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Sunday, December 3, 2023

Tears Of Joy - Don Ellis

 

Strawberry Soup

Tears Of Joy
Don Ellis
Produced by Don Ellis
Arrangements by Don Ellis, Sam Falzone, Hank Levy, Fred Selden
Engineering: Roy Segal
Cover Art: Maria Eckstein
Back Cover Photos: Fred Selden, Earle Carry
Strings and piano amplified and recorded by direct line-feed with Barcus-Berry Transducer Systems
Quarter-tone trumpet and four-valve fluegelhorn by Halton
Ring Modulator by Oberheim Electronics.
Planet and clarinet by Hohner
Musical sound system by Altec Lansing
Fender-Rhodes piano and amplifiers by Fender
Columbia Records G 30927
1971

Don Ellis - Quarter-Tone Trumpet, Four-Valve Fluegelhorn, Drums
Lee Pastore - Conga
Ralph Humphrey, Don Dunn - Drums
Milcho Leviev - Piano
Christine Ermacoff - Cello
Kenny Sawhill - Bass Trombone
Jim Sawyer -  Trombone
Earle Corry - Violin
Fred Selden - Alto Sax
Lonnie Shetter, Paul Bogosian - Trumpet
Sam Falzone - Tenor Sax
Doug Bixby - Tuba
Jon Clarke - Baritone
Ellen Smith - Viola
Alfredo Ebat - Violin
Jack Caudill - Trumpet
Dennis Parker - Bass
Lonnie Parker - Bass
Lonnie Shetter - Alto Sax
Kenneth Nelson - French Horn
Bruce MacKay - Trumpet

From the back cover: Don Elliot Is An Adventure

Ellis is the only jazz big band leader to both emerge and endure in the last twenty years.

"The newest version (of his band) played Basin Street West last weekend, recorded an album for Columbia and demonstrated once again that it is the most exciting big band performing today. The main goodies this time were a brand new string section – cello, viola, two violins, all electrified – and a cappella, free-improvising wind quartet and Ellis himself on drums (and a new four-valve flugelhorn). In addition to the able mentioned, the band carries electric piano and bass, eight brass (including an extremely rare contrabass trombone) and three drummers." – John L. Wasserman, San Francisco Chronicle 

Tears Of Joy
5/4 Getaway
Bulgarian Bulge
Get It Together
Quiet Longing
Blues In Elf
Loss
How's This For Openers?
Samba Bajada
Strawberry Soup
Euphoric Acid

Cracked Seed - The Sunday Manoa

 

Pua Lilia

Cracked Seed
The Sunday Manoa
Producers: Steve Siegfried, Lawrence Brown, Witt Shingle
Photography: David Cornwell (jacket), Bob De Mello (sleeve)
Graphic Design: Momi Cazimero
Engineer: Robert Lang
Recorded at Sounds Of Hawaii
Mixing Engineer: Hugh Davies - Capitol Records
Panini Productions, Inc. STEREO PS-1003
1972

Hula Lady
Kilakila O Moanalua/Moanalua
Pua Lilia
Na Moku Eha
Beautiful Kahana
Honolulu Baby
The Queen's Jubilee
Pua Kolu
Paauau Waltz
Honolulu, I Am Coming Back Again

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

This Time - Troy Shondell

 

Tears From An Angel

This Time 
Troy Shondell
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Sunset Records SUS-5174
A Product of Liberty Records
1967

From the back cover: Since the age of sixteen, Troy Shondell has been one of the  most prolific songwriters in the Rock 'n' Roll field. He effortlessly produces an average of 400 popular songs in that idiom per year! That's better than one per day! His publisher is one of the busiest guys on Tin Pan Alley, but no one has ever heard him complain yet. Many of Troy's numbers have been recorded by several different artists and labels at a time – solid tribute to this young man's ability to recognized the desires of today's audience.

