New Beginnings - Morgana King

 

Like A Seed

New Beginnings 

Morgana King

Arrangements: Bob James (Courtesy of C.T.I. Records and Torrie Zito

A Nickelodeon Inc. Production

Produced by Vince Mauro

Recorded and Mixed at Media Sound, N.Y.C.

Engineer: Jorgen Jorgensen

Photography: Alan Pappé

Art Direction: Bill Levy

Design: Ron Canagata

Special Thanks to Chuck Gregory

Paramount Records PAS-6067

1973

From the Disc Sleeve: For the past several years Morgana King has been in a self imposed semi-retirement. The emotional drain of performing in situations "too uptight establishment" for her free and off the wall nature, and a near-fatal automobile accident demanded this time out (another automobile accident four years earlier had taken the life of her husband, musician Willie Dennis). As Morgana puts it, she simply had to "replenish".

A move from Los Angeles to the incredibly beautiful desert near Palm Springs, where she lives with her daughter, three german shepherds, a cat, and a myriad of plants and flowers that thrive to her touch, soothed and nurtured her spirit. By the end of 1972 Morgana was eager to begin again by she wanted someone whom she could respect and admire to guide her career. She signed with music producer/manager Vince Mauro. Vince's prime objective was to make Morgana accessible to the larger and younger record buying audiences that were not about to go to supper clubs to hear her. A beginning in this new career approach was a smashing success as this younger audience came in droves to the Continental Baths in N.Y.C. on a rainy Tuesday night in January of this year. The Morgana King cultists had spread the word.

A record company affiliation that would guarantee creative control and a major promotional input was searched out, and Paramount Records made such a "Labor Of Love" commitment.

In another "off the wall" move Morgana King went into Kenny's Castaways a NYC rock club and in a workshop situation woodshedded the tunes for her Paramount album. It was of this appearance that John L, Wasserman of the San Francisco Chronicle doing a series of articles on music in New York wrote: "Freed from the stultifying conventions of supper clubs, backed only by a guitar-bass-drums trio, Morgana King simply gave one of the dozen best vocal concerts I have ever heard... she transformed a... nitery into a musical cathedral. She opened with Stevie Wonder's great new song, "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life," and set the tone of the evening: jazz improvisations of phrasing and melody, a real and highly dramatic involvement with the lyrics, a range that seems to go from basso profound to notes more ordinarily associated with Lily Pons or Yam Sumac, and the high, unearthly, chilling glissandos which are hers alone in pop music. When I say chilling, I am not speaking metaphorically, I am talking about a hair-straightener more effective than anything ever known in the Fillmore; about shudders that come from a blast of cold air on a hot day. Morgana does not have the intensity of Aretha Franklin but the effect, while more restrained, is the same; a sensual experience that goes way beyond the ear."

John S. Wilson of the New York Times reviewing this engagement wrote of... "her remarkable four octave voice;" "She has a distinctive and compelling vocal style – high soaring lines projected with an almost whispered intensity that are anchored on a foundation of warm, dark mellow tones... The vocal effects she produces, which is like a moth dancing through shimmering light, could be limiting, but Miss King manages to use it with such variety and validity that it is a creatively applicable to the current "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" as it is to the rhythmic nuances of a bossa nova."

The proof of such glowing words is in Morgana's music. Listen, if you will, to her new beginnings.

You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Jennifer Had

As Long As He Will Stay

The Sands Of Time And Change

We Could  Be Flying

Like A Seed

A Song For You

Medley: Desert Hush / I Am A Leaf

All In All

Bobby My Own Thing - Bobby Engemann

 

And I Love Her

Bobby

My Own Thing

Bobby Engemann

Arranged & Conducted by Tommy Oliver and Lex Azevedo

Produced by Kelly Gordon

Cover Photo: Capitol Photo Studio - Rick Rankin

Recored at Independent Recorders

Capitol Records ST-221

1969

Blue On Blue

There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World

Stormy 

Be My Little Baby Bumblebee

And I Love Her

With These Hands

Sittin' Pretty

Words

World Without Love

One Girl

Homeward Bound

101 Strings Play Hits Written By The Beatles

 

