Holidays always kick up the ol’ daydream machine a notch or two, but I guess I’m not the only one with that reaction. Most of us have a lot of memories squirreled away in our heads and it doesn’t take much to jar some of them loose from their hiding places.

Thinking about the just-finished holiday, I was going through some old pictures and ran across a very simple one from over fifty years ago. It was taken at my maternal grandparents’ house during one of our big family holiday dinners, and it shows one of my many aunts pitching in for the massive cleanup effort that always followed in the aftermath of those events.

The men were probably in the front room playing pinochle while the women did all the work, but somehow I don’t think the ladies minded that much. I seem to remember that they enjoyed a lot of lively discussions amongst themselves while dealing with the mess, and loud laughter erupted on a regular basis. Besides, we all know that having a lot of help lightens the load and when you figure that Grandma had a bunch of daughters, step-daughters, and daughters-in-law available, I doubt that anyone suffered too much.

“Vintage All-American Dream” – Tennessee Boltsmokers

One of the things I enjoy most about digging into music history is the way the process sometimes leads me into unexplored territory. The latest example occurred while I was putting together a recent piece about pop star Mel Carter and ran across another singer, a mysterious lady who’d also had a best-selling record of Mel’s big hit, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me,” but a dozen years earlier.

At that time the singer was known as Karen Chandler, but she had performed earlier in her career as Eve Young, and was actually born Eva Nadauld. Although her birth date is unknown, she was a native of Idaho who attended Brigham Young University, which might have helped her pick her first stage name. In any case, by the time she made her first documented professional appearance — singing with Benny Goodman’s band on a 1946 radio show — Miss Nadauld was calling herself Eve Young.

Over the next several years Eve Young continued to make a name for herself, first by making more appearances with Goodman and later by working her way into early TV, gaining spots on variety shows like Musical Merry-Go-Round. She also managed to land a recording contract, which led to several successful records, among them “For You, for Me, for Evermore,” and “Cuanto la Gusta.” At some point along the way she’d also married arranger Jack Pleis, although the date is uncertain.

By 1950, Eve Young’s recording contract had expired and she was beginning to cool off a little, but she still continued to show up in key spots from time to time. One of her best was a spotlighted turn on TV’s Martin and Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour. (You can see her in the video below if you wait out Jerry’s long introduction).

In 1952 Eve Young decided to completely reinvent herself. She lightened her hair, changed her name to Karen Chandler, and managed to land a new recording contract. Her debut recording for Coral Records, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me,” rose up the charts into the Top Ten and became her biggest seller. It was followed by other solid successes like “Goodbye Charlie, Goodbye,” and “Why?”, but overall her record sales began to slip.

Trying something a little different, in 1956 she teamed up with country singer Jimmy Wakely on “Tonight You Belong to Me,” and the record did well but things pretty much wound down after that. Although she did attempt a brief comeback a few years later, by the late 1960s her career was over and she had disappeared from view.

I had intended to write a piece about crooner Jack Jones, who has had — and continues to have — a long and successful career as a jazz and pop singer. But I decided to save that for another day, and instead tell the story of his talented dad, Allan Jones, who paved the way via his genes and his influence.

The Pennsylvania-born Jones was the son of a coal miner, and spent some time underground himself as a young man but was able to sing his way into a scholarship that took him out of the mines. He would spend the next several years in New York, Paris and London, receiving a classical musical education that included operatic training.

By the early Thirties, he had returned to New York and immediately began working toward a career in music, but even though he did find some work singing the classics, he soon began to make a name for himself on Broadway. And — as was the case with many stage performers — he also soon found himself in Hollywood.

For a number of years, he was a popular performer who seemed to glide effortlessly from Broadway to Hollywood and back again. His best-remembered movie roles from those days are mostly parts that leaned on his singing ability. Good examples are two Marx Brothers’ films — A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races.  He’s also remembered for an early version of Showboat (see video below) and for a movie called The Firefly, which furnished what became his signature song, “Donkey Serenade.”

Although his film work eventually slowed, Allan Jones continued to work regularly for many years — not only on Broadway, but as a popular nightclub entertainer. He also had the pleasure of seeing his son Jack become a popular crooner, and the twosome often performed together. (Once making a fun appearance on a episode of Love Boat.)

Allan Jones died at age 84 in 1992, and is still remembered — and appreciated — by many.

