The Dave Lambert Singers - Audition at RCA

[paul secor]

Received THIS from a friend today.

[Stereojack]

Received THIS from a friend today.

Very enjoyable - thanks for posting. I guess they didn't pass the audition - I don't believe the group ever had anything released. Of course, by 1964, the record company may have felt that this sort of thing had become passe.

I recognized George Avakian and George Duvivier. Aside from the singers, who are identified at the end, can anyone name anyone else?

[Michael Weiss]

Fascinating. The singer Leslie Dorsey was murdered in a hold up driving a cab in 1988. I guess this recording never came out.

Definitely Duvivier. I'm guessing Bobby Rosengarden on drums? Who's the pianist?

[Chuck Nessa]

Drummer does not look anything like Rosengarden.

[Rooster_Ties]

Somebody remind me to check this out when I get to DC next month.

(I'm on an old PC, without any sound.)

[mikeweil]

Very nice - I can't help but love Dave Lambert and everything he did. Funny - I received a Perez Prado recording from 1957 with the Dave Lambert Singers yesterday and wondered who was in the Singers at the time ... is there anything about them on the web?

Edited May 7, 2011 by mikeweil

[Larry Kart]

They probably passed on the group, but it was academic because Lambert died soon afterwards when hit by a car on the Merritt Parkway while changing a tire.

[Hardbopjazz]

Fascinating. The singer Leslie Dorsey was murdered in a hold up driving a cab in 1988. I guess this recording never came out.

Definitely Duvivier. I'm guessing Bobby Rosengarden on drums? Who's the pianist?

I remember Dorsey from this band.

[GA Russell]

Thanks Paul!

That second song reminded me a lot of the vocals on the Butch Cassidy soundtrack.

[jeffcrom]

Very interesting video - thanks for the link.

[brownie]

Thanks for posting the film. Always wanted to see it.

Here are some coments from filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker on the making of the video:

Originally Posted by D. A. Pennebaker

Dave Lambert had been a hero of mine ever since I left Chicago for New York in the forties, long before he’d begun the famous Lambert, Hendricks and Ross trio. He was an arranger for Gene Krupa, who, in addition to trumpeter Roy Eldridge and vocalist Anita O'Day, had these fantastic brass arrangements, which I still remember and have the 78's to prove it.

Anyway, while we were building a studio on 45th Street for fledgling-film-company Leacock Pennebaker, Bob Van Dyke, our audio genius, introduced me to Dave, and got him to help us finish it. Dave, it turned out, was a first rate carpenter. When it came up that he had an audition at RCA for a new group to record songs he had just written, we went along with him and filmed the session. RCA decided not to go for it, and wiped the tapes, so we stuck our unedited film up on a shelf and left it there.

Several months later, while helping someone fix a flat on the Merritt Parkway, Dave was hit by a car and killed. A few weeks later, Art De Lugoff from the Village Gate called and said he’d heard we had a film of Dave and could he show it at the wake. Nick Proferes and I spent that night editing and got him a print the next day. A few days later a reporter from German TV who’d seen it, came around and asked if he could take the film back with him, since Lambert was so well known in Europe. We gave him our print and forgot about it.

Then letters started coming asking where to get the record. But there wasn’t any record, nor ever would be. All there was was this fifteen-minute film of a few incomplete rehearsals of songs that otherwise didn’t exist. It hit me that this was really what film should be doing, what I should be doing . . . recording people and music as a kind of popular history that might otherwise not exist. It was only a few weeks later that Albert Grossman walked into our office and asked if I was interested in making a film about his client, Bob Dylan.

Shame on RCA for wiping the tapes

[sidewinder]

Fascinating. The singer Leslie Dorsey was murdered in a hold up driving a cab in 1988. I guess this recording never came out.

Definitely Duvivier. I'm guessing Bobby Rosengarden on drums? Who's the pianist?

I remember Dorsey from this band.

Mystic Merlin? Now there's a blast from the past. Quite a difference in style, to say the least.

Very enjoyable film ! And interesting to see the way the operated in the RCA studio at the time. Thanks for posting.

[flat5]

About the drummer - The guy talking to him - The last thing he says is "Paul". Right?

[BillF]

Great film!

[JSngry]

Crazy!

[medjuck]

Thanks for posting the film. Always wanted to see it.

