Mercury Records Collection: EmArcy MG-36125: Olay!

MG-36125: Olay! / Ruth Olay

Label Type :	blue EmArcy type C
Matrix Number :	SIDE-A	MG 36125A-1 M A MSI
	SIDE-B	MG 36125B-1 M B MSI

Comments

Later reissued as Mercury MG-20547 (mono) and Mercury SR-60085 (stereo).

Inside The Groove

A charming high-tone vocal backed up with nice musicians.

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

Ruth Olay, an unique stylist of female vocal, already sang as a vocalist with Benny Carter's band in her 1940s (under another name Rachel Davis). In her early 1950s she sang at various local clubs, when Mercury's A&R Pete Rugolo got interested in her.

On this album, Ruth Olay was backed up with famous West-Coast musicians and arranged by Pete Rugolo. Her one-and-only vocal style sounds very different from ordinary female jazz singing, but this is very impressive.

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

7 out of 10

Track Listing

SIDE-A
A-1	16097 (JB126/JS66)	Singin' In The Rain (Brown - Freed)	2:30
A-2	16259 (JB146/JS55)	Slow But Sure (Carter - Hanson)	1:53
A-3	16098 (JB127/JS67)	Lover Man (J. Davis - R. Ramirez - J. Sherman)	3:00
A-4	16095 (JB124/JS64)	When The Sun Comes Out (Arlen - Koehler)	3:03
A-5	16256 (JB143/JS59)	Lucky Day (DeSylva - Brown - Henderson)	2:23
A-6	16096 (JB125/JS65)	It Never Entered My My Mind (Rodgers - Hart)	3:52
SIDE-B
B-1	16260 (JB140/JS57)	You Make Me Feel So Young (Myrow - Gordon)	3:20
B-2	16261 (JB141/JS57)	I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart (Ellington - Nemo - Mills - Redmond)	2:51
B-3	16257 (JB144/JS60)	Love For Sale (Cole Porter)	3:12
B-4	16093 (JB122/JS61)	I'm Glad There Is You (Nadeira - Dorsey)	4:05
B-5	16258 (JB145/JS58)	After You've Gone (Creamer - T. Layton)	1:28
B-6	16094 (JB123/JS62)	I Wanna Be Loved (Green - Rose - Heyman)	3:15

Personnel

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

A-1, A-3, A-4, A-6, B-4, B-6:
Ruth Olay (vo) with:
three violins, one viola, Ed Lustgarten (cello),
Milt Bernhart (tb), George Roberts (tb), unknown (tb), Sy Zentner (b-tb), Bud Shank (alto flute),
Bud Motsinger (p), Howard Roberts (g), Red Mitchell (b), Larry Bunker (ds).
Recorded probably in Los Angeles, CA on January 30, 1958.

A-2, A-5, B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5:
Ruth Olay (vo) with:
Don Fagerquist (tp), Red Norvo (vib), Bud Motsigner (p),
Howard Roberts (g), Red Mitchell (b), Shelly Manne (ds).
Recorded probably in Los Angeles, CA, 1957.