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Saturday, April 26, 2025

The Common Ground - Herbie Mann

 

Uhuru

The Common Ground
The Herbie Mann Afro-Jazz Sextet + Four Trumpets
Recording engineer: Tommy Nola Cover photo: Ruth Mann
Supervision: Nesubi Ertegun
Atlantic Records 1343 (STA-60282 PR)
1960

The cover photo was taken on the palace grounds of the Kabaka of Buganda (one of the four provinces of Uganda). The Kabaka, or king, has a troupe of dancers and professional musicians in his employ, and they have living quarters on the palace grounds. Herbie Mann is seen playing flute in the doorway of the but where the Kabaka's flutists live.

PERSONNEL

On Baghdad, Asia Minor, High Life & The Common Ground, the personnel is: Herbie Mann, flutes; John Rae, vibraharp & percussion; Nabil Totah, bass; Ray Mantilla, conga drums; Ray Barretto, bongos; Rudy Collins, drums; Michael Olatunji, percussion; Doc Cheatham, Leo Ball, Ziggy Schatz & Jerry Kail, trumpets.

On Walkin', St. Thomas & Night In Tunisia, the personnel is the same except that Michael Olatunji, percussion, is not heard.

On Sawa Sawa Dé & Uhuru, the personnel is: Herbie Mann, flutes; John Rae, vibraharp & percussion; Nabil Totah, bass; Ray Mantilla, conga drums; Rudy Collins, drums; Michael Olatunji, percussion. The vocals are by Maya Angelou, Dolores Parker & Michael Olatunji (Michael Olatunji appears by arrangement with Colum bia Records).


This is a high fidelity recording. Transfer from master tapes to master lacquers is made on Ampex 300 Tape Recorder, Scully Variable Pitch Lathe, and Grampion Feedback cutterhead. The variable pitch control of the Scully widens the grooves for loud passages and narrows them during quieter sections, forming the light and dark patterns that can be seen on the surface of the pressing. The finest vinylite compound is used. For best results observe the R.I.A.A. bigh frequency roll-off characteristic with a 500 cycle crossover.

From the back cover: A characteristic of modern jazz is its interest in both its own root materials and in other kinds of music with which jazz can be naturally fused.

Afro-Cuban music is one "root" that particularly fascinates the modern jazz musician. It represents an early confrontation of West African music and "European" music; in some parts of the Caribbean, the music remains very "African." My fascination with the Afro-Cuban idiom is an old one, and that is why I felt very happy about a recent opportunity to make an extensive trip to Africa itself. The indigenous African music I heard, the Afro-Cuban synthesis, and modern jazz are different branches of the same family tree, and in this album I have tried to bring them together and find a level on which they could relate to each other. That is what I mean by The Common Ground.

My group and I were invited earlier this year to tour 17 African countries. Our 14-week trek began at Dakar, and went on through Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Congo, Mozambique, Southern and Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Ethiopia, Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia. Besides giving concerts, we also listened to as much native music as we could. Four of the compositions in this LP: High Life, Uburu, Baghdad and Sawa Sawa Dé contain melodic and rhythmic suggestions from African music. We also collected many instruments. I picked up 20 different flutes and a variety of percussion instruments.

We are a group of many nationalities, and this made a big impression on the African audiences, who are not used to seeing "mixed" bands. Nabil Totah is Arabic, born in Palestine; Rudy Collins is an American Negro; Olatunji is from Nigeria; Ray Mantilla and Ray Barretto are Puerto Rican; Johnny Rae is of Italian descent and I am Jewish of Russian and Roumanian descent. (This was the group that went with me on the tour; for the record session I added a trumpet section to act as a kind of "kicker" for the rest of the group.)

Because of this variety in backgrounds, there is greater understanding among the members of this group for my attempt to blend the African, Afro-Cuban and modern jazz elements into a unified style. Incidentally, I have termed this style "Afro-Jazz" to make clear that it is more broadly based than Afro-Cuban music. My interest and that of other musicians in Afro-Cuban music originated from a feeling that conventional jazz is limited in rhythm possibilities. Har- monic exploration in modern jazz has taken many different avenues, but this has not been equally true of rhythm. My experience in Africa has given me many valuable new ideas on use of rhythm in jazz. This does not exhaust the possibilities, however. Other native musics of the world offer other possible areas of jazz use. I am thinking right now, for instance, of incorporating American Indian music into jazz.

The "African" origin of jazz has been overstated. Some of the rhythmic drive of jazz perhaps derives from Africa, but jazz as we know it today is so idiomatically American that African audiences, particularly those south of the Sahara, do not understand or appreciate it. They are making great efforts to do so. There are, in fact, such strong forces at work for the people to become "civilized" that much of the old music is not played any more. Africans seem to be afraid that the native music will be considered "jungle" or "Tarzan" type music by outsiders, and so they tend to favor American and European music of the commercial type. In coming back to Africa with some of their own music transformed into unrecognizability, – I hope we made them as we admitted before feel to some extent how highly the rest of the world regards their native heritage.

Baghdad is not in Africa, of course, but the music of Asia Minor is related to that of North Africa. They have a common Moslem culture. Incidentally, Nabil Totah, my bassist, is Arabic, and so it was logical that the melody should be played in unison with Nabil bowing bass in the Arabic style and myself on wooden flute.

Asia Minor also has a genuine Near Eastern feeling, which is natural enough, considering the fact that the composer, Roger Mozian, is Armenian. This is a piece that Charlie Parker liked to play. He recorded it with Flip Phillips and Machito.

Walkin' is a well-known jazz standard, but I don't think that it has ever been done before with the particular styling and feeling we have given it here.

