Variety (February 1957)

44 music s • P^iEfr Wednesday, February 27, 1957 Labels’ Longplay Look-Alikes Artists’ Steady Traffic From One Diskery to Another Giving Albums Familiar Strains RCA Victor and Columbia Rec¬ ords are running smack-dab into each other these days on similar album releases. In the calypso vein, Victor has a package titled “Calypso Carnival” tagged for April release. Columbia has an identically titled album also ready for the market. In another idiom, Columbia hafs issued a “Mdrton Gould In Hi-Fi” package this month. Victor, mean¬ time, is propping release of an¬ other Gould package titled “Brass & Rercussion.” Gould, who cut the latter set a few months ago, has been with Victor for the past three years. With artists moving from one label to another, it’s not uncom¬ mon these days for different labels to issue albums with the same art¬ ists. Frank Sinatra, for Instance, has been clicking strongly with his Capitol albums. Columbia Records, for which Sinatra was a longtime pactee before his shift to Capitol, also has been dipping into its ice¬ box for Sinatra packages. Guy Lombardo and Andrew Sisters are others who have been benefitting from a two-label ride since their shift from Decca to Capitol. In many cases, the sets by the same artists contain much the same material. 'Gibraltar’ Ted Lewis; Same Act, New Friends At Roseland, N. Y., Stand When Benny Goodman, now at the Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y., was in kneepants back in the 1920s, Ted Lewis was one of the top band¬ leaders of the day. And now when Goodman, who used to play under Lewis’ baton in his youth, has him¬ self become one of the “elder statesmen” of swing, Lewis is still one of the top bandleaders of the day. Few performers have had the durability of Lewis over the decades. Lewis, in for a two-week stand at the newly located Roseland Dance City on West 52nd St., is sticking to his proven format. There’s still the battered tophat with the jug¬ gling stunts that are okay whether they hit or miss. There’s still the same repertory of songs, the same upper-register clarinet solos and the same saWy vocals, starting with “When My Baby Smiles At Me” through “Melancholy Baby.” The Roseland, which may be a lonelyhearts club set to music at a $2 fee, is an excellent showcase for Lewis and his fine 13-man erew. When the Lewis orch comes on for its session, alternating with the Latin Raymond Argueso combo, a large group of customers crowd around the bandstand to catch the show while some continue dancing and others continue looking for partners. A large contingent of older Roseland habitues are espe¬ cially sold on Lewis. Lewis hits on all cylinders dur¬ ing his set. Although the sound of the band is solid, it’s the Lewis personality that completely domi¬ nates the proceedings. In a typical set, he’ll sing two or three num¬ bers, repeatedly juggle his hat and take over for long instrumental solos, also playing with one hand the clarinet characteristically pointed up at the celling.^ The book may be old,* but it stands up. Some current pops, like “Mutual Admiration Society,” are mixed in with numbers like “When You’re Smiling,” “Some¬ body Loves Me,” “Dixieland Rag,” “My Little Girl” and “St. Louis Blues.” The Lewis orch also dish¬ es up occasional Latin tempos, al¬ though this department is amply cared for by the seven-man Argue¬ so outfit. With the Lewis crew is an at¬ tractive, bouncy songstress, Marilynn Lovell, who shares the vocal chores with Lewis and registers nicely throughout. Hervi. Mancini, Decca DJ P.A. Frank Mancini has been added to Decca’s publicity staff to take charge of deejay promotion in the western area, Mancini will work under Mar¬ tin P. Salkin, Decca's publicity dii'et ^jr. Westminster’s 90 Westminster Records, indie long¬ hair label, is maintaining its heavy release pace this year. During the first three months of this year, the company is issuing 90 packages. Artists and maestros included on the release schedule include Artur Rodzinski, Sir" Adrian Boult, Yakov Zak and Erica Morini. Kappy Jordan Plotting 40 Albums for Flair-X Kappy Jordan has blueprinted a 40-album release schedule for her recently acquired Flair-X label. The packages, which will be priced at $5.98, will be pegged for the hi-fi and gift market. The disks will be packaged in double-fold sleeves. Th,e recording schedule started rolling last week although the disk¬ ery is still without an artists it repertoire topper. In the singles field, the first «rti.M to join the label Is thrush Mandy Martin. SATCHMO LAUGHS OFF 'FROM DIXIE’ INCIDENT Knoxville, Feb. 26. Those Dixie dates are getting rough for Negro performers in these days of tension over the school integration issue. Last week (18), a stick of dynamite exploded a couple of hundred , yards away from a municipal building where Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars were giving a concert before a se¬ gregated white and Negro audi¬ ence. Satchm'o covered the blast with an ad lib, saying *'*that’s all right, folks, it’s just the phone.” Most of the 3,000 payees remained for the rest of the show. A few* months ago, Nat (King) Cole