GLCD 5126  Soloists Supreme Reviews & Broadcast

THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC Soloists Supreme ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring DAVE GOLDBERG, Guitar -CAMARATA AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring REGINALD KELL, clarinet -RIAS DANCE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WERNER MULLER featuring MACKY KASPAR, trumpet- SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring EDWARD RUBACH, piano - DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON featuring xylophone - JACKIE BOND, alto saxophone, and HIS ORCHESTRA - VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS SINGING STRINGS featuring whistling by MUZZY MARCELLINO - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring piano - RAY MARTIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring French horns- HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring guitar - HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring HENRI RENE, musette accordion - PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring MITCH MILLER, cor anglais and oboe - RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring RICHARD HAYMAN, harmonica - EDDIE CALVERT, trumpet, with NORRIE PARAMOR AND HIS ORCHESTRA - RONNIE RONALDE, whistling, with ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring tuba - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring BERT WEEDON, guitar - LEROY ANDERSON AND HIS ‘POPS’ CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring ROBERT CUSUAMO, CARL POOLE & MELVIN SOLOMON, trumpets - CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring REG LEOPOLD, violin - LAURIE JOHNSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring JOE ‘MR PIANO’ HENDERSON, piano - BBC VARIETY ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES SHADWELL featuring REGINALD FOORT at the BBC Theatre Organ - PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring FREDDY GARDNER, alto saxophone - SAVOY HOTEL ORPHEANS Directed by CARROLL GIBBONS featuring SIDNEY TORCH, organ - RAFAEL MENDEZ, trumpet, with VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA - PAUL WHITEMAN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring ROY BARGY, piano 04 Last Rhapsody - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring EDWARD RUBACH, piano 07 High And The Mighty - VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS SINGING STRINGS featuring whistling by MUZZY MARCELLINO 12 Goodbye John  - PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring MITCH MILLER, cor anglais and oboe 14 Margot’s Minuet  - EDDIE CALVERT, trumpet, with NORRIE PARAMOR AND HIS ORCHESTRA 22 Valse Vanite  - PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring FREDDY GARDNER, alto saxophone

Contents:

Whilst working on previous compilations in the Guild ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ series, it has not been uncommon to come across many recordings where a particular soloist plays an important role. In fact there are numerous examples of a certain instrument greatly enhancing a performance. Therefore the idea has gradually developed that it might be enjoyable to assemble a collection where listeners could hear how different arrangers have created scores where a soloist is an essential ingredient in the work. Sometimes the instrumentalist is given due credit on the record label, but sadly there are many instances where these fine musicians remain anonymous.

The talented guitar player Dave Goldberg was a key member of the Robert Farnon Orchestra during a short period from the late 1940s onwards. For a while he was in the famous Ted Heath Band and he travelled with them for a US tour in the early 1950s, deciding to stay and see if he could launch a new career in North America. Two of his recordings with Farnon had attracted some attention when released on a London 78 (London was the US arm of British Decca), although for some reason his name in America was changed to Dave Gilbert. One of the numbers on that 78 was our opening track Don’t Blame Me where the Goldberg guitar certainly comes into its own. He returned to Britain and played with the Geraldo Band at their famous Monte Carlo season in 1957, but he gradually became disenchanted with the developing musical scene and died at an early age from a drugs overdose.

Reginald Kell (1906-1981) is widely regarded and one of the most influential clarinettists of his era. He won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music from 1929 to 1932 where he studied with Haydn Draper. He was reputedly the first clarinettist who could play in tune from top to bottom and he was the first prominent player to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on his colleague the oboist Leon Goossens. Sir Thomas Beecham selected Kell as first clarinet for the London Philharmonic before World War II and the Royal Philharmonic after it. In 1948 he left England to live in the USA, and was so highly regarded that even the great Benny Goodman (1909-1986) studied classical clarinet with him in 1949. Reginald Kell toured widely giving many concert performances before retiring at the early age of 51. Between 1950 and 1957 he made some landmark recordings with American Decca, one of which was The Dance Of The Three Old Maids by the organist Reginald Porter Brown (1910-1982). This is one occasion where Kell strayed from his usual classical music territory.

