[78-L] 1950s big band (was Frosty)

[David Lennick]

Billy May went only to #49 in the US. Not a hit.

Les Baxter? You gotta be kidding. Unchained Melody and Wake The Town are 
vocals. Poor People of Paris is "cute instrumental" and no more big band than 
my Aunt Geri's grocery list.

Honey-Babe is strictly vocal, not a big band record by anyone's definition.

Nelson Riddle led a big band for singers like Sinatra but Lisbon Antigua has 
STRINGS and no big band elements. Eddie Heywood with Hugo Winterhalter comes 
closer to big band.

Ted Heath couldn't sell shoelaces in the US but he definitely counts in the Uk.

Reg Owen was a top ten hit here, so that one counts. Ditto Ray Anthony. We're 
almost up to ten....

Answer to backup question: Mitchell Ayres?

dl

Kristjan Saag wrote:
> David Lennick wrote:
> 
>> Nobody's saying they weren't popular, only that there were virtually no 
>> big
>> band hit singles after 1954. And I think we've listed the two exceptions.
> --
> There were more exceptions.
> Art Mooney reached the no 6 spot in the US 1955 with "Honey-Babe"
> Les Baxter no 2 in the US and no 10 in the UK 1955 with "Unchained Melody"
> Les Baxter no 10 in the US in 1955 with "Wake The Town And Tell The People"
> Perez Prado no 1 in the US and UK 1955 with "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom 
> White"
> Billy May no 9 in the UK 1956 with theme from "The Man With The Gold Arm"
> Nelson Riddle no 1 in the US 1956 with "Lisbon Antigua"
> Les Baxter no 1 the US 1956 with "The Poor People Of Paris"
> Perez Prado no 2 in the US and no 8 in the UK 1958 with "Patricia"
> Ted Heath no 3 in the UK 1958 with "Swingin' Shepherd Blues"
> Reg Owen no 10 in the US 1959 with "Manhattan Spiritual"
> Ray Anthony no 8 in the US 1959 with "Peter Gunn"
> 
> And this was just Top 10.
> True: most of these weren't jazz tunes, not even jazz arrangements, but who 
> said Big Bands always played jazz music?
> Big Band arrangements though, were still commonplace on many, if not most 
> vocal hits of the 1950's. Who backed Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como 
> and all the successful vocal quartets? It wasn't Bill Haley's Comets or The 
> Kingston Trio. Many of those hits would have been released under the 
> orchestra's name in the early 1940's.
> Kristjan 
>