Johnny Richards: Goodbye Kiss

In the summer of 1958, Johnny Richards took his orchestra into a Warner Bros. studio in New York to record the soundtrack for a low-budget film that was being shot in Cuba. The movie was Kiss Her Goodbye, starring Elaine Stritch as a young woman who loses her sanity. Richards asked David Allyn to sing the title theme. More with David in a minute. [Photo of Johnny Richards in 1947 by William P. Gottlieb]

But when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in January 1959, he confiscated the film, which was still in production, as property of the revolution. The film was never released, and Warner Bros. promptly bagged the LP project. But as Todd Selbert writes in his liner notes to the newly issued Johnny Richards: Kiss her Goodbye (Uptown), Warner Bros. gave Richards a pre-pressing of the LP. I assume this is what was used for this new CD. Unfortunately, details about the source material and how Uptown came into its possession aren't included in the notes.

Richards is one of the finest high-concept orchestral composers and arrangers of the 1950s. His best known original, Young at Heart, was written for a Frank Sinatra film of the same name in 1954. As an arranger for Stan Kenton, he was responsible for Cuban Fire (1956), Back to Balboa (1958) and West Side Story (1961). His work as a leader was even more striking and bombastic. Two prime examples are Something Else (1956) and Wide Range (1957), which are easily among the finest band albums of the decade.

What makes Richards' style so special are his exotic instrumental textures and moody resolutions. A typical Richards song opens with cinematic drama—French horns or trombones with a ticklish piccolo or crystalline celeste. Then the bass might kick off the beat, with the trumpets, trombones, saxes and other orchestra instruments tearing off to the races. Instead of a blues base, Richards relied on a neo-classical approach that owed a debt to Impressionists like Ravel and modernists like Stravinsky.

Kiss Her Goodbye has all of these elements. Though the sonic quality of this CD isn't sterling due to the source material, it's still exciting music that has not been heard by the public. Here, Richards showcases his entire bag of tricks—the Latinesque sighing and swaying blended with knowing compassion and cigar-chomping aggressiveness.

In addition to the movie score, the new CD includes a track Richards is believed to have arranged from an album by Luis Tiramani's Orchestra called a Touch of Cuba, as well as nine tracks from broadcasts from New York's Birdland in 1959. 

After listening to this CD yesterday, I gave David Allyn a call:

"Oh sure I remember recording Kiss Her Goodbye. I have the chart in my big band book. Johnny led a terrific band. His scores were always pretty wild, very heavy and very Kentonized. I enjoyed singing Kiss Her Goodbye and received a big applause from the band afterward. They dug it. [Pictured: David Allyn with Jack Teagarden]

"If I recall, Johnny had the brass playing in the upper register. My notes were half a step different from the brass parts. It was a hard song to sing, but great just the same. The song was written by Johnny, but I don't know who wrote the lyric. It could have been Johnny's wife, Blanca Webb.

"You really had to sing that chart. There was no fooling around there."

JazzWax tracks: Johnny Richards: Kiss Her Goodbye (Uptown) is available here. This is a highly worthwhile album. It should be noted that the Birdland tracks have never before been issued and should not be confused with the tracks released on CD years ago on Live in Hi-Fi by the Canadian Jazz Hour label. Those Birdland broadcasts were from 1957 and 1958.

Something Else, Wide Range and several other Johnny Richards albums are now available at iTunes.

For more on Johnny Richards at JazzWax, go here, here and here.

JazzWax clip: There are no video clips from the new album on YouTube but I did find Long Ago and Far Away here, from Richards' Something Else. All of Richards' arrangements tended to be extremely difficult, and he typically brought in only the finest players and readers. For example, the trumpets here were Pete Candoli, Buddy Childers and Maynard Ferguson. The flugelhorn? Shorty Rogers...

 

Comments

[David]

A male vocal lead one half step away from screaming brass? Yes, I imagine that would be somewhat difficult to sing (!)
But then Allyn's whole life was a nightmare. When Marc asked him how long it took to recuperate from WWII, he told him "I'm still recuperating." Although he didn't tell Marc the full story of how he got sent to prison, the lurid details can be found in his autobiography - one of the scariest of all jazz bios (!) That book reads like a spontaneous outpouring of rage, an effect magnified by the absence of any editing or proofreading. There are a lot of wild stories about life in the big bands, on the streets, and in the slammer. Readers may find it fascinating, depressing, or most likely both.

[Jeff Sultanof]

Once again, you highlight an important album by a very important and talented composer/arranger. Richards had a very interesting career, but never made a lot of money; reportedly he sold the rights to "Young at Heart" for peanuts. Two of Kenton's finest albums, "Cuban Fire" and "West Side Story" were written by Johnny, and all of his bands, from his 1945 group to his last band, had marvelous music that was tough to play but great to hear.

This film was in fact released. Turner Classic Movies has shown it a few times. I've not seen it so have nothing to say about it. Copies of the WB promotional album have been in circulation for years, but this will be new music for most Richards fans. And anything by Richards is worth having; sessions with Sonny Stitt, Helen Merrill, Ben Webster and of course Gillespie (a big fan) are available.

Thank you again, Marc for putting another important musician in the spotlight again.

[Bruce Armstrong]

Another tour-de-force for Richards with the Kenton band was "Adventures in Time." This was done circa 1962 when Stan was still using the mellophoniums. It still holds up well today. Don Menza is the featured tenor soloist. It's out of print, but CDs are still available through independent sellers. If you are a Kenton or Johnny Richards fan, it's worth having in your collection.

[John P. Cooper]

BIG MEN OF JAZZ-

Johnny Richards
Paul Whiteman
Billy May
Chubby Jackson
Fats Waller
Teddy Reig

please add more

[Bruno Leicht]

Two memorable sessions with Johnny Richards & Dizzy Gillespie should be mentioned too: Number one was a quickly withdrawn, four-sided Jerome Kern songbook, waxed in 1946:

http://www.jazzdisco.org/dizzy-gillespie/discography/#460100-2-

Both met again in the studio four years later, in October & November 1950 for doing a couple of sides for "The Dizzy Gillespie Story" (Savoy):

http://www.jazzdisco.org/dizzy-gillespie/discography/#501031

Both sessions are quite Hollywoodesque, kinda early easy listening efforts, comparable to Bird & Strings.

Johnny Richards' works for Boyd Raeburn (Stormy Weather) and Harry James (How High The Moon) are outstanding examples for his special sense for drama on the one hand, and for his "fingerbusting" (liners on a Harry James LP), breakneck jazz writing on the other.

[Lawrence Daniels]

The discovery or re-discovery of this film track is a revelation. I've found it listed among David Allyn's recordings over the years but never could find either a soundtrack or the film itself. Thanks for clearing up this mystery. I assume Allyn appears only on the theme song. Too bad; there just isn't enough of his work.

As already mentioned I believe Allyn and Richards worked in the Boyd Raeburn band in the 1940s.

Thank you.