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Saturday, October 12, 2019

Tops In Pops Artists

Montuno In G
Tops In Pops Artists
Evon 312

Preacher And The Bear - Pee Wee Hunt
After The Ball - Fred Burton
Annie Laurie - Ted Nash
Montuno In G - Noro Morales
Barcarolle - The Three Suns
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child - Sarah Vaughan
The Whiffenpoof Song - Lanny Ross
Willow, Tit Willow - Marty Green
Rose Of Tralee - Frank Connors
Alohe Oe (Farwell To Thee) - Lani McIntire

Intoxicating Peral Bailey

Empty House Blues
The Intoxicating
Peral Bailey
Photo by Wesley Bowman
Mercury Records MG 20277
1958

I'm Gonna Keep On Doin' What I'm Doin'
I've Taken A Fancy To You
Here You Come With Love
That's What You Think
Call Me Again When You're In Town
It Figures
The Saga Of My Life
What Will We Do On Sunday
You've Got It Made
Who Me? I'd Love It
Empty House Blues
Love 'Im, Love 'Im, Love 'Im

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

The Lennon Sisters Sing Twelve Great Hits

Harbor Lights
The Lennon Sisters Sing Twelve Great Hits
Arranged and Conducted by Milt Rogers
Cover Photo by Russ Halford
Dot Ultra Stereophonic Recording DLP 25292
Mfd. for Teleklew Prod. Inc.
1960

From Billboard - July 11, 1960: The Lennon Sisters sell a group of familiar tunes with verve and sparkle on this bright new waxing. Hits range from "Among My Souvenirs," "Melody Of Love" and "Now Is The Hour." to "You Are My Sunshine" and "Harbor Lights." The gals sound very good on this waxing and the album could be a strong seller.

Among My Souvenirs
Mississippi Mud
Repeat After Me
Forever And Ever
Mexicali Rose
Harbor Lights
Melody Of Love
Tumbling Tumbleweeds
Choir Of Angels
You Are My Sunshine
Now Is The Hour
A Little Street Where Old Friends Meet

The Lennon Sisters' Favorites

Autumn Leaves
The Lennon Sisters' Favorites
Arranged and Conducted by Jimmie Haskell
Jimmy Haskell appears through the courtesy of Capitol Records
Produced by Ted Mack
Dot DLP-25481
Mfd. for Teleklew Prod. Inc.
1963

The Green Leaves Of Summer
Scarlet Ribbons
Kisses Sweater Than Wine
My Rosary
Beautiful Ohio
Bei Mir Bist Du Schön
My Favorite Things
Greensleves
Lida Rose
Autumn Leaves
Kentucky Babe
Ave Maria

Stan Getz - Chick Corea & Bill Evans

Funkallero
Stan Getz
The Chick Corea / Bill Evans Sessions
The 1964 and 1967 recordings, machine Getz with the pianistic brilliance of Corea and Evan; also with Elvin Jones, Richard Davis, Ron Carter and Grady Tate.
Originally Produced by Creed Taylor
Reissue Prepared by Robert Hurwitz
Cover Art: Dave Hefferman
Art Direction: Beverly Parker (AGI)
Reissue Engineer: Ed Outwater
Mastering: Bob Ludwig (Masterworks)
Recorded in New York City, March 1967
Verve VE-2-2510
1976 Polydor Incorporated
Previously released on albums V6-8833 and V6-8693

From the cover: Getz, who is currently into his fourth decade of pacesetting tenor playing, joined Woody Herman's Second Herd in 1947 at the tender age of 20, after three years of cross-country touring under such diverse leaders as Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman. In late 1948 the Herd recorded "Early Autumn," a Getz ballad feature that established his lyrically warm but sonically cool approach as the style for tenor saxophonists to pursue.

The solo's success allowed Getz to lead his own group from 1949 on, but it did not turn him into a one-dimensional musician. In 1950 Getz emphasized his commitment to more intense blowing on some marvelous live recordings made at George Wein's old Boston club Storyville. "It's fun swinging and getting hot for a change instead of trying to be cool," Getz told Leonard Feather at the time. "I don't want to become stagnant. I can be a real stomping tenor man.

