The Jazz Hits

[Jazzjet]

There's a new album out on Ace Records ( UK ) titled 'The Jazz Hits'. This is basically a selection of jazz tracks that made the charts in the US between 1958 and 1966.

Here is the track listing :

1. Watermelon Man - Hancock, Herbie

2. Yeh Yeh - Santamaria, Mongo (1)

3. Comin' Home Baby - Torme, Mel

4. Desafinado - Getz, Stan & Charlie Byrd

5. Soul Sauce - Tjader, Cal

6. Like Young - Previn, Andre & David Rose

7. Walk On The Wild Side - Smith, Jimmy & The Big Band

8. Take Five - Brubeck, Dave Quartet

9. Sidewinder - Morgan, Lee

10. Swingin' Shepherd Blues - Koffman, Moe Quartette

11. In Crowd - Lewis, Ramsey Trio

12. Cast Your Fate To The Wind - Guaraldi, Vince Trio

13. African Waltz - Dankworth, John

14. Girl From Ipanema - Getz, Stan & Astrud Gilberto

15. Misty - Holmes, Richard 'Groove'

16. Shake A Lady - Bryant, Ray

17. Exodus - Harris, Eddie

18. Wack Wack - Young Holt Trio

19. Shampoo - McCann, Les

20. Greasy Spoon - Marr, Hank

21. Loop - Lytle, Johnny

22. I've Got A Woman - McGriff, Jimmy

23. Mercy Mercy Mercy - Adderley, Cannonball

24. Taste Of Honey - Feldman, Victor Quartet

25. Dawn - Rockingham, David Trio

26. El Watusi - Barretto, Ray Y Su Charanga Moderna

27. Topsy II - Cole, Cozy

28. Route 66 Theme - Riddle, Nelson

I'm familiar with most of these tracks but have never heard of 'Shake A Lady' ( Ray Bryant ), 'Shampoo' ( Les McCann ), 'Like Young' ( Andre Previn, David Rose ),

'Dawn' ( David Rockingham Trio ), 'Greasy Spoon' ( Hank Marr ), 'Topsy II' ( Cozy Cole ). Were these indeed hits of any note and why are they lesser known these days?

[Stereojack]

I'm familiar with most of these tracks but have never heard of 'Shake A Lady' ( Ray Bryant ), 'Shampoo' ( Les McCann ), 'Like Young' ( Andre Previn, David Rose ),

'Dawn' ( David Rockingham Trio ), 'Greasy Spoon' ( Hank Marr ), 'Topsy II' ( Cozy Cole ). Were these indeed hits of any note and why are they lesser known these days?

Topsy Part 2 was a huge hit in the States back in the late 1950's. I remember watching the kids dance to it on American Bandstand.

Shake a Lady, Shampoo, and Like Young got lots of airplay on jazz radio back in the day - don't believe they actually crossed over to pop.

[Christiern]

Ditto on "Topsy."

By what criteria do recordings make this list? If trade publication "Jazz charts" are the yardstick, we are looking more at advertising bottom lines than music-generated popularity.

Edited July 12, 2008 by Christiern

[Jazzjet]

Ditto on "Topsy."

By what criteria do recordings make this list? If trade publication "Jazz charts" are the yardstick, we are looking more at advertising bottom lines than music-generated popularity.

This is the extract from the album page on Amazon. Rather a broad definition of 'hits'!

Album Description

* The Golden Age Of American Popular Music is fast-becoming as successful series as the Golden Age of American Rock'n'Roll. This spin-off from the main series is a collection of Jazz Hits from the core years of 1958-1966.

* Amazingly, no one has gathered together these hits on one CD before. Ace are the first to approach it unashamedly from a pop angle eschewing the consciously hip considerations that normally weigh down most jazz compilations.

* The brief has been slightly widened to include some hits from Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart that was published as an adjunct to the Hot 100 in these years. However the genre was popular enough for us to include 15 Top 30 hits.

