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Saturday, January 8, 2022

Hawaii - Martin Denny

 

Oro

Martin Denny 
Plays The Theme From The United Artists Motion Picture
Hawaii
Producer: Joe Saraceno
Arrangers: Harold V. Johnson & Julius Wechter
Engineer: Eddie Brachett
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Liberty Records LST-7488
1966

Hawaii (from the United Artists Motion Picture "Hawaii")
Lahaina Luna
The Wishing Doll (from the United Artists Motion Picture "Hawaii")
I'll Remember You
Jerusha's Theme
Tiny Bubbles (Hua Li'l)
Here Is Happiness (Koko Ni Sachiari)
Hawaiian Rhapsody
Oro (God Of Vengeance)
Return To Paradise
Manuela Boy
Sukiyaki

Clap Hands - Luther Henderson

 

I'm Happy Sometimes

Clap Hands!
With Luther Henderson
Columbia CL 1340 & CSR 8149 (Special Re-issue)
1959

From the back cover: The orchestra Luther Henderson has assembled for this visit to the bright side of rhythm is as follows: four trombones, one a bass trombone; clarinet, two alto saxes, tenor sax and electric guitar playing the melody with the reeds; eight violins; drums, bass and another electric guitar in the rhythm section. And through all of this is threaded Luther's solo piano work, every element crystal clear in Columbia's High Fidelity.

Also from the back cover: Luther Henderson was born in Kansas City and grew up in Langston, Oklahoma, where his mother and father were both teachers, and in New York City. As the child of two educators he was brought into the classroom when most of us were hitting play school and found himself in the second grade in New York public schools at the age of five. Although he took piano lessons sporadically as a youngster, it was understood that he would be a teacher, and the only unresolved question lay in the choice of subject. When he hit a 100% on the geometry Regents exam it looked like the hand of fate had picked out mathematics.

About this time, however, he and two other sixteen-year-old lads tried their luck on Amateur night at the Apollo Theater and won (first prize, $10). The trio continued together, playing weekend dates and, as Luther explains it, the weekends kept getting longer and longer. From about this time he decided that if he had to spend life counting he would rather do it with beats and bar lines than with trigonometry.

He promptly enrolled himself in Juilliard where, before he graduated, he managed to learn the basic technique of every instrument in the book – a major factor in his present usual grasp of instrumental writing. Meanwhile, back at the nightclub, he was playing as one of the Five Spirits of Rhythm and then in the Leonard Ware Trio. His introduction to arranging came when he was called to do orchestrations for Katherine Dunham's Tropical Revue and, shortly afterward, dance sets for Duke Ellington.

A two-year hitch in the Navy was spent writing and arranging for Navy bands and shows. When he came out of the blue, Ellington and Strayhorn recommended him to Lena Horne. For the following three years he was Lena's accompanist and arranger, a choice plum he only gave up to get on with the main business of his own independent career.

He opened his own vocal coaching and arranging studio in New York, and here begins a list of show business notables a mile long that he has worked with in one capacity or another. Some of them were: Eartha Kitt, Juanita Hall, Carmen MacRae, Janis Paige, Marge and Gower Champion, Carol Lawrence, Jane Morgan, Diahann Carroll, Olga James, Helen Forrest and on and on. Carol Haney brought Luther into TV for arrangements for her appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. Anita Ellis worked with Luther and out of it came a very special kind of story-record, called I Wonder What Became Of Me, for Epic Records. And then Polly Bergen chose Luther to back her musically for the TV production of "The Helen Morgan Story" and subsequent Polly Bergen Shows and records for Columbia: Bergen Sings Morgan, The Party's Over, My Heart Sings, and All Alone By The Telephone.

Luther himself points out that, after Ellington, his career has been primarily advanced through associations with celebrated women, a fact which his wife, lovely TV actress Stephanie, accepts with notable indulgence. He does keep a nodding acquaintance with the male sex, however, in such productions as the Victor Borge Shows and records with Ed Kenney and Larry Blyden.

With two complete scores for musicals tucked away in his trunk awaiting production, Luther has contributed arrangements for Broadway's Top Banana and Beggars' Holiday and the ballet music for Rodgers and Hammerstein Flower Drum Song. And now, with as solid a professional background as one could hope to accumulate in a young lifetime, he is arriving on his own track, under his own steam.

Stay As Sweet As You Are
Out Of Nowhere
On The Sunny Side Of The Street
Three Little Words
The Honey Song
Sometimes I'm Happy
I Love Paris
Let's Fall In Love
A-Two-At-A-Time
Lover, Come Back To Me
Clap Hands Here Comes Charley
I'll See You Again

Friday, January 7, 2022

Day By Day - Doris Day

 

There Will Never Be Another You

Day By Day
Doris Day
With Paul Weston and His Music From Hollywood
Photo: Theda and Emerson Hall
Columbia CL 942
1957

From the back cover: In her fine program here she (Day) is accompanied by the splendid Music from Hollywood orchestra of Paul Weston, complete with his famous string section. In some selections, the instrumentation is that of a full dance band, and in others, Barney Kessell (courtesy of Contemporary Records) on electric guitar, Frank Flynn on vibes, and Ted Nash on alto and tenor sax contribute outstanding solo selections. Throughout, the careful hand of Weston is in evidence, providing her with the kind of solid accompaniment that makes it possible for her to relax and really sing as only she can sing. Day by day, and day after day, this is a collection to provide heart-warming listening: fine songs, a fine artist and some of her finest performances.