For all the polls he won without interruption during the decade, the '50s were a time of crisis for Getz. A brief but unhappy stint as a studio musician, a failing marriage, drug busts, a suicide attempt, six months in a California Jail, an auto-crash that almost killed one of his sons, a near-fatal case of pneumonia, and the increasing hostilities of black musicians all took their toll; in July 1958, Getz and his Danish second wife fled the United States for the outskirts of Copenhagen. When Getz returned in January 1961, John Coltrane had established himself as the dominant trendsetter among tenor saxophonists. Getz could have accommodated as eager group of reactionary listeners who felt Coltrane's way was somehow "anti-jazz," but sedate rehashing of "Early Autumn" and "Moonlight In Vermont" were not what he had in mind. He proceeded to hire such young explorers as Steve Kuhn, Jimmy Garrison and Scott La Faro, and at the close of '61 undertook the soloist's role in Eddie Sauter's ground-breaking work "Focus."

Then, without warning, success struck for the second time. In early 1962 Getz and Charlie Byrd recored some new tunes the guitarist had brought back from Brazil. The resulting album, Jazz Samba (and its lead tune "Desafinado"), became a Top Ten hit and brought Getz his first Grammy Award. Bossa nova was the musical sound of the moment, thanks to the Getz/Byrd recordings, and the smart business move was to place Stan in additional Brazilian settings. Verve responded accordingly, matching Getz with Luis Bonfa, Laurindo Almeida and Gary McFarland's big band bossa nova," but the saxophonist refused to fall into a samba somnolence. In clubs, he condescendingly referred to his hit time as "Dis Here Finado"; in the recording studio, he hosted the 1963 summit meeting with Bill Evans, Elvin Jones, Richard Davis and Ron Carter, included on this collection's first record.

The pairing of Getz and Evans had been anticipated for years, as both players represent the epitome of lyricism, attention to nuance, and quiet strength. The real stroke of genius on the part of Getz, Evans and producer Creed Taylor was in the choice of a rhythm section. Elvin Jones, who was lighting brilliant percussive fires under Coltrane at the time, brought out the assertive side of both soloists. As Getz appreciatively told Leonard Feather a year after the session, "Elvin's a wonderful drummer... so wide and loose." These adjectives could also apply to Ron Carter and Richard Davis, two then up-and-coming bassists with distinctively iconoclastic approaches to the modern mainstream. Each had previously worked productively with Eric Dolphy, a sign of their inquisitive natures.

As many performances of the '60s Getz left the choice of material to others. Evans clearly called the tunes here: "Night And Day' and "My Heart Stood Still" appeared on early Evans trio sessions, and a recent live album found the pianist still playing "But Beautiful." Getz came to this session intending to blow, and if occasional reed squeaks and honked low notes suggest that he may have been forcing it a bit, we generally hear a master in inspired, heated flight, far from the polite niceties of the stark contrast to his more commercial work of that time that kept the Getz/Evan sessions unissued for a decade.


Night And Day
But Beautiful
Funkallero
My Heart Stood Still
Grandfather's Waltz
Litha
O Grande Amor
Sweet Rain
Con Alma
Windows

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

After Hours - Sarah Vaughan

Black Coffee
After Hours
Sarah Vaughan
Photo by Hugh Bell
Columbia CL 660
1955

From the back cover: Rarely a popular singer in the commercial sense, Sarah's talents are nevertheless both popular and commercial, as the proprietors of any club or theater are able to attest. (For that matter, several of the numbers in this collection, notably "Thinking Of You", "I Cried For You" and "Perdido", made the best-seller lists). This sort of thing is a steady note in her career, which has gone forward and upward steadily ever since her debut. Her first public appearance were in Newark, N.J., where she sang in the choir of her church. Entering an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in New York, she won not only the first prize, but a week's engagement, appearing with Earl Hines' orchestra. Before the week was up, Hines offered her a permanent berth with his group, which also featured Billy Eckstine.