Edward Rubach is remembered for his many broadcasts as a pianist, sometimes as a duo with Robert Docker. He was in regular demand as a session musician – for example in “Music While You Work” broadcasts with Fred Alexander and the Gerald Crossman Players; he occasionally fronted his own group called The Novelairs. Rubach’s many recordings (sometimes anonymously) included top orchestras such as Ron Goodwin and the Sidney Torch 78 in this collection. His compositions Polka Piquant, The Belle of Brazil and Sentimental Gypsy were all once popular as light orchestral pieces.

Muzzy Marcellino (1912-1997) is featured on this CD as a very accomplished whistler, but that particular talent was not his main contribution to the American popular music scene. He studied the violin and guitar as a child in his home town of San Francisco, and eventually found work with bands such as Ted Fio Rito where he also sang. In 1938 Muzzy formed his own band which toured hotels, dance halls, colleges and the usual venues including a long engagement at Hollywood’s Florentine Gardens. When the big band era was over record companies, film studios and ad agencies usually called upon Muzzy whenever a whistler was required.

Henri René (1906-1993) was born and raised in Germany, where he studied piano at Berlin's Royal Academy of Music; he emigrated to the US during the mid-1920s, appearing with a series of orchestras before returning to Berlin a few years later to serve as an arranger with a German record label. René came back to the States in 1936 to accept the position of musical director with RCA-Victor's international arm; in 1941 he also formed his own musette orchestra which specialised in music with a continental flavour. After serving with the Allied forces in World War II (involving soldier shows in Special Services) he returned to RCA to arrange and conduct a variety of recordings embracing semi-classical and descriptive works as well as pops; one of his most catchy instrumental releases was Pink Champagne. He was required to accompany many contract singers and became Victor’s West Coast Artists and Repertoire Manager. During the mid-1950s, he began issuing a series of LPs - Music for Bachelors, Music for the Weaker Sex, Compulsion to Swing and Riot in Rhythm among them - that were forerunners of the space-age pop aesthetic. As a producer, René also supervised a number of releases for RCA's "Stereo Action" series before leaving the label in 1959 and working freelance for the remainder of his career.

Mitch Miller (b.1911) was one of the world’s finest oboe players, having performed with leading orchestras, often as a soloist, across the USA. During the 1930s he worked with Gershwin and was praised for his work as oboe soloist with the CBS Symphony Orchestra. When he joined Columbia Records as an Artists and Repertoire Manager one of his first recruits was Percy Faith. The beautiful violin which blends so beautifully with Miller’s cor anglais in Goodbye John is played by George Ockner, concert master of Percy Faith’s orchestra for many years. Miller himself was responsible for many chart singles and he also hosted his own highly rated network television show. During his years at Columbia he was credited with having established long playing records as the preserve of adults, consigning the singles market to the younger generation.

Richard Hayman (b. 1920) started at the age of 18 as a harmonica player in Borrah Minevitch’s Harmonica Rascals, but he wisely decided to concentrate more on arranging and conducting. He worked on the MGM musical “Meet Me In St. Louis” and was put under contract by Mercury Records in 1950, for whom he made many singles and albums, the best-seller being his version of Ruby from the film “Ruby Gentry”. He also arranged for the Boston Pops, serving as back-up conductor for Arthur Fiedler.

Ronnie Ronalde began his professional career with Steffani and his Silver Songsters, but this was just a prelude to his great success from the 1950s onwards as an accomplished whistler who could also yodel and sing. Before his career really took off he made four 78 sides with Robert Farnon (which were issued on an EP in America as "Whistler's Serenade"), and the track Somewhere Beyond The Stars surely should not have been neglected for so long. Later Ronnie and his wife ran the St Martin’s Hotel in Guernsey and now, in his eighties, he lives in Queensland, Australia. He still retains many loyal fans, and continues to perform occasionally.

Eddie Calvert (1922-1978) was born in Preston, Lancashire in an environment where brass band music was very popular. As he grew up young Albert Edward became proficient in a variety of instruments, although he became most accomplished on the trumpet. After World War II he started playing professionally with orchestras such as Geraldo and Stanley Black, and his future was assured when an enthusiastic radio announcer described him as ‘The Man With The Golden Trumpet’ – a description that stuck for the rest of his glittering career. He became familiar on radio and television during the 1950s, and several of his Columbia 78s were big sellers – perhaps the best known being Oh Mein Papa which also did well in the United States, making it the first instrumental to be awarded a gold disc. As musical styles changed Eddie found himself less in demand and he left England in 1968 to live in South Africa, where he died aged only 56.