* Although some of the titles will be familiar to pop fans such as Dave Brubeck's `Take Five' or `The Girl From Ipanema' by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, as ever these are leavened by the much less familiar and sometimes quite rare. Ace have also insisted on the single versions of the tracks, which haven't been available elsewhere, such as Watermelon Man and The Sidewinder.

* The usual superb quality sound and lavishly illustrated booklet rounds off this release.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

David Rose/Andre Previn - Like young made #22 on the R&B chart and #46 on the pop chart in 1959.

Strange compilation.

Odd to have Herbie's "Watermelon man" rather than Mongo's, and not to have "Chameleon" or "Rockit".

Odd to have Mongo's "Yeh yeh" rather than Georgie Fame's.

Strange to have no "Mister Magic" from Grover Washington. Nor neither "Gimme some more" or "Pass the peas" by Fred Wesley & ther JBs. Nor JB's "Night train" (nor Jimmy Forrest's for that matter), "Honky tonk", "Aint it funky now" etc etc, nor any Bill Doggett hits. Ernie Freeman, who's rarely mentioned, except by Chris & me, had a #4 hit with "Raunchy". Also MIA are John Handy's "Hard work", and Eddie Harris' "Listen here" (OK, so "Exodus" is his ration?) Also missing are Ray Charles' "Rockhouse", "One mint julep" and "Booty butt" (oh, only the R&B chart for the last). Jack McDuff's "Theme from electric surfboard" also made the pop charts. Oh, and Rusty Bryant's "All night long" was on them, too. And Hugh Masekela's "Grazin' in the grass" (#1). Harold Betters' "Do anything you wanna" was a great cut that the Ace folks really ought to know about and surely would have put in. Oh, Quincy Jones anyone? "Killer Joe" and "Money runner" were both hits. And King Curtis? Kool & the Gang's early singles? Chuck Mangione's "Feels so good". Herbie Mann's "Memphis underground", "Supermann" or "Hijack"? Wes Montgomery had a pop hit with "Windy". And, as noted in another thread, George Benson had a few - some were jazz records. Oh, I nearly forgot - Phil Upchurch's "You can't sit down".

Oh, and what's wrong with Kenny Ball's "Midnight in Moscow" and Chris Barber's "Petite fleur"?

And Coleman Hawkins' "Body & soul" made #13 on the pop charts.

(But they've also missed Kenny G's "Songbird")

MG

[medjuck]

Topsy Part 2 was one of the only records by a Black musician played on the only radio station in my home town when I was growing up. And I don't think it was racism-- they played Mugsy Spanier's version of Party Doll instead of the Buddy Knox version. I think they just had a very limited music library. (They mainly played country and western music.)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

And I did forget Jimmy Dorsey's 1956 revival of "So rare", which made #2.

MG

[Ted O'Reilly]

I remember playing "So Rare" for a dime on jukeboxes when I was in my teens. I WAS an oddball for doing so, but there were still a few jukebox jazz things around...Basie's "April In Paris" and "Every Day" with Joe Williams took a lot of my coins at the Campus Coffee Shop across from the St. Catharines Collegiate Institute.

And about the canard that JD didn't play on "So Rare", Wikipedia says: Shortly before his death he was awarded a gold record for "So Rare," which was recorded on November 11, 1956. Dick Stabile did not have the alto solo on "So Rare," it was Dorsey. In fact, Tommy Dorsey was so incensed by Jimmy's uncharacteristic solo that he believed that it would count against the Dorsey name. That track also has the distinction of reaching the number-two spot in Billboard Magazine's popularity rankings, becoming the highest-rated song by a big band during the first decade of the rock-and-roll era.

[ghost of miles]

I've long wanted to do a Night Lights show around this theme. Marc Myers put up a post on this topic as well not too long ago at JazzWax.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I've long wanted to do a Night Lights show around this theme. Marc Myers put up a post on this topic as well not too long ago at JazzWax.

Well, if you were to extend it to the R&B charts, you could include records by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Cecil Payne, Johnny Hodges, Illinois Jacquet, Gene Ammons, Don Byas and King Pleasure (and that's excluding all the big bands).

