Light music festival: "Exotic Music" (Andre Kostelanetz), plus "London Suite," "Warsaw Concerto," "Park Avenue Fantasy," and "Deep Purple"!

I promised to get to Sammy Kaye (and, yes, musicman1979--it's his contribution to the twist-ploitation craze), and I will, but for today we have a light concert (aka, light music) post, all of the selections ripped from 12-inch 78s in my collection and spanning the years from (let's see) 1934 to 1946.  

We start with the four selections (!) of the two-disc Andre Kostelanetz set, Exotic Music (1946), whose standout track is the roots-of-exotica selection Lotus Land, composed by Cyril Scott in 1905.  From the liner notes:

"Lotus Land finds its story in the Odyssey of Homer.  During the ten years of tribulation which he spent returning from the siege of Troy, Odysseus braved and overcame many perils, some fierce and aggressive, others latent and passive, but just as deadly.  One of these periods awaited him in the land of the Lotus-eaters.  Whoever stopped here and ate of the lotus flower would at once forget all thoughts of home and duty and remain on to live in dreamy indolence.  This peril, successfully defied by Odysseus, is pictured with wonderful realism in this impressionistic music.  The languid, dulled ease, the meaninglessness of time, the fatal beauty of the flower, are all richly embroidered in this tonal tapestry."

Debussy Lite, in other words.  And I wish there had been at least two additional numbers, but maybe they ran out of studio time?  ("I thought we were booked till 4 pm.  Okay, we'll clear out.")

The other three titles are fine, even if lacking in conventional "exotica" feeling, as that term is applied to Esquivel, Les Baxter, et al.  

Then, Eric Coates' London Suite, played by the London Philharmonic Orch., as conducted by the composer, on a 1937 Masterworks single, the A and B sides combined into one file.  The individual sections are Covent Garden (Tarantella), Westminster (Meditation), and Knightsbridge (March).  Note the ingenious treatments of the bell chime ("Westminster Quarters").  This is joyful and skillfully constructed light fare--the epitome of a "Pops" selection.  The audio is exceptional.

Andre Kostelanetz returns with the famous Warsaw Concerto, penned by Richard Addinsell for the 1941 movie, Suicide Squadron.  Kosty must have recorded this somewhere other than in his usual studio, given the rather muffled highs (which I restored).  This isn't the usual distant-mic AK sound, but I don't suppose that would have worked for such a dynamic number.  I'm pretty sure the year is 1946.  Wish I knew who did the ivory tickling.

Next, Paul Whiteman conducting his 1934 Concert Orchestra in two famous "symphonic jazz" works, both of which yielded highly successful pop songs: Park Avenue Fantasy ("Stairway to the Stars"), and Deep Purple ("Deep Purple" [what else?]."  The scoring is by Roy Bargy and (probably) Irving Szathmary, respectively.  The pianist is Dana Suesse.  Some gramophone-soundbox wear in the loud closing passages for both, but with only minor distortion.

And we wrap up with even more Andre: The 1944 "Oklahoma!" Medley.  We're back to the classic easy listening/mood music acoustics we associate with Kosty.  Wish I had arranger information--the scoring really sells the wonderful Hammerstein II-Rodgers numbers.  It's too bad that much music of this sort/era (the kind of popular instrumental fare common to 1930s and 1940s radio broadcasts) has come to be perceived as "Muzak"--as that brand name is generically used, that is.  A style which, for a time, entered the "Music to (name of activity) By" category during the 1950s.  Music to study by, read by, date by, knock over convenience stores by, etc.  As this 12-inch single demonstrates, it was, often as not, music worthy of full and admiring attention.

Click here to hear: Light Music Festival--Andre Kostelanetz, London Philharmonic Orch., Paul Whiteman Concert Orch.

Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch. (Columbia Masterworks MX-264, 1946)

Flamingo (Grouya)
Poinciana (Song of the Tree; Nat Simon)
Song of India (Rimsky-Korsakov)

Lotus Land (Cyril Scott)

Various

London Suite (Covent Garden, Westminster, Knightsbridge)--London Philharmonic Orch., c. Eric Coates, 1937

Warsaw Concerto (Richard Addinsell)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1946

Park Avenue Fantasy (Matt Malneck-Frank Signorelli, A: Roy Bargy)--Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orch., piano: Dana Suesse, 9/11/1934

Deep Purple (Peter De Rose, A: prob. Irving Szathmary)--Same

"Oklahoma!" Medley--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1944




Lee

The Electro-Sonic Orchestra, c. Dick Jacobs, 1961. "Defies all restrictions"!

 

So, this 1961 album is either a revelation or a snooze, and I have yet to decide on that count.  It demands multiple plays.  But the liner notes are unambiguous in their acclaim: "The Electro-Sonic Orchestra represents a new sound, a sound never heard before, a sound that defies all restrictions and delights in its breathtaking scope and startling dept."  Sounds which are new and never heard before.  How's that for redundancy?  "A sound that defies all restrictions."  Is that even possible?  I love to make fun of liner-note puffery.

The secret of the new, never-before-heard, restriction-obliterating sound is the transducer.  Which all microphones are, fundamentally (transducers), but we'll overlook that technicality and let Coral continue:

"The Transducer--an especially designed device that attaches directly to the instruments."  No "open" microphones, and so we're hearing the vibrations of acoustic instruments as picked up by contact microphones, I'm presuming.  We're talking piano, drum, bass violin, guitar, electric bass, cello, two violas, and six violins (Oxford comma added).  

And: "This is electronic music.  Not the weird machine-made sounds usually associated with the term."  Yet, a vintage synth--the ondioline--and an organ (electric, presumably) are used, and so we are, in fact, getting some of "the weird machine-made sounds usually associated with the term."  Hey, Coral's description, not mine!

And, when introducing a new sound never heard before--one which defies all restrictions--Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini is a playlist must!

Though this has obvious historical interest, it goes for ordinary prices, and possibly because it sold well (with umpteen copies extant).  And because its gimmick didn't catch on (to my knowledge).  Still, the crisp stereo separation is cool, and the constant panning (to add to the orch.'s "new" feel) is hilarious in a dated way.

DOWNLOAD: The Electro-Sonic Orchestra, c. by Dick Jacobs (Coral CRL 757381; 1961)    

Volare

Cry

Hey There

Tammy

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini

Sincerely

Mack the Knife

Fascination

I'm Sorry

Little Things Mean a Lot

(Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music!

That's My Desire

Lee

More Merry Mervmas, Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle, Holiday Favorites (Gilmar)

 

DOWNLOAD: More Mervmas and Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle

I guess this will be my December 25 post (in fact, Christmas is nine minutes away).  I would have revived more "banned" posts and put up a couple more "new" LPs, but my storage options are limited, and I quickly exceeded Box.com's downloading bandwidth.  Which I don't want to do at pixeldrain.  MEGA?  Won't let me use it.  Clearly, I'm the only music blogger uploading material with any copyright-claim potential.  Obviously.  Oh, and thanks to all who recommended alternate hosting sites.

Things start with three Merv Griffin sides I present every Christmas. The first two--1950's Sleigh Ride and Christmas Time--date from Merv's time as vocalist for the Freddy Martin Orchestra. The third--1962's Christmas City--was recorded by Merv for the annual Christmas City of the North Parade in Duluth, Minnesota. Nice song, well arranged, well recorded, and Merv is fine, my only issue being his pronunciation of "youth"--"Come this Christmas, and you'll suddenly find your youth," which initially sounded to my ears like, "...and you'll suddenly find you're you." Which sort of works, but not nearly as well as "youth."

And I'll skip ahead to the Gilmar Holiday Favorites 45 rpm EP, its A and B sides combined into one file.  Both sides feature a continuous groove, with awkward pauses and fades between selection fragments. The engineering ineptitude is of the have-to-hear-it-to-believe type, and many of the recordings are very familiar, though I can't place them.  Tops?  Eli Oberstein?  Maybe I'll have time to find out at some point.  I swear that the B side sounds like something cobbled together while the guy at the controls dozed off.  ("Wha... what?  Oh, yeah, I'm mixing a side.  I forgot.")

