Various Artists--Sep., 2025: Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, The Penguins, Hugo Winterhalter, The Checkers, Dreamlovers, more!

 

I forgot what "part" I'm at, various artists-wise, so I used the month and year instead.  The usual mix of doo wop, early soul (The Imperials), easy listening, EZ jazz, Dixieland, and Little Red Riding Hood.  Wait... Little Red Riding Hood?

THE BREAKDOWN:

The three Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey sides consist of a so-so So Rare (a stereo remake on the Bihari Brothers' Bright Orange label--so you know it's high end), plus two 1955 sides made for Columbia: Jackie Gleason's own Melancholy Serenade, and the terrific swing selection, Stompin' Down Broadway.  And we have some easy-listening (or EZ) jazz by way of the Columbia Musical Treasuries Orchestra's Call Me and the Moonlight Strings' Don't Go Breaking My Heart (a Burt and Hal classic).

In the R&B-vocal/early soul department: The Penguins' 1954 Hey Senorita (from a typically poorly-pressed SPC collection), The Channels' 1957 That's My Desire, The Imperials' (with Little Anthony) 1958 Two People in the World, and my favorite of the bunch, the pricey collectible from 1959, Teardrops Are Falling, by the Checkers.  Luckily, I ripped it from a thrifted copy of Porky Chedwick Presents His All Time Favorite Dusty Discs, Vol. 2.  I had to do some major audio repair, thanks to a radical crosscut (courtesy of whoever previously owned it, not me), but it's always nice to get a clean-sounding cut out of a not-clean-sounding cut.  And the Imperials and Channels are courtesy of the same Porky LP.  (I've always wanted to type that.)

Then, some 1963 R&B of the Chubby Checker era, by way of the famous doo-wop group, the Dreamlovers (minus the "the") on a 1963 LP which I thrifted in its Columbia Special Products reissue. We get The Slide, Pony Time, and Carole King's Loco-Motion.  Like much twist-era material, it is expertly done but a bit wearing when taken in a full-LP dose.

Next, two Al Caiola pop-instrumental tracks from 1965's Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes: Jerry Goldsmith's famous Theme From "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and Maurice Alfred Cohen's (aka, A. Carr) Man of Mystery (Theme Music of the Edgar Wallace Thrillers).  Two tracks earlier, the virtuoso accordion of Myron Floren impressively rushes through Lover, from 1956's Lawrence Welk at Madison Square Garden.  Re "The Edgar Wallace Thrillers," I think this refers to the British TV series, The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1959-1965).

Some fine easy listening follows: The Moonlight Strings' Strangers in the Night (1969), Hugo Winterhalter's version of Mah-Na-Mah-Na (also 1969--the same year the Muppets first used it [on Sesame Street]), plus Frank Chacksfield and His Orch. with I Got Rhythm (1956).  As far as EZ renditions of I Got Rhythm, I prefer Andre Kostelanetz's amazing 1941 rush-through arrangement, though Chacksfield's milder treatment rocks, too.  Or doesn't rock.  Whichever.

And I ripped the artists-unknown Little Red Riding Hood from a Happy Time (Pickwick) LP, the track appearing earlier (?) on a 1960 Hudson label LP.  The Hudson label had been owned by Eli Oberstein, but (far as I know) Eli sold most of his labels to Pickwick in the late 1950s, so Hudson was likely Pickwick-owned come 1960.  Whatever I just typed.  And the fate of the wolf is pretty hilarious in this music-with-narration kiddie Riding Hood variant: I won't give it away, but I'll note that the wolf is neither axed, shot, nor felled with an arrow.  
                                     

DOWNLOAD: VA Sep. 2025.zip

Melancholy Serenade--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch. Featuring Jimmy Dorsey, 1955

Theme From "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."--Al Caiola, 1965

Hey Senorita--The Penguins, 1954

That's My Desire--The Channels, 1957

Stompin' Down Broadway--Tommy Dorsey and His Orch. Featuring Jimmy Dorsey, 1955

Call Me--The Columbia Musical Treasuries Orch. (Arr: Ken Woodman), 1968

Loco-Motion--Dreamlovers, 1963

South Rampart Street Parade--Lawrence Welk's Dixeland Boys, 1956

The Slide--Dreamlovers, 1963

Strangers in the Night--The Moonlight Strings, 1969

Teardrops Are Falling--The Checkers, 1959

Two People in the World--The Imperials, 1958

Pony Time--Dreamlovers, 1963

Lover--Myron Floren, accordion, with Lawrence Welk and His Orch., 1956

Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Bacharch-David)--The Moonlight Strings, 1969

Man of Mystery (Theme Music of The Edgar Wallace Thrillers)--Al Caiola, 1965

So Rare--Members of the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras

Mah-Na-Mah-Na--Hugo Winterhalter and His Orch., 1969

I Got Rhythm--Frank Chacksfield and His Orch., 1956

Rock Around the Clock--Frankie Carle, 1973

Little Red Riding Hood--Unknown (Bedtime Stories and Songs, Happy Time [Pickwick])

Lee