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