Reprise Records (177)

[00:00:00] Jason Croft:  It's the Atomic Age Cocktail party. I'm Jason Croft and the spotlight this week is on Reprise Records.

[00:02:27] Jason Croft: Welcome to the Atomic Age Cocktail Party featuring music from the golden age of the hi fi and beyond. Music there from the chairman of the board, Frank Sinatra, and the Cole Porter classic You'd Be So Easy to Love, arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel. This comes from Sinatra's 1961 recording, Ring a Ding Ding, the very first album put out by Reprise Records, the very label that Old Blue Eyes himself founded in 1960. And it's that very record label, Reprise, which is the focus of this week's program. Now, Sinatra created it out of his own dissatisfaction with his previous record label, Capitol Records. He wanted to create a space where artists had more creative control, and that's exactly what he did. Now, Sinatra's tenure as owner only lasted until 1963, and eventually the label would be a major player in rock music in the 1960s. But in those early years, Sinatra was tapping not only his Rat Pack pals, but other top tier talent to create some real recording magic. On the way, the Hawaiian sounds of Bing Crosby, the high lows hit South America, and selections from the Reprise Music Repertory Theater. Right now, it's Sinatra's fellow Rat Packer turned Reprise Records label mate, Sammy Davis Junior, and I'm Gonna Live Till I Die. And it's right here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party.

[00:10:40] Jason Croft: It's the perfect garnish for your late-night nightcap. It's the Atomic Age Cocktail party. I'm Jason Croft. Reprise Records, the label that Frank Sinatra built, is our spotlight this week. And they're keeping it in the family with daughter Nancy Sinatra and one of her early singles, Tonight You Belong to Me, which came out in 1962, a few years before her big These Boots were made for walking breakout single. Before that, a couple of Frank Sinatra's pals who he brought over with him to Reprise records, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior. From old Dino, we had a tune written by Johnny Mercer, Tangerine, and a little unintentional irony, I guess, since Johnny Mercer himself was one of the founders of Capitol Records, the label that Sinatra and Martin exited for reprise. What we heard from Dino was from the album Dino Latino, released in 1962. And Sammy Davis Jr kicked off that set with I'm Gonna Live Till I Die. That's from The Wham of Sam from 1961, which was his first four reprieve, a label he would be with for the rest of the decade. Reprise Records and its early years is the focus of our program this week. Now, the name of the label, what is the correct way of saying it? It can be pronounced two different ways reprise and reprise. Sinatra always went with the reprise, as in reprising a musical number or act. Personally, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it sounds a little bit like the word reprieves, as in getting out of a punishment. Which with the way Sinatra felt about leaving Capitol Records, well, maybe a little bit on target. Here now, another big artist that was brought on board to Reprise Records early on. It's Bing Crosby and his return to Hawaiian music. It's the tune Beautiful Kahana, and it's right here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party.


[00:21:49] Jason Croft: It's the Atomic Age Cocktail Party. Thanks for tuning in. We're looking at Reprise Records this week, and the label's early years and its impact on hi fi music. And some really fun stuff there from the legendary Duke Ellington. That was a number titled Eighth Veil, as in one more than the Dance of the Seven Veils. It's from his 1963 release, AfroBossa, featuring music mostly written by Ellington himself and longtime collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. It's such an interesting album for the way it mixes all these different influences. It can be seen as an Afro-Cuban record, a Latin record, and to some, it can even be categorized as exotica. No matter what, it's just great music from a jazz great. And speaking of exotica, well, we heard from one of the major influences of the genre, Les Baxter, and Bird of Paradise. Of course, featuring lots of those classic exotica bird sounds. This is from the album The Primitive and the Passionate from 1961, which was Les Baxter's second release on Reprise. and Baxter himself, another former Capitol Records artist who found a new home with Reprise in the 1960s. And we began that set with some more tropical sounds courtesy of Bing Crosby. That was Beautiful Kahana. What a lush number. This comes from Return to Paradise Islands from 1964. Nelson Riddle doing the arranging and conducting. Crosby, decades earlier, helped bring Hawaiian music to the mainstream, and here he is returning to that style. Now, Crosby only stayed with Reprise for a couple of years, but during that time, he was part of eight albums for the label. We're looking at Reprise Records this week, the label that Frank Sinatra founded. and one of the fun series that Reprise put out was a group of albums featuring show tunes. They put it under this title called the Reprise Musical Repertory Theater. They were compilation records. There were 4 in total. They first sold as a box set in 1963, and then they were each sold individually a year later. Now, the songs from each of them is from a specific Broadway show, and they're sung by various artists from Reprise. Here's one from the Kiss Me Kate record. It's Keely Smith and Always True to You in My Fashion. And it's right here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party.


