Lola Albright – The Jazz Singer On The ‘Peer Gunn’ TV Series

Once rather dismissively regarded as one of the few blondes in Hollywood whose hair was its own natural color, the glamorous actress Lola Albright (1924-2017) had a chequered movie career until her definitive big break arrived in 1958. That was when she was cast as the sophisticated night-club singer in NBC’s newest television hit, the detective thriller “Peter Gunn,” which aired from 1958 to 1961. The role made her a personality in her own right.
She said that Blake Edwards, the creator-producer-director of the series, had her in mind from the outset. “But,” she added, “he had no idea I could sing. I had just recorded my first album.” That was “Lola Wants You” on the Kem label, on which she sang a dozen standards and originals with her husky, sexy voice, treating them with the intimate approach required by the arrangements conceived and conducted by Dean Elliott.
In February 1959, she recorded her second album, titled “Dreamsville,” this time for Columbia and surrounded by some excellent West Coast jazzmen under the direction of Henry Mancini. Her voice, pleasant as always, carried a group of jazz-flavored standards and six Mancini originals from the already-famed Peter Gunn score, in a pervasive and smoky jazz atmosphere. And that was that. Always independentminded, she subsequently pursued a widely-varied career in film and television until, tiring of the spotlight, she withdrew from public life in the 1970s.

Track Listing:
1. A Man, a Man, a Man - 2:45   2. Candy - 2:04   3. Put Your Arms Around Me - 2:18   4. Goodbye My Lover - 2:27   5. Aren’t You Kinda Glad We Did - 2:34   6. I’ve Got a Crush on You - 2:41   7. Here ‘Tis - 2:20   8. All of You - 1:55   9. There’s a Man - 2:26   10. Think Of Me - 2:46   11. Do What You Gotta Do - 2:29   12. He’s My Guy (Raye-De Paul) 2:47   13. Two Sleepy People - 3:07   14. Dreamsville - 3:19   15. We Kiss in a Shadow - 3:06   16. Brief and Breezy - 3:15   17. You’re Driving Me Crazy! - 2:44   18. They Didn’t Believe Me - 2:39   19. Soft Sounds - 2:37   20. Slow and Easy - 2:30   21. It’s Always You - 3:50   22. Straight to Baby - 2:49   23. Just You, Just Me - 3:04   24. Sorta Blue - 2:58   25. How High the Moon - 2:16   26. September in the Rain - 1:22   27. Dancing on the Ceiling - 1:23   28. Goody Goody - 1:20   29. Straight to Baby - 1:15   30. Lonesome Road - 1:29   31. A Good Man Is Hard to Find - 1:12   32. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore - 1:29

Sources:
Tracks #1-12, from the Kem Records 12" album “Lola Wants You” (Kem LP-101)
Tracks #13-24, from the Columbia 12" album “Dreamsville” (CS-8133)
Tracks #25-32, taken from the NBC TV Series “Peter Gunn”

Personnel:

Personnel on "Lola Wants You":
Lola Albright with Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by Dean Elliott

Tracks #1,3,4,7,9 & 12: 
Don Fagerquist, trumpet; Jack Dumont, Ben Kanter, Howard Terry, Chuck Gentry, reeds & woodwinds; Vince Terri, guitar; Phil Stephens, bass; Milt Holland, drums.
Recorded at Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood, May 9, 1957

Tracks #2,5,6,8,10 & 11: 
Don Fagerquist, trumpet; Hymie Gunkler, Ben Kanter, Howard Terry, Chuck Gentry, reeds & woodwinds; Bob Gibbons, guitar; Phil Stephens, bass; Nick Fatool, drums.
Recorded at Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood, May 16, 1957

Personnel on "Dreamsville":
Lola Albright with Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by Henry Mancini

Tracks #14,15,19 & 20: 
Dick Nash, trombone; Ted Nash, flute; John Williams, piano; Victor Feldman, vibes; Bob Bain, guitar; Red Mitchell, bass; Shelly Manne, drums, plus string section.
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 24, 1959

Tracks #13,17,18 & 21: 
Same personnel but Ronny Lang, flute, replaces Ted Nash.
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 26, 1959

Tracks #16,22,23 & 24: 
John Williams, piano; Victor Feldman, vibes; Tony Rizzi, guitar; Rollie Bundock, bass; Jack Sperling, drums. 
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, April 2, 1959

Personnel on Bonus Tracks:
Lola Albright sings on the ‘Peter Gunn’ TV series (1958-1961)
Music under the direction of Henry Mancini

Reviews:

1. All Music Guide - Jason Ankeny - Lola Wants Yo
"Prior to her starmaking turn as a nightclub singer on the TV classic Peter Gunn, Lola Albright recorded this slight but alluring session for Kem Records. From its cheesecake cover photo to Dean Elliott's lush, melodramatic arrangements, Lola Wants You is above all a tribute to the perennial salability of sex, and an engaging one at that. Albright's kittenish vocals are undeniably effective within their narrow range, and songs like "A Man, a Man, a Man" and "There's a Man in My Life" play nicely to her strengths."

2. All Music Guide - Nick Dedina
"Lola Albright was an actress who had toiled in relative obscurity before she was cast as the nightclub singer in the hit television series Peter Gunn. Prior to that casting, in 1957 she had, at the urging of a friend named Dean Elliott, who was a composer for films and television, made a vocal album titled Lola Wants You, with Elliott supplying the arrangements and leading the band. Subsequently, she made a 1959 album, Dreamsville, with an orchestra conducted by Henry Mancini, the man who wrote the original music for Peter Gunn. Both of these albums, along with eight tracks taken from the Peter Gunn series, are compiled on The Jazz Singer on the “Peter Gunn ” TV Series (Fresh Sound – 930)