"Jingle Bells" - Part 52 - Honky Tonk!

We turn from the then-current instrumental "Jingle Bells" of the Ventures to a few instrumental versions in the old school Honky Tonk style of piano!

First up is Del Wood, with this single on Tennessee Records from 1954:

And here's the flipside, which for a change is a  version of Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus":

Very snappy piano stylings!

What is not evident from her name is that Del Wood was a woman. Her stage name is a very clever takeoff on her full married name of Polly Adelaide Hendricks Hazelwood!

I'm under the impression that her gender was not originally known to record buyers until her 1951 recording of "Down Yonder" became a massive hit:

She identified as a country music artist and continued to record with releases aimed toward that market for a long time.

Another long-time proponent of the Honky Tonk style was "Crazy Otto" (German pianist Fritz Schulz-Reichel) who included "Jingle Bells" in this Christmas medley on Decca Records from 1960:

Crazy Otto was big on medleys and his name actually first became known to American audiences when pianist Johnny Maddox had a huge hit in 1955 with a medley of tunes called "The Crazy Otto":

I guess it was confusing that Crazy Otto was a person and not just a song!

We next check in with Big Tiny Little (real name Dudley Little, Jr.) with his own Christmas medley on Coral Records in 1961:

I like how he weaves "Jingle Bells" in and out, but I notice that "The First Noël" in included, but not listed on the label.

So, some enjoyable recordings, but remember - it's Honky Tonk, not Ragtime!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 51 - Venturing Forth!

We inch up to 1965 for this version of "Jingle Bells" from "The Venture's Christmas Album" on Dolton Records:

We had listened to the cut "Scrooge" from this album here and I mentioned at the time that most of the songs on the album were arranged in the style of other pop hits.

If you listen to the familiar riff used in "Jingle Bells" you realize it's from "What'd I Say," the brilliant Ray Charles" hit from 1959:

"The Ventures' Christmas Album" offers the guessing game of what other songs are referenced in addition to enjoying the music itself!

The Ventures hit the big time with their 1960 hit "Walk Don't Run":

They used that as the template for their version of "Sleigh Ride" on the Christmas album:

That to me is particularly awesome and a 1960s Christmas essential!

The Ventures were/are hugely popular in Japan, as their instrumentals needed no translation:

The then-current lineup of the Ventures released a second Christmas album in 2002 and it included a different arrangement of "Jingle Bells":

That sounds good, but the original 1965 album can't be beat!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 50 - Going to the Dogs!

For our fiftieth "Jingle Bells" post, we turn to perhaps the most famous version of all: the Singing Dogs!

The original issue of the recording was part of a medley issued on the B-side of a 1955 record on RCA Victor:

Interesting to hear "Jingle Bells" in its original context!

The A-side, "Oh! Susanna" was a hit and actually hit number 22 on the "Billboard" singles chart!

Here's that record:

The story goes that Danish ornithologist Carl Weismann would record bird calls and sometimes he'd inadvertently get dogs barking on his recordings. He spliced those together to make it seem like they were singing and teamed up with record producer Don Charles and the rest was history!

Since that record was successful a follow-up was definitely in order, so another single was released in 1956. Here are both sides of that one:

Pretty fun!

Now, ordinarily that would be that, but "Jingle Bells" took on a life of its own, so in 1971, RCA Victor released a longer version of "Jingle Bells" without the circus sound effects:

And it remains a holiday staple!

You have to dig the old school nature of actual dog barks being spliced together back in the day before anyone could do anything with a computer!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 49 - A Little More Ozzie!

We time-hop back to 1946 for this version of "Jingle Bells" recorded under the title of "Jingling the Bells" by pianist Frank Signorelli's Quintet on Davis Records:

That's a pretty snappy Dixieland-ish version, not surprising as Frank recorded in the traditional style with his own groups as well as others such as the Original Memphis Five and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band often with trumpeter Phil Napoleon, who plays on "Jingling the Bells."

The Original Memphis Five including Phil Napoleon on trumpet and Frank Signorelli on piano.

I largely think of Frank Signorelli as a composer first, as he collaborated on several songs, including a couple of standards.

