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Saturday, January 20, 2018

Yoga For Life - Richard Hittleman

Scalp Exercise
Yoga For Life
Second Exercise Album
Richard Hittleman
Yoga For Heath
Hollywood, California

Book fold jacket, 2 record set that apparently came with an illustrated insert (missing from my copy).

No interior jacket printing.

Getz Au Go Go - Stan Getz

One Note Samba
Getz Au Go Go
The New Stan Getz Quartet
Featuring Astrid Gilberto
Produced by Creed Taylor
Recorded at Cafe Au Go Go, Greenwich Village N.Y.C., August 19, 1974
Director of Engineering: Val Valentine
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Notes by Gene Lees
Verve V/V6-8600
1964

Personel:

Tenor sax and leader: Stan Getz
Vocalist: Astrud Gilberto
Vibes: Gary Burton
Bass: Gene Cherico
Drums: Joe Hunt

On Corcovado, It Might As Well Be Spring, Eu E Voce and The Telephone Song add Kenny Burrell, guitar and Helcio Milito replaces Hunt. On Summertime, One Note Samba, and Here's That Rainy Day, Chuck Israels plays bass.

Inside jacket photo: Stan Getz and Astrud Giberto are pictured during their historic Cafe Au Go Go engagement. Shown here sitting in on guitar with them is highly-talented Brazilian composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim

From the inside cover: The individual members of the New Stan Getz Quartet certainly deserve special credit for their work. The youngest member of the group is Gary Buron, 21. He is the product of the Boston Conservatory of Music and the Berklee School of Music and he also worked with George Shearing of a year. Stan took a liking to this talented kid the moment he auditioned. He encouraged him to develop his capabilities both as a vibraphonist and as a composer. His writing is represented in this album by The Singing Song and 6-Nix-Pix-Flix. Stan takes paternal pride in every achievement on this young virtuoso.

Drummer Joe Hunt, 26, began his professional career with the experimental George Russell group. Stan heard him at this time and inquired about him only to find out that a somewhat larger group had engaged his services for two-years – the United States Army. A day after his return to New York, however, Stan heard him again and hired him on the spot.

Bassist Gene Cherico, 29, began his career as a drummer. He learned bass as therapy for an injured right arm and became so accomplished at it that he never returned to drums. He has, however, an unusual understanding of that instrument which helps make this rhythm section so tight and fluid. Gene began and later worked with Maynard Ferguson, Red Norvo and George Shearing. He came on the band as a replacement but, as far as Stan's concerned, no one can replace Gene now.

Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
It Might As Well Be Spring
Eu E Voce
Summertime
6-Nix-Pix-Flix
Only Trust Your Heart
The Singing Song
The Telephone Song
One Note Samba
Here's That Rainy Day

Music To Moog By - Gershon Kingsley

Music To Moog By
Gershon Kingsley And The Moog Synthesizer
Arranged and Conducted by Gershon Kingsley
Executive Producer: Herman D. Gimbel
Cover Design: Sheila Below
AF Audio Fidelity Records, New York, N.Y.
AFSD 6226
1969

Available from online vendors, so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the cover art.

Hey, Hey
(Kingley-Davis) Kingsley Sound & Valentine Music
Scarborough Fair
(Paul Simon) Charing Cross Music
For Alisse Beethoven
(Gershon Kingsley) Kingsley Sound
Shelia
(Gershon Kingsley)
Pop Corn
(Gershon Kingsley) Kingsley Sound
Twinkle, Twinkle
(Kingsley-Davis) Kingsley Sound & Valentine Music
Nowhere Man
(Lennon-McCartney) Maclen Music
Sunset Sound
(Gershon Kingsley) Kingsley Sound
Trumanburg Whistle
(Gershon Kingsley) Kingsley Sound
Paperback Rider
(Lennon-McCartney) Maclen Music

Waltzes By Cugat! - Xavier Cugat

Fascination

Waltzes But By Cugat!
Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra
Columbia Special Archives Series
CSRP 8059 (Canada) & with Special Archives sticker
1957

From the back cover: In this collection, he (Cugat) offers some familiar Mexican waltzes from his basic repertoire, and then got along to provide a veritable around-the-world trip with waltzes from all over. Fascination is basically French, although it was recently enormously successful in the United States; Arrivederic Roma is Italian; La Seine returns us to France, and then back to Italy for Come Back To Sorrento. The familiar La Golondrina is Spanish, and Chiapanecas is Mexican. Another Spanish-type number is Lady Of Spain, while the Missouri Waltz is indubitably American. Cuatro Milpas comes from Mexico, Mademoiselle de Paris from France, Mexicali Rose is a Mexican-American contribution, and Cugat concluded with the charming Alma Ilanera, from Venezuela.

