On Stage - Bill Perkins

 

Just A Child

One Stage

The Bill Perkins Octet

A Richard Bock Production

Pacific Jazz PJ-1221

1956

Bill Perkins - Tenor

Bud Shank - Alto

Jack Nimitz - Baritone and Bass Clarinets

Stu Williamson - Trumpet and Valve Trombone

Carl Fontana - Trombone

Russ Freeman - Piano

Red Mitchell - Bass

Mel Lewis - Drums

From the back cover: William Reese Perkins, the tow-headed, serious young tenor saxophonist who makes his debut as a leader of his own group in this album, "has the best sound in jazz today".

That all-encompassing tribute comes from another top flight young jazz man and Perkins' section mate for a year on the Woody Herman band, tenor Jerry Coker.

It is also typical of the reaction of musicians and fans throughout the jazz world. Two years ago Stan Getz (and if Pres is president, surely Stanley is secretary of state) flatly told me "Perkins is blowing more than any of us".

Compliments are coming Perkins' way frequently these days. He was voted New Star in the Down Beat Critics' Poll last year and received a similar honor from Metronome. Critics have been unanimous in praising his work with the Woody Herman and Stan Kenton bands. During the Kenton tour of England in the Spring of 1956, Perkins was hailed as the "most beautifully relaxed, eloquent, emotionally moving tenor we have heard in Europe since Pres' last visit" by critic Mike Butcher of The New Musical Express.

And what does this praise do to Perkins? It makes him hang his head bashfully and talk about how great Stan and Brew and Pres and a host of other tenor players are and how dissatisfied he is with his own efforts.

Such modesty is rare in any field, but especially rare in jazz. And yet, it has always been Perkins' trademark ever since he first appeared on the jazz scene as a member of the sax section of the Woody Herman Third Herd. Perkins, who joined Woody in 1951 after a short spell with Jerry Wald's band in Los Angeles (Woody had fired a tenor right after a radio broadcast and put in a hurry call for a replace- ment. Wald sent over Perkins who sat down and stayed for two years), left to stay at home with his family a while, played with Maynard Ferguson's great little band, and then re-joined Herman in 1954 and toured Europe and the U.S. with him and since then has been one of Kenton's stars.

Bill Perkins, (nicknamed "Phineas" by his fellow musicians on the Herman band) was born in San Francisco July 22, 1924. He went to high school in Santa Barbara and attended the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the Univer- sity of California. Originally he had planned to be an engineer. All his immediate family (male, that is) were engineers and it seemed natural for him to follow in their footsteps. He had played clarinet and sax with high school groups in Santa Barbara and while he was at Stanford taking his master's degree, he studied tenor with Chuck Travis, who had played with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Eventually the at- tractions of music proved too great and Bill decided to make it his career.

He then enrolled in Westlake College of Music in Hollywood and after study there, played with Dan Terry, Shorty Rogers (he recorded "The Wild One" EP with Rogers), Jerry Wald and Desi Arnez. Today Perkins plays an imposing array of reed instruments, including the tenor, flute (he has been working on this consistently for the past few years), bass clarinet, alto sax, clarinet and oboe. He also arranges, and some sparkling examples of his ability in that department will be found in this album.

Perkins is a great admirer of "the old" Lester Young and of Stan Getz, and lists among his other favorites Bob Brookmeyer, Lee Konitz, Al Cohn and Forrest Westbrook. And his hobbies, aside from mu- sic, are sailing and electronics.

If there were but two words to describe Perkins' tenor sax sound, you would have to say "disciplined emotion". He is a thorough musician, never satisfied with any level he reaches, and is his own sever- est critic. Even on the road with a band, Perkins is famous for being on the job early and practicing. The sound he gets on the tenor is a distillation of the sounds that have gone before, melded into a beau- tifully controlled lyric projection of his own musical ideas.

Perkins is rhythmic, as a good tenor should be (witness his solo in "Song of the Islands") and he is romantic, too (witness the beauty of his solo on "Just a Child".) When he was with Woody Herman it was his fate to have to take the Getz solo on "Early Autumn", a nightly request. It is to his credit, and a tribute to the high quality of his musicianship, that he never played it with the Getzian ghost peering obviously over his shoulder. He stood there and blew it as though it had never been blown before. Each time was the first time, and he won the ever-lasting respect of his fellow musicians for that, including Woody Herman who has heard not a few tenor in that specific situation in the past decade.

If these words sound like an unadulterated paen of praise, I have been successful. That is exactly what I would like to write about Bill Perkins. I don't know of any musician I have ever encountered who has earned my unequivocal respect to the extent that Bill Perkins has. I think that he is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest tenor men in jazz. And furthermore, that he is indicative of the new look in jazz players: a musician, a gentleman and a credit to his art.

For this album, Perkins has joined with four other former Herman Herdsmen: Red Mitchell, Carl Fon- tana, Jack Nimitz and Stu Williamson. Mitchell is already acclaimed as one of the top jazz bass play- ers. Fontana, who has been in comparative obscurity with the band of Hal McIntyre following his service with Herman, is now earning belated praise for his work with Stan Kenton. Jack Nimitz, who was anchor man in the sax section most of the time Perkins was on the Herman band, has recently been performing the same duties with the Kenton orchestra. Stu Williamson, another graduate of the Kenton and Herman bands, has possibly never been heard in such good form as on this album.

