Sunday, August 8, 2021

"Jingle Bells" - Part 26 - 1954 Instrumentals!

Hanging around 1954 with "Jingle Bells," we come up with a quartet of instrumentals in different styles!


First up is British-born arranger/conductor George Melachrino with a cut from his "Christmas in High Fidelity" LP on RCA Victor:


Melachrino had a couple of Christmas albums and they're well-thought of by holiday music buffs!

The "Billboard" reviewer? Not so much:



Harsh!



Next on the RCA subsidiary "X" Records is trombonist Urbie Green with a cut from his "A Cool Yuletide" album:



Early use of rhyming "cool" and "yule" on a terrific old-school 10-inch LP!

"Billboard" digs it:




"Happily, no vocals..." Hmmm...



Next up is the famous piano duo of Ferrante and Teicher with a cut from their 10-inch "Xmas Hi-Fivories" (another cool title!) LP on the independent Westminster label:


(Arthur) Ferrante and (Louis) Teicher were wackier in the mid-1950s before adopting a more middle-of-the-road approach that sold a lot of albums.

Did "Billboard" like this hi-fi album?


Nope!



We close this session with another duo - the electric harmonica playing The Mulcays:


That's from an EP on the small Cardinal label by the husband and wife duo of Jimmy and Mildred Mulcay. The family that plays (harmonica) together, stays together!

"Billboard" liked this one:


Lots of good instrumental music for the hi-fi lover of 1954 - just don't call it hi-fi if you want "Billboard" magazine to like it!

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