Backgrounder: Frankie Laine - 'Jazz Spectacular'

June 30, 2023

Backgrounder: Frankie Laine - 'Jazz Spectacular'

In the mid-1940s, Frankie Laine was an up-and-coming club singer with a jazz feel. His first recordings were in Los Angeles in 1944 and '45, but by the summer of 1946 he was signed to the newly formed Mercury Records, where Mitch Miller was head of A&R. So began a string of jazz-flavored pop hits that included That's My Desire, By the River Sainte Marie, Black and Blue and others. No one up until that point could bring the vocal drama like Laine.

Then in 1950, Laine succumbed to a Faustian bargain offered by Miller, who had moved to Columbia and became head of pop. In common parlance, the deal went like this: "Record Western crap, we'll dress you like a cowboy on the cover and you'll be a household name and wealthy." For Laine, the offer was too good to turn down and he wound up with the most lucrative contract in the record business until RCA scooped up Elvis Presley. [Photo above of Frankie Laine and Mitch Miller at Mercury in the late 1940s, by William P. Gottlieb]

Locked in at Columbia, Laine recorded bales of junk like Mule Train, Jalousie, Moonlight Gambler, Your Cheatin' Heart and other Western-themed pop songs and albums. He did indeed become a star and he also became filthy rich, but like all devil-struck deals, the records quickly became vinyl landfill and he's all but forgotten today. The devil always has the last laugh.

Interestingly, Laine always knew that the deal compromised his heart. He was a swinger, close friends with jazz musicians like Buck Clayton and Sir Charles Thompson, and he loved jazz, having arrived in L.A. from Chicago just as bebop took hold. Once Laine's Western-themed songs became golden eggs for Columbia, Laine had enough leverage to convince Miller to let him record a jazzier record each time he delivered a chunk of cowboy hits. Miller cut him some slack. Jazz Spectacular was one of those reward records. Rockin' a year later was another.

Jazz Spectacular was recorded on October 24, 1955, after Laine's first set at New York's Latin Quarter in Times Square. Columbia's studio was loaded with top-notch jazz musicians, and recording the album was knocked back like a shot, since Laine had a second Latin Quarter set to do. There was no time for second takes. At the end of the 10 tracks, the singer grabbed his coat. According to the liner notes, as Laine headed toward the studio door, he turned to the band and said, "What can I say? I had a ball!"

The tracks are S'posin, Stars Fell on Alabama, Until the Real Thing Comes Along, My Old Flame, You Can Depend on Me, That Old Feeling, Taking a Chance on Love, If You Were Mine, Baby Baby All the Time and Roses of Picardy.

The band featured Buck Clayton and Ray Copeland (tp), Urbie Green (tb), Hilton Jefferson (as), Budd Johnson and Nick Nicholas (ts), Dave McRae (bs), Sir Charles Thompson (p), Clifton Best (g), Milt Hinton (b) and Jo Jones (d).

On Taking a Chance on Love, Bobby Donaldson replaced Jo Jones on drums, and J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding were featured on trombone.

On If You Were Mine, Dickie Wells was featured on trombone.

And on Roses of Picardy, Johnson and Winding are back on trombones, and Lawrence Brown replaces Green.

The irony is, of course, that Jazz Spectacular (and Rockin') remain Laine's finest Columbia releases. I bought a mint copy of the original vinyl in the 1980s and it cost me a fortune. But I still love every minute of it. I just bought a first pressing of Rockin'. Love it.

Here's the complete Jazz Spectacular without the interruption of ads. Listen carefully on That Old Feeling, as Laine says off-mike to Thompson a few measures into the pianist's solo: "Mmm, just like Billy Berg's, Charlie" (a reference to the integrated L.A. jazz club) and then adds at the end, "Remember?" In your mind, you'll see Thompson nodding while playing with a broad smile...