Liner Notes

Smooth Jazz Voices

We haven’t reached into the great Franklin Mint section of my dad’s collection for a while. Most of the episodes featuring the Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time often get blocked by YouTube.

But I’ve really grown attached to this specific box set lately. It’s filled with some great and legendary jazz singers.

So get ready to hear a variety of voices with various styles in Volume 224: Big Band Bards Record 2.

Video Intro

Listen here or on my PodBean Podcast Episode page:

You can check out the video version here:

Credits and Copyrights:

See information from the Discogs.com page here

Various – The Jazz Singers
Label: The Franklin Mint Record Society – JAZZ2
Series: Institute Of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection, The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Red Vinyl Box Set
Released: 1982
Genre: Jazz

We will hear 7 of the 12 songs on this record.

George Thomas With McKinney’s Cotton Pickers – Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home?
Written by Charles Warfield, Clarence Williams
Recorded July 28, 1930
Released on Victor

Al Hibbler With Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – I’m Just A Lucky So And So
Written by Duke Ellington, Mack David
Recorded November 26, 1945
Released on Victor

Bing Crosby And The Mills Brothers – My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms
Written by Joseph Meyer, Herman Ruby
Recorded January 26, 1933
Released on Brunswick Records

Johnny Hartman With The John Coltrane Quartet – Dedicated To You
Written by Sammy Cahn, Hy Zaret, Saul Chaplin
Recorded March 7, 1963
Released on Impulse Records

Ray Charles – It Had To Be You
Written by Gus Kahn, Isham Jones
Recorded June 23, 1959
Released on Atlantic

Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – I Ain’t Got Nobody
Written by Spencer Williams, Roger Graham
Recorded July 2, 1935
Released on Brunswick Records

Metronome All Stars Featuring Billy Eckstine – How High The Moon
Written by Morgan Lewis, Nancy Hamilton
Recorded July 9, 1953
Released on MGM Records

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

#jazzmusic #earlyjazz #musicalmemories #musichistory #vinylcollecting #vinylrecords

Here is the Episode Script!

Thanks sweetie and thank YOU for tuning into episode 224 of Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl.

We haven’t reached into the great Franklin Mint section of my dad’s collection for a while. Most of the episodes featuring the Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time often get blocked by YouTube.

But I’ve really grown attached to this specific box set lately. It’s filled with some great and legendary jazz singers.

So get ready to hear a variety of voices with various styles in Volume 224: Big Band Bards Record 2.

[Music: Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home?]

George Thomas With McKinney’s Cotton Pickers performing Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home?
Written by Charles Warfield and Clarence Williams
Recorded July 28, 1930
Released on Victor
Arranged and Directed By Clarinet, Alto Saxophone player, – Don Redman
Alto Saxophone – Jimmy Dudley
Banjo – Dave Wilborn
Brass Bass – Ralph Escudero
Drums – Cuba Austin
Piano – Todd Rhodes
Tenor Saxophone – Prince Robinson
Trombone – Ed Cuffee
Trumpet – Buddy Lee, Joe Smith, and Langston Curl
Vocals, Tenor Saxophone – George Thomas

George Fathead Thomas was a saxophonist and singer with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers from 1925 until his death following an automobile accident in 1930. originally he had sung Rhythm tunes and Novelty songs. But in 1929, after the Cotton Pickers had been playing opposite a band at the Greystone Ballroom in Detroit in which a now forgotten vocalist sang If I Could Be With You, Thomas copied the singer’s way of doing the song. The Innovation was a forced tenor projection that was novel then but became so popular that it was widely copied. On Baby won’t you please come Home, he moves into the forced tenor style in his last chorus. Don Redman, who wrote the arrangement, plays the sub tone clarinet.

This, of course, for regular listeners who are familiar with the Franklin Mint box set episodes, comes with a nice booklet that includes information about each of the songs. I Like reading from those.

Ok…Why this record for this episode?

