Let's Get Away From It All - Andre Previn

 

Flying Down To Rio

Let's Get Away From It All

Andre Previn

Sport Car: The Austin-Healy "100"

Decca Records DL 8131

1955

Al Hendrickson - Guitar

Red Mitchell - Bass

Irv Cottler - Drums

From the back cover: Millions of people from coast to coast saw the telecast of the 1953 Academy Awards and saw young MGM studio conductor, Andre Previn, in white tie and tails conduct the orchestra for the show.

What they didn't see was what probably happened immediately after the conclusion of the program – Previn sitting at the piano in some Hollywood jazz club, trading intricate harmonic and melodic patterns with the top jazz men of the country.

This unusual switch is quite normal for 26-year-old Berlin-born Andre George Previn. He is the perfect example of the new look in modern music, a capable, finished, articulate performer in the classical, the popular, or the jazz field. At 21, Previn was the youngest musical director in Hollywood. At the same time he had a flourishing career as a popular pianist whose recordings of show tunes and ballads were among the best sellers in their field. In between he managed to appear as guest soloist with the Chicago and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and play special concerts in the Hollywood Bowl.

In recent years, Previn has emerged as one of the most versatile pianists in music. His stature as a jazz man has increased with each record. He can be heard to advantage on Decca Long Play "Jazz Studio Three," (DL 8104) and the scores of his various MGM pictures are making him secure in his position as one of the leading composures for motion pictures.

One of the most charming of Previn's many musical personalities is that of the delightful entertainer-through-music, I shall never forget a night in 1951 when Previn sat at the piano in NBC's San Francisco studios and played show tunes for hours – he was starved for music, having been on a GI tour of duty and away from his piano for weeks. At the time I thought if this can ever be captured on wax it would be something extra special. That is exactly what Decca has done in this LP.

Under the general title of "Let's Get Away From It All," Previn wanders through a series of ballads, each with the theme of a vacation spot. He mixes jazz solos with the most delightful of melodic journeys and the digressions into out-of-the-way spots are never without color, interest, and an atmosphere of relaxation. This album is not intended to be definitive jazz interpretations: it is intended to  be pleasant, listenable music in good taste with the attraction of the good ballad in the hands of the proper interpreter. It has most certainly succeeded, and in the process there is enough music packed into each tune so that the die-hard jazz fan is going to be able to spent many a happy hour with the rest of us, basking in the lovely sounds the Previn piano has created. – Notes by Ralph J. Gleason - Editor, The Rhythm Section, San Francisco Chronicle

Let's Get Away From It All

Moonlight In Vermont

It Happened In Sun Valley

Serenade To Sweden

Island In The West Indies

Flying Down To Rio

Honolulu

How Are Things In Glocca Morra

On A Slow Boat to China

London In July

San Francisco 

Sidewalks Of Cuba

Let's Get Away From It All (Reprise)