topper for Dot Records. Jones was with the C. P. Mac¬ Gregor transcriptirin firm, which was a pioneer in custom disk work, for 15 years. Electronic Co.’s Disking Stanley Electronics, Utica (N.Y.) firm, is branching out into the disk field. Label, to be known as Mark Records, will be prexied by Stan¬ ley Markowski. The first release, due next month, will be a coupling of “I Hope You Won’t Hold It Against Me” and “I Want A Girl Who Can Dance Me ~ACha-Cha” recorded b£ Dick Olson. Both tunes are pub¬ lished by Dorsey Bros, and will be plugged by Benny Ross. RCA’s ‘Sin of Pat Muldoon’ From Play of Same Name / Songwriter-legit producer Rich¬ ard Adler has come up with a song to plug the play, “The Siri of Pat Mudoori,” which Adler is co-producing with Roger L. Stevens. Al¬ though the title song is primarily instrumental, the voice of James Barton, who stars in the play, has been used on the RCA Victor disk version. Buddy Bregmans* orch sliced the side for Victor. Release is due early in February. Doris Day, Raitt for Col Remake of ‘Fa jama’ Columbia Records is getting an¬ other crack at “Pajama Game” via the soundtrack set of the Warner Bros, filmusical. Label clicked a couple of years ago with the origi¬ nal. Broadway cast package of the tuner with a score by Dick Adler and the late Jerry Ross. The soundtrack set will feature Doris Day, longtime Col pactee, and John Raitt. Janis Paige and Raitt toplined the original cast package. The Broadway cast al¬ bum was a topseller for, the label for many months. Col’s ‘Sound of Genius’ For Current Pops, Too Columbia Records’ advertising format is taking on a new look for the 1957 consumer program. The new format is an extension of Col’s “Sound of Genius” campaign, but instead of pegging the ad on one classical artist, it will incorporate pop artists in a multi-panel presen¬ tation. According to Art Schwartz, Col’s advertising and sales promotion director, the new format is de¬ signed to yields greater flexibility in keying the “Sound of Genius” to current releases. Campaign is slotted for national consumer mags as well as trade and busines* pa¬ pers. I Angel’s ‘Library’ Disks Angel Records, which has inno¬ vated several packaging ideas in the longhair, field, has now come up with a new "Library Series.” Latter catalog will concentrate on cnamber music and other classical selections of specialized audience appeal. Jackets will be designed for heavy wear,, similar to library editions of novels. Angel is kicking off the series in February with a two releases and plans to issue about a dozen packages in this category during the year. Decca’s ‘Full of Life’ By Judy Holliday From Pic Judy Holliday has been set by Decca Records to etch the title tune of her new Columbia pic. “Full of Life.” Miss Holliday, now starring on Broadway in the “Bells Are Ringing” tuner, is currently represented bn wax in Columbia Records’ original cast album of the musical. The title tune will be coupled with “These Will Be the Good Old Days.” Boston, Jan. 29. Knocking the rock is proving pop in Boston these days. Latest to take a crack at the rock were a Protestant and a Catholic clergy¬ man, both jazz experts, who de¬ nounced the rock as “commer¬ cial,” and “not a jazz form.” Rev. Norman J. O’Connor, Cath¬ olic chaplain for Boston U., jazz authority and jazz platter spinner on radio, and Rev. Alvin L. Ker¬ shaw, rector of All Saints’ Church, Peterboro, N. H., addressing 400 highschool editors brought together by the. Boston Globe for a jazz dis¬ cussion at Sheraton Plaza Hotel Wednesday (23), agreed that “there is nothing morally wrong with rock androll music.” Rev. Kershaw, who won $32,000 dn “The $64,000 Question” with answers to queries in the jazz field, said: “The kind of music you hear on the jukeboxes,, along with the music of such people as Lawrence Welk, Sammy Kaye, Guy Lom¬ bardo and others, is definitely not jazz.” Explaining the enthusiasm for American jazz abroad, he de¬ clared: “What the music says is that American greatness is not in terms of skyscrapers or numbers of autos produced each year, but in its free spirit of trust in the in¬ dividual and the validity of his right to that trust.” He pointed out, in defending jazz as a legitimate