After having peened hit-after-het for other artists; Troy elected to use another composers' material for his own initial release. It was a good choice, because Troy's recording of "The Time" catapulted him to overnight success! He had that certain feeling about this one; and record counters, jukeboxes, and radio disc jockeys proved him right, as the recored sold over one million copies. – Bernie Solomon

Island In The Sky
Just Because
Some People Never Learn 
I Don't Know 
Tears From An Angel
This Time
I've Got A Woman
Girl After Girl
Gone
No Fool Like An Old Fool

Monday, November 27, 2023

Columbia Jazz Festival - Various

 

Columbia Jazz Festival

Columbia Jazz Festival
Columbia Records JJ 1
1959

From Billboard - April 27, 1959: This special sampler, containing tracks from the label's current 10-album jazz release, will be available on a tie-in sale with any of the label's new jazz sets, for 98 cents monaurally or $1.49 in stereo. Since it contains tracks by Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck and J.J. Johnson, it should be a solid seller at the price. It is well packaged and well recorded.

El Gato - Duke Ellington and His Orchestra from "Newport 1959" CL 1245 or CS 8072
Festive Minor - The Gerry Mulligan Quartet from "What Is There To Say?" CL 1307 or CS 8116
Satin Doll - Lionel Hampton with Reeds and Rhythm from "Golden Vibes" CL 1304 or CS 8120
Fallout - The Joe Wilder Quartet from "Jazz From Peter Gunn" CL 1319 or CS 8121
Happy Session Blues - Benny Goodman and His Orchestra from "Happy Session" CL 1324 or CS 8129
It Ain't Necessarily So - Miles Davis with Orchestra under the direction of Gil Evans from "Porgy And Bess" CL 1274 or CS 8085
Things Aren't What They Used To Be - The Dave Brubeck Quartet from "Newport 1958" CL 1249 or CS 8082
Swinging At The Copper Rail - Buck Clayton with His All-Stars from "Songs For Swingers" CL 1320 or CS 8123
Hello, Young Lovers - J. J. Johnson with various artists from "Blue Trombone" Cl 1303 or CS 8109

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Play Bach 5 - Jacques Loussier

 

Play Bach 5

Jacques Loussier Trio
Play Bach 5
Arrangements  by Jacques Loussier
London Records STEREO PS 524
1967

Jacques Loussier - Piano
Christian Garros - Percussion
Pierre Michelot - Contrebasse

From the back covers: Portrait - Jacques Loussier is a powerful-looking man: stiff, chestnut hair growing into a thin edge of a beard, a tormented nose, a flu, virile mouth, dark eyes which grow round as if surprised when he tells a story.

While he is very much of his time, Jacques Loussier just as equally rejects certain aspects of modern life. What makes him a contemporary is first of all his music, his loving way of handling it, his desire to have it always new, his intense need for constant activity – "to live each moment two hundred percent," as he says. Yet, he is full of an aggressive regret, a painful nostalgia for open spaces, for the calm of unspoiled countryside. "Have you ever seen a stag" Impossible, hm?" However, it's one of the most beautiful things one can see, a stag in the woods," says Loussier, making that round-eyed, astonished expression. It is then that something "medieval" in him emerges (no doubt accentuated by his beard), A Rabelaisian quality of gruff gaiety, truculence, and an ever-present poetry, immediate, almost torrential. Material success? He pokes fun at it a bit, for at present his biggest dream is to be able to fly down to Toulon at the drop of a hat whenever he wants to sail his boat. More than likely, the calmness of nature will always draw him, but it is certain that he will never stop making the music he loves. Also certain: we will hear his name more and more.

His Life In Brief - Jacques Loussier was born October 26th, 1934 in Angers, France, where he spent his first fifteen years, a healthy, vigorous child who took up any and all sports – "normally rowdy," Loussier adds. Around the age of thirteen, thanks to the harmonica, he was smitten with an intense love for music. Later he abandoned his secondary schooling to enter the Conservatory of Paris, where he studied piano with Yves Nat. But his temperament could not adapt itself easily to Conservatory methods of study, and at eighteen he left before finishing the course of study.