His most famous song was "Stairway to the Stars," very popular in 1939 and in the following years.

Here's Glenn Miller's hit recording from 1939 featuring Ray Eberle on the vocal:

And here's another 1939 recording, this one by the great Chick Webb and his band featuring his star vocalist Ella Fitzgerald:

A couple of solid records, each showing off some of the strengths of the two bands.

The melody for "Stairway to the Stars" started as part of a larger piece composed by Frank Signorelli and his frequent collaborator Matty Malneck title "Park Avenue Fantasy." Frank (on piano) and Matty (on violin) were members of Paul Whiteman's band at the time and Whiteman recorded the number on a 12-inch 78 rpm record for Victor in 1936:

Paul Whiteman's band recorded a lot of good stuff!

The melody became "Stairway to the Stars" when ace lyricist Mitchell Parish added the words. 

Parish had earlier added lyrics to another Signorelli composition to come up with the song "A Blues Serenade," another standard perhaps best-known as the theme song for Henry King's orchestra, who cut this nice version for Decca Records in 1936:

I always find it interesting when the title of a song doesn't appear in the lyrics, as in this case. I wonder why it wasn't titled "Serenade in Blue," as the Mack Gordon/Harry Warren song by that name hadn't been written yet!

We continue back to 1932 for another melody by Frank Signorelli and Matty Malneck, this time with lyrics by Gus Kahn, entitled "I'll Never Be the Same," recorded once again by Paul Whiteman, with a vocal by the great Mildred Bailey:

Another great song.

So, now we go back a couple more years to 1930 for the Signorelli/Malneck composition "And The Your Lips Met Mine," this time with lyrics by... Ozzie Nelson!

This was very early in Ozzie's career - he hadn't even met Harriet yet - but he had a recording contract with Brunswick Records and recorded the song for them:

A nice sounding group!

So, an entertaining swath of music history courtesy of Frank Signorelli!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 48 - Full Nelson!

We left "Jingle Bells" in the capable hands of Ricky Nelson and now we take a look at an episode of his family's TV show that incorporates not on "Jingle Bells" but also "A Christmas Carol!"

This is the 1964 presentation of the 1956 Christmas episode (it makes sense once you watch!):

This one includes the commercials, but they quality isn't as sharp:

Either way, I think that's good retro fun!

The version of "Jingle Bells" that the carolers sing is very well performed. Some work went into that!

I like how Ricky (as Marley's Ghost) keeps trying to feed Ozzie his lines and it's fun to see the snippet of Ozzie acting in the play.

It is funny that the full title of this series is "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" as they don't really have adventures!

The "conflict" of this episode is whether Ozzie can manage to play Santa, act as Scrooge and sing carols on a tight Christmas Eve schedule. If that were only the extent of all of our troubles!

If mentioned at all these days, I think this show is dismissed as a too wholesome artifact of a bygone era. But I enjoy it and think it's way more entertaining than people these days give it credit for. 

To keep in the Ozzie and Harriet Christmas spirit, let's listen to the December 19, 1948 episode of their radio series:

Good fun from before the show moved to the new medium of television!

And for even more, here's a 1937 seasonal record by Ozzie's band with Harriet singing the vocal: 

 

Harriet introduced that tune in the film "Life of the Party" during her 1930s stint as a movie actress:

So, a little bit of everything from the Nelsons!

                                                  

"Jingle Bells" - Part 47 - Ricky!

We stop in 1960 with a version of "Jingle Bells" from hugely popular teen idol Ricky Nelson!

Here it is:

That's pretty cool, sounding exactly how Ricky and his band should! Always great to get a guitar solo from James Burton!

Ricky recorded this in 1960, but it didn't receive an official release until 2000 when it appeared on the "Legacy" box set.

It was apparently recorded for use in a 1960 Christmas episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," which, of course, featured Ricky and his family, but was not released on record at the time.

Here's a clip from that episode ("A Piano for the Fraternity," December 21, 1960) which also features the Four Preps, who often popped up as members of Ricky's fraternity:

A few takeaways from that video...

I'm really glad that Ozzie and Will Wright do not talk over James Burton's guitar solo, but when they do talk, it's over a piano chorus that's not included on the audio track as released. Hmmm...