Yesterday

101 Strings Play Million Seller Hits Written By The Beatles and Other "Now" Writers

Recorded Under the Direction of D. L. Miller

Alshire S-5111

1968

A Hard Day's Night (Lennon-McCartney)

Penny Lane (Lennon-McCartney)

Yesterday (Lennon-McCartney)

Six Pence And You (Disenhaus)

She Loves You (Lennon-McCartney)

All You Need Is Love (Lennon-McCartney)

I Want To Hold Your Hand (Lennon-McCartney)

Blues For The Guru ( M. Kelly)

Eleanor Rigby (Lennon-McCartney)

Tropic Of Chelsea (Disenhaus)

The Promise Of A Future - Hugh Masekela

 

Bajabula Bonke (The Healing Song)

The Promise Of A Future

Hugh Masekela

Produced by Stewart Levine

Engineered by "The Doctor" at Gold Star Studios

UNI STEREO 73028

Universal City Records - A Division of MCA, Inc.

Chisa Productions

1968

All of the music presented in this album has been performed by the Hugh Masekela Quintet featuring Al Abreu - tenor & soprano saxophone; William Henderson - piano; Chuck Carter - drums and Henry Franklin - bass.

We would also like to acknowledge the presence of Bruce Langhorn on guitar and our many other friends who performed on "There Are Seed To Sow."

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Madonna

No Face, No Name And No Number

Almsot Seedless

Stop

Grazing In The Grass

Vuca (Wake Up)

Bajabula Bonke (The Healing Song)

These Are Seeds To Sow

Maynard Ferguson and His Orchestra

 

Frame For The Blues

Maynard Ferguson and His Orchestra

Recorded on June 8, 1967 at the Canadian Pavilion of Expo 67

CBC International Service STEREO 265

Trumpet - Maynard Ferguson

Trumpets - Bix Bélair, Gilles Laflamme, Réal Mathieu, Marcel Léveque

Trombones - Gérard Vaillancourt, Claude Blouin

Alto Sax - Gerry Danovitch

Tenor Sax - Brian Barley, Nick Ayoub

Baritone Sax - Jean Lebrun

Vibraphone - Yvan Landry

Guitar - Tony Romandini

Piano - Art Maiste

Bass - John Lanza

Drums - Ronny Page

From the back cover: Maynard Ferguson was born in Verdun, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal in 1928. After leading his own band in Canada for a few years in the late forties, he went to the United States where he played in the orchestras of Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet. But it was with Stan Kenton and the era of the rather self-conscious 'progressive' jazz that he first came to prominence. Kenton fans applauded wildly his fantastic technique and screaming style on the high notes, so much so that he topped the Downbeat Polls from 1950 - 52. When the Kenton orchestra came to England, thus ending the embargo imposed on exchanges of orchestras between the Old World and the New, Maynard Ferguson became an international star. Since then, the Canadian trumpet virtuoso has matured, and while still retaining the essential qualities of his early style and especially his ability to jump with ease from the low to the high range, his vast technique is now more closely allied to his powerful lyricism and expressive means.

During the latter part of May, 1967, Maynard Ferguson was invited to appear at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo. To celebrate his 'homecoming' a group of musicians, some of whom were personal friends, representing the very best in Canadian jazz talent, was assembled by the CBC Transcription Service, and two memorable albums were recorded.

Take The 'A' Train

Frame For The Blue

At The Sound Of The Trumpet

Round About Midnight

Almost Like Being In Love

Whisper Not

Alfie

Georgia On My Mind

Katimavik

More Of Little Joe (Winder)

 

El-Logo

More Of Little Joe and His Calypsonians

At The World Famous Royal Victoria

Engineer: Eric Gibson

Photography: Burshill Bradshaw

Elite Records, Ltd. LPOE-17

From the back cover: Five years ago, Royal Victoria Hotel manager Denis Hickman discovered the calypso world of Little Joe and his Calypsonians. Today at Nassau's most famous resort in the Bahamas – Daily 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM, Little Joe and His Calypsonians entertain luncheon guests of the Royal Victoria Hotel, from their unique, atmospheric perch in the heart of a giant silk cotton tree reputed to be as old as Nassau itself. Nightly 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Little Joe, Fletch Ferguson and Alfred Collie provide ideal, stimulating cocktail music on the patio beside the Hotel's famous Blockade Runner Bar.