The other men are Bud Shank, one of the best known and respected alto sax men in jazz; Russ Freeman, a continually improving pianist who is very impressive on these sides, and Mel Lewis, Ken- ton's current drummer, who provides a tastely swinging foundation.

As to the tunes on this album, I would like par- ticularly to direct your attention to the two numbers from the old Basie band, "Song of the Islands" and "Let Me See", both of which utilize the original Lester Young tenor solos for ensemble playing; Per- kins' work on "One Hundred Years From Today", with its lovely ending; the trombone and tenor interplay on "Zing! Zang!", and the reflective, romantic playing of Perkins on "Just a Child" and Stu Williamson's muted horn on the same tune. – Ralph J. Gleason, editor - The Rhythm Section, San Francisco Chronicle and Down Beat columnist.

Song Of The Islands by Charles King (Arranged by Bill Holman)

One Hundred Years From Today by V. Young and N. Washington (Arranged by Lennie Niehaus

Zing Zang by Bill Perkins (Arranged by Bill Perkins)

Let Me See by Harry Edison (Arranged by Bill Perkins)

For Dancers Only by Sy Oliver (Arranged by Bill Perkins)

Just A Child by Johnny Mandel (Arranged by Johnny Mandel)

As They Reveled by Bill Holman (Arranged by Bill Holman)

When You're Smiling by L. Shay, M. Fisher and J. Goodwin (Arranged by Lennie Niehaus)

Brew Moore

 

Dues Blues

Brew Moore

Photograph: Weiss/Schill

Fantasy 3264 (OJC-049 / F-3-264)

1983

All tunes except: "Dues Blues" – Brew Moore and Harold Wylie, Saxophones; John Markham, Drums; John Moshner, Bass: John Marabuto, piano. "Due Blues" – Brew Moore, Tenor Saxophone; Cal Tjader, Vibes; Bobby White, Drums; Dean Reilly, bass; Vince Guaraldi, Piano

From the back cover: For most of the past two years the best Sunday afternoon sessions in San Francisco have taken place at The Tropics, a corner bar out "in the Avenues" on the way to the Pacific ocean.

Prime feature of these Sunday sessions has been the two tenor team of Brew Moore and Harold Wylie. Any Sunday afternoon you would be likely to find a voting majority of the jazz musicians, travelling and local, who are currently in the Bay Area in attendance paying their homage to Brew and Harold at The Tropics.

The session was held on election day, which in California as in other states, is an unnaturally dry period. However, aided by two cases of ale from a neighboring connection, the session got under way. The three basic elements of this LP are the three basic elements of the Tropics sessions: blues, ballads and swing. The contrasts and the similarities—in the tenor styles of Brew and Harold make interesting listening, especially on their treatment of the ballad.

Of the tunes, "Edison's Lamp" is a product of the pen of John Coppola, stalwart trumpeter with Herman, Kenton, May and many other big bands. It is constructed from a series of quotes from "Septem- ber in the Rain" made by Harry Edison on an LP some time ago. "Nancy With the Laughing Face" is Jimmy Van Heusen and Phil Silvers' lovely ballad and it is no coincidence that Brew Moore's wife is named Nancy, too; "Rhode Island Red" is a tune by pianist John Marabuto, it's named after a character on the San Francisco children's tv show, "Fireman Frank" (the youngest member of Marabuto's family is a steady viewer); it's supposed "to have a Western flavor," Marabuto says; "Marna Moves" is Brew's own tune for his daughter; "Dues Blues" is a traditional San Francisco blues number, played by all the bands locally, "Pat's Batch" is named for KROW disc jockey Patrick Henry and refers to his growing reputation as a braumeister which may one day overshadow his reputation for segueing records in the same key.

Brew Moore is the doyen of tenor saxophonists in San Francisco and something of a legend among the local jazzmen. This is his second Fantasy LP under his own name and he is also heard on Fantasy 3211 and 3250 with Cal Tjader. A native of Mississippi, Brew has played with most of the great names of modern jazz in New York and elsewhere before settling in San Francisco early in the 1950s. Since then he has led his own group, as well as appearing as featured soloist at The Black Hawk, The Cellar and the Jazz Workshop.

Harold Wylie is 27, a native of San Francisco and the only musician in his family. He first studied the saxophone and clarinet in high school and has played with Woody Herman as well as with numerous local combos. In an unusually penetrating insight into the psychology of jazzmen, Wylie says, "The main reason I play is because I have to play and that's as much as I can understand about it." Harold Wylie is another one of San Francisco's jazz and yachting enthusiasts. He spends every possible moment aboard his 23-foot sloop called "Ool-ya-koo."

John Markham (one of the three John M's on the date, Brew points out) has held down the drum chair with such bands as Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton and in recent years has been the house drum- mer at KGO-TV in San Francisco. A superlative big band drummer, he functions equally as well in a small group and his drumming has been an integral part of the Sunday sessions at the Tropics for some time.

