José Melis and His Latin-American Ensemble - Piano Classics – The South American Way (1947)

"Moonlight Sonata" by José Melis and His Latin-American Ensemble

When Jack Paar took over Tonight, he brought on his good friend from USO days José Melis to be the show's musical director. They had worked together, with the same job dynamic, previously on both radio and television. Alongside his career beginnings as a musical director after World War II, Melis recorded instrumental singles with Mercury Records, first packaged together as an album and released in 1947 as Piano Classics – The South American Way. (The album and other contemporary singles were re-released in 1952 as a proper LP rather than just a set of 7"s.)

On the heels of the Good Neighbor Policy and a boom in popular Latin Orchestras in the United States, José Melis mixes his classical training with Latin rhythms (as the album's title implies.) On the six songs that make up the first album's release, the "South American Way" is driven just as much by the continual conga rhythm and bass as by Melis on the piano. It feels like the conga drums often force Melis away from his classical comforts into syncopation and staccato touches. Still, the piano arrangements do their part to make the genre mix work while also showing off Melis's virtuosity.

It's on the later singles (that appear on the re-release) where the piano arrangements take Melis's virtuosity to vaudevillian levels. The piano also takes over for the drums as the crucible for genre mixing, this time adding a sprinkle of jazz to the blend. The jazz, though, is mostly found on the aftertaste of the arrangement, the spare saxophone or guitar, and not from the piano itself—unless you mistake tasteful flourishes for jazz. The recordings as a whole are a fine dish of skill mixed in such a bland way as to not be any flavor in particular. Though, with all those runs, you'd expect there to have been a little more heat.

Here is the discography surrounding José Melis's debut album:

Hungarian Dance No. 6 (1946 single with His Latin-American Ensemble)

Hungarian Rhapsody (1946 single with His Latin-American Ensemble)

Prelude in G Minor (1946 single with His Latin-American Ensemble)

Stardust (1947 single with His Latin-American Ensemble)

Piano Classics – The South American Way

Eli Eli (1947 single)

Cumana (1947 single with His Orchestra)

Don't Call It Love (1947 single with His Orchestra)

Pasion Oriental (1947 single with His Orchestra)

Tamanaco (1951 single)

The Hour of Parting (1952 single)

Piano Classics - The South American Way (1952 album re-release)

Run Away (1954 single)

José Melis Interprets the Classics the South American Way (compilation album with His Latin-American Ensemble)

"Anitra's Dance" by José Melis and His Latin-American Ensemble

"Pasion Oriental" by José Melis and His Orchestra

"Keyboard Kapers" by José Melis and His Latin-American Ensemble

Pass the Headphones!!

Jack Paar - The Best of "What's His Name" (1961)

The Best of "What's His Name" by Jack Paar

Tonight! America After Dark busted, so NBC veered quickly back to the proven format Steve Allen had established during his late-night tenure, continuing what was never intended to continue after Allen's departure. In 1957, NBC chose comedian Jack Paar to save their failing time slot's ratings. Jack Paar had an extensive resume by the time he had a contract with NBC. This included time as a disc jockey, as an emcee with the USO during World War II, as a host of his own comedy radio program, as a film actor, and as a game show host. Tonight Starring Jack Paar was the next step in a restless career. Where Steve Allen's Tonight was like a well-kept secret, Jack Paar would make Tonight nightly must-watch television, moving TV sets from the living room to the bedroom.

Steve Allen ran Tonight as an "anything goes" variety show filled with singers, sketches, gimmicks and anything else that would fill the allotted time. The show ran on Allen's improvisational comic styling just as Jack Paar's iteration of the show ran on his more scripted experience in stand-up comedy. Under Paar, the monologue and the interview became the foundation stones of every late night program that came after. Some of Paar's monologues were gathered and cut into a record, The Best of "What's His Name", and released in 1961 on the obscure Ramrod Superrecords. It would be his only album.

