Stan Kenton Presents Gabe Baltazar

 

Stan Kenton Presents Gabe Baltazar

Stan Kenton Presents

Gabe Baltazar

Producer: Wayne Dunstan

Assistant Producer: Bill Cole

Mastering: Dave Ellsworth

Engineer: Hugh Davies

Cover Photograph: Courtney Harrington

Special thanks to Hy Lesnick, contractor

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California, January 9, 10, 11, 1979

Creative World Records CW 3005

1979

TRUMPETS - John Audino, Ray Triscari, Conte Condoli, John Madrid
TROMBONES - Lloyd Ulyate, Tommy Shepard, Gil Falco, George Roberts 

REEDS - Bud Shank, Bill Green, Jack Nimitz, Bob Cooper, Bill Perkins, Phil Ayling
FRENCH HORNS - Vince DeRosa, Richard Perissi, Art Maebe, George Price
PIANO - Pete Jolly
BASS - Chuck Domonico
GUITAR - Tommy Tedesco
PERCUSSION - Dale Anderson
DRUMS -  Steve Schaeffer, John Guerin, Earl Palmer
VIOLINS - Jimmy Getzoff, Concertmaster; Sid Sharp, Murray Adler, Alfred Lustgarten, Josef Schoenbrun, Bonnie Douglas, Jack Goodkin, Henry Roth
CELLOS - Ray Kelley, Igor Horoshevsky
VIOLAS - Virginia Majewski, Barbara Simons
HARP - Dorothy Remsen

From the back cover: To say a musician is "legendary" is to compound a cliche. But ask any jazz musician about Gabe Baltazar. He is a legend, partly because he is not heard very widely these days, partly because he is one of the finest alto saxophone players in the world. He is elusive, spending almost all his time in Hawaii, seldom touring, seldom recording. If you want to hear Gabe, provided you know of his estimable reputation through the jazz underground, you've got to go to the Islands.

Gabe was a joy to me all the years he was a member of my band. He is a master of his instrument, a great guy and a great artist. I am so proud to present him on the Creative World label.

Listen, and you'll see why it's all right to use the word "legendary" once in a while. – Stan Kenton

Gabe Baltazar – From his early years in picturesque Hilo, his birthplace, to his triumphal return following four years as lead alto with the Stan Kenton orchestra, Gabe Baltazar has personified jazz in the Hawaiian Islands. No Island musician nor few anywhere – has reached the International stature nor garnered the critical praise of this genius of the reeds.

But entertainment tastes change, and pure jazz artistry was somehow never accorded its due in Hawaii. Gabe was never really away from music he was Deputy Director of the world-famed Royal Hawaiian band, and his nights were devoted to jazz and working the big shows that came through Hawaii (Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Liza Minelli, Glen Campbell, Marlene Dietrich) but only recently has his enormous talent re-emerged publicly.

When the Cavalier Restaurant in Waikiki decided to experiment with "new jazz", the Gabe Baltazar Quartet was booked for a two-week engagement. The group is now in its second year of a sizzling, standing-room-only-run. Jazz is finally "in" in Hawaii. And Gabe Baltazar, who had recorded a dozen albums with the Kenton band, who had appeared at the Monterey and Newport Jazz Festivals, who had performed both live and at recording sessions with Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Don Ellis, Cannonball Adderly and the greats of the past quarter century, is back.

This is Gabe's first solo album.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Traditional) - Arranged by Don Menza

What's New (Composed by Haggart- Burke) - Arranged by Bill Holman

Gabe - Composed and Arranged by Angel Pena

A Time For Love (Composed by Mandel- Webster) Arranged by Angel Pena - String Arrangement by Chuck Hoover

Take The "A" Train (Composed by Billy Strayhorn) Arranged by Don Menza - Soloists: Conte Condoli & Bob Cooper

Love Song (Composed and Arranged by Don Menza

Spanish Boots - Composed and Arranged by Don Menza

Passionate Paris In Ping Pong Percussion - Santiago

 

Allez-Vous En

Passionate Paris In Ping Pong Percussion

Santiago and His Silver Strings

Chief Engineer: Preston Ford

Coronet Records CX-142

A Division of Premier Albums Inc.

