At The Hollywood Palladium

This budget album presents an episode of the radio series "One Night Stand," featuring a half-hour's worth of a performance by Frankie Carle and His Orchestra at the Hollywood Palladium. The album's liner notes give a broadcast date of July 8, 1949, but it is not clear whether this is the actual performance date, especially because an announcer on the recording describes it as a re-broadcast for the armed forces. In any case, Carle and his band are heard in the late '40s, at a time when the group was just passing out of broad popularity along with its style of sweet swing music; none of Carle's hits is featured. But his main vocalist, Marjorie Hughes, is on the stand, along with boy singer Bob Locklin, and the focus of the band remains Carle's piano-playing, which is spotlighted on such tracks as a medley of "You're My Everything" and "Oh! If You Knew," and, particularly, "Carle's Boogie." The album must be considered only an addendum to Carle's catalog, but it contains a good, brief performance, and the price is affordable. ~ William Ruhlmann