From Billboard - June 23, 1958 (CL 1143 review): This set could help Cugat capture the title of "Waltz King" in addition to his crown as king of Latin-American music. Of course, all of the waltzes are Latin-styled in spite of the three-quarter time. The ork plays them in delightful fashion, and dancers will enjoy the set. "Fascination," "Come Back To Sorrento" "Lady Of Spain" are some of the tunes played in waltz time, and some have English-Spanish vocals.

Fascination
Arrivederci, Roma
La Senie
Come Back To Sorrento
La Golondrina
Chiapanecas
Lady Of Spain
Missouri Waltz
Cuatro Milpas
Mademoiselle de Paris
Mexicali Rose
Alma Ilanera

Friday, January 19, 2018

Basie's In The Bag - Count Basie

Memphis Tennessee
Basie's In The Bag
Brunswick Record Corporation
Produced by Teddy Reig
Directed by Chico O'Farriel
BL 754127

Personnel:

Count Basie: piano and organ
Harry Edison, Al Aarons, Sonny Cohn, Gene Goe: trumpet
Grover Mitchell, Harian Floyd, Richard Boone, Bill Hughes: trombone
Marshall Royal, Bobby Plater, Lockjaw Davis, Eric Dixon, Charlie Fowlkes: reeds
Freddie Green: guitar
Norman Keenan: bass
Louis Bellson: drums

Goin' Out Of My Head; Hang On Sloppy; Green Onions and Knock On Wood recorded Los Angeles, 15 August, 1967

Bright Lights; Big City; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin' and Ain't Too Proud To Beg, recorded Los Angeles, 15 August 1967, Irv Cottler, drums replacing Louis Bellson.

Let The Good Time Roll; Reach Out I'll Be There; In The Heat Of The Night and Memphis Tennessee recorded in Los Angeles, 17 August, 1967, Lois Bellson, drums replacing Irv Cottler.

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Hang On Sloopy
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin'
Ain't To Proud
Goin' Out Of My Head
In The Heat Of The Night
Green Onions
Knock On Wood
Let The Good Times Roll
Bright Lights, Big City
Reach Out I'll Be There
Memphis Tennessee

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Award Winning Album - Joni James

Purple Shades
Award Winning Album Of Million Sellers
Joni James
MGM E3934

From the back cover: Cover Photographer Jon Abbot has been a professional photographer for 23 years. His wide range of ability and experience has made him much in demand as an advertising photographer. He studied photography and music in his native Germany, has been a music scholar for 20 years and is an accomplished pianist.

From Billboard - June 2, 1958: MGM Records, following its successful special price push on sound track albums has set as its latest campaign a "June for Joni" promotion.

For the month of June, a customer can buy any one of a dozen Joni James albums for $1.98 with the purchase of one at the regular $3.98 price tag. The deal also includes EP's with a two-pocket job going for $1.49 with the purchase of one for the normal $2.49 price. For a one pocket EP, the price is 99 cents with one bought for the regular price of $1.29.


Also from Billboard - April 10, 1954 (10 inch MGM E 234 "Award Winning Album"): The tunes that brought the thrush to the attention of every teen-ager in the country, and to many others besides, are included on this collection of Joni James hits. "Why Don't You Believe Me?" "Have You Heard?" "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Is It Any Wonder" and "My Love, My Love" are all here. Little doubt that this set will move rapidly across the counters to the canary's large following.

Have You Heard
Almost Always
Purple Shades
Your Cheatin' Heart
Why Don't You Believe Me
Is It Any Wonder
Wishing Ring
My Love, My Love
How Important Can It Be?
You Are My Love
My Believing Heart
When We Come Of Age

Bill Justis Plays Hot Hits Of Our Time

Misirlou
Bill Justis Plays Hot Hits Of Our Time
Mercury Wing
A Product Of Mercury Record Productions
SRW 16378

Cast Your Fate To The Wind
Fly Me To The Moon
Wild Weekend
Boss
Misirlou
Only You
Java
Zero Zero
Walk Right In
Mr. Cool

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Music, Mastro, Please - Sammy Kaye

Music, Maestro, Please
Swing And Sway With Sammy Kaye
Photo by Bottwin-Sommer Studio
Columbia CL 668
1955

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the graphically dynamic cover art and note excerpts.

