Variety (July 1958)

42 MUSIC P^RtETf Wednesday, July 16, 195$ Jocks, Jukes an d Disks . By HEBM 9CHOENFELD. Leon Merian Orch (Decca). “BING. ' BANG, BONG” (Para¬ mount*), from the “Houseboat" pic, is a colorful side featuring Merian’s commercial trumpet and a Chorus. Could be big. “ONE DAY I'LL BUY A TRUMPET” (Leeds*) is an okay item to show¬ case Merian's trumpeting. Marty Robbins (Columbia): •‘SHE A*AS ONLY SEVENTEEN” (Acuff-Roset), a teenage theme that has been heavily exploited in recent years, is a good commercial Item delivered in appealing style by Marty Robbins. “SITTIN* IN A TREE HOUSE” (Famous*) is a catching rhythm tune. “PINK PEDAL PUSHERS” fash¬ ions for teenagers, is given a com¬ mercial rockabilly, workover by Carl Perkins. “POP, LET ME HAVE THE CAR” (Peer?), is the same groove, shapes a good idea into another frantic side. Somethin? Smith & The Red Heads (Epic): “I DON’T WANT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE” (Cheriot), the oldie with some new lyrics added, gets a smoothly har¬ monized rendition,. with some gag overtones, for strong impact. “YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU” (Broadway*), : another standard, also gets a nifty slice that Will ap¬ peal to the youngsters. The Cowboys & Indians (ABC- j Johnny Nash (ABC-Paramount): Paramount): “HOW" (Saxon?), a “YOU’RE LOOKING AT ME” LEON MERIAN ORCH . . (Decca) .. ... .^. MARTY ROBBINS _..... . .. (Columbia) ......'..........., THE COWBOYS & INDIANS (ABC-Paramount) .......... TEDDI KING_ .,....... (RCA Victor) ____... >. .. . . . .BING, BANG, BONG . % One Day I’ll Buy A Trumpet SHE WAS ONLY SEVENTEEN ..Siftin' In A Tree House .... .•'. HOW .... A...... A .-Say Pardner '.'..•.SAY' A PRAPER .........,;. .Baisez-Moi ; * ASCAP. +BMI. “NOTHIN’ SHAKIN* ” (Arc?)'', a fast rocker, is hammered home by Eddie Fontaine in lowdown style. “O', WONDERFUL NIGHT” (Co¬ lumbine?), an Italo-flavored ballad, gets a fair vocal. • The Contenders (Jackpot): “WILDMAN” (Ridgeway?) is a rock ’n’ roll item with a good Latin beat that occasionally gets lost in a noisy rendition. . “TEQUILA SONG” (Jptt) is! an okay ..rocker in ——;---—--—“— _ —~:—...... .,—■■. ...-■■■■ — ia similar groove. takeoff on oatuners, is a clever,, (KahU>, a pretty ballad with a: Jake Lerole (Verve): “LION . listenable side with incidental vo-; good beat, is delivered in effective, i KILLER” ,(Senut?) showcases this cal interpolations. It could go all • straightforward style by this young' South African combo in some . the way. “SAY PARDNER” *Sax-- singer. “TRULY LOVE” (Winne- [swinging penny - whistle music, on?) is more of the same, but with ton^), another good legit ballad,; “KWELA JAKE” . (Senut?) is in a less effective script. gets a pleasing production: 1 precisely the saine idiom. Teddi King (RCA Victor): “SAY . ^Al ^Hibbler (Decca): “SOFTLY ? - - A PRAYER” (Shapiro-Bernstein*»J MY LOVE ’ (Diana*) based on a a solid romantic-religioso number - lpnghaif theme, is shaped into a in the “Padre” groove, gets a high- slow-tempoed, poetic ballad via ly effective reading from this styl-; One ofAImbblerV^itens^ deliv-; EXTENDED PLAY DISKS ish songstress. “BAISEZ-MOI” er jf s * . YOUR HANDS _iRaph-. wiyis Presley* “KING CREOLE” (Witmark*, is ■.*; rhythm number ^ ^ ^(RCA thV??4d- with a cute lyric idea. I lvric ' complex tra ck' of his current pic,' Elvis Pres- 5am Butera (Capitol): “TWIN-’ we<s Rrvan rfTnttf»ri Article- ley comes up with another surefire KLE IN YOUR .EYE” (Enters «FREEZE'-^ ! Package.- The title song is a fast- prise**. a ballad with a good beat, ! a XO ckiii« tune with a stnD i ;inov i n 2' rocker which could step gets a bluesy vocal by Sam Butera., ide ^aW vocal by ftSSS® i as a big hit. “NEW ORLEANS” better known as a hot saxophonist. : bill ’ v e sih(y u : - Jait for mf is a slow rhythm item which Pres- “BIM BAM” (Sherman-) is another ^.bai'l'Iey belts..