Joe Derise is justifiably proud of this album. In fact, he feels that it is the best recording he's made since the Bethlehem albums that brought him to national attention 25 years ago. The warm, faithful inscription of his voice (placed cleanly and clearly in front of the other instruments), the characteristically intriguing selection of songs, the sympathetic support of his yet-unknown but accomplished sidemen combine to make a most affecting musical collection.

Like so many good things, Blues Are Out OE Town came together quite unexpectedly. Last year, Joe happened to be in Rocky Point, North Carolina, promoting his recordings and visiting Jack Olsen, a fellow veteran of the Claude Thornhill orchestra. Olsen spoke enthusiastically about Twin Oaks, a new recording studio that had just opened in Rocky Point, and suggested that, since Joe happened to have his book of quartet arrangements with him, it might be a good idea to lay down some tracks in the new facility. Olsen recommended some excellent young musicians - the oldest was 22 - to play Joe's charts and, in two happy afternoons, the album was completed.

Joe's career has taken him through a number of musical contexts, through good times and bad, to reach the warmth and simplicity of his current work. His musical testing ground was the big band era; he sang and played guitar with the Ray McKinley and Jimmy Dorsey orchestras, and traveled with the Thornhill band, where his duties also included arranging for the Snowflakes vocal group and serving as road manager. On his own, he formed the popular vocal group 4 Jacks and a Jill and was part of one of Dave Lambert's pre-Lambert-Hendricks-and-Rose vocal ensembles, a group which was featured in the 1945 Broadway musical Are You With It?

In the mid-Fifties, Joe made his first solo album for Bethlehem, a 10" LP of tasteful standards backed by Milt Hinton and Osie Johnson. He continued his Bethlehem association with a 12" collection of more unusual songs backed by the Australian Jazz Quartet and sang one of the street vendor roles on the still controversial Bethlehem Porgy and Bess that featured Mel Torme and Frances Faye in the title roles. But he continued his work with vocal groups, notably the 4 Most and an all-star ensemble called the Rolling Stone Normal College Choir whose alumni included Bob Dorough, Betty Roche and Big Miller.

For most of the Seventies, Joe was on the road arranging and playing piano for the Diamonds, a pop quartet whose single "Little Darlin'" topped the charts in 1957, establishing a popularity which kept them touring for more than 20 years. Under Joe's direction, the Diamonds gradually changed from a teen group to a more sophisticated quartet with much broader musical appeal.

Joe resumed his career as a singer-pianist in March 1978 when he returned to New York to appear at the Coriander Club. Since then, his songs have been heard at the Waldorf's Peacock Alley, Carnegie Tavern and the Executive Hotel's A Quiet Little Table In The Corner. Several seasons ago, he gave a concert at Manhattan's Judson Hall, the success of which has inspired him to do more concertizing. Upcoming plans include recording more selections from his extensive repertoire of obscure songs by established composers like Jimmy Van Heusen and Frank Loesser along with his own original compositions.

Blues may be out of town, but with Joe Derise back on the scene, good songs, sensitively interpreted and beautifully played, are here to stay.

Joel Siegel
Artistic Director; Great American Songwriters Series
The Corcoran Gallery; Washington, D.C.