Dinner Music - Kermit Leslie Orchestra

Enchanted Isle

Dinner Music
The Kermit Leslie Orchestra
Epic LN 1111
1958

Epic 10 inch LP.

Walking On Ice
Champagne
Gilbert The Goose
Sequoia
Enchanted Isle
Rainy Afternoon

I'm Pat Morrissey - I Sing

Exactly Like You

I'm Pat Morrissey
I Sing
Mercury Records MG 20197
1956

From the back cover: Pat waited a long time before she first came to public attention: She was all of five years old when she first debuted on a children's radio hour in Philadelphia. Soon after, Sophie Tucker hired her to speak one line in a Broadway show. That line was "Bless my Mommy and Daddy." But her real break as an adult professional performer came not long ago when she vacationed with friends in Florida. Dining at famed Mother Kelly's restaurant, her friends dared her to sing. Pat called the bluff–but she was nervous. As through it offered some protection, Pat snuggled into the curve of the baby grand. The reaction to her singing – and her appealing gesture – was tremendous. So – right – she was hired by Mother Kelly's and stayed ten weeks. Then La Vie En Rose in New York, the Crescendo in Hollywood, El Rancho in Las Vegas, the Black Orchid in Chicago, the Stark Room in London and so many others.

From Billboard - December 22, 1956: Miss Morrissey is a reasonably talented performer of the intimate night club variety. Unfortunately, the slightly little-girlish quality of the voice doesn't get over as well on the disk as it likely does when the visual impression is there too. Gal is an eye-catching platinum blonde and that no doubt helps keep the ringsiders deeply interested. Singing-wise she tried to effect certain trademarks of the Billie Holiday style without too much success. As soft cocktail hour, hand-holding fare, however, the album may get a fair response.

Shadow Woman
Makin' Whoopee
Don't Explain
He's Funny That Way
Get Happy
You Don't Know What Love Is
Why Don't You Do Right
I Cover The Waterfront
Crazy He Calls Me
Exactly Like You
No Tears For Me
Give Me The Simple Life

Gone With The Wind - Julie London

Remember

Gone With The Wind
Julie London
Sunset - A Product of Liberty Records
SUB-5207
1968

From the back cover: Julie is one of those much too rare performers who, one can sense, sings not for the fast buck but for aesthetic reward. Her musical taste is impeccable. Confronted with, say, a shaggy-dog vocal quartet from England, singing a song based on three wrong chords, Julie is apt to turn purple all over.

Gone With The Wind
That's For Me
Say It Isn't So
Moments Like This
What'll I Do
All Alone
How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky)
Remember
A Nightingale Can Sing The Blues
The Nearness Of You

Brazen Brass Features Saxes - Henry Jerome

Hawaiian War Chant

Brazen Brass Features Saxes
Henry Jerome and His Orchestra
Arrangements by Dick Jacobs
Decca DL 74127
1961

Personnel:

Trumpet
Bernard Glow
James Maxwell
Carl Jones

Trombone
Robert Alexander
Chauncey Welsch
Joseph Maranzino
Thomas Mitchell

Sax
Romeo Penque
Sol Schlinger
Henry "Hank" Freeman
Sidney Cooper
Abraham "Boonie" Richman
Philip Bodner
Jerome Richardson
Stanely Webb
George Berg
Joseph Grimaldi
Al Klink
Jerry Grosser

Drums
Edwin "Bunny" Shawker

Bass
Sandford Block
Milton Hinton

Piano
Andrew Ackers

Guitar
Arthur Ryerson

From the back cover: Brazen Brass Features Saxes, the fifth album in the extraordinary popular series, offers today's sound-conscious public still another first. In this exciting collection Henry Jerome's Brazen Brass orchestra adds two complete saxophone sections to the characteristically captivating sound – complemented and punctuated throughout the album by the now-famous Brazen Brass trumpets and trombones.