1961

So... there is not a single instance of "ping pong percussion" effects to be heard on this Ping Pong Percussion set...

I Love Paris

Reverie

C'est Magnifique

Musetta's Waltz (La Boheme)

Can Can

Paris In The Spring

The Last Time I Saw Paris

I Don't Understand The Parisiennes 

Allez-Vous En

Clair de Lune

In The Brazilian Bag - Sergio Mendes

 

One Note Samba

In The Brazilian Bag

The Sergio Mendes Trio

Plus the voice of Wanda de Sah

The Guitar of Rosinha de Valenca

The Alto Sax and Flute of special North American Guest Artist Bud Shank (appears through the courtesy of World Pacific Records

Tower ST 5052

1968

From the back cover: Mendes Trio plus friends by name – not only make the kind of music that tops the U.S. popularity polls but also is the natural rage of such jet-set spas as Rome, Tokyo, and their hometown Rio.

Want to analyze this great appeal? First of all, it's a fresh, contemporary sound that employs the new melodies and samba-like rhythms of Brazil's finest young composers. In a very subtle way you might call it a jazz sound; and in a very definite way you know for sure it's a bright, happy, youthful sound. It is reminiscent of the best bossa nova music heard in the U.S. in the past years and of the popular Carnival Theme (Manhã de Carnaval) from the film "Black Orpheus." Yet it's a sound that's lighter, fresher, happier than these. Its haunting quality seems to build a sort of momentum that moves listeners until they are caught in its spirit. And what a wonderful spirit it is! What's more, the people are just as wonderful:

Sergio Mendes is the pianist and leader of the Trio. He is well-known in Brazil, not only as one of the foremost jazz pianists, but as a talented composer and arranger. He comes from Rio, where he, his wife and baby son have a beautiful home overlooking the bay. His sidemen are bassist Sebastião Neto, formerly a player with João Gilberto's famed group, and a drummer who goes by the name of Chico Batera, or, translated into English, Chico "The Drummer."

Wanda de Sah is the young singer whose name is on everyone's lips today in Brazil. She is literally the girl from Ipanema, a few miles from the famous Copacabana beach in Rio. Originally a guitar teacher, Wanda began singing to her own accompaniments just to entertain her friends. Today her admiring friends are numbered in the thousands.

Rosinha de Valença is possibly the finest woman guitarist in all the world, and certainly one of the most popular musicians in Brazil.

Side One

SO NICE (Samba de Verão). As timely as today, this is a brand new song by the young Brazilian composer Marcus Valle, with English lyrics by Norman Gimbel, sung beautifully in English by Wanda.

FAVELA, by Antonio Carlos Jobim, begins with a bouncy bass motif followed by a superimposed drum figure setting the stage for the piano which states the melody over constantly shifting harmonies.

BERIMBAU. This word refers to an ancient stringed instrument from the state of Bahia used for a ritual dance in which two men fought for the affections of a woman. What Wanda sings (in Portuguese) is a song that has evolved, representing the actual chant of the old ceremonial instrument.

TRISTEZA EM MIM. Literally "sadness is mine," but musically, Rosinha's lively guitar solo reveals a rather optimistic concept of sadness.

AQUARIUS. The derivation of this title is strictly extra-musical. The composer, João Donato, dedicated the work to his wife, whose zodiac sign happens to be Aquarius.

ONE NOTE SAMBA is probably the best known tune in the al- bum, written by one of the best known exponents of bossa nova – Antonio Carlos Jobim. The highly accented melody affords Wanda an ideal outlet for her vocalizing.

Side Two

SHE'S A CARIOCA. In Brazil the slang label for a native of Rio is "Carioca." With this soothing bit of instrumental introspection, composer Jobim has captured the innermost thoughts of a young man who is studying a young female Carioca. The graceful, undulating lines of the music reveal enough thoughts to fill her diary.

MUITO A VONTADE. Another thought-provoking instrumental - written by João Donato – this is a study in complacency, or, to translate the title loosely, to be at an advantage over life. There is a monosyllable in our current vernacular that explains this relaxed frame of mind: "cool."

