"Down Beat" Winners of 1953

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 770, 23 April 1954, Page 16

"Down Beat" Winners of 1953

"| HE bands of Les Brown and Stan Kenton, singers Nat Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck’s combo, and the Four Freshmen were swept to victory in the 1953 Down Beat poll by a flood of ballots that made this the most voted-in contest in many years." So reported last New Year’s Eve number. of the Beat, America’s bi-weekly jazz bible, on the results of its 17th annual readers’ poll. A series of five programmes of recordings by the winners in each section of the poll will be broadcast from 2YD, beginning at 9.0 p.m. on Tuesday, April 27. The title of the series is Down Beat Poll Winners ot 1953. According to Down Beat’s report of the contest, 1953 was a year of big changes. In the male singer section fivetime winner Billy Eckstine finished behind both Nat Cole and Frank Sinatra, who won 985 and 895 votes respectively, while Ella Fitzgerald broke Sarah Vaughan’s six-year grasp on the girl singer’s crown with 913 votes to 905, Peggy Lee also beating Sarah with 910 votes. In the all-star band section Chet Baker had a surprising win over Dizzy Gillespie and’ Harry James as top trumpeter for 1953. Chet. at that time had hardly. been heard outside his native California, apart from recordings, yet he had a lead of 150 votes over the next man on the poll. The voting was: Baker, 807; Gillespie, 664; James, 624. Chet Baker, incidentally, swas only in 21st place last year. The Dave Brubeck Fane oe took top place in the instrumental group section,

ending George Shearing’s four- year reign. The Four Freshmen came from nowhere to win as the favourite vocal group, followed by the Mills Brothers and the Four Aces. Gerry Mulligan won the baritone sax section. Biggest voting went, of course, to the dance band and jazz band sections. Stan Kenton had the top jazz band, with 2301 votes, followed by Woody Herman (1309) and Duke Ellington (956). The leading dance band was Les Brown’s with 2253 votes, and it was followed by Ray Anthony and Ralph Marterie, each with close to 2000. Buddy DeFranco won the clarinet section for thé ninth time, getting nearly double the votes of his nearest rival, Benny Goodm:n. ‘Bill Harris was the top trombonist, also for the ninth year in succession. The programmes to be broadcast in the series Down Beat Poll Winners of 1953 include selections by the top three winners. of each section, with linking narrative telling something about the recent activities of the favoured bands and individual players. Among other things the 1953 poll elected a second person to Down Béat’s Music Hall of Fame, the late Glenn Miller, whose popularity has never died and whose life story was recently made into a film called The Glenn Miller Story. Closely behind Miller in the voting were Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton, followed by Benny Goodman, George Gershwin and Igor: Stravinsky. Glenn Miller thus joins Louis Armstrong, the first to be elected to the Music Hall of. Fame, as one of those who have contributed greatly to 20th Century popular music. For those who are interested, Down Beat’s 1953 All-Star Band, made up from the winners of the different sections in the’ poll, is as follows:-Les Brown and Stan Kenton (leaders); Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie and Harry James (trumpets); Bill Harris, Frank Rosolino and Kai Winding (trombcnes); Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz (alto saxophones); Stan Getz and Flip Phillips (tenor saxophones); Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax); Buddy DeFranco (clarinet); Oscar Peterson (piano); Ray Brown (bass); Les Paul (guitar); Gene Krupa (drums); Terry Gibbs (vibrophones); Don _ Elliott (mellophone); Art Van Damme (accordion); Ralph Burns (arranger); Tommy Mercer (male vocalist); and Lucey Ann Polk (female vocalist). This is a combination that is never likely to be heard, but these players would produce some wonderful music if anyone ever managed to get them all together in one place at the same time.