Marian McPartland At The Festival

 

Cotton Tail

Marian McPartland
At The Festival
Produced by Carl E. Jefferson, President Concord Jazz, Inc.
Recorded live by PER Mobile II at the Concord Jazz Festival, Concord Pavilion, Concord, California August 1979
Recording Engineers: Phil Edwards, Ron Davis, Dennis Staats, Jim Hilson
Remixed at PER, San Fransico, California
Remix Engineer: Phil Edwards
Mastered by George Horn
Cover Photo: Kim Park
Art Direction: Dick Hendler
Concord Jazz CJ-118
1980

Marian McPartland - Piano
Brian Torff - Bass
Jake Hanna - Drums
Mary Fettig Park - Alto Saxophone

From the back cover: Marian McPartland is a forthright and daring woman and a stunning musician. While she is an inspirational figure to many, she is unassuming and unaffected. She can be almost comically self-critical: over National Public Radio she told Chick Corea that she doesn't like the shape of her nose; she told me that she has a singing voice like an English schoolgirl – not necessarily an unattractive trait – and she will at times suggest that she has trouble playing uptempo tunes. These defects are largely imaginary. When she wants, she can play like the wind, and her audiences are invariably impressed by her calm assurance, her graceful bearing and the controlled intensity of her music.

Recently I was involved in two conversations about Marian that suggest the respect she has garnered and the impact she can have. Interviewing John Lewis, I asked the former musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet about a two-piano concert he had given with Marian at Harvard University. Generally restrained in speech, Lewis spoke admiringly of Marian's playing. He was amazed at her ability to maintain her busy schedule and added, with a professional's sense of what this means: "And she does her own business too!"

Then at a seminar on "Women in Jazz," a part of the annual Jazz Week celebration in Boston, I heard a young woman, a professional pianist, talk about how she decided to become a jazz musician. Like many of her peers, this woman was initially hesitant about competing in the male-oriented jazz world. She was inspired to take the chance when she heard Marian McPartland in concert – Marian was "so confident," she said.

If Marian McPartland is confident, it is because she is accomplished and not because she has ceased to take chances: "I'd rather be wrong than work something out beforehand," she has said. In the notes to one of her Halcyon recordings, Marian wrote of her programs that the tunes "are not new, but the playing of them always is, for we are constantly creating fresh ideas for them."

As this Concord album demonstrates, Marian's playing is adventurous but never reckless. Her tunes are chosen with care. In this album we have the rarely performed Cole Porter ballad "1 Love You," Chick Corea's challenging "Windows," Ellington's boppish "Cottontail," and some jazz classics as well as the chestnut "Willow Weep for Me." Marian's "Willow" is a classic, bluesy performance, one of her best: it's pure and fresh and played inventively by all three musicians.

This is a real trio-bassist Brian Torff and Marian have a near telepathic relationship. Listen to Torff filling in certain of Marian's spare phrases in "Willow" or to the way the bassist and Marian share the melodies of "Cottontail" and "Oleo," despite the punishing tempos. Drummer Jake Hanna is so tactful that casual listeners may underestimate the value of his deft and swinging accompaniments, though few will miss the excitement of his brief solos. He is one of the best.

On the last three tunes of the album, the trio is joined by the strong, big-toned and lyrical alto saxophone of Mary Fettig Park. I played her solos for a group of aficionados who concluded that Ms. Park sounded like no one else. That is a compliment. Mary Fettig Park teaches and plays around Concord, California. She is 26 years old and has been performing professionally since high school. She traveled in 1973 with the Stan Kenton band and played on Kenton's "7.5 on the Richter Scale." She first performed with Marian at the first Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival. This recording should introduce her to a wider public.

Certainly that is Marian's intention. The pianist recognizes her responsibility as a highly visible, successful woman in jazz; she is currently writing a history of other such jazz women. She is also responsible to her audiences. Marian never gives an uninspired or dull performance. The history of jazz, male and female, would not be the same without her. But few of her fans will be ready soon to consign her to the ages. She's getting better and better, and for now she belongs to us. This record is great; I can't wait for her next one. – Michael Ullman, Author, Jazz Lives, (New Republic Books), columnist for The New Republic.

I Love You
Willow Weep For Me
Windows
In The Days Of Our Love
Cotton Tail
Here's That Rainy Day
On Green Dolphin Street
Oleo

Everyone's Gone To The Moon (And Other Trips) - The T-Bones

 

La Do Da Da

Everyone's Gone To The Moon (And Other Trips)
The T-Bones
Arrangements: Nick De Caro
Producer: Joe Saraceno
Engineer: Lanky Linstrot
Art Direction: Woody Woodward
Cover Illustration: Edwin Francis
Liberty Records LST-7471
1966

The T-Bones play: Baldwin Harpsichord & Amplifiers, Deagan Vibraharp with Magnisound, Ludwig Drums, Mosrite Guitars

Paint It Black
Kicks
Hold On! I'm Comin'
Oh How Happy
Fare Thee Well
La Do Da Da
Let's Go Get Stoned
Balboa Blue
Everyone's Gone To The Moon
Shangri-La

Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
How High Is The Moon

Reflections - Stan Getz

 

Charade

Reflections
Stan Getz
Arrangements by Claus Ogerman / Lalo Schifrin
Recorded in New York City on October 21, 22 and 28, 1963
Recording Engineer: Phil Ramone
Director of Engineering: Val Valentine

Produced by Creed Taylor
Verve V-8554

From the back cover: The year 1963 may very well go down in the annals of human confusion as the year the people took over the arts.Besides a broad acceptance of folk and country material on the musical front, the American lexicon now contains two descriptive terms that show wide public appeal: pop art and pop jazz. There's no confusing the two of course, pop art is sheer junk while pop jazz is sometimes sheer funk.

Pop art is a kind of distillation of garbage and the muse. In it the artist reworks such prosaic things as beer cans, girdles, auto tires, and auto tubes into new forms and designs.

Pop jazz is a kind of a distillation too. At its very best it is a music that takes all the swing and the power and the heart of jazz and places them in a framework of material and arrangement that will appeal to the widest possible audience.

Stan Getz, of course, is one of the leading artists in the pop jazz movement. He achieved such a position of prominence purely by accident.

One day Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd went into a studio and cut an album of a new musical rhythm called bossa nova. Six months later Getz, and to a lesser degree, Byrd, had records on the best-selling charts. Every radio station in the country was playing Desafinado.

Getz has always had the musical qualities that appeal to the multitude. He plays tenor sax with humor, warmth, great lyricism, and a deep fondness and respect for melody. Essentially, these are the very same characteristics that have drawn a much more diverse and aware public to the folk and country music fields.

In the past Getz has been responsible for some of the most popular jazz ballad performances of all time. Something like a decade ago, he cut a series of sides with guitarist Johnny Smith. One of the titles from this series, Moonlight In Vermont, became an overnight success in the jazz market and today can still be heard occasionally on what are considered the good and middle of the road radio stations. On that recording the guitar-tenor combination caught the nostalgia and simple beauty of the Karl Suessdorf and John Blackburn tune.

