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Friday, August 10, 2018

Persuasive Percussion - Terry Synder And The All Stars

Persuasive Percussion
Terry Synder And The All Stars
Originated and Produced by Enoch Light
Photography: Anthony Lloyd-Parker
Licensed by Grand Award Record Company Inc.
EMI Records
Made and Printed in Great Britain
Command SCOM 113
1965

Featuring Willie Rodriquez, Jack Lesberg, Tony Mottola, Dick Hyman, Teddy Sommer, Artie Marotti, Stanley Webb and Dominic Cortese

I'm In The Mood For Love
Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)
Miserlou
I Surrender Dear
Orchids In The Moonlight
I Love Paris
My Heart Belongs To Daddy
Tabu
The Breeze And I
Aloha Oe
Japanese Sandman
Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Hootenanny And American Ballads

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
Hootenanny & American Ballads
Producer: Bill Beasley
Assistant Producer: Ted Jarrett
Recorder: Sam Phillips Studio, Nashville
Engineer: Billy Sherrill
Compatible Mastering: Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville
Cover Design: McPherson Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Modern Sound MS 510

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Washing Square
If I Had A Hammer
Blowin' In The Wind
The Reverend Mr. Black
Puff
Walk Right In
Devil Woman
PT 109
Wolverton Mountain

Rock And Roll And Girls, Girls, Girls

Little Diane
Rock And Roll And Girls, Girls, Girls
Producer: Bill Beasley
Assistant Producer: Ted Jarrett
Recorder: Sam Phillips Studio, Nashville
Engineer: Billy Sherrill
Compatible Mastering: Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville
Cover Design: McPherson Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Modern Sound MS 515

Sheila
Little Diane
Sherry
I Saw Linda Yesterday
Ruby Baby
What Will My Mary Say
Judy's Turn To Cry
Sally, Go Round The Roses
Donna The Prima Donna
Rambling Rose

Eight Days A Week

Eight Days A Week
For Me
Modern Sound MS 1005
Producer: William Beasley
Recorder and Compatible Mastering: Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.
Cover Design: McPherson Studio, Nashville, Tenn.

Eight Days A Week
Sha La La La La
You Were Gone
Midnight Special
For Me
Goodnight
She's Come Of Age
You Make The Decisions
Ferry Cross The Mersey
Hearts Are Funny Things

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

After The Lights Go Down Low - Al Hibbler

After The Lights Go Down Low
The Voice Of Al Hibbler
Cover: Bill Hughes
Atlantic 1251
1958

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the original cover art and jacket notes excerpts.

From the back cover: Al Hibbler, one of the most important of today's male vocalists, hardly needs introduction. Nor do the splendidly chosen songs he sings. He, Al Hibbler – the vocal pantomimist – first attracted professional attention singing with local aggregations in the middle-west and the south. He so impressed Duke Ellington that he was invited to join that legendary organization and remained on as male vocalist with Duke for eight highly successful years.

He was born in Arkansas and attended the school for the blind in Little Rock. When he was about fourteen or fifteen years old, the urge to sing took hold. He had been exposed to the good jazz sounds of that day and although he can't recall when it started, he remembers that he began to sing along with records and bands for his own amusement. Al Hibbler and he thought to create a style of singing that was as much instrumental as vocal.

He recalls his early exposure to "swing" and "jazz". And it was quite an exposure. In Hibbler's formative years in the Rabbit Foot Minstrel included Little Rock in its itinerary and the yearly street parade heralding the Minstrel's coming was annually followed by little Al Hibbler hungrily drinking in the blaring sounds of brass and drums. He cultivated friendships too, with the ticket takers at the Skating Rink, the Dreamland, and the Mosaic Temple... for at these three halls, every name band in Swing made a stop at some time or other. Al Hibbler heard them all.

He worked for a lot of small bands after that. Then Duke Ellington, on one of his swings through the Southland, heard Al Hibbler. Duke put his stamp of approval on the lad and Hibbler's really big career was formally launched.

He's been a "single" now for the past several years. – Jack Walker


After The Lights Go Down Low
You Will Be Mine
Dedicated To You
Song Of The Wanderer
Tell Me
I'm Traveling Light
Autumn Winds
This Is Always
Now I Lay Me Down To Dream
If I Knew You Were There
I Won't Tell A Soul I Love You
The Blues Came Falling Down

Softly, Baby - Paul Smith

Long Live Phineas
Softly, Baby
Paul Smith Quartet
Barney Kessel appears by arrangement with Contemporary Records
Cover Photo by Lee Friedlander
Capitol Records T829
1957

From the back cover: Paul Smith is many things: arranger, composer, pianist – but mostly pianist. His inventive piano artistry and arrangements were much in evidence in Cascades and Cool and Sparkling, albums that featured Paul and his sextet. Now, his versatile piano style is given still wider range in Softly, Baby. For here, Paul is backed by a smaller group – three outstanding jazzmen who are stars in their own right: guitarist Barney Kessel, drummer Stan Levey and bassist Joe Mondragon.

Softly
Taking A Chance On Love
Easy To Love
Long Live Phineas
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
I'll Remember April
Invitation
I Got Rhythm
The Man I Love
Blues a la P.T.