® his most effective style, swinging item with nonsense lyrics.: Ud also in tHe rocWng iSom ' “ AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU" is a Tony Martin (RCA Victor): “IN-; Cindy & Lindy (Coral)- “THE ■ change-of-pace legit ballad. DISCREET” (Morris*) pic title. WONDER THAT IS YOU” (Rush*) | a1so with . strong chances while song, is a fine class ballad which ; a lilting ballad, is vocalled in li°ht : “LOVER DOLL”- switches back to Tony Martin handles in excellent ; infectious style by this duo & fori the rhythm groove. On this EP, style: Solid adult fare. “WALK 1 strong impact “I’LL STRING 1 Presle y displays versatile stylistic WITH ME” (Champagne*) is a fair ( ALONG WITH YOU” (Witmark*) attack, rhythm version of an old spiritual. ; the oldie, turns up in an okay mod- ———-——- . Milton De .Lugg Orch (Dot):: erately rocking slice. ? •- v cu ; - tt te t\ * tv “HONOLULU” - “SONG OF THE i Don Heller (MercUry ) - ■ “TOO Stan Hoffman D. of P. ISL ^S D ^' ^noi^-Marksi;) J& .a■; LATE TO BE SORRY” (Wbod*». a! -p or TW T sthel in West neat blend of island songs with the ■ legitimate, ballad with a fresh idea, • r ur Ui}l .*“ Dei 111 W eSl chorus delivering “Honolulu” to; is crooned in highly pleasing style Hollywood, July 15. the orch’s flacking with “Song of: by Don Heller. “AS FAR AS I’M • Stan Hoffman is the new director the -Islands. GLOW WORM ; CONCERNED” (Earl*) is another: of promotion for Dot Records’ ■(Marks ->, the oldie, turns up in an- good piece of ballad material. ^western division. He held a similar fifr^Tcr a hJa^ tlVe S ^ Ce marked by a t Jimmy Wakely (Sha.s t o n e). ; position at Capitol from April. Oldfashioned ballad, gets a catch- with an easy ^e^SJe stric : pf u S ^ S P™? 1011011 fo J * ing vocal by British music hall;‘TUPPY LOVE” (Riverside*) has su ^ sl ^ iar y label,. Prep,, now defunct. Jr^ r ^M lI1 T er i ^ Iax Bygraves. “GUI- a similar idea, also appealingly i At one time Hoffman owned his TAR (Lakeview)) is a good piece vocalled with an assist from mop-; °wn label, Sonic Records, arid was ° f *2 e “ aI material. ■. . a . pet Jeanne McManus. | also West Coast ad director for REVOIH AMOl# ®Thimder. 1 Fontatne ;iSunbeam.:lpowpbe a t mag, " ; ; ; bird*), much inJ;he genre of this duo’s “Chanson D'Amour” click, is; t^fis&J ETY Album Reviews “Jose Melts*' (MGM). Jose Melis’ slot on the Jack Paar show has tiirned him Into a hot disk package item and his . name has been turning up on a flock of al¬ bums under varius labels. Latest is this sUck MGM set In which Paar virtually shares equal billing with Melis on the jacket cover. However, in the groove, it’s all Melis playing a tasteful program of standards and. Latin-flavored classics in his lush style with rhythm accompaniment. Pat Boone: “Star Dust” (Dot). In his warm, direct style, Pat Boone delivers. a relaxing program of standards in this LP. Backed by Billy Vaughn’s orch, Boone croons “Ebb Tide," “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Autumn Leaves,” . “St. Louis Blues,” “Anniversary Song,” “i’ll Walk Alone,” “September Song” and the title number, among others. Tony Perkins: “From My Heart 1 (RCA) Victor). Tony Perkins’ pipes, are not the strongest nor the; most polished, but this young actor hits a consistently pleasing note of sin-, cerity with his limited equipment. In this collection, he maintains steady listenability over a varied songalog, including “The Kentuc¬ kian Song,” “Saddle The Wind”’ “Old Buttermilk Sky,” “Speak Low” and. “Too Marvelous For Words.” Urbie Green orch fur¬ nishes able backing. Kermit Leslie Orch: “A Holiday In Hi-Fi” (Epic). Kermit and Wal¬ ter Leslie have, composed