Those same qualities of simplicity and nostalgia are equally evident on the newer version of the tune contained on this album. Getz plays lovely, lyric embellishments on the melody against a gentle and most attractive string background arranged by Claus Ogerman.

When Getz was a member of the Woody Herman big band, he recorded a tenor sax solo on the Ralph Burns composition Early Autumn. This, too, caused great excitement within the jazz business and some of that excitement reached the pop audience. But, as in the case of Moonlight In Vermont, the public wasn't quite ready for what was believed an unknown. Today that audience has shown itself ready for such music, and the version of Early Autumn contained on this album should appeal to all kinds of listeners.

The new versions of the tune contained here is a good deal different from the original. Lalo Schifrin has employed voices as a replacement for the big band chords, but the quiet tenderness and the warmth of the originals are most evident. This version ranks with the original.

As a matter of fact, the title of this album is a very definitive description of the contents. Throughout, Getz seems to take each of the tunes – standards, originals, movie theme and recent pop hits-and gives it new perspective. The listener has the feeling that the tenor saxist is reflectively turning the melodic structure over in his hands, turning the melody this way and that, holding it up to the light to discover new shapes and values. He seems to catch new and vital reflections and qualities in the music; a wry twist here, a brooding depth there.

The arrangements are distinctly tailored to the Getz sound and mood. Three of the tracks: the aforementioned Moonlight In Vermont, If Ever I Would Leave You (from the Broadway hit "Camelot"), and the recent Peter, Paul and Mary hit Blowin' In The Wind are from the pen of Claus Ogerman.

This arranger, who scored so mightily with Kai Winding's recording of More, shows the diversity of his talent on these three scores. Moonlight is quietly perceptive with a most effective use of voices. Leave You is arranged in soft melodic framework for Getz with strings, but room is left for Stan to add some very gutsy ballad blowing.

Blowin' In The Wind is a unique version of the Bob Dylan modern folk hit. It's treated with humor, spirit and a solid rhythm sound. There are funky touches in the string orchestration and Stan adds some sardonic bluesy licks of his own.

Besides arranging the rest of the standards on the LP, Lalo Schifrin has contributed two original compositions Reflections and Nitetime Street, and a strong chart for the movie theme Charade.

Reflections is a lovely, liquid ballad that provides Getz with long, lyric, melodic lines. Schifrin has also incorporated a velvet backdrop of voices into the arrangement. Nitetime Street has a soft, purring minor mood that's very much in the Getz groove. The tune also features some fine Kenny Burrell guitar work at a solid walking tempo. In contrast to the other composition, this track has strong rhythm and good muted brass backing.

The Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini Charade is handled with a deft touch. This, too, has the moody, minor touch. There's a hint of bossa nova in the rhythm and the whole thing is most effective in a soft, significant way.

The dexterity of Schifrin's arranging talent and the fertility of the Getz imagination are evident throughout the rest of the album as well. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most has a bittersweet quality. Love is a fast, swinging bongo-infected version of the standard with voices employed most effectively. Sleeping Bee is another unusual outing. Where the tune is usually handled as a fuzzy, soft kind of adult lullaby, Stan and Lalo give it a sharp, bright explosive treatment. Penthouse Serenade is handled with lushness. It features Stan in front of a tapestry of voices. – Jack Maher Billboard

Moonlight In Vermont
If Ever I Would Leave You
Love
Reflections
Sleeping Bee
Charade
Early Autumn
Penthouse Serenade
Spring Can Really Hang You Up
Nitetime Street
Blowin' In The Wind

Tune In Turn On - Benny Golson

 

The Swinger

Tune In Turn On
To The Hippest Commercials Of The Sixties
Benny Golson
Produced by Tom Wilson
Arranged and Conducted by Benny Golson
Director of Engineering: Val Valentine
Recording and Remix Engineer: Gary Kellgren
Cover Art and Photo: Jon Henry
Cover Design: Acy R. Lehman

Verve V-8710
1967

From the back cover: Bet me that the next person you hear humming "Music To Watch Girls By," doesn't know he's spreading propaganda for Pepsi-Cola. The odds are he doesn't.

Madison Avenue has been giving us The Treatment – the subliminal Musical Treatment. They have been cleverly feeding us such irresistibly catchy tunes that we've been swallowing the message (or massage, depending upon which side of McLuhan you're on), while swinging the melody.

Madison Avenue, capital of the advertising industry, has emerged as the most creative force in Show Business. Television commercials are now rated by critics as fresher and bolder than the programs that surround them. These days, we head for the icebox during the show. We'd rather miss a shoot-out at the Bar-X Ranch than miss a bar of Happiness Is.

Benny blows more than smoke rings, a storm would be more like it, in this Mad Ave. medley. Herein, Benny is the "Swinger," "right any time of the day," and a "Cool Whip" "no matter what shape your stomach's in" – thanks to another pair of sponsors.

Golson has fun and so does the listener who digs the wit and style of his glistening arrangements. The TV themes in TUNE IN... TURN ON are the launch pads for these superbly powered probes into the gravity-free world of Golson's musical imagination.

Benny has been one of the front-ranking names in jazz for the past 15 years. Starting from his early days as saxophonist with the Bull Moose Jackson blues band, Golson has swung through all of jazz's fads and phases. He has played with, and composed and arranged for, such diverse stylists as boppists Tadd Dameron and Dizzy Gillespie, such traditionalists as Johnny Hodges and Earl Bostic, and such avant-gardists as John Coltrane. Some of the most brilliant jazz conceptions were incubated by Benny during his collaboration with trumpeter Art Farmer in their world-famed Jazztet during the late 1950's. As a composer, Golson has already achieved a kind of immortality for "I Remember Clifford," a eulogistic ballad for his friend, trumpet star Clifford Brown.

In this set, Benny would rather swing than switch. Here is the clear, unfiltered taste of a kingsized talent. This is Golson Country! Dig it. – Elliot Horne

Music To Watch Girls By
Wink
The Disadvantages Of You
No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)
Right Any Time Of The Day
Music To Think By
Fried Bananas
The Magnificent Seven

Cool Whip
The Golden Glow
The Swinger
Happiness Is

The Hilltoppers Sing Their Million Sellers

 

Time Waits For No One

The Hilltoppers Sign Their Million Sellers
Souvenir SLP 100
1957

From the back cover: WEBSTER'S dictionary describes the word "style," in part, as "a distinctive or characteristic mode of presentation, construction, or execution in any art." Consequently, it is little wonder all artists strive to attain style, whether it be a Christian Dior or an ambitious group of four college lads at a small southern school.

Dior has it-so have The Hilltoppers, as unique a singing group as ever to appear on show business' ever-changing horizon. No entrepreneur of musical tastes dreamed it up for them-it wasn't born in the vivid imagination of a press agent. It existed from the very moment that Jimmy Sacca, a football player and physical education major, formed a quartet with three other students at Western Kentucky State College in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

They had style from the moment they recorded their first song with portable tape recorder in the college auditorium. This was "Trying," a ballad that was to sweep them to fame in a matter of weeks.

