Variety (July 1958)

Wednesday, July 16, 1958 PtSilETf MUSIC 43 San Francisco, July 13. The Ineptitude—^and utter squareness—of the Wire services in covering Jazz was unheautifully illustrated by a story disseminated by the Frisco bureau of a press service -Which shall be spared and remain, anonymous. The story,, sent out by the wire service, quoted “jazz musician Shorty Peterstein,” spokesman for the “free-thinking habitues” of Frisco's North Beach area, as saying the area’s “beat generation” had turned its back on all hip symbols. It made a great point of quoting Peterstein to the effect that “beatsters” were shaving off their beards. . The fects: The wire service picked up a spoof of the “beat gen¬ eration" from the June 26. morning. Chronicle column of~jazz critic . Ralph J. Gleason, who is syndicated nationally by the Los Angeles Mirror-News, had kidded the beatsters through a mythical char¬ acter* Shorty Peterstein. Gleason, ih turn,, got the character -from Henry Jacobs’ Fantasy EP, “Two Interviews of Our Times,” which purports to deal in hip-talk.. But the wire service swallowed the gag whole, and straight. As Fats Waller said: “When ya gotta ask, lady; ya. don’t know.” “I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain-t Good,” written in 1941 by Duke Ellington (music) and Paul Francis Webster, (words) for the Broadway show', “Jump For Joy,” racked up its 100th disk version with the Capi¬ tol Records’ release by Keeley Smith and Louis Priraa. Entering the music scene in 1941 during the middle of an American Federation of Musicians’ recording strike, the tune was neither waxed nor performed on the air for nearly a year: The first platter, was by Las Brown’s orch with Doris Day as the band vocalist. Second rendition was by Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee vocalling. Within the past year, the tune has been getting a wide package exposure with sides by Dinah Shore- Pat¬ ti Page, Frankie Laine, Milton DeLugg, Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Lee Sims. Brituh Pick Bestseller* v ; . London, July 15. All I D* It Dream . Everly Bros: (London) Street Yeu Live..;: Damont (Philips) Hands . ....;. . .Bygraves (Decca) Twilight Time . ..>... .Platters (Mercury.) Big Man......... ■;.. .Preps (Capitol) Who’s Sorry Now.... Fraincis (MGM) ■' ; •>;' Sugar Moon .Boone (London) Book Of Love.. .Mudlarks (Columbia) Rave On ., Holly & Crickets . (Coral) . Purple People Eater . .Wooley • (MGM) .... Andy Williams, normally a pop singer, headed for Nashville this week to cut some country songs for Cadence Records. Archie Bleyer, Cadence prexy, made the move to record Williams because the studios and musicians in Nashville are more conducive to country-styled songs. While there, Bleyer will also record with the Everly Bros. Dot Records Moves C&W Operations to Nashville Hollywood; July 15. Randy Wood, prexy of Dot Rec¬ ords, has decided to transfer label’s country & western opera¬ tions to Nashville, Tenn., because of that area’s, greater potential in talent for this, type of music. Wood feels that more singers and: writers : are attracted to Nash¬ ville because Of radio’s “Grand Ole Opry” program which emanates from there. Mac Wiseman, head of the c&w division, will move his quarters from the Coast to Gallatin, Tenn:, some 30 miles from Nashville* and the original home of the Dot label. Wood is now vacationing in. Gal¬ latin, in addition to making plans for the company’s c&w. operations from that locale. Boom in O’Seas Disk Market Calls For A Likely Story(viOe); Geo. Wein Would ‘Knight’ Hand-Dipped Songsmitb . The disk industry is now in the middle of a foreign market boom. which is obsoleting previous meth¬ ods of distribution. While in for¬ mer : days, diskeries assigned . the foreign rights to overseas affiliates or subsidiaries and then forgot about it, currently, the U.S. labels must now place top emphasis on all phases of distribution and marketing in areas outside this Harwich, Mass , July 15. “Sandwich Blass, Beach Plum j Jelly and Hand Dipped Candles , country, according to Arnold Max- anyone? . j in, MGM Records prexy who re- That’s. the monicker of a ■ tone | ceptly returned (rom a three-week poem that George Wein, operator ! ° °* western Europe. of Storyville-Cape Cod here, has ■ Alt *J 0, ^ h Eiironc is five, years ,, • . . r . I behind America in development of thought up as a gimmick to go L :ts disk b ,- 2 potential En-Hnd and with the jazz nitery, strawhgt style.