From the back cover: Sammy Kaye was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and had a childhood comparable to that of any other American boy. For a time, athletics became his primary interest, and he was a member of the state relay championship team and became state low hurdle champion. Winning a scholarship at Ohio University, he continued his athletic career while studying civil engineering, and turned to music as a means of implementing his income. He organized an orchestra for college proms and hops that became so popular he opened his own dance hall. This establishment flourished under his direction, and he decided to stay with the music business.

Embarking on a tour, the orchestra met with instant acceptance, and the now-famous "Swing and Sway" style was evolved. Then, in 1938, the orchestra opened at Hotel Commodore in New York and consolidated the success it had on tour. From that time on, Sammy Kaye and his orchestra have played a ceaseless round of dance halls, theaters and hotels with undiminished success, enjoying the favor of dancers and listeners of all ages with their ability to play sweet ballads or brisk novelties.


Music, Maestro, Please!
Honey
Blue Prelude
Just A Gigolo
Dream For Sale
Y (That's Why)
You've Got Me Crying Again
As Time Goes By
No Greater Love
You Oughta Be In Pictures
Till I Kiss You At The Altar
Sittin' And Waitin'

Door Of Dreams - Joe Reisman

Door Of Dreams
Joe Reisman And His Orchestra
RCA Victor LPM-1519
1957

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the cover.

From the back cover: Using a good blend of all the orchestral colors in these arrangements for a thirty-five piece band, Joe collected some of the finest musicians and soloists in New York, among whom can be heard Urbie Green, trombone; Eddie Mason, harmonica; Tony Mattola, guitar; Jimmy Maxwell, trumpet; and Stanley Webb, oboe.

Door Of Dreams
El Dorado
Covered Wagon
Mi Corazon
Sunday Afternoon
Mi Vida
Front Row Center
Cheryl's Dream
When Sunny Gets Blue
Day Dream
For My Love
Joey's Song

Monday, January 15, 2018

Lily Pons Gala - Lily Pons, Soprano

Bell Song
Lily Pons Gala
Lily Pons, Soprano
Columbia Masterworks Ml 5073
1957

From the back cover: She was born in Cannes, the city of flowers, on the French Riviera. Her childhood was a period of happy wanderings in elementary piano music, which she began to pick out for herself from the age of five. At thirteen she enrolled in the Paris Conservatory and within two years had won a first prize. A piano career was confidently predicted for her.

During the first World War Lily Pons made her first public appearances, in Cannes. It is typical of her life that these were before the wounded veterans in the hospital at which her mother served as a volunteer nurse. These unfortunate, the first of many toward whose welfare Lily Pons has devoted large amounts of her time and energy, changed her career. They applauded the little piano pieces she played them – but they begged her for songs!

Little by little the songs became predominant and Miss Pons decided to train her voice. Within six weeks she had encompassed the teaching available in the voice at Cannes. She decided to try her luck as a singer in Paris, where she got an ingenue role in a new show almost at once. Then she sang an audition for the famous teacher Alberti di Gorositiaga, who immediately pronounced her voice phenomenal and made her a solemn promise – she would sing at the Met within five years.

After conquering a half dozen coloratura roles, she mad her debut in provincial opera houses in France. In the spring of 1930, after an exchange of letters between her teacher and the General Manager of the Metropolitan, she set sail for America. The crossing was stormy and, as she relates in her preface to the complete recording of Lucia, she lost four of her 109 pounds "in transit".

Nevertheless, after two days rest in her hotel room, she was ready for her audition, almost five years to the day from her first meeting with Gorositiaga. On the vast, empty stage of the Metropolitan that morning she experienced her first serious "butterflies" in one's tummy," a pre-performance condition she since has come to regard as standard equipment for Metropolitan appearances.

