• MISCELLANEOUS AND DANCE

POP SINGLES

First it was Winifred Atwell; then Russ Conway cracked the pop music world open with more jangle-box piano. Then came Tony Hatch, Joe Henderson, and, from America, "Fingers" Carr. Latest traveller on the bandwagon is Ken Morris, with two bright numbers on H.M.V. P0P699, Blondie and Shanks's Pony. Joe Henderson, on the other hand, has two quite normal-sounding piano numbers, supported by singing strings and singing girls on Pye N15243. These are Winterset and Golden Guinea.

One can have too much of even the best, but I can take this sort of music much more easily than the snorting, rasping saxophone tones on Fontana H236, from Bob Miller's Millermen generating a powerful beat and little else. Another large unit applying a similar idea to a very romantic theme (that of the film "A Summer Place") is Hugo Winter- halter's on R.C.A. 1161, backed by Blue Strings, an extension, if you like, of The Marching Strings.

Vocal singles of merit include Hugo and Luigi's Chorus and Orchestra in a simple, catchy tune not unlike Red River Valley with a dash of Lili Marlene and You Belong To Me thrown in, called Just Come Home; the other side recalls The Cry Of The Wild Goose from its lyrics, Lonesome Stranger (R.C.A. 1169). Both are sung with feeling and good taste by a big-voiced choir.

When I received Emile Ford's first Pye record (What Do Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?) I didn't mention it in that month's notes, as it didn't seem to me to have anything beyond being a rock version of a veteran of the first world war; now I see Mr. Ford has recorded two numbers from a little nearer the present time, On A Slow Boat To China and That Lucky Old Sun, both of which date from 1949 if I remember correctly. I still wonder what he has that lots of others haven't; or is it just that these oldsters are always fresh and acceptable even to those not old enough to remember their original appearance? The number is Pye N15245.

About the time that these two songs first came out, Peter Lind Hayes started us chuckling at a droll monologue by Carson Robison, who ironically enough, died not long after composing it—Life Gets Tee-jus, Don't It? Now we have a new recording of it by Wink Martindale on London HLD9042. It bears comparison with the Hayes and Robison records and no more; the reverse is a British song that was revived about 1950, originally published in 1926, I Never See Maggie Alone. Good chorus stuff of a very elementary nature.

The first three of a series of twelve speech records of a very different kind have just appeared. These are Pye Zodiac records, and I suppose they should be regarded as EPs, since one side of each lasts for eight minutes or so, and the other has two musical items—light popular classics—on it. The speech side is by disc-jockey journalist Neal Arden, giving astrological character-readings written by the famous astrologer Maurice Woodruff. So far, we have had Aquarius, Pisces and Aries, so if you were born between January 20th and April 20th, you can now find out what jewellery you should wear, what job you will be most suited for, the dates between which your better half should be born to get the best results from marriage, and what you are like inside, as it were. The rest of the Zodiac signs will be issued in due course. The sleeves claim this has not been done before on records; actually, R. H. Naylor gave similar readings around 1933 on both H.M.V. and those eight-inch records from Woolworths, Eclipse. I know; I had some as a child! (Pye Zodiac Series ZODI, 2 and 3 respectively).

Something that is neither sung nor exactly spoken is offered on Parlophone R4605 by Peter Sellers. My Old Dutch is not really very funny, but Lonnie Donegan fans will not agree with me when I say that Pullin' On The Smile is a beautiful caricature of Britain's first and last skiifier.

Two men and five girls complete the singles. Pat Boone goes in for some sloppy MidVictorian rellgioso stuff in Beyond The Sunset, complete with spoken interpolation in true tear-jerker fashion, backed, I'm glad to say, with The Faithful Heart, from the film "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth", a very much more suitable number, and Perry Como, coincidentally, also sings sacred songs, both of them genuine, on R.C.A. 1163, being Alfred Hay Malotte's setting of The Lord's Prayer, and Schubert's Ave Maria. If you can swallow a crooner singing these, you will find nothing distasteful about them as songs, though the accompaniments are on the treacly side.

None of the five girls attempt anything other than unadorned seduction, if you see what I mean. Debbie Reynolds (London FILD9028) has developed a Gigli-esque sob which rather spoils two otherwise very sweet little songs; newcomer Janet Richardson, nineteen, of Glasgow, has as good a version of a muchrecorded rocker as any in You Got What It Takes on Top Rank JAR288, backed by a deepvoiced rendering of a song of eternal fidelity, Not One Minute More; Kathy Linden is sweetly seductive in Think Love and tells the happy tale of Mary Lou Wilson and Johnny Brown (Felsted AF130); Petula Clark (Pye

N15244) bounces in French in Guitarre et Tambourin, and best of all, Diana Dora, a little surprisingly, has a better voice than many girls who have no other qualifications, as Pye N15242—April Heart and Point Of No Return—shows.

EPs and LPs

A month or two ago I commented on the near-naked dancing girl on the cover of an Audio-Fidelity LP; Parlo. PMC1109 features a similar design, the record—as if you cared— being Music For An Arabian Night, Oriental melodies in more or less Western style by Ron Goodwin and his Orchestra. It's certainly something out of the ordinary.