}the; Continent are still capeNe r.f guarantee of a recording contract ■ selling more of anv particular Jut to a. composer—any composer, in-.. A cas .° in noinf is eluding all of his jazz friends—for ;March From The Hiver Kwai >. a musical panegyric dedicated 4o.j \yhfch has topped the LOO').000 the new summer home with the! sales marker in Germany alone, above title ■ doubling its sale in this country. , ,, , . fSim’larlv, such numbers as D^ris It shoul4 preferably be a tone Day . s ,. pue Rerae „i ovrd a poem, say^ Wein and he hopes to-bigger sate abroad than in th-'U S interest Daw Brubeek. George f asdW Harry B -iafonte's ••M-rVs Shearing, Erroll Garner and others < Bov Ch’ld ” - • who will play his spot in the con^ whiIe )n Europe. Maxin dis- teSt *. cussed distrib plans with H'ctric Wein, who is bringing jazz to the & Murica? Industries fF.Mn.. of Cape area for the first time in ai England which handles the MGM new 600-seat club where femmes i line abroad. He also pmkf'd bo a must wear dresses and lads ties, I classical line. Imperial Records says several composers have got the “Sandwich Glass” sound and “Hand . Dipped Candles.” but want to know, what does “Beach Blum Jelly” sound like?” *rom the German Electrola cata¬ log, for release in the U.S, under the MGM label. These disks will hit the market here next year. Maxin also contracted for vari¬ ous LP’s in every country he v ; sit- ed on the Continent. He’s planning a new series. “Adventures Around ;.The World,” featuring-.native mu- j sic of the. European countries, i Maxin also dickering for some I Continental singers to add to the label's roster; BYGRAVES-JACOBSENS London, July 15. A new British music nubbery has been set up by comedian. Max; Bygraves and agent Jock Jacobsen. Outfit is the Lake view Music Pub¬ lishing .Co. and has been estab¬ lished oh the strength of Bygraves cleffed numbers. “You Need Hands,” currently getting a lot of coverage in the States and Britain. Jacobsen, who was for five years a director of the Music Corp. of America, will shortly be v‘.siting the U. S., on a promotion trip, and to tie ud with Yank pubberies. Lakeview already has an existing deal with Leeds Music for distribu¬ tion in the U» S. and- Lou Levy has been in huddles w*th Jacobsen during his European trip. The publishing .company, with Bygraves as chairman and Jacob- spn as managing director, has made a deal with the British end of Mills Music for distributmn, al¬ though “You Need Hands” is being handled by Southern Music. Brit Terjtery Bars Unacconroed Negroes London, July 15. Britain’s largest dance hall chain, Mecca Ltd., has barred Ne¬ groes from three of its halls unless accompanied by a partner. The ban operates in Birmingham, Not¬ tingham and Sheffield'. A pamphlet handed to colored. folk at the Birmingham hall states:. “Colored men visiting this dance hall are requested to bring a lady partner and are welcomed only on this condition.” CMrumbelo to WB Label Hollywood, July 15. Hal Cook, veepee and sales man¬ ager of Warner Bros. Records, has named Victor Chirumbolo to the post of district sales manager cov¬ ering Newark. N, J: f Boston and New York, Chirumbolo had been with Capi¬ tol for the last five years as man¬ ager of that label’s New Jersey branch. Simultaneously, James Gordon, most recently general manager of Cap’s defunct Prep Records, was named to a similar post covering L. A. and San Fran¬ cisco..