New Pop Records

To show that jazz can be a two-way street, RCA Victor has now imported some from Italy, Sweden and England to launch a new album series, Around the World in Jazz (3 LPs). As might be expected, the Roman New Orleans Jazz Band sticks to Dixieland, noodles around happily with such authentic material as Muskrat Ramble, St. James Infirmary and Tin Roof Blues. Stockholm's Arne Domnerus and Orchestra take a page out of Charlie Parker's bop book. Two English bands play in the old razzle-dazzle style of Ted Lewis. Chief merit of all three importations: enthusiasm.

Other new pop records:

Blues on the River (Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band; Decca LP). Trumpeter Yank Lawson and Bass Fiddler Bob Haggart, onetime nerve centers of Bob Crosby's Bobcats, take their outfit on a music ride down the Mississippi (from Davenport, Iowa to New Orleans) in the grand old style.

Ellington Uptown (Columbia, LP).

Another of the Duke's latter-day reminiscences in oldtime tempos. The five rather pretentious arrangements begin & end with such familiar Ellington strains as The Mooche and Take the "A" Train, but do a lot of wandering in brass and echo-chamber solos in between.

I Laughed Until I Cried (Rosemary Clooney; Columbia). Girl loses boy--with words and music just simple, sad and sexy enough to make it sound like a hit.

Smoking My Sad Cigarette (Jo Stafford; Columbia). A deep blue mood with a lot of words, but still a likely bet for a top seller.

Wild Horses (Perry Como; Victor). A cheerful brag that it would take wild horses, obstacle courses and superior forces to keep Crooner Como away from his true love. The ditty has the distinct musical advantage of being built around a theme from The Horseman, a little piano piece for children by Robert Schumann.

Your Cheatin' Heart (Joni James; M-G-M). A rhymed kind of I told you so that is sung much too prettily for its gloomy subject. The third of Songbird James's three current bestselling records.

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