More Ros On Broadway - Edmundo Ros

 

Shall We Dance

More Ros On Broadway

Edmundo Ros and His Orchestra

London Records LL 3126

1959

From the back cover: It is now over twenty years since a completely unknown young man arrived in London from Venezuela to study harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1937 few people anticipated what the future held or its significance, and the young music student from South America certainly had no inkling that he was to become the undisputed king of Latin American dance music in Europe and many other  parts of the world.

There is no double now that Edmundo Ros occupies this unique throne. During the space of more can twenty arduous, eventful years, he has scaled the heights of his chosen vocation, and today finds him the leader of a world-famous orchestra, the proprietor of a popular West End club which is a Mecca of entertainment for foreign visitors as well as Londoners, and a well-established success in spheres other than show business to boot.

Edmundo was born in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on 7th December, 1910. His mother was Venezuelan, his father Scottish-Canadian, and Edmundo was the eldest in a family of four children. His parents originally intended him to enter the legal profession, but it was eventually decided that he should embark on an Army career. Edmundo entered a military academy to study for this objective, and lost no time in joining the academy's military band as a percussionist to indulge his already keen musical inclination.

The young embryo officer found that his activities with the academy band afforded as mush satisfaction as his military curriculum, and, by the time his training period had expired, Edmundo was determined to make music his career. He secured the post of timpanist with the Venezuelan State Symphony Orchestra, thereby gaining a regular income and considerable opportunity to pursue his musical studies. He joined the Venezuelan Musicians' Union, and rose to become a member of its committee.

Prior to his spell at the academy, Edmundo had won a State scholarship without availing himself of its advantages; now he sought and obtained permission to utilize its financial benefits by journeying to London to complete his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, and thus began toe road to his present eminence.

In common with most students of every generation, Edmundo soon discovered that the terms of his scholarship grant were insufficient to support him without another source of income. Consequently he joined Don Marino Barreto's pioneer Latin American group, which was seeking to establish authentic tropical rhythm as an integral part of the British entertainment scene. Progress was slow and disappointments numerous at first, but the Barreto band gradually won favor and support, especially after it was cooked into the Embassy Club. Edmundo sang and drummed with the group until 1940 when he formed his own band for the first time.

He commenced by emulating the Barreto policy of playing and recording only genuine scores by Latin composers, but he quickly realized the limitations of such rigid authenticity. He evolved his present style of playing familiar and uncomplicated tunes and melodies in the various Latin rhythms with a genuine percussion section, and this compromise has paid handsome dividends ever since. His long association with famous West End night-spots advanced the cause of Latin American dance music as well as enhancing the reputations of the clubs and Edmundo and his orchestra, and also obliged him to conclude his Academy studies through pressure of work.

The Surrey With The Fringe On Top

I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face

C'est Magnifique

This Nearly Was Mine

I've Got The Sun In The Morning

Just In Time

How Are Things IN Glocca Morra?

Carousel Waltz

Wish You Were Here

You're Just In Love

If I Loved You

Shall We Dance

Moon River - Jimmy Darwin

 

Moon River

Moon River and Other Favorites

Jimmy Darwin and His Orchestra

Palace PST-736

No joke... This wacky cover of Moon River (audio sample above) is the actual track that the people at "Palace" tacked on to the front of this otherwise light classical stock music set.

Moon River

Over The Waves

Old Refrain

Espana Waltz

Songs My Mother Taught Me

Lovely Eyes

Moulin Rouge

101 Strings Play The Tijuana Sound

 

The Lonely Bull

101 Strings Play

The Tijuana Sound

101 Strings

Recorded Under Direction of D. L. Miller

Cover Design: Chic Laganella

Alshire Presents S-5091

1967

A Taste Of Honey

The Lonely Bull

Spanish Flea

Ciudad Quieta

Flamingo

What Now My Love

Zorba The Greek

Tijuana Taxi

Señora De Grandeza

Tijuana Skies

Mr. Shing-A-Ling - Lou Donaldson

 

The Kid

Mr. Shing-A-Ling

Lou Donaldson

Cover Photo & Design by Reid Miles

Recording Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder

Blue Note BST 84271

1968

Alto Saxophone - Lou Donaldson

Trumpet - Blue Mitchell

Guitar - Jimmy "Fats" Ponder

Organ - Lonnie Smith (courtesy of Columbia Records)

Drums - Leo Morris

From the back cover: Lou Donaldson celebrated his homecoming to the Blue Note roster with one of the biggest selling albums of his prolific recording career.