Prolific and naturally talented Little Joe is the first Bahamian Musician to master the circular steel drum, a musical product of Trinidad and this third long play album of his calypso trio easily provides the most authentic calypso entertainment and the only perfect relaxation for you his precious listener and delightful fans. Whereas the first album "Little Joe's Steel Pan at the Royal Victoria" proved to be the prefect introduction to this distinctive and delightful brand of calypso music; the second collection "Little Joe and his Calypsonians at the Royal Victoria" featured many of Little Joe's own compositions as well as standard favorite calypso songs. Here and now you get calypso music by the masters... "Little Joe, The Bad Fletch, and the Lover," a combination of the most requested calypsos of all times, and your favorite American hit tunes, which are re-styled and re-arranged to suit the mood and  view of Little Joe and his Calypsonians. Possibly the greatest arrangements on Little Joe's current third long play record are "What Now Love?", "Maria Elena", "Do Re Mi", and "Merci Cherie". These are musical challenges, but little Joe, Fletch Ferguson and Alfred Collie are at ease and at home, as when they play Bahamian calypso songs.

"Little Joe" Winder has been playing the fascinating pleasant sounding steel drum for the past 10 years and a natural professional he is on all selections. Fletch "The Bad Fletch" Ferguson with seven years professional experience, is one of the most highly respected guitarists in the Bahamas, Alfred "The Lover" Collie, bass artist, is in a class by himself, five years after he began his professional career. Need I say more? You'll need to purchase "Little Joe and His Calypsonians at the Royal Victoria", which is currently one of the best selling Elite Record Albums in the Bahamas, in order to see and hear how limitless the talents of this calypso trio are. You must buy "More of Little Joe and His Calypsonians at the Royal Victoria" in order to see and hear how institutional Little Joe and His Calypsonians are at this world renowned resort. I'm certainly tempted to say "Little Joe and His Calypsonians are indispensable". – Basil Cooper, Nassau Bahamas, May 1967

Merci Cheri

Going Home Tonight

Nassau Or Jamaica 

Big Bamboo

Nosey Mother-In-Law

Island In The Sun

What Now My Love

I Adore Her

Do Re Mi

Maria Elena

Archie Buck 'Em Up

Danny Boy

El-Logo

The Music Man Goes Dixieland - Jimmy McPartland

 

Ya Got Trouble

The Music Man Goes Dixieland

Jimmy McPartland's All-Stars

Produced by James Foglesong

Epic LN 3463

From the back cover: By Eddie Condon, spurred by Richard Gehman

At one point in The Music Man, Meredith's musical – Meredith Willson, that is – which has been doing nothing but ropes-up-no-ma'm-no-seats-for-tonight business ever since it opened in New York, a mummer named Robert Preston introduces the Think System of musical instruction, a method which may replace Schillinger and certainly endangers all others. According to the way this operates, you just think what you're going to play and everything comes out bearable, if possibly not tuneful.

No such system was used on the record in this sleeve, except beforehand. Jimmy McPartland, more commonly known as Scotch by name and by consumption, was approached by Epic to get together some convivial souls to do a jazz session of The Music Man score, and he did some thinking. He thought back to all the knaves he'd enjoyed playing with over the years and tried to pack as many of them as possible into that converted church in the Thirties that Epic uses as a studio.

Jimmy thought up quite a cast, and the cast in turn got loose on some music. This note would end right here if it weren't for the fact that a few high spots ought to be indicated. For one thing, there are Dick Cary's arrangements, which are not arrangements in the straitjacket sense of the word but are merely outlines which give the guys plenty of freedom to do whatever comes into their noodles. Jimmy said the other day, "My idea was to make it like Dixieland, to give it the flavor, but also to make it like a production." Cary, the fugitive from Hartford (he got out of there just before the society bands entrapped him permanently), was enlisted – and if there's anybody who hears these bands and thinks he didn't do a championship job, I'm applying to Jimmy the Goofer for work.