Personally, I find the cheerful grin of the casualty, if fully, dressed lass on the cover of Col. 33SX1193 much more appealing, and if I bought records for their covers, as many do, I would buy this. Not only that, I would buy it for the record it contains. You should do the same, for Frank Barber conducting his Orchestra with the Michael Sammes Singers giving another demonstration of their superiority as a vocal group is good value for money. Crisp, modern but not screwy arrangements of songs about London should be sufficient reason for buying the record.

Here are some more records that offer value for money. First, two of Decca's bargain series on the Ace of Clubs label. ACL1011 has a set of Great Movie Hits, post-war vintage, played by an immaculate orchestra conducted by Cyril Stapleton. Although we've had lots of this sort of thing before, we've never had it so good as such a low price. And another thing—ACL1017 has Frank Chacksfield, always to be relied on for a well-chosen arrangement in perfect taste, conducting the principal numbers from the scores of Gershwin's Porgy And Bess and Kern's Show Boat. Beat that if you can!

The emphasis is on strings, actually or allegedly, in several new records I've just heard. I knew what to expect from Pierre Casallet on Mercury ZEP10048 when I saw it included Star Dust and Holiday For Strings, even though I do not recall the name. Sweeping strings and piano—the mixture as usual in such cases Ray Ellis conducts a set on M.G.M. C799 called Pm In The Mood For Strings; woodwind and brasses are heard too, so are a bunch of girls filling in wordlessly like sirens on the loose. I found more entertainment in Percy Faith's Strings (these really are all strings) in Bouquet on Philips BBL7336. These strings have a fine noble sound.

Norrie Paramor's strings are supported by a Latin beat and an anonymous soprano soloist of great charm in four Latin songs on Col. SEG7962, the strings being suitably luscious; and the tune Limehouse Blues, one of the most-recorded numbers of all time, surely, is heard on both Vogue VA160151 (Marls Hunter's Hi-Fi Road To Romance with the London Arts Symphony Orchestra, featur. ing a girl dressed not unlike Eliza Doolittle on the cover) and on M.G.M. C800, by Billy Mure's Supersonic Guitars. This strange group consists of five electric guitars and three drummers, and though it is easier on the ear than I had at first imagined, there's more than enough of the odd sound here. The rhythm section, if you can call it that, is very busy indeed.

If neither Irving Berlin nor Cole Porter ever write another word or note of a song, their past output is sufficient to guarantee LP and EP sets for years, without undue repetition. Unfortunately, whenever a company sets out to record yet another tribute to either composer, its representative A. and R. man never seems anxious to stray far from a waltz or two, one of the Lovely Day songs (there are at least three), Cheek To Cheek and the Annie Get Your Gun score in the case of Berlin, and from the scores of Roberta, Jubilee and Wake up And Dream in the case of Cole Porter. Something like this has happened with the Frank de Vol set of Berlin songs on Philips BBE12331, which has a bigger sound than the rather thin piano and (mostly) strings of Stanley Black and his Orchestra in a 12-inch Berlin Showcase (Ace of Clubs ACL1016), and with Poliakin conducting his Orchestra and Chorale on Top Rank 35-042 in a set of Porter numbers one side, Gershwin (equally threadbare) the other. The Chorale is not too clear in its diction, either. As Berlin, for example, has written over a thousand songs in the last fifty years, it would be nice to hear the other nine hundred sometimes.

I don't want anyone to feel that these stringy records are at all distasteful; but there seems to be such a huge mass of them that even the big beat and blatant brass of Ralph Marterie (Mercury ZEP10040) and the jangle-piano and eighteen-strong male chorus of Knuckles O'Toole in songs from the 'teens and 'twenties, supported by a rather noisy drummer, on Top Rank 35-042 supplied a contrast, even relief.

The vocalists range from the crystal-like tenor of Harry Secombe (Philips BBE12340) to the dark-brown bass of Tex Ritter (Cap. EAP1-1323). If ever they make a good picture of the life of Enrico Caruso, we have a naturallygifted singer for the title-role here in Harry Secombe. Tex Ritter, of course, could never aspire to sing Mephistopheles, though some of his utterances are quite devilish (Conversation With A Gun makes an odd contrast with yet another reading of Deck Of Cards.)

Harry Secombe never gives the slightest hint in any of his four numbers that he is also a great comedian. For our comic relief, we must turn to the somewhat regional humour— of North Carolina—of Andy Griffiths (Cap. EAP-1256), on which he discusses that state at some length, and also tells the story of Hamlet, which is nowhere near as funny as Bernard Miles' version of the same story. Older readers may like to be reminded of George Formby and four of his songs that, recorded during and just before the last war, always seem to be the audible equivalent of those saucy seaside postcards. The number is Col. SEG7964.

I suppose we can regard Robert Horton (Pye NEP24118) in his recent appearance on Sunday Night At The Palladium as a light comedian as well as a tough-Western actor; he can also sing, in a surprisingly soft voice.