The Song Is You
Hello, My Lover, Goodbye
But Not For Me
I Remember You
I Hadn't Anyone Till You
But Beautiful
Autumn Leaves
Don't Take Your Lover From Me
There Will Never Be Another You
Gone With The Wind
The Gypsy In My Soul
Day By Day

Hawaiian Luau! - Johnny Pineapple & Johnny Poi

Mani Chant - Johnny Pineapple

Tahiti - Johnny Poi

Hawaiian Luau!
Johnny Pineapple & Company
Johnny Poi & The Oahu Islanders
Galaxy Twin-Pack 2 DP 732
A Product of Pickwick International

Johnny Poi & The Oahu Islanders

Aloha Oe
Hawaiian Wedding Song
Ua Like Noa Like
Makalapua
Tahiti
Kila Lila Haleakala
Song Of The Islands
Tahu Oahu
One, Two, Three, Four
Wiki Wiki Mai

Johnny Pineapple & Company

Paradise Isle
Hilo March
My Hawaiian Kula Lani
Na Ka Pueo
I Hear Hawaii Calling
Pretty Maid Of The Southern Dea
Maui Chant
Aloha Oe E Kuu Lei
My Take

Standards In Silhouette - Stan Kenton

 

The Thrill Is Gone

Standards In Silhouette 
Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton and his great band in varied shades of blue, with a brand-new book of brilliant concert arrangements 
Produced by Lee Gillette
Capitol Records T 1394
1960

Personnel:

Leader and Piano: Stan Kenton
Saxophones: John Bonnie, Marvin Holladay, Charlie Mariano, Jack Nimitz & Bill Trujillo
Trumpets: Bud Brisbois, Bill Chase, Rolf Ericson, Roger Middleton & Dalton Smith
Trombones: Jim Amlotte, Bob Knight, Kent Larsen, Archie LeCoque & Don Sebesky
Bass: Pete Chivity
Drums: Jimmy Campbell
Percussion: Mike Pacheco & William Rodriguez 
(Clyde Reasinger in for Smith on The Meaning Of The Blues, and Lonely Woman)

From the back cover: In this album the Kenton band works with fresh and imaginative interpretations of fine standards, blending the familiar Kenton touch with a warm, yet bluesy sound that's strikingly new.

The arrangements are by talented Bill Mahieu, the youthful Chicagoan who has worked with the band as both trumpet player and staff writer. His inventive writing is enhanced by some truly outstanding solo performances which are skillfully woven into the framework of each selection. Especially in evidence is the sensitive trumpet stylings of Rolf Ericson, the great Scandinavian instrumental star who has helped to brighten the American jazz scene in recent years. Charlie Mariano is featured on alto, Bill Trujillo on tenor, with Don Sebesky and Archie LeCoque sharing the trombone solos.

Willow Weep For Me
The Thrill Is Gone
The Meaning Of The Blues
When Sunny Gets Blue
Ill Wind
Django
I Get Along Without You Very Well
Lonely Woman

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Beauty And The Beat! - Peggy Lee & George Shearing - Live At The National Disc Jockey Convention

 

All Too Soon

Beauty And The Beat!
Peggy Lee & George Shearing
Recorded Live At The 1959 National Disc Jockey Convention In Miami, Florida
Produced by Dave Cavanaugh
Capitol Records T1219

From the back cover: Miami, May 29, 1959 – More than 2500 of the nation's top disc jockeys were on hand to cheer performances by Peggy Lee and George Shearing during the Friday night concert at the American Hotel. The occasion was the DJ's second annual convention, held in Miami this year. And the concert, staged in the hotel's huge ballroom as combined entertainment and recording session, treated the audience to the opportunity of hearing these two famous "names" in a first-rate appearance together.

Even after the intense pressure of frantic all-day rehearsals, the artists turned up for the session completely relaxed and in a mood to swing. Miss Lee, in a shimmering gown, was as beautiful to see as she was to hear. And she, George Shearing, and the other musicians, swung handsomely through tune after tune with a spontaneous beat that was felt by everyone in the vast room.

A troublesome PA system caused the audience some difficulty in hearing parts of the session, but their warm applause give a good indication of the response with which the professional DJ's greeted the performances. And fortunately, great sounds were being fed continuously to Capitol's engineers manning the recording equipment back stage, so that the recorded results escaped unscathed.

The Quintet played with spirit and taste in support of the famous Shearing piano lead – both in instrumental numbers and in the inventive vocal backings. And Peggy Lee sang as though she didn't have a care in the world other than her interpretations, which included quite a variety of ballad and uptempo stylings. For example, her treatment of I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City was sultry and insinuating. Ellington's beautiful All Too Soon emerged lush and dreamy, and she breezed delightfully through an "up" version of If Dreams Come True.

The instrumentals by George Shearing and the Quintet included an original penned for the occasion by conga drummer Armando Peraza, and entitled Mambo In Miami, Satin Doll and Isn't Romantic? showed off the free-swinging precision of the group.

Do I Love You
I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City
If Dreams Come True
All Too Soon
Mambo In Miami
Isn't It Romantic
Blue Prelude
You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
Always True To You In My Fashion
There'll Be Another Spring
Get Out Of Town
Satin Doll

Viva - Mexicali Brass

 

Mexican Jumping Bean

Viva
Mexicali Brass
Crown Records CST-540
1967

My Granada
Mexican Jumping Bean
Adios Muchachos
Habanera
Dengozc
Toreador Song
La Paloma
Viva, Viva
Two Guitars
Chiapanecas

Vote For Billy Williams

 

This Side Of Heaven

Vote For Billy Williams
Mercury Wing MGW 12131
1959

From the back cover: For an entertainer who has spent his entire professional life singing in quartets, Billy Williams is a most remarkable solo performer. Rare indeed is the artist of such ease and musical grace, yet of such dramatic power and personal magnetism.