a; dozen numbers for this package that could serve as a sampling of What a diversified instrumental package should sound like. In their musi¬ cal “holiday” the Composers have captured varied moods that include a picturesque “Night Flight To Madrid,” a bubbling “Champagne,” a jaunty “Jalopy,” and a majestic musicalarama “Sequoia.” There’s enough in this package to satisfy intelligent programmers. “Ella Fitzgerald At The Opera House” (Verve). Cut during a per¬ formance of the “Jazz At The Phil¬ harmonic” show at the Chicago Opera House, this , album catches this superb stylist in one of, her more relaxed sessions. She swings with ah effortless rhythm on such tunes as “Goody, Goody.” “Oh, Lady Be Good,” “It’s All Right With Me” and turns in a spectacu¬ lar scat vocal, running about five minutes, on “Stompin’ At The Savoy.” Her circus tricks on the latter tune are worth the price of admission. Lynn Taylor: “I See Your. Face Before Me” (Grand Award): Lynn Taylor; a recent Benny Goodman Orch vocalist, steps put as a smart song stylist in this set of melodies, all composed by Arthur Schwartz. Miss Taylor delivers with an intime flavor, using subtle jazz intona¬ tions to get the message across. The repertory includes tunes like “Then I’ll Be Tired Of You.” “Thief In The Night,” “Something To . Remember You By,” “The Dreamer.” “Wandering Heart” and , High and Low.” “Then I’ll Be harmonized with commercial im-i pact. , “DER GLOCKENSPIEL”! (Chadwick*) is a fair instrumental. ! t Del Vikings (Mercury): “PRET- I TY LITTLE THINGS CALLED ; GIRLS” (Gil?), is an uptempo, juve-angled number with a bright lyric which this combo rocks. smoothly. “YOU CHEATED” (Bal-j cones) is a fair slow ballad. > Lee Andrews .& The Hearts i (United Artists): “GLAD TO BE| HERE” (G&H^), ari okay fast rocker, is belted in familiar style by this combo. “WHY DO I” (G&H^ >. a slow ballad is effectively vocalled by the lead tenor. Tommy Edwards (MGM>; •‘PLEASE LOVE ME FOREVER-’ (Rickyt), a slow ballad with a cliched lyric, gets an unconvincing Vocal by Tommy Edwards who de¬ serves better material. “IT’S ALL IN THE GAME” (Remick*) the oldie, is projected in good rocking style. 1. PURPLE PEOPLE EATER (6) ........ : 2. PATRICIA (3) ....V.-.;.; 3. YAKETY YAK (5)...... . 4. HARD HEADED WOMAN (2) ...:..;\ 5. SECRETLY (4). •. ■.. 6. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM (7) 7. POOR LITTLE FOOL (3) 8. SPLISH SPLASH (1) ... ,• .. 9. RETURN TO ME (12) .. 10. LEFT OUT OF YOUR HEART (I) . Second Group Elliott Bros. Orch (Disaevland): j •‘BILLY BOY BOP” (Disney*). rocking entry with a new danee-1 step peg. is colorfully sold by vo-j calist Tony Paris with jumping in-[ strumental backing. “MEXICAN; HOEDOWN” (Disney*) is an in-| teresting blend of Latin and! square-dance rhythms. Arthur Prysock (Old Town): •‘THE GREATEST GIFT” (South¬ ern*), an okay blend of religioso and romantic ideas, is powerfully belted by this sa\wy blues singer. “I LOVE YOU SO” (Maureen) is routine slow rocking stuff. Carl Perkins (Columbia): “LEVI; /. JACKEi"’ (Williams^), which rounds out the “Short Shorts” and } JENNIE LEE . I r SUGAR MOON •, - 1 ^ FOR YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE DO YOU WANNA DANCE .V, YOU NEED HANDS ..... WILLIE & HAND JIVE ,• f ENCHANTED ISLAND . . . . . . . t IF DREAMS CAME TRUE: J BIG MAN .'. ..... t WHEN _ I: [Figures in parentheses indicate number of weeks song has been in the Top 101 ♦+ttt+44 1 +1♦ ♦ ♦♦ ♦ ♦♦t♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦4 4 Tired of You” is: the only non-, shqwtune in this collection. Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orch: “Sounds of the Great Bands” (CUpi- tol). Now .that the era of the swing bands has receded into ancient history, Glen Gray’s orph has had to do some archelogical research In reconstructing the styles of the name crews from the ’30s and ’40s. Although instrumental imitations have rarely been successful. Gray does credible and swinging carbons of Tommy Dorsey (“Song of In¬ dia”); Woody Herman (“Wood- chopper’s Ball”); Earl Hines (“St. Louis Blues”); Count Basie (“One O’Clock Jump”); Duke Ellington (“Take The A Train”); and Charlie Barnet (“Cherokee”) in addition to takeoffs on Jan Savitt, Randy Brooks, Bobby Sherwood, Artie Shaw, Lionel Hampton and Jimmy Dorsey. Mario Escudero & Co.: “Viva Flamenco” (Decca). A troupe re¬ volving around guitarist Mario Escudero performs a fine flamenco program featuring Enrique Mon¬ toya as singer and Anita Ramos as the dancer. Repertory covers the typical Spanish gypsy rhythms, such as the soleares, fandangos, tarantas* etc., all delivered with typical flamenco intensity. Buddy Weed Trio: “The. Music of Leroy. Anderson” (JudsonX Le¬ roy. Anderson, one of the more inventive contemporary composers in ah idiom that’s popular, but considerably more than pop, is the star of this lively instrumental set performed by pianist Buddy Weed , with rhythm hacking. Weed delin¬ eates the charm of Anderson’s writ¬ ing in a . light keyboard workover of such numbers as “Fiddle Fad- dle,” “The Waltzing Cat ” “The Syncopated Clock,” “Jazz Legato,” 'Sleigh Ride,". “Serehata,” “Prom¬ enade,” “Plink,. Plank, Plunk” and others. 'Silver Jubilee Don McNeill's Breakfast Club.” (Dot), Marking the 25th anni of this Chicago-orig¬ inated radio, show, host Don Mc¬ Neill has picked a flock of top re¬ quest numbers for this neat LP variety stanza. Carol Richards and Dick Noel score, in duetting ses¬ sions rfind Fran Allison reprises her “Aunt Fanny” characteriza¬ tion; McNeill contributes a couple of poetic recitations and Sam Cowling does an okay broad com¬ edy bit, “I Saw A Mink.” Eddie Ballantine conducts the studio orch and also joins' with Noel in a duet on “There'll Be. No New Tunes On The Old Piano,” with Bill Kreriz's ragtime keyboard spotlighted, Pete Terrace Orch: “Pete With A Latin Beat” (TicoX Pete Terrace fronts a driving Latin-American bland on a book of the more popu¬ lar dance tunes. , with accent, on the cha cha.. The instrumentation of Terrace’s orch is crisply execu¬ ted while the rhythms ire sharply defined. Occasion ensemble vocals add color. 14 Blue Roads To St. Louis” (RCA Victor). W. C. Handy’s class¬ ic “St. Louis Blues” never had it so good. In this set, 14 versions of the tune are dished up by vari¬ ous top bands and vocalists, some ranging back to the early 1930s. In . this “St. Louis Blues”, festival are slices by Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman. John Kirby, Perez Prado, Fats Waller, and Benny Payne, Duke Ellington. Dizzy Gil¬ lespie, with vocals by Lena Horne, Maxine Sullivan, Eartha Kitt, Marion Cox and Satchmo. This . LP is a followup to a Victor set formatted around a dozen versions of “Lullaby of Birdland,” which clicked a couple of years ago. Herrn. Manuti Joins NARAS; Other Members Signed A1 Manuti, prexy of Local 802, N. Y. unit of the American Federa¬ tion of Musicians, has joined-* the National . Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences as an honorary member. Membership in NARAS, which is slated to award the equiv¬ alent of film-industry “Oscars” in the disk field, is open to anyone connected, with the recording in¬ dustry. Among the new members signed up recently in the pop field are Archie Bleyer, Roger Williams, . Dorothy Olsen, Sammy Kaye, the Chordettes, and the Everly Bros. In the longhair field, membership roster has been augmented by such names as George London, Mishel Piastro, Zinka Milanov; Leopold Stokowski, Robert Russell Bennett and. Nathan Milstein,