Carnival In The Sun - Stanley Black and His Orchestra

 

Rumba Rhapsody

Carnival In The Sun

Stanley Black and His Orchestra

London LL 1100

From the back cover: Stanley Black was born in London on June 14th, 1913. His musical education began at the Matthay School of Music, where he studied the pianoforte. After this opening skirmish he went on to work, as pianist and arranger, with various dance-bands and light orchestras, gaining invaluable experience and knowledge both of what kind of music pleased the public taste and of how the public liked it served: hot, strong, sweet, or subtle-flavored. In 1938 (as an example of his thoroughness) he paid a visit to South America to obtain first-hand knowledge of Latin-American music, and a year later enlisted in the R.A.F. In April 1943 he stepped unobtrusively but firmly into the limelight by taking over the conductor's baton of the B.B.C. Dance Orchestra, and during the following years he averaged the astounding total of six programs a week, a physical and mental strain which many dance-band conductors would not care to endure. His orchestra, with his arrangements, supplied the music (a tremendously important ingredient in the success of a variety show) to such top-line programs as the "Much-Binding" sagas "Ray's A Laugh," and scores of others. In 1947 he married the vocalist, Edna Kaye.

His "official" broadcasting work reaches a very large volume indeed when measured by the mere statistics of broadcasting-hours and audience appeal, but is immeasurable in its value as a means of setting consistently high standards for broadcast light music and arrangement. In addition to all this, Stanley Black has also found time to fit in one of two other small achievements which might well have passed for a complete career for an artist less energetic – his work for Decca, for example, as house conductor and arranger, and composing and directing the musical scores for at least nine British films. All this hard work, far from deadening or stifling his personality, has developed it. The more he does, the better he gets, because he has the invaluable gift of enjoying his work, and what is more he communicates that enjoyment to the listening public. In other words, he entertains.

El Cumbanchero

Morocco

Jungle Bird

Cactus Polka

Flamingo

The Baion

Cascade Of Stars

Sugar Loaf Samba

The Breeze And I

Cielito Lindo

Tango

Rustic Samba

Rumba Rhapsody

Pianolo