Like I mentioned in the intro, there is something about the collection of music in this box set that completely eluded me when I first cracked it open several decades ago. I’ve mentioned it before, I wanted to hear lead trumpet, some saxophone, maybe a little piano, but leave the singers out.

How could I have been so wrong? I’ll admit. I was young and jazz musically naïve? And I hope you’ll agree with my new feelings about vocalists after hearing the talent and the recordings on this episode.

This is an all star vocal cast. And the backing bands ain’t too shabby either. Lots of talented musicians on the lists I’ll be reading to you.

Next up is a singer I actually took a liking to long ago when I was working for a big band station in the early 1980s.

Al Hibbler also has a deep, rich voice that can plumb resonant depths. But Hibbler is not as apt to exploit that aspect of his voice as Eckstine is, who I’ll be playing to finish this episode. He leans more toward odd affectations and decorations, he often uses a cockney like accent, for example. but as he shows on this song composed by Duke Ellington, he has a very effective, clean style when he wants to play it straight. Duke introduces the piece with a bluesy flourish on piano. Johnny Hodges sets the scene for Hibbler with a brief, soaring alto sax solo, and Lawrence Brown finishes up with one of his warm, floating passages.

[Music: I’m Just A Lucky So And So]
[Music: My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms]

Bing Crosby And The Mills Brothers – My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms
Written by Joseph Meyer and Herman Ruby
Recorded January 26, 1933
Released on Brunswick Records
Backing up Bing was
Clarinet – Benny Goodman
Piano – Fulton McGrath
Trumpet – Bunny Berigan
Violin – Harry Hoffman
Trombone – Tommy Dorsey
Guitar – Eddie Lang
String Bass – Artie Bernstien
Drums – Stan King

Before Bing Crosby became known as the groaner, he was basically a swinging Jazz singer, particularly during his four years with Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra as a member of the Rhythm boys, a trio that included Mildred Bailey’s brother Al Rinker. the groaner image was rising in 1933 when he made this record, but Bing shows his swinging, scatting side in the context of the Mills brothers, who did vocal imitations of instruments long before Ella Fitzgerald thought of it, with a lively Studio orchestra that includes Tommy Dorsey, who plays a trombone introduction, and Bunny Berigan, who’s trumpet winds it up.

Before Bing we heard
I’m Just A Lucky So And So from Al Hibbler With Duke Ellington And His Orchestra
Written by Duke Ellington and Mack David
Recorded November 26, 1945
Released on Victor
Alto Saxophone – Otto Hardwick
Clarinet – Jimmy Hamilton
Double Bass – Oscar Pettiford
Tenor Saxophone – Al Sears
Bari Sax – Harry Carney
Trombone – Wilbur De Paris
Trumpet – Rex Stewart, Shelton Hemphill, Taft Jordan
Drums – Sonny Greer
Piano – Duke Ellington
Vocals – Al Hibbler

Now let me tell you about my dad’s vinyl I am spinning for this episode.

Various – The Jazz Singers
Label: The Franklin Mint Record Society – JAZZ2
Series: Institute Of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection, The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Red Vinyl Box Set
Released: 1982
Genre: Jazz

Even though the title of this episode is record 2, this is actually record one of this box set. I had decided to feature the third disk that included the female singers the first time I played this set. I confused myself. I promise not to do THAT again.

We will hear 7 of the 12 songs on this record.

There is actually only a short section in the great booklet that is always included in these box sets to introduce this quartet of disks. I’m only going to read one of the paragraphs.

The singers heard in this album indicate how varied the approaches to jazz singing can be. Like Instrumental jazz, the basic materials used by jazz singers can be whatever interests the singers. The sources may be the non Jazz worlds of classical music or Tin Pan Alley. But after talents such as hot lips page or Ray Charles, for example, have examined these sources from their points of view, the songs are no longer classical or pop. They have gone back to two of the root forms of jazz singing, blues and gospel.

Let’s see what prices this record is being sold at on discogs dot com.

$40.00 High
$9.99 Low

$19.42 Average
$15.50 Median

Last sold on Aug 31, 2024 for 25 pounds 25, or $32.37 US.

