Thursday, August 19, 2010

Just the FAX, Ma'am!

Around a year and a half ago, I posted that unusual 7-inch Hires Root Beer advertising record by Blossom Dearie. Apparently, it's quite rare and isn't in the standard discographies (is it in the online Lord discog yet?). It certainly got a lot of downloads...350 at last count (200 for the Meet side, 150 for the Theme). Of course, The Whoopee Hat Brigade still gets the most traffic...532 downloads and counting.

Here's another strange 7-inch 33, pressed on lovely (if a little scuffed) blue vinyl:

I had no idea what it was when I bought it, but I reckoned that any record with Bud Shank, Buddy Collette and Milt Bernhart must be interesting...especially since it was on the FAX label, an early-1960s label that specialized in somewhat smutty standup comedy and music.

Once I heard the Trailer Sound Track (track 6), it became obvious that these cuts were from the soundtrack of a rather obscure nudie movie called Bachelor Tom Peeping.
It's obscure now, but apparently it was a favorite of Russ Meyer.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210560/

I was able to pin down the complete personnel and (approximate) recording date at http://www.lastudiomusicians.org/Jazz%20on%20Screen.pdf

BACHELOR TOM PEEPING
USA 1962
Music Directed/Conducted by: Alex Sandford
Soundtrack Personnel: Irv Bush, Joe Graves, trumpet; Milt Bernhart, trombone; Al Maebe, bass trombone; Ira Westley, tuba; Bud Shank, Buddy Collette, alto sax; Lew Ellenhorn, bass clarinet; Jack Nimitz, baritone sax; Walt Ritchie, bassoon; Victor Feldman, Emil Richards, vibraphone; Bill Kraft, drums.

BACHELOR TOM PEEPING Soundtrack Alex Sandford Orch FAX FAXMPS 2201

1. Candy Apple Corvette (main theme) (featuring Bud Shank)
2. Bachelor Tom's Theme (featuring Buddy Collette)
3. Heavenly Bodies Mambo
4. The Grandma Bit (featuring Milt Bernhart)
5. Tom's End (end title)
6. Trailer Sound Track

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QR61M848

I thought I'd give the jazz nuts scans of both labels (if I didn't, somebody would ask me to anyway) along with the the music, which is pretty good! Some of it reminds me of the jazzier cues used in Hanna-Barbera cartoons (is Alex Sandford a pseudonym?)...and the strange sound effects at the end of the trailer may have been borrowed from H-B as well.

I don't see 45s pressed by FAX very often...here's one of them:

It seems to be a sampler of material taken from their Wild Party Songs series of LPs (see
http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/drinkingsongs/html/sounds/fax-records.htm for info
on them). Many of these songs were recorded previously by Oscar Brand. I like Brand's versions better, but these aren't bad either.

WILD PARTY SONGS Unidentified artists FAX EP-BA/BB
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YVEXE20X

1. Black-Eyed Susie
2. Blinded By Turds
3. Get Along Home Cindy
4. Pinto Pony


Oh, I have no idea why FAX (obviously) dubbed in crowd effects between the cuts, but they're there...

Rrrr....this one's for you and your pals...
___________________________________________
Recently, this record followed me home...

101197-1 You Started Me Dreaming Wingy Mannone Orch Bluebird B-6359 http://www.box.net/shared/uqg26l99cx
101198-1 Tormented Wingy Mannone Orch. Bluebird B-6359
http://www.box.net/shared/2bzx0els1r
NYC: 9 April 1936: Wingy Mannone, trumpet & vocal; Joe Marsala, clarinet; Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller, clarinet & tenor saxes; Conrad Lanoue, piano; Nappy Lamare, guitar (and speech on Dreaming); Artie Shapiro, bass; Ray Bauduc, drums.

These were the first two sides that Mannone recorded for Bluebird (with a pickup band, consisting mainly of sidemen from Bob Crosby's orchestra). And it's a Buffy! (No, not a slayer of the undead, it's a Bluebird with that creamy-yellow label that 78-collectors love!)

The B-side, Tormented, is a particularly enjoyable Will Hudson song...which was stuck in my head for quite a while. Then I remembered a rather unusual version of the same tune by jazz harpist Casper Reardon:

P-19095-1 Tormented Casper Reardon, his Harp and Orch Liberty Music Shop L 193
http://www.box.net/shared/x41o4inl2x
P-19094-1 In A Sentimental Mood Casper Reardon, his Harp and Orch Liberty Music Shop L 193
http://www.boxcn.net/shared/vftr68hha5

NYC 23 April 1936: Casper Reardon, harp; unidentified accompaniment (drawn mainly from Lud Gluskin's orchestra)

I'm rather fond of the Ellington cover on the flip side too...
___________________________________________


Finally, I'd like to acknowledge a few new donations to the blog...with a few more cuts that are tokens of thanks...

One donation came from Ted Hering...whose name is quite well-known among Spike Jones fans. Here's an item that should interest him...a Fred Astaire side!

LA 2239-A Me And The Ghost Upstairs Fred Astaire Columbia
35815
http://www.box.net/shared/rhaphu6462
LA, 22 September 1940: Fred Astaire, vocal & dancing; Studio orchestra with (among others) Mannie Klein, trumpet; Charles LaVere, piano; Perry Botkin, guitar; Lindley Jones, drums.

Well...this Poe-influenced side has a set of tuned cowbells, played by Lindley Jones (Spike to you and me). I wonder if this is the first time his bells show up on record...

I also got a donation from good friend AJ...he's a confirmed Prezaholic. Here's Lester jamming with Benny, Bunny, Roy, and Teddy, from a 1938 broadcast...buried in a Bunny Berigan CD:

-- I Know That You Know
WNEW Jam Session Soundcraft SC-5005 (CD)
http://www.box.net/shared/dfr92j9sdr
NYC, 6 July 1938: Bunny Berigan, Roy Eldridge, trumpets; Benny Goodman, clarinet; Lester Young, tenor sax; Teddy Wilson, piano.

Whew...it doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Here's a cut for another friend who shall remain hoaxless nameless. He surprised me recently by singing this forgotten (and politically incorrect, but this was the 1920s!) vaudeville-era song...

73425-D Bologny George McClennon's Jazz Devils OKeh 8337
http://www.box.net/shared/6cni3rl9td
NYC 11 June 1925: George McClennon, vocal; probably Eddie Heywood, piano; others (cornet, trumpet, alto sax, banjo, drums) unidentified.

Most of McClennon's records feature his squawking "gaspipe" clarinet...this one doesn't.

And last but not least, here's a very odd cut for Mr. dBurns:


-- Why Don't You Grow Right? Unidentified performer Magnadisc (unnumbered)
http://www.box.net/shared/1cuz2kjrda

This gem was taken from a (badly-recorded and worse-pressed) record of a musical revue evidently staged by the Class of 1952 at CalTech (there are many references to CalTech, as well as one to a 1952 Rolls Royce). Can anybody out there give me more information about this revue?

Again, I thank my patrons...if anybody else would like to donate a little $omething, they'll get a song dedicated to them too!

That'll nail the seeds to the roof for now...maybe I can get 'em to grow right.