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FRANCES WAYNE / NEAL HEFTI
MR. & MRS. MUSIC |  |
Description:
It was Woody Herman who gave Frances Wayne her big break in 1943 he hired her as his band’s vocalist after hearing her sing at a local club in Boston. She joined the Herman band at a crucial time as it was becoming a leading exponent of progressive big band jazz of the mid 1940's. She also gave the band a major hit record with Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe. Neal Hefti played trumpet with a succession of bands before joining Woody Herman in 1944 and during his tenure with Herman scored many of the bands most durable and popular charts. He married the girl singer and the couple left Herman in January 1946, eventually to settle in Hollywood with Francis Wayne working as a solo attraction the plaintive Cheatin' On Me is from this period while Hefti maintained a busy dual schedule, playing and writing. After retiring for a while to raise a family Frances Wayne returned to work, recording in 1951 the two sides included here the bright Did'ja Ever which had the atmospheric Corner To Corner on the reverse when issued. Later that same year Neal and Frances were signed by Coral records and their first session resulted in three titles. Kissin' Bug Boogie and If You Hadn't Gone Away have Frances Wayne blending perfectly with a vocal trio while a third title, the instrumental Coral Reef was a named tribute to the record company. The catchy arrangement proved to be a big seller and was adopted by many disc jockeys on both sides of the Atlantic as their theme music. Other releases included here are the light hearted Regular Man, Somebody Loves Me, which is taken at a nice easy tempo with some mellow trumpet work by Hefti in between the vocal choruses; and the achingly beautiful Cabin In The Cotton sung with intense feeling. The final eight vocal selections find Frances Wayne in a tribute to Ethel Waters. Ranging from Am I Blue?, first introduced by Waters in 1929, through her 1934 triumph Miss Otis Regrets and Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe which she introduced in the film version of 'Cabin In The Sky'. For the last title Wayne takes the tempo a little faster than her 1946 recording with Woody Herman while the Neal Hefti Orchestra augmented with strings on all these selections add a nice touch by repeating the trumpet figures which featured on the original. Almost all the tracks are appearing on CD for the first time. |
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Details: |
 Cheatin' On Me
Didja Ever
Corner To Corner
If You Hadn't Gone Away
Kissin' Bug Boogie
Bing Bong Bing
Cabin In The Cotton
Regular Man
Don't Be That Way
Always
Ev'rytime
Lonesome And Blue
Siboney
Jambalaya
Two-Faced Clock
Somebody Loves Me
Mean To Me
Stormy Weather
I Just Couldn't Take It Baby
You're Lucky To Me
Heat Wave
Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe
Miss Otis Regrets
A Hundred Years From Today
Am I Blue?
Coral Reef
Sure Thing
Why Not? |
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