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Saturday, January 25, 2020

Love Can Make You Happy - Carmen Cavallaro

The Spinning Wheel
Love Can Make You Happy
Carmen Cavallaro
Produced and Arranged by Joe Sherman
Decca Records - A Division of MCA, Inc.
DL 75155

Love Me Tonight
Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)
The Spinning Wheel
Medley: Where Do They Go? / Be In (Hara Krishna)
Jean (from The 20th Century-Fox Film "The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie")
Quentin's Theme (from The Dan Curtis-ABC TV Series "Dark Shadows")
Love Can Make You Happy
Good Morning Sunshine (from The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical "Hair")
Love Theme from "Romeo And Juliet"
My Cherie Amour
Yesterday, When I Was Young

Ernie Freeman Hit Maker

The World We Knew (Over & Over)
Ernie Freeman
Hit Maker
Great New Instrumentals
Versions of The Smash Hits
Ernie Arranged and Conducted for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Petula Clark, Vic Dana, The Platters & Others
Stereo 68 The Sound Of Tomorrow
Dunhill ABC Records 50026
1967

This Is My Song
Everybody Loves Somebody
Softy As I Leave You
More (Theme from "Mondo Cane")
The World We Knew (Over & Over)
That's Life
A Beautiful Obsession
Red Rosed For A Blue Lady
Strangers In The Night
Hundred Pounds Of Clay
With This Ring
Send Me The Pillow (That You Dream On)

Dance Until Dawn - Howard Lanin

Mambo Inn
Dance Until Dawn
The Continuous Society Music Of Howard Lanin
And His Orchestra
Photo by Wendy Hilty
Dress on the cover by Ceil Chapman
Decca Records DL 8612
1957

From the back cover: Howard Lanin has ventured successfully into other areas of the entertainment world, (last year he sponsored the national tour of the Royal Danish Ballet; prior to that he produced a Gershwin Festival concert attraction that played two hundred cities in the United States; he has also developed an organization that builds shows for some of the largest industrial companies in the country), but leading an orchestra is his first love and he is still providing dance music for the kind of parties that marked the earlier era.

For several years Howard Lanin has been supplying the nation's newspapers with feature called "Society Hit Parade" – an annual listing of the social set's favorite dance tunes. – Elliott Grenard


From Billboard - October 28, 1957: Society band delivers another of those multi-tune programs, including show tunes, standards, brisk waltzes and a mambo. The tempos are uniformly fast. Recording were made at a dance, and the audience can be felt in atmospheric recording. Good dance package, especially for more mature gatherings.

Could Have Danced All Night - This Is It - Just In Time - Anything Goes - A Cockeyed Optimist - Honey Bun - Happy Talk - Bloody Mary
On The Street Where You Live - The Party's Over - You're My Friend, Ain'tcha? - Ja-Da
The Blue Danube
From This Moment On - My Blue Heaven - South Rampart Street Parade
Mambo Inn
Do I Love You (Because You're Beautiful) - All The Things You Are - A Fine Romance - It Had To Be You
Voices Of Spring
Hay Straw - The Lady Is A Tramp - Twelfth Street Rag

Clap Hands! Here Comes Rosie

Makin' Whoopee!
Claps Hands! Here Comes Rosie!
Arranged and Conducted by Bob Thompson
Produced by Dick Peirce
Recording Engineer: Al Schmitt
Recorded at RCA Victor's Music Center of the World, Hollywood, California on February 18, 23 and 27, 1960
RCA Victor LSP-2212

From the back cover: Oddly enough, all my recording efforts for RCA Victor up to this time have been in combination with another artist – Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Perez Prado. Now – at last – A&R boss Dick Peirce allowed me to do an album all by myself! I wonder if that means "I've arrived,"

Seriously, though, I'd like to say a word about this fellow Peirce in regard to the album. I must tell you that I've never worked with anyone more stimulating and creative. He drew from me some vocal performances I myself didn't realize I had inside – and, yet, he never did try to violate my own natural interpretation of these songs. I must say it's a particularly big thrill to work with an A&R man who believes in you so strongly and completely. Such a man's direction and enthusiasm can often turn an ordinary recording into a great one.

