~flr'6,r"®

High priced speaker
a must?
OR THE SI LVER SKATES featuring the
TV Cast-PEGGY KING, JARMILA NO­
VOTNA-with Orchestra, Irwin Kostal
condo
Ice; Silver Skates; Hello, Springtime & 5
others. Dot DLP 900 I.
• ROMBERG-HARBACH-HAMMER­
STEIN II: THE DESERT SONG featuring
GIORGIO TOZZI, KATHY BARR, and
others with Chorus & Orchestra, Lehman
Engel condo
The Riff Song; I Want A Kiss; The Desert
Song & 13 others. RCA Victor lOP 1000.
each includes other Handy compositions,
some from the film, others not.
Nat Cole, who plays Handy in the picture,
sings to the accompaniment of the
excellent Nelson Riddle orchestra. His
versions are, without exception, well done.
Cole's voice, with its smooth, slightly
"
Not with the new
_
in Eng land
Coaxial 700 Series Mark III
Here is a speaker that brings you the luxury
listening that is higher fidelity ; yet its price is
unbelievably lower than you would expect for
such excellent performance. The new R & A
speaker incorporates superb design details and
is precision engineered to deliver a rare purity
of sound - an experience that invites you to
close your eyes and listen, and wonder how such
a quality speaker can be offered at so low a
price. (We WOII't tell you how little . .. you
must hear the speaker first!)
8", 10" and 12" Models - all with
AJcomax III An iso-tropic Magnet Sys­
(ems of 12,000 Gauss Flux Densities.
Buy it . . . try it . . . we back claims with a
mOlley back guarantee. At all hi-fi dealers.
ERCONA CORPORATION
(Electrm.ic Divisim. ),
16 West 46 St., Dept. 69, New York 36, N . Y.
It. Canada: Astral Electric Co. L td.
44 Danforth Road, T or01t/o 13
If you are interested in
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
. . . or would like to learn about it-
- this is your o·pportunity. Nowhere are the
exciting sounds and brilliant techniques of
modern composers reproduced and interpreted
as they are in exclusive FIRST EDITION
RECORDS. These are first recordings of
newly commissioned symphonic works by the
world's master composers - played superbly
and flawlessly recorded in high-fidelity by
the renowned
LOUISVIllE ORCHESTRA
Robert Whitney, Conductor
These "collector's item" recordings are engineered
by Columbia Masterworks technicians.
All are contemporary music, with the composer
working closely wi th the orchestra to
achieve a true and sensitive interpretatic}n.
Available from the Society only, they represent
a priceless collection of new, exciting
music . . . the finest expressions of living
composers the world over.
OFFER LIMITED-SEND TODAY FOR
•• INFORMATION ON FREE TRIAL RECORDS .
• LOUISVILLE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY
: S uite 77. 830 S. 4th St., Louisvil le 3. Ky.
• Please Bend me free. complete infor mation on exclu-
• sive F irst Edition Records and free record o ffer.
: Nnme ______________________________ _
• Addre .... . _____________________________
• City _____________________ Stnte _____
66
That D anny Kaye, a master interpreter
of rapid-fire lyrics, and Johnny Mercer,
our leading creator of polysyllabic rhymes,
would get together was probably inevitable.
Mercer has supplied clever,
imaginative ideas, the most successful being
the grand flow of Italian double-talk
in Salud. But in The Square of the Hypotenuse,
he never develops his theme
past the title line, and his lyric for The
Pipes of Pan meanders so that the p oint
of the number gets lost. Saul Chaplin's
music is serviceable.
Another score intended primarily for
the young is Hans Brinker by the gifted
Hugh Martin. There are some wonderfully
appropriate "gliding" pieces in it,
such as Ice and Silver Skates, but the
lyrics are rather simple-minded and might
have profited from the services of Mr.
Martin's customary partner, Ralph Blane.
Tab Hunter brings a sort of emotionless
sincerity to the performance, and Peggy
King still sounds like a minor league Judy
Garland.
The Desert Song, after more than thirty
years, is still a well-loved American musical,
to judge from the frequency of revivals
throughout the country- especially
in summer theatres which annually rely
on it as a guarantee of packed houses.
Cornball story and all have broad appeal
inherent in its exotic locale and its warmly
melodious \Score.
H ere is the second almost-complete recording
of The Desert Song available currently.
Both are conducted by Lehman
Engel. This version benefits from especially
fine sound and the commanding
vocal presence of Giorgio Tozzi. The
drawback, however, is the embarrassingly
uncertain vocalism of Kathy Barr.
S. G.
Blues by Handy, His & Hers
• ST. LOUIS BLUES featuring NAT
"KING" COLE.
Capitol W 993.
• ST. LOUIS BLUES featuring
EARTHA KITT.
RCA Victor LPM 1661.
The motion picture St. Louis Blues,
based on the life of W. C. Handy, has
brought with it the featured perfornlers
in albums of songs from the pen of the
great blues composer.
These two make an interesting comparison.
Both include versions of St.
Louis Blues, Beale Street Blues, Memphis
Blues, Careless Love, Yellow Dog Blues,
Friendless Blues and Hesitating Blues and
husky and warm sound, lends genuine
validity to each number. His deft phrasing
and solidly musical style make a very
good combination and the album is well
up to the standards one might wish for in
a H andy collection.
Miss Kitt, on the other hand, sings with
an exceptionally irritating vibratO'. She
h as little jazz feeling and a tendency to
stiff phrasing. She is further hampered
by RCA Victor's choice of accomparument:
a dixieland band featuring, of all
people, modern jazz trumpeter Shorty
Rogers. It would be h ard to imagine a
serious effort with so little musical logic
about it. T o refer to the orchestra as
"Shorty Rogers and his Giants" is to misstate
the case. It is actually a pedestrian
studio dixieland group.
R. J. G.
That Oldtime Swing
• BETWEEN 18TH AND 19TH ON
ANY STREET featuring BOB SCOBEY'S
BAND with CLANCY HAYES •
The Five Piece Ba nd ; W histl in g In The Da rk;
A Sun d ay Ki nd O f Love; Wood choppers'
Ball; Muggles & 12 others. RCA Victor
LPM 1567.
• WITH A LlTTl.oE BIT OF SWING
featuring HELEN WARD with "Peanuts"
Hucko and his Orchestra.
With A Li ttle Bit O f Luck ; Lazy; Lookie,
Lookie, H ere C omes C ookie; Swing That
Music; G one W ith The Wind ; This Nearly
Was Mine & 6 o the rs. RCA Victor LPM
1464.
• NEW ORLEANS TO LOS ANGELES
featuring PETE FOUNTAIN.
Farewell Blues; J azz ba nd Ball ; March Of The
Bob Cats; J azz Me Blues; C he rry; Struttin'
With Some Ba rbecue; Home; Song O f The
Wanderer. Southland S-LP 215.
The music on these three albums, or
rather, the performing style, is indigenous
to the Twenties and Thirties . It is curious
that Scobey, who has been best known
for his stubborn revival of tradjtional
jazz, should come off such a sad third
behind the others.
The H elen W ard album, with accom­
HIFI & MUSIC REVIEW
-'
~
J