Sawa Sawa Dé is done with small group and singers led by Olatunji. We heard some children singing this folk song in Sierra Leone. The rhythms are a combination of things. The flute I play on this is an African cane flute and Johnny Rae is playing a wooden marimba from Mozambique. It has a very happy feeling.

St. Thomas is based on a folk song from the Caribbean. Sonny Rollins adapted it as a jazz riff. This piece has become one of the most popular items in our repertoire.

High Life also has a strong Afro-Cuban feeling. In it I also tried to express the Spanish love of brass sound. It is based on a West African dance, a fascinating dance using elaborate robes and gestures. It can be danced by two people or ten. Rudy plays it here in quadrille march tempo, as we did it when we played at the Inauguration Ball of President Tubman in Liberia.

Uhuru is the Swahili word for "Freedom." It is a word that you hear everywhere in Africa today. I wrote Uhuru as the last movement of my Jazz Evolution Suite, which we played in our concerts on the African tour. It uses the language of modern jazz, but tries to suggest older strains, going back through Negro "church" music all the way back to Africa. The lyrics are by Olatunji and are Swahili, Yuruba and English.

Night In Tunisia is one of the first Dizzy Gillespie Afro- Cuban compositions. It exerted a tremendous amount of in- fluence on the early modern jazz movement, and deservedly belongs in this LP. With all due despect to Dizzy, we were in Tunisia, but we didn't hear any music that was anything like this.

The Common Ground is perhaps the most successful synthesis of the three strains of music that has occupied our group in recent months native African, Afro-Cuban and modern jazz. It is an indication of the direction we are going. The value of the give-and-take of a group with as diverse backgrounds as ours is well illustrated in this closing number. – HERBIE MANN (as told to Gary Kramer)

SIDE ONE

1. a) BAGHDAD by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP.
    b) ASIA MINOR by Roger Mozian; Arkayem Music, ASCAP.) (Total Time: 5:12)

2. WALKIN' y Richard Carpenter; Prestige Music, BMI. (Time: 5:21)

3. SAWA SAWA DÉ - Arranged by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. (Time: 3:00)

4. ST. THOMAS by Sonny Rollins; Prestige Music, BMI. (Time: 3:23)

SIDE TWO

1. HIGH LIFE by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. (Time: 2:10)

2. UHURU by Herbie Mann & Michael Olatunji; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. (Time: 4:53)

3. NIGHT IN TUNISIA by Dizzy Gillespie & Frank Paparelli; Leeds Music, ASCAP. (Time: 5:58)

4. THE COMMON GROUND by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. Time: 3:48)

Ridin' High - Maynard Ferguson

 

The Rise And Fall Of Seven

Ridin' High
Maynard Ferguson
Produced by Alvertis Isbell
Recorded at Bell Sound Studios
Recording engineers: Tori & Yarmark
Mixed & edited by Tom Dowd
Cover photo: Compliments of Bently's Cycle & Sports, Montreal, Quebec
Cover design: Haig Adishian
A&R Supervision: Ira Sabin
Enterprise Records 13-101
Distributed by Atlantic Records 
1968

Maynard Ferguson - trumpet or flugelhorn
Natale Pavone, Charles Camilleri, Richard D. Hurwitz & Lewis M. Soloff - trumpets
James Cleveland & Locksley W. "Slide" Hampton - trombones
George Jeffers - bass trombone or tuba
Richard O. Spencer - alto sax or soprano sax
Frank A. Vicari & Lewis B. Tabackin - tenor saxes
Park "Pepper" Adams - baritone sax
Daniel B. Bank - bass sax or piccolo
Michael J. Abene - piano
Joseph A. Beck - guitar
Donald R. Payne - bass or electric bass
Donald F. McDonald - drums
John Pacheco - conga drums, tambourine or shaker.

From the back cover: Those were the days!

People were not so thoroughly imbued with the sense which passes for silliness today.

Heathcliff was younger then, as were most of us who were born around the same time. He used to cook for us so magnificently, purged by the dint of shear pleasure.

Then as the twilight of even began to fall and rustle the trees in its weak, we would smuggle around the fire in our robes and look at the flames as they danced. As we got toasty warm in front, our backs would get cold. Then we would look at the flames some more and consider all those won- derful days in the past: how many cornflakes would it take to fill one of those W.W. I mess kits; how were Tom Mix an' the Red Sox doin'; was Dad ever going to scrimp and scrave to get enough together to get the furnace fixed?

Most of us have grown up and gone our ways, with Heathcleft the most flagrant of all. Casti- gated, castrated, eviscerated, finally cremated, he had worked his way to the near-perihelion of his career only to be shot down in flames when his individuality got the best of him one day and he began putting meat in the chili while work- ing in the student cafeteria of a large Eastern university.

When Maynard was by last, with the band sounding better than ever before, we reminisced of him. It was quite an exhilarating experience, what with recollections of Heathkit and those days, the news about Dad (of which more later), and the feeling of good fellowship that comes of sharing (with Maynard, the guys in the band, two road managers, assorted wives, friends, fiancées, camp followers and the band bus driver) my cleverly appointed one-room efficiency digs.

Victuals presented somewhat of a problem (the poor fridg, gladly accommodating the fixings for an impromptu candlelit midnite tête-à-tête or two, as well as a liberal supply of orange juice for the morning, simply rebelled at the workload of keeping so many hungry, happy working people fed), but we managed; and with it all, everyone got to know each other pretty well that week... and the music was superb!