Another high spot are the sides on which McPartland's cornet sounds as though it had had a drink of Scotch. I've known this gentleman for thirty-five years, an while there have been times when neither of us have felt like climbing up on the stand, there have never been times when we didn't insist on playing. McPartland arrived in the studio on January 2, 1958, flush with holiday health, and blew a few trial blasts. Quoth he, "this thing sounds like a cazoo, like." And it did. He looked in the bell, he blew it again, and still there was that cazooey-wooey sound. Then he remembered what had happened. His grandson, Douglas, who has witnessed the passage of eight full years, had been eating a gang of nuts the day before. After finishing off the nuts he asked to blow Grandpa's horn. The result: when Jimmy tired to play, he sounded like a nutty cazoo. Fortunately, the cazoo phase lasted only a few minutes and McPartland go back to above normal, as anybody who bothers to listen will swear.

Some of the men on these numbers have known each other for more than three decades – Bud Freeman, George Wettling, Jimmy and I, for example. A few go back twenty years – Maxie Kaminsky, Coleman Hawkins, Cutty Cutshall. And some are more recent, but equally strong arrivals. McPartland, who appears by courtesy of Capitol Records, better than anybody knows anybody else. She's his wife.

In addition to setting the arrangements – pardon, the outlines – Cary played everything in sight: celeste (a la glockenspiel), also trumpet, alto horn, alto everything else. George the Wet also played an unusual item, the old-fashined temple blocks.

As far as standouts solos are concerned, I modestly refrain from mentioning my own contributions, preferring to defer to such performances as those of Bill Bell on tuba, Freeman and Hawkins chasing each other, Pee Wee Russell and Bob Wilbur doing the same thing, Tyree Glenn's trombone and plunger, Maxie Kaminsky's lead horn (especially in Seventy Six Trombones), McPartland's work with the Harmon mute, Charlie Shaver's trumpet, Marian's piano, Cutty's trombone, Cliff Leeman's drumming and Lou McGarity's big-toned trombone. That covers just about everybody, but if I overlooked anybody, blame it on McPartland's Scotch.

The personnels and the dates are as follows:

December 20th, 1957

"Marian The Librarian"; "Seventy Six Trombones."

Jimmy McPartland, Max Kaminsky, John Glasel, trumpet; Dick Cary, "F" trumpet, alto horn, celeste; Tyree Glenn, Cutty Cutshall, Vernon Brown, Al Gusikoff, trombone; Peanuts Hucko, clarinet; Marian McPartland, piano; Cliff Leemans, drums; Bobby Haggart, bass; Bill Bell, tuba; Billy Bauer, guitar; George Berg, tenor sax and bassoon.

January 2nd, 1958

"Till There Was You"; "It's  You"; "Iowa Stubborn."

Jimmy McPartland, Max Kaminsky, John Glasel, trumpet; Dick Cary, "F" trumpet and alto horn; Cutty Cutshall, Lou McGarity, Frank Rehab, trombone; Sol Yagen, clarinet; Marian McPartland, piano; George Wettling, drums; Bill Crow, bass; Sal Salvador, guitar; Bud Freeman, tenor sax; Billy Stanley, tuba.

January 3rd, 1958

"Gary Indiana"; "The Well Fargo Wagon."

Jimmy McPartland, Max Kaminsky, John Gasel, trumpet; Dick Cary, "F" trumpet, alto horn, prepared piano; Cutty Cutshall, Lou McGarity, Al Gusikoff, trombone; Pee Wee Russell, Bob Wilbur, clarinet; Marian McPartland, piano; George Wettling, drums; Bill Crow, bass; Eddie Condon, guitar; Bill Stanley, tuba.

January 16th, 1958

"Goodnight My Someone"; "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl For Me"; "Lida Rose" w/ "Till There Was You"; "Ya Got Trouble."

Jimmy McPartland, Charlie Shavers, trumpet; Cutty Cutshall, trombone; Bud Freeman, Coleman Hawkins, tenor sax; Peanuts Hucko, clarinet; Cliff Leemans, drums; Eddie Condon, gitaar; Milt Hinton, bass; Gene Schroeder, piano.

