Milton Delugg and The All-Stars - Add-A-Part Jazz (1956)

"I'm in the Mood for Love" by Milton Delugg and The All-Stars

José Melis left the Tonight Show band when Jack Paar left, so Johnny Carson started his tenure with the returning Skitch Henderson as bandleader. But Henderson had greater aspirations than just working in television and left Tonight after four years with Carson. Arranger, composer, bandleader, producer and accordion player, Milton Delugg got the call to take over the job. Delugg had a long-running relationship with NBC that started in 1950 where he conducted for the pioneering late night program Broadway Open House. Before that, he was a ready session musician and had no shortage of work as the "only" jazz accordionist in Los Angeles. He wrote prolifically and recorded occasionally releasing a debut album Add-A-Part Jazz with The All-Stars in 1961 on Columbia Records.

Milton Delugg gives the album most of its listenability just for the rarity of the accordion in jazz. He shows off the instrument's flexibility by shifting between laying down a melodic line overtop the rhythm section or adding volume to the horns. He uses the accordion's nimble dynamic shifts to give a little subtlety to the brass and even uses its breath for the occasional sustained drone (though not nearly often enough.) The other standout instrument is the piano (played by either Hank Jones or Bernie Leighton) which hits such soft and minimal solos that are beautiful in their spareness...except that they're not actually piano solos if you buy into the album's novelty...because this is a jazz album to which the listener can play along.

So during those otherwise daringly quiet moments where it's just the rhythm section, that's actually when the listener gets to solo. Just imagine the instruments that could be given a jazz turn: sousaphone, jewish harp, mellotron, talk box, ocarina, tubular bells, otamotone, etc. The violin is a good choice if you want to sound even more like you're playing inside a French cafe or perhaps the recorder for the aspiring, jazz-curious student. And to play with such All-Stars who, even without the add-a-part, take simplified material and rudimentary arrangements and make them worth the spin.

Here is the discography surrounding Milton Delugg's debut album:

Pickle in the Middle (And the Mustard on Top) (1946 single with The Swing Wing and Artie "Mr. Kitzel" Auerbach)

Hoop-De-Doo Polka (1950 single)

Love, Mystery and Adventure (1951 single with His Orchestra)

Shake Hands with Santa Claus (1951 single with His Orchestra)

The Wang Wang Blues (1951 single with His Orchestra)

Add-A-Part Jazz

Milton Delugg with Matty Malneck and His Orchestra

"One O'Clock Jump" by Milton Delugg and The All-Stars

"Pickle in the Middle (And the Mustard on Top)" by Artie "Mr. Kitzel" Auerbach with Milton Delugg and The Swing Wing

"Love, Mystery and Adventure" by Milton Delugg and His Orchestra

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Andy Williams - Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen (1956)

"Meet Me Where They Play the Blues" by Andy Williams

Three singers for Tonight Starring Steve Allen was the limit, but Kay Thompson, former radio star and former head of the vocal department at MGM, called in a favor to get her protege Andy Williams a bonus slot in the lineup. Thompson also helped cement his first recording contract with Cadence Records on which he released his debut album Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen in 1956.

Whether it was because of their personal familiarity or a favor owed, Andy Williams chose twelve Steve Allen songs to make up his first album. Allen was a prolific songwriter, if not a very good one, writing songs with others and for his show as another source of income. Steve's wit pushed the output but the bunches of material get lost in formula and the overuse of rhyming dictionaries. They lack hooks and the human touch and, at least in this selection, are void of inspiration. (A good counterpoint to Steve Allen's songwriting would be Johnny Mercer.)

The best written song on the album is "Meet Me Where They Play the Blues" and is the song best suited to Andy's tone. It fits so nicely it apparently warrants a sound-alike on Side B ("An Old Piano Plays the Blues.") Andy Williams has a unique and quality singing voice but, much like Steve Lawrence at the time, he can't help but deliver his lines through the nose, throat or top of the palate. These vocal affectations limit the types of songs he sounds natural singing, and Steve Allen's catalogue doesn't give him much to work with (even with the casual jazz orchestrations by Alvy West.)

Here is the discography surrounding Andy Williams's debut album:

You Can't Buy Happiness (1953 single)

Here Comes That Dream Again (1954 single)

Christmas Is a Feeling in Your Heart (1955 single)

Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen

"The Wind, the Sand and the Star" by Andy Williams

"Moon Over Miami" by Andy Williams

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Steve Lawrence - About "That" Girl (1956)

"Like Someone in Love" by Steve Lawrence

When first building The Steve Allen Show for its New York audience, Steve Allen saw the new evening format as modern vaudeville. The variety of vaudeville required more than just jokes, interviews and jazzy themes, so he auditioned a "family" of singers that would perform throughout the week. Steve Lawrence, "a rabbi's son from Brooklyn," was one of the first such singers on The Steve Allen Show. Starting at 18, he continued with the show as it became Tonight Starring Steve Allen and would remain until the end of its run in 1957. Steve Lawrence released his debut album About "That" Girl in 1956 on Coral Records.