Alligator Boogaloo (Blue Note 4263) was not lonely another excellent display of his mastery as an alto saxophonist, it established him as a jazz artist whose ears are very much attuned to the sounds of today. Thus his album also produced two best selling singles in the title tune and Rev. Moses.

Lou suddenly found his records being played by many jocks on R& B stations who programmed him liberally, and for Lou he was rediscovered by many jocks and stations whose jazz programming had been almost nil since the advent of format programming.

Indeed this was a tribute to Lou. And, it merely gave proof of what most of the working writers in jazz ave  been saying for years. Lou can communicate with an audience, and his sound is as much of the present as any of the big selling record artists. Possibly his lack of completely breaking through was due to the limitations of jazz exposure. But, he is well on his way now.

In this present album, Lou has once again called upon Lonnie Sith, Organ, and Leo Morris as his back up rhythm section. He has added Blue Mitchell a fellow blue Note stable mate and a leader in his own right on many Blue Note albums, including his most recent Boss Horn (Blue Note 4257) and introduces Jimmy "Fats" Ponder on guitar.

If there is a winning combination, why break it up? In Lou's case, he has always opened the door to bright, young new musicians. And he always selects the established musicians who believe in lyricism and melody. 

Thus Mr. Shing-A-Ling is a welcome follow-up to Alligator Boogaloo.

Ode To Billie Joe was a tune that came out of left field, landed on the best selling record charts, and established Bobbie Gentry as a new voice in the folk-rock field. On the hells of the popularity of the tune, King Curtis released an instrumental version almost identical with the track of the original. But the inventiveness of a true jazz musical is not to be denied. Here Lou takes the tune and gives it a new treatment. In his version. there is every indication that more jazz musicians will begin adding it to weather books. He has slowed the temp, accented the beat, and with Fats Ponder, Lonnie Smith and himself digs deep into the tune giving Billie Joe far more depth.

Lou's only original in the album is The Humpback. This tune might be classified as a typical Donaldsonian opus. There is never a need for Lou to prove his technical facility. He writes simply and leans heavily on the melody. Blue Mitchell is the perfect companion. His solo is spare, but not sparse.

The Shadow Of Your Smile, Johnny Mandel's theme from The Sandpiper, is a showcase for his beautiful crystal sound. In this day with the electronic gadgets are making inroads, Lou defies these new elements in the clarity of this tone. If we are to look for influence, there is much of Charlie Parker in evidence. (Do you still remember Bird?)

Lonnie Smith makes his writing contribution in Peepin'. Here is a young man, whose seniority in jazz is less than five years. A self taught organist. Unlike many of his peers, he did not play piano and then with to organ. He began on organ, and h his tastefulness belies his tender years.

This is a tune designed for the young generation and the oldsters too, who like a danceable beat. The improvisations laid down by the musicians are the joy of jazz. Their embellishments and individuality are the foundation of the jazz arts, and with Lou as the influence, so much can be said with simplicity.

Harold Ousley, a fine tenor saxophonist, who writing talents are gaining slow recognition, is represented here with The Kid. It's a loose chart that allows ample interpretation. Each man shapes his improvisation on the sustained beat.

If Lou Donaldson with his new found popularity by the hit makers on radio becomes a most marketable artist, then his long years of paying dues maybe about over.

Among the many dissidents of the jazz arts who always claim they can neither understand nor keep time with the music of the jazz musician, Lou Donaldson offers a sampling here that his jazz is easily definable.

As we noted on his Alligator Boogaloo album,"... As one of the chief ambassadors of the people to people type jazz communication, this alto saxophonist, who has shown great concern for continuing the tradition of combining the old with the new, celebrates his homecoming with a new album that promises to continue his prominent position as one of the outstanding contributors to the sound of happy jazz."