Thus begins a career which is on the move in every respect: he has visited thirty-two countries, among others, Cuba, Israel, Brazil, Iran, Canada, Lebanon, and the United States. He began by playing in a gypsy orchestra to earn the money. Next he played piano for many well-known French singers, Catherine Sauvage, Jacqueline Francois, Suzy Delair, Leo Ferre and finally Charles Aznavour, building a reputation as a remarkable pianist and accompanist. But evidently, this was not sufficient for him, and in 1960 he decided to go on his own, starting out by creating orchestrations for the young ye-ye (French term for "Beatles generation") singers. At the same time, he began to make a name for himself as composer, writing and playing each night the music for a play by Durenmatt, "Frank V."

His first "play-back," recorded with Pierre Michelot and Christian Garros, achieved considerable success around the world, and his "play-back" No. 4 won the award for Top French Disc of 1963. Nowadays he continues to give all his concerts with Michelot and Garros. He has written film scores for two movies, "La vie a l'enfers" and Pas perdus."And his television appearances are many. 

And Jacques Loussier is only thirty-three.

Toccata No. 4 in C Major
1st Mvt. :Allegro
2nd Mvt. : Adagio
3rd Mvt. : Fugue

Sicilienne in G Minor
Chorale No. 1 in E Flat
Theme from Passacaglia in C Minor

Cheganca - Walter Wanderley

 

Take Care, My Heart

Cheganca
The Walter Wanderley Trio
Arranged by Walter Wanderley
Produces by Creed Taylor
Director of Engineering: Val Valentin
Cover Design: Acy R. Lehman
Cover Photo: Jay Maisel
Verve V-8676
1966

Walter Wanderley - Electric Organ
Bobby Rosengarden - Percussion
Sol Gubin (Percussion on "Take Care, My Heart)

From the inside cover (gatefold): Walter Wanderley was born in Recife, which sounds like a small, sleepy Brazilian village. Recife is in Brazil, but as a village it's about as small and sleepy as Washington, D.C.

Wanderley's music, like his background, is urban. At the same time Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim were living and writing on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Walter Wanderley was creating another new Brazilian sound a few hundred miles away in Sao Paulo, where he had moved at the age of 15. 

It's not surprising that their styles contain subtle differences. The softly swinging Gilberto-Jobim approach reflects the atmosphere of Rio, an enchanting city where sky, sea, mountains, and even the air become the ingredients of music. Sao Paulo, on the other hand, is a thriving industrial city (larger than Rio, even larger than Chicago). And Walter Wanderley's music, which grew out of  Sao Paulo, is Sao Paulo – dynamic, sophisticated, but still shaded with the delicate beauties of Brazil.

When Rio and Sao Paulo got together (when Wanderley and Gilberto met and made an album together) the new music of Brazil began to catch the ears of the rest of the world. Almost everywhere except the United States, that is, where only a few copies of the historic Wanderley-Gilberto album were smuggled in.

Meanwhile in Brazil, Wanderley, on his own, recorded Desafinado, Quiet Nights, Meditation, Little Boat – all smash hits throughout Latin America, in France, and in other countries. But it was his recording of The Girl For Ipanema that really burst out of Brazil. Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto subsequently recorded it in New York, with Astrid Gilberto singing the delightful English lyrics. The rest is popular music history.

All that remained was to get Walter Wanderley himself to New York, where he could be recorded and his records made available to the world-wide audience already waiting for him. A few months ago, Verve Records did just that. The rewarding result was Walter Wanderley's first American album, Rain Forest, an instant success throughout the country with both record buyers and disc jockeys (who treated their listeners to Walter's Summer Samba all summer long). 

Shortly thereafter, a new album reunited the names of Gilberto and Wanderley, with Astrid and Walter bringing us the beautiful, bittersweet A Certain Smile A Certain Sadness.

