Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else: 10/01/2025

From 1958, one of the weirdest cheesecake covers of all ("Let's put a seemingly nude model in a bathtub holding a trumpet {"A bathtub holding a trumpet?"] with a music stand next to the tub..."), though the model is easy on the eyes, and the composition is excellent (the photo composition, that is--not the sheet music in the stand). Eight of these ten tracks came out earlier on this 10" album, which had more dignified, but far less fetching, jacket art...

The two extra tracks on the 1958 12-incher--Blueberry Hill and Casey Jones--were previously unreleased, far as I can determine. And the musicianship throughout the ten selections is superb, with an especially gifted pianist (marvelous on Casey Jones), and someone who might be Paul Whiteman's own Chester Hazlett on "subtone" clarinet.

I've loved this LP since thrifting it approximately forty (!) years ago, and the miraculously fine fidelity gives these sides an eerie edge--to my ears, at least. Eerie, because the tracks, marvelous as they are, are in a hybrid big-band/easy-listening style which didn't become the 1950s norm, not even by way of Mitch Miller's own solo sides (which evolved into Mitch Miller and the Gang/..and His Sing-Along Chorus). They hint at an evolutionary path not taken! Throughout the 1950s, the big-band sound endured, even as it got bigger, and the easy-listening sound also became bigger--and lusher. These tracks are an oddity in terms of the separate paths taken by EZ and big band, but all the more interesting for being different, I think.

Seven of these ten tracks are covers of numbers that charted in 1949 and 1950: Blueberry Hill--Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins, 1949; Music! Music! Music!--Teresa Brewer, 1949; My Foolish Heart--Billy Eckstine, 1950; The Third Man Theme--Anton Karas, 1949; There's No Tomorrow--Tony Martin, 1950; Casey Jones--Dixie-Aires, 1949; and Jealous Heart--Al Morgan, 1949.

The three non-1949-or-1950-chart numbers (far as I know), are Come Into My Heart, The Glow-Worm (A huge 1952 hit for the Mills Brothers), and Leave It to Love. However, Leave It to Love--a 1948 song by Irving Szathmary--was recorded in 1949 by Ralph Flanagan, and appeared in a Jan., 1950 budget knockoff on Varsity by Jimmie Livingston. Would a budget knockoff have been released had the song not charted? Not likely. But then who had the chart hit? I wonder...

According to the Online Discographical Project's listings, Hugo made twelve solo recordings for Columbia during his brief stay, including two Christmas numbers (Blue Christmas, and You're All I Want for Christmas), with all but four of them showing up here (plus the two previously unreleased numbers).

During his Columbia period (as musical director), Hugo also provided orchestra backings for Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Toni Arden, et al.

Side notes: On the original 78 issues, a group called The Five Gems is featured with Winterhalter's orch. on Music! Music! Music! and The Glow-Worm (with no mention of a chorus). Also, Hugo's "Chorus" is alternately credited as his "Choir" and "Vocal Group." Now we know. So far, I can find nothing about the Five Gems, nor have I seen them credited anywhere but on the two Winterhalter sides. Given the brilliant piano work on Casey Jones, however, I suspect the Gems participated on it (as well as Glow-Worm).