Two By Zentner
“Midnight in Moscow”
Composed by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi; arranged by Bob Florence.
Recorded by Si Zentner and His Orchestra for Liberty in 1962 in Los Angeles.
Simon H. Zentner, first and solo trombone, directing: (possible personnel) Gene Goe, Chuck Foster, Phil Grossman and Blaine Hales, trumpets; Pete Anson and Thomas Main, tenor trombones; Bob Young, bass trombone; Bill Morimondo and Al Thompson, alto saxophones; Lou Orenstein and Stan Bronstein, tenor saxophones; John O’Keefe, baritone saxophone; Bob Florence, piano; Bob Bain or Al Hendrickson, guitar; Joseph Lepore, bass; Bob Gibson, drums.
The story:
Trombonist Tommy Dorsey cast a large shadow over American popular music during his years as a bandleader (1935-1956). At the core of Tommy’s great popularity as a bandleader was his virtuoso trombone playing. But in addition to that, he was an aggressive and shrewd businessman who did whatever was necessary to ensure that his band got the best work available. Dorsey was also one of the biggest selling artists on the Victor Records roster from 1935 until 1950, when he left that label. His absence there created a vacuum, which Victor management initially tried to fill by signing and promoting trombonist Buddy Morrow in 1952 as their choice to be TD’s successor. Morrow was also a marvelously talented trombonist, and a fine bandleader. But he was being asked in essence to duplicate Tommy Dorsey’s success at Victor, and by the early 1950s, no one, no matter what talent they had, could have done that. The pop music market had changed through the late 1940s, and big bands in the 1950s, no matter how good they were, were playing to progressively smaller audiences. Morrow soldiered on through the 1950s with a good band, but achieved only marginal success. Victor terminated their relationship with Morrow in 1954.
When Tommy Dorsey died unexpectedly in November of 1956, yet another vacuum was created, as he had been leading an excellent band then, one that had made a successful transition to television. Once again, a successor was put in place, trombonist Warren Covington. Covington, and later Buddy Morrow, led what was billed as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra for many years after that, but with only break-even success.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, another swing era veteran and trombone virtuoso, Si Zentner, decided to form a big band. His foray into bandleading started with an LP recorded at the end of 1958 by Zentner leading a band of Los Angeles studio musicians. That LP, entitled Introducing Si Zentner, His Trombone and Orchestra, was released in 1959 on the Bel Canto label, and it contained a mix of standards and new tunes, all impeccably performed. Zentner used Pete Anson, Wayne Dunstan and Bill Peterson to provide the arrangements. After this LP, and a Bel Canto follow-up (Swing Fever, with arrangements by Joe Dolny and John Bambridge) that was recorded in early 1959 hit the market, Zentner began touring on a limited basis, but still continued working in Los Angeles as a free-lance studio musician. (Above left: Si Zentner in 1959; he bore an uncanny resemblance to 1950s Hollywood film actor Richard Egan.)
Si Zentner on a recording date in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s, along with other heavies. To his right, trombonist Milt Bernhart; to his left, Tommy Pederson; the trumpets L-R are: John Best, Conrad Gozzo and Maynard Ferguson.
It appears that Zentner signed a contract to record for Liberty Records in late 1959. That relationship began with an LP recorded then titled Thinking Man’s Band, followed in January of 1960 by another, called Suddenly It’s Swing, with arrangements by Bob Chase and Bill Peterson. Zentner, nevertheless, continued working as a studio musician.
In September of 1960 Zentner recorded another LP for Liberty, called The Swingin’ Eye, with arrangements by Bob Chase, Pete Anson and Bob Florence. The musical relationship between Zentner and Florence would flourish after that, with Florence emerging as Zentner’s main arranger through the 1960s. By 1962, Si had also finally become a full-time bandleader. He operated a standing, touring big band from 1962 until 1965, when he began a successful career as a conductor of bands in Las Vegas casinos.
