Dance To The Latin Beat - Al Stefano

Mambo No. 9 (Pres Pardo)

Mack The Knife

Dance To The Latin Beat
Al Stefano And His Orchestra

Cover Photo by Garrett-Howard
Decca Records DL 8645

From the back cover: Beginning as a drummer, Al formed his own orchestra about three years ago and is already firmly established as one of the leading Latin American dance bands. This orchestra can be heard over all Continental broadcasting stations and their records are sold in more than twenty countries around the globe.

Mambo Inn
Amor
Lindisima
Cuba Mambo
Me Tienes Loquito
Mambo No. 9
Starlight Room Mambo
Anna Morena
Jumbo Jumbo
Rosina
Mack The Knife
Dos Trompetas

The First Hits Of 1965 - Frank Chacksfield

I Feel Fine

The First Hits Of 1965
Frank Chacksfield And His Orchestra
London LL 3416

I'm not a big fan of Chacksfield and the cheap cover treatment didn't help help make the sale. None-the-less I bought the LP to hear Chacksfield's Goldfinger cover. Surprisingly, this could be the best Chacksfield album that I can remember listening to. It's a fine mid-60s light pop album and even though the audio technology is, for some reason, mono (London did release a stereo press PS 416)… the sonic quality on this mono release is excellent.

I Feel Fine
The Wedding
Downtown
I'll Be There
Mr. Lonely
Goldfinger
Willow Weep For Me
She's A Woman
Dear Heart
Hawaii Tattoo
Have You Looked Into Your Heart
Walk Away

The Dancing Sound - Les Elgart

Melancholy Serenade

The Dancing Sound
Les Elgart And His Orchestra
Columbia Records CL 684

Lush big band arrangements spiced with a "late night dancehall mood vibe". With a deep, full sound made possible by a great engineering.

From the back cover: In Elgart's own words, the bias of the orchestra is described: "We didn't want a pounding sound. We want it to flow and be good to dance to and play with. Furthermore, this is largely an ensemble band, which is why it's able to work the class spots and appeal to both college kids and the older groups. We give them the melody, but within a good musical context." And that is what is heard on this collection: melody, but with solid musical ideas about sound and texture surrounding it.

Alice Blue Gown
Seems Like Old Times
Makin' Whoopee
Melancholy Serenade
Gimme A Little Kiss
Les' Tango!
Ain't We Got Fun
Senior Hop
I Hadn't Anyone Till You
Love Is Just Around The Corner
Chicago
Girl Of My Dreams

Rafael Colon - Para ti

Retrato De Amor

Rafael Colon
Para ti
Luis Perez y su Orquesta
Remo Records Corp. - New York, N. Y.

Para Ti
Impossible Cheer
Traicionera
Trata De Encontrarme
Amorosa
Paraiso Sonado
Retrato De Amor
Aquella Tarde
Quisiera Encontrar
Sigueme Mirando
Torpeza
Perdoname

Mood Music Sampler

Gold Coast - Billy Butterfield

Mood Music Sampler
Trans-World TWLP-100
Printed and Manufactured by Crown Album Corp.

This is one budget LP that features an interesting cover design which sets the tone for a decent compilation of mood including this fine Butterfield track which is also included on I'm In The Mood.

How High The Moon
Blue Coast
Harbor Lights
Aphrodesia
Walk With The Wind
Doreen
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
Toselli's Serenade
Our Serenade
Gold Coast
Safe In The Harbor
Majorca

J. E. Mainer With Morris Herbert

Kansas City

Rural Rhythm Presents
The Legendary J. E. Mainer and The Mountaineers with Morris Herbert
Vol. 17
RR-JEM-247
1972

A singing blues number from an otherwise more straight forward "mountain music" LP.

Nobody's Business
Tax On A Hole In The Ground
Sold Down The River
Shout Lula
If You Should See Your Sister
Kansas City
Tabby Let Your Hair Hand Down
Spring Me A Leaf From The Sea
Can't Get You Off My Mind
Down At The Cider Mill
Roll On Buddy
I'll Hate Myself Tomorrow
High Ball Gal Of Mine
Old Man Below
Rebuilding Bridges
Hoop It Up
Uncle Eph

Lani McIntire's Hawaiian Quartet

South Sea Moon

Lani McIntire's Hawaiian Quartet
Royale 18103

Surprisingly good Royale Hawaiian 10 inch 33.

