Bright And Breezy
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5180
Bright And Breezy
1 Bright And Breezy (Peter Dennis, real name Dennis Alfred Berry)
THE GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Synchro FM 217 1959
2 Theme from 'The Apartment' (original title Jealous Lover) (Charles Williams, real name Isaac Cozerbreit)
BILLY VAUGHN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
DOT DLP 25322 1960
3 Carnival (Harry Warren; Bob Russell)
LES BAXTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol T 733 1957
4 They Call The Wind Maria (from 'Paint Your Wagon') (Alan Jay Lerner; Frederick Loewe, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM SE3804 1960
5 Ragazza Romanza (Roberts)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
RCA SF 5049 1960
6 Painted Carousels (Anthony Mawer)
COSMOPOLITAN ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILLIPO ANDEZ
De Wolfe DW 2668B 1960
7 Misty (Erroll Garner; Johnny Burke)
THE KNIGHTSBRIDGE STRINGS
Top Rank International 45-JAR 304 1960
8 Toy Town Trumpeters (William Davies)
THE CRAWFORD LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Josef Weinberger JW 247-A 1960
9 'Tiger Bay' - Theme from the Film (Laurie Johnson)
THE PINEWOOD STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILIP GREEN
Top Rank 45-JAR112 1959
10 'La Dolce Vita' (Theme from the film) (Nino Rota; Verde)
MANUEL AND THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS ('Manuel' is GEOFF LOVE)
Columbia 45-DB 4563 1960
11 Midi-Midinette (Christian Bruhn; Georg Buschor)
SIR CHAUNCEY (real name ERNIE FREEMAN)
Warner Bros 45-WB 35 1960
12 Begin The Beguine (from 'Jubilee') (Cole Porter, arr. Brian Fahey)
THE STARLIGHT SYMPHONY Conducted by CYRIL ORNADEL
MGM SE 3843 1960
13 E Bello (Dante Vignali)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival
HMV SCT 1519 1957
14 Bambalina (Vincent Youmans; Otto Harbach; Herbert Stothart; Oscar Hammerstein II, arr. Reg Owen)
REG OWEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPM 1907 1960
15 Kristina (Maurice Grabmann)
THE BRUSSELS NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Southern MQ 511 1960
16 Sea Shore (Robert Farnon)
RAWICZ AND LANDAUER, at Two Pianos, with ANGELA MORLEY AND HER ORCHESTRA [as 'WALLY STOTT' on disc label] Philips PB 1039 1960
17 Stringendo (Ivor Slaney)
HILVERSUM RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by HUGH GRANVILLE
De Wolfe DW 2652A 1960
18 Place Du Tertre (Arthur Dieudonne Charlier)
THE BRUSSELS NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Southern MQ 512 1960
19 Dancing Daffodils (Johnny Steggerda)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as 'GUY LUPAR' on LP label)
RCA Victor LP 3254 1955
20 Up And Coming (Cyril Watters)
THE WESTWAY STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Southern MQ 501 1960
21 Spanish Gypsy Dance (Mariano Marquina)
JACQUES LEROY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Embassy WLP 5173 1960
22 San Francisco (Bronislaw Kaper; Walter Jurmann; Gus Kahn, arr. Carmen Dragon)
STANDARD SCHOOL BROADCAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by CARMEN DRAGON
Standard School Broadcast Transcription 2643 recorded in Capitol Studios, Hollywood 16 May 1960
23 Sweet Sue (Victor Young, arr. Melle Weersma)
JACK HYLTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV C 2856 1936
24 Summerdance (Hugo Emil Alfvén)
Orchestra Conducted by HUGO ALFVÉN
Philips PB 737 1957
'South Of The Alps' (Südlich der Alpen) (Ernst Fischer)
25 In A Harbour Town (In Einer Hafenstadt)
26 Terrace By The Sea (Terasse Am Meer)
27 Street Of Flowers (Blumencorso)
28 Tarantella (Tarantella)
CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by BRUNO SEIDLER-WINKLER
HMV EG 6221/2 1937
Stereo: tracks 2, 4, 5, 12, 13 ; rest in mono
Our opening track, Bright And Breezy, allows the spotlight to be turned on a talented and prolific composer who remains unknown to most music lovers. 'Peter Dennis' hides the true identity of Dennis Alfred Berry (1921-1994), who also composed (sometimes in collaboration with others) under names such as Frank Sterling, Charles Kenbury and Michael Rodney. He was born in London and in 1939 was employed by Francis, Day & Hunter as a copyist before moving on to Boosey & Hawkes as a staff arranger. Then he was taken on by publishers Lawrence Wright followed by Paxton Music as their representative based in Amsterdam. Paxton had a thriving mood music library, but a ban by the Musicians' Union at the end of the 1940s meant that London publishers could no longer record in Britain. Paxton decided that their mood music 78s should be recorded in the Netherlands by Dolf van der Linden and his Metropole Orchestra, and Berry's experience proved very useful in setting this up. He returned to the London office in 1949 and was responsible for producing numerous titles issued by Paxton during the 1950s. This did not prevent him from writing for other libraries such as De Wolfe, Charles Brull and Synchro, for whom he wrote our opening track Bright And Breezy. At the end of the 1950s Berry was head-hunted to start the Southern Library of Recorded Music (now owned by Universal) which issued its first recordings on 78s in 1960. Eventually he emigrated to South Africa, before finally returning to England to do freelance work including some film commissions in Germany. Eight of Den Berry's compositions have already appeared on Guild: his best-known piece is Holiday In Hollywood on GLCD5119.