And... on this new album, he continues to communicate.

– Del Shields - WLIB/FM, N.Y. - Executive Secretary, NATRA

Ode To Billie Joe

The Humpback

The Shadow Of Your Smile

Peepin'

The Kid

Feeling Good - Julie London

 

Feeling Good

Feeling Good

Julie Londo

With The Gerald Wilson Big Band

Arrangeer: Gerald Wilson

Producer: Richard Bock

Engineer: "Bones" Howe

Cover Design: Studio Five

Cover Photo: Fred Seligo

Liberty Records LST-7416

1965

From the back cover: Julie London bruises easily. Placed in juxtaposition with, say, a shaggy-dog vocal quartet from England, singing a song based on three wrong chords, she is apt to turn purple all over.

On the other hand, any time she finds herself in the company of an arranger like Gerald Wilson and a set of songs with attractive melodies and meaningful lyrics, she is as likely as not to take on a radiant air and sing, as she looks, like a living doll.

Julie is one of those much too rare performers who, one can sense, sings not for the fast buck but for esthetic reward. Her musical taste is impeccable. Nor should her taste in husbands be faulted when she can pick a man who, like Bobby Troup, writes such songs as "Won't Someone Please Belong To Me" or the lyrics to Neal Hefti's "Girl Talk" theme from the "Harlow" film.

Mrs. Troup's other agenda include the album's title song, which originated in "The Roar Of The Greasepaint"; a theme from "The Yellow Roll's-Royce" called "She's Just A Quiet Girl (Mae)"; the song about brushing, assembled by a promising young composer named Fred Manley; and "Hello Dolly," which she takes at a tempo better suited to her temperament than Satchmo's upper pace.

"I also included 'Summertime'," she says, "because Stacy said to me, 'Mommy, why don't you record this new song I just heard?" she said. Stacy is 15 and she'd heard a teenage version on the radio. This made me feel a thousand tears old."

If it took Julia's version to remind her daughter that a rock 'n' roll song was really a ballad, it also took the London touch to make a modern vehicle out of a country and western Roger Miller specialty, as the novel two-voice treatment of "King Of The Road" makes pulsatingly clear.

Gerald Wilson was raised in Detroit, Michigan (I won't name his native state, since it wasn't his fault.); he settled in Los Angeles in 1942 after three years on the road with the great Jimmie Lunceford Band. In addition to recording his superb band in a series of instrumental albums for Pacific Jazz, he has accompanied an impressive list of singers who's yen for first-class arrangements led them to him: Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Al Hibbler, Nancy Wilson, for instance.

Gerald's featured soloist is Jack Wilson (no relation to Gerald of Nancy), a 29 year old Chicagoan active for the past couple of years as pianist, composer and combo leader around Los Angeles. Such tracks as "She's Just A Quiet Girl" indicate that he has a fruitful new career ahead of him as an organist. Also present are mend like saxist Teddy Edwards, guitarist John Gray, bassist Jimmy Bond, drummer Earl Palmer and a dozen other members of the West Coast elite.

As Gerald said after this album was completed: "Julie is beautiful, but it's been clear ever since "Cry Me A River" that she didn't rely on her looks. She really knows how to interpret a lyric; she has a lovely sound; and she's a wonderful person to work with."

The name of London and Wilson is guaranteed to leave you unbruised, and in a mood very adequately expressed in the albums' title song. And who, as Gershwin once said, can ask for anything more? – Leonard Feather

From Billboard - September 25, 1965: The rich, warm, vocal styling of Miss London adds new luster and beauty to the much-recorded "My Kind Of Town" and "She's Just A Quiet Girl (Mae)." With Gerald Wilson's big band support on his own superb arrangements, the beautiful songstress has another in a long line of smash LP's.

My Kind Of Town (from the Warner Bros. motion picture "Robin And The 7 Hoods")

Girl Talk (from the Paramount-Embassy film "Harlow")

King Of The Road

I Bruise Easily

Feeling Good (from the Broadway show "The Roar Of The Greasepaint, The Smell Of The Crowd")

Watermelon Man

She's Just A Quiet Girl (Mae) (from the MGM motion picture "The Yellow Rolls-Royce")

Summertime

Hello Dolly!

