Mercury Records Collection: MG-20374: Like, Be My Guest

MG-20374: Like, Be My Guest / Rozelle Gayle

Label Type :	black Mercury type A
Matrix Number :	SIDE-A	MG-20374A-1 MS1 M C
	SIDE-B	MG-20374B-1 MS1 M A

Comments

with original Mercury inner sleeve.

Inside The Groove

A true good-old entertainment accompanied with piano trio.

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

Rozelle Gayle, formerly known as a nice pianist in the pre-war era, later became famous for his entertaining talk and narration playing piano. This album concentrates on his latter side - he sings, talks and jumps, playing his honky-tonky piano, backed up with a bass and drums. A very enjoyable entertainment!

Strictly Personal Rating (to what extent I could enjoy this album)

7 out of 10

Track Listing

SIDE-A
A-1	16835	I Want A Big Fat Mama	5:20
A-2	16838	Vesta la Giuba (R. Leoncavallo - R. Gayle)	6:00
A-3	16839	Caledonia (F. Moore - Cherrosin)	5:24
A-4	16840	The House Of Blue Lights (D. Raye - F. Slack)	4:34
SIDE-B
B-1	16837	Down The Road A Piece (D. Raye)	5:37
B-2	16833	I Hadn't Anyone Till You (R. Noble)	2:50
B-3	16836	It Ain't Necessarily So (Geo. & Ira Gershwin)	-
B-4	16841	Like, Be My Guest (R. Gayle)	3:27
B-5	16834	Autumn Leaves (Mercer - Prevert - Kosma)	4:10

Personnel

Personnel/recorded date/master numbers confirmed with the Ruppli's discography.
(“The Mercury Labels - A Discography” by Ruppli and Novitsky, Greenwood Press, 1993)

Ruppli doesn't mention the instrument organ, but we can actually hear the sound, at least on A-2, A-4, B-1, B-2, B-3, B-4 and B-5.

UPDATE (Sep. 26, 2008):
updated the personnel and the location of this recordings. This is because of the following information.

(1) Liner-notes on the back cover says:

“ . . . Rozelle played all of the top clubs in Chicago and New York and on December 3, 1948 he opened in Los Angeles and he remained in the City of Angels ever since. Playing in top sopts in Hollywood and other cities, Rozelle has made a great hit on TV and appeared on the Betty White Show for two years . . . ”

(2) At least on two tracks (A-1 and B-1), we can hear the chit chats between Rozelle and players, where the name of “Leroy” and “Shelly” can be quite plainly heard - in one occasions Rozelle mentions like “Shelly The Manne”.

Thank you so much for Hugh Hunter-san in New Zealand for letting me know about this via kind e-mail.

A-1, B-2, B-3, B-5:
Rozelle Gayle (p, org, vo),
highly possibly with ~~unknown~~ Leroy Vinnegar (b), ~~unknown~~ Shelly Manne (ds).
Recorded in ~~New York City~~ Los Angeles, CA on January 9, 1958.

A-2, A-3, A-4, B-1, B-4:
same personnel as above.
Recorded in ~~New York City~~ Los Angeles, CA on January 11, 1958.