Betty Hutton At The Saints & Sinners Ball

 

The Hogwash Junction Function

Betty Hutton At The Saints & Sinners Ball

With the Jack Latimer Singers

Arranged and Conducted by Jerry Fielding

Warner Bros. Records W 1267

1959

From the back cover: Looking at Betty Hutton's career as a rags to riches musical comedy star, with an eye to her volcanic and irrepressible technique, one facet of her personality is especially vivid – her intense demand for realism and authenticity in everything she does.

During the filming of the late Ceil B. DeMille's production "The Greatest Show On Earth" for example, Betty played the role of a circus aerialist, a role that normally would call for a stand-in to do a series of lengthy and hair raising high wire trapeze turns. Exemplifying the spirit of perfection that has always been part of her make-up, Miss Hutton patiently learned to perform on the trapeze herself after months of study, a departure from the Hollywood norm that stunned even her friends, as well as Mr. DeMille.

Betty insisted upon the very same standards when she set out to record this album. When first approached with the idea of making a truly authentic album that would personify a rocking, hand clapping saint one moment, and an equally fire and brimstone sinner the next, Betty first let the idea sink in, and after enthusiastic approval, she set her sights for authenticity in much the same manner as a research physicist digging into a thorny mathematical problem.

After determining that there would be no better locale than New Orleans for material and feeling, since after ll the city by the delta gave birth to more saints and sinners than most, Betty, her manager Eddie Dukoff and arranger-conductor Jerry Fielding embarked on a southern hiatus.

During their stay there, a visit that saw each day begin and end at an ungodly hour, Betty and company toured the entire city, visited every bistro that could accommodate a piano, and spoke and listened to hundreds of musicians. As a result of their scouring they were able to accumulate an impressive group of new songs, and interpretations of older songs that give this album its great strength. Material fitting both "Saints" and "Sinners" was located in its most riotous, boisterous form, and for authenticity, Betty had gathered an impressive warehouse of knowledge about the material, its origin, and the way it was and should be played. And it was at the Absinthe House that she met a wonderful gentlemen with a wonderful name; Pleasant Joseph. They kept him playing and singing until dawn's early light, and it was his unique approach to songs and their delivery that gave Betty still more enthusiasm for this project.

It's said that one of the things that makes a Broadway production a joy and gives it that very special feeling is that aura of believability the cast injects into its performance. IT's that way purely and simply because the players have lived with their material. It's true too of Miss Hutton, because she's lived with every last blessed note in this album. She painstakingly worked at the repertoire; maestro Jerry Fielding, a musician with a reputation for skill, clarity and dedication carved the music out of vivid and lasting memory. What is interesting is that not a single note was recorded until a total of eight weeks of constant rehearsal, review and living with the repertoire were behind them.

A word about the repertoire. As perviously noted, some of the songs are brand spanking new, others quite familiar. We doubt though, that you've ever heard "Saints" sung and preached with such fervor for neatly five minutes. "Chicken Hawk," penned by Pleasant Joseph and Peter Wendell, is typical of the new material Miss Hutton garnered during her sojourn in New Orleans, and features a great tenor sax solo by Plas Johnson (courtesy of Capitol Records). Plas incidentally is also shown to good advantage on "Rock And Roll Shoes," and "Blackberry Boogie."

"Basin St. Blues," the venerable Spencer Williams favorite, is simply a gas. It's got a fantastic trombone solo by the widely known and reputed Murray MacEachern (courtesy of Capitol Records), and is by far one of the most impassioned songs Betty has ever sung.

There's an interesting sidelight to the song "Search My Heart." In developing the "saints" segment of this album Betty spent a great deal of time at various churches in an effort to find an unusual approach to the material, and perhaps find some new songs, too. She was elated when she came across the Antioch Evangelist Temple Choir and after settling on "Search My Heart," asked the Choir to accompany her. Their performance as accompanists was so vibrant, so electric that Betty disbanded the idea to sing solo against the choir, and immediately suggested that the group record this song on their own.

The music for this album was arranged and conducted by Jerry Fielding, a musician whose reputation needs little introduction. He's long been one of Hollywood's most talented arrangers, scoring for book shows in Las Vegas, writing for radio, television and motion pictures and before that touring with great success with a band of his own. His tour de force is his originality, his singular approach to every new music project he tackles.

"Betty Hutton At The Saints & Sinners Ball" is a unique album by a unique performer. The vigorous passion she injects in each selection is graphically incisive, it has a bite we've seldom heard before. The odds are you'll want more Hutton after listening to this album.

Chicken Hawk

How Long (Blues)

Whole World In His Hands

Rock And Roll Shoes

When The Saints Come Marching In

The Hogwash Junction Function

Basin Street Blues

Search For My Heart (Vocal solos by Odessa McCastle and Catherine Burks with the Antioch Evangelist Temple Choir)

Lazy Man

Blackberry Boogie