Dynamite - Supersax

Gloomy Sunday

Dynamite!!
Supersax
P.A.U.S.A.
7082
MPS International

All arrangements except II/2 by Med Flory
Produced by Hans George Brunner-Schwer
Recorded 1978 - Published 1980

Supersax… and super tight. Enjoy the terrific cover of Gloomy Sunday!

From the back cover: Supersax plays "orchestrated Charlie Parker." That's how the group has become known all over the (jazz) world. This is their trade mark. Nevertheless, one of the more prominent American record companies wanted them to play Beatles songs with strings. Imagine, this was their condition to keep Supersax under contract! Med Flory and his musicians, of course, declined – which does not necessarily mean that they are not willing to expand their music. But they are expanding from musical, not commercial viewpoints.

The Fruit
Bamboo
Blues For Alice
Tempus Fugit
Parisian Thoroughfare
Gloomy Sunday
Wave
Dance Of The Road Dogs
Parker's Mood

New Music Ensemble - The San Francisco Conservatory

Moran: L'apres'-midi du Dracoula

New Music Ensemble
The San Francisco Conservatory
Wergo WER 60057

1971

From the back cover: Moran himself writes in connection with L'apres'-midi du Dracula: I first met the painter Robert Doxat in Vienna in 1963… I visited his flat in the 2nd District with friends. We walked up a stone stairway… while it rained outside. As I entered I knew that a magical event was talking place inside me. Robert showed me his wonderful drawings and pictures, scenes from the world of XamiXan. When I saw his drawing "The Afternoon of Dracula" I tried to reproduce the impression made by the drawing in musical terms.

Contemporary Music - Schuller Schwartz, Glazer

The Atlanta Virtuosi
Frank Glazer, Pianist

Gunther Schuller
On Light Wings
For violin, viola, violoncello and piano

Elliott Schwartz
Dream Music with Variations
For violin, viola, violoncello and piano

Orion ORS 86499
1984

Here's a sample from an obscure "contemporary" set featuring the above funky sample with a "B-movie-crime-drama" vibe from side 1 (Schuller).

Chamber Cantata On Chinese Poems

Chamber Cantata On Chinese Poems

Alan Hovhaness Koke No Niwa, Op. 181 "Moss Garden" 1960
Composed By, Conductor – Alan Hovhaness
English Horn – Melvin Kaplan
Harp – Ruth Negri
Percussion – Elden Bailey*, Walter Rosenberger

Ezra Sims Chamber Cantata On Chinese Poems 1954
Cello – Judith Davidoff
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Felix Viscuglia
Composed By – Ezra Sims
Conductor – Daniel PinkhamFlute – Elinor Preble
Harpsichord – Helen Keany
Tenor Vocals – Richard Conrad
Viola – William Hibbard

Lawrence Moss Four Scenes For Piano 1961
Composed By – Lawrence MossPiano – Seymour Fink

Lawrence Moss Sonata For Violin And PianoComposed By – Lawrence MossPiano – Yehudi WynerViolin – Matthew Raimondi

CRI SD 186

To my ears, here is the most entertaning piece from an obscure 1964 CRI contemporary music set.

From the back cover: The Chamber Cantata on Chinese Poems is a cycle of the year, beginning with New Year's Day (early Spring, in China) and continuing through to the end of Winter, with the first buds showing on the still snowy tree branches – which explains the somewhat anti-dramatic character of the music, this in line with the Chinese preoccupation with the youth-middle life-old age – and rebirth progression. The Cantata was to have been much larger, with a more rigorously patterned apportionment for the four tone-rows. Good sense won out of pretty planning, however.

Zeitgeist

Premonitions Of Christopher Columbus/Set Sail For The Sun

Zeitgeist
Bowers/DeMars/Stockhausen
Sound Environment Recording Corporation - Lincoln, Nebraska

This is a obscure album that I enjoyed. The musicians create, to my ear, a fluid "gamelan/fusion jazz" tonal journey on side one and the first half of side two, followed by an "old-school" avant grade piece, Stockhausen's Set Sail For The Sun, a track that plays "differently" comparatively speaking, but seems like just the right piece to finish to the set.

From the back cover: Zeitgeist was formed in April of 1977 to discover and realize in a musical language the concepts and perceptions of ourselves and our contemporaries. We work together to increase our vocabulary in order to express ideas in many varied forms.

James DeMars - piano
Joseph Holmqiist - marimba, cymbals, gongs and tam tam
Jay Johnson - vibes, piano (Stockhausen), cymbals, gongs, tabla and siren
Thomas Hubbard - electric bass
C Lee Humphries - piano (DeMars)
Homer Lambrecht - trombone
Patrick Moriarty - alto sax
Thomas Toscano - conductor (DeMars)

Pattern Study #2 - Stacey Bowers

Premonitions Of Christopher Columbus - James DeMar
Premiered by Zeitgeist at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in October of 1979.

Set Sail From The Sun - Karlheniz Stockhausen

Viva Kenton!