This is only the third Verve album for "Brazil's Number One Organist," as he was appropriately introduced to Americans. With this recording, that introduction requires a slight revision. For Walter Wanderley is now rapidly becoming everyone's number one organist." From anywhere. – Bob Lee - KRHM-FM, Los Angeles

From Billboard - February 18, 1967: Wanderley offers thrilling interpretations of a dozen pop bossa nova numbers perfect for listening or dancing in this package that is sure to be a hot sales item. His organ solos are accentuated by a strong rhythm backing making "Cheganca," "Take Care, My Heart" and "A Man And A Woman" gems. Strong follow-up to his hit LP "Rain Forest."

Cheganca (The Great Arrival)
Amanha
Take Care, My Heart
Agua De Beber
Here's That Rainy Day
O Ganso
Mar Amar
Voce E Eu
O Menino Desce O Morro
Dá-Me (Stay, My Love)
Amor De Nada
A Man And A Woman (Un Homme et Une Femme)

Friday, November 24, 2023

More 50 Guitars In Love - Tommy Garrett

 

A Man And A Woman

More 50 Guitars In Love
50 Guitars Of Tommy Garrett
Producer: Tommy "Snuff" Garrett
Guitar Solos: Tommy Tedesco
Arranger: Ernie Freeman
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Design & Photography: Ken Kim
A Snuff Garrett Production
Liberty Premier Series
Liberty Records LMM 13039
1967

Note the widely out-of-register interior gatefold printing.

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
My Cup Runneth Over
Guitar Serenade
If You Go Away
Old Cape Cod
Softly, As I Leave You
A Man And A Woman
Theme For Someone In Love
My Special Angel
Hung Up In Your Eyes
My Love, Forgive Me
Courtin'

Shut Down - Various

 

Cheater Slicks

Shut Down
Cover Photo: Capitol Photo Studio - Ken Feeder & George Jerman
Capitol Records T 1918
1963

From Billboard - July 6, 1963: The Beach Boys with "Shut Down," a current hit; the Cheers with "Black Denim Trousers," and the Super Stocks with "Street Machine," are among the artists in this LP devoted to the thrills of the road. The key name in the set is the Beach Boys and they should help to move many of these LP's.

Shut Down - The Beach Boys
Chicken - The Cheers
Wide Track - The Super Stocks
Brontosaurus Stomp - The Piltdown Men
Four On The Floor - The Super Stocks
Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots - The Cheers
409 - The Beach Boys
Street Machine - The Super Stocks
The Ballad Of Thunder Road - Robert Mitchum
Hot Rod Race - Jimmy Dolan
Car Trouble - The Eligibles
Cheater Slicks - The Super Stocks

Thursday, November 23, 2023

This Is The Girl That Is Nancy Ames

 

Anna

This Is The Girl That Is 
Nancy Ames 
Producer: Walter Raim
Cover Design and Photography: Studio Five
Liberty Records LST-7369
1964

From the back cover: Nancy Ames is known nationwide as the "TW3" girl, singing the theme song and special material for the NBC-TV show, "That Was The Week That Was," seen each week. She is also one of the finest folk singers in the land, and has performed in many top clubs and concerts nationally.

Also from the back cover: If there is a special feeling of authenticity in these performances, chalk it ups to two particular factors. First, Nancy herself is of Latin decent. (Her grandfather served as president of Panama.) She speaks fluent Spanish and knows intimately the various cultures of Latin America.

And second, her accompaniment in this album is by the Trio Los Chicos, an authentic Latin group which is prominent in its own right. This group, incidentally, features, besides fine guitar work, the unique Paraguayan harp, a native instrument with a sound and charm all its own.

Guantanamera
Fay-O
Anna
Yours
Guarare
Noche De Ronda
Besame Mucho
El Tambor Ed La Alegria
Malagueña Salerosa
El Gallito Kikiriki
Choucoune
La Ultima Noche

Versatile Nancy Ames

 

Tell Old Bill

Versatile Nancy Ames
A&R Coordinator: Ed Barsky
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Sunset SUS-5109
A Product of Liberty Records
1966

Young Young Man
Every Night When The Sun Goes In
Tell Old Bill
Jane Jane
Bon Soir Cher
Two Different Worlds
Two Different Worlds
Alma Corazon Y Vida
Los Carreteros
Red Apple Juice
The Water Is Wide