Here then is "Tops in Pops" featuring the great hit songs turned out by The Hilltoppers, appropriately named after Western Kentucky State's athletic teams.

"Trying," written by Billy Vaughn, stunned the Nashville, Tennessee market where it was introduced. The unusual arrangement with its haunting vocal backgrounds soon became a tremendous national hit and completely established the name "Hilltoppers."

All of the songs in this album bear the inimitable mark of this harmonious group. Here you will find the Johnny Mercer-Gordon Jenkins tune of "P. S. I Love You," and Billy Vaughn's "I'd Rather Die Young," and "To Be Alone."

No song with a title like this can make it, said the experts, in talking about "From The Vine Came The Grape." So this, too, became a million record seller as the nation fell in love with this wonderful tale of vineyards in Italy.

The raised-eyebrow brigade had another field day when "The Hilltoppers" recorded George Gershwin's "Love Walked In": but record fans proved it an excellent choice.

The Hilltoppers' "Till Then" is another all-time favorite of the juke box enthusiasts, with its fine melody line and intriguing vocal background. Tin Pan Alley rushed to get the group to record its songs and from this came "If I Didn't Care," by Jack Lawrence, Irving Gordon's "The Kentuckian Song," also "Time Waits For No One," "D-a-r-l-i-n" and "The Door Is Still Open."

You'll treasure this album by The Hilltoppers as an important chapter in musical Americana.

Trying
P.S. I Love You
I'd Rather Die Young
To Be Alone
Love Walked In
From The Vine Came The Grape
Till Then
The Kentuckian Song
If I Didn't Care
Time Waits For No One
D-A-R-L-I-N

The Door Is Still Open

Current Hits Volume 20 - Hit Records 420

 

Current Hits Volume 20

Current Hits

Volume 20
Hit Records 420
Producer: William Beasley
Assistant Producer Ted Jarrett
Recorder & Compatible Mastering: Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.

Engineer: Tom Sparkman
Cover Design: McPherson Studio, Nashville, Tenn.

Tobacco Road
Baby Don't Do It
Making A Fool Of Myself
Little Honda
Ride The Wild Surf

I'm Crying
Dancing In The Street
That's All That's Important Now

Baby Love
From A Window
Have I The Right
Toodle Dee Doodle Dee Doo

Back With More Bill Doggett

 

Back With More Bill Doggett

Back With More Bill Doggett
King 723
1960

The Slush

Slidin'
The Doodle
Bugle Nose
Buttered Popcorn
Two Up
Night Train
Bill's Grill (Cookin')
Goofy Organ
Smokie
Shebar

Anita O'Day Sings The Winners

 

What's Story Morning Glory

Anita O'Day Sings The Winners
Side one arranged by Marty Paich
Side two arranged by Russ Garcia
Verve V-8485
1961

From the back cover:  Anita's tribute to the poll winners, an album idea suggested by Norman Granz, who supervised production of this set, represents further irrepressible proof that Miss O'Day's once dormant career continues to exfoliate and that at her present best she is, as Russ Wilson of the Oakland Tribune has noted, "singing better than she ever has." Her albums for Verve have also succeeded, for the most part, in projecting at least some of the burningly exuberant impact Anita has on an audience in a club. She's one of the very few singers left who really improvises from tune to tune and night to night, and watching as well as hearing her hurl through the challenge of a set can be exhilarating as watching and hearing a first-rate horn man."Jazz to me," says Anita, "is singing what is happening now. When I sing Body and Soul, for example, it's my conception after having heard and lived the song for a long time and then improvising on the basis of what I know of it and what I feel about it right now." In this round of toasts, Anita first establishes the melody and then goes for herself in the second chorus. Anita was unusually pleased with both arrangers, Marty Paich on the first side and Russ Garcia on the second; the co-ordinator, Barney Kessel; and she even insists on accolading the engineer whom she knows only as Mr. Bones (Bones Howe-ed.). She is, in short, quite happy about the date, a situation that is not always the case with the outspoken Anita who is as hotly spontaneous in her conversation as in her singing.

Take The "A" Train for many years was Duke's theme and here is made into a huskily rolling but relaxed express. Tenderly, long identified with Oscar Peterson, indicates Anita's capacity for romanticism. She scats with zestful confidence through the Jimmy Giuffre Four Brothers that helped strongly to identify that Herman Herd. Stan Getz's lyrical solo on Ralph Burns' Early Autumn for Woody Herman first established Stan's reputation. Anita's version is also lyrical and also wholly jazz in its phrasing, beat and even the nature of her sound. Night in Tunisia, a vintage part of Dizzy Gillespie's repertory, was once recorded by Sarah Vaughan as a slow ballad, Interlude. Anita uses a faster tempo more in context with Dizzy's usual handling of the tune. The special lyrics that Anita sings to Four, the song Miles Davis has recorded, were written by Bill Loughborough, best known for the toned drums he invented, the boobams.

Mary Lou Williams' What's Your Story, Morning Glory, was one of the most attractive originals in the Jimmie Lunceford library, and it's an enigma to me why so few stimulated in large part by the subtly multi-linear use Gerry Mulligan put it to in his quartet. Sing, Sing, Sing is to me much more palatable in this version than in its original showboat exist. ence. It turns into a tour-de-scat for Anita that few other contemporary vocalists could sustain. Body and Soul, Coleman Hawkins' psychic annuity, becomes as instrumentalized a vocal as I expect you can find any. where, including pure scat. The Peanut Vendor that helped sell an early version of the Kenton band is treated with swinging wit by Anita along with more resilient scat singing. Frenesi, the song Artie Shaw brought back from Mexico to kick off another stage of his career, has rarely been so warmly revived. But then heat is the element Anita brings to everything she does. She's one of the last really "hot" jazz singers. – NAT HENTOFF

Duke Ellington - Take the "A" Train

Oscar Peterson - Tenderly
Dizzy Gillepsie - Interlude (Night In  Trunisia)
Miles Davis - Four
Stan Getz - Early Autumn
Woody Herman - Four Brothers
Gene Krupa & Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing
Gerry Mulligan - My Funny Valentine
Artie Shaw - Frenesi
Coleman Hawkings - Body And Soul
Jimmie Lunceford - What's Your Story, Morning Glory
Stan Kenton - Peanut Vendor

How To Develop E.S.P. Vol. 1 - Harold Sherman

 

How To Develop E.S.P. Vol. 1

The Most Amazing Record Series Ever Released To The Public
How To Develop E.S.P.
Extra Sensory Perception – Your Sixth Sense
By Harold Sherman (noted authority on ESP)
Knight Education, Inc. KEI-HS 1

From the back cover: HAROLD SHERMAN, world famous authority on the human mind, author, playwright, TV and radio commentator, first electrified the scientific world with the amazing results of his five months telepathic communications with Sir Hubert Wilkins, famed arctic explorer, while Wilkins was searching for flyers who were lost near the North Pole.

