Paula Castle - Why Can't I 1955

With the release of Paula Castle's "Lost Love" in 1955 by the Verse Music Group we're presented with something of a mystery.

This would be Castle's first 10-inch LP, and her last, according to Lord's Jazz Discography. Little is known about Castle or what became of her after this album was released.

The band here is equally mysterious. Beyond flutist Sam Most, the rest of the quartet's members aren't exactly household jazz names. Bassist Chet Amsterdam would have a lengthy career as a sideman, but Love Lost was the last recording for pianist Ronnie Selbey and drummer Herbie Wasserman, unless they were pseudonyms for players signed to other labels.

But back to Castle. She began her recording career in February 1949 with bassist Chubby Jackson. The New Yorker called her recording of "All Wrong" (made with Jackson that month) “a slow ballad with a foolish lyric" but “interestingly worked out by the musicians and well sung by Paula Castle."

In early August 1949, Billboard reported that Castle had signed a personal management contract with Larry Newton. The magazine also mentioned that she had signed a four-year record deal with Newton's Derby label. But in 1953, Newton ran out of cash and formed Central Records with Lee Magid. The new venture didn't work out either for Newton, who had to file for bankruptcy in 1954.

His Derby masters were sold to RCA, where Newton became an executive. But whatever Newton lacked on the entrepreneurial side he more than made up for in a corporate setting. In 1956 he joined ABC-Paramount as a sales manager and three years later was vice president of sales. In 1965, he became the label's president.

But back to Castle. By mid-August 1949, Newton arranged for Castle to travel down South for a 10-day tour to plug her first Derby release. That single had been recorded in July. She had gone into the studio to record four sides but only two, "Harry the Eight" and "Free of Charge" were issued. The songs were recorded with the Joe Roland Quintet, featuring Ray Turner (ts), Joe Roland (vib), Red Mitchell (p), Joe Puma (g) and Paul Sziglay (b).

In January 1950, Roland wound up at Savoy Records, and Castle recorded one track with him, "Love Is Just a Plaything". By then Roland was billed as “Joltin' Joe" Roland and his Symphonette/Bopping Strings. The band featured Joe Roland (vib), Joe Puma (g), Gus Oberstein, Jules Modlin and Sidney Kasmit (strings), Ismael Ugarte (b) and Harold Granowsky (d), with Paula Castle (vcl).

Under contract to Derby, Castle wouldn't appear in a recording studio again until 1955, when she recorded a 10-inch Bethlehem LP called "Lost Love". By then, she was managed by Mort Hillman, who also handled Herbie Mann, another Bethlehem artist.

Except for a cryptic remark by an Amazon reviewer in 2011 who claimed that Castle was alive and well in Queens, N.Y., the trail goes cold in 1955.