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Saturday, July 6, 2024

Kenton At The Las Vegas Tropicana - Stan Kenton

 

Random Riff & Closing Theme

Kenton Live From The Las Vegas Tropicana
Produced by Lee Gillette and Kent Larsen
Capitol Records T1460
1961

Leader & Piano - Stan Kenton
Saxophones - Richie Kantuka, Lennie Niehaus, Billy Root, Sturi Swenson, Bill Trujillo
Trumpets - Bud Brisbois, Joe Burnett, Frank Huggins, Roger Middleton, Jack Sheldon
Trombones - Jim Amolotte, Kent Larsen, Archie LeCoque, Bob Olson, Bill Smiley
Bass - Red Kelly
Drums - Jerry McKenzie

Artistry In Rhythm
Bernie's Tune
Tuxedo Junction
Street Scene
Puck's Blues
I Concentrate On You
The End Of A Love Affair
You And I And George
Sentimental Riff
Random Riff
Closing Theme

Friday, July 5, 2024

Twelve Shades Of Blue - Woody Herman

 

The Blues Are Brewin'

Twelve Shades Of Blue
Woody Herman and His Orchestra
Columbia Records CL 683
1955

From the back cover: Woodrow Wilson Herman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At an age when mot boys are playing games, he was making his stage debut as the "Boy Wonder Of The Clarinet," throwing in a few songs and dances as well. After several years in vaudeville, he temporarily gave up entertainment per se and enrolled in Marquette University. When schooling was finished, he returned to show business and went to work in the orchestras of Gus Arnheim and Isham Jones. Soon he got it in mind to form a group of his own, and shortly thereafter, he opened in New York, at the Famous Door on the then-swinging Fifty Second Street. The group was an instant success, handling blues with unusual subtlety and imagination, and when this vein in the musician mine ran out, Woody organized the first of what has since become known as the Three Herds. All of the Herman groups have been characterized by solidly swinging music, and music that partakes of the best influences in modern jazz (and classical music, too).

In the midst of so much fine music, brilliant examples of which are available on Columbia Records, it is sometimes forgotten that Woody is a splendid vocalist as well. A singer of great intelligence and feeling, his phrasing of a line is as meaningful as his phrasing with the clarinet, and this collection presents some of his suavest vocal presentations, all of them leaning toward the blues that first made him famous, and featuring some of the finest instrumentalists who ever appeared on records.

Blues In The Night
My Blue Heaven
Blue Flame
The Blues are Brewin'
Blue Prelude
In The Blue Of Evening
Blue Moon
Am I Blue
Under A Blanket Of Blue
I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
I've Got News For You
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea



Mean Woman Blues - Ivory Joe Hunter

 

Jammin' Down In Town

Mean Woman Blues
Ivory Joe Hunter
Grand Prix Series K-415
1963

Mean Woman Blues
I Shouldn't Love You
Please Come Back Home Baby
Blues At Midnight
Foolish Pride
Did You Mean It?
7th Street Boogie
Boogin' In The Rain
Jumpin' At The Dewdrop
Jammin' Down In Town

King Of Kings And 11 Other Great Movie Themes - Clebanoff

 

The Green Leaves Of Summer

King Of Kings
And 11 Other Great Movie Theme
Clebanoff and His Orchestra
Arrangements by Wayne Robinson and Caesar Giovannini
Mercury Records SR 60640 

From the back cover: About Clebanoff

A total musician, Clebanoff can look back upon a musical experience that dwarfs that of most recording artists today. A violin prodigy, he was playing recitals at seven and was outstanding enough to join the Chicago Civic Orchestra at 17. At the age of 20, he became the youngest member of the Chicago Symphony, leaving to become concertmaster of the excellent Illinois Symphony. It was there that he accumulated enormously valuable experience in playing contemporary music as well as the classics

Since those early days, he has never been totally a "longhair." On the contrary, his work reflects an interest in the entire spectrum of music – and a knack for popularizing without sacrificing taste or respect for the music. Recording exclusively for Mercury, he has placed his special stamp on albums that have made him one of the most popular orchestral conductors today. This is his fourth album devoted to film music alone. – Lou Sideman

King Of Kings
Lucy's Theme from Parrish
Ben Hur Love Theme
Theme From By Love Possessed
Spartacus Love Theme
Back Street from Back Street
Maria from West Side Story
Tender Is The Night Theme from The 20th Century Fox Release Tender Is The Night
Theme from Apartment
The Green Leaves Of Summer from The Batjac Production The Alamo
Where The Hot Wind Blows
Theme from The Unforgiven

Monday, July 1, 2024

Sound Of Christmas - Ramsey Lewis

 

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Sound Of Christmas
Ramsey Lewis Trio
Supervison: Ralph Bass
Engineer: Ron Malo
Cover Photo: Garrett-Howard
Cover Design: Don Bronstein
Recorded October, 1961, at Ter Mar Recording Studios, Chicago
Argo LP 687X