And for change of pace, he's a delightful fun-maker, as attested by more than a million fans who grabbed up his splendid treat, "Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter".

It all started when young Billy, of Waco, Texas, the son of a minister, decided to follow his father's career. As a student at Wilbeforce University, he joined with three other students to sing songs of gospel. They called themselves The Charioteers. Station WLW, Cincinnati, soon persuaded them out of their amateur status. A few years later, they were guests on Bing Crosby's radio show and stayed there for six years.

In 1949, his eye on the fast-growing television industry, Billy Williams decided to form a group of his own, to combine first-rate singing with polished visual presentation. The Billy Williams Quartet, soon a fixture on the Sid Caesar-Imogene Coca "Show Of Shows", became one of the hottest musical attractions in America.

Then records firmed Billy Williams' popularity and his secure place among the greats of modern popular music. His personal warmth and skill with an artful ballad insure that here, for your pleasure over and over again, is a musical treat and a dramatic experience.

I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)
Azure-Te
Who Knows
You're The One For Me
This Side Of Heaven
A Smile For Suzette
Cattle Call
You're The Only One I Adore
It's Best We Say Goodbye
Mad About Cha
If I Never Get To Heaven
Ask Me No Questions

Sonata For Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord - Elliot Carter

 

Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord - Allegro

Elliott Carter
Sonata for Flute, Obeo, Cello & Harpsichord
Harvey Sollberger: Flute 
Charles Kusin: Oboe
Fred Sheery: Cello
Paul Jacobs: Harpsichord
Sonata For Cello & Piano
Joel Krosnick: Cello
Paul Jacobs: Piano
Coordinator: Teresa Stone
Art Director: William S. Harvey
Cover Art: Peter Schaumann
Cover Design: Robert L. Heimall
Cover Concept: Hess and/or Antupit
Recorded under the musical supervision of the composer
Recording Engineer: Marc J. Aubort
Nonsuch Records H-71234
1969

From the back cover: When I was asked in 1947 to write a work for the American Cellist Bernard Greenhouse, I immediately began to consider the relation of the cello and piano, and came to the conclusion that since there were such great differences in expression and sound between them, there was no point in concealing tase as had usually been done in works of the sort. Rather it could be meaningful to make these very differences one of the points of the piece. So the opening Moderato presents the cello in its warm expressive character, playing a long melody in rather free style, which the piano percussively marks a regular clock-like ticking. This is interrupted in various ways, probably (I think) to situate it in a musical context that indicates that the extreme disassociation between the two is neither a matter of random or indifference but to be heard as having an intense, almost fateful character.

The Vivace, a breezy treatment of a type of pop music, verges on a parody of some Americanizing colleagues of the time. Actually it make explicit the undercurrent of jazz technique suggested in the previous movement by the freely performed melody against a strict rhythm. The following Adagio is a long, expanding, recitative-like melody for the cello, all its phrases interrelated by metric modulations. The finale, Allegro, like the second movement based on pop rhythms, is a free rondo with numerous changes of speed that ends up by returning to the beginning of the first movement with the roles of the cello and piano reversed.

As I have said, the idea of metrical modulation came to me while writing this piece, and its use becomes more elaborated from the second movement on. The first movement, written last after the concept had been quite thoroughly explored, presents one of the pieces basic ideas: the contrast between psychological time (in the cello) and chronometric time (in the piano), their combination producing musical or "virtual" time. The whole is one large motion in which all the parts are interrelated in speed and often in idea; even the breaks between movements are slurred over. That is: at the end of the second movement, the piano predicts the notes and speed of the cello's opening of the third, while the cello's conclusion of the third predicts in a similar way the piano's opening of the fourth, and this movement concludes with a return to the beginning in a circular way like Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

The Sonata for Flute, Obeo, Cello and Harpsichord was commissioned by the Harpsichord Quartet of New York and uses the instruments of which that ensemble was composed. My idea was to stress as much as possible the vast and wonderful array of tone-colors available on the modern harpsichord (the large Pleyel, for which this was first written, produces 36 different colors, many of which can be played in pairs, one for each hand; the Dowd that Paul Jacobs uses for this recording even has "half-hitches" which permits the different colors to be played at half as well as full force). The three other instruments are treated for the most part as a frame for the harpsichord. This aim of using the wide variety of the harpsichord involved many tone-colors which can only be produced very softly and therefore conditioned very drastically the type and range of musical expression, all the details of shape, phrasing, rhythm, texture, as well as the large form. At the time (in 1952, before the harpsichord had made its way into pop) it seemed very important to have the harpsichord speak in a new voice, expressing characters unfamiliar to its extensive Baroque repertory.

