In the Still of the Night

“In the Still of the Night” was recorded in the Saint Bernadette Catholic School basement in New Haven, Connecticut in February 1956. Marty Kugell produced the song. The saxophone solo was played by Vinny Mazzetta of New Haven.

The rhythm section was Doug Murray (bass), Bobby Mapp (drums) and Curlee Glover (piano). It was originally released on Kugell’s Standord label with the B-side “The Jones Girl”, a play on the Mills Brothers‘ 1954 hit, “The Jones Boy”.

Although the single was only a moderate hit after it was reissued on the Ember label, peaking at No. 24 on the national pop charts and No. 3 on the R&B “race” charts (Billboard’s chart designation for R&B at the time), its reputation came to surpass its original chart placement. For three decades, the single almost always topped the influential Top 500 Songs countdown on oldies radio station WCBS-FM. The song was included on the highly influential 1959 LP Oldies But Goodies on Original Sound.

The song was spelled as “In the Still of the Nite” to avoid confusion with Cole Porter‘s “In the Still of the Night“.