Seventy Six Trombones

Iowa Stubborn

Ya Got Trouble

Lida Rose and Will I Ever Tell You

Goodnight My Someone

Gary, Indiana

The Wells Fargo Wagon

Till There Was You

Marian The Librarian 

It's You

The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl For Me

The Heart & Soul Of Jan & Dean (and Friends)

 

Fortune Teller

The Heart & Soul of Jan & Dean and Friends

Design Stereo Spotlight Series

Stereo Spectrum - Design Records DLP-181

Pickwick International

1962

Heart And Soul

Something A Little Bit Different

Big Pearl

Dawn Of Love

Roll & Shout

Satelite

Down At The Shack

Deep Love

Wanted, One Girl

Midsummer Night's Dream

Uh Oh

Lovely Lips

Yea, Let's Fly

Baby Indeed I Do

High And Low

Fortune Teller

Arabesque - Dances Of The Near East

Dabka

Arabesque

Traditional & Folk Dances Of The Near East

Orient Records LPO 126

Samia

Leila

Daka Wo Noss

Habeeby

Al Afrah

Dabka (Solo Inst.)

Al Jazayer

Pharonic Dance

Ya Jamlik

Ala El Shatek

Tahia

Nile

El Gazalle

Percussion & Jazz Ensemble - 1980 Morehead State University

 

Side 2

1980 Morehead State University

Percussion Ensemble - Frank Odds, Director

Jazz Ensemble 1 - David L. Anderson, Director

SoundMark Stereo R782

Side 1

Dr. Strange- Change - Chris Gallaher

Down By The Riverside - Traditional - Arranger: Oliver Nelson

Uncle Heavy's Pork Chop Revue - Keith Foley

Sweet Georgia Upside Down - Phil Kelly

Jazz Ensemble 1

Xylophonia - Joe Green

Percussion Ensemble

Side 2

Sonata No. 4 - Wm. Jr. Schinstine - Jan Witler, Tympani Solo

African Welcome Piece - Michael Dow

Pentagons - Robert Washburn

Skrzo

Waltz

Canon

Theme and Five Variations (Jan Witler conducting)

Mr. Babalu - Miguelito Valdés

 

Most Requested Rhumbas

Mr. Babalu

Most Requested Rhumbas 

Miguelito Valdés and His Orchestra

Decca Records (10-inch 33 rpm) DL 5374

1951

From the back cover: Miguelito Valdés was probably the first performer to introduce Afro Cuban singing to the United States. He and his group use the same, centuries old percussion instruments that the old slaves brought with them from Africa. Some very important components of the orchestra are: bongos, twin hand-drums that are tuned by the heat of a flame applied near the skin or playing surface; maracas, small hollowed gourds, filled with beads or pebbles, which are shaken by their handles; claves, a pair of cylindrical pieces of wood that are struck together; the concerro, common cowbell or piece of metal; and finally, the well known conga, or big hand drum, played while resting on the ground or carried by the player slung over the shoulder.

Miguelito himself as one of the most vibrant personalities in the entertainment world. He was born in Havana, Cuba, at the outbreak of World War I. His parents, Spanish-Cuban father and Mexican mother, christened him Eugenio Lázaro Miguel Izquierdo Valdés y Hernandez, but with forthrightness and vision, he shortened his name to the diminutive form Miguelito Valdés, and so it has remained.

Valdés senior intended that Miguelito should study hard and become a lawyer or politician. To this end Miguelito was entered in the fashionable Zapata School where he excelled in music, played hookey, and initiated the other students into the intricacies of the native songs and dances. These he learned by haunting the Havana docksides. There he would watch, wide-eyed, the goings-on in the cantinas or bars, and memorize the songs he heard with an instinctively musical ear.

Soon after his fifteenth birthday, Miguelito took a fling at amateur boxing and succeeded in cutting a wide swath in the middle-weight ranks, gaining much renown among the sporting bloods in Cuba's capital. He made some excursions to the night spots and, when recognized, was always introduced to the assembled crowds. Being unable to exhibit his boxing prowess, he would wind up by singing several selections, usually to his own guitar or bass accompaniment.

