Wanting to stay in California, Sonny Burke free-lanced. This part of his story will focus on the artists he wrote for after WWII.
He arranged for Mel Tormé and Artie Shaw, who were both affiliated with the Musicraft label.
Here is I’ve Got the Sun in the Mornin’ (and the Moon at Night), with Artie Shaw and Mel Tormé and the Meltones. Tormé wrote the vocal arrangements for the Mel-Tones.
Burke got another major break when he was hired to write arrangements for Dinah Shore, who had an important radio show for Ford, The Ford Show. Some of these arrangements were recorded for Columbia.
The next big break in his life happened in 1947 when he collaborated with Lionel Hampton and wrote Midnight Sun. Recorded hundreds of times, this is a performance filmed for television in 1950.
Black Coffee was first recorded by Sarah Vaughan in 1949. Joe Lipman wrote the arrangement. The song of course became a standard.
Many other recorded performances of the song followed. One of the most important may have been the Decca side recorded by Peggy Lee and produced by Burke. Lee would later collaborate with Burke for an important animated film for Walt Disney, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.
I had to include this, a performance by Ann Richards with Stan Kenton’s orchestra. Bill Holman wrote the arrangement. This stayed in the vault for years until it was finally issued in the 1970’s.
Part III will explore Burke’s days as west coast musical director at Decca Records, his excellent big band from the early 1950’s, and his collaboration with Peggy Lee for Walt Disney Studios.