A special bouquet is due also to the refreshing musical arrangements of Bob Thompson, who certainly does wonders with a vocal chorus. One of the reasons I so enjoyed making this album was Bob's different approach, his unique utilization of voices, and the way he used the hand claps in a rhythmic way. I'm especially please, too, because for the first time I've done something I always wanted to do – cut a real happy and swinging album.

And, finally, I can't neglect a mention the outstanding instrumental solos given by members of the orchestra: Pete Candoli and Don Fagerquist on trumpets; Milt Bernhart on trombone; Ted Nash, Ronny Lang and Bud Shank on saxophones and flutes; and Jimmy Rowles on piano. – Rosmary Clooney


From Billboard - July 4, 1960: A swinging packets of performances by the thrush, with smart instrumentals behind her. "Something's Gotta Give," "Give Me The Simple Life," "Bye Bye Blackbird," are included. Rosie gets a lot out of these tunes, and a special nod goes to arranger Bob Thompson.

Clap Hands! Here Comes Rosie! / Everything's Coming Up Roses
Give Me The Simple Life
Bye Bye Blackbird
Aren't You Glad You're You
You Got
Too Marvelous For Words
Something's Gotta Give
Hooray For Love
Mean To me
Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'
It Could Happen To You
Makin' Whoopee!

Treasured Favorites - Fontanna

Clair De Lune
Treasured Favorites
Fontanna and Viennese Symphonic Orchestras
Palace PST-651

Clair De Lune (Debussy)
Theme From Pathetique Symphony (Tchaikovsky)
Solveig's Song (Grieg)
Lullaby (Brahms)
Reverie (Debussy)
Largo From Piano Concerto (Tchaikovsky)
Flower Waltz (Tchaikovsky)

Presenting Jose Greco

Gerco Guajiras Flamencas
Presenting Jose Greco and His Company
The Master Of Flamenco
Lola de Ronda, Rosario Caro, Pepita Sevilla, Jose Mancilla, Margarita Zurita, Gitanillo Heredia, Maribel de Cirez, Manuela de Jerez
Guitarist: Miquel Garcia
Orchestra Conducted by F. Moreno Torroba
RCA Victor - Red Seal LM-2300
1959

From the back cover: Even when he was a small child, Jose Greco's only dream was to become one day a great Spanish bailarin (dancer) – bailer, we should say, in the gypsy way. And so, while other boys in his neighborhood thought of sports and games, young Jose was immersed in dancing.

He had been born with exceptional physical qualities for Spanish dancing – a little over average in height... slender... movements naturally graceful and elegant... "planta de gran majeza" (proud bearing)... the head of a bullfighter of the golden era. But these natural gifts were only the beginning; there were also hours of practice day after day, wherever possible, with or without accompaniment, from castanuelas (castanets) to taconeo (heel work) and through all the other arduous aspects of Spanish dancing, to acquire that enviable command of technique that he enjoys in such high degree. At the same time there was the study of the theater in all its facets.

Alone, with a partner or in groups, Jose Greco began to dance in public, in clubs and in vaudeville, and from the very beginning he attracted attention. By leaps and bounds the young man advanced. The only thing missing was that on "lucky break."

And that break came in 1945, when the famous Spanish dancer Encarnacion Lopez – Argentinita was in New York with her company for a series of performances at the Metropolitan Opera House. Unexpectedly the great dancer found herself without a dancing partner. While a cable to Spain would have brought whomever she suggested, Arentinita decided to look around New York. In those days there were in the city a number of good Spanish dancers, and visiting the places where they were performing, or in private audition, she saw each one of them until she got to Jose Greco – "el Greco," as he was already affectionately called by the hispanics. Just a few bars were enough for Argentinita to say: "This is exactly what I'm looking for!"

