A Century of Music

[Zeeba Neighba]

A new week and a new year - here I am at 1953
And at Monday's playlist combining the top 30 songs of 1953 with cool, important, popular singles of the year (71 songs total)

Top 10 songs of the year:
1) "Song From Moulin Rouge" by Percy Faith
2) "Vaya Con Dios" by Les Paul & Mary Ford
3) "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window" by Patti Page
4) "I'm Walking Behind You" by Eddie Fisher
5) "You You You" by The Ames Brothers
6) "Till I Waltz Again With You" by Teresa Brewer
7) "April in Portugal" by Les Baxter
8) "No Other Love" by Perry Como
9) "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" by Perry Como
10) "I Believe" by Frankie Laine

Nice year outside the Top 10 too - Tony Bennett's "Rags to Riches", the comedy single "St. George & the Dragonet" by Stan Freeberg (TV Dragnet parody), Ray Anthony's version of Dragnet's theme.

Plus other singles that are presaging the arrival of Elvis with "Crying in the Chapels" (the Orioles, though June Valli's version charted higher), early Sun Records singles like "Mystery Train" (Little Junior's Blue Flames), and Big Mama Thonton's "Hound Dog" (not to mention the response song "Bear Cat" on Sun (Rufus Thomas)

Some great Hank Williams (on this the year of his death), B.B. King, and the influential doo wop of The "5" Royales

Other goodies:
"Mess Around" - the first minor hit on Atlantic by one Ray Charles
"That's Amore" by Dean Martin
"Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt
"The Stands the Glass" by Webb Pierce
"One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" by Amos Milburn
"Gee" by The Crows
"Money Honey" by Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters

 

[axolotl]

here I am at 1953

Perhaps my favorite year. No, I can't tell you why.

"One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" by Amos Milburn

There ya went and gone woke @Nickyboy up.

Beware the wrath of the Ukrainian assassin.

ETA: But, then again, who doesn't love the dulcet tones of Amos Milburn, as in "Bad Bad Whiskey"?

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Jazz at Massey Hall (1953)

Starting 1953 with an iconic jazz album, arguably the most famous live set in jazz history given the killer lineup of bop artists - Charlie Parker (listed as "Charlie Chan"on the original sleeve for contractual reasons), Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, and Max Roach. Recording in Toronto, apparently quite the chaotic show with Bud Powell drunk (and just released from a psych facility), Mingus was grumpy (what's new), and Gillespie was popping on and off stage to check the Rocky Marciano-Jersey Joe Walcott fight. Parker had to play with a plastic alto. The material includes famous bop standards like Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts" and "A Night at Tunisia" (as well as one of the most beautiful ballads "All the Things You Are"). Re-released several times over the year and the recording (by Mingus) is not always great, but who cares - what a lineup! And the music is fantastic. This would be the last live recording of longtime friends/collaborators Parker and Gillespie

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet (1953)

I've posted before how much I enjoy Rollins (I listen to him more than I do Coltrane). These are some of his earliest tracks as a leader, the first four with the MJQ (initially released as a 7 inch 45 rpm EP), the rest with Kenny Drew and Art Blakey (Percy Heath the bassist is the one constant). On the last track "I Know", Miles Davis appears...ON PIANO (?!). Certainly not groundbreaking as Sonny's material would certainly become, but enjoyed listening.

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

I had kind of ignored this topic when you started. Music from the 20's and 30's is hard for me to enjoy. But you've plowed through the years while I wasn't looking and you're up to the era of high fidelity. Just skimming over this, I found a bunch of stuff that I already know I like...

A new week and a new year - here I am at 1953...

"Vaya Con Dios" by Les Paul & Mary Ford
the comedy single "St. George & the Dragonet" by Stan Freeberg
Crying in the Chapels" (the Orioles
Big Mama Thonton's "Hound Dog" (not to mention the response song "Bear Cat" on Sun (Rufus Thomas)
B.B. King, and the influential doo wop of The "5" Royales
"Mess Around" - the first minor hit on Atlantic by one Ray Charles
"One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" by Amos Milburn

Makes me think I should listen to the rest....

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Jazz at Oberlin (1953)

Early recording for Brubeck's famous quartet. I own this one - good to break it out again (it's been awhile). Appeared in the original Jazz Excursion thread. Love Desmond's alto - what a cool sound. "The Way You Look Tonight" is a highlight - Brubeck's piano is pretty furious for "cool jazz".

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker (1953)

Getting late in Parker's career (he died March 1955) - wonderful Verve album repackaged and expanded over the years. Sounds great. Different musicians on various tracks including Buddy Rich, Max Roach and Coleman Hawkins.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

George Lewis - Jazz Funeral in New Orleans (1953)

Another Jazz Excursion album (I imagine we'll hit many of them given all the 1950s/60s entries). One might not guess it from the title (unless one know's NOLA), but what a fun album! Classic New Orleans jazz numbers/sound - if you think you like that sound, you'll love this one. Allmusic.com says this version of "When the Saints Come Marching In" is definitive, and I won't argue.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Peggy Lee - Black Coffee (1953)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Peggy Lee - Black Coffee (1953)

Wow, the moka pot was mainstream in the US in 1953?