Carefully checked under scientifically observed conditions by Dr. Gardner Murphy, then head of the Parapsychology Department of Columbia University – Mr. Sherman's extra sensory perceptions were found to be over 70% correct. The account of these long distance experiments with the documentary evidence is contained in his book, "Thoughts Through Space."

Mr. Sherman has devoted much of his life to the study of extra sensory perception and is probably the most outstanding authority on the subject.

Unable to personally reach the many thousands of people who have written him with an interest in developing their own E.S.P., he has recorded this material so that each person may practice these techniques in the privacy of his own home and learn. to utilize this wonderful extra sensory power for more abundant living.

Mr. Sherman has authored over 70 published self-help books, many of them best sellers such as "How to Turn Failure into Success," "Thoughts Through Space," "Know Your Own Mind," and "TNT The Power Within You."

Your Extra Sensory Powers
How Messages Are Sent
How Message Are Received
Mental Atmosphere
Mind To Mind
Preparation For Sending
Preparation For Receiving
Long Distance Telepathic Experiments
Feelings In Telepathy
Partners For Mind Communication
Technique For Performing Telepathy

Ken Alford's Dixie Cats at Waikiki

 

Hawaiian War Chant

The Dixie Cats at Waikiki
Producer: Ken Alford
Engineer: Bob Lang
Color Photograph of Royal Hawaiian Hotel:  Werner Stoy (Courtesy of Sheraton Hotels of Hawaii)
Liberty Records LRP 3136
1959

Back cover photo credit: Camera Hawaii, Honolulu

Ken Alford's Dixie-Cats (back cover photo) on the Bandstand of the Banyan Court, Moana Hotel. Left to right: Tom Carter - Piano; "Red" Souza - Clarinet; Ken Alford - Trumpet; Bill Winston - Drums; Al Anderson - Trombone; Ed Frank - Bass; "Banjo Bill" Coker - Banjo and Guitar.

From the back cover: If you were to ponder all the spots in the world least likely to find two-beat in the real tradition, probably the Banyan Court of the Moana Hotel in the center of the golden crescent of Waikiki Beach would be somewhere near the top of your list. For this is the home of the venerable "Hawaii Calls" radio show... the fabled spa of the sun-tan set... the gentle shore bathed by the rolling sea and caressed by the soft trade winds.Yet what is so strange about finding Dixieland music anywhere? The Swedes are wild about it; so are the Poles, the Germans, the Indo-Chinese and just about everyone else. Even the MVD has never been able to convince the Russians that Dixie music is decadent and demoralizing.

So there's really nothing strange about Dixie on the Beach at Waikiki. Its absence would be stranger. For Hawaiian music follows somewhat the traditions and structure of the Dixieland theme. Its tempo is heavily accented two-beat. Of course, the lead is generally played by a steel guitar instead of a horn, but it is accorded the wide range and latitude of the trumpet or cornet chorus.

Ken Alford's Dixie-Cats, headlined in this album, were rounded up by a popular local television cowboy who calls himself "Sheriff Ken." The group had been playing various clubs and military establishments throughout Hawaii for a number of years when cornetist Alford got a call in June of 1957 from the famed Moana Hotel, now a part of the sprawling Sheraton chain.

The Moana wanted to woo the Sunday night tourist crowd in the Banyan Court with something "different." The Dixie-Cats were signed for a brief trial and have been there ever since.

This album is a sample of the 'Cats in performance. Departing from a characteristic program of standard and traditional Dixieland tunes, they have dug into the library of some of the better Hawaiian music, giv- ing it their own treatment. Several selections were written by R. Alex Anderson, Hawaii's foremost living composer, and the father of Dixie-Cat Al Anderson, trombonist.

From the well-known "Hawaiian War Chant" to the not-so-well-known (except in Hawaii) Maui Girl, Ken Alford's Dixie-Cats recreate the exciting melodic nuances and driving rhythm that Dixieland aficionados recognize from pole to pole.

So here are the Dixie-Cats, playing in the Banyan Court of Sheraton's Moana-Surfrider Hotel, hard by the incredibly blue waters of the vast Pacific. The aver- age temperature of the air at Waikiki is seventy-eight degrees; the water seventy-six. If it's cold where you are, and if you like Dixieland, come see us sometime. Make it soon.

Aloha nui loa, Bob Roberts

Hawaiian War Chant
Hula Blues
On The Beach At Waikiki
Little Brown Gal
My Little Grass Shack

Uheuhenne
Mele Kalikimaka
Malihini Mele
Maui Girl
The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai
My Hawaiian Song of Love
Hilo March

More Hit TV Themes - Nelson Riddle

 

Supercar

More Hit TV Themes
Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra

Produced  by Tom Morgan
Capitol Records ST 1869
1963

Ballad Of Jed Clampett (from "The Beverly Hillbillies)
Bonanza Theme
Moon River (from "The Andy Williams Show")
Stoney Burke Theme
McHale's Navy March
The Dickens and Fenster March
Supercar
Ballad Of Paladin (from "Have Gun Will Travel")
Lucy Theme
Bubble In The Wine (the Lawrence Welk theme)
New Naked City Theme
Dick Van Dyke Theme

The Golden Sound Of Joe Howard

 

The Golden Sounds Of Joe Howard

The Golden Sound Of Joe Howard
Arrangements by Jerry Fielding
King 661
1959

Clarinet - Dominic Fera
Alto - Hymie Gunkler
Alto & Tenor - Buddy Collette
Piano - Ernie Hughes
Bass - Red Callender
Tenor - Pete Terry
Bariton - Marty Berman
Oboe - Champ Webb
Drums - Tommy Romersa

On many selections Joe Howards plays two, three, four and even five parts through the process of multiple dubbing to give the full trombone section sound.

From the back cover: Some years ago, a cheerful young man came out of Batesville, Indiana, with a Sears-Roebuck trombone cradled lovingly under his arm and burning within him a consuming desire to make good in the select trombone set.During the following years JOE HOWARD not only made good, but steadily climbed in musical acceptance until he has reached the rare pinnacle of success reserved for only those who can be called "musical greats." Today the horn of JOE HOWARD is in constant demand for record dates and he is best known for his clean and beautiful "high register work."

Joe has worked with such top-ranked bands as Will Osborne, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, Ray Noble and Kay Kyser... and he even ventured successfully into concert work with Igor Stravinsky. In recent years he has confined his work to "studio" dates on the West coast.

The superb arrangements by JERRY FIELDING, one of the fore- most arrangers of our time, are handled by a novel grouping of six woodwinds and a three-man rhythm section, which has subjugated their dazzling individual musical styles to back the golden sounds of Howard's trombone.

TENDERLY - After it's publication, this number became an accepted "standard". Some years later Tenderly took the spotlight again as the theme song for the motion picture, "Torch Song," starring Miss Joan Crawford.

AIN'T GONNA STUDY WAR NO MORE - Long a favorite of choral groups, this number dates back to the Civil War. Though it is usually presented with rousing spirit, Jerry Fielding has ar- ranged it with a subtle treatment for Joe Howard's trombone, to make it sound as new as tomorrow.

