"King Creole" Soundtrack Recording Session
Radio Recorders,Hollywood,California.
Paramount Producer Hal B Wallis
Associate Producer Paul Nathan
Music adapted and scored by Walter Scharf
Philip Kahgan : Paramount music contractor
Musical Numbers staged by Charles O'Curran
Musical Adviser : Troy Saunders
Mixing Engineer : Thorne Nogar
Recording Engineer : Wally Kamin
Wednesday January 15th 1958
9.20am -1.20pm
Lunch
2.20pm - 5.40pm
Original press release and captions:
JAM SESSION : Recording sessions are usually dull affairs,except when the artist is a singing gent named Elvis Presley. The handsome singing idol's musical sessions are lively clambbakes and well-attended by business associates,friends and,when they can sneak in,fans. A Paramount photographer attended Presley's recording session for Hal Wallis' "King Creole," his last prior to entering the army, and made the following photos.
1.
2.
"Elvis tunes up at the piano"
3A.
Elvis on the piano with Dudley Brooks in the background
4.
4a
5.
6.
Musicians:
Guitar : Scotty Moore
Guitar : Elvis Presley
Bass : Bill Black
Bass / Tuba : Ray Siegal
Bass / Guitar : Neal Mathews
Drums : D.J. Fontana
Bongo's : Gordon Stoker
Cymbals : Hoyt Hawkins
Piano : Dudley Brooks
Clarinet : Mahlon Clark
Trumpet : Teddy Bruckner
Saxophone : Justin Gordon
Trombone : Elmer Schneider
Backup Vocals: The Jordanaires : Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Hugh Jarrett
Kitty White (Crawfish)
7.
Mike Stoller :
"The inclusion of brass instruments in the arrangements was a departure from Elvis' usual quartet. Michael Curtiz,the director of King Creole,was at the sessions.That was probably the best movie that Elvis ever made. It had the best story,the best script and the best cast. We wrote three songs.One was 'King Creole'.Unlike Loving You and Jailhouse Rock,which were written first and then became the title of the films they were in,King Creole was the title of the film before we wrote the song.Elvis did a great job on it. I especially liked Trouble,we had written songs like that before-'Riot in cell Block no.9',framed,kind of talking blues things - and we knew Elvis could do that kind of stuff,It was braggadocie,like John Henry,Paul Bunyon - one of those bigger-than-life-folk-heroes."
8.
Turtles, Berries & Gumbo (Blanche Thomas vocal on Turtles Berries & Gumbo unknown)
1. Hard Headed Woman
2. Trouble
3. New Orleans
4. King Creole (Alternate Master)
5. Crawfish
9.
Mike Stoller:
"Steadfast,Loyal And True was a high-school alma mater-type of song.Just the other day I heard this acapella version of it,I thought it was charming,I really enjoyed it".
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Mike Stoller :
"I remember that the studio was very crowded. The Colonel was there,Michael Curtiz and Steve Sholes were there. There were lots of film studio executives in there,and of course Thorne Nogar,the great recording enginer was there too".
17.
Note the reference to 2 track recordings ,now thought to be destroyed.
18.
19.
20.
"Wallis and choreographer Charles O'Curran exchange a joke with Elvis"
21.
22.
"This photo of Elvis in action is one of his personal favorites"
23.
24.
24a
24b
25.
"Elvis listens to the playback of the recording"
26.
"This is the first time Presley has worked with brass accompaniment and the first time he has used a Dixieland background"
27.
Roy C Bennett : "new Orleans is my favorite of my Elvis songs. It became into being because we mispronounced the name of the city. It's 'N' awlins, but nothing rhythms with 'N' awlins, so it is sung as 'New Or-leans' . It is interesting,in the movie Elvis says, 'New Or-leans' even when he's not singing the song"
28.
29.
30.
31A.
Teddy Buckner trumpet player.
Dudley Brooks was asked about Teddy's involvement:"One exceptional horn player that I had recommended to come in and do this.He's a bandleader and a very fine trumpet player,and his name is Teddy buckner. He's a very ..a Louis Armstrong type.He looks very much like Louis,and he also plays trumpet. He's a Dixieland trumpet player,and in recent years he's been out at Disneyland in Anaheim,California-he has a group there".
John Edward 'Teddy' Buckner, trumpeter: born Sherman, Texas 16 July 1909; died Los Angeles 22 September 1994.
Teddy Buckner can be seen on the left of the picture below from the production number 'Trouble' from the Paramount Pictures movie 'King Creole'.
31B.
31.
32.
33.
January 16th 1958
Radio Recorders - Hollywood, California
Paramount Producer Hal B Wallis
Associate Producer Paul Nathan
Music adapted and scored by Walter Scharf
Philip Kahgan : Paramount music contractor
Musical Numbers staged by Charles O'Curran
Musical Adviser : Troy Saunders
Engineer : Thorne Nogar
Recording Engineer : Wally Kamin
9.00am - 5.30pm
1. Dixieland Rock
2. Lover Doll
3. Don't Ask Me Why
4. As Long As I Have You
5. Muskrat Ramble (Instrumental)
6. Steadfast Loyal & True (Movie Version)
7. As Long As I Have You (Short Movie Version)
8. As Long As I Have You (Long Movie Version)
9. Banana
10.Bourbon Street
Musicians same as the 15th. Back up vocals same as 15th except Kitty White
This session was a late booking as it had to be worked around the shooting schedule of the movie.The Paramount studio was used for scene's 94,95,96(Drugstore) and scene 34 and 118 which didn't involve Elvis.