Three coloured artists with silky voices bring in their habitually large helpings of song. Nat "King" Cole (Cap. EAP1-1317) has four pleasant but unexceptional numbers; Johnny Mathis (Fontana TFL5061) sings a set called Ride On A Rainbow (titled for no other reason that I can see than that this is one of the numbers on the disc) which also includes A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening, which number is among those sung more convincingly by Brook Benton in a set called Endlessly (Mercury MMC14022).

Mel Tonne (H.M.V. 7EG8773, Isn't It Romantic? and CLP1315, Ole Torme, a fine set of Latin songs) is more to my liking, and his accompanists are more interesting, especially the solo guitar in the first-named song. Johnny Ray On The Trail (Philips BBL7363) is not as tearful as he was at the outset of his career, or as wild; he is not a very convincing cowboy, though, either.

Connie Conway (London HAW2214) is a man, believe it or not, who sings rather lugubriously in slow numbers and fairly charges along in fast ones (such as Beyond The Blue Horizon, ending with the words "Beyond the blue horizon lies a setting sun", whereas the correct lyric is ". . . risin' sun", as it makes better sense and rhymes; this one has a very busy accompaniment, but all the background music on this disc is on the pretentious side). There is something of Mel Torme in the quieter moods of Monty Babson (London HAJ22I2), who uses a big accompaniment directed by Reg. Owen (yes, it was recorded in London); and we find a swinging orchestra behind Perry Como on his EP of up-tempo numbers such as the 1949 hit Dear Hearts And Gentle People (R.C.A. RCX170); these elevenyear-olds seem to be burgeoning afresh, as they say.

But the best of the male vocalists are collectively the Kingston Trio, who include their famous and delightful San Miguel along with a topical absurdity Oleanna and other cheerful nonsense on Cap. EAP1-1322; the two EPs of Me And The Moon on Bruns. 0E9472/3 by Bing Crosby suffer from the gritty original recording, though he's still ahead of them all apart from this purely technical shortcoming.

Of the girls, I'll settle for the pertness of Doris Day in four of her numbers from her latest film, "Pillow Talk" (Philips BBEI2339), and the professional mellow assurance of Dinah Shore on Cap. TI247, rather than the assumed Americanism of Ruby Murray, who sounds more transatlantic than many singers born that side, on Col. 33SX1201; she might be Ruth Etting in Button up Your Overcoat. Shani Wallis is too mannered for my liking on Philips BBE12337; Patti Page has a fourth EP in the series of Pages (Mercury ZEP10045) and an LP called Indiscretion (Mercury MMC14017), though it's not as enticing as it was doubtless meant to be; Connie Francis, who really is a girl, in case you didn't know, is not quite as pinched, vocally, on You're My Everything, which seems to turn up on every other EP and LP these days, and is the title of M.G.M. EP711; and Marguerite Piazza (Coral LVA9119) exhibits a good soprano voice in Memorable Moments Of Music, which is quite the most amazing hotchpotch of numbers I have ever met on an LP. I wonder whose bright idea it was to get a soprano to sing Canio's famous aria Vesti la giubba (On With The Motley to you) from Pagliacci, and then to follow it with—you'll never believe this, but it's true—When The Saints Go Marching In!

Well, I suppose there is a precedent for it in Gracie Fields, who could sandwich Bach's Ave Maria between a shredded version of Toselli's famous serenade and some ribaldry about biggest aspidistras. We've had little of Gracie lately; now there is an LP on Col. 33SX1I98 of some of her best numbers, though from the vocal viewpoint, I feel the originals were best, even if they do show signs of groovewear.

The Ray Charles Singers always delight me; so I will conclude this review this month with a word or two of praise for their splendid singing on Bruns. LAT8318 of Juanita and others under the title In The Evening By The

Moonlight. The guitar and/or banjo or harmonica accompaniments, without huge stringed or brass groups, make a superbly refreshing change. Full marks all round!

JOHN OAKLAND STEREO/MONO POPS

These records are reviewed in their stereo form The equivalent mono numbers, where available, are included for convenience.