After Hours
Street Of Dreams
You Taught Me To Love Again
You'er Mine, You
My Reverie
Summertime
Black Coffee
Thinking Of You
I Cried For You
Perdido
Deep Purple
Just Friends

Hits Again 3 - Klaus Wunderlich

Theme From "Shaft"
Hits Again 3
Klaus Wunderlich
Hammond with Rhythm
Telefunken SLE 14 694-P
1973

Avenues And Alleyways
I'm On My Way
Annabelle

Speak Softly Love
You're A Lady
Theme From "W"

Mexico
Oh Lonesome Me
Kiss Me

Donna
Last Date

Look At Me
Delta Queen
Clair

Popcorn
Apache
Corn-Flakes

Theme From "Shaft"
If You Could Read My Mind
Manana

Molina
Crocodile Rock
Mama-Mia

I Will Follow Him
Diana
Wig-Wam Bam

Sugar Me
Standing In The Road

An Evening With Franklyn MacCormack

Beyond The Brightest Star
An Evening With Franklyn MacCormack
Organ Accompaniment: Adele Scott
Producer: Jerome V. Man
Cover Art: Tru-View Studios
Cover Art: Tru-View Studios
IRC International Recording Co.
HIGH FIDELITY 3311
1965

From the back cover: Since March of 1958, MacCormack has been starred on "The-All-Night Meister Brau Showcase." a six and one-half hour program on WGN radio in Chicago. Several awards have been given to the show which can be heard throughout most of the country. Ratings and surveys have shown that his show has more listeners than any other all-night program. It is significant to note that the Peter Hand Brewery, brewers of Meister Brau, have been his sole sponsor during this time.

Why Do I Love You?
Because You Love Me
Alone
Good Night Son
My Lonely Heart
Beyond The Brightest Star
I Cannot Be Alone
The Time To Remember
Dreams
When The World Was Young
This Is All I Ask
September Song

Pal Joey - 101 Strings

Overture - Bewitched - My Funny Valentine
101 Strings Play Hits From Rodgers and Hart Pal Joey
And Victor Herbert's The Red Mill
Stereo Fidelity
Somerset
Manufactured by Miller International Co.
ALBUM SF-5000
1958

Pal Joey
Overture
Bewitched
My Funny Valentine
The Lady Is A Tramp
I Could Write A Book
I Didn't Know What Time It Was

The Red Mill
Overture
Because You're You
Moonbeams
Everyday Is Ladies Day With Me
In Old New York
Isle Of Our Dreams

Linda's Player Piano - Linda Carillon Berry

Glorious
Linda's Player Piano
Linda Carillon Berry and Her Player Piano
Audio Fidelity
AFLP 1846
1957

Mary Lou
Ting-A-Ling
When Your Hair Has Turned To Silver
Under The Double Eagle
Glorious
In The Evening
Stumbling
I Never Knew What Moonlight Could Do
La Golondrina
Beer Barrel Polka
Jolly Coppersmith
National Emblem March

'Gator Tails - Williw Jackson

Someone To Watch Over Me
'Gator Tails
Willis Jackson
Arranged by Robert Banks & Claus Ogerman
Director of Engineering: Val Valentin
Cover Photo: Chuck Stewart
Cover Design: Any R. Lehman
Produced by Creed Taylor
Recorded at A&R Studios, N.Y.C.
Phil Ramone, engineer
Verve V/V6-8589
1964

I Almost Lost My Mind
The Crocodile
On Broadway
Swimming' Home Baby
The Skillet
Frankie And Johnny
Someone To Watch Over Me
Lonesome Road
Early One Morning

Monday, October 7, 2019

Feel Good! Look Great! - Debbie Drake

Exercise Number 6

Feel Good! Look Great!
Exercise Along With Debbie Drake
Noel Regney and His Orchestra
Produced by Clifford Snyder
Epic STEREO/BN 26034 & MONAURAL LN 24034
1963

From Billboard - February 9, 1963: A package designed for sales. Where TV exercise queen Debbie Drake is seen regularly, it should do especially well, but it can rack up consistent sales elsewhere too. There are 38 different exercises. Each is explained first by Debbie, then accompanied by the Noel Regney Ork. A folder also find Miss Drake illustrating each dance through a series of 192 photos.