The audition she sang was a "killer," designed to demonstrate as forcibly as possible that she was not, as the Metropolitan's General Manager had feared on first sight, simply too small to be an opera singer. With that thought in mind that she had, after all, come 3000 miles for that moment, she decided to "shoot the coloratura works." I sang the Bell song from Lakme." she writes, "the Caro Nome, from Rigoletto, "Una voce poco fa' from The Barber, and – just for good measure... I ended up with the long Mad Scene."

Enough to exhaust the voice of many a vocalist for a week, the repertory had to be repeated that afternoon for the benefit of the president of the Metropolitan Opera Board. However, midway through, she was suddenly stopped and told: "We've heard enough." "Oh, mon Died," she thought; "I didn't concentrate. It's all over..."

But it wasn't. It was only the beginning. They had simply heard enough to know that she belonged among the stars. Her contract was signed that day.


The full story of her career since her debut could, obviously, be written entirely in box office statistics and the quotes of marveling critics. More importantly, it can also be written in terms of Lily Pons' service to others.

In June of 1938 Miss Pons received the first annual award of the National Bureau for Blind Artists for her work on behalf of the blind.

At the outbreak of World War II, she turned her back completely on footlight glamour and toured the globe singing to American G.I.s. Today millions of long-discharged soldiers and sailors still remember their petite friend from her plucky performances in the torrid sun of the Persian Gulf or the bitter cold of the Belgian front. She was the first woman performer to visit many a remote base, among them those in western China, which she could reach only by being flown over the perilous Assam "Hump" chained to a bucket seat in a B-29.

The countless decorations bestowed on her by dozens of countries, including the United States, of which she became a citizen in 1940, are a source of pride to Lily Pons. But they can be only a token of the esteem of a world to which she has brought so much pleasure and joy.

Delibes: Lakam – "Bell Song" - Orchestration conducted by Pietro Cimara

Verdi: Rigoletto – "Tutte Le Feste Al Tempio" Andre Kostelanetz conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Rossini: The Barber Of Seville "Una Voce Poco Fa" Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra

Thomas: Mignon – "Je Suis Titania" Andre Kostelanetz conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Meyerbeer: Dinorah – "Ombre Legere" (Shadow Song) Pietro Camara conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Delibes - De Musset: Les Filles De Cadiz Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra

Faure: Apres Un Reve, Op. 7, No. 1 Orchestra conducted by Maurice Abravanel

Ponce: Esterllita (Little Star) Andre Kostelanetz conducting and his Orchestra

Rachmaninoff: Oh, Cease Thy Singing, Maiden Fair Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra

Adenis-Bachelet: Chere Nuit Orchestra conducted by Maurice Abravanel

Strauss: Blue Danube Waltz, Op. 314 Andre Kostelanetz conducting his Orchestra

North And South Of The Border - Percy Faith

Baia
North And South Of The Border
Percy Faith And His Orchestra
Vocalion A Product Of Decca Records
VL 3600
1958

From Billboard - June 23, 1958: Percy Faith's artistry of arrangement and presentation is extremely well represented here and should certainly make this one of the more popular of the low-priced entries. The resurrected Vocalion label has a winner in this album, in which the Faith touch is applied to half a dozen of the best known Latin favorites on one side, and six domestic standards on the other. An attractive cover also should help this move, in quantity.

Tico-Tico
Baia
La Cumparsita
Negra Consentida (My Pet Brunette)
Amor
Capullito De Aleli
Long Ago
I Love You
Star Dust
Embraceable You
Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
If There Is Someone Lovelier That You

Let's Cha Cha Cha - Tito Morano

Ala Concord (mono)
Let's Cha Cha Cha
With Tito Morano And His Orchestra
Somerset
ALBUM SF-8000 (two variations on the stereo cover release)

From the back cover: Tito Morano and his orchestra are known in Puerto Rico as "the terrors of the Antilles." Here is a full thirteen piece surging musical aggregation with a sparkly and drive that won't quit. For dancing or listening, we are sure you will understand Tito's popularity.

His versatility as a song writer is evinced in the very powerful Concerto for Cha Cha and several of his other compositions in this album. Along with the well known standards contained, Tito's originals make this one of the finest latin dance albums ever produced.

