Junior Prom - Lawson - Haggart

 

When My Dream Boat Comes In

Junior Prom

With The Lawson - Haggart Sextet

Produced and Directed by Andy Sannella

Technical Director: Robert Engler

Recording Director: Aaron Nathanson

Recording Engineer: Ed Abele

Everest Hi-FI LPBR-5040

Trumpet Soloist - Yank Lawson

Bass - Bobby Haggart

Clarinet - Bill Stegmeyer

Trombone - Lou McGarity

Drums - Cliff Lehman

Piano - Lou Stien and Dick Hyman (Hyman appears through courtesy of MGM Records)

From the back cover: Yank Lawson, Bob Haggart and their exuberant sidemen have been well known for some time as consistently entertaining players of a spontaneous blend of free-wheeling Dixieland with a swing era feel and beat and freedom for the soloists. This album focuses on a new and encouragingly successful role they've found for themselves – playing dance music for high school teenagers.

It all started with a concert that Lawson - Haggart gave in the summer  of 1958 at Sony Brook in New York. The concert gave the Air Force the idea of enlisting this band to play Saturday night high school dances as part of a project to interest more juniors and seniors in the advantages of selecting the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Coloragdo, for their military service.

These were youngsters who, for the most part, were attuned to rock and roll and knew little about the kind of music Lawson and Haggart played. "The response," says Bob Haggart, "turned out to be very good. When we first come out, the kids just didn't know what to expert. But once they heard us and became accustomed to what we were doing, they loved it. They found that our music, like rock and roll, had a strong beat, but that it was also good music. We were happy to find that our kind of music made them want to dance, and I hope our experience is a sign that more of the kids are going to get tired of rock and roll and demand more variety in their music."

In making this album, Lawson and Haggart operated in their characteristic informal manner of music making. "There were no written arrangements," explains Haggart. "We talked over what we are going to do before each number, and then played," Or, as pianist Lou Stein put it. "We had a ball enjoying what we'd do for fun."

The basic plan of the repertoire was to choose tunes that might fit with teenagers in love, going steady, looking forward to the junior prom – from If I Had You to After You've Gone. "As it turned out," adds Haggart, "they were also some of our favor standards."

Bob Haggart first became a poll winner in the music magazines when he was a prominent member of the Bob Crosby orchestra. His specialty, Big Noise From Winnetka, in which he whistled and played a duet with drummer Ray Bauduc is still remembered, and in fact, was related by Bob as a famous TV commercial not too long ago. Bob left the road and became a network and free-lance recording musician in New York in the forties. He now does a lot of studio work, including the Perry Como Show, and is a partner in a prosperous jingle firm, Faillace Productions, INc.

His pungent co-leader, trumpeter Yank Lawson, also won his first major acclaim withe with the Bob Crosby band, and continued his career with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman before he to became a network musician in New York. Yank is on the NBC staff, and can be heard on the morning Bandstand series and the Perry Como Show, among others. His work is marked by its drive, zest, and wit.

Lou McGarity is one of the warmest, most emotionally direct of all trombonists. He plays with a sweep and a joy that this writer has always found contagious. Lou through the years has worked with Benny Goodman, Raymond Scott, and Eddie Condon, among others, and as of this writing, his network assignments include the Arthur Godfrey Show.

Bill Stegmeyer, like the co-leader is an alumnus of the Bob Cosby band in which he played alto saxophone. Stegmeyer is best known as an arranger, but Bob Haggart feels he also deserves credit as a clarinetist, and hopes this album help in getting him that recognition.

Drummer Cliff Lehman is also a big band veteran. He ignited the orchestras of Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, John Kirby, Raymond Scott, Jimmy Dorsey, and Glen Gray. He's had considerable small combo experience with leader like Bobby Hackett and Eddie Condon. He's been active in radio and TV network shows s well as with his frequent appearances wiht the Lawson - Haggart Sextet.

The pianist alternating on the album are unusually versatile musicians, Lou Stein (who played on C'est Si Bon, Pennies From Heave, Too Marvelous For Words, Am I Blue and You're Just In Love) has had all kinds of experience from Glenn Miller to Charlie Ventura to commercial hits to classical composition to his recent acting-playing role in the Broadway hit Say, Darling.

Dick Hyman, who has had several albums of his own, also has been trained thoroughly in the disciplines of classical music, and has worked with nearly every style of jazz band as well as many commercial units. He does much radio and TV work, and is expert – as he has demonstrated in educational jazz concerts – at imitating most jazz piano styles. Say Bob Haggart: "I doubt if there's anything he can't do."

Besides the fact that these are all first-rate musicians, the reason why this kind of music appeals so basically to those who like to dance is, as Bob Haggart says, "because it has so much exuberance. As soon as  you hear it, you can't help by feel the enthusiasm we ourselves have. We get such a kick out of each other, and that feeling immediately is  communicated to the dancers and listeners.

"I think," adds Haggart, "that the key result of the dances we've been playing is that we've proved that our kind of music not only can be danced to, but is really made for dancing."

In that respect, the Laswon-Haggart band is in a direct line from the earliest jazz units which were intended primarily to provide music for dancing, and which found that they received as much from the dancers as the gave. The rapport between the musicians and the listeners who participated with their bodies in the music, made for warmth and spontaneous pleasure on the part of everybody at the dance; and it's this quality that can be found again in the dance music of the Lawson - Haggart Sextet. – Nat Hentoff

Jeepers Creeper

When My Dream Boat Comes In

C'est Si Bon

If I Had You

Pennies From Heaven

Too Marvelous For Words

I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

Exactly Like You

After You've Gone

Am I Blue

You're Just In Love