Swing Me An Old Song - Julie London

After The Ball
Swing Me An Old Song
Julie London
With Jimmy Rowles and His Orchestra
Producer: Si Waronker
Engineers: Ted Keep & Don Gallese
Color Photography: Garrett-Howard
Cover Design: Pate/Francis & Associates
Liberty Records, Inc. LRP 3119
1959

From Billboard - July 20, 1959: Julie London provides something new in the old-song area. She thrushes the quaint oldies in her usual sultry, sexy fashion, with pleasant jazz-flavored backing by Jimmy Rowles Ork. Effective, unusual wax for jocks. Selections include "Comin' Thru The Rye," "Old Folks At Home," etc.

Comin' Thru The Rye
Cuddle Up A Little Closer
After The Ball
Be My Little Bumble Bee
Camptown Races
Old Folks At Home
Downtown Strutters' Ball
How Come You Do Me Like You Do
Row, Row, Row
By The Beautiful Sea
Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home
Three O'Clock In The Morning

Black And White Magic - Winifred Atwell

Strangers In Paradise
Black And White Magic
Magic Fingers, Volume 1
Winifred Atwell and Her Pianos
London Records LL 1246

From the back cover: She (Atwell) was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, and started to learn the piano at the age of four. At six she had already given Chopin recitals at local concerts. Her father was a chemist, and Winifred was sent to study pharmacy in order that she might eventually take over the family business. But the urge to become a pianist was too strong and eventually she got parental permission to study music full time. She gave classical recitals at the Service Clubs in Piarco, where one day somebody bet her she couldn't play boogie-woogie. Winifred proved that she could by turning up next day with a composition that was eventually recorded under the name of Five Finger Boogie.

In 1946 she came to England and studied the piano under Harold Craxton, at first playing only one or two minor concert engagements. Then came a chance to go into variety. The producer, Eric Fawcett, was working out the idea for a show that was to be called "Sepia", starring Adelaide Hall and Edric Connor. He took a chance with the unknown Winifred Atwell, and her performance of a piece called Voodoo Moon proved to be one of the best parts of the program. Her really big break came when as agent put her in a charity show in a big London theatre in place of an actress who, at the last moment, was unable to appear through illness. She was a great success and was immediately signed by Bernard Delfont on a long-term contract. The first theatre she played at was the Empire Theatre, Belfast, soon followed by a twice-nightly spell at the London Casino, and a period with Edmundo Ros at the Bagatelle Restaurant. In the last few years she has headed her own shows sharing the bill with Frankie Howerd and other top line entertainers. Her recent triumphal tour in Australia has confirmed the world-wide popularity of the girl from Trinidad.

In 1951 she made her first record with London; this was The Gypsy Samba And Manzanilla. The second record, on one side of which was Jezebel, became a bestseller, but it was Black And White Rag which undoubtedly made her out of the top entertainers in this country. To suit the old style of the George Botsford ragtime tune she had chosen, she found an old tiny piano, and the intriguing tones of this instrument started a craze for this kind of recording. She always called this her "other" piano. More recordings of this type followed, Jubilee Rag, Britannia Rag, Dixie Boogie and Coronation Ray, most of them her own compositions, interspersed with her South American rhythm numbers and novelty items like the barrel-organ take-offs of popular waltz tunes. It was perhaps the rags, more than anything else, that became the Atwell trademark.

One of her greatest triumphs was her fortnight at the London Palladium. By now she was no longer the stage-shy beginner, but the polished and confident performer with a warn and charming personality. At this Mecca of all variety artists, English and American, Winifred Atwell has a tremendous success, with the natural result that anything she recorded from then on automatically became popular favorite. She capped all this being invited to appear at the 1952 Royal Command Variety Show.