Won't Someone Please Belong To Me

Sing And Sway With Sammy Kaye

 

In My Merry Automobile / After The Ball

Sing And Sway With Sammy Kaye

Decca Records DL 74071

Yes Sir, That's My Baby

You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)

Put Your Arms Around Me Honey

If I Had My Way

Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella (On A Rainy Day)

In My Merry Automobile / After The Ball

When you Wore A Tulip (And I Wore A Big Red Rose)

My Melancholy Baby

I Want A Girl (Just Like The Girl That Married Dear Old Dad)

Sweetheart Of Sigma Chi

Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag

Mary's A Grand Old Name / Good Night Ladies

Ports Of Paradise - Alfred Newman / Ken Darby

 

The Enchanted Sea

Ports Of Paradise

The Instruments and Voices of Alfred Newman and Ken Darby

With Soloists: Mavis Rivers, Norma Zimmer and Bill Lee

Produced by Bill Miller

Capitol Records STAO-1147

1960

From the 16 page brochure insert: For the recordings of Port Of Paradise, Capitol took over one of the big Hollywood studio sound stages, whose capacity and acoustics are well-suited to the number and variety of instruments and voices called for in these arrangements. As many as seventy musicians participated in several of the selections.

This big assemblage is used in a variety of ways. The singers, for example, are sometimes divided into two groups, the women's voices occupying a different position from that of the men; at other times they are combined into one large mixed chorus. In "The Enchanted Sea," two sopranos (one left, one right; in the stereo version) sing a wordless obbligato above the rhythmic chanting of the male chorus.

The full concert-size orchestra is heard throughout, except for the brief "Farewell For Just A While," where only guitar and percussion are used to accompany the voices.

The percussion section itself consists of five men, alternately performing on such exotic instruments as tom-toms, boo-bass, Chinese glass, Japanese wind chimes, Hindu tree bells and anklet bells, jawbone, lava rocks (ili-ili) and gourds (ipu) – as well as the more conventional xylophone, vibraphone, marimbas, timpani, gongs, cymbals – and the original bamboo organ recreated from Hawaiian antiquity by Ken Darby in 1950.

All these sounds – from the subtlest individual percussion effect to the thrilling impact of the full ensemble – make Ports Of Paradise an unusual and vivid aural display, rewarding for its sheer listening pleasure as well as for its evocation of exotic lands.

Also from the 16 page brochure insert: This album has been produced with the cooperation of the Matson Navigation Company, whose luxurious passenger liners are regular caters at the Ports of Paradise. The itinerary of Matson's modern sister ship, the S.S. Mariposa and S.S. Monterey – to New Zealand and Australia by way of Tahiti; return voyage via Fiji, Samoa, And Hawaii – suggested the sequence of musical numbers recorded here. Capitol gratefully acknowledges the help of Matson personnel in assembling many color photos and other material used throughout this brochure.

Also from the 16 page brochure insert: When Mavis Rivers was invited to fill the role of principal guest soloist in this album, she was delighted but just a bit nervous at the prospect. A rapidly rising star with successful recordings and topflight night-club engagements to her credit, Mavis had no need for mike fright or lack of confidence; it was just that she had never before worked in front of such large vocal and orchestral forces. During and after the recording sessions, however, Mavis was jubilant – and bursting with enthusiasm for the uncommon musicianship of Messrs. Newman and Darby. "A thrilling experience," she termed it.

Mavis is very much at home in the Ports Of Paradise. She was born and raised in Samoa and lived for several years in New Zealand before coming to the United States in the mid-1950's. Thus she brings authority, along with her many wonderful vocal qualities, to the pair of island songs in which she is featured here.