Things have changed somewhat, back there. Dad still hasn't gotten around to getting the furnace fixed, but he has addled some other improvements. The fireplace never drew too well anyhow (we all have many a tear-stained eye to look back on attesting the fact), so he blocked it off the rest of the way and installed some 15-inch loudspeakers and a pair of 200 watt amplifiers, there- by creating an exponential horn the magnitude of which has neighbors raving for miles around!

Now, in his total environment room, as he calls it, all he need do is put his stack of Haleloke and Frances Langford records (which he obtained, with a stroke of near-genius business acumen, at tremendous discount) on the changer, crank up the gain, and what with those 2 X 200 watts pushing in tandem he need no longer be concerned about the temperature outside.

He seems no longer concerned about the temperature inside, as well, as he has given up drinking too, in deference to the Electric Company.

And now you, dear listener are hereby cordially invited to partake of the music herein in a similar fashion. If perchance you are found wanting of a suitable fireplace-chimney complex, an excellent alternative would be to contact your favorite potable and/or your favorite wife (etc.), friend, fiancé(e), camp follower or bus driver and participate in the music thusly.

However so you may choose, in the words of that famous, too-little-known underground poet, Estelle Inez Garcin:

Autism affect/association ambivalence/ano- rexia nervosa/but most of all/ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY!!!

Prof. Clyde W. Windchaffe - Translated from the original text "Jungimmethum" by JACK SHAW

The Rise And Fall Of Seven
Light Green
Kundalini Woman 
Sunny
Meet A Cheetah
Molecules
Wack-Wack
Satan Speaks
Alfie

The Ballad Side Of Teresa Brewer

 

Don't Smoke In Bed

The Ballade Side Of Teresa Brewer
Moments To Remember
Arranged and Conducted by Alan Lorber
Philips Records PHM 200-119
1964

From the back cover: Like maple syrup and griddle cakes, mustard and hot dogs, or even hot dogs and soda with baseball, this album represents above all, a lot of good things getting together.

Take Teresa Brewer, the pint-sized bundle of ever-smiling vocal talent who's been making hit records practically half of her young life. Team her most affectionate feeling for a really good song with the memorable, musical nostalgia dished up over the seasons by Willard Robison, a light-hearted, seventy-year-young songwriter. Season them both with the highly professional arranging skill of Alan Lorber. Put them all together and they spell musical enchantment for all to hear.

In a sense, this newest and most ear-catching concert on wax by Miss Music is a tipping of the hat and a low bow to one of the great, and comparatively unsung American Tin Pan Alleyites. Willard Robison is the owner of some of the very best of our standards, and eight of his songs are included in this program, in Teresa's own persuasive, heart-filled style.

Listen to her caress the familiar strains of "Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer." Listen again as she weaves a spell of heartbreak around the tragic message of a broken love in the classic "A Cottage for Sale." Or perhaps you're more attuned to those ditties that serve as flashbacks to less burden- some days as in Robison's "Wheatfields in the Moonlight," "Moonlight Miss" and "Brownstone in Brooklyn."

For variety, Teresa sprinkles her concert with selected other items, all carrying the wallop of pure nostalgia. One of these, "Far Away Places" is almost an answer to the last pair of tunes. Then, there'll be still other fond memories of "The Old Lamplighter," "Moments to Remember," and again the story of one who fell in love with his city, "I Left My Heart in San Fran- cisco," a sort of West Coast answer for the lover of the city of Brooklyn.

As good and satisfying a repertoire of songs as any you'll find-and what's best of all-you'll fall in love yourself with Tessie's ever warm, sincere, deeply expressive musical picture painting. We suggest you find out for yourself. Flip the switch and spin-along with Teresa's own special kind of vibrant vocalizing. – Ren Grevatt

A Cottage For Sale
Old Folks
Moments To Remember
Moonlight Miss
Far Away Places
I See Wheatfields In The Moonlight
Don't Smoke In Bed
Old Brownstone In Brooklyn
The Old Lamplighter
Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer
(I Left My Heart) In San Francisco

Compadres - Brubeck & Mulligan

 

Recuerdo

Compadres
The Dave Brubeck Trio
Featuring Gerry Mulligan
Recorded Live In Mexico
Engineering: John Guerriere, Russ Payne
Cover Photo: Foto Alex - Mexico City/Globe
Columbia Records STEREO CS 9704
1968

Dave Brubeck - Piano
Gerry Mulligan - Baritone Sax
Alan Dawson - Drums
Jack Six - Bass

From the back cover: When 1967 and the 17-year-old Dave Brubeck Quartet came to an end, two questions circumnavigated the world. Was Brubeck serious about concentrating on composing, and did this mean he was through as leader of jazz combos?

The answers respectively were yes and no. Dave completed his long-envisioned oratorio, performed the premiere, with the Cincinnati Symphony, then turned his attention to a promise he had made to George Wein just before the old group dispersed. Wein had guaranteed to deliver Brubeck, solo or with a group, at the second annual Newport Jazz Festival in Mexico.

Brubeck had made a similar tour last year when American Airlines, celebrating its 25th anniversary of servicing the country, arranged for Wein to assemble a jazz package to play in Puebla and Mexico City. The reaction (commemorated in the "Bravo! Brubeck!" album) was such that this year there were calls not merely for a repeat but for an enlargement of the con- cept. In 1968, when the airline's baby became one of the many artistic projects of the so-called "Cultural Olympics," the tour was expanded to cover five cities.

Promptly, Dave decided not to make it a solo jaunt. "I'd used Jack Six in the premiere performance of the oratorio, and of course he'd done some fine work with Herbie Mann's group and with George Wein's Newport All Stars. It was George who recommended Alan Dawson as the best possible drummer I could find. He's worked with Lionel Hampton's band but he's best known as a member of the faculty at the Berklee School of Music.