Jimmy Durante, so I am told, once found himself sharing a lift at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel with Toscanini. A smile immediately stretched beneath the famous nose, and the comedian thrust his hand at the conductor. "Hoddya do maestro", he barked, "I'm in show bizness too". I recount the anecdote as an example of Durante's insouciance, his imperturbability. Even more convincing evidence of his sense of poise can be found on Brunswick STA3021 (mono LAT8312), "In Person—At The Piano", where the person and pianist are, of course, Durante himself. Not everybody knows that just after World War I Durante worked as a jazz pianist (well, a ragtime pianist really), actually leading a band that included the New Orleans clarinettist, Achille Bacquet. And when you listen to his playing on this record, particularly in such tracks as I Want A Girl and In/ca Dinka Doo, there is a noticeable delicacy about it, a formality that belongs to the genuine ragtime performer. Not that this LP contains anything that can be called jazz; it's largely a collection of pop-songs of the 1920s—tunes like Shine On Harvest Moon, Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider and Carolina In The Morning—played attractively and spiced with an occasional vocal chorus and a gritty aside or two. A washboard even makes its appearance on a couple of tracks. As you'll gather, I enjoyed this record, although the stereo seemed a bit queer in one or two places; sometimes I could have sworn that two pianos were being played. Another performer who started out as a jazz pianist—in his case an exceptionally fine one—is Nat "King" Cole, a man who now spends all his time singing. Oddly enough, though, there are far fewer traces of jazz in "The Very Thought Of You", Capitol SLCT6173 (mono LCT6173) and "To Whom It May Concern", Capitol SLCT6182 (mono LCT6182), two new stereo releases by Nat Cole, than on Jimmy Durante's record. Personally, I always find Nat Cole's singing too anonymous, too transparent, but people who like to hear him getting to grips with a sentimental ballad should enjoy SLCT6173. It includes versions of Cherchez La Femme, Magnificent Obsession, For All We Know and Impossible, with accompaniments arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins. On the other LP Nat is backed up by Nelson Riddle's orchestra and arrangements, and this time the repertoire consists entirely of new tunes. These vary considerably in quality. One or two are positively pathetic—In The Heart Of Jane Doe, for instance, or Love-Wise, or Lovesville ("If you've never been in Lovesville, In the state of Ecstasy", begins the first stanza).

Pat Boone is another performer who always strikes me as being too negative, too watereddown, in his approach to singing. On "Side By Side", London SAH-D6057 (mono HA2210), he is partnered by his wife, Shirley, in a set of familiar songs, including Now Is The Hour, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Drifting And Dreaming and Let Me Call You Sweetheart. The result is harmless but uninspiring. Much more gusto is to be found on "Mike!" Columbia EP ESG7784 (mono SEG7972), four tracks by the lively but relaxed Michael Holliday, one of the pleasantest British pop-singers to turn up for some time. The style, of course, is Bing

Crosby's, right down to the spots of whistling and the encouragement offered the musicians, but it's always engagingly done and—a saving grace, this—just like Mr. Crosby, Michael Holliday doesn't take his material too seriously. The Folks Who Live On The Hill (always a good song) and Strange Music (the result, according to the label, of collaboration between Grieg, Wright and Forrest) are treated romantically: I Can't Give You Anything But Love and Love Is Just Around The Corner move more casually, with a semi-Dixieland backing. The fifth singer in my column this month is the multilingual Miss Kitt, making her first appearance on the London label—SAH-R6058 (mono HA-R2207)—with "The Fabulous Ea rtha Kitt". This includes the usual group of foreign-language songs, ranging from Sholem (Israeli) to Jambo Hippopotami (probably Ashanti or Yoruba or something equally recondite). The English section contains a kittenish version of Mack The Knife, a would-be torrid number (I'd Rather Be Burned As A Witch), and a half-hearted bash at a genuine blues—Leroy Carr's beautiful In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down. With her tiny voice and wide vibrato, Miss Kitt might be called the Nellie Wallace of Harlem Last of the vocal records to be reviewed this month is "Love Lost", Capitol STI189 (mono T1189), a collection of love songs by The Four Fresh- men. I wasn't very happy about the slightly mawkish approach to I'm A F9ol For You, nor was I quite sure if the codding in The Gal That Got Away (a masculine variant upon the Harold Arlen song) was intentional or not. Nevertheless the LP is fairly typical of this quartet's mu.sicianly approach, even if it is more subdued in manner and generally less enterprising than some ol their other records.

The first moving-picture which the Lumiere brothers showed in public was of a railway train arriving at a country station in France. The first stereo recording that I ever heard was of an express train thundering across the room. George Melachrino keeps up this fine tradition by prefacing "Rendezvous In Rome", R.C.A. SF-5049 (mono RD27150), with the sounds of a train arriving at its terminus, complete with the opening and shutting of carriage-doors. The first track, in fact, Rome, The City, goes in for naturalism enthusiastically, for it contains a sequence by solo violin and accordion which has the violinist moving about the room, just as he might do in a cafe. On the whole this is an attractive LP, with good playing by the Melachrino Strings and Orchestra, and some enterprising arrangements. Four of the pieces were composed by George Melachrino himself (Rome The City, View Of The Vatican, Colosseum and Vista Roma) and another one (Autostrada, all about traffic and motorhorns) by William Hill Bowen. The remainder consist of such items as Volare, Three Coins In The Fountain and the love duet from Act 3 of Tosco. George Melachrino and his Orchestra also appear on H.M.V. CSD1276 (mono CLP1197), "Moonlight Concerto", a very varied collection. Arthur Sandford plays the piano part in extracts from the Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov concertos, doing it very cleanly and competently. Richard Rodgers' Slaughter on Tenth Avenue has been scored to allow Ronald Chesney's harmonica to become the chief protagonist, a role it performs with great success, sounding very much at home inside a piece of music that is— in the right kind of way—rather brassy and sentimental. Gordon Lewin is the soloist in Artie Shaw's Concerto For Clarinet, performing the solo part impeccably but with less jazz feeling than Shaw used to display, an effect that is probably emphasized by the slightly portentous background. Concerto In Jazz turns out to be a cousin of the Rhapsody In Blue, very theatrical and not at all nourishing; Pat Dodd does the most he can with the piano part. Which only leaves Copper Concerto, a cleverly scored piece of nonsense based upon that familiar ballad, If You Want To Know The Time Ask A Policeman. The Concerto In Jazz and Concerto For Clarinet, incidentally, are available in stereo form on an H.M.V. EP, GES5782 (mono 7EG8536).