Following the great personal success he won in those appearances at the Metropolitan Opera House, Greco went to Spain as a leading star in the company of Pilar Lopez, Argentinita's sister. The enthusiastic reception accorded him there was high praise indeed: Jose Greco was acclaimed a great Spanish dancer in Spain. There followed a triumphal tour through Europe with his own excellent company, hailed by the public and the critics alike, and then the continuation of that success on this side of the Atlantic. – Notes by Emilio De Torre


From Billboard - December 14, 1959: Jose Greco has a large, devoted following, but he is so visual that no recording can give more than an idea of his dance artistry. Wisely, therefore, he has the capable support of guitarist Miguel Garcia and other members of his company, including some excellent vocalists. Much of the music is from the best Spanish Zarzuela repertory under the baton of the noted composer, F. Moreno Torroba. Result basically is an album of colorful and exciting Iberian melodies with the dancer's efforts providing highlights.

Torroba La Mantilla Del Embrujo
Machado Gitano De La Luna Verde
Ganados Intermezzo from Goyescas
Machado Los Amantes De Sierra Morena
Machado Solea
Gerco Ritmo
Machado Amazonas Andaluzas (Zapateado)
Gerco Guajiras Flamencas
Torroba Verdiales Del Valle Verde
Merda Isa Palmera
Fantasia Del Levante:
Machdo Levantina (Prelude)
Arbo Danza Valenciana
Machado Las Rebaleras
Torroba Anda Manico (Jota)
Machado Alegrias De Aragon
Machado Festa En El Perello

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Tall Man With A Horn - Jimmy Sedlar

Lollipops And Roses
Tall Man With A Horn
Jimmy Sedlar and His Orchestra
Arranged and Conducted by Glenn Osser
Produced by Hy Grill
Cover Photo: Gai Fong
Kapp Records KAPP KL-1441
1965

From the back cover: Jimmy Sedlar is one of the exciting post-War phenomena in the world of brass, whose trumpeting remains heavily influenced by the great the pre-War big band feeling. In fact, the major factors in his own development were, he recently acknowledged, "Harry James at the beginning and later a little of Billy Butterfield too."

Jimmy, a football and hockey player in high school, somehow also managed to front his own 13-piece band and still get his homework done. The band "played local radio and every date we could get," Jimmy says, in and around Calumet, Michigan, a small community on the upper peninsula.

"It was a choice of mining college or music after high school," Jimmy explains, "And I chose music when Johnny Long offered me a job in his band." Two-year hitches with Long followed; just before and just after the Korean War. In the mid-1950s Jimmy gave up the lire of the itinerant musician and moved on to New York where he launched into free-lance trumpet work on record dates, and became well-known in the TV commercial jingle field, both as a musician and model. (He's a good-looking 6 feet four, at 195 pounds).

During the New York chapter of his career, Jimmy has played horn on the "Tonight" TV show, the Barbra Streisand Spectacular and numerous early Jackie Gleason shows. And now Jimmy Sedlar comes into his own... with his very first spotlight album. He's already a frontline man in the major television and recording studios. With his lush, handsomely-arranged program, Jimmy's horn is going to achieve a new solo prominence, at a time when the trumpet has reached the peak of popularity. – Ren Grevatt


By My Love
If You Love Me, Really Love Me
Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes
I've Heard That Song Before
Memories Are Made Of This
That Old Gang Of Mine
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
Lollipops And Roses
Ramblin' Rose
Homesick For New England
The Day The Rains Came
Ballerina

Portraits In Hi-Fi - George Siravo

Deep Shadows
Portraits In Hi-Fi
George Siravo and His Orchestra
Decca Records DL-8464
1958

From the back cover: The name of artist George Siravo is fairly new to the public... but his talents as as an arranger are widely known and tremendously respected in the music business. He is partly responsible for the great hit recordings of "I Believe," Saturday Night Is The Loneliest Night Of The Week," "My Blue Heaven," "The Hucklebuck," and "I've Got A Crush On You."