I also notice that when the audience joins in for the final chorus, they yell "Hey!" although Ricky does not!

And there are too many reaction shots of "Wally Plumstead" in there!

A few years later Rick(y) recorded a version of "The Christmas Song" for the 1964 holiday episode of the show, and this was also included on the "Legacy" box set:

Here's how it appeared on the show.

Fun to see Rick's daughter and future actress Tracy as a baby!

As always, I have a few tie-ins to some previous posts...

We had previously heard a version of "Jingle Bells" by Ricky's parents here when Ozzie Nelson was a bandleader and Harriet Hilliard (Ricky's full name was Eric Hilliard Nelson) was his singer.

Since his parents were both singers, it's not surprising that Ricky became a singer himself and was very successful. He wasn't just a TV performer who cut a few records (as was really common in the late 1950s and early 1960s), but a legitimate recording star.

Ricky first sang on an episode of the TV show from April 10, 1957 entitled "Ricky the Drummer," the plot of which dealt with the fictional Tommy Jackson and his Orchestra coming to town with (SPOILERS) Ricky sitting in on drums for a number, then singing "I'm Walkin'" with the band.

What's interesting is that "Tommy Jackson" is played by Pete Candoli, the trumpeter heard on the wacky "Hey! Bellboy" with Gloria Wood, which we heard here!

"Tommy" says to Ozzie that he was happy to help out Ricky because Ozzie had let him (Tommy) sit in with his band years before when Ozzie was playing a one-nighter in Indiana! (Pete Candoli was from Indiana.)

This is about the only time I recall someone on the TV show directly saying that Ozzie had been a bandleader. David Nelson also makes a reference to Ozzie still having his saxophone. The joke was that viewers never really knew if Ozzie ever had a job!

Also of note is that the drummer with the band for whom Ricky sits in is played by Alvin Stoller (another character on the show calls him "Al") who was featured on Billy May's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo," which we heard here!

Everything ties together if you think about it enough!

Here's Ricky's 45 of "I'm Walkin'" on Verve Records with a studio group led by guitarist Barney Kessel:

That's the start of it all!

Ricky formed a permanent band when he signed with Imperial Records and he was fortunate to procure the services of young guitarist James Burton, who contributed lots of brilliant solos on Ricky's records, starting with this 1958 smash:

Still one of the best! 

Throw in that the song was written by Rockabilly greats Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and you get a lot of good things coming together!

Oh, and Ricky's albums also made good Christmas presents:

"Jingle Bells" - Part 46 - Alviiinnnn!

 

We move from Disney's All-Mouse Chorus to another group of singing varmints - The Chipmunks!

Here's their take on "Jingle Bells" from their 1962 album "Christmas with the Chipmunks" on Liberty Records:

That's actually a fairly straightforward rendition of the song, which is interesting in that they could have done whatever they wanted with it, since it's a public domain song and there wouldn't be any pesky song publishers complaining!

The "Christmas with the Chipmunks" album came about to follow up on the success of the trio's debut single, the Christmas-themed "The Chipmunk Song."

Note the early "realistic" chipmunk designs!

That particular record was issued in 1958, a year after Disney's All-Mouse Chorus, but creator Ross Bagdasarian (stage name David Seville) developed a distinct personality for each chipmunk, giving the record a stronger hook.

Here's that record:

I think that holds up very well and remains a Christmas essential! And, wow, did that lead to a whole Chipmunk industry!

Gotta love how the back of the EP sleeve shows the back of the witch doctor!

Of course, Seville/Bagdasarian had used the sped-up voice trick earlier in 1958 on his smash hit "Witch Doctor." And I love novelty records, so let's listen to that:

The other element that went into the typical Chipmunks song is the instrumental backing, which has a distinct sound, such as found on "Armen's Theme," the 1956 hit and first "The Music of  David Seville" release:

I think that's a good sound and you can see how that informed the instrumental backing track for "The Chipmunk Song!"

Teen idol Bobby Vee cut a vocal version of "Armen's Theme" in 1963 under the title "Yesterday and You":

 

I think it's a blast how the record starts like "Armen's Theme" then builds into a full-blown big band arrangement! Bobby Vee handles the vocal quite well!

