78 RPM - Lee Wiley - I've Got Five Dollars / Glad To Be Unhappy - Gala - USA

78 RPM Record

Artist:	Lee Wiley
Label:	Gala
Country:	USA
Catalogue:	2
Date:	1940
Format:	10"
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
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Track	Artist	Title	Composer	Rating
A	Lee Wiley	I've Got Five Dollars	Rodgers, Hart	Rate
B	Lee Wiley	Glad To Be Unhappy	Rodgers, Hart	Rate

Notes

From Rodgers And Hart Album
A Side with Joe Bushkin's Orchestra, arranged by Brad Gowans
B Side with Max Kaminsky's Orchestra, arranged by Paul Wetstein
Recorded New York, February 1940

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Comments and Reviews


slholzer 17th Dec 2014		Listening to "I've Got Five Dollars" provoked another observation re: Lee Wiley. Wiley has clear antecedents in two female singers. One, Lee Morse, was probably the first really successful popular female recording artist. "I've Got Five Dollars" was actually one of her bigger hits. The interesting thing about Morse is that she did it all on style. She didn't have much of a voice and what she had didn't depend on novelty like the various Betty Boops of the same time frame. The other singer that clearly had an influence on Wiley was Mildred Bailey, aka Mrs. Swing. Wiley's voice was less affected than Bailey's, which probably reflects the overall evolution of the entertainment industry as they got used to radio and microphones in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Wiley's smokey approach to a song was her own addition, though. She would be emulated by a lot of girl singers in that regard, notably June Christy and the other girls who came up through the Stan Kenton semi-symphonic jazz orchestras.



slholzer 17th Dec 2014		Lee Wiley is an interesting participant in the New York music scene of the late forties and early fifties. She was a great vocalist and in many respects a trendsetter, but she was never the big commercial success you might expect. Her songbook albums were the model for Ella Fitzgerald, who built her later career on the idea after emerging from the Chick Webb orchestra. An album that Wiley did backed by trumpeter Bobby Hackett and a small string orchestra led by Joe Bushkin became the inspiration for Jackie Gleason who took Hackett, put him in front of an even bigger bunch of strings, and invented "mood music". As you can see, Lee Wiley was pretty. She was the darling of Eddie Condon's "Barefoot Gang" of hot musicians and probably the only female singer to appear at Condon's Town Hall concert series. She married one of the guys, pianist Jess Stacy, but it didn't last. I heartily recommend any of her recordings. If you like her, i also suggest you look into the work of Maxine Sullivan and Teddy Grace on 78, and on LP, Teddi King.



LouisSidney ● 23rd Feb 2014		All the Rodgers & Hart tracks can be found on LP here.



fixbutte 21st Feb 2014		"Glad To Be Unhappy", from On Your Toes (1936), possibly the highlight of the Rodgers And Hart Album, is also on YouTube: And here's the lesser-known A-side, "I've Got Five Dollars", from America's Sweetheart (1931):



fixbutte 21st Feb 2014		Two tracks from the sessions for Lee Wiley's second "songbook", this time dedicated to the songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The "orchestras" on both sides are actually the same small band, consisting of Max Kaminsky (trumpet), Bud Freeman (tenor saxophone), Joe Bushkin (piano), Artie Shapiro (bass), and George Wettling (drums), all of whom already involved in Wiley's highly popular Gershwin album from 1939. Arranger of "I've Got Five Dollars" and the half of the Rodgers and Hart songbook was Brad Gowans, the second half including "Glad To Be Unhappy" was arranged by Paul Wetstein, then a member of Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, who would soon become famous as Paul Weston.

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See Also

78 Record

Lee Wiley - But Not For Me / 'Swonderful - Varsity - USA - 245 (1950)

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Lee Wiley - I've Got A Crush On You / Someone To Watch Over Me - Liberty Music Shop - USA - L 282 (1939)

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Dwight Fiske - All Out Annie / Mrs. Trapp - Gala - USA - 194 (1945)

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