In the good old days people used to know of Mildred Bailey even if they didn't make a point of buying her records. Not a month went by without at least two of her vocals coming out on Vocalion or Brunswick. Now, having produced no records in the past year, less than a dozen the year before, Mildred is fast becoming one of the most unheard and unappreciated artists in the business.

The biggest factors in keeping her name going have been the two magnificent re-issues in Decca's first Gems of Jazz album, and a fifteen minute Sunday radio program with Lou Holtz that hardly did her justice. With the last now off the air, and all but one of her Columbia records recently cut out, Mildred is represented by only eight Deccas--which the public isn't buying because of the terrible surfaces.

Altogether Mildred made at least fifty Vocalions and Brunswicks, nearly every one a gem. On Brunswick she sang the better songs of the day with husband Red Norvo's baud. It was on Vocalion, though, that Mildred really cut loose and made an epic series of records. She had everything her own way. She sang old songs, new ones, anything good. For accompaniment she got the best musicians available. Some of them, like Teddy Wilson, Artic Shaw, Chu Berry are well known; others, like Hank d'Amico, Chris Griffin are not. But the most ignominious musician on her dates complemented Mildred's singing and not incidentally produced good jazz. In fact, John Kirby's band has never played quite so well as when it backed up Mildred's Vocalion, version of "Downhearted Blues."

The result, obviously, was impeccable musicianship. You could quarrel with Mildred's vocals on the grounds that you didn't like singers or that her voice wasn't as rich as Bessie Smith's, but if you had any feeling for jazz you couldn't quarrel with the music she produced.

Well, those records are all gone now. If Columbia had planned to reissue her old records, they were by-passed when the shortages developed. The old Brunswicks have been gone for years now, but the few Vocalions left in the stores are certainly worth the effort of digging out.

And why hasn't Mildred recorded of late? Blame it on her integrity. She'd signed a contract with Decca largely on the strength of her two best-selling Gems of Jazz reissues, made years before for English Parlophone. She'd sung four perennial jazz numbers: "Willow Tree," "Honey-suckle Rose," "Squeeze Me," and "Downhearted Blues." Only Decca now wanted her to sing the latest. Mildred as usual wanted to make her own choices. In an up-and-coming singer it might be foolishness, but in an artist who has been on top for over ten years, who has developed her own following, it is perfectly justifiable. The success of her Vocalions can't be denied.

Knowing full well that this suggestion may never be read by the powers-that-be, I think that one of the networks should give Mildred an exclusive fifteen minute sustaining program, preferably with Teddy Wilson's small Cafe Society band. Certainly when a pseudo-jazz program like "Chamber Music of Basin Street" can build up a tremendous following, a little decent jazz ought to get along. The beauty of the Bailey-Wilson combination, especially, is that you needn't be an ardent swing addict to appreciate and enjoy their music.

Completely non-apropos to the above, Frankie Newton and Vic Dickenson, who completed their engagement at the Vanity Fair Sunday, are playing a one-night stand tonight at the Ken. Frankie and Vic were to have a regular engagement there, but union trouble has clouded the situation.