"Jingle Bells" - Part 55 - Frankly Speaking!

I had mentioned that the musical support on Ella Fitzgerald's 1960 Christmas album was provided by Frank De Vol. 

That's interesting to me as I don't generally think of Frank De Vol as such a jazzy arranger/conductor, but it just shows how versatile guys like him were.

Frank recorded a number of albums of his own, usually just using his surname, and he actually also had a Christmas album in 1960, "The Old Sweet Songs of Christmas" on Columbia Records as De Vol and the Rainbow Strings.

He included "Jingle Bells" as part of a medley with the sweet but not-so-old-at-the-time "Silver Bells":

That's very nice and definitely more of how I think of De Vol's music. He had a series of LPs with the Rainbow Strings under the "Old Sweet Songs" banner which are definitely Easy Listening.

Like most arranger/conductor/composers of his era, Frank De Vol gained his experience with big bands, including Horace Heidt. When guitarist Alvino Rey left Heidt to start his own band, Frank went with him.

Here's an example of Frank's arranging skill on this two-sided adaptation of "William Tell" as recorded by the Rey band on Bluebird Records in 1941:

That's really good!

Among many other notable recordings was his backing of King Cole (Nat King Cole without his trio) on the huge 1948 hit "Nature Boy":

Very evocative!

I remember him from when I was a kid as an extremely deadpan comedic actor such as from his run as bandleader Happy Kyne (with the Mirth Makers) on "Fernwood 2Night/America 2Night" with Martin Mull and Fred Willard.

But I also knew that he was a composer of TV theme songs such as "Family Affair" and "The Brady Bunch," both shows ubiquitous in reruns back then, and of course "My Three Sons."

The theme from "My Three Sons" was a mid-level hit single for Lawrence and his Orchestra on Dot Records in 1961:

That's a pretty catchy version, reminiscent of Lawrence Welk's enormous hit "Calcutta," also from 1961:

I still find it fascinating that Lawrence Welk had a number one record on the pop charts in 1961!

This raises the question of whether Lawrence Welk ever recorded "Jingle Bells." The answer is "Of course!" Welk recorded a lot of Christmas music and "Jingle Bells" was even the title of his 1957 Christmas album!

Here's that track:

I like that a lot! I'm not saying it's not totally square, but the "Champagne Music" definitely has its charm!

Here's a fun video clip of the Welk TV show cast performing "Jingle Bells" from sometime in the 1950s:

Interesting that accordionist Myron Floren sings his verse in "Norwegian," although it sure sounds like the "Swedish" of Yogi Yorgesson!

There are a zillion other Lawrence Welk "Jingle Bells" clips on YouTube, but be careful before you go down that rabbit hole!