David Lahm - the outstanding jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer (who is also the son of the great lyricist Dorothy Fields) asks me: "Was Cy Coleman involved?"
Yes! I should do a whole post about the backstory - which I got from Cy himself - about "Playboy's Theme." So look for that shortly!
My oldest offspring will be 65 this month. When she hadn't come home from hospital yet I was sitting at home watching the first Playboy shows, b/w, from Chicago. I remember especially Bobby Short and Phyllis Diller. I'd give much to see them again.
The few Playboy shows I've found were a gass, especially one with LHR. Sound and video quality was not great, but growing up in WV hearing jazz on AM radio in the late '50s to great jazz jocks like Dick Martin, Sid McCoy, Daddyo, and a couple of guys at WHAM, I got used to listening through the fading and static.
I first picked up on Frank D'Rone (and also to Sheldon, Hartmann, and Mark Murphy) as a college student in Cincy, when they played there in the early '60s, and really dug their work. Sheldon came into town expecting to play a jazz gig, and ended up doing the comedy routine he'd recorded with Jack Marshall, because the local jazz station, WNOP, had featured cuts from it, and even sold T-shirts with his "How's Your Bird" punchline and a photo of the bird!
Spending much of my life in Chicago after college, I got to hear Frank fairly often. Frank sang great until he'd had a few drinks, which was all too common in clubs, and from then, forget it. I recorded at least one set that I tossed. I mixed Hartmann for an NPR NYE broadcast, heard Mark, Johnny, and Jack (on visits to LA for AES conventions) at every opportunity. Last time I heard Jack was at the Bach Dining And Dancing Society, a few years before his stroke.
There's another fine singer I'd like to pull your coat about, Gloria Morgan, from TX, I think, and who I encountered in Chicago, with the Jazz Members Big Band. I think her old man was Tom Wirtel, from North Texas State, same class as Dee Barton. Tom was later known as Shaba Nur, who was a great vocal arranger and did some very nice charts for her, that I recorded with that Chicago "kicks band." The masters are at the LAJI archive, but of a generation that must be baked to play . There are a few things by Gloria on youtube. I heard Kurt Elling sing a great set with that cracker-jack band of Sinatra Nelson Riddle charts.
As a live sound and recording engineer, I've worked with Bennett, Murphy, Hartmann, Sarah, and Sylvia, and my favorite singers include Bill Henderson, Irene Kral and David Allyn. Gloria was first rate, and to my ear, a couple of Wirtel's charts for her rank with Thad's vocal charts. Like Irene, Gloria died very early of breast cancer.
BTW -- I've read a couple of your books, dig your sets on KSDS, and love the Biographical Guide to Jazz Singers.
Glad you enjoyed it - there are a few other clips of Shirley Luster, a few early appearances with Kenton & a couple of other TV clips from this period ... and a later TV special with Bobby Troup. (Alas, as far as I can tell, there are absolutely NO clips of Chris Connor.)
I enjoy watching Cy Coleman's giving the first public performance of his just written song, "The Best is Yet to Come," and at the same time, keeping an eye on the faces surrounding him, including that of Hefner, whom I consider a cultural hero the way I consider Hitler a European unifier ( but we're all entitled to a clam now and then, Will ), to see if I can catch just the slightest sign of recognition in a single countenance that he is she is hearing one of the greatest, catchiest popular songs ever written. So far, I haven't spotted one.
