The Previn Scene - Andre Previn

 

Get Those Elephants Outa Here

The Previn Scene

Andre Previn

MGM Records SE3908

1961

From the back cover: The Previn Scene is incredible. At the age of 31, Andre Previn has a scene crammed with several lifetimes of musical achievement.

He has been scoring and composing for motion pictures for some 15 years. He was hired as an arranger by M-G-M right after he graduated from high school. Previn has won two Academy Awards, for his scoring of Gigi and Porgy And Bess, and has been nominated for awards a half-dozen times. His films have ranged from the bubbling, frothy Gigi to the starkly dramatic Bad Day At Black Rock, the unquiet The Subterraneans, and the blistering Elmer Gantry.

Previn's scene includes jazz, lots of it. In the early 1950's he was pianist with Shorty Rogers and his Giants. He has recorded a handsome number of fine jazz albums, and has appeared in many of the country's leading jazz clubs with his trio. In addition, he has composed and arranged for jazz bands and for jazz record sessions.

Popular music is also part of The Previn Scene. He combined with orchestra leader David Rose on the first non rock-and-roll instrumental record to become a hit in too many moons, the pretty (and swinging) Like Young. It topped the popularity charts and won the young veteran musician a golden record for having sold more than a million records. Albums of lovely melodies played by Previn against the lush Rose strings have also made their mark in popular music.

Classical music makes The Previn Scene, too. Andre studied with his father, and later with composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He has played some of the leading classical piano works on records an in scores of concerts.

TV fits into The Previn Scene, too. He has been musical director on many TV shows, and has written, with his wife, Dory Langdon, an original musical for TV based on the James Thurber novel Many Moons.

It's a scene brimming with activity, but filled with melody. Some of the melody is his own, and some is from other composers whose work Andre scores or interprets at the piano.

Andre Previn is an energetic figure in American music, and one of the very few who could, for instance, manage a concert tour in two idioms. Previn's concerts for a recent tour were split into two sections. The opening segment featured him at the piano playing the works of such composers as Ravel, Hindemith, Prokoffiev and Copeland. After intermission, he set up with his trio and played an equal amount of jazz.

Veteran critic and jazz writer Ralph J. Gleason summed up the leading character in The Previn Scene very well when he was quoted saying, "Andre Previn is one of the most intelligent, articulate and literate musicians I've ever met, and his command of the instrument is fabulous. It's sheer delight to watch him play."

From Billboard - February 6, 1961: Previn is presenting here against two different backgrounds – David Rose's lush strings and tasteful jazz backing by drummer Shelly Manne, and bassist Red Mitchell. Both sides of Previn are equally effective. His romantic piano solos are spotlighted with Rose on "Young And Tender," "Little Girl Blue" and "Black And Blue," while his far-out side is showcased on "Get Those Elephants Outa Here," "Should I" and "Guido's Blackhawk.

Should I

Young Man's Lament

Get Those Elephants Outa Here

A Year Of Youth

Guido's Blackhawk

Black & White

The Blue Room

Little Girl Blue

Young And Tender

Blues For Brian

Blue Holiday

Too Young To Be True