Jack Paar was a quick wit, a curious mind, a tastemaker, and an incisive interviewer. None of that is evident on this record. In many ways, the record is a bit of a mystery and seems like a cheap—or even bootleg—release from Paar's peak with Tonight. It was put out by a nothing label with anonymous liner notes and an oversized ad for Jiffy Sew - The Miracle Liquid Mender on the back of the record. It is a collection of the more average, daily Jack Paar performance with less-than-great material. But he manages the material with a veteran's ability to win over a tough crowd and play off a flat joke or a string of them. So, it's not "the best of" Jack Paar. But when "the best of" is all that really survives these days, the not-so-best helps paint a clearer picture of a hard-working, gifted and impactful comedian.

Here is Jack Paar's discography:

I-M-4-U (I Am for You) (1955 single with Jack Haskell)

Paar for Tonight (1957 single)

Funny What You Learn from Women (1958 single)

The Best of "What's His Name"

JFK on The Jack Paar Show

The Jack Parr Program with guests Bette Davis and Jonathan Winters

The Jack Parr Program with guests Liberace and Muhammad Ali

The Jack Parr Program with guest Robert Kennedy

Pass the Headphones!!

Johnny Guarnieri Trio - Hot Piano (1945)

Hot Piano by Johnny Guarnieri Trio

Johnny Guarnieri led the last of the Tonight! America After Dark bands. Enjoying his tenure under Jazzbo Collins for the freedom he was allowed in performing on TV, Tonight! was a highlight of Guarnieri's second "career" as a staff musician. The first stage of Johnny Guarnieri's career was as a Swing pianist during the peak of the Big Band era with two of the era's most popular bandleaders: Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman. Despite Goodman's proclamation that Guarnieri was one of the worst pianists he'd ever employed, he earned a reputation as a swinger and held court with a number of small combos including his own Johnny Guarnieri Trio which released its only album Hot Piano in 1945 on Savoy Records.

The trio is Johnny Guarnieri on "hot piano," Slam Stewart on bass and Sammy Weiss on drums. The album starts generically with an approachable interpretation of "I'm in the Mood for Love." That is, until Slam Stewart introduces himself fully. As he will throughout the record, Slam's plucked bass becomes a bowed bass for his solos—and every song features a Slam solo—to which he hums along. His novel, nearly novelty, elastic bass style highlights Guarnieri's original compositions best and is a playful contrast to Guarnieri's own punchy wit on the piano.

Guarnieri's clear articulation on the piano begets a strange marriage of two contrasting styles: the minimal and fractured solos of Count Basie with the full and fluid Stride of Fats Waller. Guarnieri somehow makes the oxymoronic fusion work. Sometimes a song might bring out the Basie or the Fats more from Guarnieri, but he manages to find that balance through his minimalist approach to soloing, relying on repetition and slight variations that make witty the occasionally florid.

With Slam Stewart bringing in a humanly absurdist sense of humor alongside Guarnieri's more structured, punchline oriented wit (said three times so you know I mean it,) Sammy Weiss plays the straight man of the group: keeping the act together and on time, setting the tone of each "sketch," and occasionally given to fits of high energy surrounded by the madcap of it all. The result is a wonderful album that is contagiously fun, gregarious and surprising at all turns. And occasionally you hear the future, Ahmad Jamal's own landmark trios are a decade away but theoretically might start here.

Here is the discography surrounding the Johnny Guarnieri Trio's debut album:

Basie English (1944 single with his All Star Orchestra)

Salute to Fats (1944 single with his All Star Orchestra)

Bowing Singing Slam (1944 single)

Band Aid (1944 single)

I'm in the Mood for Love (1945 single)

Firebird (1945 single)

My Blue Heaven (1945 single)

Deuces Wild (1945 single)

Hot Piano

"Basie English" by Johnny Guarnieri's All Star Orchestra

"Salute to Fats" by Johnny Guarnieri's All Star Orchestra

Pass the Headphones!!