John Marabuto is a composer as well as a pianist. A native of Oakland, he has worked locally with almost all the good jazz groups including Brew's own group, and like Markham, Wylie and Mosher, is a sometime player with the Rudy Salvini big band. His favorite pianist at the moment is Hank Jones and John supplements his professional piano playing with daytime gigs as a piano tuner.

John Mosher is a native of Sioux City where his father was a bandleader in vaudeville days. He came to the Pacific Coast after service in the Army and has worked with Jerry Gray, and Les Brown. He settled in San Francisco early in 1957 and since then has been recognized as one of the best bass players in town. He is currently working with the Griller String Quartet in a series of concerts on the educational tv station, KQED, in which the Quartet is enlarged for some unusual string and woodwinds performances. A most versatile musician, he has doubled between the Hangover (as a substitute in Earl Hines' band), and the Ballet Russe as well as modern jazz playing. He intends eventually to devote himself to classical music.

One track, "Dues Blues," was taken from a concert at the University of California given by Cal Tjader and featuring Brew Moore. Accompanying Brew and Cal on this track are Vince Guaraldi, Fantasy recording artist and regular pianist with the Tjader group; Dean Reilly, who has appeared as bassist on numerous Fantasy LPs, trombonist Bob Collins, also featured on Fantasy LP 3211, and drummer Bobby White, formerly with Vido Musso and Buddy DeFranco.

– RALPH J. GLEASON - Editor, Jam Session (G. P. Putnam's Sons)

Edison's Lamp

Nancy With The Laughing Face

Rhode Island Red

Marna Moves

Dues Blues

Pat's Batch

Tjader Plays Tjazz - Cal Tjader

 

Minor Goof

Tjader Plays Tjazz

Cal Tjader

Fantasy 3278 (F-8097)

Featuring: Brew Moore, Al McKibbon, Sonny Clark, Bob Collins, Eddie Dran, Bobby White, Eugene Wright

The Cal Tjader Quartet: Cal Tjader, drums; Bob Collins, trombone; Eddie Duran, guitar; Al McKibbon, Bass

The Cal Tjader Quintet: Cal Tjader, vibes; Brew Moore, tenor; Sonny Clakrk, piano; Bobby White, drums; Gene Wright, bass

From the back cover: IN THE 1955 CRITIC'S POLL OF Down Beat Magazine, Cal Tjader was voted New Star of the Vibes. This is doubly a tribute to Cal, because the general public has known him mainly as a leader of an excellent mambo group in the past two years. Prior to that, of course, he was featured on Latin rhythm instruments and vibraphone with the George Shearing Quintet, and before that with Dave Brubeck.

Although Cal has had an exceptionally successful career with his Mambo Quintet, he is at heart a jazz man pure and simple, and his mambo group has a solid jazz foundation. But the Latin rhythms of mambo and cha cha do not always provide the most felicitous surroundings for jazz improvisation. That's why Cal and Fantasy decided to make this album. There was another reason, too. Cal wanted the jazz public to hear three remarkable musicians who are currently living and working in San Francisco-trombonist Bob Collins, tenor saxophonist Brew Moore, and guitarist Eddie Duran.

This album gives them an opportunity to be heard in the best circumstances possible. There were two dates for this LP. The first, THE CAL TJADER QUARTET, was done at the Marines Memorial Theater in San Francisco. It fea- tures Cal on drums (long before he was known as a vibraphonist, he was an excellent drummer), Al McKibbon (Cal's old sidekick from the George Shearing Quintet), on bass; Bob Collins, brother of Dick, on trombone, and Eddie Duran on guitar. There is no piano.

The second session, THE CAL TJADER QUINTET, was held at the Berkeley Little Theater. Cal used the rhythm section of the Buddy De Franco Quartet: Bobby White, drums; Sonny Clark, piano, and Gene Wright, bass. Brew Moore is on tenor and Cal himself on vibes.

The Quartet cut four tunes: I've Never Been in Love Before, How About You, My One and Only Love and I'll Know. Collins' trombone is the featured instrument on each with occasional solos by Eddie Duran. There were six tunes by the Quintet: Moten Swing, There Will Never Be Another You, Jeepers Creepers, A Minor Goof, Imagination and Brew's Blues.

Moten Swing opens with Brew stating the theme, which is actually the closing riff from the old Bennie Moten arrangement Count Basie made famous and which is such a part of Kansas City jazz history. There are solos by Cal, Brew and Sonny Clark. On I've Never Been in Love Before, Bob Collins states the melody with Eddie Duran gently picking away in the background. It's almost straight melody and a perfect showcase for Collins' somewhat lugubrious trom- bone. There Will Never Be Another You provides Cal with an opportunity to take a long, beautiful solo. He is followed by Brew. Listen to the extra long ring of the vibes at the end of Cal's solo. It runs straight through the first four bars of Brew's solo. On How About You, which is taken up tempo, Eddie Duran plays a particularly fine chorus after Bob Collins ends his statement. The "Yeah!" you hear faintly in the background is Eddie's own exclamation when he hit a surprisingly exciting chord. On Jeepers Creepers, both Cal and Brew take swinging solos and Gene Wright is heard in a bass break.

