Cry Me A River
The Tony Touch
The Best Of Tony Mottola
America's Greatest Popular Guitarist
Project 3 Total Sound Stereo
PR 5041 SD
1969
From the back cover: Tony Mottola is recognized throughout the world fo "The Tony Touch." Tony's albums are in great demand everywhere. He is a best seller in Japan, Spain, Mexico, Australia and other countries where guitar buffs eagerly await his new release. For many years, Tony has been acclaimed for his work with many of the world's most popular vocalists. He was the featured guitarist on The Perry Como TV series and at present he is a spotlighted soloist and member of the Johnny Carson "Tonight Show" orchestra. Professional musicians, as well as discriminating music lovers throughout the world, recognize "The Tony Touch" as being unique. And in this album, Tony has selected what he considers his finest performances of today's great songs.
2. GEORGIA ON MY MIND-HEART & SOUL/GUITAR - PR 5003. Tony picked this tune because of its associa- tion with the great Ray Charles, whose recording of it helped get the "soul" movement in popular music under way. A brief figure from organist Dick Hyman leads to a virtuosic statement of the melody by Tony. Then he goes into a bluesy and soulful treatment of the song. In the re- lease, the tempo picks up and Tony plays melody on amplified guitar in harmonization with the organ. Phil Bodner blows a short jazz solo; then the tempo slows and Tony "screams" a figure on the high E-string of the guitar. Tony takes over the melody again to inject more blues flavor before the ending.
3. CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU - LUSH, LATIN & LOVELY - PR 5020. Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons popularized this Bob Crewe tune which epitomizes the spirit and character of today's music. Dick Hyman has written an arrangement that serves to intensify that spirit. In the opening passages, Tony Mottola picks out the melody with a gentle but firm authority. The impact of this approach is deepened when he is joined by the singing beauty of two woodwinds-Phil Bodner on flute and Stanley Webb on English horn. Then this mood is abruptly broken by Bob Rosengarden's commanding drum break and the ensemble wallop of two trumpets, two flutes and Dom Cortese's accordion. This momentary intensity subsides, then builds up steam again to simmer down to a final relaxing ease. Tension and release the eternal and basic formula for all dramatic creativity-are shown here in their most contemporary form.
4. CRY ME A RIVER - WARM, WILD & WONDERFUL - PR 5025. The only song in this album that is not, at the moment, part of the contemporary musical scene is this ballad which was a hit in 1953 for Julie London. "I was looking for some- thing that would be a good solo," said Tony, "and for some reason I remembered this tune, which I had always loved because of the way Julie London recorded it with just bass and guitar accompaniment. The guitarist was Barney Kessel, one of today's great guitar men. He played a vamp on the original which I have thrown in at the end in this ver- sion as a two-bar tribute to him."
5. I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN-TONY MOTTOLA JOINS THE GUITAR UNDERGROUND-PR 5035. (from "Promises, Promises"). Rarely has a hit song from a Broad- way musical been as ideally suited to guitar treatment as this gem from Burt Bacharach's first Broadway score. In the show, Jill O'Hara accompanies herself on guitar as she sings it with Jerry Orbach. Tony Mottola opens it with the readily identifiable Guitar Underground sound-Tony play- ing full chords finger style, Al Casamenti on electric guitar one octave lower and Phil Kraus joining in on vibes. As the tune moves along, Nick Tagg fills out the background with his organ. Tony treats the tune very melodically, relish- ing the little turns and twists, the charming lifts that Bacha- rach has written into it.
6. GOIN' OUT OF MY HEAD - WARM, WILD & WONDER- FUL - PR 5025. In an even deeper sense than the two-bar bow to Barney Kessel at the end of Cry Me A River, this performance by Tony Mottola is a tribute. The tribute this time is to the late Wes Montgomery who was admired by Tony both as a wonderful person and as a great artist. "I was so happy when Goin' Out of My Head got Wes Montgomery started," Tony said, "because it is so rarely that a great jazz artist gets wide public recognition while retaining his jazz style as Wes did." In Chris Dedrick's arrangement, the Groovies serve as a wandering connective. Tony uses an echo effect to extend his solo on the first chorus. The group behind him is focused on woodwinds and, when these woodwinds line up as a saxophone quartet, the ensemble is led by Phil Bodner's soprano saxophone.
5. I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN-TONY MOTTOLA JOINS THE GUITAR UNDERGROUND-PR 5035. (from "Promises, Promises"). Rarely has a hit song from a Broad- way musical been as ideally suited to guitar treatment as this gem from Burt Bacharach's first Broadway score. In the show, Jill O'Hara accompanies herself on guitar as she sings it with Jerry Orbach. Tony Mottola opens it with the readily identifiable Guitar Underground sound-Tony play- ing full chords finger style, Al Casamenti on electric guitar one octave lower and Phil Kraus joining in on vibes. As the tune moves along, Nick Tagg fills out the background with his organ. Tony treats the tune very melodically, relish- ing the little turns and twists, the charming lifts that Bacha- rach has written into it.