My dad’s record is really clean. Like I’ve said before, these box sets were well designed. The plastic sleeves each record is set in were meant to last for a long time. In fact, they’re plastic sleeves inside a glossy paper. So it’s doubly protected.

There is really no crackling or popping going on at all. The surface looks pristine even though I know this box set was pulled out many times.

The booklet where I get all sorts of great information about the artists and the tunes is still in great shape as well.

The box itself is still in great condition. This was a set my dad really took good care of.

So I’ll value my dad’s vinyl box set at 15 dollars.

Johnny Hartman is invariably listed as a jazz singer, although he denies it. He almost always sings ballads. He never does scat singing. He refuses to sing blues. He does not improvise on the melody. He cites Perry Como as one of his basic models. But he has sung with Earl Hines’ band and with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. and he is the only singer who ever recorded with the great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. that recording date was specifically requested by Coltrane. With McCoy Tyner’s piano, Hartman does not adapt his style to suit Coltrane. if there is any adapting. it is done by Coltrane on his melodically very straight solo.

[Music: Dedicated To You]

What a pretty tune
Johnny Hartman With The John Coltrane Quartet – Dedicated To You
Written by Sammy Cahn, Hy Zaret, and Saul Chaplin
Recorded March 7, 1963
Released on Impulse Records
Double Bass – Jimmy Garrison
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – McCoy Tyner
Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane
Vocals – Johnny Hartman

Since there is no featured artist, let’s just continue on with music. Although I’ll be featuring this next musician in his own upcoming episode, I thought he really belonged here.

Ray Charles brought some distinctively new colorations to the jazz singers art when he took a strong, straightforward Blues singing style, mixed it with the emotionalism of the gospel singer and then, with dramatic intensity, applied it successfully first to country and western songs and then, even more successfully, to such pop standards as Hoagie Carmichael’s Georgia on my mind. it had to be you was one of his first recordings of a popular standard, and the Charles style works just as well in pop country as it does in country country. he is backed by a swinging, Basie-styled big band, and there are glimpses of his own piano and Newman’s tenor sax.

[Music: It Had To Be You]

Ray Charles – It Had To Be You
Written by Gus Kahn and Isham Jones
Recorded June 23, 1959
Released on Atlantic
Trombone – Al Grey, Melba Liston, Quentin Jackson, and Tom Mitchell
Trumpets – Ernie Royal, Joe Newman, Marcus Belgrave, Clark Terry, and Snooky Young
Alto Sax – Marshall Royal and Frank West
Tenor sax – David Newman, Billy Mitchell and Paul Gonsalves
Baritone sax – Charlie Fowles
Guitar – Freddie Freene
String bass – Eddie Jones
Drums – Charlie Persip
Vocals, Piano – Ray Charles
Arranged by Quincy Jones

Time now for this episode’s interesting side note and it has to do with the next song. A melody I’m quite sure you’ve heard before.

You’ve probably heard David Lee Roth use it in combination with another song. But it’s a medley HE covered.

David Lee Roth’s decision to combine “Just a Gigolo” and “I Ain’t Got Nobody” in his 1985 rendition was heavily influenced by Louis Prima’s 1956 medley, which had successfully merged the two songs into a seamless narrative. Prima’s version had become a signature piece of Prima’s Las Vegas stage acts and he linked the life of a gigolo to the outcome of ending up alone, creating a poignant story arc that resonated with audiences. Roth, known for his flamboyant stage presence and affinity for classic showmanship, found Prima’s energetic and charismatic performance style appealing. By adopting this medley, Roth paid homage to Prima’s legacy while infusing the songs with his own rock sensibility, thus bridging the gap between jazz and rock audiences. His version was not merely a cover but a reinterpretation that embraced Prima’s jive-and-jumping spirit while adding his own rock-and-roll flair.

