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Friday, October 5, 2018

The Night Was Made For Love - Tony Martin

The Night Was Made For Love
Tony Martin
With Henrie Rene's Orchestra
RCA Victor LPM-1218
1956

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

From the back cover: A California both by birth and inclination – Tony was born on a sunny Christmas morning and christened Alvin Morris, Jr. – he discovered music at such an early age that today he literally can't remember when he first came to know and love it. At any rate, by the time he was twelve he had mastered the sax and clarinet, and at sixteen, while still in high school, he was making more than $100 a week playing and singing with a band at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

After graduating from high school, Alvin, Jr. continued his dual role of student-singer. He attended St. Mary's College during the day and worked with local bands at night, making his coast-to-coast radio debut in 1932 on the "Lucky Strike Hour." It was a rough working schedule and conflict between his ultra-conservative daytime environs and the flamboyant entertainment world was inevitable. One day he was caught playing jazz on the college organ, and the next week his school days were over for good.

Leaving college and California behind him, Tony hit the road for a playing and singing date at the World's Fair in Chicago, where he met Frances Langford, then at the height of her fame as a singing star of radio and motion pictures. On her advice, the handsome young six-footer returned to the West Coast to try his luck in pictures. A few months later he signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and the studio bigwigs promptly changed his name from Al Morris to Tony Martin.

The young troubadour was making a fairly prominent name for himself in Hollywood musicals when World War II cut short his movie career, and in 1942 he entered the Army Air Force. After serving overseas for four years in the China-Burma-India theater, he was honorably discharged as a Technical Sergeant with the Bronze Star and a Presidential Citation.

Upon his return to show business, a startled public soon discovered that something new had been added, and the results were electrifying. Whereas before the war he had been just another personable performer with a fine voice, the "new" Tony Martin fairly radiated confidence and that indefinable presence labeled "star quality" by the trade. The impact of his solid, all-around showmanship was particularly magnetic in person, and Tony quickly became one of the top ten night club attractions in America

Today, a decade later, Tony Martin is still a top night club draw, in addition to being a big name on records, TV and in motion pictures. At the same time his personal life couldn't be happier, and understandably so, since his lovely wife and mother of his two children is M-G-M's breathtaking beautiful dancing star Cyd Charisse. Maybe that's why no other singer today sells a love song with quite as much anticipation and warm conviction as Tony Martin does in this album. – June Bundy


The Night Was Made For Love
Night And Day
Valencia
Marta (Rambling Rose Of Wildwood)
Tenement Symphony
There's No Tomorrow
Comme ci - Comme ca
La Vie en rose
Domino
Deep Night
Goodnight, Sweetheart

The Ahmad Jamal Trio

Love For Sale
The Ahmad Jamal Trio
Epic
LN 3212
1962

From the back cover: Jamal's subtle keyboard structures were first heard with George Hudson's Orchestra insofar as public performance is concerned. A few years later he broke away to form his own group, known as Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings, and with this trio he played throughout the midwest and in New York, attracting considerable attention with his deft articulations. The Three Strings made a number of single records for Epic Records, collection as a best-selling Extended Play disc, and then returned to Chicago. The present group, heard in the first Jamal Long Playing Record, consists of Israel Crosby on bass and Ray Crawford on guitar, in addition to the leader.

Perfidia
Love For Sale
Rico Pulpa
Autumn Leaves
Squeeze Me
Something To Remember You By
Black Beauty
The Donkey Serenade
Don't Blame Me
They Can't Take That Away From Me

O. C. Smith At Home

My Cherie Amour
O. C. Smith At Home
Produced by Jerry Fuller
Arranged by H. B. Barnum
*Arranged by Tom McIntosh
**Arranged by Benny Golson
Cover Photo: Don Peterson
Back Cover Photo: Yoram Kahanna
Engineer: Peter Romano
Columbia Records
CS 9908
1969

Daddy's Little Man
Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife
Color Him Father
Clean Up You Own Back Yard
If I Leave You Now
My Cherie Amour
The Learning Tree*
Didn't We
Sweet Changes
San Francisco Is A Lonely Town*
Can't Take My Eyes Off You**

The Voice Is Rich - Buddy Rich

Born To Be Blue
The Voice Is Rich
Buddy Rich Sings
Mercury Records
SR 60144
1959

From the back cover: Moody, metallic, masculine, magnetic, mesmerizing, motivating, in fact, The Most!

Surprisingly, Buddy Rich, oft referred to as America's No. 1 Drummer, comes off mellifluously at the microphone making with the vocal music. Like the first martini or fifth martoonie that introduced on to the anchovie-filled olive, or the initial time one read Hemmingway writing a sports story, after a bit, the realization comes that Mr. Buddy Rich is one, deep-feeling vocalist.

Right-off, Rich regales the ear with his very own distinctive sound and style. Like the first time you heard Sgt. Friday on radio or maybe it was later on TV, it was his voice that fascinated. Buddy Rich's voice is an intimate voice. No big crescendos necessary to get the message home. It's a warm voice, one that reaches the heart strings in a hurry. It's a musician's voice that knows where to meld the words and music so the blend is just right.

Jack of all trades and master of One almost fits Buddy Rich, up to this album. Erstwhile actor with both motion picture and TV credits; moppet vaudeville actor; teen-age drummer sideman with bands; early twentiesh leader of his own big band and/or small jazz combo – And now, Buddy Rich Vocalizing!


Down The Old Ox Road
I Was Born To Be Blue
I've Heard That Song Before
I Want A Little Girl
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
You've Changed
Me And My Shadow
Ah, The Apple Trees When The World Was Young
It's Been A Long Long Time
I Don't Want To Walk Without You
Back In Your Own Back Yard