From 1934 through 1949 at Decca Records, the catalog of owner Jack Kapp reflected his conservative tastes—Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby recorded Hawaiian Music, corny hotel bands were staples, and there were many country artists signed. When he died in 1949, brother Dave Kapp took over. Already on board as West Coast Musical Director was Sonny Burke.
Reportedly Burke was on vacation in Mexico and heard a record that he thought had commercial possibilities. Arranger/bandleader Pérez Prado had been active in Cuba, but his music was considered too advanced, and he moved to Mexico to continue his career. Burke heard his Que Rico el Mambo and recorded a cover of it reproducing the arrangement exactly, calling it Mambo Jambo. It became a hit, and Prado subsequently moved to the U.S., formed a band and toured, as well as signing with RCA Victor.
Burke’s studio ensemble was made-up of all-star musicians, and seeing that there was clearly a big demand for latin music, he recorded a series of powerful mambo sides, in which he was the primary arranger, but contributions by Ray Conniff and Billy May (ASMAC President 1981–1982) were also recorded (“Long Hair Mambo” and “Short Hair Mambo” were both written by May). He also made mambo recordings with The Andrews Sisters and Gary Crosby.
And the bandleading bug returned. Burke appeared at the Hollywood Palladium with an excellent big band. Reportedly he was the band’s biggest fan, thrilled to be standing up in front of these fabulous musicians. Burke also played anything that outside writers brought in, and Nelson Riddle (an old friend from the Charlie Spivak days), Hal Schaefer, Paul Nero and Laurindo Almeida submitted music that was played and recorded.
First, here’s the recording that started it all, Mambo Jambo from his album Beach Mambo:
- Happy Mambo
- Here’s Long Hair Mambo by Billy May because it is hysterical!!!
- Mamboogie by Burke
Burke also recorded straight-ahead swing. Obviously he needed a dance book if he was appearing at the Palladium. Here’s Fugue for Tinhorns from the-then current Broadway hit musical Guys and Dolls.
Just one of Those Things has (I believe) the trombone of Joe Howard.
I Want to be Happy has a vocal by JoAnn Greer.
The Grabber features his amazing trumpet section. I’m sure that you can figure out which standard inspired the chord structure! Conrad Gozzo is most certainly lead, and Pete Candoli is here as well. Paul Smith is the pianist.
The great thing about composers like Nelson Riddle bringing in music unsolicited is that they were able to experiment. In his arranging text, Nelson discussed the creation of a ‘toolbox,’ techniques and ideas that he would try and discover whether they worked or not. Having Dubonnet Blonde as an example, written a couple of years before his Sinatra work, is indeed a treasure which tells us so much more about him. He loved writing original music and film scores more than anything.
We end this chapter in Burke’s life and career with a recording of a mambo, The Mambo Man, with The Andrews Sisters.
Our next installment delves into more of his songwriting and film work, and includes clips of him and Peggy Lee.