Eddie Allen is a busy man these days. Last month I reviewed the veteran jazz trumpeter’s new album as the leader of a large band called the Aggregation. That effort was a solid collection of big-band music, and the band was — well — big, with something like 17 members.

Now Eddie is fronting a smaller group and joining the current explosion of seasonal music with Jazzy Brass For The Holidays. Eddie also produced the album, which is now out on the DBCD label.

As you might expect from the title, Eddie’s sextet is dominated by brass instruments. Joining Eddie on trumpet is Cecil Bridgewater, and they’re accompanied by W. Marshall Sealy on french horn and Clark Gayton on trombone. Filling out the group are bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Carl Allen (who also tickles the glockenspiel from time to time).

The 14 songs on the album are pretty much those you’d expect, but no less enjoyable for that, especially if you like your holiday music brassy and swinging. It works out pretty well for songs like “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing,” and “Deck The Halls,” which was especially nice.  The style might be a little less successful on softer songs, like “O Holy Night,” but some listeners might still appreciate the mellow sounds of trombone and french horn.

Eddie also arranged all the pieces here, and several mirror the veteran musician’s jazz background, turning up the bop a notch or two. My favorite was probably the rousing “Good King Wenceslas-Cool King Wenceslas,” but a number of other tracks also evoked some retro memories. Some of the best include “Frosty The Snowman,” and the bouncy version of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” which certainly must break some kind of record for the greatest number of exclamation marks in a song title.

If you’re looking for seasonal music with a difference, Jazzy Brass For The Holidays is a package you’ll enjoy opening. Recommended.

Although there were many exceptions, the majority of the groups that specialized in the type of close-harmony singing known as doo-wop fell into two categories. The earliest was the R&B-inspired music that mostly came out of the black urban environment, but close on its heels was the sound of the Italian-American groups, mostly originating in the big Eastern cities. Randy and the Rainbows was just such a group, and their hit “Denise” is still one of the most familiar songs from the era.

Randy and the Rainbows was a quintet that originated in the Queens section of New York, and was formed by two sets of brothers joined by another singing pal. By the early Sixties brothers Frank and Dominick “Randy” Safuto had already bounced around the New York music scene for a while, as had Mike and Sal Zero. When the four got together and added Ken Arcipowski to the mix, they began to call themselves Randy and the Rainbows, and it wasn’t long before they were able to make it into a recording studio.

In 1963 they recorded a song written by Neil Levenson, one that was inspired by a friend of his (who actually spelled her name Denice) and that would later become “Denis,” a minor hit for Blondie. But as “Denise,” performed by Randy and the Rainbows, the song would have its biggest success, becoming a Top Ten hit.

Although the group would continue to record after their big hit, and would sell some records with the similar-sounding “Why Do Kids Grow Up” (video below), Randy and The Rainbows would never reach the level of their one big song. But through the years the band has come together a number of times and in various configurations, and its members have had some success on the Oldies circuit. Additionally, both Randy Safuto and Mike Zero maintain websites dedicated to their group and its glory days.

I’ve always enjoyed finding examples of a peculiar practice that seems to occur most often in country music — singers hitting the studio to record “answer” songs. For the uninitiated, that’s a type of song that follows a big hit by another singer, and either answers a question posed by the original, or just presents a different viewpoint.

I’ve written about answer songs before — most recently in a piece about Kitty Wells, who followed up Hank Thompson’s “Wild Side Of Life” with her retro-feminist offering of “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels.” But Kitty is a country music legend herself, with a long list of classics to her credit. For a few singers, an answer song would end up being their one and only hit. Jeanne Black was one of those.

Gloria Jeanne Black grew up in Pomona, California, and first began to attract some attention in the Fifties by appearing on local radio, eventually earning a regular spot on the Hometown Jamboree TV show. Within a few years she’d managed to make some appearances in Las Vegas and had also married guitarist Billy Strange (who would later make a name for himself by working with everybody from Elvis Presley to the Beach Boys).

For her breakout record in 1960, Jeanne performed the answer to a song that had been a number-one hit for crooner Jim Reeves, “He’ll Have to Go.” The song was sad and soulful, and Jim’s smooth and mellow delivery turned it into a country music classic. Jeanne’s answer didn’t beat around the bush — it was titled “He’ll Have to Stay.”

Jeanne’s recording did very well, making its way into the top ten on the charts and earning her a gold record (based on world sales) but she was never able to duplicate its success. She eventually retired from active recording and performing, but can currently be found helping with Billy Strange’s website.