From Billboard - July 31, 1961: The sax section for the first time in the "brazen brass" series, gets the spotlight treatment here, and the big crew undertakes fancy stereo interpretations of a number of swing era war horses, like "Don't Be That Way," (Goodman); "Sunrise Serenade," (Miller), etc. The date was set up with five-man sax sections on both right and left. These chatter back and forth in an interesting question and answer technique, with brass and rhythm in the center. Stereo fans will dig this new approach, and the set can be expected to do solid business.

Star Dust
St. Louis Blues
Melody Of Love
Don't Be That Way
Medley: In Apple Blossom Time, Stars Fell On Alabama
Tiger Rag
Sunrise Serenade
Green Eyes
Medley: Body and Soul, Sophisticated Lady
Undecided
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Hawaiian War Chant

The Powerful Stan Kenton Band & The Pretty June Christy Voice

I See Your Face Before Me

The Powerful Stan Kenton Band
The Pretty June Christy Voice with Stan Kenton
Pickwick by arrangement with Capitol Records
SPC-3075
1967

From the back cover:

Stan Kenton

Now in its third decade, the Kenton era has contributed not only to the progress of the modern sound but it has also given the music field one of its most controversial and outspoken personalities. Stan has been called everything from a "musical fraud" to "the greatest thing that ever happened to music." Critic and columnist Ralph Gleason summed it up when he wrote, "It's hard to remain neutral about him. You either love him madly or hate him just as madly."

Equally as controversial is Stan's music. When he introduced his Neophonic Orchestra in January, 1965 at the Los Angeles Music Center, there were a variety of reactions – some called it the best thing that had happened to contemporary music in years while others said it was just a gimmick, a new name for jazz. Kenton answered: "Neophonic is not literally new, like gimmicky electronic music, nor is it a so-called Third Stream fusion of classical and jazz idioms. We are going the jazz route, we are beyond jazz."

Stan was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1912. The Kenton moved to Los Angeles when he was three and at 10 his mother bought him his first piano. Music became Stan's one great interest. By the time he entered high school he was an accomplished pianist. He sometimes wondered whether he was invited to parties because of his personality or his ability to play. His first professional engagement came with a group of other Bell High School musicians, the Belltones. An owner of a miniature golf course hired them in an effort to attract customers. When the promotion backfired (a golf course across the street hired a louder band and attracted all the customers) the owner refused to pay the boys. The Belltones retaliated by walking off with as many golf clubs as they could hide under their pants.

By the time graduation came, the 6'4" youngster knew he wanted to make music his career. He was offered a job with a band in San Diego but lasted only a few weeks until homesickness overcame him and he returned to Los Angeles. It took several days before Stan realized that if he was going to continue in his chosen profession he would have to get used to traveling and being away from home. When the opportunity came for him to play in Las Vegas he was ready.

June Christy

June Christy is a name immediately associated with jazz and worthwhile popular music all over the world. Year after year polls of jazz fans, musicians, and critics place her among the top three or four singers – to her own amazement, June insists.

When June Christy signed her first exclusive contract with Capitol Records on Dec. 13, 1945, one of the most successful recording associations in the industry began. The consistent increase and loyalty of June's fans has made hits of every one of her Capitol albums, a record which few female vocalists in the business can match.

June's combination of a husky, vaporous sound with a moody, sensitive interpretation of lyrics, has won her the descriptive accolade known to jazz buffs the world over: "The Misty Miss Christy."

June's talents are neutral ones. There is a complete absence of any musical or theatrical background in her family. Before she was five, her parents has separated and June's mother was more concerned with providing the bare necessities of life for June and her older brother than with cultivation of the arts.

June and her husband Bob Cooper live in a relaxed, modern home perched on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. June will tell anybody who'll listen that it's her favorite place in the world and taking care of her family is her favorite pastime. The Coopers have one daughter, Shay, born September 1, 1954.

Eager Beaver
Love Letters
I See You Face Before Me
Limelight
Stella By Starlight
You're Mine, You
Angel Eyes
Every Time We Say Goodbye
Just The Way I Am
We Kiss In the Shadow

Latin Pianos - Ferrante & Teicher

El Cumbanchero

Latin Pianos
Ferrante & Teicher
With Orchestra Conducted By Don Costa
United Artists UAL 3135
1960

From Billboard - February 27, 1961: The duo piano team is hot right now in both singles and LP fields, and their latest album should enjoy similar success. The duo's tasteful piano work is spotlighted on a group of lushly arranged Latin tunes – "Amor," "La Cucachacha," "Tico Zico," etc.