A Minor Goof opens with a nod to Count Basie by Brew and contains excellent, swinging solos by Cal, Brew and Sonny Clark. My One and Only Love is another showcase for Collins' ballad work and there is also an Eddie Duran solo with interesting doubling up of the rhythm behind him by Cal's drums. Imagination gives Brew Moore a chance to work on a ballad and he does so with echoes of Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and, of course, his own favorite, Lester Young. It's a very expressive solo. I'll Know, the lovely tune from Guys and Dolls, has a melodic solo by Bob Collins and a guitar bit by Eddie Duran. On Brew's Blues, a medium tempo riff tune, there's another long vibes ring. Watch for it and also listen for the quote from Fascinating Rhythm in Gene Wright's bass solo. Bobby White, the dynamic drummer, gets a chance to show off on this one, too.

A NOTE ON THE MUSICIANS: Cal Tjader was born in St. Louis in 1925 and studied at San Francisco State. He worked with the Dave Brubeck Trio and Octet and in 1950 joined George Shearing. When he left the Shearing Quintet in 1954 he formed his own group specializing in the mambo. His favorite vibraphone players are Milt Jackson (he composed a tune for the Shearing group, in honor of Milt, "Mood for Milt") and Lionel Hampton.

Brew Moore comes from Indianola, Miss. (his real name is Milton Jr.) where he was born in 1924. He studied at the University of Mississippi and started on music when his mother "bought me a harmonica on my ninth birthday." His first job was playing clarinet with a Dixieland band in New Orleans in 1942 and since then he has worked with Elliot Lawrence, Machito, Howard McGhee, Kai Winding and Charlie Parker. He has been in San Francisco since 1954 and wants to stay. "Have no tux. Will not travel," he says, and his favorite tenors are Lester Young, Zoot Sims, Allen Eager and Al Cohn.

Bob Collins (Robert Lamont, to be exact) was born in Portland, Oregon in 1922 and was taught by his father, who started Bob and brother Dick in 1936. He, too, is a veteran of the Dave Brubeck Octet and has worked with numerous small groups in Northern California. His ambitions do not include traveling, but do include spending every possible week-end sailing on San Francisco Bay with his boat partner, Cal Tjader.

Eddie Duran was born in San Francisco in 1925, is mainly self taught, and has been in and around show-business since he was eight years old and won an amateur singing contest with his brother, Manuel, now pianist with Cal Tjader's Mambo Quintet. Eddie has worked with Freddie Slack, Flip Phillips, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, George Shearing, Red Norvo and Vince Guaraldi. He lists his hobbies simply as: Astronomy and girls.

Moten Swing (B. Moten) - Quintet

I've Never Been In Love Before (Losser) - Quartet

There Will Never Be Another You (Warren) - Quintet

How About You (Lane) - Quartet

Jeepers Creepers (Mercer, Warren) - Quintet

A Minor Goof (B. Moore) - Quintet

My One And Only Love (Mellin, Wood) - Quartet

Imagination (Van Huessen) - Quartet

I'll Know (Losser) - Quartet

Brew's Blues (Moore) - Quintet

 

Caravan / Wausi Strut

First Cuckoo

Deodato

Arranged and Conducted by Eumir Deodato

Produced by Eumir Deodato for Kenya Music, Inc.

Production Coordinator: Danny Gershon

Recorded at House Of Music (W Orange. New Jersey)

Recording Engineers: Jeffery Kawalek and Charlie Cacciola

Mixing Engineer: Jeffery Kawalek

Assistant: Jim Bonnefond

Special collaboration on production by Alberto Carriola courtesy of Marka (Brazil)

Cover Photograph by Carmine Macedona - Courtesy of Ehrenreich Photo Optical Industries, Inc.

MCA Records MCA-491

1975

Side One

Funk Yourself
(Eumir Deodato)
Kenya Music, Inc.--ASCAP 4:13

Electric Piano and Clavinet: EUMIR DEODATO
Guitars: HUGH MCCRACKEN AND JOHN TROPEA (Also Solo) 

Drums: NICK REMO
Bass: WILL LEE
Congas: RUBENS BASSINI
Horns and Alto Flutes: (See Below)

Black Dog
(Gene Paige-Robert Plant-John Paul Jones) Superhype Music Inc.-ASCAP 4:19

Electric Piano and Tambourine: EUMIR DEODATO 

Guitars: ELLIOT RANDALL and JOHN TROPEA

Bass: WILL LEE
Congas: RUBENS BASSINI
Drums: STEVE GADD
Soprano Sax: LOU MARINI

Crabwalk
(Eumir Deodato)
Kenya Music, Inc.-ASCAP 7:45

Electric Piano: EUMIR DEODATO 

Bass: WILL LEE
Drums: STEVE GADD
Cow Bells: RUBENS BASSINI
Trumpet Solo: JOHN GATCHELL
Horns, Flutes, Strings: (See Below)

Adam's Hotel
(Marcos Valle)
Kenya Music, Inc.-ASCAP 3:38

Electric Piano, Whistle, Arp Synthesizer: EUMIR DEODATO 

Bongos: Maracas: RUBENS BASSINI
Strings: (See Below)

Side Two

Caravan/Watusi Strut**
(Duke Ellington-Juan Tizol-Irving Mills)
American Academy of Music Inc.-ASCAP 2:00
(Eumir Deodato)**
Kenya Music, Inc.-ASCAP 9:36