The enduring popularity of these songs over the decades can be attributed to their universal themes of loneliness and fleeting romance, paired with their catchy melodies and vibrant arrangements. Louis Prima’s medley revitalized both songs by juxtaposing the melancholy of “I Ain’t Got Nobody” with the tongue-in-cheek narrative of “Just a Gigolo,” creating a dynamic performance that appealed to audiences across generations. Roth’s 1985 version further cemented their legacy by introducing them to a new audience through MTV-era music videos, blending humor, parody, and high-energy visuals that captured the the defining spirit of the 1980s. This combination of timeless themes and innovative presentation has kept these songs relevant for nearly a century.

So, if Prima merged the two songs in 1956, where did they come from? Well. One of them was recorded in 1935 by a popular band leader.

Cab Calloway’s hi-de-do singing and his frantic, hair tossing antics in front of his band initially obscured the band itself when cab had his first big success at the Cotton Club in Harlem in the early 1930s. But as the years went by, the sidemen became more important and Cab moved away from an emphasis on hi-de-do. On this Evergreen Jazz tune, he mixes straight scat singing with his habit of stretching out the words of a lyric. Doc Cheatham’s muted trumpet supports his first vocal chorus and solos peek through by Eddie Bearfield on alto sax, Irving Randolph on trumpet and Benny Payne, who has been Billy Daniels’ pianist since 1948.

[Music: I Ain’t Got Nobody]

Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – I Ain’t Got Nobody
Written by Spencer Williams, Roger Graham
Recorded July 2, 1935
Released on Brunswick Records
Double Bass – Al Morgan
Drums – Leroy Maxey
Guitar – Morris White
Piano – Bennie Payne
Reeds – Andrew Brown, Arville Harris, Eddie Barefield, Walter Thomas
Trombone – DePriest Wheeler, Claude Jone, and Keg Johnson
Trumpet – Doc Cheatham, Irving Randolph, Lammar Wright
Vocals, Leader – Cab Calloway

I played a version of gigolo in a previous show.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

Of course I remember this album cover because I’m the one who actually started this collection. And it was after I left the house. My dad took it over right after I started it because I lost my job and he wanted access to this music.

The boxes are all the same. Their maroon with gold lettering in different styles and font sizes.

Institute of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection in small letters above the more grand looking
The Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time.

With the Franklin Mint Record Society in small letters along the bottom.

The spine is where each box set differs. That’s where they spell out who is featured in the box and what record numbers they are in the entire collection.

OK…to finish it out, get ready for a powerful voice and a big Jam at the end.

Unlike many of the black big band balladeers of the 1930s, Billy Eckstine, who joined Earl Hines’ band in 1939, was also a strong Blues singer. but his huge, cavernous baritone was such a colorful ballad instrument that he was usually featured on ballads. In this two-part metronome All-Star session, he does the ballad side with Teddy Wilson on piano, and then Roy Eldridge picks up the tempo to start a series of jazz solos by Warren marsh on tenor sax, Terry Gibbs on vibes, John Laporta on clarinet, a duet by Billy Bauer and Ed Safranski On guitar and bass, Max Roach on drums, Kai Winding on trombone and then back to Roy.

[Music: I Ain’t Got Nobody]

Metronome All Stars Featuring Billy Eckstine with How High The Moon
Written by Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton
Recorded July 9, 1953
Released on MGM Records
The intro included some of the band members’ names, so I’ll just read them all to you here.
Bass – Eddie Safranski
Clarinet – John La Porta
Guitar – Billy Bauer
Tenor Saxophone – Lester Young, Warne Marsh
Trombone – Kai Winding
Trumpet – Roy Eldridge
Vibraphone – Terry Gibbs
Piano – Teddy Wilson
Drums – Max Roach
Vocals – Billy Eckstine

And there you have selections from the Franklin Mint Greatest Jazz Recordings of all Time box set featuring some great vocalists.

So thanks for tuning into Volume 224: Big Band Bards Record 2

however you did. If you want more information about this SHOW, head over to spinning my dad’s vinyl dot com.

I’ll be back next week with all my skips, scratches, and pops

FOR Volume 225: The Standard Stoner

Until then,
Go with the flow my friends.