On The Beach At Waikiki
Hula Chant (Ulili Hula)
Alohe Oe
Luana
South Sea Moon
Kuu-Ipo_I-Ka-Hee-Pue-One
Ke Ahi Kuu Ipa (Love Fire)

Jane Froman

You, So It's You

Travatore Jive

Jane Froman and Orchestra
Royale 18108

Budget split 10 inch 33. Four Forman tracks and four studio orchestra tracks.

A Garden In The Rain
Forevermore
Linger In My Arms
You, So It's You
Trust Me
Harvest Moon
Long Ago

Footlight Favorites - From Behind The Iron Curtain

Polka

Footlight Favorites
From Behind The Iron Curtain
Leading Soloists and Theatre Orchestra of Moscow
Waltzes - Polkas - Production Numbers
Colosseum CRLP 167
1954

Brasilian Impressions - Dick Hyman

Eleanor Rigby

Brasilian Impressions
Dick Hyman
Piano and Woodwinds
Arrangements: Dick Hyman
Cover art by Charles E Murphy
Engineers: Robert Fine and George Piros
Originated and Produced by Loren Becker and Robert Byrne
Command Records RS 911 SD

Lush, sophisticated arrangements flavored, from time to time, with a hint of the pop sound you hear in many Command LPs from the period. Good stuff!

Session musicians: Joe Wilder, Clare Terry, Phil Bodner, Stanley Webb, Romeo Penque, Walt Levinsky, Jimmy Abato, Johnny Mince, Bob Haggart, Bobby Rosengarden, Phil Kraus and Johnny Pacheco

From the notes: "Bossa Nova," he (Hyman) points out, "is not an accurate term any more. It is now being used generically to cover things that go well beyond the earlier conception of bossa nova. Bossa nova was a development of the samba but now there are all kinds of other sambas being played. This new music also has more jazz in it than the bossa nova did and the exact bossa nova beat is now often implied rather than specifically played."

The overall sound he (Hyman) had in mind started with the woodwind chamber works of the great Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. But it also included the unusual woodwind approach to jazz of the Alec Wilder Octet, a group with which that American composer recorded on several occasions in the late 1940s

A Time For Love
Samba De Duas Notas
Mas Que Nada
A Message To Mchael
Song Of The Jet
Jazz 'N' Samba
Insensatez
Eleanor Rigby
Ri
A Day In The Life Of A Fool
O Barquinho

Merengue Na' Ma' - Luis Kalaff y sus Alegres Dominicanos

El Calzonu

Merengue Na' Ma'
Luis Kalaff y sus Alegres Dominicanos
Gema (distribuidos en Cuba por: Alvarez Guedes y CIA La Habana, Cuba)

LPG-1130

Modelo de la portada: Kary Velazquez

Jacket printed in the U.S.A

Mi negocio es las Mugeres

Dolores la Buena Moza
La Corroceria
Vale Juan
Eso Si
El Cambio Montao
Todavia no e na
Blanca probo Pa Sabe
Que Malas son las Mujeres
Prendio por lo Quemao
El Calzonu
Esto no es un Mango

Loco Motion - Joe Loco

Tenderly

Loco Motion
Joe Loco And His Orchestra
Columbia Records CL 760

Also see Make Mine Mambo.

From the back cover: For his debut on Columbia Records, Joe Loco presents a lively program of the tingling music that has made him one of the most popular instrumentalists and band-leaders of the day. Beginning in 1946, Joe and his music have advanced the mambo, the merengue and the cha-cha-cha to dominant positions in popular dances, and have made recordings of domestic and Latin tunes that have sold in the millions. The reasons why are not hard to discover; they are all included in this program, with it's infectious rhythms and happy tempos, and most of all in the glittering piano playing of Joe Loco himself.