The music starts, Risoluot, with a splashing dramatic gesture whose subsiding ripples form the rest of the movement. The Lento is an expressive dialogue between the harpsichord and the others with an undercurrent of fast music that bursts out briefly near the end. The Allegro, with its gondolier's dance fading into other dance movements, is cross-cut like a movie – at times it superimposes one dance on another. – Elliot Carter

Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord (1952)
1. Risoluto
2. Lento
3. Allegro

Sonata for Cello & Piano (1948)
1. Moderator
2. Vivace, Molto Leggiero
3. Adagio
4. Allegro

Today's Top Hits - Capitol

 

Seventeen

Today's Top Hits
Volume 13
Capitol Records T9127

Learnin' The Blues - Frank Sinatra
Humming Bird - Les Paul & Mary Ford
Unchained Melody (from The Warner Bros. Picture) - Les Baxter
My One Sin - Nat "King" Cole
Seventeen - Ella Mae Morse
A Blossom Fell - Nat "King" Cole
Day By Day - The Four Freshmen
Wake Up The Town And Tell The People - Les Baxter
Too Popped To Pop (The Popcorn Song) - Cliffie Stone
Razzle Dazzle - Ella Mae Morse


Charmaine

Today's Top Hits
Volume 14
Capitol Records T9130

Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin
Someone You Love - Nat "King" Cole
Moments To Remember - Ray Anthony
Love And Marriage - Frank Sinatra
Alabamy Bound - Les Paul & Mary Ford
Sixteen Tons - "Tennessee" Erine Ford
Lisbon Antiqua - Nelson Riddle
(Love Is) The Tender Trap - Frank Sinatra
Band Of Gold - Kit Carson
Charmanie -Four Freshman

1936 - 1956 - Bob Crosby

 

I'm Praying' Humble

Bob Crosby And His Orchestra
1936-1956
Coral Records CRL 57089
1957

From the back cover: It was not until Bob Crosby's orchestra came along that Dixieland began to be thought of as something that could be effectively transmuted into big band format. George Robert Crosby, born in Spokane, Washington in August, 1913 (nine years after brother Bing), began his career as a vocalist with Anson Weeks' orchestra, then joined the Dorsey Brothers' band for a while. It was after Bob had taken over the remnants of the old Ben Pollack orchestra to form a swing band of his own, specializing in orchestrated Dixieland, that this band of music took a hold on the public. The band cut its first sides under Bob's direction in 1936. By 1956, though the original band had broken up fourteen years earlier, Bob was still closely identified with the style of music that had done so much to establish his reputation. Most of the original sidemen identified with the band's early years were still available, free-lancing successfully around Hollywood, doing radio and TV work with Bob and others.

From Billboard - March 2, 1956: Much of the band's original vitality and drive, in spite of the years, is  in evidence, and tho some of the band's most historic numbers are missing, the listening is worthwhile. The years span shows up especially in terms of recording quality, with the most recent (1956) waxing of "Jazz Band Ball" much superior in fidelity. But the fans won't buy this because of hi-fi. This is a package of history and evolution of a style and of a personality. As such, it can be considered a very worthwhile hunk of wax and one that will get air play and counter attention.

Come Back Sweet Papa
The Old Spinning Wheel
I'm Prayin' Humble
Smokey Mary
Ja-Da
Sugar Foot Stomp
That Eccentric Bag (Featuring sax solo by Eddie Miller, and Clarinet solo by Matty Matlock)
Original Dixieland One-Step
Tin Roof Blues
Rose Room
Echo In The Cavern
At The Jazz Band Ball

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

All The Things You Are - Stanley Applewiate

 

All The Things You Are

Stanley Applewaite Plays
All The Things You Are
Featuring The Music Of Jerome Kern
Design Records - Stereo - Spectrum SDLP 35
1958

All The Things That You Are
Lovely To Look At
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
I'm In The Mood For Love
Every Little Park
How Deep Is The Ocean
Dearly Beloved
Why Do I Love You
The Way You Look Tonight
Tenderly
Mood Indigo

Kenton's West Side Story - Stan Kenton

 

Taunting Scene

From The Creative World Of Stan Kenton Comes...
Kenton's West Side Story
Driving, Exciting Instrumental Versions Of Leonard Bernstein's Fabulous Score!
Produced by Lee Gillette and Kent Larsen
Cover Photo by Jack Harris
Capitol Records T 1609
1961

Personnel:

Trumpets: Ernie Bernhardt, Bub Brisbois, Conte Candoli, Bob Rolfe, Sanford Skinner & Dalton Smith
Trombones: Jim Amlotte, Bob Fitzpatrick, Jack Spurlock & Dave Wheeler
Mellophoniums: Dwight Carver, Gordon Davison, Keith Lamotte Gene Roland
Saxophones: Gabe Baltazar, Sam Donahue, Wayne Dunstan, Marvin Holladay & Paul Renzi
Tuba: Clive Acker
Bass: Peter Chivily
Drums: Jerry McKenzie
Latin Drums: George Acevedo
Utility Percussion: Larry Bunker & Lou Singer

From the back cover: If traditions were made to be broken, this album would never have come about. For example, according to recent convention, only small groups record jazz versions of show scores. What's more, show scores are typically the work of composers whose primary interest is writing for the theater. And finally, the subject of a musical comedy may be serious, but the ending must be upbeat.

Yet, here's Stan Kenton's dynamic big band, recording a jazz version of a score by the eclectic Leonard Bernstein (so talented not even he knows his primary interest), for a show which ends in stark tragedy! This album does grant traditionalists one major victory, however, it convincingly demonstrates that the Kenton band continues to evolve, continues to excite.

