Liberace

Artist: Liberace

LP: Christmas at Liberace's - Vol. III (7" EP)

Song: "Ave Maria"

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 Song: "Star Bright"

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I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas...but not TOO lovely, like the ones the Liberace family used to have. If you did, then you're probably one of those billionaires I heard about on the news who recently became an octillionaire during the COVID-19 pandemic, making money hand over fist while millions of Americans all over the world are struggling even to pay their rent! Shame on you!! ...unless you festooned your holiday celebration with a bunch of fabric and decorations you found in the attic, from the days when you were still only a billionaire, the way the Liberaces used to do back when the kids were young.

Wouldn't it be fun to have been included as one of the guests at the Liberace family Christmas party...back in the days when Angelina was still just Liberace's sister, and not his personal secretary?

[ Liberace: May 16, 1919 — February 4, 1987 ]

José Melis

 

Artist: José Melis and His Orchestra

LP: Christmas With Melis

Song: "Jingle Bells"

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Song: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

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Song: "The Story of Christmas"

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So here's a Christmas question for ya, or even a Christmas conundrum, if you will: When someone places themselves under the mistletoe during the holiday season, do they become fair game for kissing? For anyone? Like me, for example? Especially nowadays, with the "Me too!" movement and everything, we all need to proceed with an extra level of caution when dealing with the mistletoe situation, don't you think? 

According to the LP liner notes (included below), José Melis has a wife and two kids...yet there he is on the front of my LP, gazing forth with provocative bespectacled bedroom eyes from underneath the mistletoe. Rrrrrroooowww! 

Agh-hem. Anyway. José Melis was the musical director on "The Tonight Show" from 1957 to 1962, when it was hosted by his good friend Jack Paar. (Unfortnuately, Paar was openly hostile and disrespectful to the LGBTQ community in the 1960s and '70s. No mistletoe kisses for him!)

[ Jack Parr, Hugh Downs, & José Melis on "Jack Parr Tonight Show" in 1960 ]

According to Wikipedia, part of Melis' regular routine on shows with Paar was "the telephone game," where he would "improvise a musical number based on the last four digits of an audience member's telephone number." I love this. I wonder what José would have made of "3214!"

"Christmas With Melis," released in 1958, is a popular holiday favorite in my humble Ballard apartment each year. For a little more information about the spectacularly talented Mr. Melis, you can read his 2005 New York Times obituary here.

[ José Melis: February 27, 1920 — April 7, 2005 ]

Mrs. Mills

Artist: Mrs. Mills

LP: Everybody's Welcome At Mrs. Mills' Party

Song: "Chicago/Avalon/Who's Sorry Now"

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I'm taking some time out this evening for a party with Mrs. Mills. Everybody's welcome at her parties. Can you imagine this kind woman turning anyone away? Neither can I. According to Wikipedia, Mrs. Mills was "discovered" and was taking England by storm at about the same time as The Beatles, but sadly, her chapter in the history of British pop music has been edited out of most recent editions. 

 

Personally, I "re-discovered" Mrs. Mills in a dank basement record "store" called Play It Again during my trip to Astoria, Oregon this past weekend. Speaking of re-discoveries, back in 2006 or 2007 I was driving to the Oregon coast with Eduardo and as we were heading down the highway, I saw a sandwich board sign next to the highway that just said "Records" and had an arrow leading passers-by down a small hill to a huge silver warehouse. Turns out the warehouse was stacked high with records! As we were on vacation to the Oregon coast and hadn't yet actually arrived there, I wasn't allowed much time for browsing, but I did manage to find a neat old LP by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. So the next time I went to the Oregon coast, several years later, I kept an eye out for the magic warehouse full of records...but it had totally disappeared. 

 

Well, Play It Again is the same store! It's the same guy, with the same unruly collection! He said he's moved 22 times in the past 23 years, or something like that. He also said he had recently hired a 20-year-old employee, but "You know how that goes" and he mimicked the slashing of his wrists. I guess I don't know how that goes, since I have no idea what he was trying to say. Do all 20-year-old record store employees commit suicide? Maybe he should try hiring someone who's 23. Anyway, I'd better get back to the party. I've included a Mrs. Mills video clip below. Enjoy!

Mrs. Mills on YouTube:

[ "Save All Your Kisses For Me" ]

[ Mrs. Mills: August 29, 1918 — February 24, 1978 ]

Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Boys

Artist: Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Boys

LP: Rhapsody In Rhythm
Song: "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue"
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Song: "Tara Lara"

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I was milling about in Tacoma this past Saturday afternoon after a family get-together for my 8-year-old nephew's birthday in Gig Harbor and before meeting my friend Ryan in the evening to see US at Grand Cinema. I finally paid a visit to the wonderful Tacoma Book Center, and then I popped in at House of Records, where I picked up this 1955 LP by Spanish piano master Geri Galian, who, frankly, I've never heard of before. But then it seems most people nowadays haven't. 

According to the album liner notes, Galian appeared in several hit Hollywood films of the 1940s and '50s, he performed at places like the Hollywood Bowl and Biltmore Theatre in L.A., and at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas...but now the poor guy doesn't even have a Wikipedia page! The sparkly magic he whips up at the piano keyboard is absolutely brilliant and exciting—it's like he's playing all 88 keys at once! I don't see any reason why this guy shouldn't still be famous. It's time for a Geri Galian revival! You with me? I'm putting in an order for bobbleheads and t-shirts.

Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Boys on YouTube:

[ "Jungle Rumba" ]  

[ Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Piano ]

[ House of Records / Turntable Treasures — Tacoma, WA ]

Ben Light

Artist: Ben Light

LP: Speed of Light: Ben Light At the Piano 
Song: "Lover"
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Song: "Charmaine"
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Three seconds after I put the needle on this 1956 Ben Light LP I began craving a martini. I didn't so much want to drink a martini, but to hold one in my hand, softly swirling it around in the glass as Ben's fingers danced 'lightly' over the keys.

Born into a family of classical musicians in New York City in 1893, Ben was a rebellious child and decided to go in for ragtime playing on the piano. By age 18 he had a regular gig in Denver, CO and he was a Vaudeville staple in the 1920s and into the mid-1930s. He recorded some 'racy' numbers (with titles like "The Guy Who Put the Dix In Dixie," you get the idea) in the '30s as Ben Light and His Surf Club Boys before moving on to more prestigious recordings for Capitol Records in the 1950s, like "Speed of Light." You can still hear his Vaudeville roots shining through, like sunlight from the distant end of the longest piano keyboard in the universe. Ben's last recordings were released in 1958; he died at age 72 in January of 1965. You can read more about Ben "Dizzy Fingers" Light here and check out the LP liner notes below.

[ Ben Light ]

Dorothy Donegan

Artist: Dorothy Donegan

LP: At the Embers

Song: "Sweet Georgia Brown"

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This terrific Dorothy Donegan record was another one of the things I'd planned to get rid of, mainly because instrumental piano jazz isn't really a genre I can commit to with my limited space. BUT after just watching her amazing 1945 piano duel (on a rotating grand piano!) where she plays with incredibly reckless perfection, I've decided to put this one back on my shelf, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more! You can read about Dorothy Donegan on Wikipedia here, and find the notes from the back of this amazing pianist's 1957 "Live at the Embers" LP below. I didn't know people were using the word "hipsters" back in 1957.

Dorothy Donegan on YouTube:

[ —dueling piano jazz, 1945!— ]

[ Dorothy Donegan: April 6, 1922 — May 19, 1998 ]

Martha Abbott

Artist: Martha Abbott

LP: Precious Is His Name

Song: "Precious Is His Name"

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Song: "A Passport to Heaven"

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I just had a ten minute phone conversation with Martha Abbott! I was pretty sure the number on the back of Martha's debut LP wouldn't still be hers, but figured I'd call it anyhow to see who it belonged to now. Martha was a little wary before identifying herself, asking several times who I was and why I was calling—she says nowadays she's got to be careful when dealing with strangers and that she doesn't normally answer the phone if she doesn't know the person who's calling. We began chatting after I explained that I'm just a new fan of hers in Seattle who found her record in Cleveland while traveling through Ohio last summer. I let her know that I think her piano playing is absolutely amazing and that I really love her album, so decided on a whim to try calling the phone number listed on the back. 

According to Martha, "Precious Is His Name" was the first song she ever wrote, and this album, made in the mid-'70s, was recorded in Nashville. Her producer there passed away after she made a few records, so she began recording in her hometown of Columbus instead. She's released a total of eight LPs, and they've all sold really well throughout Ohio and in neighboring states. "You can find them everywhere," she told me. Martha no longer travels long distances (her son won't let her) and she's never been to Seattle, but she still performs all around Ohio at churches, weddings, funerals, etc. She has a regular gig playing and singing at two different churches and with their respective choirs; she's recently written five new songs and is currently looking for a producer for her next record. "I found one, but he doesn't do things the way I'd like them to be done," she said. I sympathized with her desire for artistic control, and she told me she feels blessed to have been able to perform her music for so many people for such a long time—"It's all about Jesus." If you're a producer in the Columbus area and you'd like to work with the charming and talented Martha Abbott, or if you'd like to have her play for your church, wedding, or funeral, send me an email and I'll tell you how you can get in touch with her.

Moritz Moszkowski

Artist: Moritz Moszkowski

LP: 15 Virtuoso Études, Op. 72
Pianist: Ilana Vered

Song: "Étude - Op. 72, No. 15 in B"

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I've started taking piano lessons again, and you know what that means! (It means I'm learning how to play the piano.) After attending a piano class about Robert Schumann last Saturday where a number of his pieces were performed, I realized how much I've missed listening to classical piano music. I headed down to Silver Platters to pick some up, since they've got one of the best selections in town. After finding a nice collection of Schumann pieces recorded on CD by Murray Perahia and a CD featuring piano pieces by Brahms, I nearly hollered out loud when I suddenly came across this used copy of Moszkowski's piano Etudes from Opus 72 that I've been trying to find for nearly a decade. Born in what's now the Polish city of Wroclaw in 1854, Moszkowski's Romantic-era compositions enjoyed immense popularity toward the end of the 19th century, but that quickly dissipated in the early 1900s as the fickle public began embracing the works of more modern composers like Scriabin, Debussy, and Satie. Moszkowski's 15 Virtuoso Études, Opus 72 were written in 1903, but the entire set had never been recorded until Israeli pianist Ilana Vered sat down to work on them for this 1970 LP release. (I can actually play Moszkowski's Étude No. 15 in B, but whereas Ilana's fluid version runs a mere 2:04, my rendition is more pensive, melancholy even, and clocks in at around 13:47.) You can read about Ilana Vered here, read about the life and career of Moritz Moszkowski here and in the liner notes below, and click here to find a list of Moszkoski's compositions.

[ Moritz Moszkowski: August 23, 1854 — March 4, 1925 ]