6. GOIN' OUT OF MY HEAD - WARM, WILD & WONDER- FUL - PR 5025. In an even deeper sense than the two-bar bow to Barney Kessel at the end of Cry Me A River, this performance by Tony Mottola is a tribute. The tribute this time is to the late Wes Montgomery who was admired by Tony both as a wonderful person and as a great artist. "I was so happy when Goin' Out of My Head got Wes Montgomery started," Tony said, "because it is so rarely that a great jazz artist gets wide public recognition while retaining his jazz style as Wes did." In Chris Dedrick's arrangement, the Groovies serve as a wandering connective. Tony uses an echo effect to extend his solo on the first chorus. The group behind him is focused on woodwinds and, when these woodwinds line up as a saxophone quartet, the ensemble is led by Phil Bodner's soprano saxophone.
SIDE TWO:
1. THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU - WARM, WILD & WONDERFUL - PR 5025.One of the first of the great melodists of the Sixties was Burt Bacharach – Wives and Lovers, Walk on By, What The World Needs Now Is Love. This is a typical Bacharach song, a melody with a catchy rhythm that goes along at a casual, finger-snapping pace and then, in the middle, begins to erupt, only to settle down again for the ending. Tony Mottola plays it in an intimate style with a string background. His guitar is lagalong lazy and deliberate, backed by strings that sneak in once he gets into the melody.
2. THOSE WERE THE DAYS - TONY MOTTOLA JOINS THE GUITAR UNDERGROUND - PR 5035. The rich nostalgia of this Gene Raskin tune, first revealed by Mary Hop- kins when the Beatles unveiled their new Apple label, is an ideal vehicle for Tony Mottola's guitar. He plays the verse ad lib with only Vinnie Bell's special electronic effects as accompaniment. As the tempo settles in with the appearance of the melody, Dick Hyman on organ intersperses Tony's guitar solos with what Tony laughingly refers to as "Tel Aviv fills." They are appropriate because the tune often suggests a near-Eastern folk dance even though, at other times, it also suggests the Berlin musical milieu that Kurt Weill portrayed so well.
3. DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME-WARM, WILD & WONDERFUL - PR 5025. Tony Mottola goes back to the style of his first great Project 3 album, Heart and Soul, for this tune from the Thirties which provided Mama Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas with her first hit single. It is Tony's solo style, backed by a rhythm section, giving him the opportunity to express the rich warmth of his emotional, soulful approach to his instrument. The open- ing and the closing are part of Tonys' penchant for paint- ing musical pictures-in this case, a star-filled night for dreaming with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
4. LUSH AND LOVELY - LUSH, LATIN & LOVELY - PR 5020. This catchy, foot-tapping little tune is an outgrowth of a commercial venture, this time by Tony Mottola. One of Tony's numerous musical activities is writing scores for a slide-film organization, Mazin-Wyckoff. Out of the themes that he develops for such assignments, he often draws the basis for some of his original tunes (a tune he named for his son, Tony's Tune, came from a slide-film score). After the guitar introduction, a tight, beautifully controlled ensemble of flute (Phil Bodner), accordion (Dom Cortese) and 12-string guitar (Al Casamenti) swings gently, and then the propulsive strength of this ensemble becomes particularly apparent when it returns after Tony's solo to ride the tune on out.
5. COME PRIMA - ROMA OGGI/ROME TODAY - PR 5032. Along with "Volare," "Come Prima" represents the beginnings of the new, contemporary school of Italian popular song. Like "Volare," "Come Prima" was introduced by Domenico Modugno in 1958. Although, unlike "Volare," he did not write this song. Tony Mottola draws on all the beauty of this gorgeous ballad in his opening chorus. But then, after an excursion into the very low range of his guitar, he moves into double time. "We were just fooling around," he said, afterward, "and the double time came naturally." It comes so naturally that Tony goes dancing off into the next chorus and almost has to rein himself in to get back to the original tempo and feeling of the song. Pay special attention to the way he falls away from a bend- ing glissando by the strings at the very end.
6. DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SAN JOSE - WARM, WILD & WONDERFUL - PR 5025. Still more Burt Bacharach, this time in one of Chris Dedrick's unique arrangements. He uses both handclapping and the voices of the Groovies as fills, interludes and accents in his musical arrangement. The voices weave casually in and out of Tony Mottola's guitar solo in the first chorus. But in the second chorus, when Ross Tompkins takes off on organ, the voices become part of the percussion section, singing a beat ("chink-chink-chink-chink") that helps to push Tompkins' organ line along.
From Billboard - August 23, 1969: The guitar master comes up with a winning artistic and sales package in this program of hand-picked material that he considers to be his top performances on disk. And he's right, as he turns in brilliant treatments of today's and yesterday's hits. "Help Yourself," "Cry Me A River," "This Guy In Love With You," and "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" are among the highlights.
Help Yourself
Georgia On My Mind
Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
Cry Me A River
I'll Never Fall In Love Again
Goin' Out Of My Head
This Guy's In Love With You
Those Were The Days
Dream A Little Dream Of Me
Lush And Lovely
Come Prima
Do You Know The Way To San Jose?
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