A Very Special Dance Party

Here’s a delightful mishmash of an album,with Glenn Miller-ish big band twist and cha cha versions of such classics as the Anvil Chorus, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and even the “Ten Little Indians Stripper”, which ought to come in handy for next time you need to provide music for a lap dancer for a children’s party. ¡Let’s Cha cha twist, amigos!


Al Logan and his Orchestra Dance Party
Curio Records C-4
Mfg. by Synthetic Plastics Co., Newark N. J.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Cha Cha #5
La Paloma
Come Twist with Me
Ten Little Indians Stripper

El Dolores
Twistin'
Samba el Zarabando
Adios Amigo
Anvil Chorus

Mirth-Quake

60s nightclub comic/musician Bill Barner is featured today--he made his name working supper clubs in Fort Lauderdale, Lake Delavan Wisconsin, Chicago, and The Trolley Bar in Fort Wayne Indiana, where this album was recorded.

There's a safety warning on today's album:



....which is entirely unnecessary. Typical joke:

How do you make a hormone? Don't pay her.

The lukewarm audience reception doesn't seem to deter Bill in the least--his percussive "heh heh heh" after every one-liner takes the place of a drummer's rim shot.

I find these corny and naively "saucy" live recordings irresistible, though I know I'll only listen to them once. I think it's a fascinating glimpse back to a time when ladies and gentlemen dressed up in their best and met friends out at a nightclub for an evening of drinking and socializing.

Bill Barner's Trolley Bar Party

Arrow Records, Chicago 1961

Play the Thing

No kitsch today (except for my particularly inept photography of the album cover), just some straightforward jazz from veteran performers--Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate, Jo Jones, Ed Hall. On keyboards is Marlowe Morris, who learned to play from his distant relative Fats Waller--and pays tribute to him here with the Waller tune "Jitterbug Waltz".

Play the Thing - Marlowe Morris

Recorded June 1960 and Jan.-Feb. 1961

Play the Thing
Stompy Jones
Moonlight in Vermont
Sympathetic Blues

Up, Down, And Around
I Loves You, Porgy
Marlowe's Blues
Jitterbug Waltz
No! No! No!

501th post

OK, it's time for me to get over my milestone obsession.....back to the music. Henri René's Intermezzo is a gooey mouthful of tasteful Library music-ish goodness. The song Bubble Bubble Bubble is just as frothy as its title, Roller Coaster begs to be the soundtrack of a garish Technicolor cartoon, and the Theme from Lost Weekend will leave you feeling pleasantly tipsy. Or possibly make you hug the porcelain, not sure which.

Intermezzo - Henri René

Bubble Bubble Bubble (Pink Champagne)
Wunderbar
Roller Coaster
Mandolino Mandolino
Not as a Stranger
Toy Tiger

Intermezzo (A Love Story)
Moonlight Madonna
Bon Soir, Paris
You Are the One
Theme From "Lost Weekend"
Prelude to the Stars

500th post

For my 500th post, I've chosen a schlocky cha-cha album that typefies the kind of crap I live to hear. Cha-Cha Charm features Jan August and a band made up of Eddie Layton (keyboards), Tony Mottola (guitar), Phil Krause (xylophone), John Bufington (french horn), Sandy Black (bass) and Terry Snyder (drums). And look, the album cover features the couple from the Tito Moreno cha cha album!

Cha Cha Charm

If I Could Be With You
Jealous
Boogie Woogie Cha Cha
Tea For Two Cha CHa
Volare
You're the Cream in My Coffee

Lazy River
Greek Bolero
Kiss of Fire
Begin the Beguine
Symphony
Merry Madrid

Percussion in Hi-Fi

I felt so guilty about posting a crap album earlier today I thought I'd post something MUCh better....David Carroll's "Percussion in Hi-Fi" from 1956. It's the polar opposite of the album I posted earlier today--it's smart, performed by talented professionals, and highly entertaining. This one sat in the "to-do" pile for months, since the last David Carroll album I listened to was pretty lackluster. But this one's a keeper--Hell's Bells and Chimes of Swing are going into heavy rotation.

Percussion in Hi-Fi

Hell's Bells
Bali Ha'i
Chimes of Swing
Malaguena
Discussion in Percussion
--Quiet Talk
--Chatter
--Controversy

Cricket
Jungle Drums
Spanish Symphonique
Part I The Pyrenees
Part II Madrid
Part III Bullfight
Part IV Finale-Flamenco

Warning: It's Top Tune Time!

I have a new tag, "I Listened So You Don't Have To". Trust me on this. Unless you're up for a painful version of Roy Orbison's "Crying" (you risk an aneurysm just listening to it), a somnambulistic version of "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" and an off-key rendition of "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight" then you may want to take a pass on this one. No artists, no label name (unless "Manufactured by Synthetic Plastics Co., Newark NJ" counts as a label.) I think I have officially become sated with cheapie cover version albums created for clueless relatives to present to disappointed birthday children....Thanks, Top Tune Time!

It's Top Tune Time!

Michael
Wooden Heart
Who Put the Bomp
You Don't Know What You've Got
My True Story

Take Good Care of My Baby
Crying
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor
Mountains High
Bless You

Edmundo Ros - Baions

Today's album features the most popular performer of Latin music in Britain in the 50s and 60s, Edmundo Ros. He might have been just another bandleader, had he not had the good fortune to have become a household name through his involvement in a notorious London society divorce scandal. His club soon became one of the most exclusive spots in London, even attracting royalty. He gave dance lessons to the future Queen of England, and was awarded the Order of the British Empire from her in 2001.

Edmundo Ros was born in 1910, and may possibly still be alive; all the results I find only have a date of birth. Hey Edmundo, how about releasing a new album for your hundredth birthday--this one's really starting to grow on me.


