Taking a detour tonight and diving into some of the serious side of Spike Jones, recorded in 1946 for the Standard Transcription Company in Los Angeles.
Spike Jones was a household name in the 1940s, with outrageous take-offs on popular songs of the day and some insanity of their own. But Spike Jones was eager to let his audience know he wasn’t in it for the gags and mayhem. No, beneath that band of rioteers was a group of serious musicians who wanted to let you know they had a serious side too.
Of course, his label (RCA Victor) wasn’t too keen on presenting Spike Jones in this light and resisted attempts by Jones to record a few sides just to prove a point.
It became something of a quest, and in the end Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra (as they were known) did record a few sides for the Standard Transcription Company, an industry-only label that produced music for use by Radio Stations, in lieu of commercial discs. Since Standard was associated with RCA Victor it was at least a minor acknowledgement that Spike Jones and His City Slickers were so much more.
This batch of four recordings (from the 8 original sides) feature members of the band, augmented with strings and featuring vocals by Helen Greco, who just happened to be Mrs. Spike Jones when not in front of a microphone. RCA Victor did release versions of two of the songs in 1947 as Spike Jones Other Orchestra.
Although not groundbreaking at the time, and probably best described as Sweet Big Band, the sides didn’t receive the popularity Jones hoped they would.
While he enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Determined to show the world that he was capable of producing legitimate “pretty” music, he formed a second group in 1946. Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra played lush arrangements of dance hits. This alternate group played nightclub engagements and was an artistic success, but the paying public preferred the City Slickers and stayed away. Jones wound up paying some of the band’s expenses out of his own pocket. Some of the City Slickers band members appeared and recorded with the Other Orchestra, but most of the Other Orchestra personnel consisted of “serious,” accomplished studio musicians from the Los Angeles area.
The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is “Laura,” which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played hilariously by the City Slickers).
In case you aren’t familiar with “that side” of Spike Jones, here are four sides from that 1946 Standard Transcription session just to whet your appetite.