El Cumbanchero (Hernandez)
Quien Sera (Ruiz)
Ariba (Ferrante & Teicher)
Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Farres)
Amor (Ruis - Lopez)
Oye Negra (Morales)
Brazil (Barroso)
Adios (Madriquera)
La Cucachacha (Ferrante & Teicher)
Anna (Vatro)
La Cucaracha (arranged by Ferrante & Teicher)
Tico Tico (Abreu)

Teen Beat '65 - Sandy Nelson

Beat From Another World

Teen Beat '65
Sandy Nelson
Producer: Nick De Caro
Arrangers: Rene Hall, Sandy Nelson and Nick De Caro
Cover Design and Photography: Studio Five
Imperial LP-9278
1965

From the back cover: High spot of the album is Sandy's production number called "Beat From Another World." Sandy spent over three weeks recording this original composition, and the results are wild, weird – and fun.

Sandy works out most of his ideas and arrangements in his own sound laboratory, located in his garage, a place which looks absolutely nothing like a garage, because it's stocked to the rafters with the finest recording equipment available.

He also does a nightly FM disc jockey show (for KYYM in Los Angeles) right from home. His show is called "Oldies But Goodies By Remote Control From Magic Mountain Laboratory" and is otherwise known as music with the monster touch.

This album takes its title from a special new version of Sandy's giant hit of 1959. And, inside you'll find a wide variety of songs. Songs just right for dancing all the latest dances. Songs just right for listening. Something for everyone. – Shelly Heilman, Editor & Publisher Teen Scene Magazine

From Billboard - February 13, 1965: Unbeatable beat grooved strictly for the young dance set. The Nelson drums whip up a frenzy with aid of guitar, sax, brass and chorus. Good successor to current hefty selling LP. Sets including "The Jerk," "Raunchy '65," "Bongo Rock."

Teen Beat '65
Raunchy '65
20-75
Come On, Do The Jerk
Scratchy
Bongo Rock
Honk Tonk '65
Wipe-Out
The Jerk
Beat From Another World

Just For A Thrill - Earl Grant

Blue Velvet

Just For A Thrill
And Other Instrumental Favorites
Earl Grant
Cover Photo: Hal Buksbaum
Decca DL 4506
1964

From Billboard - May 2, 1964: Earl Grant takes the organ route for this wrap-up of instrumental favorites and he turns it into a highly enjoyable trip. The songs are all knockouts and Grant gives them an added fillip via his expert musicianship.

Satin Doll (Duke Ellington)
Without A Song (Vincent Youmans - William Rose - Edward Eliscu
I'll Never Smile Again (Ruth Lowe)
Star Dust (Hoagy Carmichael - Mitchell Parish)
You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Nacio Herb Brown-Gus Kahn)
Just For A Thrill (Don Raye - Lil Armstrong)
Blue Velvet (Bernie Wayne - Lee Morris)
The Sweetest Sounds (Richard Rodgers)
Willow Weep Over Me (Ann Ronell)
Someone To Watch Over Me (George Gershwin - Ira Gershwin)
Where You Are (Jimmy McHugh - Harold Adamson)
Days Of Wine And Roses (Henry Mancini - Johnny Mercer

Hammond A GoGo 3 - James Last

Samba

James Last
und seine Hammond-Bar-Combo
Hammond A GoGo 3
Printed in Germany by Gerhart Kaiser GmbH, Essen
Manufactured by Deutsche Grammophon, Hamburg
Polydor 249-304

Foxtrott
Volare (Modugno/Feltz)
You Do Something To Me (Porter)
Calcutta (Gaze)

Cha-Cha-Cha
Dance Ballerina Dance (Sigmann/Russel/Feltz)
Strawberry Cha-Cha-Cha (James Last)
If I Were A Rich Man (Bock)