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Songs by Tom Lehrer (1953)

Listening just to Songs which was released in 1953 (with More Songs... in 1959). I knew of some individual songs of Lehrer, like "The Masochistic Tango" and his singing of chemical elements to Gilbert & Sullivan's "Major General Song". Still, have never listened to this quirky satirist to any significant degree - interesting fellow - a Harvard trained mathematician who recorded his satirical songs to a solo piano. He apparently didn't like touring, didn't want his picture on album covers, and essentially slowed down as the 60s progressed with his last concert a McGovern event in 1972 (he wrote several PBS Electric Company songs in the early 1970s). This initial album, which spread "like herpes" per Lehrer initially selling 400 units for the Harvard crowd then gained significant populaity, was tremendously influential on later satirical music - Randy Newman and Weird Al both cite as influences. Enjoyed reading up on Lehrer (who is still around btw at age 91) - really enjoyed this one (and must say some, like "I Want to Go Back to Dixie", are pretty caustic)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Dean Martin Sings (1953)

Dino's first studio 10" LP (after recording singles and EPs over the preceding 6 yrs) with seven of the original eight songs from the Martin & Lewis film The Stooge (remember that one?)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Chet Baker Quartet Featuring Russ Freeman (1953)

Chet Baker's not my favorite trumpeter - sometimes he's a bit too cool as to be detached from the emotions of a piece. Still, a nice album

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Kismet (Original Broadway Cast) (1953)

Winner of the Tony for Best Musical the next year, Kismet, set in Baghdad is a curious musical - not as enduring as other big musicals of its era (there has never been a Broadway revival with the last NY production by the New York Opera in 1985) but with two songs that have had great success among vocalists over the years: "Baubles Bangles and Beads" has been changed by Sinatra and others into a groovy finger-snapping number, and "Stranger in Paradise" - I love the latter. Fantastic ballad (I'd put it on my album if I was a vocalist Happily I'm not).

Some cool little history courtesy of allmusic:

Lyricists and musical adaptors Robert C. Wright and George Forrest first succeeded on Broadway in 1944 with Song of Norway, in which they turned the music of Edvard Grieg into show tunes as a means of giving him a stage biography. In subsequent years, they attempted to repeat this trick with Victor Herbert, Franz Lehar, and Heitor Villa-Lobos, all without success until they hit upon the curious idea of using the music of Russian composer Alexander Borodin in a musical adaptation of Edward Knoblock's 1911 play Kismet, a fable about a poet-beggar in Baghdad who becomes emir in a single day and marries his daughter off to the caliph. Originating (as had Song of Norway) with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association, the production moved to Broadway on December 3, 1953. With a newspaper strike raging in New York, there were no reviews and no print advertising, but Tony Bennett's cover recording of "Stranger in Paradise" from the score (its tune adapted from Borodin's "Polovetsian Dances") had hit the pop charts a week earlier, and its rising popularity drew customers to the show

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

Songs by Tom Lehrer (1953)

Listening just to Songs which was released in 1953 (with More Songs... in 1959). I knew of some individual songs of Lehrer, like "The Masochistic Tango" and his singing of chemical elements to Gilbert & Sullivan's "Major General Song". Still, have never listened to this quirky satirist to any significant degree - interesting fellow - a Harvard trained mathematician who recorded his satirical songs to a solo piano. He apparently didn't like touring, didn't want his picture on album covers, and essentially slowed down as the 60s progressed with his last concert a McGovern event in 1972 (he wrote several PBS Electric Company songs in the early 1970s). This initial album, which spread "like herpes" per Lehrer initially selling 400 units for the Harvard crowd then gained significant populaity, was tremendously influential on later satirical music - Randy Newman and Weird Al both cite as influences. Enjoyed reading up on Lehrer (who is still around btw at age 91) - really enjoyed this one (and must say some, like "I Want to Go Back to Dixie", are pretty caustic)

My parents had a Tom Lehrer record in the house when I was a kid. I loved it. Back then I could sing (using that term loosely) New Math and several others from that album. When dad remarried, his new wife brought in another Lehrer record, the one with The Elements (to "Major General's Song). It was fantastic. Somehow, even though I lived with Mom, I heard that song from time to time. Did Lehrer get airplay on Dr. Demento's show?

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

My parents had a Tom Lehrer record in the house when I was a kid. I loved it. Back then I could sing (using that term loosely) New Math and several others from that album. When dad remarried, his new wife brought in another Lehrer record, the one with The Elements (to "Major General's Song). It was fantastic. Somehow, even though I lived with Mom, I heard that song from time to time. Did Lehrer get airplay on Dr. Demento's show?

Indeed! Dr. Demento was a fan, and would play Lehrer's songs

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Duke Plays Ellington (1953)

Good chance to hear Duke playing solo piano

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Stan Kenton - New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm (1953)

Kenton was a unique figure in jazz and became popular among academic college jazz fans. His interest (and integration) of jazz and classical music wasn't unique (Kenton termed this "progressive jazz"), but more than anyone at the time, he brought this vision to a big band even orchestral setting. His "Innovations In Modern Music Orchestra" in 1950 was 39 pieces including 16 string instruments. By 1953 he had scaled things down to 19 musicians. Interesting music - it does swing but not your father's jazz (at least in the 1950s) - experimental, discordant at times. It was an important step in what jazz could be and certainly set the scene for Miles Davis' and others third stream and experimental jazz experiments later in the decade

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Miles Davis - Young Man with a Horn (1953)

Miles had a slow 1952/53 as in the throes of heroin addiction - his output would pickup with he kicked the habit. Solid early 10" record with a great lineup including J.J. Johnson (here still billed as "Jay Jay" and altoist Jackie McLean.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Haitian Folk Songs (1953)

Friday and the end of 1953 always brings at least one quirky album outside of my wheelhouse - today the simple Haitian Folk Songs - ballads song simply to a solo guitar.

Away for Thanksgiving next week so not sure if I'll get to 1954 until I return - then Christmas music. Still should be embarking on the rock era in the new year!