(Week of 11/29/03 - 12/5/03)

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"Fat Man Blues" by The Mello Larks on United Artist UA-2004A released in 1947

"Deep River" by The Mello Larks on United Artist UA-2004B released in 1947

[Above photo provided by Tommy Hamm.]

Above: Photo of The Mello Larks' original lineup, which was present on these United Artist recordings. (Back L-R) Tommy Hamm, Bob Smith, Jack Bierman, (Front) Ginny O'Conner. Ginny was previously with Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones. Later female leads were Joan Loree (1949-51), Toni Southern (1951-52), Jamie Dina (1952-58), and Adele Castle (1958-60). The Mello-Larks broke up in 1960.

The Mello Larks started out in 1946 with the Glenn Miller Orchestra led by Tex Beneke. They recorded for the RCA Victor label at that time.

Above: Label images of both sides of United Artist UA-2004, "Fat Man Blues"/"Deep River" released in 1947.

United Artist was located in Hollywood, CA and specialized in jazz and rhythm & blues. It was NOT related to the late 1950's United Artists label (owned by United Artists Pictures).

From Andy Ambrosia: "I have a record by them on Melodisc from about the same timeframe... Melodisc 1014/1015 (Goin Home/You've Got My Heart Talkin' Double Talk). Melodisc was another Hollywood label that was jazz/rhythm & blues orientated. In fact, the Mello Larks sound almost like a jazz/rhythm & blues hybrid group."

From Chuck Lilligren: "With the caveat of relying on memory from the mid to late 1940's: One of The Mello Larks was Joe Eich, whom I knew in Minneapolis just before he left for what he hoped was the big time... last I heard he was in Hawaii, promoting a female vocalist (Liz Damon in early 1970's), while I was working at WCCO radio."
NOTE: Joe Eich joined The Mello-Larks in 1951 replacing Jack Bierman.

Listen to this week's selections:

A) Click on an option below to listen to The Mello Larks using Streaming RealAudio.

"Fat Man Blues" - United Artist UA-2004A - 1947
"Deep River" - United Artist UA-2004B - 1947
"BOTH SONGS" played in sequence

B) Click on an option below to listen to Downloading RealAudio.

"Fat Man Blues" - United Artist UA-2004A - 1947 (file size=379KB)
"Deep River" - United Artist UA-2004B - 1947 (file size=460KB)

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