Baions - Edmundo Ros

Beguine Without a Name
Francesca
Noche Buena
Morocco
I Talk to the Trees
Sorta on the Border
Blowin' Wild

Delicado
Baiao no Braz
The Happy Bird
Peladinho
My Pet Baiao
Be True to Me
Baion Carioca

Hollywood's Dance Date

Well hellfire, the doorbell rang and who do you think it was dropping by, the Boing Boings, linking to my goddam Christian pirates again. I feel as though I should have tidied up the place what with all the unexpected guests and all....and alls I have to offer today is this big band compilation, with Woody Herman singing a straight version of "Laura", a pretty good Doris Day cover of a King Cole Trio song "T'aint Me", and and odd Errol Garner version of Lullaby of Birdland in which he keeps referencing Holiday For Strings. Cool cover though!

Hollywood's Dance Date I

Phillips B 07646 R

Planters Punch - Paul Weston
Lullaby of Birdland - Errol Garner
Ruby - Harry James
Laura - Woody Herman

Rock-Skippin' at thw Blue Note - Duke Ellington
Palladium Party - Harry James
'Taint Me - Les Brown
Dutch Treat = Paul Weston

Feelings

Live from the Shady Valley Rest Home for the Terminally Recalcitrant in Omaha Nebraska, it's.....actually I have no idea who it is, the artist on this album is not acknowledged. And I made up the Nebraska part. Maybe the Happy Accordion is a Magic Accordion, and is just playing itself, so to speak. In any case, this is a very exceptionally cheezy little album, with an odd arrangement of "Baby Face", and best of all, an understated version of the Hustle (!).

If this is the type of music they play in the rec room at the Old Folks Home, then I'm all ready to stay there for keeps, or so I told the Mr. last night.

His response? "I'll drop you off."

Happy Accordion - Feelings
Sunnyvale Records 9930-307, 1976

Feelings
Misty
Under Paris Skies
Tangerine
It's Magic

The Hustle
As Time Goes By
Baby Face
Have Faith in Your Dreams
I Write the Songs

Sophisticated Sixties

Small wonder that any album with the word "Sophisticated" in the title would not be to my taste.....There's a record convention tomorrow and I need to remember to avoid anything even remotely pedestrian looking, even if the liner notes are by someone named "Tiny Markle". Only the effing weird stuff from now on!!

Sophisticated Sixties - Larry Elgart

Just One of Those Things
That's All
Bye Bye Blues
This Heart of Mine
Keepin' Out of Mischief Now
Sophisticated Sixties

Doodle Do Do
Too Close For Comfort
Full Swing Ahead
Cheatin' On Me
City Lights
Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

Dixieheart from Hoosierland

Me: What's your least favorite musical genre?

Chorus: DIXIELAND!

Me: And who would be least able to play it even remotely well?

chorus: A bunch of white guys with smooth hands who like to golf on Wednesdays!

But of course we can't say anything against them because they save lives and fix leaky plumbing and play at charitable events, and I'm not even going to say the phrase "ham-handed" even once even if you force me to. On the plus side, the band name is the Crusty Crumbs!!

Dixie from the Hoosier Heartland - The Crusty Crumbs - Recorded Publications Company

Jazz Surprise

"Is the bopping singer Anita O'Day? Or Alice B. Toklas?"

The liner notes of this cheapie live jazz album are inexplicably coy and "hints" at the personnel by putting a question mark after each name....if you're trying to avoid contract violations, why even mention names? Well, I KNOW the two singers on the album are Anita O'Day, and Buddy Stewart (their "Fall Out" and "Cherokee" respectively are worth the price of admission if you like post-bop scat vocals) , so the others listed in the notes must be the other performers:

Wardell Gray
Ben Webster
Stan Getz
Vido Musso
Charlie Barnett
Sonny Criss
Oscar Moore
Teddy Edwards

The engineer must have run out of tape, or acetate, because two of the songs end abruptly after a tenor solo. What do you expect for 33 1/3 cents, anyway?

Jazz Surprise - The Odern Jazz Stars

Crown Records CLP 5008

Fall Out
C-Jam Blues
Moonlight
Perdido
Wailin'
High Time
Cherokee
Scratch
Off Nite

Ken Nordine Word Jazz

Before I disappear for a few days, I'll just post this one which was sent to me from an e-cquaintence. It's one of those things that I know is unusual and interesting, but does nothing for me.....it's stories and poetry backed by jazz music, from a man whose voice you've probably heard on countless promos and voiceovers. Google it if you're needing more info, I'm off to Chicago for the weekend....

Best of Word Jazz Vol. 1 - Ken Nordine

Homer and Jethro at the Country Club

Let's find out if this one's for you or not....

"Her teeth were like the stars, they come out every night...."

"He didn't like her apartment, so he knocked her flat"

And after a long mandolin solo referencing the song "Fascination"..."She had nine buttons on her nightgown but could only fasten eight"


Ok, well *I* laughed....a lot in fact. This little charmer of an album from 1960 was recorded live at the Hillwood country Club in Nashville is a little charmer. In case you didn't know, Homer and Jethro are much more than cornpone humor (but of course that factors in as well), and their musical skills are suitably enhanced by a band led by Boots Randolph. Grandpa Jones was apparently in the audience, so probably added to the vocals on "How Much is That Hound Dog in the Window", and Chet Atkins produced.

Homer and Jethro at the Country Club


Side 1

Introduction
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs
Let Me Go, Blubber
Fascination
Sixteen Tons
Lullaby of Bird Dog
C Jam Blues
Billboard Song

Side 2

Yaller Rose of Texas, You-All
San Antonio Rose
Battle of Kookamonga
How Much is that Hound Dog in the Window
Skater's Waltz
Hart Brake Motel