Dori Day “With Love”
It’s hard to know where to begin when writing about Doris Day. Doris has been a part of my life since I was 2 years old and now after all those years, I have the privilege of actually “working” with her. Doris first joined my Dad’s band (Les Brown and His Band of Renown) when she was just 16 years old and was affectionally known as “Dodo” by everyone. My Dad and Mother told stories of how after doing her part in the very popular stage/theater shows of that time, she would come backstage and play with her son Terry and me. I often used a little dramatic license and said she was my babysitter as well as vocalist with the band.
While performing with what became known as the “Band of Renown” Doris and Dad had seven top ten hit records, the biggest being “Sentimental Journey”, which was co-written by Dad, Ben Homer and Bud Green. On the heels of those hits, the band was playing at the famous Hollywood Palladium, Doris was spotted by executives from Warner Bros. Pictures, she was given a screen test and of course the rest is history.
In Hollywood during the late 1940’s and early 50’s, it was generally the habit of many of the movie, radio and records stars to go to dinner, followed by a nightcap, at various bistros throughout the city. There, they would relax and listen to great small groups like the Nat King Cole Trio, before he became such a big hit at Capitol Records, Matt Dennis, who wrote songs like “Angel Eyes” and “Everything Happens to Me” for Frank Sinatra and The Page Cavanaugh Trio. Page and his trio had been featured with Doris in a couple of her early films and they became very close friends. Doris loved to drop into Page’s club in the San Fernando Valley and sit in with the group, much to the delight of the people who were in the small, but enthusiastic audience on those special nights.
These original recordings were made in 1952 and early 1953 and weren’t available for release and were done strictly for radio broadcasts. Sometime around 1980 Thomas Gramuglia, president of Hindsight Records, contacted the late Bobby Weiss (who was Doris’s publicist) to see if Doris would allow the release of the recordings as a CD, and she graciously agreed. Later, I was approached by Mr. Gramuglia (Tom), and asked what I thought about augmenting these incredible recordings with a full orchestra. After hearing the quality of Doris’s voice and her wonderful relaxed, easy interpretation of each song, I was blown away. I jumped at the chance to participate in presenting them to a new audience. What stood out to me was the fact that Doris had chosen some of her favorite songs, done in an easy, relaxed atmosphere, with no pressure of trying to make them hits.
Tom, as executive producer, introduced me to John Forbes, a wonderful and talented producer/arranger, and asked if I thought we would be a good match to co-produce and provide the orchestrations for the project. I knew during our first conversation that we were on the same page, musically and conceptually. John had a wonderful sense of what the orchestrations should be, and I would throw in a few ideas of my own and it was a very joyful creative experience. I was also asked if I would perform the drum tracks for these recordings, because the older versions of the Page Cavanaugh trio consisted of just piano, bass and guitar.
After we had completed the recordings and I was returning home from Nashville, the songs were running through my head. It occurred to me that there was a theme running through, it was a love story from beginning to end, told very subtlety by the lyrics and mood of all the tunes. I called John and he said he was having the same experience, so the sequence almost presented itself to us. We sent it to Tom, and he agreed.
This release is the result of our labor of love and respect to a sometimes underrated, but always exceptional actress, musician and singer that was Doris Day. I hope you enjoy listening to these recordings, in their new augmented version, as much as we enjoyed making them.
Les Brown, Jr.