and growing American art forrn, that not only were African, Haitian and other jungle rhythms part of its founda¬ tion, but also, “Scottish and medie¬ val hymns and many other musi¬ cal sources.” Emphasizing the “tremendous training and technique necessary to become a jazz musician, Fr. O’Con¬ nor said, “All too often jazz musi¬ cians are criticized as being undis¬ ciplined, or incompletely trained. “In reality, most recognized jazz* artists have spent thousands of hours of practice and study in the development of their technique.’” He urged young people to listen to jazz “without prejudice or prior conviction.” “We must judge these people with reality for what they’re trying to do. If we understand, we will not be inclined to condemn.” Music of jazz musicians, among them Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong, was fed to the 400 editors over hi-fi speakers in the hotel ballroom. Cyrus. Durgin, Globe music and drama critic, introed the speakers. Fr. O’Connor told one of the edi¬ tors who professed a liking .for the rock, “There’s nothing wrong with you, but I do hope you outgrow it.” ‘Broadway Wears a Lei’ Apaka’s Set for Kaiser Hollywood, Jan. 29. Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village Record Co., which got its feet wet in the disk biz with five EP’s in the. last few months, has blossomedout with a new LP featuring Alfred Apaka in a package carrying a hefty exploitation peg via a lyricwriting contest. Album is tagged “Broadway Wears a Lei” and con¬ sists of six Broadway showtunes and six Hawaiian standards. Lyric contest is tied to a Ha¬ waiian tune, “The Queen’s Hula,” for which a lead sheet is enclosed. Winner gets two trips to HawifI and the winner’s favorite deejay gets a similar prize. Album cover marks a first in that it is made of Kaiser aluminum foil and specially printed at Kaiser's own plant in San Francisco. Withhold Aud Boycott Greensboro, -N. C., Jan. 29. Stagehands at Charlotte have de¬ cided against a boycott of the audi¬ torium and coliseum, according to W. H. Fowler Fowler, business manager of Lo¬ cal 322 of the International Alli¬ ance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Motion Picture Operators, said the local met to consider a current dispute with the Charlotte Opera Assn. He said the local received infor¬ mation a meeting had been ar¬ ranged between the opera group and stagehands, and settlement of the dispute was expected at that time. VARIETY Scoreboard OF TOP TALENT AND TUNES Compiled from Statistical Reports of Distribution Encompassing the Three Major Outlets Coin Machines Retail Disks Retail Sheet Music as Published in the Current Issue NOTE: The current comparative sales strength of the Artists and Tunes listed hereunder is arrived at under a statistical system comprising each of the three major sales outlets enu¬ merated above . These findings are correlated with data from wider sources, which are exclusive with Variety. The positions resulting from these findings denote the OVERALL IMPACT de¬ veloped from the ratio of ^points scored, two ways in the case of talent ( coin machines, retail disks ) cmd three ways in the case of tunes ( coin machines, retail disks and retail sheet music). TALENT POSITIONS This Last Week Week ARTIST AND LABEL TUNE GUY MITCHELL (Columbia) . . jfXfeJto The Blues ELVIS PRESLEY (Victor) Too Much Love Me Tender Love Me 6 7 8 9 10 3 4 5 7 6 9 10 8 POSITIONS This Last Week Week. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HARRY BELAFONTE (Victor) . H:he Ban??a Boa.t1 Song i | Jamaica Farewell SONNY JAMES (Capitol) . Young Love ' fDon’t Forbid Me PAT BOONE (Dot) . Anastasia [Friendly Persuasion TAB HUNTER (Dot) . Young Love FATS DOMINO (Imperial) . Imueber^HOl FRANKIE LAINE (Columbia) . . Moonlight Gambler JERRY LEWIS (Decca) . . Rock-A-Bye Your Baby JIM LOWE (Dot) . j^e ?£?uenDDo?r )I Feel The Beat TUNES (*ASCAP. fBMI) TUNE * PUBLISHER f YOUNG LOVE . " . Lowery fSINGING THE BLUES . ’ . Acuff-R fTHE BANANA BOAT SONG . . . . . ; . Marks-B fDON’T FORBID ME . Roosevelt ’‘MOONLIGHT GAMBLER . Morris fLOVE ME TENDER . Presley fTHE GREEN DOOR . Trinity *TRUE LOVE . . . . Buxton Hill ’ BLUEBERRY HlLL . Chappell •fTOO MUCH . . . Southern Belle-Presley