When I reviewed a Paul Weston LP of mood music in last month's issue of THE GRAMOPHONE I commented upon the necessity for this kind of music never to shock or surprise. Paul Weston seems to have brought the same attitude to "The Music of Jerome Kern", Philips SBBL531 (mono BBL7268), on which, once more, the emphasis is upon smooth, well integrated playing by strings and woodwind. But although the scores may not be adventurous, the tunes are mostly good ones, including Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, A Fine Romance, The Song Is You and Long Ago And Far Away. Equally subdued in manner and equally well performed are the four tracks (It Must Be Magic, Anniversary Waltz, Bless This House and Eton Boating Song) which make up "Words and Music", H.M.V. EP GES5761 (mono 7EG8441), Jack Payne and his orchestra supplying the music, the Rita Williams Singers the words. Not all LPs live up to their titles, but "Strings In Hi-Fi" Mercury CMS18009 (no mono issue) is certainly one that does. Pierre Challet and his 75-piece string ensemble fairly whizz through some of the intricate passages, the violins swirling, soaring and hovering. I tend to be antagonistic toward acrobatics of this kind, but even I was impressed. The trouble is that so much of the actual music itself is trivial, scarcely worthy of this technical wizardry. There are too many novelty numbers with titles like Fiddle Faddle, Dance of the Spanish Onion and Comedians Gallop. It is noticeable that the best tracks are those which present the Scherzo from Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony (plenty of showy pizzicato work here) and the Can-Can from La Boutique Fantasque. Incidentally, a solo violinist who has obviously lent an ear to Stephane Grappelly's playing makes his appearance near the end of Sophisticated Lady. Perhaps the most imaginative light music of the month, however, comes from Frank Cordell, who makes economical yet exciting use of his orchestra on H.M.V. EP GES5753 (mono 7EG8469), "The Melody Lingers On", four tracks taken off an LP, H.M.V. CSD1251 (mono CLP1153). The title song is given delicate treatment and has some excellent woodwind playing; a faintly boppish melody makes its appearance in the score of The Continental; while Fascinating Rhythm is a splendid example of Cordell's work, particularly the way the opening theme statement is thrown around from trombone to xylophone to harp, and so on. Some good solos can be heard; Osian Ellis (harp) and Don Lusher (trombone) perform in Fascinating Rhythm, while Tommy Whittle (tenor sax) virtually makes Just One Of Those Things his own property. In every instance the stereo recording seems exemplary.

Those ofus who have let the one-eyed monster creep into our homes (it flickers at me even as I write these words) will be familiar with such folk-heroes as Maverick, Cheyenne and the honest-faced Wagon master. They may, or may not, be pleased to know that the musical themes tagged on to these dramatic acquaintances, plus a whole heap more, can be found on "TV Western Theme Songs", Coral SVL3009 (mono LVA9I17), performed by Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers. Except for Tales of Wells Fargo, every theme has a vocal chorus sung by The Sparklers, while in between or around are passages for strings, or else a solo concertina or soprano saxophone. What irks me, however, is the incessant clippety-clopping that goes on all the time. Perhaps I just don't have horse sense. Another facet of American culture is represented by "Swingin', Marchin' and Whistlin' ", Columbia SCX3283 (mono 33SX1182), on which Buddy Williams and his Golden Echo Music perform twelve American college songs. The stereo is used in a most dynamic fashion, but the performances have a bewildering variety about them, ranging from plain, ordinary whistling above a rhythm section to the Basieish sequence in The Eyes of Texas. Mostly though, this is boisterous, rather brash music, with more verve than rhythmic subtlety, ending up with a rousing performance of Washington and Lee Swing (brass on the left, reeds on the right, and lots of to and fro). Every LP nowadays, of course, is built around a theme, however tenuous, and the theme underlying "Billy Vaughn's Golden Hits" London SAH-D6056 (mono HA2209) is simple enough. The record brings together tunes that have "filled a pot of gold for their authors", or, as the sleeve-note quaintly puts it later on, the "twelve first families of Hitsville". As with so many LPs now, it boils down to a question of re-creation, most of the performances being modelled upon the original recordings. In Song Of India, for instance, the trumpeter plays Bunny Berigan's 25-year-old solo while the trombonist blows sweet and smooth, just as Tommy Dorsey did. The Vaughn orchestra displays plenty of bounce and versatility, and it's a pity the technique and enthusiasm couldn't have been harnessed to more original ends. As it is there are ricky-tick versions of 12th Street Rag, Oh! and The Chipmunk Song, a long and noisy drum solo on Topsy II, and a very lukewarm performance of One O'Clock Jump. The best track of all is undoubtedly the re-creation of Artie Shaw's Summit Ridge Drive, complete with sprightly harpsichord, growling trumpet and vivacious stereo presence.