Another composer and conductor who played a leading role in London's production music libraries was Charles Williams (born Isaac Cozerbreit, 1893-1978). Right from the start of the 'talkies' he provided scores for numerous British films, and his Dream Of Olwen is still remembered long after the film in which it appeared - 'While I Live'. In 1960 he reached the American charts with his theme for the film 'The Apartment', although in reality the producers had resurrected one of his earlier works Jealous Lover which itself originated in a British film 'The Romantic Age' (1949) starring Mai Zetterling and Petula Clark. Among many commercial versions around the world, Billy Vaughan (on this CD) produced one of the best although pianists Ferrante and Teicher made the hit version.
The Harry Warren standard Carnival was a big success as a virtuoso trumpet number for Harry James, but it is nice to hear how a fine orchestral arrangement can give it a new lease of life. Texas born Les Baxter (1922-1996) tended to be asked by his record companies to record pieces with an 'exotic' appeal, but this proves that he could turn his hand to many different styles.
Robert Farnon (1917-2005) conjures up the excitement of the American Wild West with his spirited version of They Call The Wind Maria, then George Melachrino (1909-1965) provides a pleasant contrast with a romantic portrait of an Italian young lady.
A new 'Guild' composer is Anthony Mawer (1930-1999) who makes his debut with Painted Carousels from the De Wolfe library. He was born in Sale, Cheshire and educated at Manchester Grammar School. Musically he was mainly self-taught and started contributing occasional mood music pieces to De Wolfe in 1955 (his first was Palm Beach Interlude), before joining the staff in 1959, where he remained until 1965. During this period he composed almost 500 titles exclusively for them. But his talents had been noticed by other London publishers and after leaving De Wolfe his name appeared on discs issued by almost all of the major production music libraries. For a while he worked part-time with Dennis Berry at Southern Music, and was closely involved in creating the Peer International Library, for whom his LP 'String Scene' was particularly successful. For many years, due to his work commitments, Anthony lived in North London and Elstree. He and his wife moved to North Wales in 1985, where he died on 30 April 1999 aged 68 following a heart attack.
A relaxed mood is restored with a sublime version of Erroll Garner's Misty. Regrettably the actual arranger was not credited on the label. The oboe is featured strongly, and the quality of the playing suggests that we may be hearing Ivor Slaney (1921-1998), who was a leading session musician. Later he appears as composer of Stringendo. For much of the time The Knightsbridge Strings was a 34-piece string ensemble which was started by the new label Top Rank at the end of the 1950s, and was directed by British conductor-arrangers Malcolm Lockyer (1923-1976) and Reg Owen (1921-1978).
William Davies (full name William Arthur Davies, 1921-2006) was a pianist, organist, composer and conductor who became a household name in Britain, thanks to his regular appearances on the BBC Light Programme and later Radio 2, especially in connection with the programme 'Friday Night Is Music Night'. He occasionally introduced his own compositions into programmes such as 'Music Box', 'The Organist Entertains' and 'Just William', and he makes a welcome first appearance on Guild with his catchy Toy Town Trumpeters.
Laurie Johnson (b. 1927) provided an excellent score for the 1959 film 'Tiger Bay' which included some memorable scenes between John Mills and his daughter Hayley in her first major role. Around the same time the Italian cinema regularly employed Nino Rota (real name Giovanni Rota Rinaldi, 1911-1979) to create inspired scores that lifted every scene, and 'La Dolce Vita' remains a landmark movie of that era.
Ernie Freeman (1922-1981) was an American pianist, organist, arranger and conductor. After early work in several swing-era bands, during the 1950s he was busy on many pop sessions, sometimes using pseudonyms. Midi Midinette finds him in the world of lush strings, in which he chose to hide his identity as 'Sir Chauncey'.
