In the late fifties, there was of course much poo pooing of what was then called Rock & Roll. Adults, suddenly (as if out of nowhere) confronted with Elvis' gyrating hips, non-sense lyrics and electrical guitars operated by no talent maniacs who seemed to derive pleasure from turning their amplifiers up well past ear shattering levels, couldn't wait for the fad to pass. Among those waiting not so patiently for things to return to normal were the musicians who made a good living before rock, and continued to, but failed to recognize Rock & Roll as something that would eventually put them out of business. The lowering of the standards of youth was of some concern, but at the time it was widely believed that rock was a fad, and was going to go away, soon.

These musicians came up during the (first, not the current) swing era of the '30s and '40s. In the '50s they filled the airwaves backing Frank and Perry and Clooney and Stafford. What has since become known as "Easy Listening" (as oppossed to "No So Easy Listening", et al Rock, Be Bop Jazz and perhaps certain varieties of overwrought Classical) was then simply "Pop". Before Rock, it was the music people of all ages listened to. The fact that untrained, under talented twangers of untuned overamplified instruments were moving in on their hit parade territory was a major insult.

Thank the good Lord above there were still some people in the world who knew the difference between "good" music and "bad". It was for this group that Jonathan and Darlene Edwards recorded their many covers of instrumental and vocal standards starting in 1957. Their record albums, originally released by Columbia Records, were not filed under "Pop" in record store bins however, but rather under "Comedy". For Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a rather elaborate inside joke, and their recordings drew the line between those who got the joke, and those who didn't.

Jonathan and Darlene were a husband and wife team, both fictionally and in reality. In the real world they were both well known members of the Pop establishment.The orchestra leader who worked his way up in the swingin' years as a pianist/arranger/conductor, and the big band vocalist who won his heart.

Paul Weston was in many ways by 1957, the epitome of the Pop music "establishment". He and a select few other band leader/arrangers set the standards by which the standards were recorded in the new world of unbreakable, long playing, Hi Fi media. Weston was not only contracted to Columbia Records, he was West Coast head of A&R for the company. His instrumental records were very popular, and he became known as the inventor of "Mood Music", background music for dinner/cocktail parties or unintrusive accompaniment to fireplace backlit romance.

When Paul wasn't churning out his instrumental versions of the standards, he and his jolly band of union dues paying mistrals were often found in the studio backing popular female vocalist Jo Stafford. Jo was known to be a vocalist of uncanny technical ability. She was criticized by some for a certain lack of warmth, but her perfect pitch, and acute understanding of phrasing honed over many years of touring with big bands was enough to secure a lucrative contract with her husband's label, and an almost constant presence on the pop charts of the '50s.

The concept of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards was no doubt born out of a humorous attempt to deal with studio downtime boredom. While engineers positioned microphones and tinkered with knobs, Paul and Jo would set about demolishing the material they were about to record. Some of these goofs were recorded as "demos", and the fact that Paul and Jo were able to convince their label that these recordings had sales potential in the comedy bins speaks highly of their clout in the industry.

Their first LP was entitled "Jo Stafford and Paul Weston Present: The Original Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards, Vocals By Darlene Edwards", and thus the inside joke was born. Via the album's liner notes, Jonathan was presented as an often misunderstood musical genius, and his wife Darlene was endorsed by no less than the highly esteemed Jo Stafford as a vocalist deserving of attention.

The joke however was on the unsuspecting listener, whose (perhaps) unsophisticated ear not only couldn't tell that jonathan and darlene were really the highly reconizable Paul and Jo, but also couldn't tell that Jonathan flubbed about half the lines he attempted on his piano during the instrumental numbers, and that Darlene sang with an annoying nasal whine, and was always, and with amazing technical precision, just slightly sharp of the note she was supposed to be singing.

Within musical circles, this was considered a joke of an extremely high order. After all, it was easy to sing flat. Many popular singers of the day hurt the ears of sophisticated listeners with off-key, flat crooning, while more than satisfying less sophisticated listeners who cited the performer's "warmth", or smoothness of phrasing, etc., as reason for their worthiness. Of course these same fans would argue to the death that their idols also sang perfectly on key. The fact that Jo Stafford (as Darlene) could sing sharp was amazing.

Paul (as Jonathan) would take on instrumental favorites such as "Nola" which spotlighted his piano playing talents. When the piano was supposed to play a flourish or fill, he would stumble, not only fumbling notes, but driving the overall rhythm off as well. Although quite subtle, the ineptitude of the piano playing was more obviously a joke than were Darlene's vocals. So, while most would say, "Say, that piano player got a bit lost there...", not as many would notice the sour notes coming from Jo's mouth.

The thing to do would be to slip in a Jonathan and Darlene record at a party, then wait to see people's reactions.

The material used on J&D records was mostly well worn standards and pre-standards, and American folk standards. Jo had a particular interest in folk music and released several albums of such (under Paul's direction of course. Mood-folk?). The whiny, off-keyness of Darlene's voice was reminicent of many a folk singer. Some of the recordings featured background singers borrowed from fellow Columbia A&R man Mitch Miller's "Sing Along With Mitch" band, adding an enthusiastic flare to barn burners such as "Tip Toe Through The Tulips".

While in-the-know adults chortled to the ear bending strains of "It's Magic", the kids couldn't have cared less and instead turned in ever increasing numbers to a kind of music adults found equally ear bending but not nearly as funny. J&D effectively ignored Rock & Roll chossing to stick with what they knew. Although even by late '50s standards, the material J&D chose to demolish was considered quite corny.

A couple of generations have come up since J&D's day, and to the youngest of today's popular music fans, their humor would either go over their head, or the pure corniness of the material would render it unlistenable.

In the Rock & Roll era, technical perfection has become less and less a matter of concern, rendering the joke at the core of J&D's act null and void. Whereas in the '50s, the lines were drawn between those who could hear the difference and those who couldn't, today a person may be able to hear darlene's intentional off keyness, but so what?

Rock is and should be imperfect in it's execution. In the '90s, "noise" has become the norm, and a blatantly out of tune guitar is considered high art. Thanks to the Punk movement of the '70s, completely unqualified singers sometimes make a very handy living doing inadvertently what Jo Stafford probably had to work at for months.

Listening to Jonathan and Darlene Edwards today just isn't very funny. It rings of elitism and snobbery and the music itself is so far removed from anything anyone under 60 has ever listened to, it's impossible to relate to. Yet, it's still fun to spin a J&D disk and simply watch the reactions on your friends faces as you explain, "Yeah dude, it's the latest in Artnoise Muzakcore!"

HEY KIDS! CHECK OUT JONATHAN AND DARLENE EDWARDS' WEBSITE: Funny?