RIP Gene Puerling

[GA Russell]

I'm astonished there still are no obits in the major papers---at least picked up by Google News---for Gene Puerling.

My thoughts as well. I've been checking Google and the LA Times every day, and haven't found anything yet.

[jazzolog]

Perhaps the news services finally caught up with the death of Gene Puerling last week because some obits are beginning to appear. The LA Times was the first yesterday, and is notable for including the wonderful comment Bing Crosby made about The Hi-Lo's,

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/c...1,1634219.story

but this morning's column in the San Francisco Chronicle is even better, as Jon Hendricks is quoted. I left a comment online there, because of course Don Shelton didn't come in for Clark Burroughs.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/arti...2/BAUGVUHDD.DTL

[Teasing the Korean]

Thank you for those links, Jazzlog.

Has anyone heard the collection "A Musical Thrill?"

http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Thrill-Hi-Lo...6836&sr=1-1

It's a double CD on the Jasmine label, collecting all of the Hi-Lo's Trend and Starlight recordings. I was wondering about the sound quality.

[JSngry]

Sorry to hear about his passing. I've long been impressed by his arranging skills, and will admit to owning and enjoying the Singers Unlimited box. I expect much of their output might be considered too muzak-like for many here, but I enjoy the quality and harmonic sophistication of the arrangements (and Bonnie Herman is one talented singer!).

Ok...

I've long avoided The Singers Unlimited, because they reminded me of Paris Rutherford doing a KVIL jingle, only better (and if you don't get the reference, and you probably won't, then don't sweat it). That plus I'd only heard them with Oscar Peterson & The Boss Brass, two acts which I likewise blanketly avoid.

But...

I got to feeling brave the other day & got a copy of their album w/Robert Farnon, Sentimental Journey, and was freakin' blown away. No shit, that's some heavy stuff, both Farnon & Puerling. Opiated cough syrup, Gil Evans Barbara Song heavy. That's a good thing, yeah, that's a good thing.

So I got emboldened to check out two more sides, Feeling Free (w/Pat Williams) & A Special Blend (w/Claire Fisher) and...

UH oh...

A few cuts aside (notably a "Mood Indigo" that is all the way there), we're back in jingle land. Yeah, I hear the quality and harmonic sophistication of the arrangements, but I need..."more". I certainly "appreciate" these two sessions, I just don't like them.

But I love the set with Farnon.

So - where to go from here?

I'm thinking the three A Capella albums might be the route for me to go to get what I love out of this stuff, which is wild-assed imagination without the "cute" that Puerling has indulged in ever since Day One w/the Hi-Lo's (a quality which has often made me cringe, but Clark Burroughs could pull it off like probably nobody else alive, and even with him there were more than a few moments of wincedom. But it was ok, it was ok...).

The thing I'm noticing about these three albums is that the Farnon set is all standards, with the tempos all down or down-ish, which allow the phrasing to "float", thereby letting the voicings "hang" into the reverb. The other sides focus more on up tempos & have some contemporary pop tunes, which leads to a generally stilted kind of metronomic phrasing that just doesn't work for me all that well. Plus, the latter two albums are recorded with the fucked-up L.A. uber-isolated close-miked sound and then the horns pulled down into the mix but ht bass and drums are left up and they really don't hook up that well, and they don't swing even if they do.

But the Farnon set is perfect. And I'm thinking that the A Capella albums might lean more in the direction of the Farnon set than anything else - the emphasis on ballads and really badass vocal writing. Would that be correct?

I doubt we got that many SU buffs on here other than those who've already stepped up to say good-bye to Mr. Puerling, but anybody who can get the gist of what I do & don't like about what I've heard so far & can point me towards some more of what I do, hey, much love and big props to ya'!

[DukeCity]

OK, I'll cop to the fact that SU is a guilty pleasure of mine. And specifically, the A Capella stuff is really the orientation that I have. Even more specifically, the Christmas album; a mixture of fairly traditional carols and a handful of Puerling-ified arrangements. I don't think I even have the record with Farnon, but now I'm intrigued.

I'm not sure if you'll find any of those sides that will float your boat from start to finish. At least that's the way it was for me (I haven't pulled those out in a while). GP's writing is never less than good, and the singing is damn near flawless. But the records have a mix of pop tunes (Lennon & McCartney, etc.) which can be the biggest hit-n-miss element for me. The standards (Sweet Lorraine) and especially the ballads tend to be the ones that I'm least likely to fast forward through.