"Johnny Maddox plays the

Sellers", London SAH-D6059 (mono HA2211) tries to do something very similar to the Billy Vaughn LP, the tunes including Beer Barrel Polka, The Aba Daba Honeymoon, You Always Hurt The One You Love and Ren.k-A-Bye Your Baby. Johnny Maddox is described in the sleeve-note as a ragtime pianist, yet all he has in common with the ragtime tradition is a certain cool formality, and perhaps an odd detail of phrasing now and again. Let's face it, this is pub-piano, very like the kind of thing which has made Russ Conway so popular. A much more accomplished pianist is Roger Williams, heard on London SAH-R6064 (mono HA2218) playing "More Songs of the Fabulous Fifties". Williams' normal approach is to dress-up a song like All The Way or Moments To Remember, playing what might be called "concerto-type piano" against a background of strings and woodwind. Occasionally he shows his genuine skill as a jazz pianist (he once took lessons from Lennie Tristano), as in the last half of Memories Are Made Of This. Next we plunge into the music intended for dancing rather than listening, starting off with four H.M.V. EPs by Joe Loss and his orchestra, all very competent and musicianly. GES5758, 5763 and 5774 (mono 7EG8478, 8473 and 8512 respectively) each contain two waltz; and two quicksteps, while GES5783 (mono 7EG8537) consists entirely of quicksteps (including Tip Toe Through The Tulips and You Are My Lucky Star). Also suitable for dancing is "Dancin' Banjos (No. 2)", Columbia ESG7781 (mono SEG7961), four medleys (of 12 tunes altogether) by the Big Ben Banjo Band, boisterous, unsophisticated performances of such items as My Sweetie Went Away, Roll Out The Barrel and Painting The Clouds With Sunshine. And hidden away among these records aimed at the dancing public is a very prepossessing EP by Tony Crombie and his Men, "Swingin' Dance Beat" on Columbia ESG7768 (mono SEG7882). Crombie, of course, is one of Britain's finest jazz drummers and his group includes several well-known jazz musicians. The stereo recording is particularly effective in the crisp versions of Anything Goes and the Carioca, as well as in Crornbie's own tune, Sadie's Song.

Two new London LPs by Martin Denny— "Quiet Village", SAH-U6055 (mono HA2208) and "Exotica", SAH-W6062 (mono HBU1079) —could just as easily have been titled "The Modern Jazz Quartet Goes Polynesian" or "Ronnie Ronalde Whistles Shina No Yoru". When I reviewed an earlier Martin Denny LP last January I commented upon the way in which animals and birds kept crawling and flitting between the speakers. The same thing happens again. In fact one waits so expectantly for the next sound effect to turn up—a hoopoe !looping or hyenas laughing—that the music begins to take a back-scat. As it is, the ensemble performs a very eclectic selection including (on SAH-U6055) Hawaiian War Chant, Laura and My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua Hazvii, and (on SAH-W6062) Return To Paradise, Hong Kong Blues and China Nights. Both LPs can be recommended without reservation to anybody who wants to show off his stereo equipment. It's odd, incidentally, that both records include the same track (Quiet Village) and SAH-W6062 (a 12in. LP) boasts two more tracks (Busy Port, Waipio) than its 10in, mono counterpart. From the Pacific islands we go to South America—to "Honeymoon In South America", to be exact, Pye GSGL10035 (mono GGL0035), on which the Rio Carnival Orchestra perform such familiar items as Brazil, La Paloma, Tango Del Amora and La Cumparsita; all very competent but rather conventional. Next comes the music of Chaquito (Rey del Cha-Cha-Cha), Fontana STFL505 (mono TFL5062), which although sounding more authentic than the previous LP is actually the work of a British arranger and home-grown musicians. It's a creditable and colourful set of performances, making good use of stereo, but in the end I find that I can't hear more than three cha-chas—anybody's cha-chas—without feeling drowsy. More LatinAmerican tunes can be found on a group of EPs by Tony Osborne, his Piano and Orchestra: "Cha Cha With Tony", H.M.V. GES5756 (mono 7EG8443), includes Dolores and Indian Summer; "The Latin Touch", H.M.V. GES5764 (mono 7EG8497), with Poinciana and I've Never Been In Love Before—and a non-Latin one this time—"Our Love Story" (Laura, Stay As Sweet As You Are, etc.), on H.M.V. GES5772 (mono 7EG8514). Last of all, let me recommend a pleasant little H.M.V. EP, GES5781 (mono 7EG8535), by the Lecuona Cuban Boys. This isn't really very authentic either, but it does present performances of four of Lecuona's most famous tunes—Malaguena, Siboney, Jungle Dreams and Say Si Si, attractively scored and with some enthusiastic drumming by Candido. CHARLES Fox.

