GIANT STEPS
EPISODE 4

From Studio C Chicago, it's “Giant Steps,” exploring the brilliant corners of 1950s jazz, Broadway, popular song, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, folk, film music, doo-wop, mambo, and more. I'm Andy Miles, and this is Billie Holiday.

Billie Holiday “Speak Low” (1958)

Smiley Lewis “I Hear You Knockin’” (1955)

Memphis Slim “Steppin’ Out” (1959)

Johnny Cash “Big River” (1958)

Johnny Cash, "Big River," a Sun Records single from the spring of 1958. Decades later, in 1985, Cash teamed up with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson and released the song as The Highwaymen.

Memphis Slim before that, “Steppin' Out,” a 1959 release on Vee-Jay Records, one of well over a dozen labels the Memphis-born Blues Hall of Fame inductee recorded for.

We heard Smiley Lewis, "I Hear You Knockin'," the original version of the song from the summer of 1955. The song was written by Dave Bartholomew, who produced the record and provided the backing band. The song was an R&B chart hit for Lewis but better remembered as a Dave Edmunds hit in 1970, which topped the British pop chart and made the American top five. The actress and singer Gale Storm also did a 1955 version, which reached number two on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

Billie Holiday at the top of the show with her late '50s version of the Kurt Weill song "Speak Low," which had been introduced on Broadway 15 years earlier. Holiday’s version was released on the 1958 Verve Records album "All or Nothing At All," which included a dozen songs recorded by Holiday in 1956 and '57, and was the last Holiday album released by Verve during her life, which ended in July 1959.

And you're listening to "Giant Steps" from Studio C Chicago. I'm Andy Miles. Thanks for joining me. Great stuff on the way, including Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Horace Silver, and this from Mel Tormé & The Mel-Tones.

Mel Tormé & The Mel-Tones “What Is This Thing Called Love” (1959)

Charles Brown “Black Nite” (1951)

The Bobbettes “Mr. Lee” (1957)

Peggy Lee “Lover” (1952)

That's Peggy Lee with "Lover," her highest charting hit of the decade. It reached number three on the American pop chart, a higher position than even "Fever," which is probably the song most identified with Peggy Lee. When she released the song in 1952, the Rodgers and Hart song was 20 years old, having first been introduced by Jeanette McDonald in the early film musical "Love Me Tonight." Lee performed it in a film musical herself, the 1952 Warner Brothers biopic "The Jazz Singer," a remake of the 1927 film of the same name.

The Bobbettes before that, their 1957 classic single "Mr. Lee," whose intro should be familiar to longtime WXRT listeners, here in Chicago, where it was used as the opening to deejay Frank E. Lee's afternoon show. The song hit the top of Billboard's R&B chart, while going to top 10 on three American pop charts, and was by far The Bobbettes’ biggest hit, over a 17-year recording career.

We also heard Charles Brown with "Black Nite" from 1951.

And Mel Tormé & The Mel-Tones from the other end of the decade, 1959, their great version of Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love." The Mel-Tones formed 15 years earlier when Tormé was barely 18 years old. Victor Feldman was the vibraphonist on the track we heard and Art Pepper provided alto sax. "Back in Town" was the album, released by Verve.

From Studio C Chicago, this is "Giant Steps." I'm Andy Miles. We just heard Peggy Lee's "Lover." Here's Oscar Peterson's version.

Oscar Peterson “Lover” (1954)

Sarah Vaughan “Detour Ahead” (1959)

The Delegates “Mother’s Son” (1957)

Lena Horne with Lennie Hayton & His Orchestra "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955)

That's Lena Horne with Lennie Hayton & His Orchestra from 1955, "Love Me or Leave Me," a song that dates back to the late 1920s when it was introduced in a Broadway show. The song was such a big hit for Ruth Etting, in 1928, that it became the title of her '50s biopic, which starred Doris Day, who herself had a hit with the song, the same year that the Lena Horne version we heard was released.

The Delegates before that, "Mother's Son," from 1957.

We heard Sarah Vaughan performing live at Chicago's famous London House; "Detour Ahead" was the song, "After Hours at the London House" the 1959 album, released by Mercury Records as a follow-up to Vaughan's 1958 live album "At Mr. Kelly's," also recorded in Chicago. In fact, the two downtown clubs were owned by the same brothers, George and Oscar Marienthal. Vaughan had played three sets earlier that evening at Mr. Kelly's, then did the after hours set at London House, which Mercury Records recorded. March 7th, 1958 was the date.

And Oscar Peterson's version of the Rodgers and Hart standard "Lover" at the top of the set; it came out on Peterson's 1954 album "Oscar Peterson Plays Richard Rodgers," released by Clef Records, Norman Granz's forerunner to Verve Records. Peterson released a later version of the song on Verve, part of his “Oscar Peterson Plays the Richard Rodgers Songbook,” a 1959 album with his trio.

From Studio C Chicago, this is "Giant Steps," a show devoted to a great decade in American music: the 1950s. One last full set on the show; it starts with Big Bill Broonzy.

Big Bill Broonzy “Hey, Hey, Baby” (1957)

John Raitt and Doris Day “There Once Was A Man” (1958)

Barbara Lea “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” (1957)

Donnie Elbert “Will You Ever Be Mine” (1959)

That's a singer named Donnie Elbert with his song "Will You Ever Be Mine," a record said to have sold a quarter million copies in the Philadelphia area but which barely made a mark beyond those boundaries. The New Orleans-born singer later moved to England where he had success in that country's Northern Soul scene, his biggest hit being a cover of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go," which went top 15 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1971. Elbert eventually returned to Philadelphia, where he died at the young age of 52.

Detroit-born and raised singer Barbara Lea before that, her version of Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To." The song was first heard in the Columbia Pictures musical “Something To Shout Out.”

"There Once Was A Man," which we heard before Barbara Lea, was also performed on the screen, in the musical "The Pajama Game." The screen version was a duet by John Raitt and Doris Day.

And Big Bill Broonzy at the top of the set, "Hey, Hey, Baby." 1957 was the year. Broonzy died, age 55, a year later.

And that brings us to the end of another episode of "Giant Steps." I'm Andy Miles. Thanks for being here. I have one last song to share; it's pianist Horace Silver's "Señor Blues" with Donald Byrd on trumpet and vocal by Bill Henderson.

Horace Silver "Señor Blues" (1958)

VISIT THE MAIN “GIANT STEPS” PAGE