LET ME (Deixa). Wanda's treatment turns a plaintive plea into a haunting ballad. The song is Baden Powell's; Norman Gimbel added the English lyrics.

CONSOLAÇÃO. Music for the purpose of consoling becomes a showcase for the unamplified magic of Rosinha's guitar, as she shows equal skill at single string or chordal improvising.

REZA. An African chanting prayer sung in Portuguese. Particularly impressive is the manner in which she softens the hypnotic repetitions of the melody to fit into a typical Latin framework.

In Person At El Matador! - Sergio Mendes

 

Arrastao

In Person At El Matador!

Sergio Mendes and Brasil '65

Recording Engineer: Wally Heider

This LP was recorded at El Matador in San Francisco, Calif. Atlantic Records gratefully acknowledges the kind cooperation of the management and staff of El Matador

Cover Design: Haig Adishian

Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun

The cover painting is by Wesley Duke Lee, a well-known contemporary Brazilian painter, who dedicated this painting to Sergio Mendes

Produced by Rio Productions in conjunction with Nesuhi Ertegun

Wanda De Sah and Rosinha De Valenca appear through the courtesy of Capitol Records

Atlantic 8112

1965

The personnel of "Sergio Mendes & Brasil '65

Sergio Mendes - Piano

Sebastiao Neto - Bass

Paulinho Magalhaes - Percussion

Chico Barera - Drums

The featured guitar soloist is Rosinha de Val and the featured vocalist is Wanda de Sah

Sergio Mendes can also be heard on Atlantic LP 1434: The Swinger From Rio

From the back cover: Chauvinism is as reprehensible and as expendable in music as it is in politics, painting or plumbing. Nevertheless, when an esthetic point has to be made, one that involves a particular group of artists and the very special form they have created, it is both agreeable and enlightening to observe them under the same musical roof, with no outsiders on hand.
This is not an oblique way of saying "Give bossa nova back to the Brazilians" or "Yankee go home." It is merely a reminder that no matter how much wonderful music may have derived, in altered style, from the Brazilian popular music. that invaded the United States three or four years ago, there remains nevertheless a substantial body of musicians who are entitled to call themselves the original, the genuine article. Such a group is Sergio Mendes and his Brasil '65 ensemble.

The concept behind the formation of this combo was a logical one. It entailed a desire to present to American audiences an all-Brazilian, self-contained unit, packaged in Rio for export to a country that has heard most of its Brazilian music played by men who have never been farther South than South Bend.

Sergio Mendes was born February 11, 1941 in Niteroi, which is more or less the Oakland of Rio, just across the bay. (Contrary to intelligence in an earlier album, Ipanema is not a town; it is merely the name of a nearby beach.) Since bringing his show here in November of 1964, Sergio has lived in the U.S. He now makes his home with his wife and infant son in Studio City, Calif.

Sergio's bassist, 34-year-old Sebastiao Neto, is also from Niteroi. Chico Batera, 21, comes from Governor Island, near Rio, and Paulinho, whose full name is Paulino Magalhães, is a Rio-born Los Angeles percussionist added specially for this occasion.

When this live date was taped at "El Matador," the popular Latin-pop-and-jazz music club in San Francisco, the group was completed by the 21-year-old Wanda Maria Sa, a Rio girl professionally known as Wanda De Sah, and by Maria Rosa Cannellas, professionally known as Rosinha de Valenca or Little Rose of Valenca, after her home town. Rosinha, who is 23, was inspired by Baden Powell to take up the guitar; she has a phenomenal ear but cannot read music and does not know the name of a single chord.

There is a little confusion concerning the discoverers of the group. Actually it was a music lover named Dick Adler, now their manager, who helped Sergio to assemble the Brasil '65 unit in Rio and bring it to this country. Sergio also says, "I will never forget the help I had from my godfather, Mario Dias Costa, in the Cultural Division of the Brazilian Foreign Office, who aided us financially in getting started; and from Raul Smandeck, the Brazilian Consul in Los Angeles, who helped us when we arrived here."

Tem do de Mim features Wanda and Sergio. Written by Carlos Lyra, it is a typically relaxed and charming Brazilian melody. O Morro, sung by Wanda, means "the hill" and tells a wistful story about the poor people who live in the slums but are, within prescribed limitations, happy in their sadness (like the blues people who are pictured as laughing just to keep from crying).