Foxtrott
Ich hatte getanzt heut nacht (Loewe/Lerner)
When You're Smiling (Fischer/Goodwin/Shay)
Isabell (James Last)

Langsamer Walzer
The Impossible Dream (Mitch/Leigh/Darion/Gilbert)
Autumn (Trad./Arr. James Last)

Foxtrott
Salome (Stolz)
Sweet Sue (Young)
The Way You Look Tonight(Kern/Fields/Buschor)

Latin-Fox
Tequila (Rio/Salvet)
Papa Love Mambo (Hoffman/Manning/Reichner/Rotter)
Oh, Lonesome Me (Don Gibson/R.M. Siegel)

Medium Fox
It Had To Be You (Jones/Kahn/Dehmel)
Roses From Picardy (Wood/Weatherly/Nicolas)
Half As Much (Williams/Feltz)

Samba
The Wedding Samba (Ellstein/Small/Liebowitz/Siegel)
El Cumbanchero (Hernandez/Siegel/Marbot)
La Pachanga (Davidson/Bartels)

Slow-Fox
September Song (Weill/Anderson/Cyprys)
Serenata (Anderson)

Foxtrott
Mame (Herman)
's Wonderful (Gershwin)
Cherokee (Ray Noble)

Cuban Fire! - Stan Kenton

La Suerte de los Tontos

Cuban Fire!
Stan Kenton
Recorded May, 1956, in New York City
Stan Kenton plays piano and conducts on all selections
Capitol Records T731

Personel:

Saxophones: Lennie Niehaus, Bill Perkins, Bill Root and Lucky Thompson
Trumpets: Phil Gilbert, Lee Katzman, Ed Leddy, Al Mattaliano, Vinnie Tonno and Sam Noto
Trombones: Bob Fitzpatrick, Carl Fontana, Don Kelly and Kent Larson
French Horns: Irving Rosenthal and Julius Watkins
Tuba: Jim McAllister
Guitar: Ralph Blaze
Bass: Curtis Counce
Drums: Mel Lewis
Tympani: Saul Gubin
Bongo Drums: Willie Rodriquez
Maracas: Mario Alvarez
Claves: Roger Mozian
Congo Drums: Tommy Lopez
Timbales: George Laguna
(George Gaber replaces Gubin on La Suerte de los Tontos and La Guerra Baila. Vinnie Tanto plays fluegelhorn on Quien Sabe)

From the back cover: Johnny Richards is perhaps best identified to the jazz fan as the chief arranger for the Boyd Raeburn band during 1946, when that band's performance were mostly confined to recording sessions. He'll be remembered too as a contributor to the Kenton, Barnet and Gillespie bands. Born in 1911 of musical parents and almost immediately started on a musical education, he was playing several instruments in vaudeville by the time he was ten, went from there into professional dance bands until, in 1932, he spent a year in England writing motion-picture scores. From England he went to Hollywood, where he worked in the Paramount Studios as Victor Young's assistant for the rest of the thirties. For the next five years, he led his own dance band, employing such future Kenton arrangers as Pete Rugolo and Bob Graettinger. Since 1946 he's free-lanced in and around New York, working, as mentioned above, for such as Barnet and Gillespie and Kenton as well as spreading the impressionistic web though the Raeburn band. Future writing about Richards will certainly list this album with the Kenton Orchestra as representative of his best: relating personal concept to traditional folk rhythms.

From Billboard - September 1, 1956: Johnny Richards was composer-arranger of the six selections that make up this LP and deserves unstinting praise for this fascination wedding of Afro-Cuban sounds and poly-rhythms in progressive jazz. The Kenton aggregation has seldom sounded more dynamic or more purposefully virtuosic. Each composition brings out different talents of the work: "Congo Valiente" is a study in sonorities, with choir building on choir to a magnificent climax; "Recuerdos" is graceful, sinuous, a bit exotic; "La Suerte de los Tontos" sustains to the last the mood of dancing and celebration. The variety and vitality of this LP ought to make it one of this fall's best-sellers.

Fuefo Cubano
El Congo Valiente
Recuerdos
Quien Sabe
La Guera Balla
La Suerte de los Tontos