Just as it is inherent in Stan's band, so is excitement inherent in "West Side Story," both dramatically and musically. The plot – which is unfolded more completely below – is a modern paraphrase-with-liberties of "Romeo And Juliet." In it, the locale is New York's West Side, the warring factions are the Jets (an "American" street gang) and the Sharks (a Puerto Rican group), and the star-crossed lovers are Tony and Maria. It was within this tense frame that the original score operated.

So asking Kenton to adapt the score was only natural. Because excitement – with lyric interludes and Latin overtones – is a Kenton forte. The definitely Latin tone of the score also made it natural for Stan to ask Johnny Richards to work as arranger, since Johnny's original work, Cuban Fire Suite, has long been a successful Capitol album.

One more word is in order before the tune comments. You will be hearing an unfamiliar brass instrument in these selections. It's the mellophonium, much like a French horn and sounding between the trumpet and trombone ranges. It adds a most important element to the telling of "Kenton's West Side Story."

Prolog
Something's Coming
Maria
America
Tonight
Cool
I Feel Pretty
Gee, Officer Krupke
Taunting Scene
Somewhere - Finale

California Dreamin' - Bud Shank

 

Norwegian Wood

California Dreamin'
Bud Shank
Featuring Chet Baker
Arranged & Conducted by Bob Florence
*Arranged by Marty Paich
Producer: Richard Bock
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Cover Photography: Ivan Nagy
Cover Model: Barbara Bouchet 
Engineer: Bruce Botnick
World Pacific - A Produce of Liberty Records WP-1845
1966

From the back cover: If saxophone players were paid strictly on the basis of talent and ability, Bud Shank could probably have the Taj Mahal for a summer cottage. 

From the time he gained recognition as a sideman in that great proving ground, the Stan Kenton Orchestra, to now, Bud has proven himself to be a brilliant versatile, volatile musician. In a series of World Pacific / Pacific Jazz Albums, Bud (along with Laurindo Almeida) experimented in combining jazz and samba years before the bossa nova craze. His superb flute work was combined with the ancient koto played by Kimio Eto; Bud blended his jazz genius with India's master sitar player, Ravi Shankar; contributed searing solos to the Gerald Wilson big band; accompanied Julie London in another album; led his own fine jazz group on club and record dates; has become the star soloist with the Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra; and all the while remained one of the most sought after performers in the movie and recording studios of Hollywood.

Although his credentials as a jazz musician were securely established, the popular fame and recognition due such a great talent seemed to elude him. "Michelle" changed all that.

"Michelle" was the album that launched Bud Shank into still another level of success: as a hit-making record star. With jazzmen like Stan Getz, Cal Tjader and Gary McFarland invading the pop field, it was inevitable that Bud Shank's brilliance would also someday shine forth.

Jazzmen jealously, zealously guard their art and their artistry from any taint of of "commercialism," so when a jazz artist finds himself with a hit record, there are frequently cries of "Sell Out!" from critics or those who are envious of anyone's success.

As with his "Michelle" album, Bud is once more joined by Chet Baker. The partnership of saxophone and flugelhorn proved to be an ideal combination on the previous album and continues here most successfully. Chet and Bud compliment each other and join in a sound which at times achieves a unique oneness. A perfect partnership fostered by mutual thought.

This new album in the "Michelle" groove, with its fine arrangements by Bob Florence and the impeccable playing of Bud Shank, Chet Baker and their able abettors will extend this new-found fame even further and win them new friends and fans. Jim Gosa, Program Director, KBIG/FM, Los Angeles

From Billboard - May 21, 1966: Top instrumental rendition of current vocal hits are making Bud Shank's LP's fast moving commodities in the pop market. The hits are all excellent airplay items, including "California Dreamin'," "Monday Monday" and "What The World Needs Now Is Love."

California Dreamin'
Imprevu
Listen People
What The World Needs Now Is Love
In Times Like These
Norwegian Wood (The Bird Has Flown)
Woman
Monday, Monday
Daydream
Gotta Go*
The End Of The World
Husbands & Wives

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Guitar / Guitar - Herb Ellis - Charlie Byrd

 

Bluesette

Guitar / Guitar
Herb Ellis - Charlie Byrd
Produced by Allen Stanton
Cover Photo: Columbia Records Studio - Henry Parker
Columbia CL 2330
1965

From the back cover: Until recent years, guitar playing in jazz clubs more often than not was the exclusive province of the man who used a celluloid pick in his right hand while the so-called classical guitar remained at home, in the recital hall or the Spanish restaurant. This is no longer the case, due in no small measure to the impact made by Charlie Byrd. His fine concert technique, combined with a warm feeling for the real down-home style of blues has not only made him one of the world's most admired solo performers  but has also prompted many a seasoned professional "pick" player to start developing a finger-style approach to the instrument. A pioneer in bringing the bossa nova to popularity in this latitude, Charlie remains the most noteworthy of our homegrown interpreters of the idiom.

Herb Ellis first became well known as a member of the old Soft Winds group, back in the days when 52nd Street was still something more than a way to get across town. Later, he spent a number of semesters with the Oscar Peterson Trio and Jazz at the Philharmonic, finally settling on the West Coast, where he has most recently been seen and heard as a member of the Don Trenner band on the Steve Allen television show. (Although Steve has departed from the show, Herb remains, along with Terry Gibbs.) As any jazz aficionado will tell you, his playing – as well as his "axe" – is electric.