Steve Lawrence's debut opens with "Where or When." We find out that the "When" is 7AM and the beginning of a surprising and ambitious concept album that collects a series of romantic standards chronicling the day of a mind absorbed in love from waking to "the wee small hours of the morning." Every other song starts with clock chimes and an original verse that connects the overall narrative, leading naturally into the next song. Although these touches might come off as a little cheesy, they transcend the thematic album and nearly match the overbearing influences of Frank Sinatra (who had been building themed concept albums since he first started recording albums) in the realm of the narrative concept album: something I never expected to hear from a TV crooner's first try in 1956.

Note: In a sad bit of coincidence, I started listening to Steve Lawrence for this blog the same day he died from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. RIP Steve Lawrence.

Here is the discography surrounding Steve Lawrence's debut album:

All My Love Belongs to You (1952 single)

How Many Stars Have to Shine (1952 single)

Poinciana (1952 single)

Sudden Fear (1952 single)

If Not for You (1953 single)

King for a Day (1953 single)

To the Birds (1953 single)

I Need (1954 single)

Too Little Time (1954 single)

To the Birds (1954 EP)

Tell Me What to Do (To Make You Mine) (1954 single)

Make Yourself Comfortable (1954 single)

Adelaide (1955 single)

The Chicken and the Hawk (Up Up and Away) (1955 single)

How Do I Break Away from You (Without Breaking My Heart) (1955 single)

Open Up the Gates of Mercy (1955 single)

Besame Mucho (1955 single with Eydie Gorme)

Knickerbocker Mambo (1955 single with Eydie Gorme)

Never Mind (1956 single)

About "That" Girl

"If I Had You" by Steve Lawrence

"Poinciana" by Steve Lawrence

"Picnic" by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme (with Steve Allen and Skitch Henderson and His Orchestra)

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Herb Pomeroy - Jazz in a Stable (1956)

Jazz in a Stable by Herb Pomeroy

When it came time to record their album, Ill Wind caught the attention of Tom Wilson who had a lot of experience with the genres they were mixing (folk, jazz, rock) but lacked the strong hand they were looking to guide them through their studio inexperience.

Tom Wilson jumped into music production and publishing right out of college when he turned a loan into Transition Records, a record label dedicated to recording the players of the most "advanced jazz" of the day. (So in the mid-50s, that'd be bebop, hard bop and the beginnings of free jazz.)  TRLP-1 went to Herb Pomeroy's Jazz in a Stable released in 1955.

Here is the discography surrounding Herb Pomeroy's debut album:

Jazz in a Stable

Jazz in Transition (1956 compilation song)

"Moten Swing" by Herb Pomeroy

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The Four Lovers - Joyride (1956)

"This Is My Story" by The Four Lovers

The Rolling Stones closed out the T.A.M.I. Show's parade of stars; thus ends this themed leg of the Tour.  In contemplating the Tour's exit route from the Show, I wondered whether there were some artists that almost joined history but never made the concert lineup.  Word is that The Beatles were touring Europe at the time (explaining the replacement Brian Epstein acts that represented Liverpool) and were probably too big a get.  But the only act that I could find that was actually asked to be on the Show yet ended up missing out was The Four Seasons.  Apparently, the foursome asked for too much money and priced themselves out.

The Four Seasons started as The Four Lovers, a vocal rock group with a fluctuating lineup anchored by Frankie Valli and Tommy DeVito.  They released some singles and their only album Joyride in 1956 on RCA Victor.  After a couple of years underperforming expectations, they dropped The Four Lovers moniker and started anew working under a flurry of band names with producer Bob Crewe as session artists for an array of singers and studio creations.

Here is the complete discography for The Four Lovers:

My Mother's Eyes (1953 single by Frankie Valley)

Somebody Else Took Her Home (1954 single by Frankie Valley and The Travelers)

You're the Apple of My Eye (1956 single)

Honey Love (1956 single)

The Four Lovers (1956 EP)

Jambalaya (1956 single)

Joyride

Joyride (1956 EP)

Happy Am I (1956 single)

Shake a Hand (1957 single)

Pucker Up (1958 single)

I Go Ape (1958 single by Frankie Tyler)

Come Si Bella (1959 single as The Romans)

Please Take a Chance (1959 single by Frankie Vally)

Tell Me You Care (1959 single by Nickie and The Nite Lites)

Talk to Audrey (1960 single by The Hollywood Playboys)

Too Young to Start (1961 single by The Village Voices)

