Dorothy Dandridge ‎– Smooth Operator - rare 1958 sessions with Oscar Peterson Trio

 

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress, singer and dancer. She is the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which was for her performance in Carmen Jones (1954). Dandridge performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. During her early career, she performed as a part of The Wonder Children, later The Dandridge Sisters, and appeared in a succession of films, usually in uncredited roles.

In 1959, Dandridge was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Porgy and Bess. She is the subject of the 1999 HBO biographical film, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Dandridge first gained fame as a solo artist from her performances in nightclubs, usually accompanied by Phil Moore on piano. Although she was known for her renditions of songs such as "Blow Out the Candle", "You Do Something to Me", and "Talk Sweet Talk To Me", she recorded very little on vinyl. It is unknown whether her lack of recording was due to personal choice or lack of opportunity. 

This release is her only recording session as a leader and features an augmented Oscar Peterson Trio. Most tracks were from this 1958 session with 4 tracks recorded in 1961 with an orchestra.

It's Easy To Remember     2:24
What Is There To Say?     3:11
That Old Feeling     3:05
The Touch Of Your Lips     2:58
When Your Lover Has Gone     2:59
The Nearness Of You     3:17
(In This World) I'm Glad There Is You     4:02
I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face     1:48
Body And Soul     3:38
How Long Has This Been Going On?     3:30
I've Got A Crush On You     2:28
I Didn't Know What Time It Was     2:37
Somebody     2:48
Stay With It     2:35
It's A Beautiful Evening     2:38
Smooth Operator     3:06

 Smooth Operator

 

Columbia Country Classics - Hank Williams Songbook 1946-1960 by various artists

 

Has anyone so dominated Country music from an early grave as Hank Williams? Even today, he is the benchmark by which success in the field is measured. Seemingly every aspect of his professional and private life has been dissected. If one sidebar to Hank’s career remains murky, it’s his prolificacy as a custom songwriter. This collection goes a great distance toward addressing that shortfall. The first fourteen songs were mostly written by him for other artists while he was alive; the remainder are among the first attempts to reinterpret his legacy after his death.

Those who knew him say Hank Williams was resolute about keeping what he considered his best material for himself, but what we find in his custom-written songs are not so much rejects as songs that didn’t fit his needs at the time. As an added fillip, there are five songs here that haven’t even surfaced in demo form by Hank. They highlight a collection that illuminates one more corner of Hank Williams’ brief, incendiary career.

Tracklist
1    Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks–    When God Comes And Gathers His Jewels    2:49
2    Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks–    On The Evening Train    2:51
3    Roy Acuff And His Smoky Mountain Boys–    I Saw The Light    2:42
4    Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks–    I Don't Care (If Tomorrow Never Comes)    2:52
5    Curley Williams & His Georgia Peach Pickers–    No, Not Now    2:36
6    Carl Smith –    There's Nothing As Sweet As My Baby    2:21
7    Curley Williams & His Georgia Peach Pickers–    Honey Do You Love Me, Huh?    2:35
8    George Morgan –    A Stranger In The Night    3:27
9    Carl Smith –    Me And My Broken Heart    2:56
10    Ray Price–    Weary Blues From Waiting    2:59
11    Little Jimmy Dickens–    I Wish You Didn't Love Me So Much    2:33
12    Ray Price–    I Lost The Only Love I Knew    2:36
13    Curley Williams & His Georgia Peach Pickers–    When You're Tired Of Breaking Other Hearts    2:35
14    Ray Price–    I Can't Escape From You    2:30
15    Anita Carter–    There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight    2:51
16    Marty Robbins–    Long Gone Lonesome Blues    2:31
17    Little Jimmy Dickens–    I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)    2:53
18    Marty Robbins–    Moanin' The Blues    2:01
19    Marijohn Wilkin–    Cold Cold Heart    2:42
20    Johnny Cash–    I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry    2:38

 Hank Williams Songbook

 

Louis Levy & The Gaumont British Symphony – Music From The Movies

Louis Levy (20 November 1894 – 18 August 1957) was an English film music director and conductor who worked in particular on Alfred Hitchcock and Will Hay films.

He started his career in 1910 arranging and performing music for silent films. In 1916, he became musical director for the New Gallery Cinema in London. In 1921, he became Music Chief at the Shepherd’s Bush Pavilion and is credited with being the first to develop the theme song in movies, and one of the first musicians to tackle difficulties that were holding back the progress of sound recording in films.

At the beginning of talkies, he joined the Gaumont British studios at Shepherd’s Bush, where he was musical director for Gaumont's earliest sound picture, High Treason (1929). He became the head of the music department for all Gainsborough Pictures productions from 1933 onwards. The rich sounds emanating from his large orchestra are all the more impressive when one realises that electrical sound industry was barely ten years old. He worked in particular on Alfred Hitchcock and Will Hay films, directing the music for The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes.

Through the sheer necessity of having to produce so much music he established his own studios (The Levy Sound Studios at 73 New Bond Street) in the 1930s. He later had a long running BBC radio series Music From the Movies, which started in 1936 and lasted until the 1950s, and also toured the provincial theatres with his orchestra. The Music From the Movies March, reputedly composed by Levy, was the theme tune for the radio show, and opened all of the Gaumont newsreels of the time. He is also said to have composed the orchestral piece Maltese Entr’Acte.

 Tracklist:
1        Strike Up The Band
        It's Love Again    
2        It's Love Again/Tony's In Town
3        Got To Dance My Way To Heaven/Nearly Let Love Go Slipping Through My Gingers
        Swing Time    
4        The Waltz In Spring Time/A Fine Romance
5        Never Gonna Dance/The Way You Look Tonight
        Broadway Melody Of 1938    
6        Your Broadway And My Broadway/I'm Feeling Like A Million
7        Everybody Sing/Yours And Mine
        Gangway    
8        Gangway/Lord And Lady Whoozls
9        When You Gotta Sing/Moon Or No Moon
        Pennies From Heaven    
10        So Do I/One, Two, Button Your Shoe
11        Pennies From Heaven/Let's Call A Heart A Heart
        Gone With The Wind    
12        Battle Hymn Of The Republic/My Old Kentucky Home/Marching Through   Georgia/Massa's In The Cold Cold Ground
13        Camptown Races/Old Folks At Home/When Johnny Comes Marching Home/Dixie
        Pinocchio    
14        Give A Little Whistle/Turn On The Old Music Box
15        Little Wooden Head/When You Wish Upon A Star
        Alexander's Ragtime Band    
16        Alexander's Ragtime Band/When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabama/Blue Skies/Everybody's Doing It
17        Easter Parade/Now It Can Be Told/Alexander's Ragtime Band
        Limelight    
18        Farewell Sweet Senorita/Whistling Waltz
19        Stay A While/Celebratin'
        Shall We Dance    
20        Shall We Dance/Let's Call The Whole Thing Off/They All Laughed
21        They Can't Take That Away From Me

22        Joy Of Living (What's Good About Goodnight/You Couldn't Be Cuter)
23        Music From The Movies March

 Louis Levy

alt link