During a five year residency on the coast, Siravo worked as a an arranger for Warner Brothers, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and Universal Studios. He has been associated with just about every top-name singer in the business.


From Billboard - January 20, 1958: Here are a dozen Siravo originals, most of them light, bouncy, frothy and on the happy side. Most of the tunes have a danceable tempo but stress is laid on gimmicky effects in the work – use of flute, oboe, xylophone, etc. for various spots to create interesting sounds. Listenable background set.

Showin' Off
Secret Sorrow
Hop Scotch
In Old Madrid
That Goodnight Kiss
Hey! Taxi!
Palsy Walsy
Deep Shadows
Bumps-A-Daisy
Christine
Tango Martinique
Whistler's March

A Tribute To Woody Herman - Woody Herman Orchestra

Blue Flame
Tribute To Woody Herman
Members Of The Woody Herman Orchestra
Photography: Chuck Stevens
Cover: Charles Meggs
Recorded at Capitol Records, New York, N.Y.
Crown Records CLP 5103

Personnel:

John La Porte: Clarinet and Alto
Al Cohn: Tenor
Joe Romano: Tenor
Don Lamphere: Tenor
Marty Flax: Baritone
Danny Stiles: Trumpet
Bernie Glow: Trumpet
Hal Posey: Trumpet
Al Forte: Trumpet
Willie Thomas: Trumpet
Alvin Stewart: Trumpet
Frank Rehak: Trombone
Bill Byres: Trombone
Wayne Andre: Trombone
Charley Henry: Trombone
Eddie Costa: Vibes
Bill Potts: Piano
Jack Six: Bass
Jim Campbell: Drums

Woodchopper's Ball
Northwest Passage
Apple Honey
Goosey Gander
Four Brothers
Blue Flame
Wild Root
Blowin' Up A Storm
Bijou

A Warm Shade Of Ivory - Henry Mancini

Meditation
A Warm Shade Of Ivory
The Piano, Orchestra and Chorus of Henry Mancini
Produced by Joe Reisman
Arrangements by Henry Mancini
Erno Neufeld: Violin Solist
Vincent De Roas: French Horn Soloist
Recorded in RCA's Music Center of the World, Hollywood, California
Recoding and Mixing Engineer: Mickey Crofford
RCA Victor Stereo LSP-4140
1969

In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
Cycles
Moment To Moment
A Day In The Life Of A Fool
Watch What Happens (from the motion picture "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg")
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet (A Paramount Picture)
The Windmills Of You Mind (from the United Artists motion picture "Doctor Dolittle," an Arthur P. Jacobs Production)
Meditation
Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Tell Me A Story - Marla Ray

The Fisherman And The Genie
Tell Me A Story
Marla Ray and Cast
Musical Arrangements of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
Story Adaptations by Blanche Marvin
Orchestra Conducted by George Cole
Vocalion - A Product of Decca Records
VL 3787

The Fisherman And The Genie
The Enchanted Horse
Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves
The Flying Carpet
Sinbad The Sailor
Aladdin And The Magic Lamp

Academy Award Songs - Henry Mancini

Days Of Wine And Roses
Mancini Plays The Great Academy Awards Songs
Henry Mancini
His Orchestra and Chorus
Collector's Limited Edition
Specially produced for The B.F. Goodrich Co.
RCA Victor PRM-151
1964

From the back cover: Can a boy from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, find fame, fortune and three Academy Awards in Hollywood? The answer is yes and Henry Mancini's the boy. As Time magazine noted in a recent summing up of Hollywood's music men, Mancini is the "King of the Trade."

The one-time flutist first set cinema city on its collective ear with an Oscar nomination for scoring the 1951 film hit "The Glenn Miller Story." For an encore Mancini followed with "The Benny Goodman Story" musical background. Thus it was that, while barely thirty, he became on of the "most wanted" men on the Hollywood soundtrack scene.