I'LL BE AROUND - A song in the upper-middlebrow music technique. I'll Be Around has always been regarded as "something special" in popular music.

MY MAN'S GONE NOW - The American public has always been aware of the beauty in the individual songs of "Porgy and Bess." Here, My Man's Gone Now takes on a new feeling because of unusual arranging and superb rendition.

SPEAK LOW - This number was incorporated in the motion picture version of "One Touch of Venus," starring Miss Ava Gardner, although it made its bow in the stage production in 1943... sung by Mary Martin.

TAKE ME IN YOUR ARMS - The origin of this song is to be found in Hungary, and was later introduced in this country with English lyrics by Mitchell Parrish. It rapidly became an inter- national favorite. Almost every well-known artit has sung or instrumentalized it.

LINDY LOU - The gifted composer, Lily Strickland, is known to contemporary audiences for her song cycles of music depicting various parts of the world in which she lived. As an example, her suite of Bayou Songs shows strongly the in luence of location.

I COVER THE WATERFRONT - One of the greatest popular standards, I Cover The Water- front was first written to exploit a new film starring Claudette Colbert and Ben Lyon. Although first dubious about its success as a torch song, Green and Heyman realized another great success

Soprano Summit - Bob Wilber & Kenny Davern

 

The Mooche

Soprano Summit
Bob Wilber & Kenny Davern

Producer: Barker Hickox / Hickox Productions, Phoenix, Arizona
Album Cover: Jim O'Connell/M.P.I.
Recorded December 17, 21, 22, 1973 at Vanguard Studios, N.Y.C.
Engineering and Mixing by Noel Edward with Jeff Zaraya, assisting
World Jazz WJLP-S-5
1974

Bob Wilber - Soprano Sax, Clarinet

Kenny Davern - Soprano Sax, Clarinet
Dick Hyman - Piano
Bucky Pizzarelli - Guitar, Banjo
Bob Rosengarden - Drums
George Diuvivier or Milton Hinton - Bass

From the back cover: The jazz tradition is incredibly rich, yet much of it lies fallow in the grooves of old records, cherished by specialists and collectors, but seldom if ever brought to life the only way music really can be-in the playing of it.This beautiful album brings some forgotten music back to life, but not in the manner of the so-called revivalists, who strive to copy the past. This is new music; fresh, contemporary, not like anything you've heard before. Bob Wilber, Kenny Davern and their colleagues are not recreators but creators. It is the spirit, not the letter of a great tradition that is so lovingly resurrected here.

"Soprano Summit" is an appropriate title. Wilber and Davern are among the top practitioners of this most demanding of the saxophones - an instrument that in recent years, in part due to the influence of John Coltrane, has become unprecedentedly popular in jazz circles.

The soprano, of course, is synonymous with the man who brought it into jazz, the immortal Sidney Bechet. His musical legacy – as composer as well as player – is newly illuminated here. But let us not forget that Bechet was also a great clarinetist - Wilber hasn't.

In contrast to the soprano, the clarinet – once one of the dominant horns in jazz - has fallen into relative obscurity. Hearing Wilber and Davern do the instrument justice here makes the listener aware of just how regrettable this neglect is.

On both their instruments, the two hornmen excel not only as soloists but in team work, and this is one important aspect of the tradition I've been talking about: True ensemble spirit; two individualists adjusting to each other; creative give-and-take; the joy of playing together.

Obviously, this can't be accomplished successfully without the support of a proper rhythm section. The one Wilber has assembled here is truly an all-star team. Dick Hyman is the most versatile pianist I know, with a complete knowledge and understanding of the total history of the jazz keyboard. Moreover, he is a masterful interpreter and team player. His work here will surprise even those who know his worth.

Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli is beginning to get some of the public acclaim that has long been his due; musicians don't need to be told of his many virtues. Milt Hinton and George Duvivier, the alternating bassists, are two of the great masters of the art of rhythmic and musical sup port, at home in any situation. Their mere presence lent an air of assurance to the proceedings.

Bob Rosengarden, best known as the bandleader on the Dick Cavett Show (and presently musical director of the Empire Room at New York's Waldorf Astoria), may off-hand seem the odd man in the section. But Wilber, who has encountered Bobby in various playing situations, notably at Dick Gibson's Colorado Jazz Parties, made a wise choice. Bobby has inspiriting, swinging time, and hasn't played so-called "traditional" jazz often enough to become trapped in the rhythmic clichés too many drummers are wont to impose on their unwilling cohorts.

This album should do much to put the talents of Kenny Davern in rightful perspective. He's had far too little re- corded exposure, especially in recent years, and hardly ever in the right circumstances, but now the drought, happily, seems to be over. He has just been well show. cased on Dick Hyman's investigations of the music of Jelly Roll Morton (Columbia), and has made two albums with his good friend Dick Wellstood: a quartet effort (for Seeds) and a unique soprano-piano duet date (for Chiaroscuro). And now this stimulating 'partnership with perhaps his only peer in terms of musical as well as instrumental orientation.

To those who love them both, this encounter between Wilber and Davern on records is a dream come true. I think it was Red Balaban, an enterprising bassist-ban-joist-organizer, who first had the good sense to bring these two together; they have since appeared in tandem. at a Colorado Jazz Party, at a memorable outdoor concert on New York's Park Avenue, and at a concert celebrating The World's Greatest Jazz Band's fifth anniversary. Because they have so much in common, yet are such totally different personalities, they complement each other perfectly. There's just the right amount of together ness and stimulating competitiveness to make musical sparks fly. Each brings out the best in the other.

Bob Wilber has surpassed himself here in all the facets of his talent: as arranger, player, composer, catalyst, and musical thinker. Because much writing and criticism about jazz tends to view the music as a series of consecutive stylistic "progressions", a unique musician like Wilber, who was captivated by Bechet at a point in historical time when others went with Charlie Parker, and whose development since his early days as Bechet's star pupil has not followed orthodox paths, has been classified as a "mainstream" player, which, curiously enough, tends to mean someone who is not really in the main. stream of the music.

To me, Wilber and his most gifted contemporaries (such as Dick Wellstood and the somewhat younger Davern) are the true custodians of the living jazz tradition, aware of the whole spectrum of the music, and choosing to work within the areas they find most appeal. ing. (to the extent that any working musician is permitted the luxury of artistic choices as distinct from practical ones).

What Wilber has done here is multi-faceted. He has taken some fine, unusual pieces of music associated with the great triumvirate of New Orleans reeds – Bechet, Johnny Dodds. Jimmy Noone and reexamined them in the light of his own musical personality and experience. He has paid homage to another giant who touched him deeply, Johnny Hodges, with a beautiful new composition in the spirit of his prior Hodges pieces (Dreaming Butterfly, New City Ditty). He has written a piece in yet another neglected reed tradition, that of the virtuoso clarinet as represented by Benny Goodman. He has taken an older composition of his own (Penny Rag, a collaboration with Max Kaminsky) and re-invested it with reedy redolence. And he has made wonderfully creative use of the possibilities of a two-reed front line in all its many potential combinations of sonorities and juxtapositions, as well as of such stimulating but now seldom well-used classic jazz devices as stop time rhythm, chase choruses, breaks, etc.