The common denominator is that both Herb and Charlie are essentially blues-type players. Although both are conversant with the most advanced progressive techniques, each manages to get, in his improvisations, a personal warmth which is lacking in a great deal of contemporary jazz. – Griffith O. Howe

Se Todos Fossem
Quais A Voce
Chung King
Carolina In The Morning
Three Quarter Blues
Take Care Of Yourself
St. Louis Blues
Jazz N' Samba (So Danco Samba from "Copacabana Palace)
Oh, Lady Be Good
Things Ain't What They Used To Be
A Hundred Years From Today
Bluesette

Toru Takemitsu - Seiji Ozawa

 

Asterism

Toru Takemitsu / Japan's Foremost Composer
Seiji Ozawa
Toronto Symphony
Produced by Peter Dellheim
Recording Engineer: Bernard Keville
Cover: Jasper Johns Green Target (1955 - Encaustic on newspaper over canvas, 60" x 60" - Collection, The Museum Of Modern Art, New York - Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Zeisler Fund)
Liner Notes: Dick Loek
RCA Red Seal LSC-3099
1969

From the back cover: Yuji Takahashi is a composer as well as a pianist. Born in Tokyo in 1938, he studied at the Toho School Of Music and in 1961 made his debut, unexpectedly, as a last-minute substitute for an indisposed soloist at the Nippon Broadcasting Company's Modern Music Festival. His performance created a sensation, and overnight he emerged as one of Japan's leading exponents of contemporary piano music. Between 1963 and 1966 Takahashi was in Berlin, where he became Yannis Xenakis' only pupil; he then came to New York on a grant from the J. D. Rockefeller III Fund to compose music using electronic computers. In addition to the Toronto Symphony, he has been soloist with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic and London Symphony, and he as given solo recitals in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Athens and Paris.

Asterism for piano and orchestra - Yuji Takahashi, Pianist
Requiem for string orchestra
Green for orchestra (November Steps II)
The Dorian Horizon for 17 strings

Ancient Voices Of Children - George Crumb

 

Ancient Voices Of Children

Ancient Voices Of Childern
George Crumb
A Cycle of Songs on Texts by Federico Garcia Lorca for Mezzo-Soprano, Boy Soprano, Obe, Mandolin, Harp, Electric Piano & Percussion
Jan DeGatnai, Mezzo-Soprano
Michael Dash, Boy Soprano
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Arthur Weisburg, Conductor
Commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation in the Library of Congress
First Performed at the 14th Festival of Chamber Music in the Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., October 31, 1970
Recorded with the assistance of the Ford Foundation Recording-Publication Program
Engineering: Marc J. Aubort, Joanna Nickrenz (Elite Recordings, Inc.)
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Art Director: Robert L. Heimall
Cover Art: Bob Pepper
Cover Design: Robert W. Zingmark
Nonsuch Records H-71255
1971

Personnel:

Arthur Weisberg: Conductor
Jan DeGaetani: Mezzo-Soprano
Michael Dash: Boy Soprano
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
George Haas: Oboe & Harmonica
Stephen Bell: Mandolin
Susan Jolles: Harp
Gilbert Kalish: Electric Piano & Toy Piano
Raymond DesRoches, Richard Fitz & Howard Van Hyning: Percussion
Jacob Glick: Musical Saw

From the back cover: George Crumb was born in Charleston, West Virginia. His principal teacher in composition was Ross Lee Finney at the University of Michigan. Mr. Crumb has been the recipient of numerous awards, including grants from the Fullbright Commission; the Rockefeller, Koussevitzky, and Guggenheim Foundations; and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His Echoes Of Time And The River; Four Processionals For Orchestra, premiered by the Chicago Symphony, was awarded the 1968 Pulitzer Prize in Music. George Crumb currently teaches composition at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jan DeGaetani, born in Ohio, is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music. She has been heard in oratorio, opera, chamber music, and solo recitals on radio and television in the U.S.A. and Europe, and is especially noted for her performances of contemporary works.  A former faculty member of the Juilliard School, Miss DeGaetani conducts master classes and was for three summer Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin. She has recorded for Decca, CRI, Music Guild, Acoustic Research, and Nonesuch. Ancient Voices Of Children is one of many new works written for Jan DeGaetani.

Michael Dash, a member of the Berkshire Boy Choir, has made several appearances in the title role of Menotti's Amahl and The Night Visitors, and in Britten's Curlew River and Noye's Fuddle; he has also performed as soloist with major orchestras and choruses in the eastern United States. He studies voice and flute at the Washington Community School of Music, where his father, Dr. Calvin Dash, is director. Michael Dash's performance in this recording of Ancient Voices Of Children – a role he sang in the work's premiere – marks his record debut.

In 1960, Arthur Weisberg and about a dozen outstanding New York instrumentalists formed the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble – a group devoted to the study and performance of modern music. The Ensemble received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1965 to set up a three-year residence at Rutgers University and during the ensuing period, developed an extraordinary repertory of new works while concertizing widely. Following the Rutgers residency, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble has continued to perform throughout the USA; they have been invited to perform at the Library of Congress for the last nine consecutive years. The Ensemble's most recent appearance there, at the Coolidge Foundation's 14th Festival of Chamber Music, October 1970, included premieres of six new works conducted by Arthur Weisberg, among them George Crumb's Ancient Voices Of Children.

Early in 1969m Nonesuch issued three albums of recent American compositions recorded  by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble under a grant from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation (SPECTRUM: New American Music, H-7129, H-7120, H-71221). Each of these albums won honors for the composers in the 1970 Koussevitzky International Recording Award. More recently, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble has appeared on Nonesuch in a performance of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (H-71251), with Jan DeGaetani as soloist. The Ensemble has also recorded for Acoustic Research and CRI.