"Gerry Mulligan had subbed in the old quartet for several nights when Paul Desmond was having some dental work done. Since George already wanted to have Gerry on his Mexican tour, I thought it would be exciting if we worked together."

Traveling with the package (Brubeck and Mulligan, the Adderley, Mann and Wein combos, singer Clea Bradford and Woody Herman's band), I was able to observe at first hand how swiftly and easily this excitement had been established. Reports had already come in from the New Orleans Jazz Festival about the ova- tion given to Dave and Gerry, topped only by Louis Armstrong himself. With only two full rehearsals and four U.S. concerts under their belt, Brubeck and his three new collaborators evolved an immediate rapport. On and offstage, Dave and Gerry were as relaxed as I had ever seen or heard them.

Before the group was two weeks old, a substantial repertoire had been assembled, composed of originals by Brubeck and Mulligan with a suitable sprinkling of Mexican standards.

The gentle, delicate Lullabye de Mexico was written by Mulligan some time ago, but Gerry says, "I never knew what to do with it. But it seemed just right for this occasion."

Dave has a special fondness for the beguiling Indian Song. "Al Walloupe, an Indian vaquero on the cattle ranch where I was raised, used to hum incessantly the first two bars, which in reality was the complete song before I extended it. Al would then laughingly explain that his forefathers would have sung that short melody for days at a time."

The public reaction to the new combo was consistently enthusiastic. During two prior visits, Brubeck had been established as the most popular Norteamericano jazz name in Mexico. The addition of Mulligan, and the curiosity value of hearing Dave in a new context, reinforced an already fervent interest.

Like the 1967 tour, the festival started in Puebla be- fore moving on to the Bellas Artes Theatre and the National Auditorium in Mexico City. Next came two shows in Guadalajara, the first of which was a wildly acclaimed matinee held in a bullring. Theatre dates in Monterrey and Acapulco ended the tour.

The new sounds introduced on these sides confirm the reaction of Juan Lopez Moctezuma and other authoritative Mexican critics: these four musicians combine the freshness and enthusiasm of newcomers with the intelligence and maturity of experienced artists.

For Brubeck, Mulligan, Dawson and Six, this was a tour that will not soon be forgotten-a happy, cooking ball for all. Will they stay together? Despite many other commitments, Dave concedes that if Wein works out a European tour, or anything else that will bring them together again, he won't make any show of resistance.

Meanwhile, this will remain a unique and unprece- dented album, a sui generis souvenir of a memorable week. – Leonard Feather

Jumpin' Bean
Adios, Mariquita Linda
Indian Song
Tender Woman (Tierna Mujer)
Amapola
Lullabye De Mexico (Lullabye of Mexico)
Sapito
Recuerdo (Remembrance)

Friday, April 25, 2025

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs - Rocking Horse Players

 

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
The Speedy Little Taxi / Hedi / The Little Circus Train / Black Beauty
Rocking Horse Players
Rocking Horse 5082

Jazz Cello - Ray Brown

 

Memories Of You

Jazz Cello
Ray Brown
Cover Photo: Herb Nott
Art Direction: Merle Shore
Verve Records MG V-8390
1960

From the back cover: By the time you have finished listening to this album I hope you have the same reaction that I did. That Ray Brown, one of the truly great bass players of jazz, will be one of its great cello players.

The step from playing bass to cello might appear to be a comparatively easy one, especially for a man who has won more jazz polls than he can remember, yet the transition was not as smooth as you'd expect.

As Ray soon learned, the cello, compared with the bass, was small and consequently difficult to play in tune. Those very drawbacks, however, were momentous ones.

What Ray discovered and what he did about it is a story in itself for his subsequent experiments on the instrument have resulted in a revolutionary development.

Out of his experiments he has devised a new type of cello, especially for jazzmen, so much easier to play that it could likely bring to prominence a new school of jazz cello exponents. Not that the cello hasn't already played its part in jazz; among some of its most notable exponents have been Harry Babasin, Fred Katz, Al Hall, Keter Betts, Sam Jones and, of course, the most distinguished of all, the late Oscar Pettiford.

It was Pettiford, in fact, who first persuaded Ray to try out the cello a few years ago, but he wasn't too interested at the time. "Frankly, it was too much for me," said Ray. "I gave it back and said forget it.' Luckily Keter Betts made Ray change his mind.

"That was in the summer of 1959 when I was playing with the trio (Oscar Peterson's, of course) in Washington," said Ray. "Keeter stopped by to see me and as he was running late he left his cello there, saying he'd pick it up the next day, but before he left he said: 'Why don't you try it out? You might like it.' Well, I did. We had sessions, and I found it was such a nice, easy and clear means of expression that I kept at it all week and played it between shows.

"Yet when we left Washington I didn't think about it again, that is, not until we returned there in 1960 when I went to a party where I borrowed a cello and jammed all night."

From then on, Ray Brown was a cello convert, even though he was still disturbed by some annoying factors that made it difficult to play. It was then he made an important decision.

"When we went on to Chicago, I called Bob Keyworth, vice president of the Kay Bass Company and told him about my ideas: that I would like to see a cello that would be easier to play, easier to tune. It was at his factory that I came up with the idea of a cello which could be made for the express use of jazz musicians who wanted to play the instrument but escape the hazards of the small finger board and difficult tuning.

"What came out of it was this: A cello with a finger board similar to the bass, an instrument that would make a bass player feel at home with it. It would also have bass tuning. Since then they have also come out with a new set of strings to fit the instrument, which incidentally will be called the Ray Brown Jazz Cello."

