Jack Webb

It's difficult to picture Jack Webb making an easy listening record or enjoying some cool jazz. The actor played a granite-faced police sergeant named Joe Friday on the television drama series Dragnet during the 1950s, and that is the lasting image that comes to mind at the mention of his name. How could the man who portrayed the rigidly controlled cop, and who spoke in a stern monotone, ever be cool enough for jazz? As hard to believe as it may be, Webb definitely knew cool jazz and he did, indeed, record several albums. The genre remained one of his lifelong passions. During his youth he devoted endless hours to practicing on his cornet. As an adult he amassed more than 6,000 albums in his personal collection. He even married sultry voiced torch singer Julie London. In addition to his work on Dragnet, which he created, Webb directed the movie Pete Kelly's Blues. He also starred in that and other Warner Bros. movies, which led to the company's asking him during the 1950s to record a pair of albums for its new subsidiary, Warner Bros. Records. Rhino Handmade reissued Webb's albums, You're My Girl and Jack Webb Presents Pete Kelly Lets His Hair Down. Both had been unavailable for almost 40 years. The Rhino Handmade release, a limited edition which combines the two albums for the first time in CD form, is playfully called Just the Tracks, Ma'am: The Warner Bros. Recordings. On You're My Girl, Webb spoke rather than sang the song lyrics, including the soulful Otis Redding classic "Try a Little Tenderness." That number can also be found on Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing-Off!. The Rhino collection features actors who are not normally known for their singing, such as William Shatner. Unfortunately Webb does not sing -- or speak -- on Jack Webb Presents Pete Kelly...