Jose Melis At The Opera

Meditation

Jose Melis At The Opera
Mercury Records SR 60709
1962

This release received a brief listing in Billboard's September 15, 1962 issue as having "Moderate Sales Potential".

As it turns out, out of all the Melis albums I've collected, I find this set to be one of his best and a fine blend of "serious music" and space age pop. Inventive, lively arrangements and sparkling keyboard work by Melis are present.

From the back cover: The Melis interest in serious music is no passing fancy. From the age of six, when he first entered the Havana Music Conservatory, right on through studies in Paris, Boston, and the famed Juilliard School in New York, and on through his years on the Jack Parr TV Show's musical Rock of Gibraltar, Jose has been a passionate purveyor of classical music. Piano artist Melis possesses the happy faculty of being able to combine his interest in music's more serious side with a unique ability, via the keyboard, to translate it into the popular idiom.

Dance Of The Hours (La Gioconda)
Meditation (Thais)
Evening Star (Tannhauser)
Il Mio Tesoro Intanto (Don Giovanni)
One Fine Day (Madame Butterfly)
Carmen Cha Cha (Carmen)
Sextette (Lucia)
Berceuse (Jocelyn)
La Donna Mobile (Riggoletto)
Figaro (Barber Of Seville)
O Lola Bianca (Cavalleria Rusticana)
Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme)

The Great Sounds Of Mort Lindsey And His Orchestra

Ebb Tide

The Great Sounds Of Mort Lindsey And His Orchestra
Dot DLP 25273
1960

Trumpets: Jimmy Maxwell, Bernie Privin, Bob Cusmano, Ernie Royal, Steve Lipkins
Trombones: Chauncey Welsch, Charlie Small, Tommy Mitchell, Dick Hixon
Reeds: Phil Bodner (Clarinet), Toots Mondello (Alto), Romeo Pence (Alto and Bari), Joe Palmer and Wolffe Taninbaum (Tenor)
Rhythm: Don Lamond (Drums), Al Caiola and Barry Galbraith (Guitar), Jack Zimmerman (Bass), Bob Curtis (Piano)

From Billboard - July 27, 1960: Lindsey brings a dreamy, Glenn Miller-styled sweet-swing flavor to pleasant instrumental treatments of fairly recent hits. Interesting wax approach to familiar material for jocks.

From the back cover: A remarkably versatile young man-about-music, Mort Lindsey is perhaps best known currently for his appearances as musical director for Pat Boone, on the latter's popular television program, and of course, for his arrangements in many of Pat's albums. An accomplished pianist and organist, Mort was voted "most talented student" during his undergraduate days at Columbia University. Now a comfortable citizen of Montclair, New Jersey, Mort has proceeded to live up to that early promise in his blossoming career.

Canadian Sunset
Volare
Melody Of Love
All The Way
Mack The Knife
Autumn Leaves
April Love
Unchained Melody
Oh! My Pa-Pa
Ebb Tide
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
Love Letters In The Sand

Night Dreams - Gordon Jenkins

So Beats My Heart For You

Night Dreams
Gordon Jenkins and The Ralph Brewster Singers
Cover photo by Ken Whitmore
Capitol Records
T781
1957

From Billboard - February 23, 1957: One of the strongest mood albums in recent months. The repertoire – standards of the likes of "Moon Over Miami," "Drifting And Dreaming" and "My Reverie," is similar to others but there the sameness ends. These are excitingly fluid, imaginative arrangements for big work, with wonderful effects of voices as instruments, contributed by the Ralph Brewster Singers. The instrumentals-vocal appoarch is gaining favor but this is the tops of the current lot. This package with jockey exposure is likely to show very show at counters.

Moon Over Miami
Allah's Holiday
Drifting And Dreaming
How Are Things In Glocca More
So Beats My Heart For You
To Each His Own
Cherie
My Silent Love
Does Your Heart Beat For Me?
My Reverie
The Song Is Ended