Electric Piano and Clavinet: EUMIR DEODATO
Guitars: ELLIOT RANDALL and JOHN TROPEA (Also Solo)
Bass: WILL LEE
Drums: STEVE GADD
Congas: RUBENS BASSINI
Clarinet: LOU MARINI
Strings, Horns, Flutes: (See Below)

Speak Low
(Ogden Nash-Kurt Weil)
Chappell & Co., Inc.-ASCAP 4:32

Electric Piano: EUMIR DEODATO
Guitar: JOHN TROPEA
Bass: WILL LEE
Drums: NICK REMO
Congas, Cabassa: RUBENS BASSINI
Flute: LOU MARINI

First Cuckoo (On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring)
(Frederick Delius)
(Arranged And Adapted By Eumir Deodato)
Kenya Music, Inc.-ASCAP 4:00
Flute: HUBERT LAWS
Alto Flutes: ROMEO PENQUE and LOU MARINI
Clarinet: GEORGE MARGE
Strings: (See Below)

Strings / Violins: GENE ORLOFF, ELLIOT ROSOFF, DAVID NADIEN, HARRY CYKMAN, MAX POLLIKOFF, MAX ELLEN, HARRY LOOKOFSKY, IRVING SPICE, SELWART CLARKE

Violas: ALFRED BROWN, JULIAN BARBER

Cellos: KERMIT MOORE, ALAN SHULMAN, CHARLES MCCRACKEN Bass: RUSSELL SAVAKUS

Horns / Trumpets, flugelhoms: JOHN GATCHELL, ALAN RUBIN Trombones: URBAN GREEN, SAM BURTIS

French Horns: BROOKS TILLETSON, JIMMY BUFFINGTON Tuba: TONY PRICE

Flutes: GEORGE MARGE, ROMEO PENQUE, LOU MARINE, HUBERT LAWS

Argentine Tangos - Carlos Gardel

 

Argentine Tangos

Argentine Tangos

Sung by Carlos Gardel

King Of The Tangos

Decca Records DL 5463 (10-inch LP)

1953

From the back cover: About CARLOS GARDEL... When Decca issued its first collection of the music of Carlos Gardel it was imme- diately recognized that, in every way, this artist justified his title: King of the Tango. The collection was a kind of posthumous homage to a very great figure in the musical world of Argentina, for it was a memorial to the man who had lived so glorious a career and who died so tragically and prematurely. Gardel's public demanded more examples of his unique magic, and this collection is a further tribute to the great singer of the songs of Buenos Aires.

Although Gardel is recognized as the greatest interpreter of Argentine songs, he was not born in South America. Born December 12, 1890 in Toulouse, France, Gardel was two years old when his family moved to the capital of Argentina. From early childhood Carlos showed an absorbing love of music; when he was a small child he attended with great interest the concerts and stage performances given at the Politeama Theatre in Buenos Aires. So deep was the impression these performances made upon him that when he arrived home he would recite or act to perfection what he had seen during his visits to the theatre.

Always with the ambition of becoming a star, Carlos used to make his neighborhood friends happy by giving them intimate, authentic performances and concerts of Creole music. Gardel's popularity was unlimited. What Rudolph Valentino was to the youth of the United States, so was Gardel in all the continents where the language of Cervantes is spoken.

Although his popularity was achieved through his interpretations of Argentine music, this alone was not what brought Gardel his greatest success; the movies and the radio increased his fame. He made three pictures of Argentine life while in the capital of France; all three of them were great successes. Due to this, he was given a contract by Paramount for whom he made "Cuesta Abajo," "El Tango en Broadway," "Tango Bar" and "El Dia Que Me Quieras."

During his stay in the United States Gardel worked continuously. Days, he was busy making pictures, and weekly he appeared on various radio programs which were transmitted by short wave to all cities in South America. This established him as one of the greatest artists of the new continent. As soon as he finished his last U. S. production, Gardel decided to make a tour through the entire Hispanic continent with the idea of making personal appearances for the multitudes who wanted to know him. Together with his group of artists, he commenced the tour of South America – a tour on which destiny awaited them with terrible tragedy: Gardel died in an airplane crash at the most glorious moment of his artistic career. After his triumphs in Paris and Madrid, and his tour of the countries of Latin America he had intended to return to his starting point, his beloved Argentina, always proud that he had given so much glory to his country which he loved so dearly.

Thanks to these records, for years to come the dramatic, intense, interpretative technique of this singer will bring happiness to a generation which is not lucky enough to have known him, but which nevertheless can appreciate the art of this unsurpassed singer, the King of the Tango.

Muneca Brava (Brave Doll)

Anclao En Paris (Anchored in Paris)

Esclavas Blancas (White Slaves)

Milonguera

Confession

Haragan (Lazy)

Misa de Once (Eleven o'clock Mass)

Noche de Reyes (Night of Kings)

Dancers In Love - Ike Carpenter

 

Dancers In Love

Dancers In Love

Ike Carpenter Orchestra

Discovery Records - Hollywood, California

DL 3003 (10-inch LP)

1949

From the back cover: Ike Carpenter and his orchestra represent a fusion of talents seldom found in their field. Ike, still in his early twenties demonstrates a maturity of conception and technique more representative of a much older person. Born in Durham, N.C., and a product of Duke University, as a scholarship student in music, Ike's early background was in classical piano. Just before organizing his first orchestra, Ike's last "long- haired" appearance was as featured soloist, with symphony orchestra accompaniment, in the Grieg A-Minor Piano Concerto, although he admits at that time to being featured as "the world's fastest boogie-woogie pianist" with a local college dance band.