Ramsey Lewis - Piano
El Dee Young - Bass
Red Holt - Drums

Accompanying the trio on Side 2 were the following strings: David Chausow, Abe Meltzer, Harold Kuiper, Leonard Chausow, Irving Kaplan, Karl Fruh, Sol Bobrou, Oscar Chausow, Emil Posada, Theodore Silavin

The Orchestra was arranged and conducted by Riley Hampton

From Billboard - December 4, 1961: The Ramsey Lewis Trio has a sock album here for the Christmas season that could appeal to both pop and jazz fans. The trio is backed with strings, which adds a stylish touch to their fine work. Tunes include such Christmas items as "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Sleigh Ride" and "Winter Wonderland," plus two originals, "Christmas Blues" and "The Sound Of Christmas."

Merry Christmas Baby
Winter Wonderland
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Christmas Blues
Here Comes Santa Claus
The Sound Of Christmas
The Christmas Song
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Sleigh Ride
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve

Ahmad Jamal With Voices

 

Gypsies In The Wind

Ahmal Jamal With Voices
The Bright, The Blue And The Beautiful
Conducted by Hale Smith
Trio & Vocal Arrangements by Ahmad Jamal
Lover Man & Yesterdays adapted for voices from Joe Kennedy arrangements
Produced by Richard Evans
Recording Engineer: George Piros
Cover Photo: Don S. Bronstien
Back Cover Photos by Charles Stewart
Album Design: Jerry Griffith
Supervision: Dick LaPalm
Cadet Records LPS-807
1968

Ahmad Jamal - Piano
Jamil Sulieman - Bass
Frank Gant - Drums
The Howard A. Roberts Chorale

From the back cover: Nobody laughs when Ahmad Jamal sits down to play. A lot of folks may cry – over money wasted on piano lessons and the struggle with Warsaw Concerto (Simplified Version). For who can match the lighting speed of Ahmad's fingers creating arpeggio's faster than most of us think? Who else can spontaneously turn Jerome Kern's Yesterdays into a concerto for nostalgia and then in the next moment, blow fresh air into the swinging Wild Is The Wind? Who else can play like the man?

The creative genius of pianist Jamal was definitely recorded in an earlier Cadet album called Extensions, an album which caused a lot of pianists to slam down the wallboard of their Steinways, smashing their fingers and giving up for good. (That album should be around the spindle of every turntable in the country.

Then, mated with voices, the Ahmad Jamal Trio found another extension – in an album called Cry Young – and this LP won new fans all around the world.

The Bright, The Blue And The Beautiful is a sequel to success. It is the Janus brainchild of A&R genius Richard Evans and the highly respected producer Dick LaPalm. From the whistle-clean intro to Wild Is The Wind through the board fade of By Myself, there is a blend of bright and blue and beautiful things. The swinging freedom of Billy Taylor's newest anthem I Wish I Knew. And the too-seldom heard Cole Porter piece At Long Last Love. Then, there is new material. A Ballad For Beverly makes you want to meet the lady. There is a romping tribute Of Bass I Love. Nobody has so sensitively interpreted Love Man since Lady Day cried it. There is a haunting soprano voice on Never Let Me Go. And the vocal group weaves throughout a mile or so of microgroove some of the best lyrical lines – recalling for us the Harbach poetry of Yesterdays (McCartney And Lennon didn't write this one), the story of Gypsies In The Wind, and, to mention it again, the sophisticated imageries of At Long Last Love.

But it is the Ahmad Jamal Trio which headlines here. Drummer Frank Gent lets his cymbal say "Amen" each time he has completed leading everybody through prayer-meeting. Bassist Jamil Sulieman walks straight ahead, picking out the best of the chord roots, tic-tac-toe style. Ahmad Jamal has fun, too. There is a humorous quote from It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. The man should know! There is a fragment lifted from Carol Of The Bells. Most of the time the improvisations that leap from Ahmad' brain to his fingers come from nowhere but the man's ingenious mind. They just happen: the blue notes that color his ballads, the extended arpeggios that always stop at the right place, the swinging phrases that turn unexpectedly in our world of cliches, the understatement (a product of great discipline in jazz) and the rush of sixty-four notes when they're called for.

After listening to Ahmad Jamal, it is no surprise that so many piano players are talking up kazoo.

When you hear this album, you can be sure of three things – it's bright, blue and beautiful. And another thing, it's wild! – Loonis McGlohon, Director Of Music, WBT, Charlotte, N. C.

Wild Is The Wind
Ballad For Beverly
Of Bass I Love
Yesterdays
I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)
At Long Last Love
Never Let Go
Gypsies In The Wind
Lover Man
By Myself