Pop Musical Muse 9/17/2021: A Salute to 1950s Instrumentals

We’re not talking about rhythm and blues or rock ‘n’ roll or elevator music here. Nor songs by all the male and female crooners from the era. We’re talking about big bands and orchestras that emerged a decade or so earlier that supported and backed mostly white singers of the day. We’re talking about bonafide smash number one hits on Billboards charts for a lengthy period of time. The most popular, spending 11 weeks at number one in 1950, was The Third Man theme from the movie of the same name. 

• The Third Man, Anton Karas

The zither was the lead instrument played by Austrian Anton Karas in this classic. Other lead instruments from this decade included the piano, guitar, saxophone and trumpet. Occasionally instrumentals would include a brief appearance from a vocalist, and more often than not a chorus, as heard in Jimmy Dorsey’s So Rare.

• So Rare, Jimmy Dorsey

Not so rare were the sounds and rhythms of Latin America that permeated the airwaves in the mid-fifties with bands led by Tito Puente, Desi Arnaz, and king of the mambo Perez Prado, whose Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White hit number one in March of 1955 and stayed there for ten weeks.

• Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, Perez Prado

When I first heard this record, I thought Prado was playing the trumpet. Prado was the bandleader and Billy Regis was the trumpet player. Disc jockeys rarely mentioned the distinction. What do you suppose knocked Cherry Pink from the top spot? It wasn’t Learnin’ the Blues by Frank Sinatra. It wasn’t A Blossom Fell by Nat King Cole. It was the theme song from The Blackboard Jungle and rock ‘n’ roll’s first number one: Rock Around the Clock.

• Rock Around the Clock, Bill Haley

Were the days of the ’50s instrumental over? Not by a long shot. Haley’s fox trot was replaced by Mitch Miller’s The Yellow Rose of Texas, which in turn was replaced by probably the most innocuous piano forte I ever experienced as a ten-year-old kid at the time. While I appreciated almost all that the ’50s instrumentals had to offer, I couldn’t quite bear the constant tirading tinkle that pianist Roger Williams invented in a tune he called Autumn Leaves, which dominated the airwaves in the fall of 1955.

• Autumn Leaves, Roger Williams

Capitol Records must have been pleased when Williams vacated the charts, because the next two major instrumentals that appeared on the radio were both theirs—back to back. All the major labels back then had their own arrangers, producers, and conductors. RCA had Hugo Winterhalter, Columbia Percy Faith and Mitch Miller, and Capitol featured Billy May, Les Baxter, and Nelson Riddle, all formidable talents on the pop scene, especially in the fifties. For example, not only was Nelson Riddle producing a very hot Frank Sinatra, he was churning out his own hits as well, like Lisbon Antigua in December of ’55.

• Lisbon Antigua, Nelson Riddle

Other Capitol number ones around this time included Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford and Memories Are Made of This by Dean Martin. Capitol scored again instrumentally with The Poor People of Paris by Les Baxter, on the heels of Riddle’s Lisbon Antigua.

• The Poor People of Paris, Les Baxter

Baxter had earlier hits like April in Portugal, Ruby, The High and the Mighty (from the movie) and Unchained Melody. Poor People reached number one in March of ’56 and stayed there for six weeks. What I loved about radio blaring forth in the 1950s was that you never knew what kind of music you were going to be exposed to. Unlike today, where musical genres are separated, back then you could hear pop, instrumental, jazz, R&B, country, and rock ‘n’ roll right next to each other. In April of 1956, a year after Bill Haley made the scene, rock ‘n’ roll more than resurfaced when Elvis Presley arrived in the form of Heartbreak Hotel, knocking Les Baxter from the top spot.

• Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley

But even Elvis, with his astounding debut in 1956, still had to compete with the coveted instrumental efforts of the day still to come, thanks in part to Hollywood, which continued to release scores from the popular movies of the period.

• Moonglow/Picnic, Morris Stoloff

That included the title theme from Picnic, a saucy and sexual affair that encompassed two songs into one, that being Moonglow and Theme from Picnic by Morris Stoloff, my mom’s favorite record out of all of these. I never saw the film with William Holden and Kim Novak, but I loved the arrangement. 

• Canadian Sunset, Hugo Winterhalter 

The last major instrumental gem to make noise in the mid to late fifties was an explosive composition led by bandleader Hugo Winterhalter, which was kept from the top spot by Elvis Presley’s follow up to Heartbreak Hotel and I Want You I Need You I Love You. The double-sided smash Don’t Be Cruel and Hound Dog prevented Canadian Sunset from reaching the pinnacle, but it revealed how popular instrumental music was in those days. The piano solo was courtesy of Eddie Heywood.

If you think for one minute that rock ‘n’ roll’s arrival in the fifties and its subsequent dominance in the ’60s meant the demise of instrumentals as a great art form, you’d be mistaken.