In the studio, it soon became apparent that the musicians were unusually stimulated by the unhackneyed and challenging yet naturally musical and logical tasks that confronted them. The situation was anything but routine, and there was no trace of the attitude of the jaded professional, though several of these men record almost every day of the week, and more than once a day. Nobody was in a rush.

Each man really cared about doing his part, and there was mutual admiration, astonishment, and best of all, pleasure in creating genuine, living contemporary music in a spirit that invoked the past without patronizing or idolizing it. I've witnessed many a recording session, but few (if any) with such a pervasive atmosphere of involve. ment, of wanting to hear how this came out, of trying to see how that could be improved - all in a spirit of both joy and high seriousness. And isn't that the spirit it's all about?

Swing Parade, a Sidney Bechet composition recorded by him in 1941, is a rousing opener. The ensemble fea- tures two sopranos. The solo exchanges (at first in stop time) after Hyman's stride solo (Bucky takes the bridge) are by Bob and Kenny, in that order, and the ensuing collective rideout ends on a joyful high note. This is a good track for getting acquainted with the two distinct soprano sounds.

Egyptian Fantasy also stems from Bechet and a 1941 recording. The two clarinets are featured, and they blend beautifully in warm hues. Note Hyman's chromatic piano accompaniment in the A section (in G minor). In the next section (in B flat). Kenny takes the first set of solo breaks, Bob the second. Also note Bucky's mysterioso fills in the final segment, and the great tremolo and glis. sando ending.

Oh Sister, Ain't That Hot, a charming early-'20s piece by Walter Donaldson, was a staple in the repertoire of Jimmie Noone's Apex Club band, which had an instru mentation almost identical with this group. Kenny opens with the verse on clarinet, joined by Bob's soprano on the chorus. For the second chorus, Bob plays lead a la Joe Poston, with Kenny in the appropriate Noone groove. After Hyman's fleet piano bit, there are fine breaks by Kenny and a soaring stop time solo by Bob. They swing on out together, backed by Rosengarden's Chinese crash cymbal (courtesy Kenny D. via Jack Bradley – they don't make them any more). The ending is a gas.

Stealin' Away is not the famous spiritual but a blues re corded by Johnny Dodds in 1929 with a group called the Paramount Pickers. Backed by Pizzarelli and Hinton only, the two clarinets conjure up an intimate, end-of-the-night quality. After Bob's lead on the verse, Kenny plays the lead and the break on the first chorus, Bob on the second. Kenny solos first, very blue; Bob delves into his warm lower register for his say. Bucky's gentle chorded solo is backed by bass only, while Milt's has background harmony from the clarinets, who go out with a fine riff, first in lower register, then up high.

Johnny Was There, Bob's moving tribute to Mr. Hodges, features the beautiful soprano sound of the composer, joined most effectively by Kenny for the climax what a blend! (It's hard enough to keep one soprano in tune: these two play harmony as if to the manner born.) The haunting ending is enhanced by Hyman's Ducal fills. Rabbit would have liked this..

Penny Rag is the aforementioned Wilber collaboration with Max Kaminsky, from a time when the trumpeter was leading the house band at Eddie Condon's, with Bob aboard, and a series of compositions in the idiom of the Louis Armstrong Hot Five were devised and recorded for Seeburg Transcriptions when Joe Marsala was the recording director there. It's quite a piece, in three sections, of which the D-flat one (Bob calls it the "carousel" section) is particularly lovely-a real rag, made-to-order for the present revival. Bob plays soprano, Kenny clarinet, both superbly. The final ensemble really sings – it's that kind of melody and feeling. Dig Bob's break!

Side two opens with another Bechet masterpiece, The Fish Man a big hit for the Old Man in France. A merengue (Bechet once made some Haitian records, by the way), it opens with Kenny on clarinet and Bob on soprano; after their duet, Bob slashes out and Kenny follows. now also on soprano, for a chase-and-duet and fine fish-horn finale. This is dance music of the first order, and the rhythm team (Bucky on his uncle's fancy banjo here) really takes charge, Chinese cymbal again to the fore.

The Mooche, one of the few better known pieces on this LP, is an Ellington staple-a survivor from the band's Jungle period certainly bearing the stamp of co-composer Bubber Miley. The opening finds Rosengarden recalling Sonny Greer's temple blocks; he goes to tom. toms behind the two sopranos. After the blues ensemble, Bob's low-register clarinet is answered by Kenny's soprano in two choruses of call-and-response. Bob returns to soprano for four-bar exchanges led off by Kenny. They riff behind the piano solo, sock it out together, return to the G-minor strain, and take breaks (BW/BW/KD/KD). Dig the mysterious, tremoloed ending. By the way, Duke's favorite record of this piece was by Bechet. Hope he hears this.

Where Are We? is Kenny Davern's solo contribution to the date. I love the sound he gets on his clarinet; few cats fill the horn like that. The tune is pretty: Kenny says he wrote the melody but didn't like the changes-bassist Jack Six, a frequent associate, wrote the ones heard here. This tells a story in just one chorus, backed by guitar and bass only.

Please Clarify is Bob's salute to the Goodman tradition, or rather, the part of it represented by things like Clarinade (fittingly, Hyman does a marvelous Mel Powell here). It has two strains; the one in D-minor has that Russian-Jewish flavor. On the B-flat interlude, Bob solos first, then Kenny, and they continue in that order. Some tough stuff here for the clarinet chops, passed in flying colors.

Song of Songs is a 1914 continental European pop song, and so filled with nostalgia the damned thing almost makes me cry. Bechet told Wilber he used to play this with Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra the band with which he set Europe on its ear" in 1919. This is strictly a soprano party, shamelessly. gloriously romantic, both men making love to the melody the way the Old Man could do it, in his best Richard Tauber cum creole soul manner. (Jazz is a way of play. ing, of singing music - all kinds.) The rundown: ad lib verse, Kenny first, then both entwined, then Bob, then both. Bob states the theme (now intempo) first, then Kenny over a countermelody. The verse (again ad lib) has BW/KD/BW/KD dialog, then they jointly weave the chorus. The ad lib cadenza features Bob, and then they go out together, hitting that nice fat chord smack in the face. Lovely!

Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland makes for a cheerful ending to a great trip, and illuminates Wilber's arranging gifts once more. It's a most imaginative treatment of an old American standard. Bob is on clarinet, Kenny on soprano, and all sorts of things happen, all nice. Among them: Hyman's brilliant solo over stop-time rhythm (I'm very fond of backgrounds to piano solos), and the band playing the melody, stop time, behind the opening of Bob's elegant solo. (He got the idea, he told me, from Jimmie Noone's Apex Club things "with Bud Scott play. ing lead behind Noone solo.") Kenny leads the way out, and there's a duet break a la Oliver. "These guys have so much time, they don't even need a rhythm section," said Bucky Pizzarelli of Messrs. Wilber and Davern.