1) I. El Nino Busca Su Voz

2) Dances Of The Ancient Earth (for oboe, mandolin, harp & percussion)

I3) II Me He Perdido Muchas Veces Por El Mar

1)III De Donde Vienes, Amor, Mi Nino (Dance Of The Sacred Life-Cycle)

IV. Todas Las Tardes En Granada, Todas Las Tardes Se Muere Un Nino

2) Ghost Dance (for mandolin & maracas)

3) V. Se Ha Ilenado De Luces Mi Corazon De Seda

Monday, January 3, 2022

The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse - Duke Ellington

 

Chinoiserie

The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
Duke Ellington
Art Direction: Phil Carroll
Recording Engineer: Roger Rhodes
Recorded February 17, 1971, at National Recording Studio, New York
Remix Engineer: Jim Stern
Remixed 1975 at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, under the supervision of Mercer Ellington
Fantasy Records F-9498
1975

Personnel:

Piano: Duke Ellington
Trumpets: Cootie Williams, Money Johnson, Mercer Ellington & Eddie Preston
Trombones: Booty Wood & Malcolm Taylor
Bass Trombone: Chuck Connors
Alto Sax, Clarinet: Russell Procope
Alto Sax, Clarinet & Flute: Norris Turney
Tenor Saxes: Paul Gonsalves & Harold Ashby
Bariton Sax: Harry Carney
Bass: Joe Benjamin
Drums: Rufus Jones

From the back cover: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse is explained in the witty speech that introduces this album and "Chinoiserie." It is a speech that Ellington not only enjoyed delivering, but delivered with consummate skill. Audiences enjoyed it too, but were never quite sure at first whether they were being put on or upstaged. Probably not one person in a thousand knew what a didgeridoo was, but there was always laughter when he referred to this instrument of the Australian aborigines. It sounded funny. Could it possibly be risqué? Then his remarks about Down Under and Out Back gave them clues to the context.

A lengthy section of his book, Music Is My Mistress (Doubleday), amplifies the explanation given in the speech. Beginning with his "Notes on the State Department Tour, 1963," there is a series of what some superior souls dismissed as "travelogues." When the recorded music of this period is eventually all released and studied, these notes and journals may, as Ellington anticipated, become more valuable to listeners. The journeys and experiences they describe relate to the music, and account for much of its color, character, and inspiration. Marshall McLuhan's theory about the world going oriental certainly intrigued Ellington, because it confirmed some of his own impressions. More important, it stimulated him to interpret them in music.

Chinoiserie
Didjeridoo
Afrique
Acht O'Clock Rock
Gong
Tang
True
Hard Way

My Blue Heaven- Gene Austin

 

China Boy (Go Sleep)

My Blue Heaven
Gene Austin
Vocal With Orchestra
Decca Records DL 8433
1957

From the back cover: This is the story of Gene Austin – the first of the great crooners. His relaxed, genial style set the stage for the Colombos, Crosbys, Como and Sinatras who were to follow. The tremendous impact of Gene's big records on the market of that era created entirely new concepts of hit-record-potential in the industry. Austin's royalties, accrued for the most part between the years of 1923 and 1929, show a sale of over 86 million records. This is all the more astounding, considering the fact that he did not make a large number of record!

Gene hails from the Southwest: Gainsville, Texas, to be exact. In the words of one writer, he remains "a rugged Western type, who leans almost into the vein of a singing Will Rogers, yet paradoxically, retains the underlying sophistication of a Cole Porter." Gene left home at fifteen, joining the U.S. Army to see action in the Mexican Punitive Expedition. From this, he entered right into World War I. After the armistice, he attended the University Of Maryland in Baltimore, but the lure of the entertainment world was too great. Record company officials heard him sing; they liked what they heard and Gene began to make records. His first big one was "Yearning," followed by "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." After that, it was hit after hit, culminating in his greatest success, "My Blue Heaven." His name was now a household word.

My Blue Heaven
Carolina Moon
I Cried For You (Now It's Your Turn To Cry For Me) - with Victor Young and His Orchestra
Jeannine (I Dream Of Lilac Time)
Ramona
Music, Maestro, Please!
Tonight You Belong To Me
Forgive Me
If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)
If I Had My Way - with Victor Young and His Orchestra
China Boy (Go Sleep)
I'm In A Mellow Mood

Sunday, January 2, 2022

George Crumb - Charles Jones

 

Black Angels

George Crumb
Charles Jones
With Paul Zukofsky
Black Angles for Electric String Quartet
String Quartet No. 6 Sonatina
Avant Garde Album Of The Year – Time, 1972
Produced  by Carter Harman
Cover by Judith Lerner
Recored by David Hancock
CRI Composers Recordings, Inc. CRI SD 283
1972

From the back cover: Black Angels (Thirteen Images From The Dark Land) was conceived as a kind of parable on our troubled contemporary world. The numerous quasi-programmatic allusions in the work are therefore symbolic, although the essential polarity – God versus Devil – implies more than a purely metaphysical reality. The image of the "black angel" was a conventional device used by early painters to symbolize the fallen angel.

The underlying structure of Black Angels is a huge arch-like design which is suspended from the three "Threnody" pieces. The work portrays a voyage of the soul. The three stages of this voyage are Departure (fall from grace), Absence (spiritual annihilation), and Return (redemption).