Liberty Records had it going on!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 45 - Disney Novelties!

Hanging around the late 1950s with "Jingle Bells," we come across a couple of novelty versions issued by the relatively new Disneyland Records.

First up is this 1957 recording by the All Mouse Symphony and Chorus as conducted by Ludwig Mousensky:

That's cute with some good effects, and it precedes David Seville and the Chipmunks by a year, but didn't have a tremendous impact on the marketplace.

The 45 EP "Walt Disney's Christmas Concert" also features the All Mouse Symphony with a knockout instrumental version of "Winter Wonderland":

Ludwig Mousensky was fortunate to have the extremely talented arranger Tutti Camarata in his corner!

Camarata and the gang had an even wackier "Jingle Bells" takeoff the following year with this cut by the Witches Three from the "A Christmas Adventure in Disneyland" album:

That is fascinating, isn't it!

That particular recording features the multi-talented vocalist Gloria Wood, who did a lot of work for Disney as well as dubbing for movies and singing commercial jingles and everything else!

To show her vocal versatility, here's a record she cut for Capitol  Records in 1953 with trumpet star Pete Candoli:

That's an odd one to be sure, but fun! The bellboy in question is probably not Walter Tetley!

I associate Gloria Wood mostly with her stint with the Kay Kyser band in the late 1940s, with vocals on such records as "Managua Nicaragua" and "Woody Woodpecker" and this big hit:

She was very talented!

No surprise that Disneyland Records had some imaginative stuff!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 44 - Warner Brothers!

We left "Jingle Bells" with a wacky stereo arrangement from the Three Suns in 1959, so we hang around that year with a couple of instrumentals recorded for the new Warner Bros. label!

First up is this cut from the "Ira Ironstrings Plays Santa Claus" album:

That's really fun! Obviously tongue in cheek, but solidly played!

As might be imagined, Ira Ironstrings is a pseudonym and the artist in question is actually Alvino Rey, the popular steel guitar playing bandleader, moonlighting on banjo!

We last heard him with "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" on the flipside of Glenn Miller's 1941 record of "Jingle Bells," so let's listen to "Ira's" version of that tune:

I really dig the arrangements on late 1950s recordings where they have fun with the new-fangled stereo technology!

More mellow than Mr. Ironstrings was the studio group Guitars, Inc. who cut this version of "Jingle Bells" for the "Guitars at Christmas" album:

That's really solid playing by Al Hendrickson, Howard Roberts, Bobby Gibbons, Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman, all top Hollywood studio musicians.

Tommy Tedesco in the studio.

You know they laid down a version of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" as well, so let's check that out:

Some good stuff from Warner Bros. for the stereo buffs of 1959!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 43 - One for Each Sun!

We jump back around a bit to listen to three different versions of "Jingle Bells" (all recorded for RCA Victor) by the popular instrumental group the Three Suns!

First is this version from 1949 from the "Your Christmas Favorites" album:

That's the original sound of the group, with basically just Al Nevins on guitar, his brother Morty Nevins on accordion and their cousin Artie Dunn on electric organ (Artie also sang on some numbers).

They cut another holiday album in 1955, this one titled "The Sounds of Christmas," with a totally different arrangement of "Jingle Bells":

This strays from the group's original sound as it features "string orchestra" accompaniment. What's intriguing is that the orchestra is led by Marty Gold, our fiend from the Korn Kobblers!

We jump ahead a few more years to 1959 with another album, this with the catchy title of "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" and another very different arrangement of the song in question:

That's the sound that modern listeners want to hear from the Three Suns, the space-age pop with early stereo effects.

By this point Al Nevins was doing a lot of production work and most likely wasn't responsible for the extremely 1959-sounding guitar work! Who knows, maybe they were all ringers by then!

It's interesting to see the evolution in style over the ten years and three versions of "Jingle Bells!"

Before we go, let's listen to the Three Suns' theme song "Twilight Time," as originally recorded in 1944 for the independent Hit label:

Everyone knows the later vocal version by the Platters from 1958 - and that's a great record to be sure, but I really like the original!