Thursday January 23 1958 Radio Recorders - Hollywood, California
Soundtrack Session for "King Creole"
Paramount Producer Hal B Wallis
Associate Producer Paul Nathan
Music adapted and scored by Walter Scharf
Philip Kahgan : Paramount music contractor
Musical Numbers staged by Charles O'Curran
Musical Adviser : Troy Saunders
Engineer : Thorne Nogar
Recording Engineer : Wally Kamin
8.00pm - 11.00pm
1. King Creole (Revised)
2. Young Dreams
3. King Creole (Main Title - Instrumental)
4. My Wish Came True
5. Doncha' Think It's Time
Musicians:
Guitar : Scotty Moore
Guitar : Elvis Presley
Guitar : Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell
Bass : Bill Black
Bass / Tuba : Ray Siegal
Bass / Guitar : Neal Mathews
Percussion : Bernie Mattinson
Drums : D.J. Fontana
Bongo's : Gordon Stoker
Cymbals : Hoyt Hawkins
Piano : Dudley Brooks
Clarinet : Mahlon Clark
Trumpet : Teddy Bruckner
Saxophone : Justin Gordon
Trombone : Warren Smith
Backup Vocals:The Jordanaires : Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Hugh Jarrett
36
February 11 1958
Paramount Sound Stage - Hollywood, California
Soundtrack Session for "King Creole"
Paramount Producer Hal B Wallis
Associate Producer Paul Nathan
Music adapted and scored by Walter Scharf
Philip Kahgan : Paramount music contractor
Musical Numbers staged by Charles O'Curran
Musical Adviser : Troy Saunders
Engineer : Phil Wisdom
1.00pm - 5.05pm 6.05pm - 9.55pm
Musicians
Backup Vocals: The Jordanaires : Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Hugh Jarrett
Guitar : Scotty Moore
Guitar : Elvis Presley
Bass : Bill Black
Drums : D.J. Fontana
Piano : Dudley Brooks
Steadfast, Loyal & True (Solo)
Danny
June 19 1958
RCA Studio B - Nashville, Tennessee
Overdub Session for "King Creole"
Producer : Steve Sholes
Engineer : Bob Ferris
Backup Vocals:The Jordanaires : Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray Walker
Steadfast, Loyal & True (Overdub)
Lover Doll (Overdub)
Ray Walker : When I first joined the group they had not released 'King Creole' yet and we had to do some of those numbers,so my first actual release was 'King Creole' - that came out before the records I made with him in June of 58'. We did some vocal overdubs on some of the King Creole songs. They sent the tracks over and we had to fix some of them.
Details of photographs
Photo's 1-4 : Elvis sat at piano,and Dudley Brooks can be seen to his left. note 4 and 4a are the same image.
Photo's 5 & 7 : Elvis sat at piano
Photo 9 : Charles O'Curran,Michael Curtiz and Elvis.(An uncropped version of this image is in the book 'Life In Music' ,page 101 lower -by Ernst Jorgensen)
Photo 10 : Walter Sharf,Michael Curtiz and Elvis.(An uncropped version of this image is in the book 'Life In Music' ,page 102 top -by Ernst Jorgensen)
Photo 11-12: Scotty Moore on guitar(Possibly),Charles O Curran,Elvis and Neil Matthews.
Photo 13 : Charles O'Curran,Elvis and both (masked)Hugh Jarrett and Neil Matthews in the background
Photo 14 : Gordon Stoker stood at piano as Elvis takes a drink.
Photo 15 : Dudley Brooks,Michael Curtiz who now has taken his jacket off,Elvis and Charles O'Curran
Photo 16 : Dudley Brooks,Michael Curtiz,and Elvis.
Photo 17 : Michael Curtiz,Elvis and Charles O'Curran
Photo 18-19 : Charles O'Curran,Hal Wallis and Elvis
Photo 20 : Elvis and Hal Wallis,Charles O'Curran
Photo 21 : Elvis and crew take a break (with thanks to Michael puplett for this image)
Photo 22 - 24 :This is most likely when the recording session started, Elvis without shoes starts with 'Hard Headed Woman'.
Photo 24a and 24b Poor quality due to be taken from a magazine," Elvis in the Army "provided by Michael puplett
Photo 25 : Bill Black in the background,Elvis with headphones listening to playback,and Dudley Brooks at piano.
Photo 26 : Charles O'Curran,Elvis,Elmer Schneider on Trombone and Teddy Bruckner(mostly hidden)
Photo 27 : Elvis
Photo 28 : This picture is cropped and the original has Elmer Schneider left of frame.*
Photo 29 : Elvis
Photo 30 : Elmer Schneider foreground on trombone. Charles O'Curran chats to Elvis,and Teddy Bruckner can be seen right of frame with trumpet and hat.
Photo 31-35 : Elvis sat possibly listening to demo recordings or playback
Photo 36 : Elvis at full voice - new addition from Daily Mirror book
Ben Weisman:
"There's a movie called "King Creole" was my favorite movie. And I wrote a song called "Crawfish," "As Long As I Have You," "Don't Ask Me Why." Those are my favorite songs. I think one of the best pictures he ever did"
Notes:
The above images are said to be all from the 15th January 1958 (Elvis sessions 3)
Photo's 3,4,11-17 and 32 could be originally found in the FTD Flashback book.
Photo's 21,28,29,33,34,35 could be originally found in ETMAHM No.38.
Photo 31B page 79 of 'Inside King Creole' by Gerr Riff,Jean Paul Commandeur,Glen JAohnson
Mike Stoller quotes taken and adapted from :
http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/intervi ... ller.shtml
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