Curiously, the boost that really sent Mancini's rocket into orbit came not from the movies but from TV. The vehicle was "Peter Gunn," and its heaviest ammunition proved to be Mancini's timely and exciting background jazz. Almost overnight his "private eye" theme became thoroughly public, winning top awards from such disparate sources as Down Beat magazine and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The writing for "Peter Gunn" this sound has pervaded the popular music scene as well. It was fully unfurled in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," where Mancini won two separate Oscars - one for the score, another for his writing of the song "Moon River," and again for his creation of the title song to "Days Of Wine And Roses" – both with lyrics by the master, Johnny Mercer.


Moon River
Secret Love
On The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
You'll Never Know
Gigi
Que Sera Sera
Days Of Wine And Roses
All The Way
The Continental
Mona Lisa
When You Wish Upon A Star
Zip A Dee Doo Dah

Fun On Wheels

I'm A Truck
Fun On Wheels
Songs And Stories About Things That Go
Rocking Horse Series
Diplomat 5027

The Motorcycle Policeman
I'm A Truck
I've Been Working On The Railroad
Little Red Wagon
I've A Train
On A Bicycle Built For Two
The Big Red Fire Engine
In My Merry Oldsmobile

Bongos Bongos Bongs - Los Amiradors

Unchained Melody
Bongos Bongos Bongos
Performances By Los Admiradores
Produced and Directed by Enoch Light
Associate Producer Julie Klages
Recording Chief: Robert Fine
Mastering: George Piros
Art Directions and Cover Art by Charles E. Murphy
Command Records RS 809 SD
1959 Grand Awards Record Co. Inc.

From the inside cover: To start with, there are two very essential men for an album in which bongos are featured – a pair of the greatest masters of this instrument, Willie Rodriguez and Don Lamond. Rodriquez is celebrated as the greatest living virtuoso on Latin American and Afro-Cuban drums, a field in which he has long been the top teacher in this country. Lamond, one of the greatest jazz drummers (he was the driving force behind Woody Herman's classic First Herd), shifted part of his attention to the bongos when the Afro-Cuban influence entered jazz late in the 1940s and has since developed a skill on them that has all but overshadowed his great career in jazz. The unusually strong percussion section also includes Ted Sommer, another graduate of big band jazz, who works over the customary band drummer's assembly, and the versatile Artie Marotti who plays vibraharp, xylophone, tympani and anything else that needs an authoritative whack.

The guitarist of the group is the inimitable Tony Mottola, master technician and an outstanding influence in shaping the present-day use of the guitar. For years and years he has been Perry Como's accompanist and a mainstay on the Como TV show. The rhythm section is rounded out by the brilliant piano of Moe Wechsler, a musician of startlingly polished precision, and bassist Bob Haggart, famed as one of the most creative members of the Bob Crosby band twenty years ago and since then an incredibly busy New York studio man because, as one conductor recently said, "No one else plays so clean and so right."

The brass make up a section in microcosm. On trumpet is the enormously talented Pee Wee Erwin, onetime Tommy Dorsey star and more recently leader of his own authoritative jazz group. The trombonist is another musician whose name is tied with Tommy Dorsey – Bobby Byrne, who took Tommy's place in the Dorsey Brothers orchestra and later led a tremendously successful band of his own. To give the section a strong floor, there is a bass trombone played by Tommy Mitchell, a brilliant specialist on this unusual instrument. The reed section is headed by Stanley Webb who is revered among his fellow musicians as a perfectionist. As you will hear in this album, he spreads his perfection around for he plays baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor and alto flute, piccolo and English horn in these selections. The section is filled out by a pair of reed men whose playing is noted for the finish, exactness and fullness that meet Stanley Webb's ideas of perfection – Milt Yaner on alto saxophone and Ezelle Watson on tenor saxophone.