Choo-Choo Samba 
Jubilee Rag
Stranger In Paradise
Swanee River Boogie
El Cumbanchero
Caravan
Dixie Boogie
The Black And White Rag
Serenata
17th Century Boogie
Jezebel
Buda Buda
Flirtation Waltz
Dinah Boogie

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Mambo At The Waldorf - Xavier Cugat

Mondongo
Mambo At The Waldorf
Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra
Columbia Records CL 732
1955

Mambo At The Waldorf
Cuca
Yo Quiero un Mambo
Mondongo
Mambo Gallego
Jamay
Mambo Gordo
Mambo en Espana
Mambo No. 8
Sax Cantabile
La Cumparsita
Mambo Retozon

Frankie Carle's Sweethearts

Laura
Frankie Carle's Sweethearts
Frankie Carle, Piano with Rhythm Accompaniment
Photo: Mitchell Bliss
RCA Victor LPM-1222
1956

From the back cover: Frankie is a leader of that school of musicians who believe firmly in letting the melody be heard. Not for him the intricate pianistic pyrotechnics (though he's perfectly able to play them), the start-and-stop rhythms, the overloaded arrangements affected by lesser artists. Frankie plays the tune straight in a danceable rhythm, and gets variety by a careful, subtle use of dynamics. accents and decorations. For all its apparent simplicity, Frankie's playing is very sophisticated. such artful simplicity is the true sign of the master musician.

The only thing spectacular about the Carle career is the fame that has followed the years of obscure drudgery during which he was "learning by doing" all the tricks in the expert musician's bag of tricks. Mastery like Frankie's of keyboard, orchestra and music comes only after many years of experience, and Frankie has had plenty of them.

It's a big head start, of you want to be a musician, to have one in the family. As a boy in his native Providence, Rhode Islan, Frankie had a musical uncle, Nicholas Colangelo, throughly trained in European conservatories, who was only too glad to teach his nephews. The catch was the nephew wanted none of it, thank you – he wanted to be a boxer. But eventually parental persuasion and perhaps his own changing inclinations led him to study piano with Uncle Nick. He made fast progress, so fast that he had his first music job when he was nine and wrote his first song – for Frankie is a first-rate composer of pop music – when he was thirteen.

In his teens and twenties he had a variety of music jobs all over New England, and played with some of the best sidemen of the day. His rise to fame really began in 1939, when he joined Horace Heidt's band as solo pianist and, later, co-leader. It was during his five years with Heidt that his name as a composer spread. His Sunrise Serenade, a smash hit in '39, was only one of a series of great Carle tunes, including Lover's Lullaby; Oh, What It Seemed To Be; Deep In Your Eyes and Blue Fantasy.

He went out in '43 with his own band, opening at one of the country's biggest hotel spots, the New York Statler. He caught on at once and skyrocketed into the top bracket of banddom's elite. A star ever since on radio and TV, in night spots and hotels, he's achieved his most phenomenal success on records, of which more than fifty million have been sold.


Nola
Oh Marie!
Peg O' My Heart
Emaline
For Me And My Gal
Sweethearts On Parade
Dinad
I Wonder What's Become Of Sally
Laura
Cecilia
You Were Meant For Me
You And I

Jazz Impressions Of New York - Dave Brubeck

Autumn In Washington Square
Jazz Impressions Of New York
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Featuring the Music From the CBS Television Network Series "Mr. Broadway"
Produced by Teo Macero
Cover Photo: Columbia Records Photo Studio - Henry Parker
Columbia Records Stereo – CS 9075
1965

Dave Brubeck - Piano
Paul Desomd - Alto Saxophone
Joe Morello - Drums
Eugene Wright - Bass

From the producers:

The music for "Mr. Broadway" was an early and critical consideration in the conception of the program. We sought a modern sound that would truly complement the sophisticated and pulsating beat that is so indigenous to New York. The choice of Dave Brubeck seems, in retrospect, to have been inevitable, but despite our united enthusiasm we could not have anticipated the enormous contribution of Dave Brubeck's music to "Mr. Broadway." The Brubeck signature with its marvelous and insinuating cross-rhythms and wild flights of imagination, has given new and distinctive dimension to our television series. He is a man of rare talent, vitality and poetry, and he has contributed all of this to "Mr. Broadway." I am proud of this music. – David Suskind, Executive Producer

From Billboard - January 23, 1965: All of the excitement and creativity usually associated with the music of Dave Brubeck is present in this commercial package. Brubeck give distinctive impressions of New York. Supported by Paul Desmond on alto sax; Joe Morello, drums, and Eugene Wright on bass, the impressions range from Greenwich Village to Harlem.