It was this combination of fantastic legitimate technique with a beat, that led to his name-band jobs with Johnny "Scat" Davis, Johnny Long, Boyd Raeburn, and Bobby Sherwood. His first New York engagement was on the stage of the Paramount Theatre as featured soloist with Johnny Long in George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, a cold opening when Long's previous pianist was suddenly drafted. Most recently, a curiously similar situation occurred when Ike filled in at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in the Salute to Gershwin review, impersonating the famous com- poser - playing Rhapsody in Blue again, and having to learn some 30 new arrangements on only 24 hours notice.

Starting his own band in April 1947 on the West Coast, Ike proved a point, that with only ten other musicians and himself, by careful voicing of the sounds and arrangements this orchestra could sound like a much bigger group. Using an instrumentation of two trumpets and two trombones, two altos, one tenor and one baritone sax, bass, drums and Ike's piano, the fans and critics hailed this new sensible approach to modern dance music. Variety said, "Outfit has a style patterned on Ellington, and by some miracle actually makes eleven musikers sound like 20". Billboard's review of the new band on its first engagement at Tommy Dorsey's Casino Gardens said, "If tonite is any indication, it will appeal musically as well as numerically for although instrument toters don't quite make a dozen, final product off-times sounds like it comes from a sixteen or eighteen piece aggregation. Reason for this is the thoughtful approach to band's instrumental balance and voicing." A series of long runs, breaking attendance records on the West Coast, then skyrocketed the band and its success has since prompted others to follow this musical pattern.

A handsome, blonde six-footer, Ike has capital- ized on his "shy-guy" personality to sell the band as "front man". After hearing his soft, pronounced Southern accent, an amazed fan remarked "And how could anyone talk so slow and play so fast?"

Due credit should go to Hal Gordon for his supervision of this Discovery recording date so that the results would be what Ike and his organi- zation consider representative of their musical efforts.

DANCERS IN LOVE: ("The Perfume of Unso- phisticated Love") - Duke Ellington's own rangement for Ike's piano of the title tune is from the PERFUME SUITE, first performed at Carnegie Hall, New York. This work, portraying the different perfumes according to the character of the women wearing them, shows a little girl snapping her fingers to the rhythm on her first dance date and Duke slyly sub-titles it "A Stomp for Beginners".

FLAMINGO: Arranged by Paul Villepigue for only nine men and Ike (just one trumpet) has a fine resonant vocal by Discovery's own David Allen with a piano solo by Ike, very pretty in it's bell-like quality and interesting phrasing.

AFTER ALL: This Hubie Wheeler arrangement was the first tune put in Ike's book when he organized. The piano solo is distinguished by sensitive dynamics and delicacy. Other stand-outs are the lead trumpet of Lou Obergh and the pleasantly restrained, melodic trombone of Tommy Pedersen – all proof that "good music" can be good dance music as well!

MOON MIST: The Paul Villepigue arrangement of Ike's lovely radio theme was composed by Mercer Ellington, Duke's son- and features, after the leader's piano, a muted trumpet by Gerald Wilson, the distinctive lead-alto sax of George Weidler, and a wonderful Ted Nash clarinet-lead voicing to finish.

TAKE THE "A" TRAIN: Another Paul Villepigue special of a great standard swings easily through Gerald Wilson's muted trumpet, Lucky Thomp. son's tenor, and awonderfully long facile phrase at the conclusion of Ike's piano solo.

CHELSEA BRIDGE: Paul Villepigue's arrange- ment of the famous Billy Strayhorn tone-poem is built around a typical Ellington trio voicing, Weidler's alto and the big rich baritone sax of Joe Cook, an unusual instrument for sweet solos. The thrilling climax leads into Ike's piano with the final sax features split by Lucky Thompson's tenor and a Ted Nash alto solo.

SCREAMLINER: Ike Carpenter's own arrange. ment for his rhythm trio. A standard showpiece in his repertoire to demonstrate his technique with a beat. One of his most requested numbers, this was recorded after work in the "wee small hours", when everyone was just beat enough to be pleasantly relaxed.

May You Always - The McGuire Sisters

 

Achoo-Cha-Cha

May You Always

The McGuire Sisters

Coral Records, London, England

Coral LVA 9115

May You Always

That's A-Plenty

Since You Went Away To School

Do You Love Me Like You Kiss Me

Volare

Ding Dong

Red River Valley

Sweetie Pie

Peace

Achoo-Cha-Cha

I'll Think Of You

Compromise

Echoes Of Christmas - George Feyer

 

Echoes Of Christmas

George Feyer's

Echoes Of Christmas

Piano and Harpsichord with Rhythm Accompaniment

Cover: Haas Studio

Vox VX25 - 101

1955

From the back cover: BILLBOARD, April 1954 noted the release of another Feyer record with this comment: "He plays in an unaffectedly simple manner which is almost a definition of sophisticated taste".