Ports Of Paradise

The Enchanted Sea

Blue Tahitian Moon

Farewell For Just A While

Now Is The Hour

Isa Lei - Mavis Rivers (soloist)

Whispering Wind

My Little Grass Shack - Mavis Rivers (soloist)

Forever More - Norma Zimmer (soloist)

Madonna Of The Flowers - Bill Lee (soloist)

To You Sweetheart, Aloha

Shindig - Living Guitars

 

A Guitar Serenade

Shindig

Living Guitars

Produced by Ethel Gabriel

RCA Camden CAL 844

1964

School Days

Dang Me

Under The Boardwalk

Mebellene

A Guitar Serenade

Detour

Rag Doll

Memphis, Tennessee

Jezebel

Roll Over Beethoven

Dom Frontiere: Mr. Accordio

 

Sarabande

Dom Frontiere: Mr. Accordion

Producer: Si Waronker

Cover Photograph: Phil Howard

Engineer: Ted Keep

Liberty Stereo LST 7008

1958

From the back cover: Dominic Frontiere started his accordion studies at the age of four with S. Pierpoali, then with Joe Biviano until he was sixteen. He later studied arranging with Robert Van Eps, conducting with Felix Slatkin and composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. It was through the encouragement of his father, Joseph Frontiere, that Dom was able to pursue his studies so successfully.

Also from the back cover: You may find it hard to believe that just one accordion, recorded one time only, with no 'gimmicks', could possibly have produced the magnificently enveloping sound recorded in this album... but it's true!

For many years the accordion has been condemned as being an instrument literally incapable of producing anything which might be called real music. Mr. Frontiere is one of the very few people who is able to disprove this theory. "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee" and Chopin's "Minute Waltz" stand out as the greatest display of Dom's virtuosity; however the entire album contains a delicacy of touch and a cleanest of technique rarely found in accordion performances.

The "Nutcracker Suite" is sheer loveliness – played on one accordion, yet with each instrument of the orchestra seemingly there in its place, and the Frontiere original "Scherzo", is very pleasing as well. It clearly demonstrates that Dom has a vast knowledge of the capabilities of the accordion.

This is a find display of series accordion playing, and an excellent way of getting people to listen to more extended compositions. The term "classical" in this album should not frighten away the listener more accustomed to lighter forms of music – these selections, so brilliantly performed by one of the world's foremost accordion technicians, will delight the most "un-serious" of music lovers.

And... Liberty Stereo create an audio and visual atmosphere that will fill your ears and home with the magic of the concert hall. – George Shearing 

George Shearing is a jazz musician. He is respected and admired by classical connoisseurs as well as the modern. His tastes are universal to the extreme, ranging from Bachian forms to Schoenbergian chromaticism and harmony. Since most of the Braille music materials available to him in his early training was classical in nature, he gained a solid technique and a thorough background in serious music. These qualities are evident in his many recordings.

Flight Of The Bumble Bee

Valse Brillante

Sarabande: Minuet I & Minuet II (French Suite - J. S. Bach)

Hora Staccato

Minuet (Ravel from "Le Tombeau de Couperin")

Scherzo (Frontiere - Dedicated to Robert Van Eps)

To A Wild Rose (MacDowell

Minute Walt (Chopin)

Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71A (Tchaikovsky)

1. Miniature Overture

2. March

3. Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy

4. Russian Dance (Trepak)

5. Arab Dance

6. Chinese Dance

7. Dance Of The Reed-Flutes

8. Waltz Of The Flowers

Guitar de Mexico - Dona-Dio Quartet

 

Bourrée de la 2nd Sonata

Guitar de Mexico

Dona-Dio Quartet

Perfect PL 12018 PS 14018

A Product of Epic Records

Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Hojas Muertas (Autumn Leaves)

Bourrée de la 2nd Sonata

Siboney

La Cumparsita

Mosaico Mexicano (Potpourri)

"Intermezzo" de la Opera Goyescas

Serenata de Toselli

Tango Espanol

Tico Tico

Jazz Gunn - Shelly Manne

 

A Bluish Bag

Jazz Gunn

Shelly Manne & His Men

Produced by Hesuhi Ertegun

Album Design: Stanislaw Zagorski

Compositions by Henry Mancini

Atlantic Recording SD 1487

1967

Drums - Shelly Manne

Trumpet or Flugelhorn - Conte Candoli

Alto Sax or Flute - Frank Strozier

Piano - Mike Wofford

Bass - Monte Budwig

A Bluish Bag

Silver Tears

Sweet

Theme For Sam

A Quiet Happening

Peter Gunn