As an aside: I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where most school music programs do a vocal jazz thing of some kind. The term "Swing Choir" was the equivalent of "Stage Band" that was used to avoid the "J" word. So from 7th-12th grade I was usually participating either by playing or singing or both. Then I put in a few years with Paris Rutherford. So I have a pretty good feel for what that bag is about. And it can definitely run the gamut in terms of cheesiness/corniness/over-sentimentality with occasional moments of really beautiful, fairly deep writing/arranging. (plus, there were WAY more cute girls in the choir than in the jazz band).

[JSngry]

Thanks, Glenn. I think I'll hit the A Capella things for a taste. Sounds like that's what I'm most looking for, unless there's another side with Farnon...

Edited July 16, 2008 by JSngry

[DukeCity]

Just had a chance to check out the SU record with Farnon. Holy Cow! There's some really nice stuff there. A couple of observations after the first listen:

The restraint in terms of the orchestral weight makes the accompaniment a much better fit for SU than when they record with a "regular" big band like the Boss Brass. The Hi-Lo's thing has more of an "up" energy that can withstand the popping and powing of a full band. But the SU bag works best (for me) when they're not being "pushed", especially when they split into 6 and 8-part vocal writing.

That's not to say that Farnon's orchestrations are bland by any means. Nice string writing, flute/clar writing. I'm curious as to how much of the arranging/reharmonization was done by Farnon or Puerling (assuming that the voice writing was done by Puerling).

The stuff that really gets me is the wacked out endings on tunes like "The More I See You" and "I Get Along...". Takes the idea of the "deceptive cadence" to a kind of bizarre level. Sometimes reminds me of some of those slick barbershop quartet endings where the high tenor is holding the last note and the other 3 voices are resolving six ways to Sunday before they finally wrap it up.

And what about that high string line at the end of "Sentimental Journey"?!?!? (nice piccolo stuff on that one, too)

And finally, as much as the Puerling/Farnon writing is hip/colorful/slick, and as much as the SU nails the thick harmonies, the thing that probably grabbed me the most (having not really listened to SU for a few years) is the ridiculously perfect unison singing. Not "just" in tune, but blended and phrased together as well as anything you'll ever hear. I've always been curious about how they recorded that stuff. All four singing at once, then overdubbing extra parts, etc. If there's any documentary footage of a SU session, I'd love to see it!

[JSngry]

And what about that high string line at the end of "Sentimental Journey"?!?!? (nice piccolo stuff on that one, too)

Yeah, coming at the end of the album as it does, that sorta seals the deal that this really is music from another universe, and even if you know you can't live there, aren't you glad you got to came, and, oh well, ok, maybe we don't have to leave just yet...

Square bizness, this side has just gone on on my Desert Island list, Adult Pop Vocal subsection. I'm a sucker for thick, soaring layered vocal harmony and really hip, subversive string writing, and this side is sort of the epitome of both at once, so hey.

Also got a chance o check out A Capella 3 last night, and think I'm gonna spring for the complete A Capella Sessions set I've seen. Nothing's less than very good (at least on this one), and often enough it's pretty dazzling in terms of both writing & performance. The thing I most appreciate about it is that there's no "silliness", even when, as on "Anything Goes", you almost don't see how it can't help but be. That focus on sobriety really enhances what has got to be some of the best vocal writing ever done, by anybody. I mean, it takes some real mojo to have freakin' Singers Unlimited tackle "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" and not only not have it sound insultingly "white", but to also get so much shit happening with the layering and the harmony that it actually becomes "something else" entirely, something that still addresses the issue of feeling like a speck in a void, only this time the void is alive and intimidating by its mass and color, not cold and full of emptiness and bleakness.

Of course, they also do "The Way We Were", so it's not exactly a consistently perfect album. But I can deal with that.

[JSngry]

that's one of the damnedest things I've ever heard.

[sgcim]

21 hours ago, JSngry said:

that's one of the damnedest things I've ever heard.

How can you just walk out of the studio after a session like that? I wonder what Kellaway said about the experience with GP?

[mjzee]

Did they ever appear on The Gerry Todd Show?

 

[JSngry]

I've had that same though myself, but this kind of thing would never fly there:

Gerry needed ground at all times, he was one of those guys who would not ever let go, By the time it's over, this shit lets all kinds of go.