Tenderly
Bidin' My Time
Sylvie
All Of Me
Greensleeves
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
Blue Moon
Unchained Melody
Don't Blame Me
Londonderry Air
The Very Thought Of You
You And The Night And The Music

A Night At Dixieland Hall - Albert "Papa" French

St. James Infirmary
A Night At Dixieland Hall
Papa French And His New Orleans Jazz Band
Formerly The Papa Celestin Band
Cover Design: Emerson E. Mangum
Recording Engineer: Cosimo Matassa
Cover Manufacturer: American Box & Tag Co. - New Orleans, Louisiana
Nobility LP 702

Personnel:

Banjo and Leader: Albert "Papa" French
Piano: Jeanette Kimball
Drums: Louis Barbarin
Bass Fiddle: Stewart Davis
Clarinet and Vocals: Joseph "Cornbread" Thomas
Trombone: Waldren "Frog" Joseph
Trombone: Wendell Eugene
Trombone: Alvin Alcorn

Rampart Street Parade
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
Marie Laveau
Shine
Darktown Strutters Ball
Mack The Knife
Alabama Jubilee
St. James Infirmary
Savoy Blues
Bourbon Street Parade

Brass Roots - Doc Severinsen

Psalm 150
Brass Roots
Doc Severinsen
Arranged and Conducted by Don Sebesky
Produced by Don Sebesky
A&R Coordinator: Pete Sparog
Recorded in RCA's Studio C. New York City
Recording Engineer: Bob Simpson
1971

From Billboard - July 24, 1971: "Tonight Show" band leader makes an impressive move over to the RCA label with an exciting album debut that should prove a winner with his many fans. Aided by a vocal chorus, Severinsen turns in powerful performances of "Psalm 150," and "Celebrate" and then takes the solo spotlight with a bright "Okefenokee." His treatment of "Love Story" is a standout.

Brass Roots
Okefenokee
Psalm 150
Good Medicine (Prelude: Come Sweet Death)
Theme From "Love Story"
Move Over
Celebrate

Love Me Or Leave Me - Billy Daniels

Love Me Or Leave Me
Love Me Or Leave Me
Billy Daniels
Mercury Records MG 20047

From the back cover: Billy Daniels is so much the showman that it is difficult to believe that singing was not his life-long ambition. Actually, Billy had no definite ambitious, but entered Florida Normal College to pursue a liberal arts course. While there, he found he needed additional money to pay his tuition, and he auditioned for a spot on a small radio station. He won that spot, and showbusiness won of its most exciting and thrilling entertainers of all time. Billy found the thrill of holding a strange audience with his torch songs far exceeded the satisfactions he found at college, and he struck out for New York and big time singing.

When Billy reached New York he quickly discovered that he had only an innate and raw talent for singing. Daniels was convinced that he had the ability to ultimately entertain and capture the sophisticated audiences in the larger cities. He also felt the spot for him at the time was a small club where he could perfect his act and develop his personality. He found that spot at the Ubangi Club where he remained for some time. Confident that he now had the experience to explore the full potential of his abilities, he auditioned for Eskine Hawkins' famous band. Hawkins hired Billy, and under his deft and subtle tutelage Daniels emerged the great showman he is today.

After he left Hawkins, Daniels toured the country appearing in many of the secondary night clubs. When he got back to New York, he was booked at thee Ebony Club. The first night audience there realized it had witnessed the artists of a star of the first rank when Billy sang his incredibly moving interpretation of "That Old Black Magic." Daniels' reputation quickly grew, and he has since maintained his position in clubs such as New York's famous Copacabana and Riviera and at London's Palladium. In the latter theatre he received the greatest ovation afforded any American Star.


It's Easy To Remember
Imagination
Love Me Or Leave Me
That Old Feeling
My Funny Valentine
This Is My Beloved
Please
I Only Have Eyes For You
I Can Dream Can't I
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
What A Difference A Day Makes
More Than You Know
I Still Get A Thrill Thinking Of You