The Bob Bain Archives

The quartet closes out the month of September with Nick Fatool on the drum set, Jud De Naut playing bass and Ray Sherman at the piano again. The show had originally aired Saturday nights, but this would be the last weekend broadcast and the next show NBC decided to move to Monday. After our Lady Be Good intro, the quartet dances through a version of "The Continental" that Astaire must have loved. Song star Margo Powers is back with a lovely ballad version of "Too Marvelous For Words", then the quartet strides through Bob's remarkable combination of "Easy To Love" blended with "Haunted Heart". Margo shows off her Spanish chops with "You Belong To My Heart" (Latin Love, anyone?) before the quartet wraps the show with an extraordinarily tight pass at "Dark Eyes". Stay tuned!

The show switches to Mondays, and the announcer changes the format slightly as well: "You like music? Then stick around, we have some for you" will be the new line to kick off the show. Bob leads Ray Sherman on piano, Jud De Naut on bass, and Nick Fatool on drums and they start off with "Hair Of Gold, Eyes Of Blue" with a distinctive bop flavor. Our new announcer, "Eddie" gags it up with our old friend Margo Powers before she sings "I Surrender Dear". Bob leads the quartet through an adventuresome arrangement of "Yours", which we heard in Episode 6, and which he would revisit on Latin Love. Margo comes back for "Slow Boat To China" before Bob and the guys close things out with his original bop composition "Hop The Ditty". Mondays never felt so good!

Our new announcer, Eddie, cues up the quartet (Bob, Nick Fatool, Ray Sherman, and Jud De Naut) who play a brighter tempo version of “Lady Be Good” as intro. “Blue Room” was written by Rodgers & Hart back in the 1920’s, and many versions (the Dorsey Brothers and Benny Goodman, as well as in The Big Sleep) had already been heard. Song star Margo Powers lilts through “Ghost Of A Chance” before the quartet performs Adios, with Nick Fatool playing maracas for variety. Bob sets down his guitar to croon “Love Somebody” with Margo, a stronger version than we heard in podcast Episode 5. The set closes out with the great “Sweet Georgia Brown”, with precise synchronicity between Bob and Ray, and Bob’s alternate harmonics! 

The October 18, 1948 broadcast features the familiar lineup of Bob, Ray Sherman on piano, Jud De Naut on bass, and Nick Fatool on drums. They kick things off with a tight version of “Brazil”, then song star Margo Powers comes in for “The Man I Love”, enlivened by Bob’s solo. The quartet swings through the Ellington tune “Bojangles”. Margo returns for a paean to shiftlessness written by Joe Venuti and Lee Jarvis: “Ain’t Doin’ Bad Doin’ Nothin’”, but enterprising Bob closes out the date with a virtuosic version of “Dark Eyes”, with his harmonics and Ray Sherman’s dexterous piano taking us out on a high note indeed!

We skip along to November 1, 1948-the day before Dewey defeated Truman, and the day that Bob, Jud De Naut (bass), Ralph Collier (drums), and Tommy Todd (piano) first got together on the air. We can hear Todd’s unique approach right away on the Sweet Georgia Brown intro. It may be that Tommy could have used one more rehearsal on “Cuanto Le Gusta”, a tune recorded by Carmen Miranda, Bing Crosby, and Jack Smith (with the Clark Sisters). Note how Ralph Collier deftly switches from maracas to brushes, then back to maracas and bongo. Our clever announcer Eddie sidles up to song star Margo Powers before she caresses the Gershwin classic “Someone To Watch Over Me”, with Tommy more than redeeming himself in accompaniment. Bob’s bop tune “Hop The Ditty” showcases Todd and Bain’s inventiveness and highlights the group’s tight co-ordination. The rather more pedestrian “Slow Boat To China” swings well and Margo sounds great. The group closes out the show with “’S Wonderful” and Tommy Todd again displays the skills and promise which Bob saw in him.

This bonus episode showcases highlights from one of Bob’s most treasured recordings: Murray McEachern’s Music For Sleepwalkers Only. The complete album is available at CDBaby.com as either a digital download or compact disc. No Bob Bain collection is complete without it, and remember, it makes a great gift for Mom, Dad, grad, and anyone who loves good music!