Ten Million Tears (1961 single by Turner DeSentri)

Trance (1961 single by Billy Dixon and The Topics)

An Angel Cried (1961 single by Hal Miller and The Rays)

Betty Jean (1961 single by Johnny Halo)

Lollypops Went Out of Style (1961 single by Matthew Reid)

(I Wish It Were) Summer All Year 'Round (1961 single by Miss Frankie Nolan)

Little Pony (1961 single by Alex Alda)

The Ballad of Mr. Nixon (1961 single by Nick Masi)

Lost Lullaby (1962 single by Billy Dixon and The Topics)

Are You Happy Now (Yeah Yeah Song) (1962 single as The Rays)

The Girl in My Dreams (1962 single as The Topics)

You Can't Fool Me Baby (1963 compilation song by The Hollywood Playboys)

Too Pooped to Popeye (1963 single by Hughie Garrity and The Hollywood Playboys)

The Four Lovers 1956 (compilation album)

"You're the Apple of My Eye" and "Please Don't Leave Me" by The Four Lovers (Live on Ed Sullivan)

"Joyride" by The Four Lovers

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Scatman Crothers - Rock 'n Roll with "Scat Man" (1956)

 "Exactly Like You" by Scatman Crothers

Wild Bill Moore's "Rock and Roll" is one of a number of songs in the debate for first ever rock and roll song.  The vocalist on the track is reputed to be jazz singer Scatman Crothers.  A long career saw Scatman shift musical gears throughout including for his "debut" album where he takes on the mantle of "rock and roller" for Rock 'n Roll with "Scat Man" while the genre is still young and still very much Rhythm and Blues.

Here is the discography surrounding Scatman Crothers's debut album:

The Jubilee Shows (No. 68 and No. 70) (1944 live radio performances with His Orchestra)

Dead Man's Blues (1948 single)

Riff's Blues (1948 single)

Shuffleboard Blues (1949 single)

I'd Rather Be a Hummingbird (1949 single)

I'd Rather Be a Rooster (1950 single)

Papa (I Don't Treat That Little Girl Mean) (1953 single)

Walkin' My Baby Back Home (1953 single)

On the Sunny Side of the Street (1954 single)

Dearest One (1955 single)

When Oh When (1955 single)

Honky Tonk (1956 single)

My Blue Heaven (1956 single)

Since I Met You Baby (1956 single)

Sweet Lips (Jazz Lips) (1956 single)

Rock 'n Roll with "Scat Man"

The Death of Emmett Till (1956 single with The Ramparts)

Exactly Like You (1957 single with His Wildcats)

I Got Rhythm (1957 single with His Wildcats)

Nobody Knows Why (1957 single with His Wildcats)

Ghost Riders in the Sky (1958 single with His Scat Rockets)

I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (1958 single with His Scat Rockets)

Rock, Roma, Rock It (1958 single)

"I'd Rather Be a Rooster" by Scatman Crothers

"Keep That Coffee Hot" by Scatman Crothers

"The Death of Emmett Till" by The Ramparts

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Billy Ward and His Dominoes - Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter (1956)

"Learnin' the Blues" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

Ruth Brown employed The Drifters as a backing vocal group (known, for her, as The Rhythmakers) which then still included Clyde McPhatter with whom she also performed two beautiful duets.  Although McPhatter had left his first band, Billy Ward and His Dominoes, in 1953 to form his own, Ward's label continued to release albums featuring McPhatter-led singles and touting his name prominently.  It makes sense as The Dominoes were never as successful without him even if they found a great replacement in Jackie Wilson.  Federal Records released Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter in 1956.

Here is the discography surrounding Billy Ward and His Dominoes's second album:

Where Now, Little Heart (1953 single)

Christmas in Heaven (1953 single)

My Baby's 3-D (1953 single)

Rags to Riches (1953 single)

Above Jacob's Ladder (1954 single)

Gimme Gimme Gimme (1954 single)

Handwriting on the Wall (1954 single)

Little Things Mean a Lot (1954 single)

Tenderly (1954 single)

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 single)

Tootsie Roll (1954 single)

The Chronological Classics: Billy Ward & His Dominoes 1953-1954 (compilation album)

Can't Do Sixty No More (1955 single)

Cave Man (1955 single)

Learnin' the Blues (1955 single)

Over the Rainbow (1955 single)

Sweethearts on Parade (1955 single)

Billy Ward and His Dominoes Featuring Clyde McPhatter

"Star Dust" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

"Little Things Mean a Lot" by Billy Ward and His Dominoes

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Vince Guaraldi Trio - Vince Guaraldi Trio (1956)

"Django" by Vince Guaraldi Trio


The Cal Tjader Trio featured a young 24 year old Vince Guaraldi on piano.  Just two years later, he had his own trio with Eddie Duran on guitar and Dean Reilly on bass.  The Vince Guaraldi Trio released its debut album Vince Guaraldi Trio in 1956.