Recorded in Puerto Rico under the direction of D. L. Miller


Having A Ball
Sweet And Gentle
La-La Cha Cha
Cha Cha With Bridget
See Of Se Cha Cha
Mambo #5
Ala Concord
Concerto For Cha Cha
Acapulco Cha Cha
Mambo Jambo
Cha Cha Felicidad

Sounds Of The Annual International Sports Car Grand Prix Of Watkins Glen NY

Sample from side 1
Sounds Of The Annual International Sports Car
Grand Prix Of Watkins Glen NY
The Schuyler - Carrera - Glen Trophy - Grand Prix
Folkways FX 6140
1956 (disc label date) 1959 (jacket date)

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Music Of Jerome Ken And Irving Berlin - Stanley Black

Heat Wave
Music Of Jerome Kern And Irving Berlin
Stanley Black And His Orchestra
Richmond High Fidelity
A Product Of London Records
B 20011

A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody
Say It With Music
Simple Melody
No Strings
Heat Wave
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
The Touch Of Your Hand
I've Told Every Little Star
The Way You Look Tonight
The Night Was Made For Love

Ken Griffin At The Organ

The Continental
Ken Griffin At The Organ
Rondo-lette
Rondo Record Corporation
A30

From the back cover: The finest and paradoxically, the most popular of all organists today is Ken Griffin. Griffin's popularity extends back some 30 years, although it was not until after World War Two, that the performer really came into his own. In the silent film days, Griffin, who originally was a violinist, decided he liked the organ better as an instrument and began to study without the benefit of a teacher. For four years prior to sound films, Griffin played the organ in film theaters in the Rocky Mountain States.

He then began to branch out into night clubs and theaters, initially in a supporting spot and then gradually as a soloist. During the war he played in military posts where his simple direct style without fancy ornamentation or excess fringes won instantaneous approval. At this time his initial records began to be popular favorites in roller skating and ice rinks.

Immediately after the war years, Griffin rocketed into national headlines when two songs, the Cuckoo Waltz and You Can't Be True Dear became national favorites overnight and catapulted the young, but already seasoned artist into the front rank of the nation's popular organists, a position which has increased in eminence and popularity as the years went by. More recently, Griffin has headed his own color TV series, known as 67 Melody Lane. Griffin's feet have been deeply bedded in show business for over three decades, and his phenomenal success is the result of understanding of what the public wants and the ability to give the American people just that.


Doll Dance
Deep Purple
Tango De Fire (back cover credit only, no track on the disk)
My Heart Stood Still
Canadian Capers
Lullaby Of Broadway
I'll See You Again (track on disc and disc label only)
All The Things You Are
She Didn't Say Yes
Blue Tango
Mood Indigo (back cover credit only, no track on the disk)
The Continental
Valencia

Dorothy Donegan At The Embers

Dorothy Donegan
At The Embers
Forum SF 9003
1957

Available from online vendors, so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the original cover and excerpt from the notes.

From the back cover: The Embers ("that night club-restaurant located on New York's East 54th Street)) reserves its space on the podium to no one but the best. And Dorothy Donegan is one of the best. So good is she and so much in demand, that The Embers drew up an unprecedented contract calling for her services for several weeks a year for the next ten years. She could probably stay on indefinitely but someone has to "mind the store" at her own jazz club in Los Angeles and Miss Donegan prefers to do it herself when she can tear away from The Embers

And even when she's not drawing the crowds into the popular East 54th Street hangout, she has a hard time staying put in her own L.A. Club. She's in demand all over the country. Jazz clubs want her. Smart supper clubs want her. Theaters and hotels want her. But what's more important, the public wants her and has wanted her since she began her professional career shortly before World War II.

In the ensuing years her style and her force have become the talk of the music circuit. Her ability to give an original twist to a classical composition, the inventiveness she applies to a boogie-woogie beat and the imagination and inventiveness she applies to a strictly jazz takeoff make up the qualities of a standout piano performer.

And it's all here in this package. All of the Donegan sound, that is. The sight, of course, cannot be duplicated. But one of the reasons that Dorothy Donegan constantly packs the tables at The Embers is that she's a joy to watch as well as hear. A writer for Time Magazine once put it this way: "Dorothy shuts her eyes. Her feet begin to pound the floor. Her face contorts as if she were in agony. What comes out is pure Donegan. It has the customers shagging in their seats".


That Old Black Magic
Over The Rainbow
Sweet Funny Valentine
This Can't Be Love
DDT
Just In Time
September Song
Donegan Walk
Humoresque
Autumn Leaves
Lullaby Of Birdland