The numerological symbolism of Black Angels, while perhaps not immediately perceptible to the ear, is nonetheless quite faithfully reflected in the musical structure. These "magical" relationships are variously expressed – e.g. in terms of phrase-lenght, groupings for single tones, durations, patterns of repetition, etc. An important pitch element in the work – ascending D-sharp, A, and E – also symbolizes the fateful numbers 7-13. At certain points in the score there occurs a kind of ritualistic counting in various languages, including German, French, Russian, Hungarian, Japanese, and Swahili.

There are several allusions to tonal music in Black Angels: a quotation from Schubert's "Death and The Maiden" quartet (in the Pavana Lachrymae, and also faintly echoed on the last page of the work); an original Sarabanda, which is stylistically synthetic; the sustained B Major tonality of God-music, and several references to the Latin hymn Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath"). The work abounds in conventional musical symbolisms such as Diabolus in music (the interval of the tritone) and the Trillo di diabolo (the "Devil's trill," after Tartini).

The amplification of the stringed instruments is in intended to produce a highly surrealistic effect. This surrealism is heightened by the use of certain unusual string effects, e.g. pedal tones (the intensely obscene sounds of the Devil-music); bowing on the "wrong" side of the strings (to produce the viol-consort effect); trilling on the strings with thimble-capped fingers. The performers also play maracas, tam-tams, and water-tuned crystal glasses, the later played with the bow for the "glass-harmonica" effect in God-music. 

Black Angels was commissioned by the University of Michigan and first performed by the Stanley Quartet. The score is inscribed: finished on Friday the Thirteenth, March, 1970 (in temper belli)."

George Crumb was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1929. His numerous awards include grants from the Rockefeller, Koussevitsky, Guggenheim and Coolidge Foundations, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His Echoes Of Time And The River (Four Processionals For Orchestra) (1967) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968. His Ancient Voices Of Children for mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, and instruments (1970) received the International Rostrum and Composers (UNESCO) Award and the Koussevitsky International Recording Award in 1971. George Crumb's Night Music I for soprano, keyboard and percussion (1963) and Eleven Echoes Of Autumn, 1965 for violin, alto flute, clarinet, and piano (1966) have also been recorded by CRI (CRI SD 218 and CRI SD 233).

Charles Jones writes: "I was in Tamworth, a small town in Canada, in 1910. I was, however, an American citizen owing to my father's American birth. When I was 18 I came to New York, graduating from the Institute of Musical Art as a violinist and then continuing compositions studies at the Juilliard Graduate School under Bernard Wagenaar. I began my teaching career at Mills College in Oakland, California, where I became associated with Darius Milhaud. Other teaching assignments have included the Seminar in America Studies in Salzburg. Austria; the Bryanston School in England; the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California; the Juilliard School, New York, and, since its inception in 1951, at the Aspen Music School in Aspen, Colorado. Since the retirement of Milhaud in 1970, I have continued the classes and seminars which he and I had done over this period. At present I love and work in New York.

"My works have been played by the New York Philharmonic, NBC, CBS, CBC (Canada), St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Denver and Toledo orchestras as well as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romance, the Zurich and Brussels radio orchestras.

"I have written a sizable number of works – a good deal of chamber music centering around six string quartets, the lat of these being the first work on this record; four symphonies; numerous orchestral works; a concerto for four violins with orchestra, as well as three large settings for voice and various groupings of instruments, based on William Langland's medieval text, Piers The Plowman.

"The six string quartets which I have written might be considered as a musical diary which I have kept through the years. The first one dates from student days, the second (1944) is already concerned with the special sonorities possible in this medium, the third (1951) is more complex in texture and probably the most dissonant, the fourth (1954) is more simple and lyrical, and the fifth (1961) again is much taken up with special sonorities.

"I feel that in a large and general way, two diverse elements are juxtaposed in Sixth Quartet (1970). One is the element of fanfare (or other somewhat stirring sounds) and the second is a kind of lyricism normally associated with the voice. As both of these elements are, in a sense, foreign to the nature of the strings, it was necessary to translate them into the medium of the quartet.

"The fanfare-lyric juxtaposition is evident in the first movement. In this section, use if made of left hand pizzicato (plucking the string), retuning on the part of the second violin; and the movement ends with only the sounds of the first violinist's fingers dropping on the strings.

"There is a unifying or punctuating element marking off the various sections, which are played without pause. This is made up of eight-part chords, related to a canonic passage which recurs throughout the quartet, and which is used as a formal beacon or guideline in tying the various parts together. The second section (calm, 3/4 time) is in a three part form, having a quicker-moving Trio section before a short return of its first part.

"There is a clearly recognizable slow movement in 12/8 time which is connected to the finale by the chords already mentioned, differently laid out and played pizzicato. In the last movement, use is made of the canonic figure, and the texture is mostly that of a reference (only as regards texture) to the first part with left hand pizzicato, harmonics and cologne (stringing the strings with the wood of the bow) passages.

"The SONATINA for Violin and Piano was written in California in 1942 and had its first performance at the International Society for Contemporary Music in Berkeley, California that summer. The performers then were Sascha Jacobsen, violin and Maxim Shapiro, piano."

George Crumb
Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Dark Land)
For Electric Sting Quartet
The New York String Quarete
Paul Zukofsky, Timothy Eddy, Jean Dupony, Romualdo G. Teco

Charles Jones
String Quartete No. 6
The New York String Quartet

Sonatina
Paul Zukofsky, violin; Gilbert Kalish, piano