MG

[ghost of miles]

I've long wanted to do a Night Lights show around this theme. Marc Myers put up a post on this topic as well not too long ago at JazzWax.

Well, if you were to extend it to the R&B charts, you could include records by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Cecil Payne, Johnny Hodges, Illinois Jacquet, Gene Ammons, Don Byas and King Pleasure (and that's excluding all the big bands).

MG

Yep, I'd be including all of the abov artists as eligible for sure--it would cover 1945-1975 or so (but I'd probably leave the big bands out of it).

[Stereojack]

And about the canard that JD didn't play on "So Rare", Wikipedia says: Shortly before his death he was awarded a gold record for "So Rare," which was recorded on November 11, 1956. Dick Stabile did not have the alto solo on "So Rare," it was Dorsey. In fact, Tommy Dorsey was so incensed by Jimmy's uncharacteristic solo that he believed that it would count against the Dorsey name. That track also has the distinction of reaching the number-two spot in Billboard Magazine's popularity rankings, becoming the highest-rated song by a big band during the first decade of the rock-and-roll era.

True, Dorsey is definitely the alto soloist on "So Rare", but I believe that Stabile does play on some of the tracks on the subsequent LP, which was issued after JD's death. Tommy died two weeks after "So Rare" was recorded. Did he actually get a chance to hear the record?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

And about the canard that JD didn't play on "So Rare", Wikipedia says: Shortly before his death he was awarded a gold record for "So Rare," which was recorded on November 11, 1956. Dick Stabile did not have the alto solo on "So Rare," it was Dorsey. In fact, Tommy Dorsey was so incensed by Jimmy's uncharacteristic solo that he believed that it would count against the Dorsey name. That track also has the distinction of reaching the number-two spot in Billboard Magazine's popularity rankings, becoming the highest-rated song by a big band during the first decade of the rock-and-roll era.

True, Dorsey is definitely the alto soloist on "So Rare", but I believe that Stabile does play on some of the tracks on the subsequent LP, which was issued after JD's death. Tommy died two weeks after "So Rare" was recorded. Did he actually get a chance to hear the record?

Always wondered how come that record was made for Fraternity, which was a mid-west country label, I think. Anyone any ideas about that?

MG

[Stereojack]

Always wondered how come that record was made for Fraternity, which was a mid-west country label, I think. Anyone any ideas about that?

MG

Fraternity was based in Cincinatti, IIRC, but I wouldn't characterize them as a country label. Their biggest hit prior to "So Rare" was "Ivory Tower" by Cathy Carr. I suspect that Dorsey may have produced the session himself, and sold it to Fraternity.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Always wondered how come that record was made for Fraternity, which was a mid-west country label, I think. Anyone any ideas about that?

MG

Fraternity was based in Cincinatti, IIRC, but I wouldn't characterize them as a country label. Their biggest hit prior to "So Rare" was "Ivory Tower" by Cathy Carr. I suspect that Dorsey may have produced the session himself, and sold it to Fraternity.

Thanks - I THINK I remember Cathy Carr (I must be giving away YOUR age ). I only knew of the label through Bill Parson's (Bobby Bare) "All American boy" and a record of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" by some country rock guitarist whose name I've forgotten.

(I knew it was Cincinatti, but couldn't remember how to spell it )

MG

[user0815]

Fraternity was based in Cincinatti, IIRC, but I wouldn't characterize them as a country label. Their biggest hit prior to "So Rare" was "Ivory Tower" by Cathy Carr. I suspect that Dorsey may have produced the session himself, and sold it to Fraternity.

Thanks - I THINK I remember Cathy Carr (I must be giving away YOUR age ). I only knew of the label through Bill Parson's (Bobby Bare) "All American boy" and a record of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" by some country rock guitarist whose name I've forgotten.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Mack

[JSngry]

So Tommy was pissed at Jimmy's solo on "So Rare"? Why, because it was Bostic-ish? WTF?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Fraternity was based in Cincinatti, IIRC, but I wouldn't characterize them as a country label. Their biggest hit prior to "So Rare" was "Ivory Tower" by Cathy Carr. I suspect that Dorsey may have produced the session himself, and sold it to Fraternity.

