Over the weekend, while doing research, I came across an album cover I hadn't see before. It was simply titled Mal Fitch and was recorded for Mercury's EmArcy jazz label in July 1955. Mal Fitch was a complete mystery to me, and the album is long out of print. But I did notice he recorded a second album in 1960 or '61 for the 90th Floor label in Dallas, wittily entitled Mal/Content. It was reissued by a label in Japan in 2006.
Fortunately, I was able to get ahold of this one. On the album, Fitch sings and plays piano, backed by Claude Guinn on bass and Banks Dimon on drums. The album is an interesting mix of strong cocktail piano; intimate, hep vocals, and smart song choices. Tracks include Nice and Easy, Polka Dots and Moon Beams, You Stepped Out of a Dream, I'll Buy You a Star, All of You, Relax, East of the Sun, Where Do We Go From Here, Mighty Lonesome Feelin', The Things We Did Last Summer, Lulu's Back in Town and That's All. The 90th Floor label was an offshoot of the 90th Floor nightclub in downtown Dallas. The label folded in 1963.
Who was Mal Fitch? Good question. Information is spare but here's what I found. Fitch originally was from Cleveland and studied violin as a child with a Cleveland Philharmonic conductor and with the first violinist in the Walden String Quartet. After studying at West Virginia's Bethany College for two years, Fitch went into the Army in 1945, took a course in conducting at Ohio's Baldwin Wallace College and from 1946 to '48, he led an Army band in Maryland and was a disc jockey there.
After his discharge, he completed a degree in history at Baldwin and graduated in 1950. In the early '50s, Fitch and his wife, Betty, formed a Jackie and Roy-inspired duo—with Fitch playing piano and singing while Betty played cocktail drums. In May 1955, Fitch became the musical director for the Crew Cuts vocal group and recorded his first eponymous album for EmArcy several months later. His vocal style favored voice breaks akin to Bobby Troup, but there was a Matt Dennis casualness about his approach as well.
What happened next is harder to discern. It seems he led an orchestra and played corporate events and society fundraisers and dances starting in the 1960s. An archival search of regional newspapers and ads shows that Fitch played all over the country. Fitch settled in Dallas and his trail goes cold after 1982.
Reader Peter Levin informed me that Robert Guinn, the bass player's son, left a comment at Amazon:
The bass player on this CD is my father, Claude Guinn, and there is an interesting story about this CD. This particular CD originally was a demo album that Mal Fitch made back in the 50's when he would book jobs for his orchestra around the Dallas, TX area. He was very forward thinking for his day.
Mal called my father up one day and said to meet him at the studio along with the drummer and they would cut a demo album (yes, an album!). They all met at the studio after working their day job (my dad was a barber during the day) and they recorded all the tracks in one sitting. Before they left, the studio said that they needed a title for the album, so my dad suggested Mal/Content - a take off of Mal's name. Mal liked it and the rest is history.
Several years ago Mal showed up at my father's house in Dallas and very matter-of-factly said, "Claude, I have good news and bad news. The good news is after all these years we're finally famous, in Japan! The bad news is the copyright on the demo album we made back in the 50's ran out so we aren't getting a dime." Everyone got a good laugh out of Mal's statement. Mal then said, "the Frank Sinatra Society of Japan was kind enough to send us a few copies of the album, although it's now on what they call a CD. Here's your copy." And then Mal left.
I'm not so sure of the recording date mentioned. I think it's a little early. Since Nice and Easy wasn't written until 1959-'60 and the style in which Fitch sings clearly is identical to Sinatra's approach on the song, the session must have been in '60 or '61—after Sinatra's album came out. Unless, of course, the balance of the album was indeed recorded years earlier and Nice and Easy was added to top off the demo tape released by 90th Floor in '60 or '61.
Like so many jazzy lounge singer-players of the late 1950s (Joe Mooney, Jackie Paris, Matt Dennis, Barbara Carroll, Troup, etc.), Fitch was enormously talented. And like the albums recorded by these lounge artists, Mal/Content is delightfully addictive. Hopefully this post will reach Mal Fitch.
JazzWax tracks: Mal Fitch's Mal/Content is available only in Japan. You can find copies at Amazon and eBay.
JazzWax clips: Here's Nice and Easy...
Here's You Stepped Out of a Dream...
A special thanks to Dennis Galloway.