Do Re Mi In Dance Time - Jule Styne and Eddie Heywood

Cry Like The Wind
Do Re Mi In Dance Time
Music Composed and Conducted by Jule Styne
Featuring the Piano Artistry of Eddie Heywood
Arranged by Henri Rene
Produced by George Avakian and Joe Linhart
Eddie Heywood appears courtesy of Mercury Record Corp.
Recorded in RCA Victor's Studio A, New York City
Recording Engineer: Ernest Oelrich
RCA Victor LPM-2375
1961

From the back cover: The many and distinguished talents of Jule Styne have created a pattern unique in the annuals of modern American music. As a child prodigy, his pianistic prowess was acclaimed by audiences who heard him perform with the country's leading symphony orchestras. While still in his early teens and seeking new worlds to conquer he deserted the classical field to play in orchestras beside such greats as Big Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Ben Pollack, Glenn Miller and countless others. This valuable apprenticeship inspired him to form his own band in which he played, arranged, conducted, and first tried his hand at writing songs. (Sunday, written thirty-four years ago remains an all-time standard.)

Mr. Styne's quicksilver curiosity drew him to Hollywood where, as vocal coach and arranger, he helped launch the careers of Alice Faye, Tony Martin, Doris Day and many others. Dissatisfied with the songs used during this period, he began dabbling in composition once more and with skyrocket brilliance catapulted him himself overnight into the top echelon of ASCAP. You could always hear the latest Jule Styne song by tuning in on the "Hit Parade." Triump followed triumph until he regarded his success as excess. The creative instinct in the man was restless, unfulfilled.

So to Broadway – and almost overnight the die was cast; he became not only the composer of long-run smash musicals, but also a remarkably successful producer. As a composer, some of his hits were "High Button Shoes," "Gentleman Prefer Blondes," "Bells Are Ringing" and "Gypsy"; and as a producer, a brilliant revival of "Pal Joey" (conceded to be far better than the original production), "Mr. Wonderful," "Say Darling" and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?".

And still Jule Styne remains dissatisfied; therefore this album.


Also from the back cover: For the arrangements, he (Styne) has chosen Henri Rene who for several years was A&R man for RCA Victor records on the west coast. Mr. Rene was selected not only for his obvious talents as the guiding force behind so many memorable records of the past, but also for his personal understanding of Mr. Styne's creativity, musical temperament and purposes. For piano soloist, Mr. Styne has chosen Eddie Heywood, surely on of the most articulate and inventive artists of modern jazz.

Make Someone Happy
Ambition
Cry Like The Wind
Adventure
All Of My Life
Fireworks
Asking For You
Take A Job
What's New At The Zoo
I Know About Love
It's Legitimate

Music/Sound Spectacular

Cat Anderson And His Orchestra/ June Bug

Music/Sound Spectacular
Produced by Kaiser Aluminum
Mercury Records SRD-2

David Carroll/Chinatown, My Chinatown
The Platters/Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
John Cali/Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
The Clebanoff Strings/Wild Is The Wind
Griff Williams/ Just One Of Those Things
David Romaine/Hot Canary
Max Roach/Max's Variations
Sarah Vaughan/ Gone With The Wind
The River Boat Five/Colonel Bogey
Cat Anderson And His Orchestra/ June Bug
Patti Page/I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
Pete Rugolo/My Mother's Eyes

You Can't Have Too Much Of A Good Thing - The Strawberry Street Singers

Too Much Of A Good Thing
You Can't Have Too Much Of A Good Thing
The Strawberry Street Singers
Arranged and Conducted by Marty Manning
Produced by Jim Foglesong and Ernie Altschuler
Recorded in RCA Victor's Studio A, New York City
Recording Engineer: Ed Begley
RCA Victor LSP-3912
1968

From the back cover: The Strawberry Street Singers' initial album is the result of detailed planning on the part of some of the music and recording world's outstanding writing, arranging and production talents. All have united to blend twenty-five happy voices in a choral group to accomplish the impossible – combine the nostalgia of the past with enthusiasm, verve, and the sound of the present. The end result is an album certain to appeal to all age levels. – Sidney H. Ascher

Too Much Of A Good Thing
When I'm Sixty-Four
Strangers (from the TV production "Androcles and the Lion")
Lizette
On The South Side Of Chicago
Step To The Rear (from the musical "How Now, Dow Jones")
The Music Of The World A Turnin'
Our Song
The Happy Time (from the musical production "The Happy Time")
The Windows Of The World
What's More American

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Hot Hits 2

Paranoid
Hot Hits 2
Music For Pleasure Ltd, Astronaut House, Feltham, Middlesex
MFP STEREO 1426

Montego Bay
It's So Easy
Paranoid
Band Of Gold
Gasolene Alley Bred
Which Way You Goin' Billy?
Wild World
Sweetheart
Long As I Can See The Light
Love Is Life
Don't Play That Song
You Can Get It If You Really Want It

Mambo Jambo / Prado Mania - Bobby Gil

Mambo Jambo
Mambo Jambo & Prado Mania
Members Of The Perez Prado Orchestra
Bobby Gil Conducting
Recorded at Sound Enterprises, Hollywood, California
Photography: Ron Vogel
Cover: Charles Meggs
Crown Records CLP 5106 & CST 137
1959

Personel:

Tony Facciuto, Mike Akopoff, John Anderson, Marvin Brown and Don Cinquemani - Trumpet
Carlos Falco - Trombone
Bill Carson and Ralph Cacho - Alto
Modesto Briseno - Baritone
Frank Leal - Tenor
Bobby Gil - Organ
Tony Reyes - Bass
Carlos Vidal and Sam Sloneker - Congos
Carlos Amejio - Bongos
Richard Wilson - Drums
Gerald Rivera - Timbals

Mambo Jambo
Mambo #5
La Paloma
Estrellita
La Cucaracha
Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
Patricia
Historian de un Amour
La Golondrina
Chapanecas