And the gorgeous Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (You Come Down From the Stars) is a 1732 Christmas carol featuring words and music by Saint Alphonsus Liguori of Italy.  Here's the wonderful comment I received in 2020 by Roberto of Milan, Lombardy.  The references are to guesses I'd made in my post:

"Hi, I have some other records from that series -not this one, so thank you very much-. You're right about the interpretation of "4 voci dispari": here it is second case, all-male adult/children. The plaque in the town of Nola (close to Naples, not LA) tells the song was written there in december 1754, yet those were the years indeed. For the Italian generations born no matter when from 19th to 20th century this one was the pretty first Xmas tune to be heard and learned by heart. The child introducing the song is a guest of the Orphanage -turned into a private high scool nowadays-: he calls himself "Ricciolino" [Curly] and he's 13. He's thanking all the benefactors, to whom this record is probably given as a freebie, wishing season greetings to all Italians in and outside the Country -emigrants were still many in 1959, that should be the year- asking everyone to remember and help the lonely like him and his companions. Then the song begins, just first verse and twice refrain. You won't escape the translation, just as horrible as only mine could be:

[O Blessed God!] 
You come down from the stars 
O King of Heaven 
[O King of Heaven] 
And come to a cave 
In the cold, in the frost 
And come to a cave 
In the cold, in the frost 

O my Divine Child 
I see you trembling here
O Blessed God
Ah, how much it did cost you 
For loving me! 
Ah, how much it did cost you 
For loving me! [2]

Even the manufacturer Cellograf-Simp survives today, with production and marketing strategies slightly different though... Always been into plastics, at those times it first finalized others' given masters, later starting an editorial branch of its own (Phonocolor/Style). From late 50s to early 60s it was the main flexis stamper in Italy and yes, a bit more thickness has always featured its production. They were mainly freebies: Italy was living an economic boom back then and after purchasing the right amount of any stuff you always got your flexi thrown to. Sorry the lengthy... Roberto - Milan, Lombardy -not so far from Desenzano-"

Merry Christmas!

Lee

A gorgeous easy-listening holiday album (maybe the best ever). And, this time around, in stereo. And as credited to "George Jenkins."

 

Custom--a Modern/Crown sublabel.  Clearly a reboot of a Crown LP--in this case, 1959's Sounds of a Thousand Strings Plays for Christmas.  And Al Goodman received credit at some point, though I can't find the Goodman-credited release at Discogs right now.  This stuff gets complicated.

Last year, I revived the source LP, Singing Strings Herald Christmas, in this post (whose workupload link no longer works, of course).  That source LP was credited to The Stradivarius String Society and The Cologne Symphony Orch., conducted by Fritz Munch.  How those became the "Thousand Strings," I have no idea, though my guess is that the original label, Lester Records, folded quickly.  As in, very quickly.  All but the first track of this LP (White Christmas, and not from the Lester album) are in stereo, which means the original dates from either 1958 or 1959.  Thus, its migration to Crown happened right away.

These stereo tracks sound way better than the monaural Lester LP's, though only after a good deal of declicking.  VinylStudio knocked out the main extent of the surface noise, but there were still clicks and pops (both quiet and LOUD) which had to be manually removed in MAGIX.  It took me about an hour, or maybe an hour and a half.  It was worth the effort--these are among the best "beautiful music" holiday renditions every recorded.

And who is George Jenkins?  I have no idea, and neither does Discogs.  But, wait--wasn't he that cartoon character?  "Meet George Jenkins/His boy Elroy, etc."?  No, that was George Jetson.  My bad.

Cover painting is nice, with the same art on the back cover.  I did a good job photo-shopping the ring wear, I think.  