Mort Lindsey - An Organ and Mort Lindsey (1957)

"Scratch" by Mort Lindsey

Mort Lindsey and His Orchestra were another musical headliner during the short tenure of Tonight! America After Dark. A radio show veteran, Lindsey got his start as a staff pianist for NBC before freelancing as a general keyboard player for various radio quiz and variety shows. He found his big break as a conductor and arranger for television on The George Skinner Show. He released his debut album An Organ and Mort Lindsey in 1957 (probably just before he'd work on Tonight!) on Dot Records.

Sitting here, I'm thinking more about the album cover than the album's instrumentals. Mort Lindsey, unrecognizable even to his friends, sitting at a Hammond and emitting shimmering, light music. It's not "Mort Lindsey and an Organ" or "Mort Lindsey and His Organ" (good choice to avoid that one,) but "an organ and Mort Lindsey." The organ gets top billing because the audience needs to know that this record is all organ—like a warning label—while Mort Lindsey gets the vaunted and uppercase last billing to remind listeners that the organ isn't playing itself.

The liner notes read like Mort Lindsey's CV: "can arrange even for organ." (Though I'm not sure I'd trust those notes too much after multiple, deliberate lies saying more than a few songs "really rock.") Lindsey arranges mostly for the organ's imitative qualities (sounding like an harmonium, trumpet sections, drums,...) to help explore various genres and music styles but ends up sounding like a tired comedian: lots of imitations, no punchlines. I'm not familiar enough with the organ to say whether or not Mort Lindsey plays it particularly well or not—he's probably just fine—but it's nice enough music for when it's still winter and you can't wait for Spring Training.

Note: Once again, this album has not yet been digitized so I can't share any of those rockin' organ jams. We'll have to settle for his first novelty single instead. Unfortunately, no organ.

Here is the discography surrounding Mort Lindsey's debut album:

Scratch (1953 single)

An Organ and Mort Lindsey

"Jeepers Creepers" by Mort Lindsey

Pass the Headphones!!

Lou Stein - Lou Stein at Large! (1953)

"Poinciana (Song of the Tree)" by Lou Stein Trio

Tonight! America After Dark had a series of house bands as it did hosts. The Lou Stein Trio started with the new late-night experiment, and Lou himself had some past history with Al "Jazzbo" Collins. Before either's tenure with Tonight!, Lou Stein provided the backing jazz for a couple of Collins's bebop fairytales while Collins wrote the liner notes for Lou Stein's debut album Lou Stein at Large! released in 1953 on Brunswick Records.

It's true what the album says: Lou Stein is at large! After bassist Bob Carter gets a couple bars to solo on "You Stepped Out of a Dream," you don't hear much special from him again and never anything but perfunctory percussion (on drums or bongos) from Cliff Leeman. The rest is Lou Stein. Lou's style of jazz is rudimentary. He hugs the original material closely, filling in as much of the time-space as he can with whatever arpeggiations, and doesn't have such an engaging style to make any interpretation a must-listen. So instead, a little structuring and genre fusion build the noteworthy tracks. A close listen reveals a busy left hand that consistently plays something close to a boogie-woogie rhythm while overtop is a melody that can at times bring in adept classical flourishes, extended minor chord progressions, latin touches and cocktail lounge solos. The most interesting songs combine everything together in "sections" divided by time signature changes. But "interesting" doesn't mean much here, Lou Stein is doing something jazzy but doesn't bring these arrangements and touches to a whole. And those are the good tracks ("Poinciana (Song of the Tree)," "Tenderly," "Carioca,") the rest are just—and this seems to be a recent Tour trend—background jazz and so much filler.

Note: This was another album not available online (but for the "Poinciana" single and "Tenderly" B-side.) I bought a used vinyl for this entry, and I hit lucky with a record that was once Jazzbo's own personal copy. It has his unique Jazzbo signature/caricature stamp and is dedicated and signed by Lou Stein himself: "To MY MAN JAZZBO 'THE ABSOLTE [sic]! WHAT CAN I SAY.' Lou Stein (orch)"

Here is the discography surrounding Lou Stein's debut album:

Poinciana (Song of the Tree) (1953 single as the Lou Stein Trio)

Lou Stein at Large!

