St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1955-07-22
RATING THE
r z c Q r b s
BY J. Henry Randall
Just For Billie

Tuumpeter Ruby Braff has
selected six Of his favorite Billie
Holiday songs. added one he wrote
with Bob Walber. called Flowers
For A Lady, and one she should
have sung but probably hasn't
IN Be Around, and put them to-
gether in a l0-incher dubbed,
Holiday in Braff."
WILDER, billed as a protege OF
Sidney Bechet, did all the arrang-
ing and at different times, makes
use Of a trumpet, alto, three ten
or, and baritone saxes. two guitars
bass, piano and drums.
Wed rather listen 10 Billie
sing 'em than hear Wilber's ar
engagements. but any takeoff is
worth tat least once. The play
ing sounds professional enough,
but at the same time, rather unin-
spired.
Among the selections are You're
A Lucky Guy, Pullin' Thru, When
You're Smiling, Easy Living,
Foolin' Myself and It's Easy to
Blame The Weather.
One other thing, though we
have not been able to find a re-
eording of I'll Be Around" by
Billie, it still seems TO US that she
has sung it-at least, we have
heard her in person doing the
number Maybe we're thinking of
someone else-but who else could
it be? Billie has always stood a.
lone in her area Of triumph 49,
(Bethlehem).
| Speaking Of singers. that is, the
ones who have or are making an
indelible print upon our memories.
Dinah Washington seems to be
taking a cue from sister singer,
Sarah vaughan--that of invad-
ing the pop field. Don't smoker,
for La Washington comes up with
a veritable gem. one which win
make her a triple-threat in the
field of song styiings.
Title Of the pop item is I Hear
Those Bells twedding) and II u
so forcefuliy done that we did not
content ourselves with spinning
II the usual five time. but have
continued to do no. It's a great
number and magnificently per-
formed by Dinah.
The flip Is no SLOUGH either, for
this Is a tune with an almost con-
trary flayor-that would make a
fourth area which Dinah is In
vading. An ear-appealing ballad,
it's entitled The Cheat, and Dinah
handles 1t In great fashion also.
That makes the disc a double win
ner( Mercury.
Dakota station. still searching
for that hit" tune that will
catapault her to the front ranks
of song stylists, comes up with a
novelty item, which, because of its
, title makes you think of some
thing out OF children's fairy tales.
It's not though, but the title is
Abracadabra- Flip is the ballad,
Never Dreamt. Both are excel
lently done, but neither is the
big" one Dakota wants (Capi-
toll.
Frank Sinatra's Learning The
Blues is going great guns
throughout the country, princi-
pally for the feeling frankie puts
in it. A rather different approach
is attempted by Billy Ward and
the Dominoes. an approach which
we think Just doesn't jell. How
ever, on the flip, May 1 Never
Love Again. that expressive quail
ity he exhibits goes well, very
well indeed (king).
Jay Hawkins, another robust
voiced singer. borrows the sing
song style Of the old-time preach
ers for his latest blues opus, a
thing called Well I Tried. You
may or may not like the idea Of
Jumping blues with religion, butt
Flip is a blues ballad, nicely done.
You're All OF Life To Me (Wing).
A blues romper Of good promise.
whose works seems to be confined
to the New England area, is Ed
Barron, Two of Barron's latest
discs came out way recently. and
after reviewing them. we wonder
ed why his platters are confined to
Just one small section OF the coun-
try. What he needs is nationwide
exposure. and hence this COM
ment.
Writing his own tunes, Barron
has one disc, Barron Boogie. a