The Salior's Dance
Russ Case And His Orchestra
Arranged by Russ Case
Produced and Directed by Herman Diaz, Jr.
Photograph by Murray Laden
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, December 4, 12 and 20, 1956
Vik LX-1085
1957
Russ Case, at the time of his death (1964), was handling arranging chores on The Jackie Gleason Show. He was also involved in arranging a number of concept albums Gleason produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
From the back cover: Chances are you won't risk trying to cut a rug very often during this recital unless you happen to be both an exceedingly limber and exceedingly versatile dancer. For most of the pieces here that were actually written to be danced to (a couple of them were not) were intended for professionals, and even those were set down with no suspicion that one day a fellow named Russ Case would streamline them in this manner. (Nacio Herb Brown's The Doll Dance was composed as a piano novelty, while Raymond Scott's War Dance for Wooden Indians is one of several works with inspiredly nonsensical titles that he dreamed up for his unique small band back in the Thirties.)
DANCES WILD, indeed! Selecting twelve widely-varied "dance" numbers, this fellow Case has created three different instrumental combinations to interpret them, assigning four pieces to each group. The largest and most conventional of these, one in which the emphasis is on brass and wood- winds, is employed to sweep through Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance and de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, glide through Lecuona's Danza Lucumi, and furnish some Lindy Hop music for skeletons in a revamping of Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre.
So far, so good. But it's in dealing with the re- maining eight selections that Case has come up with his most striking notions. For Spanish Dance, The Doll Dance, Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Gypsy Dance, for example, he has assembled a group consisting of nine guitars, bass, piano and drums, thereby drawing attention to the rhythmic content of the four most delicate works of the lot by unison strumming from the massed strings.
On the other hand, he has sought to provide a more dramatic sound for The Kerry Dance, War Dance for Wooden Indians, The Dagger Dance and The Sailors' Dance by contrasting the woodwinds with four sets of tympani, the unit being filled out with guitar, piano, bass and drums.
In the course of this jaunty and winning concert you'll hear much first class instrumental work by such expert musicians as bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Cozy Cole, guitarists Mundell Lowe, Barry Galbraith, and George Barnes, and a host of others. Once again Russ Case demonstrates his remarkable musicianship as both arranger and conductor with this striking new Vik album DANCES WILD. – DOUG WATT (Doug Watt writes musical criticism, covers the theater scene, reviews records and writes the column Small World for the New York Daily News)
DANCES WILD, indeed! Selecting twelve widely-varied "dance" numbers, this fellow Case has created three different instrumental combinations to interpret them, assigning four pieces to each group. The largest and most conventional of these, one in which the emphasis is on brass and wood- winds, is employed to sweep through Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance and de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, glide through Lecuona's Danza Lucumi, and furnish some Lindy Hop music for skeletons in a revamping of Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre.
So far, so good. But it's in dealing with the re- maining eight selections that Case has come up with his most striking notions. For Spanish Dance, The Doll Dance, Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Gypsy Dance, for example, he has assembled a group consisting of nine guitars, bass, piano and drums, thereby drawing attention to the rhythmic content of the four most delicate works of the lot by unison strumming from the massed strings.
On the other hand, he has sought to provide a more dramatic sound for The Kerry Dance, War Dance for Wooden Indians, The Dagger Dance and The Sailors' Dance by contrasting the woodwinds with four sets of tympani, the unit being filled out with guitar, piano, bass and drums.
In the course of this jaunty and winning concert you'll hear much first class instrumental work by such expert musicians as bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Cozy Cole, guitarists Mundell Lowe, Barry Galbraith, and George Barnes, and a host of others. Once again Russ Case demonstrates his remarkable musicianship as both arranger and conductor with this striking new Vik album DANCES WILD. – DOUG WATT (Doug Watt writes musical criticism, covers the theater scene, reviews records and writes the column Small World for the New York Daily News)
Sabre Dance
The Doll House
War Dance For Wooden Indians
Danza Lucumi
Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy
The Kerry Dance
Spanish Dance
The Dagger Dance
Ritual Fire Dance
Gypsy Dance
The Sailor's Dance
VERY unusual tune! I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteCool! Russ Case was my grandfather and it's nice to see someone take an interest in his music/art. He has a couple songs on the Space Age Pop CD's that came out in the mid-90's (Mallets in Wonderland is one of them). Check amazon for info on them (or try Ebay).
ReplyDeleteScott
Cool! Russ Case was my grandfather and it's nice to see someone take an interest in his music/art. He has a couple songs on the Space Age Pop CD's that came out in the mid-90's (Mallets in Wonderland is one of them). Check amazon for info on them (or try Ebay).
ReplyDeleteScott
Thanks Scott! You're grandfather's work ranks right up there with many of the great space age composers!
ReplyDelete