"Tenderly" by Lou Stein Trio

Pass the Headphones!!

Al Collins - Spotlight on Percussion (1955)

Spotlight on Percussion by Al Collins with Arnold Goldberg and Kenny Clarke

The dual hosting format lasted only a few months before NBC forced Steve Allen to focus all his attention on The Steve Allen Show to better compete, on Sunday nights, with the juggernaut that was CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show. Ernie Kovacs had a future in film and wasn't disappointed to be overlooked as the possible solo heir to Tonight! Really, NBC didn't have much love for Allen's late night format and didn't think it could survive in the ratings without him. In fact, the original concept for Tonight! was to be a scheduled bookend to NBC's top-rated morning show Today and focus on news, culture and promotional fodder (before Steve Allen signed on, refused the very idea, and just did the same show he'd done locally in New York.) So with Steve Allen's desk empty, NBC had a chance to finally try out its original concept with Tonight! America After Dark. It was a bust. Jack Lescoulie, a Today cast member, hosted this iteration for the first six months. NBC then sacrificed veteran radio DJ Al "Jazzbo" Collins to finish out another five weeks until the next Tonight! host could step in. Jack Lescoulie doesn't have many recordings to speak of, but Al "Jazzbo" Collins does, so he'll be our next stop on the Tour with Spotlight on Percussion released in 1955 on the Vox record label.

"Jazzbo" was his radio handle, and from it, you can guess what kind of radio shows Al Collins hosted. "Jazzbo" was cool, laid back and well-versed in the lingo of the fifties beats (which he also built upon and created whole jazz worlds out of such as on his WNEW show live from the imaginary Purple Grotto which was inhabited by an anthropomorphic bestiary of jazz fans.) This jazz jargon was the basis for Steve Allen's own hipster fairy tales which "Jazzbo" would cover, play with and add to to make his own. Other recordings featuring Collins were a series of jazz concerts labeled as "Al 'Jazzbo' Collins Presents" where he would invariably get in the way of a great session and try to elucidate, through the players, how he understood jazz to be. It probably worked a lot better on the radio in between 45s. This instructional bent is also found on the scripted Spotlight on Percussion (under the more necktied moniker of "Al Collins".)

This educational record is a listing of classical, latin and jazz percussion where Al Collins details the instruments' sound qualities and uses in popular classical pieces. Arnold Goldberg performs the classical percussion and the complex pieces that combine them all. Kenny Clarke takes over for the closing jazz section where he furiously improvises two tracks over eight minutes. Jazz is where the "Jazzbo" comes out and though Collins doesn't have to say very much—smartly leaving that to Clarke—his excitement for the genre is focused on elevating jazz percussion above the highbrow reputation of classical music. If there is any narrative to Collins's narration to be found, it's that classical music is the beautiful past and jazz is the present and future of the highest individual and ensemble art of musical expression.

Here is the discography surrounding Al "Jazzbo" Collins's debut album:

Little Red Riding Hood (1953 single)

Jack and the Beanstalk (1953 single)

The Invention of the Airplane (1953 single)

Little Hood Riding Red (Little Red Riding Hood) (1954 single)

Jazz at the Metropole Cafe (1955 "presented" album)

Spotlight on Percussion

Max (1956 single)

Al "Jazzbo" Collins Presents the East Coast Jazz Scene - Vol. 1 (1956 "presented" album)

The Space Man (1957 single)

Prehistoric Hop (1959 single)

Al "Jazzbo" Collins Presents Swinging at the Opera (1960 "presented" album)

In the Purple Grotto (1961 "presented" album)

Al "Jazzbo" Collins Tells Fairy Tales for Hip Kids (2008 compilation album)

"Pee Little Thrigs (Three Little Pigs)" by Al "Jazzbo" Collins

"The Discovery of America" by Al "Jazzbo" Collins

"Jack and the Beanstalk" by Al "Jazzbo" Collins

Pass the Headphones!!

LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra - Alone Together (1953)

"Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil)" by LeRoy Holmes and His Orchestra

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!!