Thanks - I THINK I remember Cathy Carr (I must be giving away YOUR age ). I only knew of the label through Bill Parson's (Bobby Bare) "All American boy" and a record of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" by some country rock guitarist whose name I've forgotten.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Mack

Yes, I remembered it after my connection had gone phut last night. Thanks.

MG

[Steve Gray]

Thanks - I THINK I remember Cathy Carr (I must be giving away YOUR age ). I only knew of the label through Bill Parson's (Bobby Bare) "All American boy" and a record of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" by some country rock guitarist whose name I've forgotten.

Lonnie Mack

[DMP]

Not a bad looking collection, although there have been several others in this vein. "Midnight In Moscow" got a lot of airplay on "Top 40" radio when I was a kid, back when radio was more inclusive. And nice to see "Greasy Spoon" in there - hoping someday that album (on King) wull surface on CD.

Edited July 18, 2008 by DMP

[RDK]

Those Ace comps are generally fantastic. Nice to have the single versions of Sidewinder and Watermelon Man available.

[DMP]

Not sure if it's still available, but there was a nice CD collection of Blue Note singles out - it was like finding a juke box in a hip bar. (I first heard "Alligator Boogaloo" on a juke box.)

[captainwrong]

Dusty Groove used to carry it. I picked up a copy for cheap, less than $9, IIRC. Nifty little CD.

[bomolub]

Another couple of jazzy hits I remember:

"Manhattan Spiritual" by Reg Owen

"Uh! Oh!" by the Nutty Squirrels

both from the late 50's, when I was but a lad.

My Mom got the 45 of "Manhattan" and played the heck out of it. I've always liked it. She still has the record.

[Adam]

David Rose/Andre Previn - Like young made #22 on the R&B chart and #46 on the pop chart in 1959.

Strange compilation.

Odd to have Herbie's "Watermelon man" rather than Mongo's, and not to have "Chameleon" or "Rockit".

Odd to have Mongo's "Yeh yeh" rather than Georgie Fame's.

Strange to have no "Mister Magic" from Grover Washington. Nor neither "Gimme some more" or "Pass the peas" by Fred Wesley & ther JBs. Nor JB's "Night train" (nor Jimmy Forrest's for that matter), "Honky tonk", "Aint it funky now" etc etc, nor any Bill Doggett hits. Ernie Freeman, who's rarely mentioned, except by Chris & me, had a #4 hit with "Raunchy". Also MIA are John Handy's "Hard work", and Eddie Harris' "Listen here" (OK, so "Exodus" is his ration?) Also missing are Ray Charles' "Rockhouse", "One mint julep" and "Booty butt" (oh, only the R&B chart for the last). Jack McDuff's "Theme from electric surfboard" also made the pop charts. Oh, and Rusty Bryant's "All night long" was on them, too. And Hugh Masekela's "Grazin' in the grass" (#1). Harold Betters' "Do anything you wanna" was a great cut that the Ace folks really ought to know about and surely would have put in. Oh, Quincy Jones anyone? "Killer Joe" and "Money runner" were both hits. And King Curtis? Kool & the Gang's early singles? Chuck Mangione's "Feels so good". Herbie Mann's "Memphis underground", "Supermann" or "Hijack"? Wes Montgomery had a pop hit with "Windy". And, as noted in another thread, George Benson had a few - some were jazz records. Oh, I nearly forgot - Phil Upchurch's "You can't sit down".

Oh, and what's wrong with Kenny Ball's "Midnight in Moscow" and Chris Barber's "Petite fleur"?

And Coleman Hawkins' "Body & soul" made #13 on the pop charts.

(But they've also missed Kenny G's "Songbird")

MG

It says 1958-1966.

Don't all your suggestions fall out of their time range?