Joyce Bryant - Go You Where You Go (1952)

As with most Metro Mambo Collection posts, this marks this recording's first appearance on YouTube: "Go You Where You Go," as recorded in 1952 by singer Joyce Bryant. A departure from this channel’s usual Latin-jazz and mambo focus, it speaks to another aspect of my musical interests: uplifting the work and life of 1950’s chanteuse-turned-opera singer Joyce Bryant, who joined the ancestors on November 20, 2022 at the age of 95. For more information about Ms. Bryant, please visit the website for my documentary in-progress, Joyce Bryant: The Lost Diva at www.JoyceBryant.net . Rest in Power, Joyce. We're lonesome for you...

“Go You Where You Go” (Okeh 45 rpm – 4-6943; recorded: Oct., 1952)

“Go You Where You Go” offers a dramatic showcase for the sheer virtuosity of Joyce Bryant’s fabled 4.5 octave range. However, because it was excluded from her sole 10” album “Runnin’ Wild” (like most early 10” lp’s, a compilation of previous singles issued in November,1954), it is among the least known of her recordings.

The tune was first recorded by singer Peggy Lee in April,1952 for Decca Records. Arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins, it was part of the popular vocalist’s first studio session for Decca after leaving her long-time label, Capitol. While not a hit, the tune did garner critical nods for its lush, exotic treatment and oddly metered ‘far eastern’ setting for Lee’s intensely spare interpretation. As was customary in the pre-singer/songwriter era, the various labels would issue competing versions of new tunes thought to have 'potential.' It was the art of the song-stylist and the arranger to make it their own. Thus, in October,1952, Columbia Records had Leo Reisman’s studio orchestra back Joyce Bryant to record her rendition of "Go You Where You Go."

‘Dream-like’ and almost whispered, Lee’s interpretation was one of pensive, quiet resignation at the loss of her lover. One wondered if perhaps she were speaking to him ‘in the spirit world.’ Bryant’s intense reading is likewise that of a jilted lover, but one who is not so quick to throw in the towel. Bryant’s man may be leaving, but she is going to beg, tease, cajole, and seduce him until the last note (...Bryant's ending is indeed haunting, btw). Ultimately, he’s leaving her. But… Bryant makes certain he’ll remember the girl he’s leaving behind.

Reisman’s orchestration for Joyce Bryant was a more up-tempo fox trot, shrewdly overlayed with a vaguely “Afro-Caribbean” polyrhythms: a loping tango/habanera base-line,
guitar phrasing in a stylized take on the martillo that would be heard on bongo in a more 'authentic' Latin arrangement. The arrangement is beguiling. Since the tremendous success of Nat "King" Cole's hit with eden ahbez' composition “Nature Boy,” pop composers had been trying to recapture its magic with exotica-tinged ballads such as “Quiet Village.” “Go You…” was as good a contender as any.

Pitched as a ‘Cajun Lullaby,’ the music for “Go You Where You Go” was composed by Al Frisch, who wrote a number of well-received mid-century ballads (“Congratulations To Someone,” “This Is No Laughing Matter,” “I Won’t Cry Anymore”…). He would later compose “Bordello,” a musical about artist Toulouse Lautrec performed on the West End in 1974. Sadly, lyricist Ralph Care, who wrote “I Envy” for Nat "King" Cole, died at the age of 36 just a few months after Lee’s recording of “Go You…” was released.

As noted above, Joyce Bryant’s initial recordings for Columbia were first issued under the Okeh label. in 1953 when Okeh re-focused strictly on r&b in 1953, jazz and pop artists like Joyce Bryant were transferred over to Columbia’s newly created jazz and pop subsidiary, Epic Records.

As with most uploads of the Metro Mambo Collection channel, this marks this particular recording's first appearance on YouTube. For those discovering her for the first time, welcome to the journey on which her voice takes you. A top headliner of the early 1950's, Joyce Bryant sold out 'the big rooms' coast-to-coast - Copacabana, Chez Paree, Mocambo - and garnered acclaim in the national media for her vibrant 4.5 octave range. In November of 1955, Bryant turned her back on popular music and took refuge in her Seventh Day Adventist faith. For more information about the legendary Joyce Bryant, please visit my website for the documentary in-progress, Joyce Bryant: The Lost Diva at www.JoyceBryant.net .

Check out the other rare posts drawn from the 20,000+ record collection of Jim Byers - since 1996 the host of "The Latin Flavor Classic Edition," showcasing Palladium-era mambo and Latin-jazz, live-streaming on www.wpfwfm.org on Sundays, 6:00pm until 8:00 pm E.S.T.