Wild Stereos Drums

Wild Stereo Drums

Wild Stereo Drums
A Wide-Ranging Program of Music Accenting Powerful Percussion In Dazzling Stereo
Capitol ST 1553
1961

From the back cover: Try-Fi Drums - Stan Levy, Alvin Stoller, Irv Cottler, backed by Billy May's Orchestra... If you have any doubts about your stereo balance, you can check it here and now, as three of the finest jazz drummers in the business go into action from three locations. This galvanic opener present them, in the order mentioned, performing high-speed, expertly-executed solos. The Bill Holman arrangement was specially scored for the big sound of heavy percussion with big band, and the effect is sonically tremendous. Through the solos range from ultra-low booms to sharp reports, your system should – if equipped with distortion-free amplification and good speaker networks – be able to reproduce each note with clean definition. There should be none of the "muddy" running together that results from heavy volumes of sound playing through inadequate components.

Bankok Beat - Pepe Dominguin... Here you can enjoy a speaker-to-speaker bongo session between Dominguin and his cohort on the right. And from the time a big gong sounds to the right (a deep resonant sound that produces perceptible overtones, and should reverberate long and clear without the tones "breaking up"), until it comes in again at the end, the drummers won't let up. An occasional chord from the celesta chimes out from between the bongos, as does a random tinkle from the little Chinese cymbal tree. These little chiming sounds, incidentally, are a good test for the high end of your system. You should hear each tinkling note crisply and clearly when a cymbal is struck.

Blue Rhumba - Pepe Dominguin... Pepe switches to timbales for this frantic rhumba, and also switches over to the right side, leaving the remainder of the "stereo stage" for claves, scraper, bass, guitar, and horn men. Here are small, high-pitched drums that put out a sharp wave front requiring good speakers to reproduce properly. Again, the bests should be distinct and precise, without breaking down or sounding "fuzzy."

Drummer Boys - Felix Slatkin and The Drum Brigade... Here's a grand array of drums and cymbals – twenty percussion instruments in all – sounding off in a vivid stereo demonstration that calls forth every spectacular trick in the drillfield drummer's book. Once more here's huge volume of sound that will put your set through its paces. Booming and rolling from left are bass drum and low-pitched tenor drums, cymbals between, with higher-pitched field snares and conventional snares to the right. Smashing across the room they come, with percussive brilliance that tapers into a rhythmic coda of stick work on the drum rims, then rolls into a final bang!

Ting Ting Ting - Les Baxter... the master of percussive sounds himself starts off on a marimba, then shouts for Chico Guerrero, who joins him at left on tumbles. Soon Domingo Dariea on conga drum and Chino Pozo with bongos have joined the fray. Chico's tinging cymbal should be heard brightly above the cacophony, as Aime Vereicke and Oswaldo Oliveria come in with additional drum effects. Big piano chords bring in some brilliant, melodic sounds. Notice the depth and power of that string bass behind the piano? If your system – especially your speakers – is capable of properly reproducing the lowest registers, you'll not only hear it, you'll feel it. 

Uncle Tom Tom - Les Baxter... This flashy duet between a low-pitched tom tom on the left and a higher one on the right is an excellent test for your stereo channel separation. The drums were recorded into right and left microphones, and complete separation was maintained. They should should individually from each speaker, without any leakage from one channel to the other. Tenor sax man Plas Johnson is in the middle of it all, aided only by an occasional dry thump from a dampened bass drum. Splendid musician that he is, Plas wails his way through it all in fine form.

Rocket Racket - Dick Harrell... Wild, swinging and uninhibited, the ability of young drummer Dick Harrell is, in itself, out of the ordinary. But added to this is the revolutionary procedure used to record his two tracks (this and the last one in the album). First, soloist Dick and rhythm drummer Roy Harte came into the studio and recorded the driving drums parts. Then arrangers scored instrumental parts, which were recorded over the drum tracks. Uniquely, the other instruments back the drums!  Unhampered by the need to accompany anyone, and further aided by another drummer to hold the beat, Dick really "rolled".

Bongo Bash - Pepe Dominguin... The celesta and bass open with a melodic little ditty, and Pepe Dominguin plays an obbligato bongo beat at right. A cow bell on the other side give the bongos some by-play, and a mellow tenor sax accompanies. Here's percussion on the lighter side – yet, strange though it may seem, the extremely high tinkles of the celesta's upper register are almost as demanding on the high end of a sound system as are the sharp drum sounds. They should be clear, clean, and melodic.

Drivin' Around The Block - Dick Harrell... Here's another of those very appropriate melodies scored as accompaniment for the drums, which this time include temple blocks and the pop and rattle of a tambourine. Dick is aided by sax and guitar, plus a full-throated electronic organ. Big, frantic sounds that make a wild closer for a wild album!