While there had been drawbacks at first, Ray from the beginning was intrigued by the sound of the instrument, which as you'll hear, is often like that of a deep voiced guitar. As he states: "I think it's a wonderful means of expression because it contains the lower range of a guitar and the higher range of a bass. It allows the musicians greater scope, great facility. There are a lot of things you can do on a cello that are much harder on the bass. It allows you to create elaborately and fast."

With the mechanical problems solved, Ray's next move was to get his jazz cello on record. The ideas were beginning to bubble forth. He contacted Russ Garcia, one of the more prominent arrangers in the country, who wrote arrangements for a ten piece band. "Russ never tried to write over me, which would have been so easy to do," he says. "He let all the attention be focused on the cello. I also like our choice of tunes, well known tunes that have stood the test of time. We chose them deliberately. Since we were introducing what you might call 'a new sound,' I at least wanted tunes that the public knows."

If the tunes are old, then the treatment is new. Of the lot, Ray likes Alice Blue Gown best, bringing to it a lovely lilting pace that makes it brand new. His rather wistful, pensive interpretation of Tangerine is also a delight, almost as delightful as That Old Feeling in which his talents as soloist (in this case, a delicate, sensitive rendering) is brought to the fore. Ray's adeptness on a ballad is also felt on But Beautiful, a truly moving rendition but as Ray says: "The tune, just as it is, carries so much weight." As you might expect, Poor Butterfly flits as lightly and gently as a butterfly.

If your preferences run to a faster tempo, then Rosalie is for you. Note the way Ray drives the tune, especially after the trumpet solo, achieving a wonderful, singing quality as he excitement builds. You can hardly get a tune older than Rock A Bye Your Baby, yet even this is injected with new life, which applies equally to Ain't Misbehavin', emerging here in a refreshing new conception. The tempo is so right! As for Memories Of You, don't be surprised at the strong blues feeling on this one. With his customary frankness, Ray explained why: "I couldn't play the instrument in tune so I had to bend a few notes." If that's the result, let's hope he keeps bending a few more.

Besides arranger-leader Russ Garcia, the lineup on this auspicious date included: Jimmy Rowles, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; Richard Shanahan, drums; Don Fagerquist, trumpet; Harry Betts, trombone; Jack Cave, French horn; Meredith Flory, William Hood, Bob Cooper, Paul Horn, saxophones.

If I sound more than a little enthusiastic about this album I hope I may be forgiven. The truth of the matter is that Ray Brown (like Oscar Peterson, like Ed Thigpen) is among Toronto's most favored citizens, especially in this city's thriving music world.

Since the opening of their Advanced School of Contemporary Music here, there has been a noticeable surge of interest in jazz, a definitely more serious attitude toward the art, with the promise that some day this city will produce men of their calibre. Who knows, perhaps another Ray Brown, bassist or cellist.

Footnote: If it sounds as though Ray Brown has forsaken the bass, don't be mistaken. "One of the great advantages of playing the cello is that I get a lot more ideas on my bass," he says. – HELEN MCNAMARA, Toronto Telegram

Tangerine
Almost Like Being In Love
That Old Feeling
Ain't Misbehavin'
Alice Blue Gown
Rosalie
But Beautiful
Poor Butterfly
Memories Of You
Rock A Bye Your Baby

Ben E. King Sings For Soulful Lovers

 

Fever

Ben E. King
Sings For Soulful Lovers
Arranger & Conductor: Klaus Ogermann
Recording Engineers: Tom Dowd & Phil Iehle
Cover Photo: Maurice Seymour, New York
Cover Design: Loring Eutemey 
Supervision: Ahmet Ertegum
ATCO 33-137
1962

From the back cover: The year 1961 was a decisive time in the life and burgeoning career of young Ben E. King. Already a stellar lead singer with an altogether stellar vocal group, The Drifters, King took the big step into the glare of the solo spotlight without even blinking his eyes.

It was as though solo stardom had long been on the books for King, or so the recent record would indicate. Through sheer artistry and the imaginative craftsmanship of his musical arrangers, he has managed to pile hit upon hit. One of these, Spanish Har- lem, was one of the biggest selling hits of the entire year. But there were others as well, Stand By Me, Amor, Ecstasy, to mention a few, which helped him continually broaden and expand his audience. This, it may be said, is not at all a simple trick, in a day when hundreds of recording artists compete for the devotion of record buyers here and abroad.

In this new album, young Mr. King gives a generous taste of the kind of sincere and persuasive stylings which have impelled fans to gobble up his disks by the millions. Some are borrowed from the hit catalogs of respected contemporaries in the pop record derby, Bobby Darin, Jerry Butler, The Shirrelles, Etta James and Tommy Edwards, while others come from the reservoir of the great standards of the era.

Surprises! You'll find them by the dozen in these exciting performances with arrangements to match. Notice or example, the distinctive upbeat styling of the familiar, My Heart Cries For You, a contrast to the expected ap- proach which lends more flavor than ever to the tune in the gifted hands of King.

Spirited vocalizing takes the spotlight in Dream Lover, as our star weaves his way through a handsome arrangement for violins, cellos, rhythm and voices. Gordon Jenkins' memorable version of My Foolish Heart receives a standout performance, literally dripping with soul. The scoring, employing a woodblock percussion and one-finger piano opening, builds through strings to a neat muted trum- pet break. It's tasteful stuff, carefully attuned to the musical background requirements of love.

From tasteful to fervent, that's the next step, to Fever, a frantic song with an urgent declaration of feeling by King, against lightning fast piano variations and a smartly employed electric organ. Enjoy too, Henry Mancini's Moon River, one of the prettiest songs of the season, and given an extra dash of misty warmth through the stylish warbling of Ben E. King.