YouTube has several dozen of the Ralph Gleason "Jazz Casual" programs from the early 1960s, and they're a much bigger treasure than the comparatively meager one which, I will admit, Hefner vouchsafed for us with "Playboy Penthouse."
no mistake, JAZZ CASUAL is a great show, but the menu for PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE was much broader. I actually think that JAZZ SCENE USA and STARS OF JAZZ were at least as good or better than JAZZ CASUAL, although they're not seen as much, and the best show of all was the British series JAZZ 625. By the way, the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross footage - about 40 minutes worth total from 3 episodes - from PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE is by far the best thing they ever did on TV - better than Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan on JAZZ CASUAL, but that's just an accident of timing! (In a future post, I'll get into how the format of JAZZ CASUAL was inspired by the ART FORD GREENWICH VILLAGE PARTY.)
typing too fast, I meant that the format of PENTHOUSE was inspired by the ART FORD GREENWICH VILLAGE PARTY... PS: The only one of any of these shows that Nina Simone did was PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE - not to mention both Sarah Vaughan & Ella Fitzgerald.
I've always wanted to see Frances Faye's appearance on the second series. Her appearance on the first is one of the best filmed sequences of her out there. Also Julie wilson and Beverly Kinney have great clips from the first series circulating online and privately.
I got to mix live sound for Francis Faye in a Chicago club in the '70s. I was already hip to her from late night AM jazz radio, and had some of her albums. She was a lot of fun, and brought in a big LGBT crowd. Her brother Marty was a Chicago jazz DJ.
What a gig that must have been. I've got several recordings of her club performances from the 70s when she became even more uninhibited and really played to the LGBT crowd. Such good fun - and a couple of great new arrangements that I wish had gotten proper studio or live recordings. Wish I had been there.
David Lahm - the outstanding jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer (who is also the son of the great lyricist Dorothy Fields) asks me: "Was Cy Coleman involved?"
Yes! I should do a whole post about the backstory - which I got from Cy himself - about "Playboy's Theme." So look for that shortly!
Bruce Charet writes:
"Marion Evans(who died last year at 97) described Frank D'Rone to me in manner I'll never forget.
"If Buddy Greco had Eddie Fisher's voice box, played guitar instead of piano, and grew up in Boston... you'd have Frank D'Rone." -
a good observation by both Bruce and the late Marion (who was also a good friend and a very entertaining human being, to say the least.)"
My oldest offspring will be 65 this month. When she hadn't come home from hospital yet I was sitting at home watching the first Playboy shows, b/w, from Chicago. I remember especially Bobby Short and Phyllis Diller. I'd give much to see them again.
The few Playboy shows I've found were a gass, especially one with LHR. Sound and video quality was not great, but growing up in WV hearing jazz on AM radio in the late '50s to great jazz jocks like Dick Martin, Sid McCoy, Daddyo, and a couple of guys at WHAM, I got used to listening through the fading and static.
I first picked up on Frank D'Rone (and also to Sheldon, Hartmann, and Mark Murphy) as a college student in Cincy, when they played there in the early '60s, and really dug their work. Sheldon came into town expecting to play a jazz gig, and ended up doing the comedy routine he'd recorded with Jack Marshall, because the local jazz station, WNOP, had featured cuts from it, and even sold T-shirts with his "How's Your Bird" punchline and a photo of the bird!
Spending much of my life in Chicago after college, I got to hear Frank fairly often. Frank sang great until he'd had a few drinks, which was all too common in clubs, and from then, forget it. I recorded at least one set that I tossed. I mixed Hartmann for an NPR NYE broadcast, heard Mark, Johnny, and Jack (on visits to LA for AES conventions) at every opportunity. Last time I heard Jack was at the Bach Dining And Dancing Society, a few years before his stroke.
There's another fine singer I'd like to pull your coat about, Gloria Morgan, from TX, I think, and who I encountered in Chicago, with the Jazz Members Big Band. I think her old man was Tom Wirtel, from North Texas State, same class as Dee Barton. Tom was later known as Shaba Nur, who was a great vocal arranger and did some very nice charts for her, that I recorded with that Chicago "kicks band." The masters are at the LAJI archive, but of a generation that must be baked to play . There are a few things by Gloria on youtube. I heard Kurt Elling sing a great set with that cracker-jack band of Sinatra Nelson Riddle charts.