This simplicity – so easy to explain and yet so difficult to imitate is highly deceptive. For under the beguiling surface of this relaxed music making there is hard work and constant testing. Hundreds of improvisations are made and like Broadway shows on a tryout tour, each arrangement is repeatedly tested on his nightly audience at Delmonico's. Changes are made if the effect is not entirely satisfactory, and by the time the recording session begins every note is in its right place and every phrase shaped "just so".

The success of the ECHOES series is astonishing. It has snowballed from the USA all over the world, and George's fan mail has reached gigantic proportions. By breaking down walls, the cocktail lounge of the Delmonico Hotel in New York has been enlarged to almost triple its size, and this is barely enough to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of Feyer's followers. 

Another proof of Feyer's fantastic popularity is the impending publication of Feyer's arrangements of favorite ECHOES tunes by the Edward B. Marks Music Corporation.

Introduction

White Christmas

Anderson: Sleighride

Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)

Waldteufel: Skater's Waltz

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

Jingle Bells

O Tannenbaum

Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

Noel, Noel

Tchaikovsky: Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy (from "The Nutcracker")

Tchaikovsky: Troika (from "The Seasons")

Silent Night, Holy Night

Josh White Live!

 

Josh White - Live!

Josh White

Live!

Cover Design: Joel Tanner

Cover Photograph: George Pickow

ABC-Paramount ABC-407

A Product of ABC-Paramount Records, Inc.

1961

From the back cover: JOSH WHITE RETURNS TO LONDON – The date was April 1, 1961. The city was London. Josh White, America's great blues and ballad man, walked onto the stage of London's huge Royal Festival Hall. A capacity audience of 4,000 warmly greeted the American, and he returned the greeting with a memorable concert, brought to you now on this recording.

Josh was no stranger to London, and vice versa. Here is how Peter Rachtman, writing in the July, 1961, issue of 33 Guide described an earlier visit:

"In 1950, Mrs. [Franklin D.] Roosevelt took Josh on a concert tour of Europe. In England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Scotland, he sang to sell-out crowds. Fifty thousand people showed up for one concert in Stockholm and at an Ambassador's party in Copenhagen; even the King of Denmark sat on the floor and joined in singing spirituals. In England, Princess Margaret asked Josh to sing Don't Smoke In Bed. He set an unusual record in England when the B.B.C. booked him for all three classes of radio programs-the Light (low-brow), Home (medium-brow), and Third Programme (high-brow), an achievement not even matched by the nonpareil and ebullient Danny Kaye."

Josh White's first appearances in London were made about fifteen years ago. It was natural, after taking the American listening public by storm that he should develop a reputation and a following in Europe. To many there he is one of our leading performers. He has described his approach toward folk music in these terms:

"I was a folk singer long before I knew what it's called. Even when I was a boy, I made up and sang songs of ordinary people, trying to convey their joys and sorrows, their grievances and their hope. In this I was expressing not only my own sentiments but the feelings of humble people generally, what- ever their color or their names."

Josh White's story began on Feb. 11, 1915, in Greenville, S. C., when he was born to a poor preacher's family. Josh picked up some pennies when he was a toddler by leading a blind man around, and for the subsequent ten years that was to be his occupation.

His first music was the spiritual, and at the age of 11, under the name, The Singing Christian, he made his first disk. Later, he was to switch to making blues recordings; the first were done under the pseudonym of Pinewood Tom, to keep the peace in his religious family. The success story was not a straight upward path, for there were setbacks – in an accident to his hand and a period when he was reduced to working as an elevator operator.

But his fame was growing, and one successful engagement followed another. Here is how that period is summarized in Folksingers And Folksongs In America by Ray M. Lawless (Duell, Sloan and Pearce):

"From humble circumstances and through difficult times Josh White has come to fame and success-on the concert stage, on radio and TV, and in recordings. His many appearances over the past twenty years are next to innumerable, but some examples should be mentioned. He sang and played with the Southernairs over N.B.C. On three different occasions he performed at the White House, and he did six concerts at the Library of Congress. In 1941, he went, under government auspices, on a goodwill tour to Mexico with the Golden Gate Quartet. During the Forties he had long runs at Cafe Society Uptown (three years), the Village Vanguard (twenty-four weeks), Cafe Society Downtown, and many other places in New York. He did weekly broadcasts for the O.W.I. (Office of War Information), some of them over the B.B.C. In 1944, he had a fifteen-minute sustaining program over station WNEW, and in 1946-47 he made his first formal concert tour of over thirty Canadian and United States cities..."

The program at the Royal Festival Hall was a characteristic one for Josh. There are the old favorites like Betty And Dupree, Wandering, Head Like A Rock. There are blues like You Know, Baby and Where Were You, Baby? There is the gallows defiance of Sam Hall, the tender lyricism of Scarlet Ribbons and the playfulness of Apples, Peaches And Cherries.