Well, there you have it. Without hyperbole, one of the most enjoyable, most musically satisfying and imaginative recordings of contemporary jazz music to come along in the '70s. This is one to keep. – DAN MORGENSTERN

Swing Parade
Egyptian Fantasy
Oh, Sister, Ain't That Hot
Stealin' Away
Johnny Was There
Penny Rag
The Fish Man

The Mooche
Where Are We?

Please Clarify
Song Of Songs
Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland

Happy Time Cha Chas - Ricardo Juarez

 

Cha Cha Militaire

Happy Time Cha Chas
Ricardo Juarez and His Orchestra
Produced and Originated by Enoch Light
Grand Awards Record Co. GA 254 SD
1960

From the back cover: The happiest dancers in the past year or two have been the ones who have danced to the happy rhythms of the cha cha. And it's not just because the cha cha has deservedly become the most popular dance to reach the United States from south of the border in a long, long time. A big part of the happy time that comes from cha-cha- ing is the mixture of lovely, familiar tunes that we all know with the tempting cha cha beat that gets everyone out on the dance floor. This mixture was popularized by Enoch Light and His Light Brigade when he recorded I WANT TO BE HAPPY CHA CHA for Grand Award. Now Ricardo Juarez and his orchestra carry the idea even further by joining some of the greatest popular American tunes to the authentic cha cha beat that this orchestra knows so well in arrangements that sparkle with imagination and excitement.

The cha cha beat puts these wonderful songs in a fresh and provocative perspective. With the stirring rhythm of the cha cha pulsing excitingly underneath them, the melodies come out in a precise, jaunty way that makes them step along with a delightful flair. And the arrange- ments are full of variety, rousing exchanges and mixtures of sounds as the throbbing beat of bongos, timbales, congo drums, cowbells and scratchers weaves in and out of the brass and reed ensembles; while exciting accents are added by flutes and guitars, and an extra percussive wallop comes from the bright tones of the xylophone and the gutty prodding of the Hammond organ.

You'll hear the wave of joyous sound that occurs when a happy alto saxophone rises suddenly and sweepingly out of TWO CIGARETTES IN THE DARK, when a muted trom-

bone starts to swing over the cha cha beat of IT'S A SIN TO TELL A LIE, when both the alto saxophone and the muted trombone exchange brief intricate solos during SHOULD I and the gorgeous tone of the open trombone appears on TOO YOUNG.

BREEZIN' ALONG WITH THE BREEZE becomes even breezier than the breeze when the organ floats like a zephyr through the ensembles and the solos. KISS ME AGAIN is made as light and airy as a puff ball by the risingly rippling undercurrent of the saxophones and the organ. There's excitement, too, in the duel between the bongos and the conga drum that brings YOUNG IN HEART to a stirring climax.

But possibly the most unusual arrangement in this collection and certainly the most un- usual cha cha ever recorded is the brilliant CHA CHA MILITAIRE. Ricardo Juarez has caught all the splendor and excitement of a huge marching band and has transfered it to a cha cha that glistens with a gloriously brassy sound, with ruffles and flourishes from a drum corps gone excitingly native and with the big splashy crash of enormous cymbals.

Besides the happy dancing, the stimulating listening and the spectacular stereophonic high fidelity recording of these happy time cha cha's, many of the arrangements start out with passages played first on one speaker alone, then duplicated on the other. This is done so that you can be sure that the balance between your speakers is absolutely precise. Listen carefully to these balancing passages and be certain that you are hearing all of the full, realistic sound that skillful engineering has put in the grooves of this record.

Too Young Cha Cha
Sweet And Lovely Cha Cha
Young At Heart Cha Cha
Cha Cha Militaire
Kiss Me Again Cha Cha
Moonlight And Roses Cha Cha
Too Marvelous For Words
Two Cigarettes In The Dark
Breezin' Along With The Breeze Cha Cha
It's A Sin To Tell A Lie Cha Cha
It Might As Well Be Spring Cha Cha
Should I Cha Cha

Ray Price Sings Heart Songs

 

Blues Stay Away From Me

Ray Price Sings Heart Songs
Columbia Records CL 1015

From the back cover: In popular usage, a "heart song" is one that is fundamentally sentimental, more often than not with a touch of sadness about it, and it is songs such as these that Ray Price presents in this brand-new collection. Most of them, of course, are familiar hits from the past, newly recorded by Ray as a sentimental offering, and few singers today are better qualified to give these songs that extra something that enhances their attraction.Since 1951, Ray Price has been one of Columbia's major stars, singing his way into the affections of millions of listeners, not only on his best-selling records but on radio as well. Only recently, Ray was awarded one of the first of Columbia's "Gold Guitars" for his latest, Crazy Arms. Ray's specialties have always been ballads, although he is equally gifted when it comes to a lively tune, and some of his greatest successes have been scored in that field. In addition to his singing talents, Ray is a composer, and writes most of his own songs, working them out on his guitar. When it came time for him to select the songs for this collection, he chose those that seemed to him most likely to fit together in a balanced program, and happily it included some of his biggest hits.

Ray was born on a farm near Perryville, Texas, in 1926. From the very beginning, he showed his musical talents, and sang his way through grade school and high school, entertaining at class programs and local affairs. When he entered North Texas Agricultural College, where he studied to become a veterinarian, he continued his singing as a member of the college glee club. As he went along, it became more and more apparent that his real calling lay with music, and at last he decided to become a professional singer. From the outset, he was successful, and within a very few months was a major star in his chosen field. During the war, he served in the South Pacific with the Marine Corps, and is still an expert rifleman. In addition, he has participated in rodeo contests, and is skilled at bronco busting and quarter horse training.

But the songs Ray Price sings here have little to do with such rugged activities – these are softly sentimental tunes, the kind his fans like best and the kind Ray himself likes to sing best. His pleasure in his singing is apparent in the delightful performances he brings to these songs, making them even more pleasurable for his admirers. Heart songs they most assuredly are, both for the heart that their lyrics and melodies convey, and for the heart that Ray Price brings to them in his singing.

I Love  You Because
Let Me Talk To You
Blues, Stay Away From Me
Many Tears Ago
Letters Have No Arms
Faded Lov
Remember Me

I Saw My Castles Fall Today
I'll Sail My Ship Alone
I Can't Help It
A Mansion On The Hill
Pins And Needles

Tango Argentino - Atilio Stampone

 

El Por La Vuelta

Tango Argentino
Atilio Stampone and His Orchesta con Banoneon del Tango
Photography: Bob Witt
Audio Fidelity AFLP 1880
1958

From the back cover: ATILIO STAMPONE, despite his youth, has a long record of professional credits and musical achievements that would make a seasoned veteran proud. As a triple-threat musician, boasting mastery of the piano, rare skill as a conductor and a vast knowledge of Latin music, he has covered considerable ground. This includes appearances as solo pianist in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, and performances throughout Europe and Latin America as conductor of his own orchestra. He is an authority on the tango, and has won a wide reputation in his native Argentina with his own arrangements in this dance form. His musical education was acquired in Europe and in his own country with many outstanding authorities. One of his most recent achievements was arranging to broadcast-despite contracts that are usually supposed to tie an artist down on an exclusive basis-over two top Argentinian radio networks.