Reader/listener Ronald Sauer alerted me to this material.  Ron left the following comment, detailing his excellent detective work:

These songs were on albums issued by Parade, Spin-o-rama, Custom, Yuletide, and other budget labels. I first heard them in the late fifties or early sixties on "Al Goodman and his Orchestra play a Christmas Symphony" on Parade Records. In addition, those same songs were credited on other records to George Jenkins, the Sound of 1000 Strings, and others. I finally tracked them back to what I believe is the original source: The Stradivarius String Society and the Cologne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Munch "Singing Strings Herald Christmas" on Lester Records L1002. It was one of my favorites as a youth. It only took me about 50 years of searching for the source.

That's dedication! Many thanks to Ron!  And imagine the work involved in the days before Discogs and other sources.  Anyway, gorgeous tracks, fabulous stereo, and as for the opening monaural track--I have no idea from where that came.  But it fits in nicely enough.

Oh, and the track lineup is identical to that of the Lester Records original.  The only difference being the substitution of the monaural White Christmas.

DOWNLOAD: White Christmas--George Jenkins--The Christmas Strings (Custom CS 5; 1964?)

White Christmas

Silent Night

Come All Ye Faithful

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Deck the Halls

Joy to the World

The First Noel

Good King Wenceslas

O Holy Night

We Three Things

Lee

A less than splendid example of a holiday novelty not expertly rendered: "Santa's Sleigh" (1955)

 

DOWNLOAD: Santa's Sleigh--Santa Claus (Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., Elector Records MC-1000-45; 1955.

Regarding the backstory for 1955's Santa's Sleigh, by Santa Claus (aka Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., all  can say is... hoo, boy.  Maybe grab a stiff drink before continuing.

Bob Ellis was the stage name of Raymond Asserson, Jr., the great-grandson of Rear Admiral Peter Christian Asserson. Raymond was the fourth husband of Christine "Cee Cee" Cromwell, daughter of American diplomat James H.R. Cromwell and Dodge Motor Company heiress Delphine Ione Dodge. Christine got none of the Dodge fortune when her mother Delphine died in 1943, whereupon it was discovered Delphine had disinherited James H.R. Cromwell (after their divorce, I'm guessing) and anyone related to him, which meant "Cee Cee" and her half-sister Anna Ray "Yvonne" (Baker) Ranger. But it doesn't sound like Christine was without dough....

And, in 1970, Christine survived a plane crash--get the whole story here.

Back to the backstory, this record was made during Bob's (Raymond's) marriage to Christine. when he was co-managing her night club in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. You never know what kind of history is going to pop up behind a thrift and/or eBay acquisition.  And, 

Now, I hate to describe as awful any recording by someone who might be reading this post, however low that probability may be.  In which case, it can come across as a personal attack.  But since Bob Ellis Jr. didn't pen this thing, I'll go ahead and pronounce the melody uninspired and the words terrible.  At this point in his development, Bob Jr. could not sing.  We don't expect expert vocalizing from children, but...

I want to question whether Santa might have changed his mind, after hearing this record, about letting Bob Jr. drive the sleigh.  And an inexperienced magic-sleigh driver?  Sorry, doesn't wash.

Anyway, Bob Ellis makes one terrible Santa.  Any successful SC imitation requires more than a mock-bass voice and echo-enhanced "Ho Ho Ho!'s.  Santa has to sound boundlessly generous.  A less than sincere Santa is a logical contradiction.  A successful Santa is all about giving, not posturing.  Despite the red suit, the fancy sleigh, and so on, Santa is a refreshingly humble icon.  His flashiness speaks to the many legends randomly combined into his person: Norse sky god Thor (bearing gifts at Christmas and entering homes via their chimneys, plus his chariot and goats which fly the night sky), the Christkind or Christkindl (the gift-bearing Christ Child, aka Kris Kringle), Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, and who knows who (or what) else?  Mythology hosts no requirement to mesh logically, and so we have a multi-multifaceted Saint Nick.  Which face is his true face?  A: All of them.

This is one of the perfect holiday novelties.  How can I be sure?  Because I don't know whether I'm doing a service or disservice to the celebration.  Probably both.  Thus, the ideal novelty!

And why is Santa's Sleigh placed in quotes on the B side?  I have no idea.  For that matter, why isn't the name of the label (Elector) on the label?  Which is where we'd logically expect to find it.

Lee