When Ernie Kovacs got his two days to host Tonight! he got to work with his own orchestra. Where Steve Allen employed Skitch Henderson, Ernie worked with LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra. Starting his career as a songwriter and arranger, Holmes then signed—after World War II when he was a pilot and flight instructor—with MGM Music Studios as a record producer where he'd arrange and conduct backing music for MGM stars. A benefit of leading a house band meant that LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra got to release their own singles and their first album Alone Together in 1953 on MGM Records.
Singles are where LeRoy Holmes shines as an arranger and bandleader. From 1950 to 1953, his orchestra releases the variety of music you'd expect from a versatile house band: uptempo dance music, slow dance music, ballads, dixieland, popular songs, classics, novelty and throwback World War II propaganda songs all by way of a Big Band. Cleverly arranged with layered brasses, generous with solos (even if the soloists go nameless,) and with a rhythm section dominated by a driven bass, the singles make for memorable and danceable instrumental hits. When there's a singer to take the lead, the musical interplay can be even more fun like with the playful guitar dancing around Elly Russell's voice on "The Lately Song."
There are no singers on the album though. Alone Together is all instrumentals of songs by Howard Deitz and Arthur Schwartz. In a short eight song set, the orchestra doesn't aspire to be more than forgettable background music. The arrangements are simple and the same general formula is applied across all eight songs: alternating bars and tones between sleepy strings, blaring trumpets and a selection of deeper, melodic brass. There is some interplay between the sections but not enough to make for exciting listening, and sometimes the layering is non-existent like in "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." The occasional soloists make for the most dynamic part of the arrangements but are just part of the arrangements and lack any surprise or personality. The songs themselves are classics and hard to do wrong, but the album opts instead to do nothing with them at all.
Note: Normally, I'd include a link to a song from the album in the post, but Alone Together has yet to be digitized. All the songs linked to in this Tour stop are singles released before the album.
Note 2: It's either LeRoy Holmes or Leroy Holmes. Or both. I couldn't come to a definitive answer. I chose LeRoy because a few of his early singles list him as such, but everything after is labeled all in uppercase and so: inconclusive.
Here is the discography surrounding Leroy Holmes and His Orchestra's debut album:
The Sheik of Araby (1950 single)
When You Wore a Tulip (And I Wore a Big Red Rose) (1950 single)
The Billboard March (1951 single)
I Shall Return (1951 single)
In a Persian Market (1951 single)
In Your Arms (1951 single)
Little League (1951 single)
Make Believe Land (1951 single)
Old Soldiers Never Die (1951 single)
Pretty Little Bells (1951 single)
Pretty Polly Polka (1951 single)
This Is the Time of Year (1951 single)
Baia (1952 single)
The Gypsy in My Soul (1952 single)
I'll Walk Alone (1952 single)
Idaho (1952 single)
Isn't This a Night for Love (1952 single)
Would You (1952 single)
Alone Together
Songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz: Dancing in the Dark (1953 EP)
Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil) (1953 single)
Caravan (1953 single)
I'll Be Hangin' Around (1953 single)
Serenade (1953 single)
"The Sheik of Araby" by LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra
"The Billboard March" by LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra
"Isn't This a Night for Love" by LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra
"The Lately Song" by LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra
Pass the Headphones!!
