Symphonic jazz, Part 2--Templeton, Grofe, and Phillips

Symphonic jazz--what is it? Good question. Often, the phrase is used to describe Paul Whiteman's brand of jazz (which many insist isn't jazz, but which others--like Gunther Schuller and Brian Rust--regard as an interesting and highly musical form thereof). Or it's used to describe the light concert pieces commissioned by Whiteman for his "Experiment in Modern Music" concert series, which included Victor Herbert's Suite of Serenades, Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and titles by Duke Ellington, Peter DeRose, and Richard Rodgers. The latter is closer to the truth, imo, though the works in question sound less of one type all these decades later.

Or... it can refer to Stan-Kenton-style concert jazz. For today's post, we'll stick with the middle definition.

I swiped the above Alec Templeton photo from this excellent page at The Remington Site: Alec Templeton (1909-1963). We'll be hearing Alec's brilliant six-part Insect Suite, as performed on the radio by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra on Oct. 31, 1944. I first (and last) featured these in 2005, and I can't believe I waited so long to feature them again. Don't let the silly titles (The Flea Fugue, for instance) mislead you--these are beautifully conceived miniatures. And I've always wanted to type "beautifully conceived miniatures."

From the same 1944 broadcast, we have Ferde Grofe's Blue Nocturne, which I find more blah than blue (always wanted to type that), as much as I love Ferde. Grofe's terrific arrangements of When Day is Done and Rimsky-Korsakov's Hymn to the Sun are better deals (and a good deal better, imo).

We close in stereo with the Melachrino Orchestra's 1958 recording of Donald Phillip's Concerto in Jazz for our sole non-radio selection.

Click here to hear the jazzy symphonic sounds: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

HYMN TO THE SUN (Rimsky-Korsakov; Arranger: Grofe)--Paul Whiteman O., 1936. (NBC broadcast) BLUE NOCTURNE (Grofe)--Paul Whiteman O., 1944. (Radio) WHEN DAY IS DONE (Arranger: Grofe)--Whiteman, 1945. (Radio) INSECT SUITE (Alec Templeton)--Whiteman, 1944. (Radio) 1. A Day in the Life of a Firefly
2. Ode to a Bumble Bee's Bottom
3. Stink Stink Bug Goes
4. June Bug Jive
5. A Cloud of Gnats to You
6. The Flea Fugue CONCERTO IN JAZZ (D. Phillips)--Melachrino Orchestra, 1958. (From Light Classics in Hi-Fi)


Lee

Susan Owens Snelling writes MY(P)WHAE !

So, I got a nice email from Susan Owens Snelling, who was married to Clock on the Wall creator Alva Snelling. She writes (referring to my June 30th Alva post)...

I am Susan Owens Snelling and my husband did pass away in 95. I was so surprised when our old drummer sent this to me. Wow. I still have some of those 45's. Eric Lindgren put it out on a CD prior to Alvas death. It is called beyond the Calico Wall. Thanks for the blast.

Susan

Hey, that's what we're here for! In a follow-up note, she told me...

Alva & I played music together until around 89. He then put most of his energy into building a Social Work practice. We did a remake of Clock in 86.

And she sent me these awesome photos below. The first is a circa-1987 photo of the band Luvrakers, with Alva on the left and Susan (duh) on the right. The second image is Alva Snelling's last promo shot. In 2007, I posted this earlier photo of Alva, kindly sent my way by Phil Milstein. Some of us retain our looks better than others (count me among the others).

Later today, I'll be adding a Clock on the Wall sound file, ripped from my 45 copy. This circa-1966 side earned Alva a place on the Beyond the Calico Wall compilation mentioned by Susan. And here it is in a zip file that includes its flip, Space Race to the Moon:

Alva Snelling.

A million thanks to Susan for updating the Alva story, and for alerting us to her own interesting (and on-going) career. Check out her 2003 CD, Tanging the Hump.

Getting back to symphonic jazz, vintage light music, etc.

That is to say, choose your term. I like "easy listening," but that word has been used to designate everything and anything that isn't rock, so I'm forced to avoid it. Once, I'd settled on the term "vintage lounge," though that could just as easily refer to, well, a lounge. And the furniture in it. These things get complicated.

Anyway, one of my goals--no, two of my goals--at this blog are as follows: 1) highlight the history of easy/lounge/light music; and 2) as a result, hopefully demonstrate that the genre was a major and very mainstream part of pop music history, and not anything like the marginal, oddball, reaction-against-rock-'n'-roll thing it's widely mythologized to be. Seeing as we had music that sounded like Fifties mood music at least as early as the late 1920s, there's not much chance this stuff was a reaction to Elvis, who hadn't even been born yet.

Meanwhile, I have no idea when today's material was recorded, though I'm nearly sure it comes from (or was made for) a radio broadcast. Robert Trendler conducts the WGN Orchestra, and I'm guessing sometime in the 1940s, but I don't know. We do know that it's post-1937 (the year Gershwin died). Anyhow, a very distinguished example of the kind of light fare that record critics went ballistic over during the 1950s when, to their horror, it outsold discs featuring Bach, Bartok, Honegger, and Scriabin about 1,000 to one. People wanted light, soothing sounds vice Edgar Varese, Charles Ives, or even most of Ravel's catalog.