CONTINENTAL RECORDS

There was a time, though I can't claim firsthand knowledge of it, when the London music-hall was probably richer than any other city's in talent and personality: one has only to think of Lauder, Leno, Marie Lloyd, Vesta Tilley, Little Tich. But in my time the forcingground has been Paris. Where are our equivalents of Guilbert, Mistinguett, Chevalier, Josephine Baker, Trenct, Montand, Juliette Greco and Edith Piaf? Guilbert and "Miss", of course, have gone, and some of the others are past their best; but Edith Piaf, despite recent illnesses, is still there, singing the sort of songs she has always sung, with incomparable verve and feeling.

Like so many members of her profession, she was raised in a hard school. She came from a very poor family, had little education and no formal musical training. Like the great Rachel, she gained her first experience performing in the streets, and in essence her style has never changed. A tiny figure with a personality big enough to dominate the largest audience, she still wears the plain black of her impoverished childhood, still makes the same simple, downto-earth appeal to the man and woman in the street. Her songs are of lonely women lamenting faithless lovers: her backgrounds are ports and cafés and poor streets where love relieves the drabness for a moment and is gone.

Her latest record to be issued here, Milord (Col. 45-DC754), has the same ingredients and the same appeal. The singer confesses touchingly that she is nothing: Je ne suis qu'une fine du port, une ombre de la rue. One day she sees a magnificent traveller with a beautiful woman on his arm. He hasn't noticed her, and would ignore her if he did, but she pours out her appeal: "Come, milord, sit at my table. It's cold outside and confortable in here: let me see you smile." And the time comes when her dream comes true. Her hero loses his sweetheart, the poor singer calls to him again, and when he turns and for the first time sees her, his eyes are full of tears. Treated by a lesser artist, the sentimentality would be unbearable. Mlle Piaf, with her powerful personality and broad technique, now tugging unashamedly at your heart-strings, now belting it over like a Sophie Tucker, makes it oddly moving. It's not just an accident, I think, that with its simple romanticism and strong beat, Milord was played by a couple of teenagers in my family more often last week-end than any other "pop" number.

Arnalia Rodrigues is to Portugal what Piaf is to France. Unlike the Frenchwoman, she was reckoned a beauty, but otherwise they have much in common—early poverty, struggle and fame. She has long been Portugal's foremost singer of fados, a national institution, friend of the fashionable and the great. Now we have two collections—"Amalia Sings", Vols. 1 and 2 (Col. SEGC48 and 49)—in which she is heard at her best. Indeed, a Portuguese friend is of the opinion that she has never before been recorded quite so well. The first volume includes two orthodox fados, Eugenia da Camara and Hilario, which should appeal to anyone who likes the form at all. Even more to my taste are Ha Festa na Mouraria, set in Lisbon's old Moorish quarter, and Malmequer Pequenino, in which one learns that it's not only in this country that girls sentimentally pull petals from the daisy. In the second volume I particularly liked Noite de Santo Antonio, about one of Portugal's popular celebrations of saints' days, and the Novo Fado da Severa, inspired by a woman as dangerously attractive as Carmen, who is said to have been loved by noblemen but to have preferred bullfighters.

LtuAN DUFF.

FOLKSONG

It was in May 1959 that I last reviewed a batch of folk song recordings. One of the records I dealt with then was of Dominic Behan singing a group of Irish street ballads, all of them previously heard in a Third Programme broadcast, "Lots of Fun at Finnegan's Wake". At the time I bemoaned the fact that Mrs. Hooligan's Xmas Cake, one of the highlights of the broadcast, had been omitted. Now, however, I'm happy to announce that Dominic Behan performs this splendid comic song with great verve on Collector JEI 4, together with four other songs encountered in "Finnegan's Wake": Brian O'Linn, Botheration, Buacaillin Donn and James Joyce's own ballad, Perse O'Reilly (to be found on pp. 44-47 of the English edition of "Finnegan's Wake"). All are sung in a masterful but ingratiating fashion. Admirers of Dominic Behan's singing could also do worse than listen to Decca 45F11147, containing The Bells of Hell and The Captains and the Kings, two songs from "The Hostage", the play by brother Brendan. These aren't exactly folk songs, and the accompaniments are decidedly gimmicky, but Behan sings with typical gusto and humanity.

"Sweet England", eighteen love songs and ballads "from Southern England" sung by Shirley Collins (Argo LP RG150), carries a sleeve-note in which Alan Lomax predicts that within ten years Miss Collins could be a major artist. He may be right, but at the moment I should like to hear more assurance and more variety in her singing. It is right and proper for a folk singer to sound anonymous, but that is hardly the same thing as lacking presence. Nevertheless, this is a useful collection of songs, including such delightful items as The Cuckoo and The Bonny Labouring Boy. It seems a little odd, though, to find an Irish, a New Zealand and three American songs in the line-up, even if one of the American items—Omie Wise, a mountain murder ballad—is given the dead-pan, faintly sardonic treatment it demands. Purists may also object to the accompanying banjos and guitars, which add an extra transatlantic flavour to the music. Similar criticisms can be levelled at "The Foggy Dew" (Collector JEB3), on which—in addition to the title-song—Miss Collins sings Brigg Fair, The Berkshire Tragedy and Geordie. Fuzzy recording doesn't help to improve matters.