As a live sound and recording engineer, I've worked with Bennett, Murphy, Hartmann, Sarah, and Sylvia, and my favorite singers include Bill Henderson, Irene Kral and David Allyn. Gloria was first rate, and to my ear, a couple of Wirtel's charts for her rank with Thad's vocal charts. Like Irene, Gloria died very early of breast cancer.
BTW -- I've read a couple of your books, dig your sets on KSDS, and love the Biographical Guide to Jazz Singers.
Love the June Christy! Thank you! 🍸
Glad you enjoyed it - there are a few other clips of Shirley Luster, a few early appearances with Kenton & a couple of other TV clips from this period ... and a later TV special with Bobby Troup. (Alas, as far as I can tell, there are absolutely NO clips of Chris Connor.)
oh yes, there's also a SNADER TELESCRIPTION session c1951 where she sings a great version of "Imagination" among other songs.
Yes, more of this content about Hugh Hefner projects for jazz music. The Buddy Rich clip is amazing
I enjoy watching Cy Coleman's giving the first public performance of his just written song, "The Best is Yet to Come," and at the same time, keeping an eye on the faces surrounding him, including that of Hefner, whom I consider a cultural hero the way I consider Hitler a European unifier ( but we're all entitled to a clam now and then, Will ), to see if I can catch just the slightest sign of recognition in a single countenance that he is she is hearing one of the greatest, catchiest popular songs ever written. So far, I haven't spotted one.
YouTube has several dozen of the Ralph Gleason "Jazz Casual" programs from the early 1960s, and they're a much bigger treasure than the comparatively meager one which, I will admit, Hefner vouchsafed for us with "Playboy Penthouse."
no mistake, JAZZ CASUAL is a great show, but the menu for PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE was much broader. I actually think that JAZZ SCENE USA and STARS OF JAZZ were at least as good or better than JAZZ CASUAL, although they're not seen as much, and the best show of all was the British series JAZZ 625. By the way, the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross footage - about 40 minutes worth total from 3 episodes - from PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE is by far the best thing they ever did on TV - better than Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan on JAZZ CASUAL, but that's just an accident of timing! (In a future post, I'll get into how the format of JAZZ CASUAL was inspired by the ART FORD GREENWICH VILLAGE PARTY.)
typing too fast, I meant that the format of PENTHOUSE was inspired by the ART FORD GREENWICH VILLAGE PARTY... PS: The only one of any of these shows that Nina Simone did was PLAYBOY'S PENTHOUSE - not to mention both Sarah Vaughan & Ella Fitzgerald.
I've always wanted to see Frances Faye's appearance on the second series. Her appearance on the first is one of the best filmed sequences of her out there. Also Julie wilson and Beverly Kinney have great clips from the first series circulating online and privately.
I got to mix live sound for Francis Faye in a Chicago club in the '70s. I was already hip to her from late night AM jazz radio, and had some of her albums. She was a lot of fun, and brought in a big LGBT crowd. Her brother Marty was a Chicago jazz DJ.
What a gig that must have been. I've got several recordings of her club performances from the 70s when she became even more uninhibited and really played to the LGBT crowd. Such good fun - and a couple of great new arrangements that I wish had gotten proper studio or live recordings. Wish I had been there.
The Beverly Kenney appearance has been on YouTube. I haven't checked lately to see if it's still there. Poignant.
Ooh yes, I forgot about this one - here it is:
https://youtu.be/UuUyDmeWmRg
thanks! yes!
Yes, Kenney, thanks for fixing my typo. Poignant is a great word for it.
Thanks for this. One of my favorite clips from the shows is Annie Ross singing "Twisted" with Count Basie on piano.
yes! that's quite a wonderful show - it's easy to see why they picked it to be one of the only four episodes included on the two DVD packages!
Argo was a subsidiary of the well-known Chess label. Legal problems forced them to change the name to Cadet later in the 1960s.
Yes, thanks, and all based in Chicago - I should have mentioned that. Thanks again!