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/murraymceachern2

 

Halfway through November we find Bob teamed up again with Tommy Todd on piano, Ralph Collier on drums, and Jud DeNaut anchoring on bass. Tommy’s singular, adroit approach is evident throughout, right from the beginning “Sweet Georgia Brown” and on into “Brazil”, where Ralph plays both drums and maracas. Unctuous announcer Eddie brings in song star Margo Powers to sing “Everybody Loves Somebody”, with Tommy switching over to celeste. Bob and… Jud? Tommy? sing together opposite Margo in “I May Be Wrong” (previously Bob sang on his own in the debut episode). Margo is on her own in “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” (Nat Cole’s iconic version was recorded later, in 1951). Tommy alternates on the celeste and piano for “When Dreams Come True”, giving Bob a great stage for his harmonic sensibilities. Engineer’s note-the recording engineer for this broadcast ranks near the bottom for his cloth ears. Discerning listeners will wonder why Bob sounds so off-mic at the top, was Margo’s mic really hot enough to hear her clearing her throat at the end of “Brazil”, is Bob using (and why are we hearing) a metronome for the last three tracks, why does Bob go off-and-on mic in “When Dreams Come True”. At least he got the NBC chime right! Sound gripes aside, this is fifteen minutes of bliss.

November 22, 1948 brings another session with Bob, Tommy Todd on piano, Jud De Naut on bass, and Ralph Collier on drums. After the “Sweet Georgia Brown” intro, the quartet revisits “Cuanto Le Gusta” (heard in Episode 15), this time at a slightly brighter tempo. Margo Powers takes a pass at “Ah But It Happens” (perhaps her entrance is why Bob noted on the sleeve “No”), with Tommy alternating on celeste and piano to great effect. Just as we heard last week, Bob and one of the guys sing with Margo; this time “Sometimes I’m Happy”. Margo cashes in with “The Money Song” (written that year by Harold Rome for the show “That’s The Ticket”, and recorded by Mel Tormé, The Andrews Sisters and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis). The quartet’s finale is another encore: “Blue Room”. Again, a slightly brighter tempo, and we can compare and contrast Tommy Todd’s approach to Ray Sherman’s (heard in Episode 13), as well as consider Ralph Collier vs. Nick Fatool. Bob and Tommy are clearly having fun on the outtro “Lady Be Good”. 

Our last episode for November of 1948 is also the last of four broadcasts with the estimable Tommy Todd (joined by Jud De Naut on bass and Ralph Collier on drums). Whether Tommy and Bob knew this was Tommy’s last date is a detail lost to history, but the session heard here clearly shows why Bob held him in such high regard. His adventurous nature is evident right off the bat in the “Sweet Georgia Brown” intro. This night we’ve got a substitute announcer “Hal” (fret not, Eddie will be back next week) who ushers in “The Continental” (we heard Ray Sherman play this in Episode 11). Song star Margo Powers holds the torch in “Maybe You’ll Be There” and acquits herself very nicely compared to the previous “NG” broadcast (our bonus of August 21, 1948). Next, a remarkable version of “I’ll Remember April”-Bob and Tommy’s interplay and Ralph Collier roaming from drums to percussion make this a standout. Margo comes back for “Lullaby Of Broadway”, which yet again shows off the band’s dexterous capabilities. The finale is “Cumana” (we’ve heard it in Episodes 1, 3, and 10), and what a finale it is-Tommy’s hypnotic, hyperkinetic solo, Ralph jumping from drums to percussion and back, and Bob’s sure-handed, propulsive lead guitar driving this whirling dervish to its conclusion. Our “Lady Be Good” outro is feels like the cool down after a race… 

The last word on Tommy Todd, from Bob: “Tommy Todd was close to being as good a piano player I have ever worked with. We worked around Hollywood in various nightclubs in late 46 47 and were on the way to greater things when Tommy decided to take another path with Jack Daniels.”

From the opening bars of the “Sweet Georgia Brown” intro, we can hear there’s a new kid in town on piano: twenty-three year old Hal Schaefer logs his one and only appearance on The Bob Bain Show, holding his own alongside Bob, Jud DeNaut on bass and Ralph Collier playing drums. Schaefer would later go on to fame as arranger and vocal coach for (among others) Marilyn Monroe (and his liaison with her was the cause of an infamous “wrong door raid” perpetrated by Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra). Here he plays mainly by the book and defers to Margo Powers for “Ah But It Happens” and giving Bob ample support on “Frenesi”. His skills as accompanist are plain in “At Long Last Love”, and for the closer “Dark Eyes”, his soloing chops are beyond dispute. Nice work for a sub! Next week Ray Sherman will return for nearly the duration of the show. Nice to hear you, Hal!