Si Zentner and his band playing at a venue in the early 1960s.
To add more details to the Si Zentner story, I will quote from a biographical sketch of him written by Greg Prato, which I have edited:
“While big bands seemed to be fading fast during the late 1950s and early ’60s, trombonist Si Zentner was one of the few to front a successful big band — enjoying both critical and commercial acclaim in the early 1960s. Born Simon Hugh Zentner on June 13, 1917 in New York City, the future bandleader began studying violin at the age of four before switching to trombone. He won a Guggenheim Scholarship on trombone in 1933, and at first intended to be a symphony musician. But after he began working summers at various resorts in the Catskills, he became interested in more commercial styles of music, and began working in Manhattan, including a stint as a member of Andre’ Kostelanetz’s radio orchestra. As the 1940s began, Zentner started his matriculation through several top-notch big bands, including those led by Les Brown, Harry James and Jimmy Dorsey.
Zentner settled in Los Angeles in the late 1940s where he worked as a studio musician. From 1949 through 1955, he was on the MGM staff (working on such hit movies as Singing in the Rain and A Star Is Born). The late 1950s were a time when Zentner was a full-time free-lance studio musician. His desire to front his own big band peaked at this time. He signed recording contract with Liberty Records toward the end of 1959. By 1962, he had assembled a standing swing band, and toured steadily with it. (He once claimed that his band played 178 consecutive one-night stands!) A number of popular Zentner LP releases came out around this time on the Liberty label: Thinking Man’s Band (1959); Suddenly it’s Swing (1960) and Waltz in Jazz Time (1963).
Zentner’s band won a staggering 13 straight Downbeat polls for “Best Big Band,” and Zentner himself was recognized as “Best Trombonist” in the Playboy Magazine Jazz Reader’s Poll. The Zentner band scored their biggest hit in 1961, with a Bob Florence-arranged “twist” version of Hoagy Carmichael’s tune “Up a Lazy River,” which managed to cross over into the Top 40 of the pop charts.
The public’s interest in big bands dwindled through the early 1960s to the point that even Zentner’s fine band found it increasingly hard to attract a substantial audience on tour. In 1965, Si disbanded his touring band and moved to Las Vegas where he opened the Tropicana Hotel’s lounge, the Blue Room, accompanying singer Mel Torme’. Three years later, Zentner was named musical director for one of Las Vegas’s longest-running floor shows, Folies Bergere. Intermittently after that he assembled and toured with other big bands for limited time periods.
As the 1990s progressed, Zentner recorded several new albums including: Road Band, Country Blues, and Blue Eyes Plays Old Blue Eyes. Later in the decade, Zentner was diagnosed with leukemia. Nevertheless, he kept performing up until six months prior to his passing, which occurred on January 31, 2000 in Las Vegas.”(1)
The music:
As Si Zentner’s big band began operations in the early 1960s, his management team decided that he should record some of the better then-current popular songs/hits in an effort to attract a younger audience. In addition, he was instructed by his business associates to limit as many of his recordings as possible to a two and a half minutes to facilitate them being played on mainstream AM radio. AM radio was still a major musical entertainment medium in the early 1960s. That brings us up, almost, to Zentner’s recording of “Midnight in Moscow.”
“Moscow Nights,” originally titled “Leningrad Nights,” is a song written by two Russians, that emerged in the early 1960s as an improbable hit in the West. It was composed by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi (music) and poet Mikhail Matusovsky (words) in 1955 under the title “Leningrad Nights.” At the request of the Soviet Ministry of Culture, the song was renamed “Moscow Nights,” with corresponding changes to its lyrics.
In 1956, “Moscow Nights” was recorded by Vladimir Troshin, a young actor of the Moscow Art Theater, for a scene in a documentary film about the Soviet athletic competition Spartakiad, in which athletes rest in Podmoskovye, a suburb of Moscow. The film did nothing to promote the song, but thanks to radio broadcasts of it the song gained popularity in Russia.