Rounding out the program are three songs closely identified with the life and music of Josh White. Marching Down Free- dom Road was set to music by Josh from a poem by Langston Hughes. The Man Who Couldn't Walk Around had been dedicated by Josh to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Strange Fruit, with its anger and philosophy, reflects the early years of this outstand- ing interpreter of American folk music. –   Stacey Williams

Betty and Dupree

Wandering

Got A Head Like A Rock

Apples, Peaches & Cherries

You Know Baby

Freedom Road

Scarlet Ribbons

The Man Who Couldn't Walk Around

Where Were You Baby When My Heart Went Out

Sam Hall

Strange Fruit

Near-Myth - Brubeck / Smith

 

Baggin' The Dragon

Near-Myth

Dave Burbeck / W. O. Smith

Cover: Arnold Roth

Engineer: Ed Begley

Recorded by Fantasy Records, San Francisco 

Vogue Records Limited 

Vocalion SEA 565

Made In England

1964

From the back cover:  A session with Bill Smith is always an adventure. He leads you down paths not usually traversed by jazz musicians and points out lively possibilities en route. Bill's imagination is contagious. When he flew over from Italy last winter to appear at a concert of Electronic Music (another phase of this many faceted musician) we had but a few hours to rehearse and to record an album together. On the first meeting, he handed us the lead sheets and set forth his plan of a series of tunes based on mythological characters. Immediately ideas began to germinate. We walked into the studio the morning of March 20, 1961 and came out that evening with a finished album and a deep sense of satisfaction that we had succeeded in making a "different" jazz LP.

In addition to interesting music, which I expect and take for granted in Smith's performances, we had recorded several colourful effects unique to jazz. Nothing in the album was electronically "gimmicked" for special effect. What was performed in the studio was produced by extending the natural capabilities of the instruments. These same strange effects can be reproduced in live concert anywhere. A recent (July 7, 1961) Time article, reporting on a Smith Concert in Palazzo Pio, Rome, stated: "A virtuoso on his instrument, Smith also likes to push his clarinet above to 'C' or to engage in a series of strangely manipulated double and triple stopping."

As an example of Time's inference, the high, piercing sound of "Pan's Pipes" is produced with the aid of a mute, an age old device long associated with strings and brasses, but so far as I know never before used by a clarinettist: rarely have I heard any clarinettist, except Bill, play more than or note simultaneously on his instrument-unless it was a mistake! On this recording we not only hear two or more notes simultaneously, but also so precisely controlled that they sound within the exact chord.

The piano on "Apollo's Axe" achieves a weird sound through the sympathetic harmonic vibrations of the piano strings, or in one instance by Morello hittir tympani sticks gainst the strings. Also, I tried deliberately to modify my usual touch in order to get a different effect.

Since we first met when Smith and I were students of Darius Milhaud in 1947, Bill has always evinced a strange, but not necessarily incompatible, mixture of whimsy and intellectualism. (For example, his first recorded composition wa "Schizophrenic Scherzo", The Dave Brubeck Octet.)

Near Myth is a typical Smith concoction of humour, whimsy, classical refe ence and jazz, performed by the composer himself on clarinet and my usull rhythm section of Joe Morello (drums) and Gene Wright (bass).

Bill is quoted in Time as saying "Jazz forms are usually stereotyped, like a housing project with houses all alike. We want to change the number of rooms and the size and placement of the windows and doors."

I think on this album Bill Smith opens some new swinging doors.

DAVE BRUBECK
August 1961

Also from the back cover: No relation to Lena Horne.

A combination of good ol' time wine fest with a touch of Bachish counter- point and harmony.

Inspired by the siren bird-girls who lured sailors to their death with their singing.

When the object of Pan's desires transformed herself into a reed to avoid his advances, he cut several of the reeds and made them into a set of pipes. Perhaps this is the trouble referred to in the second chorus?

This one started out by Smith but ended up by the great Jupiter himself.

After a few ominous roars the boys throw their shafts straight to the mark, leaving the dragon to die after several last opera variety gasps. Lacking a magical lyre, Dave plays his usual axe in an unusual manner. Suggests a romantic escapade in which the sailor, the clarinet, of the first two choruses, is joined by the mermaid, the piano playing the Siren Song in the last one.

Features Gene in the guise of the Sea King.

A sprightly dance by all.

"Perhaps not a Hollywood extravaganza, but-A NEAR MYTH"

To underline the magical aspect of some of the numbers, several new instrumental techniques have been employed. In Pan's Pipes a clarinet mute is used in the first and last choruses and made it possible to end on an E, four notes above the highest note of the normal clarinet range. In the ending of Siren Song two and more clarinet notes are played simultaneously. Piano harmonics are used in the opening and closing of Apollo's Axe, and in Baggin' the Dragon tympani sticks are used on the strings of the piano.

To add to the musical unity of the album the opening 4-note figure is utilized in several of the numbers. There are further interrelationships, such as the use of the Siren Song at the conclusion of The Sailor and the Mermaid, the anticipation of the opening three notes of the Siren Song in the ending of Bach an' All, and the deriva- tion of the three-measure drum pattern of Bach an' All from the closing piano, clarinet, and bass figures of Unihorn.

W. O. SMITH Paris, France August 1961

The Unihorn

Bach An' All

Siren Song

Pan's Pipes

By Jupiter

Baggin' The Dragon

Apollo's Axe

The Sailor And The Mermaid

Nep-tune

Pan Dance