[00:33:49] Jason Croft: Some selections there from the Reprise Musical Repertory Theater right here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party. The spotlight this week is on Reprieve Records and the early years of the label. A label that featured some of the biggest names of the hi fi era. And music there from Guys and Dolls. This is a deep cut from the album and from the show. You don't often get recordings of that song. But here, it's a really interesting pairing. You have movie star Debbie Reynolds singing with comedian Alan Sherman. Yeah, it's a great team up. We also had a selection from South Pacific courtesy of Joe Stafford and Bally High. Now, besides appearing on three of the four repertory theater albums, Stafford had one full album released on reprise. It was 1963's Getting Sentimental over Tommy Dorsey. And we started with Keely Smith with the Cole Porter classic Always True to You in My Fashion. Music from Kiss Me Kate. It's such a playful song in here, given the big swing treatment from Smith. Skip Martin leading the orchestra on that one. We're looking at Reprise records this time on the program. And another one of the big artists that Frank Sinatra signed for the label was Rosemary Clooney. Her first release on Reprise was the album Love, which was actually recorded for RCA Victor in 1961. The label didn't want to release it, so Sinatra bought the masters and released it himself in 1963. From that, here's Clooney and the George and Ira Gershwin standard, Someone to Watch Over Me. And it's right here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party.


[00:42:48] Jason Croft: Feeling the boss nova heat here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party. We're looking at Reprise records this week and the label's early releases featuring some of the great artists of the hi fi era. John Hendrix there, post Lambert Hendricks and Ross with the Antonio Carlos Jobim standard Cocovado, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars. That's from an album Hendrix did in honor of another Brazilian songwriter. It's called Slu Joo Gilberto from 1963. Antonio Carlos Jobim himself actually helped arrange the strings on that album, along with Johnny Mandel. And speaking of Johnny Mandel, who we also mentioned at the start of the program, what we had him there was some movie music. That was his own composition, Emily. It's from the film soundtrack to the 1964 flick, The Americanization of Emily, a film starring James Garner and Julie Andrews. And we start that set with the beautiful Gershwin number Someone to Watch Over Me, as sung by Rosemary Clooney and given a wonderful arrangement there by the very talented Nelson Riddle. This is from the album Love from 1963. Well, you're listening to the Atomic Age Cocktail Party, celebrating the golden age of the hi fi and beyond. If you like what you're listening to, don't forget to stop by our website at atomicagecocktailparty.com for playlists, show archives, and a lot more. If you have any show ideas or comments, you can get a hold of us there as well. Atomic Agecocktailparty.com. One more set of music left in our look at the early years of Reprise Records, and a lot of well-known artists of the hi fi era found themselves on Reprise, including the man I like to call the king of space age bachelor pad music, Mr. Juan Garcia Esquivel. From his 1961 release, More of Other Worlds, Other Sounds, here's the tune Street Scene. And it's right here on the Atomic Age cocktail party.


[00:55:01] Jason Croft: Wrapping up our look at Reprise Records here on the Atomic Age Cocktail Party, the record label that Frank Sinatra formed in the early 1960s that focused on artists and giving them more creative freedom. And there we hear a little transition from lounge music to the next phase of Reprise, that of a more rock sensibility. It's the crime jazz theme, The Man with the Golden Arm from the film that famously gave Sinatra an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and composer Elmer Bernstein for Best score. The version we heard was from Jack Nietzsche, who was to be known later on for his own film scores. What we heard was recorded in 1964. Guitarist and bandleader Barney Kessel before that with They Can't Take That Away from Me. Another Gershwin classic here given a big band setting and a modern twist beat. That's from the 1961 record Bossa Nova, his first of a handful for reprise. Before that, the vocal harmony group, the High Lows, wanting to do a little traveling. Let's go to Brazil, the name of that one. That tune was written by group member Bob Morse. This is from their album, a bossa nova-themed record called The High Lows Happened to Bossa Nova, which came out in 1963. And we started with Mexican bandleader Juan Garcia Esquivel and his version of Street Scene. The melody itself was composed by Alfred Newman originally in 1931 for a film drama of the same name, and itself based on a 1929 play. Now, in the hands of Esquivel, it really sounds modern and stereophonic, and even has some fun echoes of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. This recording from Esquivel came out in 1961. Well, that just about does it for our show this week. Make sure you're here again for more fun from the golden age of the hi fi and beyond. Gonna leave you with one more, and another big artist on Reprise Records was Trini Lopez, known for his very energetic live albums. From his 1963 release by popular demand, more Trini Lopez and PJs, here's Lopez and another Johnny Mercer song. It's the tune Goody Goody. Until next time, this is Jason Croft saying, keep swinging.


[00:58:56] Jason Croft: The Atomic Age Cocktail Party is a production of Illinois Public Media.