There are many tempos and moods in these smoothly crafted performances, but you will find all of them especially keyed to lovers, for the dancing, listening and dreaming of soulful young lovers of any age. –– REN GREVATT

My Heart Cries For You
He Will Break Your Heart
Dream Lover
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
My Foolish Heart
Fever
Moon River
What A Difference A Day Made
Because Of You 
At Last
On The Street Where You Live
It's All In The Game

Exploring The Unknown - Walter Schumann

 

Exploring The Unknown

Exploring The Unknown
The Voices Of Walter Schumann
Music Composed  by Leith Stevens
Narrated by Paul Frees
Additional Lyrics by Bob Silvert
RCA Victor LPM-1025
1955

From the back cover: Into the unknown night, into limitless space, into worlds beyond the imagination-but not the reach – of man. Careful and studied preparations for departure, every last detail attended to, every moment ripe with expectation and wonder. Here is the moment toward which we have been striving, here is the moment which will launch us into a new time, a new era, a new life – perhaps even into a new dimension.

The blast-off tears the night into shreds of fiery flame; the ferry rocket lifts itself hugely from the platform; earth becomes smaller and smaller until finally it is almost completely obscured in the mists of time and space. The rocket gathers speed, the atomic accelerators are opened wide, and soon we are beyond gravity, swimming dizzily in the vast oceans of space, destination: the satellite space station, first stop in our exploration of the unknown.

Here we arrive, and the rocket ferry is made fast; here is momentary rest at the transfer point in our journey to the outer realms of bottomless space. Here we are but one insignificant spot in boundless infinity, lost amid the rushing torrents of blackness. Here we stand where there is no time, no belonging – anchored firmly to the earth's orbit, edging forward towards a new frontier.

Finally, we take off once again, our orbit fixed to Venus. Now we begin to think again, now we begin to wonder anew – wonder at what lies before us at the end of the night. We grow more philosophical, consider our place, our meaning in the vastnesses of the universe; we wonder at the seemingly endless frontiers to conquer – if we have enough fuel we can conceivably move forward forever-and although mathematicians tell us there is no such thing as infinity, all their calculations are lost and meaningless in the unending vistas of space.

We are welcomed to a new world, we sense a strangeness, an unknown mystery which can neither be defined nor spoken. It is like looking in a mirror and seeing, not ourselves, but an endless succession of other mirrors in which nothing is reflected but thin air and hazy dreams. Here we stand on the brink of timelessness, here we feel that we cannot possibly grow old – only younger and more adventuresome. For here we have found one new world and there are countless others which lay just beyond our grasp.

Again we take off into the never-ending night of space which is stretched out before us like a still undiscovered sea – the horizon is always there but somehow it manages to elude our clutching fingers. No matter with what speed we accelerate we cannot reach it – we pass giant bodies and suns, we pass on and on through a seeming eternity, as new worlds break across our bow, as the excitement of discovery and meaning claims our every moment.

Now we near the earth once again, and from being giants of space and time, we return to the infinitesimal smallness of our real natures, we realize for the first time since we left that we are but a speck of dust in a sea of nothingness. The earth looks small but friendly; we circle down inside gravity and come ever nearer to what is green and warm and welcome. It is, perhaps, but one stop in an infinite space parade, but it is our stop and we happily disembark. – BILL ZEITUNG

Music To Watch Birds By - Bob Crewe

 

The Birds Of Britain

Music To Watch Birds By
The Bob Crewe Generation
Produced and Directed by Bob Crewe
All Selections Arranged by Hutch Davie
Recording Engineer: Gordon Clark, Sound Center / Roy Cicala, A&R Studios
Cutting Engineer: Rudy Kotman, A&R Studios
Pictures reprinted from "The Birds Of Britain" by Permission of The Macmillan Company
Dynovoice Records DY31902
1968

Winter Warm
Melancholy Serenade
I Will Wait For You
Chelsea Girls
Brother Dan
The Songs From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)
Will You Love Me Tomorrow 
Birds Of Britain
Streetcar
Clementine Boo-Ga-Loo

Thursday, April 24, 2025

New American Music, Volume III - Druckman / Schwantner / Harbison

 

New American Music, Volume III

Spectrum: New American Music, Volume III
Jacob Druckman: Incenters
Joseph Schwanten: Diaphonia Intervallum
John Harbison: Confinement
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Arthur Weisberg, Conductor
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Art Direction: William S. Harvey
Cover Design: Hess and/or Antupit
This recording was made with assistance from The Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, Inc.
Nonesuch H-71221 (Stereo) 
1969

Thomas Nyfenger - Flute 
George Haas - Oboe & English Horn 
Arthur Bloom - Clarinet & Bass 
Clarinet Donald MacCourt - Bassoon 
Ralph Froelich - Horn 
Robert Nagel - Trumpet 
John Swallow - Trombone 
Paul Zukofsky - Violin 
Jacob Glick - Viola 
Ko Iwasaki - Cello
Jeffrey Levine - Double Bass 
Gilbert Kalish - Piano & Electric Organ 
Raymond Desroches - Percussion

With guest artists: V
ictor Morosco - Alto Saxophone
Jeanne Benjamin - Violin
Helen Harbison - Cello

From the cover: Every culture and cultural era expresses itself not merely in terms of "style" (whatever that is) but through its media and means of expression as well. The chiaroscuro of the Baroque concertino-tutti and aria with continuo and obbligato, the homogeneous qualities of the Classical orchestra and string quartet, the mixed-blended colors of the Romantic orchestra and grand piano, are each characteristic of the age that produced them. Similarly, the "sound" of the 20th century-its most characteristic aural image is the mixed chamber ensemble.

