20,000 vinyl LP 214: Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)

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Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans) 

vinyl LP album front cover 

album cover photo by Charlie Rotkin 

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Paul Weston was born on March 12, 1912, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music". His compositions include popular music songs such as I Should Care recorded by Frank Sinatra (links below), Day by Day recorded by Doris Day (links below), and Shrimp Boats (link below) with Paul Mason Howard. He also wrote classical pieces, including Crescent City Suite and religious music, authoring several hymns and masses.        

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans) 

vinyl LP album back cover

photo by Styrous®

In 1951, he conducted the orchestra for the song, Shrimp Boats (link below), recorded by Jo Stafford, Weston's wife. I was a kid at the time and loved this song; I drove my mother insane singing the refrain, "Why don't you hurry, hurry, hurry home!", from it over and over while waltzing around the kitchen and living room.      
   
It is a gently, bouncy waltz with a smooth tempo, that stops and gets slow for a lovely description of the women of Louisiana watching their men folk set off to sea in their boats in the evening with a moon guiding their way. In the distance there is an echoey, female vocal singing, "Ils y vont" ("There they go"). It tells of the lonely nights when the men are gone, then the joy when they return. It is a wistful, lovely and rousing song.      
       
In 1952, bandleader Ben Pollack filed a suit against Weston, Howard and the publishers, Disney Music, alleging that the words of the song infringed his rights in relation to a non-copyrighted song, The Cajun Song, which he claimed Weston had heard in 1945.        
       

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans) 

vinyl LP album back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

The Crescent City Suite, was composed in 1956 and performed in New Orleans at the Municipal Auditorium in 1957 with Weston conducting. There was enough interest in the composition for a version for school bands to be made available in 1959; a symphonic version was also issued.   
          
The music is what is now known generally as easy listening but was not called that then. Two exceptions that are my favorites are Ferryboat To Algiers and Riverfront Blues.       

Ferryboat To Algiers is a moderate speed,  with a Dixieland feeling to it song with a great clarinet, a trumpet and, of course, a tuba.             
      
Riverfront Blues starts with lush strings but then picks up with a fantastic swing time mood that features a beautiful trio of a clarinet followed by a mellow trumpet then a smooth sax.         
 

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (Moods Of New Orleans)    

vinyl LP album back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

In 1957 Weston was named musical director for NBC-TV, a position he held for five years, a founding member and the first president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.  
      
Weston and his wife Stafford would do skits at their parties where he would play the role of a simply horrible lounge pianist and she would vocalize in off-key melodies to the tunes he tried to play. They started recording these skits in 1957 under the name Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.     

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans) 

vinyl LP album back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

The album cover photographer, Charlie Rotkin, had a career that spanned more than 50 years and his work has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.     

He was a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (link below) and was its President from 1955 to 1957.        

        

In a 1992 interview, he was asked, What do you think of the ASMP today? He replied, "Not very much. I think they’ve become so money-hungry and so publicity-oriented by the advertising aspects of photography that they have lost sight of their origins."       

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans) 

vinyl LP album back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

He and his wife, Jo Stafford, retired from performing in the 1970s. Active for many years in charities helping the developmentally disabled, the Westons gave more of their time to these groups after their retirement. The AbilityFirst work center in Woodland Hills, California is named in Weston's memory. Weston died on September 20, 1996, in Santa Monica, California, he was 84 years old. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. In 2006, Jo Stafford donated her husband's library and her own to the University of Arizona. She died in 2008, aged 90.       

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans) 

vinyl LP record labels, side 1 & 2 details

detail photos by Styrous®

      

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1     Crescent City    
A2     Vieux Carre    
A3     Riverfront Blues    
A4     Storyville    
A5     Bayou St. John    
A6     High Society    

Side 2:

B1     Creole Songs And Dances    
B2     Miss Lucy    
B3     Ferryboat To Algiers    
B4     Esplanade At Sunset    
B5     Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen    
B6     Mardi Gras    

Credits:

    Photography By – Charlie Rotkin

Notes:

Paul Weston and his Music from Hollywood (Printed on Spine & Back Cover)
This release has cover header with white background with green and orange lettering and COLUMBIA on a blue background. Cover is similar to Canada release of CL 977, but has Printed in U.S.A on front and back. Labels are red Columbia 6 eye with MADE IN U.S.A.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (A-Side Label): (x"Lp"39533)
    Matrix / Runout (B-Side Label): (x"Lp"39534)
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped Side A): XLP39533-1D II "star"
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped SideB): XLP39534-1C "star"

Paul Weston (2) ‎– Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)
Label: Columbia ‎– CL 977
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Modern, Classical
     
      
       

Viewfinder links:

        

Doris Day         

Frank Sinatra      
Jo Stafford         

Paul Weston        

       

Net links:

        

ASMP ~ Interviews with Charlie Rotkin        

       

        

       

YouTube links:

Doris Day ~ Day By Day   

Frank Sinatra ~ I Should Care        

Jo Stafford ~ Shrimp Boats      

Paul Weston ~ Crescent City (The Moods Of New Orleans)          
        Ferry Boat to Old Algiers                    
        Riverfront Blues 
        

   
   

"Why don't you hurry, hurry, hurry home!" 

                      ~ Shrimp Boats refrain

        

      

       

Styrous® ~ Thursday, March 12, 2020       

         

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