From the late 1950s onwards Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) made many fine orchestral albums with his 'Starlight Symphony', aimed primarily at the American market. His regular arranger was Brian Fahey (1919-2007), well-known in Britain as a musical director, arranger and composer. Fahey's mastery of the orchestra is given full rein in this extended version of the Cole Porter classic Begin The Beguine.
E Bello is the sixth track on Guild from the 1956 San Remo Festival recorded by George Melachrino (1909-1965). The previously mentioned Reg Owen was definitely the arranger of Bambalina which he conducts on a rare RCA LP. Maurice Grabmann's Kristina is one of the early 78s on the newly-launched Southern Production Music Library label in 1960. From the same source, three tracks later we hear Place Du Tertre, dedicated by its composer to that famous part of Montmartre. The very first release by Southern was Up And Coming by Cyril Watters (1907-1984), and this completes the trio from a library new to Guild.
Robert Farnon is back, this time as composer of Sea Shore. He was commissioned by Players Cigarettes to write it for a series of TV commercials, and such was the public's response that Angela Morley (then working as 'Wally Stott') recorded it commercially with the famous piano duettists Rawicz and Landauer.
Guy Luypaerts (b. 1917) was born in Paris to Belgian parents during the First World War and he became well-known in French musical circles through conducting an orchestra called the Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris. Guild has previously included his imaginative sounds in the Cole Porter tribute (GLCD 5127) and conducting quirky cameos such as The Sleepwalker of Amsterdam by Johnny Steggerda (GLCD 5131). Conductor and composer are teamed up again in Dancing Daffodils.
The UK Embassy label sold its records through Woolworths stores, and much of their output consisted of cover versions of popular hits at lower prices. But they also made some interesting orchestral albums, and Jacques Leroy's version of the Spanish Gypsy Dance was one of the best available.
Making a welcome return to Guild is Carmen Dragon (1914-1984) who was born in Antioch, California. His first success in Hollywood was collaborating with Morris Stoloff (1898-1980) arranging Jerome Kern's score for the 1944 Rita Hayworth/Gene Kelly film 'Cover Girl' which secured him an Oscar. He worked extensively in radio and television, and was a frequent visitor to recording studios conducting the Hollywood Bowl and Capitol Symphony Orchestras. He also arranged and conducted for the Standard School Broadcast Transcription Service, and his version of San Francisco (which cleverly includes brief snatches acknowledging the Californian city's cosmopolitan population) deserves to be heard by a wider audience.
Although some British Dance Band purists might disagree, possibly the most famous of the pre-war bands was fronted by Jack Hylton, born John Greenhalgh Hilton (1892-1965). The band made numerous records and toured widely in Britain and overseas. At times its repertoire ventured into light music circles, such as Wedding Of The Rose (on Guild GLCD5163) and Dancing Tambourine (GLCD5106). His talented arrangers sometimes produced 'concert' versions of popular songs. Often these were created by Billy Ternent, but it was the Dutch bandleader and composer, Melle Weersma, who was responsible for the inventive treatment of Sweet Sue. After a spell with Hylton in 1935, he moved to the USA later in the year where he worked with Benny Goodman and Andre Kostelanetz.
Hugo Emil Alfvén (1872-1960) is a legend in his native Sweden where he was renowned as a violinist, composer, conductor, artist and author. Alfvén was 84 when he wrote his famous "Roslagsvår" (Swedish Polka) in 1956 (on GLCD5161). It was recorded in Hamburg (at the insistence of Philips), probably so they could maintain strict control over the music, since Alfvén was old and in poor health. The same sessions also produced Summerdance on this CD. The musicians are mainly German and the conductor (although it says Hugo Alfvén on the label) was actually jazz pianist, arranger and conductor Bengt Hallberg.
The celebrated German composer Ernst Fischer (1900-1975) was born in Magdeburg. During his early career he wrote many piano pieces, and he also played the organ using the pseudonym 'Marcel Palotti'. A holiday in Italy in 1935 was to provide the inspiration for his orchestral suite Südlich der Alpen (South of the Alps), which is widely regarded as one of the finest pieces of light music written in Germany during the 1930s. It has been performed by orchestras all over the world, and the first movement In A Harbour Town remains particularly popular. Possibly the composer's love of the organ was responsible for the few discrete passages in each movement; this instrument was absent from later recordings. Bruno Seidler-Winkler (1880-1960) conducted the first complete recording which was released by HMV's German subsidiary in 1937. Surprisingly this does not appear to have reached HMV's British catalogue. Bruno Seidler-Winkler was one of the early 'house orchestras' of the gramophone, having worked with Deutsche Grammophon from 1903 to 1923. He then spent two years in Chicago, before returning to conduct the Berlin Radio Orchestra from 1925 to 1933, finally taking up teaching. He has his place in musical history for making the original recording of Lili Marlene with Lale Anderson in 1939.
David Ades