From the first decades of the century (the early Schoenberg and Webern chamber-orchestra works, Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat, and so forth) until the most recent developments in electronics and mixed media, the new "broken consort" has dominated new music and created its own musical and cultural forms.

It is in response to these conditions and new repertoire that a number of remarkable chamber series and ensembles, generally devoted in large part to contemporary music, have sprung up across the country. These groups, often based in universities, have no single fixed form but constitute a flexible unit out of which various combinations and sub-combinations of instruments often with voice and/or tape – can be drawn. Drawing on the most brilliant and idealistic young performing and composing talent, these groups represent a coming-together of creator and interpreter unmatched in Western music since the 18th century.

The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, one of the most outstanding of these organizations, was established in 1960 by conductor Arthur Weisberg. Since 1965, the group has been in residence at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, on a Rockefeller Foundation grant. The personnel consists of some of the best of the New York players; these recordings offer ample testimony to their virtuosity and musicianship, as well as their ability to deal with – and their creative involvement in the most difficult new music.

Jacob Druckman's Incenters was written in 1968 for Arthur Weisberg and the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and first performed by the group at Rutgers and in New York in the same year. Druckman, born in 1928 in Philadelphia, studied at Tanglewood, at the Juilliard School of Music, and at the Ecole normale de musique in Paris. Since 1957 he has been on the faculty of Juilliard. His awards and grants include a Fulbright and two Guggenheims, as well as SPAM, Lado, Juilliard, Naumburg, Mercury Music, Wechsler, and Tanglewood commissions. He has produced a substantial list of works, several with electronic elements.

An incenter is a triangle inscribed within a circle, or a pyramid within a sphere; the term is also related to a whole class of words derived from the Latin incenere, p.p. incentus: to sound an instrument, to sing, and also to weave charms or spells. The piece is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion, and solo strings. The brass dominate, and they set in motion each chain of musical events by upsetting the equilibrium established by the other instruments. These states of equilibrium derive from static, sym- metrical chords whose ultimate, unlikely source is Boris Godounov! The actual Coronation Scene chords are quoted shortly before the final section of overlapping blocks of sound. The notation is sometimes precise, sometimes proportional so that the players relate to each other freely or at the conductor's whim; the result is flexibility within a carefully structured form.

Joseph Schwantner was born in Chicago in 1943 and studied at the Chicago Conservatory and Northwestern University. He has received BMI, Bearns, and William T. Faricy Awards; at present he is Assistant Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash- ington.

Diaphonia intervallum was written in Evans- ton, Illinois, in 1966. The title means "dissonant interval" and refers to the major seventh, the building-block interval of the piece. The instrumentation sets a solo saxophone against concertante flute and piano and tutti strings. The work has three main sections, of which the middle one is a kind of trio for the solo instru- ments. The work was given its premiere by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at Rutgers and in New York in 1967.

John Harbison was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1938. He studied at Princeton University with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim, and was a Junior Fellow at Harvard. He is a violist and conductor as well as composer, and has been active in contemporary musical performance.

Confinement, written in 1956, is laid out in four rather clearly demarcated sections which are, however, connected without pause. The title (along with movement subtitles) was originally associated with lines on the subject of illness, drawn from John Donne's Devotions; the com- poser, however, no longer wishes these specific references to be given. Nevertheless, the conception of "confinement" pertains not only to musical restrictions but also to states of mind. The basic idea is that of strict or rigid shapes contrasted or in conflict with freer or looser ones. Thus disparate elements are brought together in very close, tight forms which are also intended to serve as analogies or metaphors. – ERIC SALZMAN

Side One (24:51) Jacob Druckman (b. 1928) Incenters (1968) (12:40) - for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano & electric organ, percussion (publ. MCA Music, a division of MCA Inc.)

Joseph Schwantner (b. 1943) Diaphonia intervallum (1966) (12:03) for alto saxophone, flute, piano, 2 violins, viola, 2 cellos, double bass. Victor Morosco, alto saxophone

Side Two (15:15)

John Harbison (b. 1938) Confinement (1965) for flute, oboe & English horn, clarinet & bass clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, percussion

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Thursday's Child - Eartha Kitt

 

Thursday's Child

Thursday's Child
Eartha Kitt
With Henri René and His Orchestra
RCA Victor LPM-1300
1956

From the back cover: I was born in a little town called North in South Carolina.

My first scene in life was a long dark dusty road. I could not see the end of it for it just went down, down, down to end in what to me seemed like hell. I hung onto my mother's hand as though life or death depended on it. My sister Pearl was in her arms. Mama began to hum as the sun sank into the ground ahead of us.

The wheat began to sway in the evening breeze and the cotton stood still and glared out at me with bulging eyes as we walked the narrow road through the fields.

I couldn't figure out why we were way out here so late or where we had come from or where we were going. I wanted to ask Mama, but I was afraid I would get her annoyed. Mama heaved a sigh as she adjusted Pearl in her arms. She looked down at me with wet eyes and stroked my long bushy brown hair. Something did not rest right in me-I felt as though I had done some- thing and was going to get a whipping for it, but I couldn't remember what it was – 

Then we saw the silhouette of a house in the distance. "Mama, are we home?" I asked.

"No, baby, not yet," she answered.

"Mama, I want some water," I said.

"Yes, baby, I know," Mama said. Mama switched Pearl, grabbed me by my left hand, and quickened her pace.

