The Velvet Swing Of Remo Biondi

Lament For Lana

The Velvet Swing Of Remo Biondo
The Lavalieres Quintet Playing With The Velvet Swing
A Sparkling New Collection Of Brightly Polished Jewels Of Jazz
Arrangements by Remo Biondi
Universal Recording Studios - Chicago
Recording Engineers: Bruce Swedien & Bernie Clapper
Mastering Engineers: Robert Weber & Robert Averill
Cover Art: Cora Westensee
Color Photography: R.K. Sunderbruch
Lithography: Gregg-Moore Lithographing, Inc.
RCA Victor Custom Record Pressing
Produced by Amphora Music Corp. - Davenport, Iowa
Decora - Amphora Records
1962

From the back cover: Remo Biondi, guitarist-mandolinist, composer-arranger, seasoned by an association with the great artists of the jazz age and top jazz groups of three decades on the American scene.

Remo developed his style very likely by a mixture of his velvety and misty personality plus his musical environment.

Most Italian barbers were musicians of sorts when he was a lad. He used to hang around the local barber shop, listening to the barbers having a "jam session" in between haircuts – when the owner of the shop remarked to his father, "the kid shows a talent on the violin." He got his first lessons from that gentleman. (He also played guitar, mandolin, banjo and sang very well indeed!) After playing in the school orchestra he studied seriously at a conservatory. About this time he heard his first records of Joe Venuti and Louis Armstrong and from then on it was jazz for him.

His first jobs were in the so-called "speakeasies" of the "dry era" (prohibition) also referred to as "blind pigs." Today they're called "key clubs." A better job came with Buddy Rogers and his orchestra playing at the Sherman Hotel. Later Remo went on to New York City. There he played with Joe Marsala's group at the Hickory House on 52nd Street, then known as "Swing Alley." The musicians Remo played with in Marsala's outfit at this time included drummer Buddy Rich, guitarist Eddie Condon and pianist Joe Bushkin. Up and down the street such outfits as Art Tatum's John Kirby's "Stuff" Smith's etc., were swinging – the boys used to listen to each other in those swing parlors.

In 1938 Remo Remo joined the new Gene Krupa orchestra – Gene had just left the highly successful Benny Goodman band, in which he played a very important part, to go out on his own. He was with Krupa until 1945 and later from 1950 to 1951, During these times he was associated with some excellent jazzmen: Roy Eldridge, Don Fagerquist, Buddy Di Franco, Charley Ventura, "Urbie" Green, etc., and vocalists Anita O'Day and Johnny Desmond.

Since 1951, when he came back to Chicago, Biondi has been doing record dates and other free lance work and teaching.

The recording dates include the orchestras of David Carroll, Tiny Hill, Woody Herman, Buddy Morrow, Wayne King, Ralph Marterie, Eddy Howard, Jan Garber, Marjorie Meinert, etc. Also a number of singing personalities including Pat Boone and Joni James. Having worked with many of the fine artists in the field he knows and speaks their language with authenticity. We'll have Remo say a few words about "jazz":

The word "JAZZ" and the music it represents having undergone many changes in the past – oh, let's say forty years; and the change continues.

In the so-called "Roaring Twenties" jazz was largely popular dance music. To "jazz up" a popular tune was to take liberties with its melodic and harmonic structure, as well as its original tempo, as opposed to "playing it legitimate" (reading the notes exactly as they were written).

In "classical" terms then, to "jazz it up" would mean "to improvise", play impromptu or "play it by ear". The best players of "jazzmen" have a keen ear for improvisation and a highly developed sense of rhythm. Much of the rest of them had what was called a "tin ear" and a rhythmic sense that was referred to as "a beat like a cop". (This is also true today.) Everyone knows that jazz is the Negro's contribution to musical culture, so it follows naturally that the best of the best "jazzmen" were Negroes. They still are.

In the larger theatre and radio orchestras of those days "jazzmen" were frequently used to "jazz up" parts of the musical program of these "legitimate" groups. This has been called "classical jazz". (Classical numbers given a similar treatment were known as "jazzing up the classics".)

In the thirties jazz became "swing music", typified by many "swing bands" of the era. By the mid-forties, jazz was tagged variously as "re-bop", "be-bop" and just "bop" music. In the fifties, it was "rhythm and blues". Today jazz has become "serious" music, with degrees being offered to students in various universities and musical colleges around the country, so we can say we've come from "classical jazz" to "jazz classical". At this point you're probably saying, "so, where's the punch line? What's this guy trying to prove?" Me? Nothing! This is just a quick run-down on what's gone before and what's happening in this particular field of communication. Whether it's classical, folk, pop, swing, jazz or whatever, it's all music (or communication in sound), and if it communicates honesty and heart to the listener, it's good. What these qualities are to one listener many be something else to another, however.

This album is not "jazz" as it is widely played today. We're merely "jazzed up" a few standards" (pop tunes that stay popular) and some "originals" (our own "jazz") with a little different color – we hope. So... if this small effort makes you feel like dancing or keeping time (and al that jazz), or just listening – we've got it made! – Remo Biondi

Velvet Jazz (soft jazz). Several selections were expressly written for the idiom of the Lavalieres. These are the eight originals by Biondi and Engel. There are four standard numbers. Remo Biondi leading the Lavalieres on mandolin and guitar, is supported by Charles (Chuck) Calzaretta on vibes, Ed Stapleton and Johnny Pate on bass, Max Mariash and Al Duncan on drums and Freddy Rundquist and Pierre Bertrand share the second guitars. Calzaretta played vibes on all selections with Biondi, while the other artists shared different numbers at the various recording sessions, all contributing incompatible and excellent ad lib work.

Guaglione
Birth Of The Blues
Espana Cani
Button Down (Engel)
Late Late Snack (Engel)
Tico Tico
Sta Notte (Biondi)
The Blue Toccata (Engel)
Lament For Lana (Biondi)
The Suburban (Engel)
Clip Time (Engel)
The Velvet Swing (Engel)