Joe Loco was born, Joe Esteves, in New York City, in 1921. At the behest of his parents, he began studying violin and dancing at the age of nine. Joe didn't think much of the violin, but progressed swiftly in his dancing lessons, and, by the time he was thirteen, was making professional appearances. After a lengthy tour in vaudeville, he returned to school and began to study piano and other instruments, and before long he was an accomplished performer on a wide variety of instruments, and had mastered arranging and composing. As a trombonist, he joined the New York Amateur Symphony, and soon thereafter joined Ciro Rimac and his Orchestra as a pianist. Among the other orchestras with which he has appeared are those of Xavier Cugat, Will Bradley, Machito and Enric Madriguera. During the war, he served with the Air Force, and returned to form his own group and do his shining bit to advance the popularity of Latin American Music.

Loco Motion
Tremendo Cha-Cha-Cha
Mama Inez
Cha-Cha-Cha No. 5
My Heart, My Life, My Love
Paso Merengue
Manhattan
Baion Baby
All Of You
Negra Consetida
Tenderly
Happy Days Are Here Again

An Evening At The Embers - Alex Kallao Trio

My Funny Valentine

Jungle Rhumba

An Evening At The Embers
Alex Kallao Trio
RCA Victor LJM-1011
1954

Alex Kallo, piano - Milt Hinton, bass and Don Lamond, drums

The jacket, featuring a wicked Jim Flora cover art gracing an unusual (for period) RCA book-fold.

The record inserts from the inside of the jacket fold.

Enjoy a few samples from this super tight, sparkling jazz set.

From the inside cover: Small, unassuming and blind, he is led to the stage by his father and then, all at once, the mood and tempo change. This was my first impression of Alex Kallao when I heard him at The Embers nightclub in Manhattan.

He started out in Feburary of 1954 as an unknown. He created such a stir, that Time Magazine featured him in an article titled, Bach to Jazz. Like many top jazz pianists, he is at his best when accompanied by bass and drums. Only 21 years old, he has broken into the golden circle of top jazz pianists without ever having made a record. His is presented here on RCA Victor records for the very first time.

Blind since birth, he began to learn the classics when he was only three. His father, himself a professional pianist, would sit down beside him at the keyboard playing a Beethoven sonata with one hand while little Alex's fingers followed an octave away. When questioned about how he learned to improvise, he said, "because of my blindness, I always improvised and made up little pieces."

From the back cover: He (Kallao) is accompanied on these records by two men in the jazz profession. Don Lamond on drums made his mark with the great, roaring Woody Herman "Herds." On bass is one of the greatest talents in the world, virtually an unsung hero. His conception has always been modern and his ability to swing is a major assets. He is, of course, Milt Hinton. – Notes by Jack Lewis

Sometimes I'm Happy
The Man I Love
My Funny Valentine
Almost Like Being In Love
Speak Low
Jungle Rhumba
Cottontail
I Never Knew
Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere
Gone With The Wind
I May Be Wrong
Free Fantasy

Mainstream Jazz Piano - John Evans & Reinold Svensson

A Woman Is A Sometimes Thing - John Evans

Love Me Or Leave Me - Reinhold Svensson

Mainstream Jazz Piano
John Evans & Reinhold Svensson
Produced by David Hubert and Peter Plum
Omega Records OSL-49
1962

Today we feature another graphically bold Omega cover and several solid samples from the split record jazz set.

From the back cover: John Evans is Belgian. Born in Antwerp, he took lessons from his woman-down-the-block, but didn't stop there. After the usual amateur bands, he turned professional at 15 with a dance band in Antwerp. At 19 he went to Brussels and worked in nightclubs. In 1951 he joined the Francis Bay Band and played with them when they won the Golden Gondola Trophy in the Battle Of The Bands at Venice. Besides his exciting piano soloing (of which your get a vivid concert here) he also does arrangements for the band.

Reinhold Svensson, Swedish, is blind and learned to play by ear. He is one of the famous musicians in the Scandinavian countries, and his fame has already reached America and Down Deat via one earlier recording released here. He plays mostly in the Putte Wickman band which won first prize, in the Paris Battle of the Bands. Last year he was called to the Swedish Royal Court and played for the king.

It Ain't Necessarily So
Summertime
I Love You Porgy
A Woman Is A Sometimes Thing
There's A Boat That's Leaving For New York
My Man's Gone Away Now
I Got Plenty Of Nothin'

What Is That Thing Called Love
Long Ago And Far Away
Too Late Now
All Of Me
Love Walked In
Love Me Or Leave Me
I'll Remember
Tenderly