was the target of an attack by racists during a concert in Birm¬ ingham, Ala. Satchmo’s Tenn. Dip Columbia, S. C., Feb. 26. Louis Armstrong drew ,a sparse 1,000 for his concert here a day after a dynamiting incident at Knoxville, Tenn. (20). There was’ speculation as to whether the slim crowd could be attributed to the blast. Similar attractions have played locally without incident and often to top takes. Unabashed by the Tennessee af¬ fair, Armstrong combo contin^s its Dixie jaunt, hitting Georgia, Florida and Alabama. hside Stuf-Musk The boom in disk packaging has become a real bonanza for pub¬ lishers of the old standards. One typical oldie, “The Night Is Young,” has, for instance, turned up in three different, sets recently, including Paul Whiteman’s anniversary album for Grand Awards, D’Artega’s set for MGM Records, and Vic Damone’s collection for Columbia. Number is a 1936 copyright cleffed by Dana Suesse with words by Billy Rose and Irving Kahal. It’s published by Jack Robbins’ Words & Music firm. Language barrier to the sale of American records is bre^ng down in Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico. That’s the observatfon of Dick Broderick, record marketing manager of RCA Victor International, who recently returned from a three-week trip to the latino countries. According to Broderick, record sales in these areas follow American trends with Elvis Presley and Han^ Belafonte tanking as the most popular IJ.S. artists. Broderick also noted th« as far as American merchandise is concerned, album sales dominate the three markets. Modernization of record stores to self-service in the three countries alsa has contributed to the surge in sales. ' ^ '\ Teresa Brewer will receive the first annual CYO Award of the Year from the Baltimore Catholic Youth Organization on Saturday (2). It will be presented to the thrush during Baltimore’s Celebrity Mardi Gras for 10,000 teenagers. Award is Miss Brewer’s second CYO honor. Last year, she was the first woman to receive the Diocesan Crown Award from the CYO Diocese of Brooklyn. Capitol Records is distributing 100,000 copies of new calypso dance instructions by Ray Anthony to promote the batoneer’s new disk, “Calypso Dance.” Deal also is in the works for a tieup with dance studios to Introduce the new step avhich Anthony currently is fronting during his weekend stints at the Palladium, Holl3rwood. Among the Hungarian refugees now in Austria as a result of the recent revolt is composer Szegoe Laszlo, a member or Artisjus, the Hungarian performing rights society. Also a performing pianist, Laszlo is now trying to emigrate to the U.S. with his wife and* child. BETAU DISK AND ALBUM BEST SELLEBS f^KlEfr Survey of retail disk heat sellers based on reports ob¬ tained from leading stores in 21 .cities and showing com¬ parative sales rating for this and last week. National Rating This Last wk. wk. Artist, Label, Title d d U O c> ' to -d >> T u O o 9 T A 1 1 L Q Xi CO P T T O iL 1 I V « t* V N T p CO S 1 1 TAB HUNTER (Dot) “Young Love” . . 2. 1 1 2 2 1 .. 1 1 3 2 1 2 1 123 2 2 ELVIS PRESLEY (Victor) “Too Much” . . 1 4 2 .. 6 4 2 3 6 3 5 3 7 4 5 2 108 3 5 PAT BOONE (Dot) “Don’t Forbid Me” ! . . 3 4 9 8 1 .. .. 4 3 2 7 5 2 5 3 87 4 _ 3 SONNY JAMES (Capitol) “Young Love”,... . . 4 2 1 .. 1 _5_ 1 1 1 __1 82 5 _8 TERRY GILKYSON (Columbia) ' “Marianne” . . 10 3 .. 3 4 .. 4 .. 4 2 5_ 8_ 2 2 6 79 6 4 HARRY BELAFONTE (Victor) “The Banana Boat Song” . . 5 1 7 .. 1 10 3 1 _ 4 1 2 8 _78 7 7 FATS DOMINO (Imperial) “Blue Monday” . . 8 5 10 8 .. 2 .. 3 6 4 3 7 54 8A 6 GUY MITCHELL (Columbia) “Singing the Blues” . . 6 _7_ 6_ . . . . , , , , 5 9 10 _10__ J0__ 6 5 _40 8B 11 MICKEY & SYLVIA (Groove) “Love Is Strange” 10 _ 14 11 13 CHARLIE GRACIE (Cameo) “Butterfly” . 7 . . 3 8 40 .. 6 8 30 HILLTOPPERS (Dot) “Marianne” . 3 28 12 11 TOMMY SANDS (Capitol) “Tefcn-Age Crush” . 5 .. . . 6 26 13 _ ^ 14 _ 2^ 15 TARR'fERS (Glory) “The Banana Boat Song” .... 3 25 FOUR LADS (Columbia) “Who Needs You” . 5 10 5 .. 7 24 ANDY WILLIAMS (Cadence) “Butterfly” . . .. 8 . 3 6 8 16 15 LaVERN BAKER (Atlantic) “Jim Dandy” . 3 10 . . 10 . . 2 _10 23. .. 22 17 PERRY COMO (Victor) “Round and Round” . . . . BUDDY KNOX (Roulette) “Party Doll” . ^ . JL1__ 7 2 21 19 FRANKIE'LAINE .Columbia) “Moonlight Gambler” . _ 4 20 4 . . 19 20 20 FESS PARKER (Disneyland) “Wrinkle, Wrangle” . . . 9 15 JOHNNIE RAY (Columbia) 21A 25 “You Don’t Owe Me a Thing” ^ PATSY” [:LiN]r(Decca) 21B .. “Walking After Midnight”... 21C FATS DOMINO (Imperial) “I’m Walking” . . 7 10_ 2 14 14 14 24 15 HARRY BELAFONTE (Victor) “Jamaica Farewell” . 10 10 10 12 25 18 BILL HAYES (ABC-Par) “Wringle, Wrangle” . 10 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CAtypso MY FAIR LADY CLOSE TO YOU ELVIS KING AND 1 JERRY LEWIS OKLAHOMAI BELAFONTE AFTER EDDYDUCHIN Horry Beiofontt Broadway Cast Frank Sinatra Elvis Presley Film Soundtrack 'JUST SINGS Film Soundtrack Harry Belafonte MIDNIGHT STORY Jerry Lewis Capitol Nat (King) Cole • Film Soundtrack Victor Capitol Victor LPM 1248 Columbia Capitol Victor W 740 Decca SAG 595 LPM 1150 Capitol Decca EPA 1248 OL 5090 W 789 LPiM 1382 EAP 740 DL 8410 SDM 595 EPA 1150 W 782 DL 8289