One of these impromptu concerts won him the offer of a position singing at the Havana Riverside Casino. His renditions of the Cuban tunes of the day gained him almost instant recognition and the Casino rapidly became the number one hot spot. There followed tours to Puerto Rico's famed Escambron; the Union Club in Havana; theaters in Venezuela and Guatemala; and a triumphant return to Cuba and his finest engagement singing in the beautiful and widely-known Casino de la Playa, one of the most ornately appointed clubs in the world.

Night club appearances, records and starring roles on radio shows brought him to the attention of North American theatrical people and he made his first trip to this country in April of 1940. A few days after his arrival he was signed to appear at the Starlight Roof of the Waldorf-Astoria. He remained here for two years, his stay punctuated by theater appearances in our largest cities, engagements in America's finest supper clubs, and a seventy-eight week appearance on the Camel "Rumba Revue."

Many writers have attempted to describe Miguelito's work and have in most instances fallen back on a phrase coined by one of the contemporaries: "Savage is the word for Miguelito." It describes his style and his singing well. He attacks a song much as he would attacking a boxing opponent. To watch this six-foot, one hundred and ninety pound dynamo in action is stirring. His coal black hair tossing, his body swaying to the rhythms he sings, his hands beating on the conga-drum, he is a treat to watch as well as to hear.

The Afro-Cuban songs he signs are as natural to him as breathing, several of them having been written especially for him by Cuban composers. One of the numbers in this collection owes its wide popularity to the skill of Valdés – so much so, in fact, that Valdés has become identified with the song and is known as "Mr. Babalu."

Babalu - Margarita Lecuona

La Negra Leono - Antonio Fenades

Marimba - Agustin Lara - Abe Tuvim

Rumba Rumbero - Miguelito Valdés - Albert Gamse

Walter Winchell Rumba - Noro Morales - Johnnie Camacho

Rumba Ritmica - Miguelito Valdés - Johnnie Camacho

Escucha Mi Son - Noro Morales - Johnnie Camacho

Bambarito - Electo Rosell-I. Pineiro

Bafo da Onca - Bloco Carnavalesco

 

Luar Na Serra

O Grande Samba Do

Bloco Carnavalesco

Bafo da Onca - Vol. 3

Mocambo MR-1362

Fabrica de Discos Rozenblit LTDA. LP 40079

From the back cover (translated): Friends, here we are again to introduce you to what is most authentic and most Brazilian - the Carloca carnival, known worldwide, is the most famous and the most sensational.

Like our football, its contribution to the projection of our country's name abroad is great. To justify the fame and concept they enjoy, nothing more logical than to present one of their most legitimate and authentic representatives of current Brazilian and Rio de Janeiro, the fabulous "Bloco Carnavalesco Bafo da Onca", through this LP of theirs, which is the number one 3, titled "O Grande Samb Do Bloco Carnavalesco Bafo Da Onca".

From success to success, "Bafo da Onca" established itself in the carnival scene of our city, in such a way that, according to the opinion of those most knowledgeable about the subject, "it stopped being a simple block, to become an institution in the service of the revelry". And this statement has its reason for being, because the physiognomy of Rio's carnival has undergone total transformation, gained new colors, new life, finally strengthened, and from year to year it gets better, since the advent of "Bafo da Onca".

Last year, to our joy and satisfaction, we had our songs published by "Vogue", from Paris, under the title "Carnaval Du Bresil, Bafo da Onca, Rio".

We are Champions of the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro in 1962. A title that we won in fact and directly, with a lot of struggle, thanks to the judgmental will of the people of this city, which made our samba the most popular on the streets and in the halls. We continue with the "Jujbas" - "Misturas" - and "Oswaldos", and giving opportunities to others as well, revealed in our midst, in our environment. – Celio Reis

Ritmo

Samba Do Saci - Oswaldo Nunes - Lino Roberto

Briguel - Jujuba - Paule Valdez

Obalele - Oswaldo Nunes - Lino Roberto

Ziriguidum Do Pirata - Oswaldo Nunes

Sambafo - Mistrua

Neca - Jujuba

Cinas - Mistura

Chorei, Chorei - Oswaldo Nunes

Verdade - Alcyr - Plinio

Luar Na Serra - Alemao

Tarde Demais - Melinho - Alemao

Ponto Final - Mistura - Dandao

What's Am Uggams? - Leslie Uggams

 

Some Cats Know

What's An Uggams?