Arrastão is a song about fishermen casting their nets on the waters. Written by de Moraes and Eduardo Lobo, a new melodist, it won a $5,000 award in Brazil recently as best new song of the year. My Portuguese being roughly on a level with my Swahili, I cannot vouch for the lyrics, but the melodic contours and the harmony have a unique charm, and there is a suspenseful quality to the main statement. The performance has a form and variety of moods and tempos that lend additional strength to Wanda's interpretation.

The Black Orpheus medley opens with a delicate and simple treatment of Mahna de Carnaval by Rosinha, in a melancholy mood in which Sergio and the rhythm section are soon involved. A bold percussion interlude spans the bridge into Samba de Orfeu, Sergio's delineation of which invited immediate recognition and applause from the generally quiet and attentive audience. Wanda, with unison vocal assistance from her colleagues, completes the medley with A Felicidade, a paradoxically minor-mode song about happiness.

Samba do Astronauta, which is not dedicated to the Wright Brothers, is a Baden Powell melody that serves as a delightful vehicle for the dexterity of Miss de Valenca. The mood it was designed to evoke does not involve the space ship but rather the view of the earth as seen from beyond. There are lyrics, I am told, by de Moraes, but in this version Rosinha manages to tell the story most effectively with her own genius-tipped fingers.

Vai de Vez, which means get lost, or don't come back, was composed by Menescal and has a particularly easy, legato rhythmic feeling that seems to me to symbolize the whole mood of bossa nova, or at least the most essentially Brazilian elements of this often-distorted idiom. Rosinha plays the melody just as it was written; the only ad libbing is offered by Sergio, whose single-note lines have some of the delicacy of a John Lewis.

Samba de Jose, featuring Rosinha, was composed by a fellow-guitarist, Jose Menezes. As in so much of the album, the rhythm is understated yet never wants for virility (if one dare ascribe such a quality to a group that includes Miss Valenca).

Sergio's light touch and improvisational flair can be scrutinized in Noa Noa, his own composition. ("I named it for the island where Gauguin went.") There is more of Mendes, incidentally, in his own album, The Swinger from Rio, on Atlantic 1434.

Caminho de Casa, meaning the road home, was composed by Joao Donato, a pianist from Brazil who now lives in Los Angeles. The very basic chords here will sound familiar to those who have heard some of Vince Guaraldi's work.

"I don't like to play a lot of notes or use the familiar jazz clichés," says Sergio, an observation the truth of which is reflected in his relaxed treatment of Joao Donato's Jodel. This track offers a moment in the spotlight to bassist Sebas- tiao Neto, whose ideas seem equally unpretentious. This is, all in all, the most charming instrumental track in the album.

Reza, the theme number of the Brasil '65 unit, is described by Sergio as "based on an African prayer, and with lyrics by Rui Guerra to a melody by Eduardo Lobo." The main melodic figure, consisting of only two notes, has a haunting quality that leaves people singing it as they walk out of El Matador- or out of the living room as they finish playing this fascinating album.

Brasil '65 has undergone one or two changes in personnel since this session took place, but the spirit remains the same. Now that we have Sergio Mendes permanently among us, we can only hope that he will continue to remind us North American adaptors and imitators that his music doesn't have to concern itself about whether it sounds authentic. It was born that way. May it continue to manifest its intriguing characteristics in Brasil '66, Brasil '67 and so forth far into the Pan-American future. – LEONARD FEATHER

Reza - Sergio Mendes

O Morro - Wanda De Sah

Samba Do Astronauta - Rosinha De Valenca

Tem Do De Mim - Wanda De Sah

Jodel - Sergio Mendes

Samba De Jose - Rosinha De Valenca

Noa Noa - Sergio Mendes

Black Orpheus - Ensemble

  (a) Manha De Caraval

  (b) Batuque De Orfeu

  (c) Samba De Orfeu

  (d) A Felicidade

Arrastao - Wanda De Sah

Vai De Vez - Rosinha De Valenca

Caminho De Casa - Sergio Mendes