Here are some coments from filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker on the making of the video:

Originally Posted by D. A. Pennebaker

Dave Lambert had been a hero of mine ever since I left Chicago for New York in the forties, long before he’d begun the famous Lambert, Hendricks and Ross trio. He was an arranger for Gene Krupa, who, in addition to trumpeter Roy Eldridge and vocalist Anita O'Day, had these fantastic brass arrangements, which I still remember and have the 78's to prove it.

Anyway, while we were building a studio on 45th Street for fledgling-film-company Leacock Pennebaker, Bob Van Dyke, our audio genius, introduced me to Dave, and got him to help us finish it. Dave, it turned out, was a first rate carpenter. When it came up that he had an audition at RCA for a new group to record songs he had just written, we went along with him and filmed the session. RCA decided not to go for it, and wiped the tapes, so we stuck our unedited film up on a shelf and left it there.

Several months later, while helping someone fix a flat on the Merritt Parkway, Dave was hit by a car and killed. A few weeks later, Art De Lugoff from the Village Gate called and said he’d heard we had a film of Dave and could he show it at the wake. Nick Proferes and I spent that night editing and got him a print the next day. A few days later a reporter from German TV who’d seen it, came around and asked if he could take the film back with him, since Lambert was so well known in Europe. We gave him our print and forgot about it.

Then letters started coming asking where to get the record. But there wasn’t any record, nor ever would be. All there was was this fifteen-minute film of a few incomplete rehearsals of songs that otherwise didn’t exist. It hit me that this was really what film should be doing, what I should be doing . . . recording people and music as a kind of popular history that might otherwise not exist. It was only a few weeks later that Albert Grossman walked into our office and asked if I was interested in making a film about his client, Bob Dylan.

Shame on RCA for wiping the tapes

Where did you find this post? I'm very interested in Pennebaker and his work. I met him a couple of times many years ago and loved his enthusiasm for recording what he thought were important moments in the culture. This was before the days of portable video tape machines never mind phone with cameras. Nowadays of course just about everything gets recorded by somebody.

[Larry Kart]

Where did you find this post? I'm very interested in Pennebaker and his work. I met him a couple of times many years ago and loved his enthusiasm for recording what he thought were important moments in the culture. This was before the days of portable video tape machines never mind phone with cameras. Nowadays of course just about everything gets recorded by somebody.

http://phfilms.com/index.php/phf/film/lambert_co/

[Swinging Swede]

Sad how both Lambert and his old partner Buddy Stewart were killed in car accidents.

[GA Russell]

Thanks for that post, brownie!

Do you think that this was Dave Lambert's last recording?

[brownie]

Where did you find this post? I'm very interested in Pennebaker and his work. I met him a couple of times many years ago and loved his enthusiasm for recording what he thought were important moments in the culture. This was before the days of portable video tape machines never mind phone with cameras. Nowadays of course just about everything gets recorded by somebody.

http://phfilms.com/index.php/phf/film/lambert_co/

Actually found the quote on this (interesting) site:

http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f81/movie-stills-fashion-film-43011-64.html

GA Russell asked:

Do you think that this was Dave Lambert's last recording?

His last recording seems to be his appearance on the Limelight album 'Charlie Parker Tenth Memorial Concert'

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i havent watched it yet and i actually havent heard LHR, but that is tragic he was killed on the freeway, it reminds me of the tragedy that happened to Bill Cosby's son. so this was his larger-ensemble group, he had? i cant wait to see rca studios and them doing the sesh and stuff.

[king ubu]

Great film!

Who's the enthusiast producer? And who are the mobsters crowding the control room chewing gum?

[Larry Kart]

Bald-headed producer is George Avakian; don't know who the guy is who's popping his fingers and talking on the mike at times.

[GA Russell]

GA Russell asked:

Do you think that this was Dave Lambert's last recording?

His last recording seems to be his appearance on the Limelight album 'Charlie Parker Tenth Memorial Concert'

Thanks brownie. I have that album. I realize that there has been a disconnect in my mind all of these years because I have been thinking that Lambert died in '63, but obviously he was alive and well in March of '65.

[Chuck Nessa]

Great film!

Who's the enthusiast producer? And who are the mobsters crowding the control room chewing gum?

At around 5:25 the heavier guy with slicked back hair talking to Avakian could be Brad McCuen.