Jule Styne in Hollywood

Few and far between must be musical fans who can't rattle off Jule Styne's Broadway catalogue. But his chiefly earlier contributions to the movies, however accomplished, are not nearly so well known.

So hats off to PS Classics for their release of Jule Styne in Hollywood (PS 9638), which rectifies matters. They have rounded up a first-rate orchestra conducted by Aaron Gundy as well as a few guest conductors and solo piano accompanists for 15 numbers plus a medley of six more. And some expert singers.

The lyrics are mostly by the splendid Sammy Cahn, though Frank Loesser, Bob Merrill, Harold Adamson, and others are also represented, as are sundry orchestrators and arrangers. But the vocalists are rightly the glory of the CD.

The songs are chiefly from the 40s, with a few from the 50s and beyond. Several smack of wartime separation, loneliness, and melancholy. Others, however, are brimful of vitality and joie de vivre. Styne fits every mood from upbeat to beat-up; the movies, though, were a mixed bag, which did not help the survival of some topnotch songs.

As Tommy Krasker's excellent booklet note imparts, these songs have garnered high praise from some very high flyers. Alec Wilder raved about "Time After Time," David Ewen called "I'll Walk Alone" the "most touching sentimental ballad of World War II," and Irving Berlin proclaimed "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" the best song he ever heard. Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Dinah Shore were among the earliest interpreters.

Our disc begins auspiciously with Kelli O'Hara's sweet rendering of "Blame My Absentminded Heart" followed in striking contrast by Audra McDonald's sardonic belting out of the insomniacs' anthem, "10,432 Sheep."

Skipping ahead, we get Norm Lewis's intense "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" followed by Sutton Foster's irresistible mix of girlish enthusiasm and pawky knowingness in a bouncy "There's Nothing Rougher Than Love," with Sammy Cahn also in superbly sassy form.

Leslie Uggams gives us a heartfelt "I Don't Want to Walk Without You," lyric by Frank Loesser, to which she brings her tremendous range, rhythmic variety, and stirring vibrato, bluesily backed up by Don Rebic's piano.

"Winter Was Warm" is sung by Victoria Clark with palpable warmth and keen feeling for Bob Merrill's lyric from 1962's Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (TV, 1962), the latest item here.

Eric Comstock is the epitome of the languorous lounge singer in "It's Been a Long, Long Time," with Klea Blackhurst his brashly effective opposite in "That Ain't Hay" with Frank Loesser's 1941 lyric, one of the earliest songs included.

There ensues an impressive medley of Academy Award contenders performed by that equally gifted married couple, Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie. Their compelling solos and duets include "I'll Walk Alone" (Danieley), "A Change of Heart" (Mazzie) and "It's Magic" (both) and in perfect conjugal harmony again in "Three Coins in the Fountain," with Cahn's memory-hugging lyric.

Jeff Harnar is insinuatingly intimate in "Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket; Brent Barrett brings his easeful virility to that glorious Styne & Cahn standard, "Time After Time." Rebecca Luker ends the disc with another song by that team, "The Things We Did Last Summer," performed with all her ingenuous inwardness and crystalline purity, with David Loud's soft piano in sensitive support.

What a bountiful melodist Jule Styne was, what a beautiful tribute to him this disc is.