Also from the back cover: Life is a glorious adventure in Argentina, where Irishmen speak Castilian, where man's best friend is his horse, and where the earth enriches beyond one's most extravagant dreams. Indeed, there is an old saying often cited by other Latin Americans that one sure way to become rich is to buy an Argentinian for what he is really worth, and then sell him for what he thinks he's worth. Argentinians allege their country to be the greatest in the world, their frontier mountains to be the highest, their pampas to be the widest, their lakes the most beautiful, the cattle the finest, the vineyards the most fertile, the women the most lovely and the men the bravest. Not disputing any of the foregoing, the Argentinians also have the most enchanting tangos. Argentinians are lovers of music-both classical and popular. Many of the country's musical compositions and dances, in addition to having considerable abstract appeal, have special meaning or actual stories connected with them. Popular music reflects the national character, and the tango is the one piece for which Argentina is best known. One Argentinian has said that the tango does not reflect real life there, but rather, life tries to reflect the tango.The Argentinian tango was first heard towards the end of the nineteenth century in a form vastly different from that of today. Some authorities hold that it was at first a hybrid mix- ture of the Andalusian tango, the Cuban habanera and the Argentinian milonga. Others claim that its origins are African, Brazilian and Italian.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, no one dared to play a tango in an Argentinian ballroom because it was considered a shameful inheritance from the gaucho, who was very much disliked by high society in the large cities. But when families that suddenly acquired wealth went abroad to enjoy their money, their sons introduced the tango to the French, and it became at once popular. Women found it exciting. And after it became the rage of Paris, the dance underwent some refinement, with the result that it was considered perfectly proper for any young Argentinian lady to dance it in public. The tango was then "re-imported" from Europe, immediately replaced the waltz, polka and other old fashioned dances and became no less the rage in Argentina than it had been in Paris. Today the tango is a part of Argentinian life, and is regarded by experts as both distinct and completely a form of importance. In Argentina new tangos make their appearance all the time, while old ones are played perennially.

Citizens of Buenos Aires-clerks, shopkeepers, waiters, sales- men and factory workers-never seem to get tired enough to go home early even after a full day's work. They generally go to a motion picture show, the theater or a concert, and then jam the cafes and night clubs. They love nothing more than to step into a cafe, summon the waiter and sit endlessly sipping their favorite drink and listening to and/or dancing the tango. Two sounds are ubiquitous in Buenos Aires-the smack of the bidou cup as it rolls out the dice, and the strains of tango after tango echoing into the early morning hours.

With newspapers, radios, television sets and movies still a novelty in rural areas, the Argentinian must provide his own entertainment. And so he spends his leisure time in typical Spanish fashion-either in the cafes or boliches (taverns). As Argentinians become imbued more and more with a feeling for their own nationalism, the influence of both Spain and France is less apparent in every facet of their life. The tango has played an important role in bringing this to pass.

This recording, made in Buenos Aires, is unusual in that it has an authenticity which is immediately and ever apparent. The artists who take part in the recording are experts not only on the tango, but on Latin American music in general. Their musical abilities, coupled with expert sound engineering utilizing special microphone placement, painstaking analysis and application of high fidelity techniques, result in the kind of performance that sounds like a personal visit to the Argentinian capital. The many subtleties of meaning in the emotional and narrative contents of each selection are captured through the use of the finest recording equipment obtainable. The same may be said of the tonal nuances, which are immeasurably more effective as a result of the application of guaranteed total frequency range recording methods.

LA RAYUELA (Julio de Caro) - A description of the child's game, hopscotch. The composer intended this to be a symbol of liberty because as a child he was prevented by parental discipline and by musical studies from playing hopscotch with other children.
EL ARRANQUE (The Start-Julio de Caro) - This was inspired by a little broken down automobile the composer drove when starting on a holiday trip. When the car refused to budge, he had to spend an entire night alongside it on the open road. Like other tangos, it helps recall happenings that are unimportant to most people.
EL ONCE (The Man From Once-Osvaldo y Emilio Fresedo) - Once is a historical and traditional district of Buenos Aires, very much like a small town. The composer pays tribute to the district and to a famous tango composer, Enric que Santos Discepolo, who was born there.
EL IRRESISTIBLE (Logatti) - This tango might connote the conquering male who is irresistible to the ladies.
CABULERO (Superstitious Gambler-Leopoldo Federico) - This is dedicated to the gambler who gambles with his own special system, not taking rash chances and ever trying to triumph with good fortune.
SI NO ME ENGANA EL CORAZON (If My Heart Does Not Deceive Me-Mishe y Carlos Bahr) - The hero awaits the arrival of his love in a song of hope and happiness.
POR LA VUELTA (For the Returning – Jose Tinelli and Enrique Cadicamo) - Everything is as it was a year ago when the lovers separated. It is raining outside, and it seems as if it were the same rain as that afternoon they said good bye. Reminded of the old love, they raise their glasses and drink to the reunion.
ADIOS CORAZON (Goodbye My Heart-Echegoncelay and Zapelli) - This tango, by Uruguayan composers, refers to the lover who speaks to the girl of his dreams in the street and tells of his love. The man apparently has won the lady, and leaves a suspicion of what is to come as they say goodbye, leaving future developments to the listener's imagination.
SENSIBLERO (Sensible One-Julian Plaza) - A highly tender, lyrical and inspired composition attempting to portray a very lovable person, one highly romantic and easily touched.
NOSTALGIAS (Nostalgia-Juan Carlos Cobian and Enrique Cadicamo) - The man drinks to forget his love and tries to find forgetfulness in other women, but finds it impossible. Everything reminds him of his beloved, and he comforts himself that the woman has been the last love of a declining youth. SALIMOS A BAILAR (Shall We Dance-Pomatti and Leopoldo Diaz Velez) - He follows her hopefully. He loves her, and the only chance he has to talk to her is while they dance. Hence the title. He praises her lavishly as they dance, and his dreams come true as the woman returns his love.
REFLEXIONEMOS (Lets Think It Over-Pablo Marin) - The hero calls his love back and begs her to reconsider her decision to separate. He asks her to return to him as he feels that so much love cannot go unrequited.

 

Eleanor Rigby

Memphis Underground
Living Jazz Play Today's Hits
Arranged and Conducted by Phil Bodner
Produced by Ethel Gabriel
Recorded in RCA's Studio C, New York City
Recording Engineer: Don Miller
Camden / RCA Records STEREO CAS-2394
1970

Memphis Underground
If Love Is Good To Me
The Dock Of The Bay
Watch What Happens

I'm Walkin' To Memphis

Eleanor Rigby
Ballad Of Easy Rider
I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City
Double Dare