[78-L] EDDIE FISHER

[Jeff Sultanof]

Eddie Fisher and his bad sense of time: During recording sessions, Fisher
had someone tap him on the shoulder to cue him when to come in and sing.
Nelson Riddle told me this himself; for the album they made together (Games
That Lovers Play), the orchestral tracks were recorded first and then he was
overdubbed. Riddle saw this. To him this was insane.

Doris Day absolutely loved jazz, and it is reflected on some of her
recordings. She was married to two musicians, one of whom, George Weidler,
was a lead alto player with beautiful phrasing (he can be heard with the
Stan Kenton Orchestra). Once Day was asked who some of her favorites were,
and one of the first names that came up was Ray Charles. She said he had a
very distinctive, sexy sound and she played his records all the time.

Things would have been very interesting if she'd gone the route of Rosemary
Clooney and played dates with small groups of great jazzmen singing the
classic standards. I believe she would have shocked people who knew her from
the pop material she was forced to record. Unfortunately, she was married to
Marty Melcher, a real swine and a crook who called the shots and insisted
she have that virginal image. She is the total opposite of that. Her
autobiography is one of my favorite books about a star in the music
business.

Jeff Sultanof

On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 1:53 PM, Taylor Bowie <bowiebks at isomedia.com> wrote:

> Thanks for a great post,  Jack.  I really enjoy hearing stories  from
> musicians who were and are in the trenches,  so to speak.
>
> I inferred from your post that to your ears Doris Day has no jazz influence
> in her singing.  I always thought she did esp. in those early movies and
> the
> early 50s Columbia records.  Perhaps I'm just taken with her amazing way
> with a song.  I think I like her version of No Moon At All better than any
> other...I still think it has a strong jazz tinge to it.
>
> Taylor B
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "JD" <jackson1932 at cfl.rr.com>
> To: <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 10:46 AM
> Subject: [78-L] EDDIE FISHER
>
>
> >
> > With the exception of Doris Day (because of her innate musicality) I've
> > never had much interest in pop singers who don't have some (even a
> little)
> > jazz influence in their singing. Fisher certainly had no jazz roots and
> > was
> > well known among musicians to have problems with meter. I often wondered
> > (assuming he was even aware of this problem) if this bothered him in any
> > way. A singer (especially one as famous) with poor meter is akin to a
> > sprinter with a broken leg.  Once, in his heyday I happened to see him
> > cause
> > a live TV train wreck. He jumped some beats or bas and it wasn't pretty.
> > Conductors in  situations like this really earn their salary in trying to
> > keep it all together.especially in a live situation.
> >
> > Some 25 or so years ago I was booked on a gig at the Americana  in NYC at
> > which he was to perform. The band's  initial reaction was that this
> should
> > be interesting. Well, it certainly was, he came to the rehearsal looking
> > like death warmed over and had little if anything to say, but he sounded
> > really great and in control and had no problem whatsoever with meter and
> > the
> > show went perfectly. It was encouraging and heartening to see that he'd
> > finally gotten it all  together (albeit somewhat late) and that he didn't
> > come on like a star. R.I.P. Eddie, you were cool after all.
> >  Jack Daney
> >
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> >
>
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