The last time I posted about an exceptional tribute album to Frank Sinatra by a jazz artist was in January. The album was Oscar Peterson's A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra, recorded in May 1959. Now I want to hip you to another gem. It's Here's to the Losers, a glorious little-known album by tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld that was produced by Jack Tracy for Philips Records in July 1963. While Sinatra isn't named on the cover or in the liner notes, the album features Auld playing saloon songs closely associated with the singer.
Interestingly, according to Jack's liner notes, the title song was appearing for the fist time on this album. While Jack was technically correct, since Sinatra's Softly As I Leave You album wasn't released until November 1964, Here's to the Losers was recorded by Sinatra in July '63—the exact same month as Auld's. Clearly, songwriters Robert Wells and Jack Segal or their song-plugger convinced both of them to record the song at around the same time.
Auld was a major player in the 1940s and '50s. Today, he's largely unsung. His recording career began in 1936 in Bunny Berigan's band. He joined Artie Shaw in 1938 and then Benny Goodman starting in 1940. Auld's leadership recording career began in 1944, and he made records with Coleman Hawkins, Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespie that same year. In the mid-1940s, Auld led a terrific band with Tadd Dameron and Budd Johnson as arrangers. And his late 1940s bebop recordings as a leader with Neal Hefti and Billy Byers remain landmark recordings.
In 1950, Auld was in Chubby Jackson's all-star band, and he led quintets that were impossibly excellent. Throughout the 1950s, Auld's energetic bop-influenced saxophone was in great demand, turning up on Maynard Ferguson's Octet and Around the Horn, both on EmArcy in 1955. His discography in the late 1950s is equally astonishing. The last time I posted about Auld was in 2015 here, with a focus on his late '40s bands. [Photo above of Georgie Auld fronting a band in August 1947 that included Tiny Kahn on drums, Red Rodney on trumpet and Serge Charloff on baritone saxophone, by William P. Gottlieb]
On Here's to the Losers, Auld was backed by a terrific, swinging West Coast ensemble: Larry Bunker (vib), Lou Levy (p), John Gray (g), Leroy Vinnegar (b) and Mel Lewis (d). The tracks are Here's to the Losers, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, That Old Feeling, Everything Happens to Me, Drinking Again, Blue and Sentimental, Learnin' the Blues, Auld and Vinnegar's For Losers and Boozers and One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).
Sinatra clearly had nothing to do with For Losers and Boozers and he never recorded Blue and Sentimental. But the rest of the songs were ballads the Chairman of the Board made famous. Leaving Sinatra's name off the album may have had something to do with Auld recording Here's to the Losers at the same time as Sinatra. As for Auld, he works his broad, flinty tenor saxophone through the Sinatra batch, giving them a hoarse, after-hours feel. Months earlier, Auld recorded Georgie Auld Plays the Winners for Philips backed by Frank Rosolino (tb) Lou Levy (p) Leroy Vinnegar (b) and Mel Lewis (d). A good album, but not nearly as blue as this one.
Georgie Auld died in 1990.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find all the tracks from Georgie Auld's Here's to the Losers and Plays the Winners here.
You'll also find the albums at Spotify.
JazzWax clips: Here's a tasty Here's to the Losers. Give it a second to start. This clip and the next are from the album, so there's needle pause...