Cover Photo: Jacques Bonnet

Cover Design: Boring Eutemey

Recording Engineers: Phil Ramone & Adrian Barber

The recordings of The Wrong Man & Just For Today were supervised by Nesuhi Ertegun

A Leiber-Stoller Production

Atlantic SD 8196

1968

From the back cover: An Uggams is a girl named Leslie whose life has miraculously blossomed since as a fifteen year old on the Harry Salter's "Name That Tune" show she thrilled a nationwide TV audience with her rendition of He's Got The Whole World In His Hands. A few years later that little girl matured into a star of the first magnitude, and today Leslie literally has the whole world in her hands.

The kind of spectacular success that was to come was predicted by Mitch Miller when he signed Leslie for his "Sing Along With Mitch" TV show. "She's indescribably beautiful and unbelievably talented," said Mitch. "With the public and Leslie it's just a case of love at first sight and first sound." His protege won all the polls as Best Female Singer on Television two years in a row.

Mitch's prediction met its first stern test when Leslie moved out of her teems and made her night club debut at the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room in New York. Variety reported, "The whole room responded to her vocal efforts with a standing ovation. "Leslie became the youngest night club star in the country, moving form one top spot to another: the Flamingo in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, the Copacabana and the Waldorf in New York, El San Juan in Puerto Rico, etc.

An Uggams at that stage was winning friends with amore than just great talent. Her personality and charm lay in her complete naturalness with people and an almost oblivious disregard of the fame and fortune coming her way in leaps and bounds. Every TV variety show appearance zoomed her popularity as a singer. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Leslie Uggams the actress appeared. It started with straight dramatic roles on TV shows "I Spy" and "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E." A complete Leslie Uggams appeared for the first time in 1966 when she played the lead, singing dancing and acting, in "The Boy Friend," the role which also started Julie Andrews on the road to fame. Stanley Eichelbaum of the San Francisco Examiner, reviewing the show, summed up what an Uggams was to him: "Champagne will do. That's the kind of mood Leslie put in me last night during her bubbly and utterly bewitching debut."

Every time a new facet of Uggams appeared new adjectives followed. In 1967 critics called her "brilliant, radiant, remarkable, irresistible, thrilling, a singer-dancer-actress of extraordinary skill. The biggest star since Streisand." The occasion was "Hallelujah, Baby," her first starring role on Broadway. It surprised no one when her monumental critical reception, combined with the unanimous adulation of New York audiences, brought her the most coveted award of the legitimate theater, a "Tony," for the "Best Musical Comedy Actress of 1967." And 1968 over the ABC-TV network, turned out to be one of the year's most acclaimed TV specials.

The most sought after role of the 1968 season on Broadway was the part of Cleopatra in "Her First Roman," the musical version of George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra." (This album contains two of the songs from "Her First Roman, "The Wrong Man and Just For Today.) "She is Cleopatra," the producers said of Leslie when they signed her to co-star with Richard Kiley as Julius Caesar. Is this the pinnacle from an Uggams or are there even greater things in store?" Most certainly there are," say Mitch Miller. "A talent like Leslie's comes along once in a lifetime. I'm glad it happened during mine." Amen!

What The World Needs Now Is Love - Arrangement by Pat Williams

Any Old Time Of The Day - Arrangement by Pat Williams

In The Land Of Make Believe - Arrangement by Pat Williams

Let The Music Play - Arranged by Jack Cortner

River Deep, Mountain High - Arranged by Jack Cortner

Is That All There Is - Arrangement by Pat Williams

Flying - Arrangement by Pat Williams

Some Cats Know - Arrangement by Pat Williams

The Wrong Man - Arrangement by Peter Matz

Just For Today - Arrangement by Peter Matz