(':'*\_e t' s * '. h A v E '* a *' p @ R t y *! :']

In comments yesterday, my pal Liz (we'll phone!), (married to my old pal Pete Mullins), singer, news cameraperson, and all round sweetie, as well as the model for the singing lady in Batman: The Order of Beasts (left), although I'm sure she didn't realize that at the time I was snapping the photos, but didn't mind it as she got to hang out with Bruce Wayne in print, brought back to mind an old recording act I had forgotten completely: The Nutty Squirrels! They did fairly modern jazz numbers in the the 'chipmunks' style, with the speeded up voices, but got some top jazz guys to play, such as Cannonball Adderley for a track on the second album, already famous for his part in Miles Davis' immortal Kind Of Blue album. All daft novelty stuff of course, but good for the wee'uns.

(album covers, 1959, 1961... 'when I was in knee pants,' as the old song says)
It has furthermore reminded me of one of my favorite jazz albums in my collection, and I guess not too far from the novelty end of the spectrum itself, but on the 'trad' side of the tracks, Let's crash a party by The Firehouse Five, (plus two) 1960. The band was led by Ward Kimball and everybody in it was an artist at Disney studios, playing in their spare time. They got all their wives and pals in to make party noises in between the tracks, calling requests to the band and shouting for cocktails and stuff like that, and 'somebody turn that record over!' at the end of side one, and at the end of two the police arrive and they all head off to a party at somebody else's house. A wave of ineffable joy always comes over me as the first track starts up.

(Over there in London, that wee'un Hayley Campbell will be saying 'aw, that's it, i'm on the next plane home.')
'The band recorded at least thirteen LP albums (I'm quoting the wikipedia entry), starting in 1955. The last album, "Live at Earthquake McGoon's" was recorded in 1970 in San Francisco.' How can ya not love 'em?

But before I go, I'm quoting Kimball's contribution to the sleeve notes: "Party people we all are. Parties put people here. Beats, bankers and figs dig parties. FH5+2 blows about 104 parties per annum: Public parties, private parties, Elks' parties, firemen's parties, country club parties, strip parties, booze parties. Going-in parties and coming-out parties. When we blow we see: Drunks, squares, math teachers, matrons, motorcyclists, morons, Miltowns, bartenders and hypes. About 11 pm shoes and coats come off and we see them grab our afterbeat like it was their mother. We sweat and they sweat. Everybody sweats. Everybody yells, everybody screams, and then they want the "Saints." We kindly comply and when they're on the ropes we slip 'em "Old Tige" (Tiger Rag) and everybody dies. We put the tambourines and hats away and go home and our shirts smell like burned veal cutlets."