On Collector JEB2 the Steve Benbow Four perform a group of lively songs (notably Captain Kidd and The Coalotoner and the Pitman's Wife), but in a very stolid way. The best track has Shirley Bland singing North Country Maid (better known as The Oak and the Ash). Next come two EPs of songs from the Border, but performed in far too genteel a fashion. "Songs from Northumbria" (Beltona SEP66), including Water of Tyne and Blow the Wind Southerly, presents Margaret Hewitt (complete with Celtic harp) displaying a fine voice but very little feeling for folk music. Owen Brannigan is in a very similar position on H.M.V. 7EG8551, on which, accompanied at the piano by Gerald Moore, he sings a mixture of Northumbrian and Tyneside songs. The best performances are of the dialect songs: Cushie Butterfield, Dance Ti' Thee Daddy and Keep Your Feet Still, Geordie, Hinneyl

The remaining records take us north of the Border. In fact the Joe Gordon Four might be described as a Scottish equivalent to Steve Benbow's Sassenach group. They are, however, much more professional. Using an electric guitar, string bass and a generally sophisticated approach, the Folk Four can scarcely qualify as an authentic folk group, but their music is a cut above the merely pleasant. H.M.V. 7EG8454 contains some very satisfying tracks, especially Ridin' Doon tae Glesca and Lassie wi' the Yellow Coatie, as well as a savage version of Johnnie Lad. One might describe Johnnie Lad as bearing a similar relationship to the Scottish folk-song revival as How High the Moon did to the modern jazz movement of the 1940s. Two more versions of it crop up on Collector EPs by Robin Hall, a singer with an agreeable but sometimes monotonous style. As Jinkin' You, My Johnnie Lad, a tender, country love-song, it can be heard on JES6, while JES5 presents Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor singing an urban variant, cocky and derisive, full of local patriotism and comptelely divorced in theme and manner from the country version. But an anti-romantic spirit is well to the fore on JES5, for this EP also contains that snookcocking song The Wee Me,gic Stane, in addition to Duke Street Jail and You Canna Shove Your Granny Off A Bus (to the tune of She'll Be Carnin' Round The Mountain).

The Wee Magic Starts also turns up on a Collector standard 45 ( JDS2), coupled with The Dundee Weaver, reissued from an earlier Robin Hall EP (JES2). The playing-times of these two sides, incidentally, are 31 and 1.1 minutes respectively. Another Collector 45, but a duller one, brings together The Day We Went Tae Rothesay'o and The Ballad Of Johnny Rameruky ( JDS1). As well as Johnnie Lad, JES6 also contains the delicate Skippin' Barfit Thro' The Heather and The Bonnie Lass 0' Fyvie, the tragic narrative of the latter being given ironic value by the jaunty tune which underlies it. Robin Hall, though, is better singing the lighter, livelier ballads; he cannot quite do justice to the slow, elegaic songs. His performance of MacPherson's Rant ( JES7), for instance, celebrating the Scottish outlaw and folk-hero, cannot be compared with Jeannie Robertson's (reviewed below). The best track on JES7, in fact, is probably My Bonnie Laddie's Lang A-Growin', a song very similar to the Irish Bonny Boy, which Dominic Behan recorded on JEI 1. As with most of these Collector EPs, the recording quality is decidedly uneven.

Jeannie Robertson, of course, is in a different class. Here is a singer who rises to the stature of the songs she performs. As Mr. A. L. Lloyd has written, she is "one of the finest ballad-singers in Western Europe". Paradoxically enough, her singing has such dynamic force and range that its true quality is seldom captured by recording engineers. None of the four EPs reviewed here, for instance, is really satisfactory from a recording point of view. "Jeannie's Merry Muse" (H.M.V. 7EG8534), "tender and ribald songs of Scotland", comes nearest, but is spoilt (on my copy, at any rate) by pre-echo. Especially to be recommended on this EP are versions of Eenst Upon A Time and the eighteenth-century song, The Laird 0' Windy Wa's. The singing here is unaccompanied, as it is on Collector JES I, a slightly disappointing EP, but containing a splendid performance of The Gallowa' Hills. On the two remaining EPs Jeannie Robertson is usually accompanied-a little incongruously-by a guitarist. "I Ken Where I'm Going" ( JES8) however contains an unaccompanied performance of McPherson's Farewell that pierces right to the heart. The Twa Brothers, one of the greatest Scottish folk-songs, is performed in all its elegiac power on Collector JES4. Despite the fluctuating quality of the recording, these EPs are all of outstandingly high quality, the work of the finest singer of folk ballads to be found anywhere in the British Isles. CHARLES Fox.