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(Continued from page 10) time she relies on her highly individual, semi-shouting style to carry her through and seldom conveys a sense of real emotional involvement. Accompaniment is competent except for ill-advised passages in "period" style. Ronnie Gilbert, long identified with The Weavers, seems even less in tune with the Bessie Smith material than Dinah. She is obviously dedicated to the legend of Bessie but is so far removed in background that she sounds more like a social worker thana blues singer. The band support is invigorating, but Victor should be able to find more appropriate assignments for the too-seldom-recorded Cootie Williams than this. The other two recitals-by La Vern Baker and Juanita Hall-are considerably truer projections of the raw spirit of Bessie and are legitimate blues programs. Miss Baker communicates with some of the same raucous strength as the young Bessie Smith, even if her voice is a somewhat less impressive instrument and her dynamics are limited so that she too often sounds strident. The accompaniment is marred at times by heavy drumming apparently asked for by the A & R man in an inaccurate attempt to link exaggerated contemporary rhythm and blues usage with the spirit of the older blues. Even so, the set is recommended for Miss Baker's ferocious zest. Juanita Hall is a thorough surprise, and proves in striking fashion that she can do much more than sing songs from South Pacific. She has a powerful burnished blues voice capable of wider expressive range in this context than anyone of her competitors noted here. Despite an occasional sense of strain this is the most satisfying of the four "tributes" to Bessie. Here also is the best accompaniment, notable for Doc Cheatham's eloquent trumpet and the fine drumming of Jimmy Crawford. N. H. Editor's note:The Juanita Hall disc was reviewed by Mr. Hentoff from a "compatible" stereophonic disc as played on monaural equipment. He reports poor results from cartridges with low vertical compliance; but accepable sound from high-compliance pick-ups. This in no way invalidates our advice that stereo discs be played from stereo cartridges only, regardless of whether they are to be listened to stereophonically or monaurally. Blues Sources • THE BEST OF MUDDY WATERS with CJuitar and Little Walter (harmonica) plus rhythm. Louisiana Blues; I'm Ready; She Moves Me; I Can't Be Satisfied & 7 others. Chess LP 1427. • THE BEST OF LITTLE WALTER with harmonica and rhythm. Last Night; Mean Old World; Blue Lights; Tell Me Mamma & 8 others. Chess LP 1428. That blues singers still exist who can express themselves without being self- 12 conscious and with their own material is proven in the collections of Muddy Waters and Little Walter. Both, though long settled in Chicago, are at times closer to the pristine country blues singers of pre-jazz times than even Bessie Smith was. The Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield is his real name) set is the more emotionally evocative of the two collections noted here. Both albums are worth owning. Little Walter (Walter Jacobs) includes several instrumental numbers in this set, but the performances with voice are more effective. These are just two vital blues singers strangely ignored by the jazz press and hard to find on lon'g-playing records. Lightning Hopkins is another to watch for. N. H. TV's Late Night Ladies • ELSA MAXWELL with Orchestra. Dewey BerCJman condo Once I Dreamed; Please, Keep Out Of My Dreams; Tango Dream & 8 others. Seeeo CELP 412. • DODY GOODMAN SINGS? I'm The Girl Next Door; Pneumatic Drill; Charlie & 8 others. Coral CRL 57196. Just as young singers were developed on Steve Allen's old Tonight show on television, other personalities have won national TV fame under the current master of the midnight revels, Jack Paar. Elsa Maxwell, Mr. Paar's prize headline protege, talks her way through nine compOSitions of her own. They tum out to be either misty, musty pieces about dreams, or comic attempts that don't quite come off. But Miss Maxwell's rasp carries a conviction, which somehow makes them all oddly appealing. Much of the material on Dody Goodman's disc is genuinely bright and funny. Her voice has a scatter-grained quality well suited to such offbeat items as Tranquilizers ("Mercy, I'm underwhelmed!"); a take-off on Vernon Duke's Baedeker ballads called April In Fairbanks; and that wonderful old Milton Ager tearjerker, Glad Rag Doll. S. G. Musicals Backstage • HAROLD ARLEN: BLUES OPERA SUITE. Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra. Columbia CL 1099. • STYNE - COMDEN - GREEN: SAY. DARLING featuring the OriCJinal New York Cast - DAVID WAYNE. VIVIAN BLAINE. JOHNNY DESMOND - with Orchestra. Sid Ramin condo Try To Love Me; The Carnival Song; Dance Only With Me & 8 others. RCA Victor LOC 1045. While we have become accustomed to orchestral versions issued along with original cast releases, here is one that precedes the show's casting! Currently slated for an October opening in Antwerp, Blues Opera has been a long time in coming. Its origins go back to the Thirties, when Harold Arlen began jotting down themes for an opera to be based on the novel, God Sends Sunday. Other assignments intervened, and at least two of the numbers for the project, Ac-cen-chu-ate the Positive and One for My Baby, made their way into movies; another, American Minuet, was first performed on radio by Meredith Willson; and most of the rest turned up in the Broadway musical, St. Louis Woman, a free adaptation of the original book. During the past few years, with the actual production of the originally planned Blues Opera pretty well set, Arlen and lyricist Johnny Mercer have reassembled the material. The Kostelanetz-conducted suite contains only part of the musical substance, and this LP edition serves essentially as a "coming attraction." Say, Darling is clearly designated as "a comedy about a musical." So it is a bit hard to apply standards to its songs that would go for the score of a musical comedy. In spite of admirable orchestrations prepared specially for the recording by Sid Ramin, there is still a somewhat makeshift quality about the music, which may in terms of the show itself be highly desirable. The narratives, which seem to be an important part of the musical that the comedy is about, are most entertaining; but even these (Something's Always Happening On the River and the Waiting For the Robert E. Lee-inspired Carnival Song) owe much to the arrangements and to the spirited performance of the principles, especially David Wayne. S. G. Big Band Brilliance • THE FABULOUS BILL HOLMAN with AI Porcino. Ray Linn. Conte Candoli. Stu Williamson (trumpets). Bob Fitzpatrick. Ray Sims. Lew Mcreary. Stu Williamson (tromboneS>. Charlie Mariano. Herb Geller. Charlie Kennedy, Richie Kamuca. Steve Perlow (reeds). Mel Lewis (drums). Max Bennett (bass). Lou Levy (piau). Airegin; Evil Eyes; You And I; Bright Eyes; Come Rain Or Come Shine; The Big Street. Coral CRL 57188. • FREE AND EASY featurinCJ JACK IE AND ROY with Bill Holman's Orchestra. Free And Easy; Angel Eyes; So It's Spring; Pent Up House & 7 others. ABC Paramount ABC 207. • JAZZ WAVE featurinCJ MED FLORY with AI Porcino. Ray Triscari. Jack Hohmann. Lee Katzmann. Conte Candoli (trumpets). Dave Wells. Lew Mcreary (trombones). Med Flory. Charlie Kennedy. Richie Kamuca. Bill Holman. Bill Hood (reeds). Mel Lewis (drums). Red Kelly. Buddy Clark (bass). Russ Freeman (piano). Davy Jones; I Cover The Waterfront; On A Slow Boat To China; Sea Chase & 7 others. Jubilee JLP 1066. There is little indication that economic conditions will soon permit additions to the already tiny number of working big jazz bands (Dizzy Gillespie abandoned his earlier this year), but big band recordings are still being made by rehearsal units or by men assembled just for the (Continued on page 14) HIFI & MUSIC REVIEW ,
f JULY 1958 13
Page 2 and 3: the stereo is solved ... ...
Page 4 and 5: Garrard models change. Garrard idea
Page 6 and 7: win a By David Hall for to the RK-2
Page 8 and 9: LETTERS We Goofed! I enjoyed readin
Page 10 and 11: Mood Jazz, Pops, Stage and Screen R
Page 14 and 15: WIDE LATITUDE RECORDING TAPES Disto
Page 16 and 17: the experts say ___ in High Fidelit
Page 18 and 19: speaking you're going to see on dea
Page 20 and 21: text or evoke the feeling of the mu
Page 23 and 24: .. .c +' cu G) C I. G) -a c ::l I-
Page 25 and 26: " "I've heard what to me is real gr
Page 27 and 28: .. Echoes of the Golden Age as well
Page 29 and 30: STEREO DISC ROUNDUP (Continued from
Page 31 and 32: .. Monteux at a Symphony Hall recor
Page 33 and 34: .. ,... ~~. .. . . ~ ,. " .~ .. Whe
Page 35 and 36: i ). j ! -- ~', •• 1 l elastic
Page 37 and 38: ! vox SPOTLIG·HTS From bull roarer
Page 39 and 40: Livid Lingo A monthly feature dedic
Page 41 and 42: for Ultimate Fidelity * Stereo Musi
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Page 45 and 46: a chairside enclosure kit NEW This
Page 47 and 48: ., "LEGATO't high fidelity speaker
Page 49 and 50: ... THE TRIO, ModeIA-224, Stereo Am
Page 51 and 52: Boult's recordings of Schumann's Rh
Page 53 and 54: • I ) 7 1 If Robert Craft is righ
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Page 59 and 60: Somewhat more successful is the Bra
Page 61 and 62: 1 LANDMARKS OF A GREAT CAREER Bac
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I ENTERTAINMENT MOOD (Continued fro
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