An Evening At The Pump Room - David Le'Winter

 

Un Besito Pa Tu Cachetico

An Evening At The Pump Room

With David Le'Winter and His Pump Room Orchestra

Columbia CL 6195 (10 inch LP)

1951

From the back cover: In Chicago's Hotel Ambassador East is one of the most sumptuous watering-places in the world, the distinguished and colorful Pump Room. Inspired by the fashionable eighteenth-century establishment at Bath, England, the Pump Room closely follows in spirit that notable rendezvous of the beau mode. With its rich, luxurious decor, the brilliantly costumed waiters and the constant flow of flaming viands on swords, the Pump Room creates an atmosphere of glamour and elegance that is hard to match anywhere.

To supply music for dancers and for diners, the Pump Room has engaged David Le'Winter and his Orchestra, who are now in their sixth year at the same spot. Few orchestras manage an engagement of that length at any location, much less at a place where the top names in every field of endeavor congregate. but the Le'Winter is now as much a part of the Pump Room tradition as are the blazing entrees carried by the turbaned waiters. Although his orchestra is small, it is versatile, with almost every member playing two or more instruments in the course of a single number. Moreover, David Le'Winter sees to it that, while his music is aimed primarily at the dancers who crowd the Pump Room's floor, there is plenty to interest non-dancers.

Against a temp that disguises the customary hotel-dance-music, he blends reeds, flutes and brass in a delectable series of arrangements. No orchestration in the books is without its share of arresting figures, strange and charming musical phrases, unexpected colorations. And besides, David Le'Winter knows exactly the sort of music Pump Room patrons prefer – music by Porter, Kern, Rodgers, Gershwin, all the fine show tunes. Interspersed with these number are goops of the famous Le'Winter Latin-American specialties which, in this collection, share equally with the old favorites.

Le'Winter's Latin-American piano runs through the exotic tunes over an irresistible rhythm base, maintaining the danceable tempo without losing the elemental excitement of a mambo or a rhumba.

The varied arrangements that form the Le'Winer style are the product of many years of musical training. As a boy he studied the violin at the age of seven, turning to the piano a year later. Later studies with famous classical masters crystalized his style, and in 1926 he formed his first orchestra for an engagement at the Crystal Ballroom in Chicago. From that time on, he has served in many capacities – as an orchestra leader, as an arranger, as a coach, composer, musical director and soloist. He was assistant musical director for two Kurt Weill shows, Lady In The Dark and One Touch Of Venus, and has appeared with the Boston Pops Orchestra and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. After notable work with entertainment units during the war, he again organized an orchestra and opened at the Pump Room for a brief engagement that has continued through six years and shows no signs of ending.

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