On the other hand, Gershwin wasn't exactly an American music slouch (to be fair, those same critics were very much okay with him). And Mr. Trendler had to know his craft pretty impressively to land a gig as WGN's musical director. So... please. Enoch Light's 18 Top Hits label is the source for this, so I'm a little surprised the actual orchestra and conductor were credited, though the excellent singers are left anonymous. Anyway, fabulous easy/lounge/Americana. The two clipped beginnings, by the way, showed up that way on the record. Shame on you, 18 Top Hits.

Click here to hear: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

SONG OF THE FLAME
OH LORD, I'M ON MY WAY (From Porgy and Bess)
THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME (From Shall We Dance)
OF THEE I SING
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME (From Oh, Kay)
BIDIN' MY TIME (From Girl Crazy)

Robert Trendler and His WGN Orchestra (18 Top Hits BR-9).


Lee

Betty Nickell visits MY(P)WAHE!

Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee Betty Nickell visited MY(P)WHAE headquarters today, which is (are?) conveniently located at the address Bev and I reside at. Betty's a really sweet lady, and quite sharp, to boot. And she's not without plenty of interesting and fun true-life stories to share from her career, including the time she nabbed first prize on a radio show after one whole day's practice. Not so fun, to be sure, is the memory of making "nothing" from the record that earned her a place in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (the terrific rocker Hot Dog), though it amazes and delights her to discover that the record is quite fondly remembered after 51 years (to the tune of $380 in a recent eBay auction!). Sometimes, you don't know how famous you are until you Google your name. Or not famous, whichever the case may be.

Update: A yellow-wax copy of Hot Dog went for $500 in an Oct., 2008 eBay auction. Whoa.

Betty gave me a photocopy of a Country Music Digest article about her and her group, The Mystics. Here they are in all their circa-1975 glory:


























More to come!


Lee

MY(P)WHAE Rocks!

Rockin' sides from the Enoch Light 18 Top Hits label, including some early-Fifties material by Dave Bartholomew and His Orch. under a different name (The Royal Play Boys). Night Train was a hit for Jimmy Forrest and Buddy Morrow, and Fool, Fool, Fool was a hit for the Clovers and Kay Starr. As you can see from the label shot, these are from an EP and LP issue called New Orleans Blues. The LP version is minus Fool, Fool, Fool, for some reason.

Then we have more typical 18 Tops Hits fare with three covers of hits by Bill Haley: Dim, Dim the Lights; Razzle Dazzle; and Mambo Rock.

These are from a stack of nearly fifty 18 Tops Hits 45s I won from eBay for a nice, low price. Given the cheapness of the label, maybe this is as it should be. Some nice stuff, despite the lack of $$ that went into these on both my part and Enoch's.

Click here to get rockin': ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

NIGHT TRAIN (Forrest)--The Royal Play Boys (Dave Bartholomew Orch.); 18 Top Hits BR-2.
FOOL, FOOL, FOOL--Same (Dave Bartholomew Orch. feat. Tommy Ridgley); 18 Top Hits BR-2.
BOOKIE BLUES--Dave Barton (Meyer Kennedy and Orch.); 18 Top Hits BR-2.
DIM, DIM THE LIGHTS--The Brigadiers; 18 Tops Hits 140.
RAZZLE DAZZLE--Keith Textor; 18 Top Hits 157.
MAMBO ROCK--Artie Malvin with the Brigadiers; 18 Top Hits 150.


Lee

My church visit of today

Well, actually, yesterday, since this is the a.m.

Tons of positives--nice people, very traditional service (i.e., what was mainstream until recently), and the minister has a great soprano voice and a very confident presence. She's very people-oriented and has what appears to be superb managerial ability. Not surprising, given her "secular" career as a secretary.

She seems to have a database for a brain. Sort of like me when it comes to pop music details, no? And the church is very, very serious about their music. Serious in the sense of passionate. As much as I loved the little country Presbyterian church I played for (and belonged to), music was just not a priority there. The Methodist attitude toward the Euterpean muse is one I approve of religiously.

Decently big church, relatively small congregation--nice combo. The building goes back to at least 1913, and it's full of extra rooms and space. Practically hidden in the basement, for example, is a fairly large, old-fashioned kitchen. The place is kept up beautifully.

The minister and her husband (who leads the choir) are almost scary in their organizational skills. I do not complain. Best of all, I get to wear a robe as pianist.

The choir accompaniments are all doable, and they'll give me a chance to reclaim some of my keyboard chops.

I start playing next Sunday, and I can't wait. I couldn't be happier with the arrangement. And the drive there from here is all of ten minutes....

Sunday morning gospel will be back...

...next week. Sorry about that!

And thanks for the nice words about my new gig.