Listening the other evening to a performance of "The Very Thought of You" by Kenny Barron and Charlie Haden, we thought again of Ray Noble, who composed that song, along with some sixty others, but is, it seems, seldom remembered in the way that, say, Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter, are remembered.
Jazz musicians admire Noble's noble work, from "Cherokee," a great vehicle for both Charlie Barnet and Charlie Parker, to "The Touch of Your Lips," one of Bill Evans's favorite ballads. Among Noble's other songs: "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," "Love is the Sweetest Thing" and "Goodnight, Sweetheart," always the last number played at 1940s high school dances. (Or so we are told by persons who recall that era.)
Noble's first success--at age twenty--was as an orchestrator. At twenty-two, he was music director of the record company that is now EMI. Born in England, he moved, in 1934, to New York, taking with him singer Al Bowlly and drummer Bill Harty. He put together a band that included Claude Thornhill, Will Bradley, Bud Freeman, Charlie Spivak and yes--Glenn Miller. They opened at the Rainbow Room atop the RCA/Radio City Building, a gig leaders would have killed for. Increasingly rare recordings can still be found.
Ray Noble became best known to the world at large as music director for Edgar Bergen's network radio show, in which he, along with Nelson Eddy and others, became foils for Charlie McCarthy's lethal humor. He even wrote the Mortimer Snerd theme--not on quite the same plane as "Cherokee."
Remembered now are those lovely ballads. Let's hope their composer will be remembered as well.
