Perfection: Hal McKusick: You're Everywhere (1958)

By now, vocalists and musicians are surely tired of hearing me urge them to find great little-known songs to record and perform instead of tired old songbook standards. You don't stand out by following the crowd. A perfect example of a great little-known song is You're Everywhere, by Robert Nemiroff and Burt D'Lugoff, who were often credited as Robert Barron and Burt Long, their pseudonyms. (Burt was the brother of Art D'Lugoff, who owned New York's Village Gate and Top of the Gate.)[Photo above of Hal McKusick]

The reason I'm posting about You're Everywhere is that alto saxophonist Hal McKusick recorded it with a rhythm section in 1958 as a one-off single for a few extra bucks. Some discographies list Milt Hinton as the bassist. Around this time, Hinton had recorded on Hal's album, Cross-Section Saxophones, which included Bill Evans and the drummer Charlie Persip. The pianist's phrasing on You're Everywhere sounds very much like Bill Evans to me.

But first, a little history. The song appeared initially on Glory Records, a New York-based R&B label founded in 1955 by Phil Rose and Lou Sprung. You're Everywhere was actually the B-side of a 45 that featured Ambrose (Just Keep Walking) on the A-side. Based on my research, Ambrose was composed by Wes McWain, Laurie Gertz and label co-founder Lou Sprung.

Hal's Ambrose (Just Keep Walking) (Glory 292) was an instrumental cover of the original Glory release—Ambrose (Part Five) (Glory 290). The creepy novelty song featured a trio playing a stroll while Linda Laurie (nee Gertz) talks and walks with her nefarious boyfriend in a subway tunnel (hey, it was 1958). Believe it or not, the hare-brained song charted at #59 after it was released in 1959. My guess is it was written by McWain, with Gertz added because of her vocal, and Sprung was probably along for the royalty ride.

Here's the original, Ambrose (Part Five)...



I couldn't find Hal's Ambrose (Just Keep Walking), but that isn't really the focus of this post. I'm more interested in the B-side—the instrumental You're Everywhere, on which Hal delivers a beautiful rendition of the song on alto saxophone and the pianist (Evans?) is equally gorgeous...   

Here's the Hal McKusick Quartet playing You're Everywhere. Pure perfection!...