Theme From "Mr. Broadway"
Broadway Bossa Nova
Autumn In Washington Square
Something To Sing About
Sixth Sense
Spring In Central Park
Lonely Mr. Broadway
Summer On The Sound
Winter Ballad
Broadway Romance
Upstage Rumba

After Midnight - Nat 'King' Cole

Lonely One
After Midnight
Nat 'King' Cole and His Trio
Featuring the solo instruments of Willie Smith, Harry Edison, Stuff Smith and Juan Tizol
Capitol Records
A Capitol Monophonic Re-Issue
This album is an abridged version of the album previously issued under the same title
Recorded August and September, 1956, in Hollywood
Capito SM-11796
1978

From the back cover: This album is Nat Cole's first with his small group in some time. Long before he was known as a singer, Nat was one of the best of all jazz pianists, winner of Esquire Awards in 1946 and 1947, and top man in the Metronome poll in 1947, '48 and '49. The 'King' Cole Trio won numerous honors too in capturing the Down Beat poll from 1944 to 1947 and the Metronome poll from 1945 to '48.

The Trio is an historic group in the saga of jazz and popular music in America. It is common today to see trios of piano, bass and guitar working in hotels and night clubs all over the country. Did you ever stop to consider that the "King" Cole Trio set the pattern for these groups? Until its success, no agency would book, and almost no night club would hire, such a small combination. When Nat first week looking for an agent he was told time and time again the group was too small. "You've got an awkward combination there," they told him, but Nat kept on. "I knew they didn't know what they were talking about," he says, and history has proven him right.

The "King" Cole Trio's story has also been interwound with that of Capitol Records. They made their first Capitol discs in 1943, when the company was a healthy youngster. Their second disc, Straighten Up And Fly Right, was an instant and tremendous hit. Since that time Nat "King" Cole (born Nathaniel Cole in Montgomery, Ala., in 1919, son of a Baptist preacher) has become one of the top names in the entertainment business and one of the biggest selling recording artists of all time. One of the great jazz piano players when he began the trio, Nat has now become one of the great ballad singers of our day – known throughout the world. And he is still a great pianist: witness his work in this album.

Nat is accompanied here by his regular group – guitarist John Collins, a veteran of the Art Tatum and Dizzy Gillespie groups and also an Esquire New Star winner; bassist Charlie Harris, who played with Lionel Hampton before joining Nat; and drummer Lee (Leonidas) Young, brother of the great Lester, who has worked extensively in motion picture studio orchestras and is also a veteran of the Lionel Hampton band. On Caravan and Lonely One, Jack Costanzo sits in on bongos.


Individual Bios:

Willie Smith - One of the great stylist of the alto saxophone; born in Charleston, S. C., in 1908, and one of the original members of the Jimmy Lunceford orchestra. He later played with Billy May, Duke Ellington and Harry James, and has toured Europe and the United States with Jazz at the Philharmonic. He is winner of two Esquire Awards (1945 and 1947).

Harry Edison - Star trumpet player of the Count Basie orchestra from 1937 to 1950 and known to musicians as "Sweets." He was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1915, made an international tour with Josephine Baker after leaving Basis and was on of the featured musicians in Gjon Mili's Academy Award winning short, "Jammin' The Blues," and has also toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic.

Stuff Smith - One of the first and still one of the few jazz violinists. He was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1909, and for years led his own group in Buffalo, N.Y. In the mi-30s, he was a smash success on New York's 52nd Street, when "Swing Stree" was in its hey-day, and his records of I'se A-Muggin' and Knock, Knock, Who's There? were big hits. He is also an Esquire Award winner (1946).

Juan Tizo - For years one of the featured trombonists with Duke Ellington's band; a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was featured with Ellington from 1929 to 1944 and then joined Harry James. In 1951 he returned to Ellington for several years. Tizol was one of the first valve trombone players in jazz and is the composer of two of the great jazz classics – Caravan and Perdido.


Just You, Just Me
Sweet Lorraine
Caravan
It's Only A Paper Moon
You're Looking At Me
LonelY One
Don't Let It Go To Your Head
I Know That You Know
Blame It On My Youth
Route 66