Bert Weedon (b. 1920) became one of Britain’s best-known guitar players during the 1950s. His talents were in demand from many conductors, and found him playing with some of the best bands of the day, including Ted Heath, Mantovani and The Squadronnaires. His extreme versatility acted as a stepping stone to a plum role as a featured soloist with the BBC Show Band conducted by Cyril Stapleton, which meant broadcasting three times a week in the country's most prestigious pop music show, and this lasted for four years. His fame spread internationally, and he still performs in many parts of the world.

Reginald Leopold (1907-2003) was much in demand as a lead violinist throughout his career. From the 1920s onwards he rubbed shoulders with many fellow musicians who would eventually rise to the top of the profession, so it was natural that the likes of Carroll Gibbons, George Melachrino and Robert Docker would be happy to engage him for their broadcasts over several decades. Leopold himself took the limelight for his 17-year association with BBC Radio’s famous programme “Grand Hotel”, and in the happy days when light music formed a staple diet of radio broadcasting he directed ensembles such as his own Players, the London Light Concert Orchestra and the London Studio Players. He continued broadcasting until well into the 1980s, then finally retired to his home town of Brighton where he died aged 95.

Joe Henderson (1920-1980) was a popular pianist in Britain during the 1950s, and at one time he worked closely with Petula Clark. His biggest hit was Trudie in 1958 which won an Ivor Novello Award.

Reginald Foort (1893-1980) is still highly regarded among enthusiasts of theatre and cinema organs which reached a peak in their popularity during the 1930s. He became one of the most recorded organists in history, and made numerous broadcasts for the BBC. In 1951 he left England and settled for the rest of his life in the USA.

Freddy Gardner (1911-1950) was a true master of the saxophone, and his recordings continue to amaze for their brilliance. It was said that he found notes on the instrument that weren’t supposed to be there, and towards the end of his career he became closely associated with the fine Peter Yorke Orchestra, heard on this CD.

Sidney Torch (1908-1990) was a talented organist long before his post-war career as one of Britain’s top composers and conductors of light music from the late 1940s onwards. On 14 February 1932 in the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, he was with Carroll Gibbons and the Savoy Hotel Orpheans in what the label described as a ‘concert version’ of a popular number at the time, Rudolf Friml’s Allah’s Holiday.

Rafael Mendez (1906-1981) was regarded as one of America’s finest trumpeters of his time and he also composed many pieces, often designed to show off his instrument. In 1961 he wrote a text book Prelude to Brass Playing which has been in demand by aspiring trumpeters ever since.

Roy Bargy (1894-1974) joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1928 and eventually became second in command within the band. During the 1940s he was regularly conducting various bands for radio broadcasts, and in 1943 he became Jimmy Durante’s musical director – a job which lasted for 20 years. Gershwin’s famous Rhapsody In Blue was such a big success that the composer was under constant pressure to come up with a sequel; in the event his Second Rhapsody has been described as one of his least famous concert works. Certainly it is not as recognisable as its predecessor, but it is still a piece of great merit which listeners should find increasingly enjoyable as they become more familiar with it. It has its origins in a 1931 film “Delicious” starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and has been variously called ‘Manhattan Rhapsody’, ‘New York Rhapsody’ and even ‘Rhapsody in Rivets’. Gershwin said that he felt his ultimate choice of Second Rhapsody was “much simpler and more dignified.” Although the work received its official premiere performance on 29 January 1932 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky and Gershwin himself on piano, there was an earlier NBC radio concert on June 26 1931 with Gershwin and a 55-piece studio orchestra.  The composer made no commercial record of it himself but eventually Paul Whiteman (1890-1967) did commit the work to disc on 23 October 1938 in Decca’s New York studios, making several cuts and a certain amount of re-scoring. Gershwin had died a year previously from a brain tumour, so he was never to hear the first important recording of this work by a conductor who had played such a pivotal role in bringing his music to an appreciative public.                                                                                      David Ades

Page revised Wednesday December 06 2006