This CD combines the contents of two albums released by
Walden Records in 1955,
The Music of Harold Arlen, Vol. 1 (
Walden 306), featuring performances by
Arlen himself, singing his songs and accompanying himself on piano (tracks 13-24 here), and
The Music of Harold Arlen, Vol. 2 (
Walden 307), on which
Arlen's songs were performed by the vocalists
Miriam Burton,
Louise Carlyle,
June Ericson,
Warren Galjour, and
Bob Shaver (tracks 1-12 here).
Walden, founded by
Edward Jablonski (who went on to become
Arlen's biographer), was devoted to recording lesser-known songs written by major songwriters like
Cole Porter,
Rodgers & Hart, and
Arthur Schwartz. The songs were performed in what was a contemporary style of the early '50s, small-band jazz arrangements tending toward piano/bass/drums trios, with the occasional addition of a guitar or a reed instrument; the biggest ensembles heard here are octets with a few strings added to the mix. Those arrangements were done by the estimable
Peter Matz.
Jablonski seems to have felt that he had no need to call attention to established
Arlen standards like
"Stormy Weather" or
"Blues in the Night," while he was interested in giving greater exposure to, for example,
"Halloween" and
"I Love a New Yorker," both from the 1950 film
My Blue Heaven. Among the guest vocalists,
Miriam Burton was just then appearing in
Arlen's Broadway musical House of Flowers, although she was not assigned any of the songs from the show. She and the others perform effectively.
Arlen, making his first recordings as a vocalist in many years, proves an excellent singer with a supple tenor capable of bringing out the nuances of lyrics by his collaborators including
Ira Gershwin,
E.Y. Harburg, and
Johnny Mercer, when he isn't displaying his piano capability on the instrumentals
"Minuet" and
"House of Flowers Waltz." ~ William Ruhlmann
