A REAL “Yesterday’s Gardenia!”
It would also prove to be the band’s last recording date in New York, Marion Hutton’s last solo disc performance and Ray Eberle’s farewell. Of course, none of the performers were aware of these melancholy milestones at the time.
THAT’S SABOTAGE was the fourth of five songs written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon for Orchestra Wives. It would eventually be cut before the film’s release, but was still in the tunestack at the time of this session, obviously. Strangely, Glenn didn’t record PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME, the movie’s jivey opening tune, which was a dilly of a production number. The soundtrack performance really couldn’t be topped, but it would have been nice to have an additional version to enjoy.
The Victor THAT’S SABOTAGE is a close copy of the movie track, without the slight rhythmic pause heard between Miss Hutton’s verse and chorus. The dance tempo had to be maintained on record! Marion delivers an equally fine vocal and Al Klink peeks in for a bouncy eight-bar tenor solo. Mack Gordon supplied a Johnny Mercer-like lyric, full of such snappy phrases as, “Don’t run helter-skelter, there’s a bomb-proof shelter in my arms” and “I can’t sleep, I’ve got to keep my F-B-eye on you.”
One of the band’s most enjoyable novelty numbers is CONCHITA, MARQUITA, LOLITA, PEPITA, ROSITA, JUANITA LOPEZ, a cheeky tale about what we would today call a “mixed marriage,” in this case, Irish-Mexican. Marion, Tex, the Mods and Ernie Caceres get their vocal moments in and Al Klink provides a powerful sax outburst. The song is the work of youngsters Jule Styne and Herb Magidson, both of whom would have stellar careers.
Written for the Paramount wartime B-musical, Priorities on Parade, which starred Ann Miller, it was sung there by dialect comedian Jerry Colonna with balladeer Johnny Johnston. Colonna made a fine vocal stew of all the Latin and Irish names in the song! Other contemporary recordings by Dinah Shore and the King Sisters treat it as either an old-fashioned waltz or an unwieldy jive number. Only Miller got it to work as a hot novelty.
THE HUMMING-BIRD was an attempt to repeat the massive success of THE WOODPECKER SONG, by the same Italian composer, Eldo DiLazzaro, with English lyrics again provided by Harold Adamson. Lightning did not strike twice, as the follow-up flopped. The song is decent enough, but Glenn tosses it off in a fairly short rendition. The proceedings briefly get interesting, when Billy May slides in for a hot muted solo after the first vocal, but he only gets eight bars before the singers come back to wrap it up. A real missed opportunity for some good jazz.
After three swingers, it’s time for a ballad. Popular 1930s crooner Dick Robertson, along with Sammy Mysels and Nelson Cogane, wrote YESTERDAY’S GARDENIAS. Robertson would soon write G0ODNIGHT, WHEREVER YOU ARE, which the Miller AAF Band often featured. GARDENIAS is a seemingly old-style song, recalling the pressed flowers in a “book of loneliness” that remind the singer of a lost love. The attractive melody and poetic lyrics work nicely together and though Ray Eberle has a few unsure moments, he and the Mods really deliver. The lovely, rich harmonies of the arrangement (likely by Bill Finegan) and the good acoustics of RCA’s studio help to produce a great record.
Charlie Spivak also recorded the song, memorably, but it soon was forgotten. Surprisingly, 1950s jazzmen and singers Russ Freeman, Serge Chaloff, Jeri Southern and Dave Lambert, revived it, giving it something of a “hip” cachet.
Ray, Glenn and the Mods
After this session, Glenn gave the musicians more than a week off (aside from the Chesterfield radio series), before building up to a heavy summer performing and recording schedule in Chicago. We’ll delve into the reasons for this next time!
COMMUNITY SWING 