The Dutch jazz group New Orleans Syncopators recorded an arrangement of the song by its leader Jan Burgers under the title “Midnight in Moscow,” on January 4, 1961. That arrangement was also used by English trumpeter Kenny Ball when he and his small band recorded the song in London in September 1961, also under the title “Midnight in Moscow”. This version peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in January of 1962. In March of 1962, the Kenny Ball recording of “Midnight in Moscow” also reached number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it also topped the American easy listening chart for three weeks then.(2) Later in 1962 the song was recorded in the U.S. by The Chad Mitchell Trio.(3)
By then, Si Zentner had recorded the arrangement (timing 2:13) that Bob Florence had written for his band on “Midnight in Moscow.” It was released on a Liberty LP called The Stripper, which contained many other 1962 pop hits.
This performance is a very accurate snapshot of what the Zentner band was all about. First, it was a showcase for Zentner’s trombone, both as a solo instrument, and leading the trombone quartet. Second, the band was always well-rehearsed, and their ensemble sound was well-balanced and tight. Finally, they always swung.
I am not certain who the tenor saxophone soloist was, but he swings.
By the time Si Zentner’s Liberty LP entitled The Stripper was released in 1962, it is clear that he and his band were deeply into performing cover versions of hits of then-current pop tunes.
“Stranger on the Shore”
Composed by Bernard Stanley ” Acker” Bilk; arranged by Bob Florence.
Recorded by Si Zentner and His Orchestra for Liberty in 1962 in Los Angeles.
The music:
“Stranger on the Shore” is a piece for clarinet written in 1960-1961 by Acker Bilk. Bernard Stanley “Acker” Bilk (January 28, 1929 – November 2, 2014), was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register clarinet style, and distinctive stage appearance – goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat. The tune was written on a single scrap of paper by Bilk who initially titled it “Jenny,” after his young daughter.
Bilk recorded the tune in an arrangement by Leon Young in early 1961, with his clarinet backed by the Leon Young String Chorale. That recording was subsequently used as the theme song of a 1961 BBC TV production, Stranger on the Shore, which was a children’s serial shown on Sunday afternoons. This exposure of Bilk’s melody and recording provided immense promotion for it. Consequently, a single containing that recording was released in October of 1961 on EMI’s Columbia label. The label on that record states: “Theme from the BBC TV Series.” The single became a phenomenal success, topping the NME singles chart and spending nearly a year on the Record Retailer Top 50. It was the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1962, and reached number 1 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles charts. It is fifty-eighth in the official 2002 UK list of best-selling singles.
In the early 1960s, many cover versions of “Stranger on the Shore” were recorded in Europe and the U.S.
In May 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 took “Stranger on the Shore” on their mission to the moon. Gene Cernan, a member of the crew, included the tune on a cassette tape used in the command module of the Apollo spacecraft.(4)
A link to Acker Bilk’s recording of “Stranger on the Shore” can be accessed at endnote (5) below.
Si Zentner’s recording of “Stranger on the Shore” catches the wistful quality of Acker Bilk’s melody, and at the same time adds a bit of romance to the musical mix. Arranger Bob Florence clearly knew how to cast a slow-dance tune in a very attractive mode: In this arrangement, Zentner’s trombone is front and center, as both a solo instrument and in leading the lush trombone quartet. Florence used the quiet clarinets and celeste to create sounds that contrast perfectly with the trombones.
The recordings presented with this post were digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(1) Here is the link to Greg Prato’s Zentner biographical sketch: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/si-zentner-mn0000754514
(2) Here is a link to Kenny Ball’s recording of “Midnight in Moscow”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o744d4mwOgQ
(3) Information on the song “Midnight in Moscow” comes from the Wikipedia post on it.
(4) Information on the song “Stranger on the Shore” comes from the Wikipedia post on it.
(5) Here is a link to Acker Bilk’s recording of “Stranger on the Shore”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgFaFW5fcoQ
Splendid as usual.