Here is the discography surrounding Vince Guaraldi's debut album:

Modern Music from San Francisco (1955 compilation album with two songs by the Vince Guaraldi Quartet)
Vince Guaraldi Trio

"Three Coins in a Fountain" by Vince Guaraldi Trio


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The "5" Royales - The Rockin' 5 Royales (1956)

"Help Me Somebody" by The "5" Royales


Mahalia Jackson's second record label (her first being Decca) was Apollo Records, a label popular for their stable of doo-wop groups, blues artists, and gospel singers.  One of the Apollo's signed artists was The Royal Sons Quintet, a gospel vocal group from Winston-Salem, NC.  After two early singles, the group turned to performing secular material, thus moving from gospel to doo-wop and the more profitable rhythm and blues genre.  With the move, they'd change their name to The "5" Royales.  The group consisted of harmonizers Jimmy Moore, Obadiah Carter, Otto Jeffries, and lead singer Johnny Tanner all led by songwriter Lowman "Pete" Pauling.  They had a number of their most successful singles with Apollo in the early fifties including "Baby Don't Do It", "Help Me Somebody", and "Laundromat Blues", all of which charted in the top five on the R&B charts with two #1's.  The success didn't last and The "5" Royales switched to rival King Records in 1954.  Apollo still cashed in on a couple remaining singles and the group's debut album The Rockin' 5 Royales released in 1956.

Here is the discography surrounding The "5" Royales's debut album:

Come Over Here (1951 single as The Royal Sons Quintet)
Bedside of a Neighbor (1952 single as The Royal Sons Quintet)
Too Much of a Little Bit (1952 single)
You Know I Know (1952 single)
Baby Don't Do It (1952 single)
Help Me Somebody (1953 single)
Laundromat Blues (1953 single)
I Want to Thank You (1953 single)
I Do (1954 single)
Cry Some More (1954 single)
What's That (1954 single)
Six O'clock in the Morning (1955 single)
The Apollo Sessions (compilation album of pre-1955 material)
All Righty! The Apollo Recordings 1951-1955 (compilation album)
The Rockin' 5 Royales

"Baby Don't Do It" by The "5" Royales


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Aretha Franklin - Songs of Faith (1956)

"Precious Lord" by Aretha Franklin


When Natalie Cole took soul circles by storm, the first wave of praise compared her so highly as to the incumbent and eternal Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.  Natalie's image, performances, and song library were modeled after Aretha's own though slightly more "fresh".  Even the songs from Natalie's debut were once offered to Aretha to perform.  She turned them down except "You".

Aretha was the daughter of a Reverend C. L. Franklin and gospel singer and pianist Barbara Franklin.  Through the church, Aretha got the opportunity to perform gospel standards for her father by the age of 10.  When she turned 14, the reverend took her on the road and by 16, she had a record deal with J.V.B. Records.  Her first album Songs of Faith released in 1956 and collected a series of gospel standards.  The record made cheaply with poor recording standards but Aretha's powerful voice soars to some truly chilling moments, accented by the reactions of a moved congregation.

Here is the discography surrounding Aretha Franklin's debut album:

Never Grow Old (1956 single)
Songs of Faith
Precious Lord (1959 single)

"Yield Not to Temptation" by Aretha Franklin


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Ravi Shankar - Three Ragas (1956)

"Raga Jog" by Ravi Shankar


Chatur Lal was more prominently an accompanist than a solo player and supported many Indian classical musicians who toured in the West.  One of these musicians, Ravi Shankar, first toured the West in the thirties as a dancer in his brother's (Uday Shankar) dance troupe.  World War II made touring impractical, and Ravi changed his focus from dancing to playing the sitar.  He trained in Maihar under master sitarist Allaudin Khan with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.  By 1944, Shankar completed his training and got a job at All India Radio where he composed music.  He also worked with filmmaker Satyajit Ray composing music for the director's Apu Trilogy.

At the behest of a visiting American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar was invited to perform in New York in 1955 for a demonstration of Indian Classical Music.  Unable to leave India for personal reasons, his friend Ali Akbar Khan reluctantly performed to large audiences in the West, performed on TV, and recorded the first record of Indian Classical Music in the West.  Hearing of the success of Khan's tour, Shankar quit his job at All India Radio to tour in the West himself where he'd perform classical ragas while teaching smaller audiences about Indian music.  He released his first recording Three Ragas in 1956 with Chatur Lal supporting him on tabla.

Here is the discography surrounding Ravi Shankar's debut album:

Three Ragas

"Raga Ahir Bhairav" by Ravi Shankar


"Raga Simhendra Madhyamam" by Ravi Shankar


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