"Uh, good evening," Mama said, as the woman opened the door. "Would you mind if I came in for a while to rest and give my children some water?"

The kind-faced woman opened the door wider and greeted Mama with a smile of complete comfort. "Come in, please," she said.

There was a fire burning in the fireplace and I headed for that. I sat down on the floor and began to wonder if Mama was going to stay here for the night or forever. I wanted to stay – I didn't want to go back out into the night. Spooks might be roaming around out there and take me away. The woman soon brought us some bread and clabber milk and a pan of hot soup. She and Mama mumbled a conversation as I dreamed in the fire – 

Soon I heard Mama thanking the woman for her kindness. She started to gather up my sister who was sleeping on the floor, wrapped in some old blankets. I realized we were ready to go wherever it was we were going, so I bundled myself up and followed Mama out the door into the darkness. As Mama said goodby and thanks I looked to see if any spirits were around or if the bogey man was watching from behind some old tree.

Again we walked. By this time the moon was bright and the trees along the way threw shadows. We began to edge the forest and I knew the bogey man would be in there if nowhere else - I saw a spirit behind every tree. I clung closer to Mama – 

There was a spirit following us ... how can I tell Mama? I have to scream – no, I can't – Mama, hold me in your arms like Pearl. I'm too scared to walk down here by myself. The feeling of loneliness crept over me as though I was being covered with a blanket.

After what seemed like years of walking with the spirits, Mama stopped. I could see her, tall and thin, like a pine tree, as she stood among the pines. She laid my sister down on the ground and looked around for me. I was there, glaring at her in wonderment.

Why did she stop, what did she lay Pearl down for – are we going to sleep here? Where is a house for us, where is our cow and our horse, where are our chickens and pigs? Where did we come from? Why? I never for a moment stopped trying to find the answer to why.

Mama began to arrange a bed of pine straw. When it was finished, she comforted Pearl. When she thought Pearl was sleepy enough, she turned and made a bed for me and one for herself. All this was done in a clump of small bushes to protect us from the dew. She covered us with pine and some old clothing we were carrying and lay down to rest.

Excerpt from Thursday's Child by Eartha Kitt
Copyright 1956 by Eartha Kitt Published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce

"Thursday's Child has far to go... Eartha Kitt, one of the most fascinating personalities of our time, has already come a long way. Her autobiography traces her path from the cotton fields of South Carolina to the bright lights of Broadway. It is a story that ranges from one extreme of human experience to another, at times almost incredible in its swift pace from poverty and hardship to glamour and triumph. It is a story that makes the ancient Cinderella tale seem pale by comparison.

Eartha Kitt's book, like her life to date, is in four parts, the first of which describes in a straightforward and moving fashion her early years in the South and in Harlem. Childhood ended when she became a member of the famous Katherine Dunham troupe of dancers, playing on Broadway and touring Mexico and America. In Paris a third life opened up with her debut as a tremendously successful night-club singer. After further successes in Europe, on the stage with Orson Welles in, Paris and in night clubs of London and Istanbul, she returned to make her mark in America. Finally she emerges as a major and mature artist with a Broadway triumph.

In the meantime everyone had "discovered" Eartha Kitt and had selected his favorite from her dazzlingly popular records, C'est si bon, Monotonous, Santa Baby, Après moi, I Want to Be Evil, Uska Dara and a score of others. She had proved a powerful attraction in "New Faces of 1952" and in spots all the way from the Village Vanguard to Mocambo in Hollywood and El Rancho Vegas.

Eartha Kitt tells her own story in her own way and the result is effective, honest, and beautiful. Her suc- cess as a writer merely reveals one more facet of a brilliantly gifted and wonderfully alive nature, that same nature which expresses itself so stirringly in the variety of moods encompassed by the songs she has chosen for this album.


Fascinating Man
Mademoiselle Kitt
Oggere
No Importa Si Menti
Lisbon Antiqua
Just An Old Fashioned Girl
Le Danseur De Charleston
Lazy Afternoon
Jonny
If I Can't Take It With Me
Thurday's Child
Lullaby Of Birdland

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Rapsodia - Bobby Correll

 

Rapsodia

Rapsodia
Bobby Correll
Composiciones y Arreglos Por Bobby Correll
Director de Grabacion: Bill "Guillermo" Lazerus
Photo: Bill Lazerus
Diseno: Ralph Pierce
Discos Corona DCL 1063

From the back cover: From the back country, mountains and plains, to the cities and towns of Mexico and South America, from the Plaza De Torros of Barcelona, from the night clubs and dance halls of Miami, New York and Los Angeles, from the little island of Cuba to the coast of Baja, California, DISCOS CORONA is proud to present the Latin world of music. DISCOS CORONA has brought to its studios the very finest artists available in each field of music Mariachis with the folklore of Mexico and the trios with the romantic flare. The Conjuntos and the Norteno, the orchestras with the big sound of Musica Latino to the bands with the pulsing dance rhythms of today. All this is available to you on the stereophonic or monophonic records produced by DISCOS CORONA in the new PANOTONE process.

The material contained within each DISCOS CORONA record was recorded on the very finest equipment available. Utilizing the most modern human techniques combined with many years of experience, means satisfaction to the listener.

AMPEX 351-2 NEUMANN RCA and TELEFUNKEN micro- phones for recording and mastering on the NEUMANN AM32 cutter lathe, means the finest sound obtainable. – WILLIAM "BILL" LAZERUS Recording Director


Tono Loco
Invento
Ay Carlotta
Con Savor
Nostalia
Algo Menor
40618 Cha Cha Cha
Rapsodia
Un Momento
Dos Suenos