Mexican Jumping Bean

Viva Kenton!
Exciting Latin Rhythms With The Kenton Touch
Produced by Lee Gillette
Capitol Records
SW 1305
1960

Piano: Stan Kenton
Saxes: Jone Bonnie, Marvin Hollady, Chuck Mariano, Jack Nimitz and Bill Trujilo
Trumpets: Bud Brisbois, Bill Chase, Rolf Ericson, Roger Middleton and Dalton Smith
Trombones: Jim Amlotte, Bob Knight, Kent Larsen, Archie LeCoque and Don Sebesky
Bass: Pete Chivily
Drums: Jimmy Campbell
Percussion: Tommy Lopez, Mike Pacheco and William Rodriguez

From the back cover: In this album, both standards and originals by Gene Roland are presented in the colorful Latin tempos that the band plays for dancers. The outstanding arrangements by Gene Roland offer a deft, tropical approach to the traditional Kenton sound.

From February 15, 1960 Billboard: Kenton serves up some exciting, swinging ork treatments of Latin standards and originals – all tasteful, stirring Latin tempos. Line-up includes "Adio" "Artistry In Rhythm," (Kenton's theme), "Mexican Jumping Bean," etc. Fine Sound.

Mexican Jumping Bean
Siesta
Cha Cha Sombrero
Chocolate Caliente
Aqua Marine
Opus In Chartreuse Cha Cha Cha
Cha Cha Chee Boom
Adio
Mission Trail
Artistry In Rhythm

Lonely Girl - Julie London

Lonely Girl

Lonely Girl
Julie London with Al Viola, Guitar
Producer: Bobby Troup
Engineer: John Neal
Cover Photography: Ray Jones
Liberty LRP 3012
1956

From the back cover: It's remarkable when you realized that Julie has such a paradoxical appeal. She seems to capture everyone from the housewife to the severest jazz critic; from the rock-and-roll-loving teen ager to the modern-sound-craving college student. And this is the girl who sang professionally for the first time only a scant seven months ago! It's undeniable that Julie's voice is not a big voice. And she may have vocal coaches throwing their hands in the air as she defies many of their precious fundamentals. But the end result is something no vocal coach could ever teach. Warmth and heart and sensitivity are not to be learned from teachers.

Al Viola is responsible for the imaginative guitar accompaniment you hear behind Julie's voice. Just as Barney Kessel and Ray Leatherwood were such an important part of her first album, "Julie Is Her Name"; Al is certainly an integral part of the exciting mood created in "Lonely Girl". This may be one of the first times a gut-stringed Spanish guitar has been used in this way, and I think it makes for a tremendously interesting blend of voice and background. Al came to California via Brooklyn ten years ago and has progressed rapidly from he Page Cavanaugh Trio days to one of the most sought-after guitarists in Hollywood.

Lonely Girl
Fools Rush In
Moments Like This
I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City
It's The Talk Of The Town
What'll I Do
When Your Lover Has Gone
Don't Take Your Love From Me
Where Or When
All Alone
Mean To Me
How Deep Is The Ocean
Remember

Cugi's Cocktails - Xavier Cugat

Cugi's Cocktails
Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra
Mercury MG 20832
1963

Available from your usual online vendors, so I will not be posting a sample. Shared because the copy I found still contains the original illustrated sleeve featuring an advertisement for a "portable" Mercury Phonograph made by Philips in Holland.

The set itself is very good period Latin featuring a mix of a straight "big band" and more "space age" sounding tracks. "Zombie" sounds as if Arthur Lyman might have help record the tune.

From October 12, 1963 Billboard: Cugi runs the gamut from "Cube Libre" (guaracha) to a "Singapore Sling" (rhumba) with tasty stops along the way to mambo, bossa, cha-cha, and so on. Cugi's Latin rhythm has long been a favorite among those who love to dance or just dream of far-away places. Best Tracks: "Manhattan" and "Blue Champagne."

Cuba Libre
One Mint Julep
Old-Fashion
Daiquiri
Cocktails For Two
Rum And Coca-Cola
Cugi's Cocktail
Grasshopper
Blue Champagne
Zombie
Manhattan
Singapore Sling

Milko Kelemen

Hommage À Heinrich Schütz

Milko Kelemen

Philips 6500 314

1972

From the back cover: "Hommage à Heinrich Schütz," a choral work written in 1964, was inspired by study of motels by Schütz. The basic idea of the composition is the evolution from speech sounds to mixtures of sung tone organized vertically and horizontally, and back again to the wide spectrum of sound produced by whispering.

Composé for two pianos and orchestral groups
Conductor – Ernest BourOrchestra – Südwestfunk Orchestra*Piano – Alfons Kontarsky, Aloys Kontarsky
Floréal for orchestra
Conductor – Jochem SlothouwerOrchestra – Norddeutscher Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg*
Changeant for cello and orchestra
Cello – Siegfried PalmConductor – Christoph von DohnányiOrchestra – Westdeutscher Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Cologne*Violin – Saschko Gawriloff
Hommage À Heinrich Schütz
Choir – Gächinger Kantorei*Conductor – Helmut Rilling*Soprano Vocals [Solo] – Yvonne Cianella
Surprise for string orchestra
Conductor – Milko KelemenOrchestra – Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin*

Blood, Sweat & Brass - The Phoenix Authority

Journey To The Center Of Your Mind (The Amboy Dukes)

Blood, Sweat & Brass
The Phoenix Authority
Produced by Bob Shad
A Red Lion Production
Mainstream MRL-303

Arrangements: Ernie Wilkins
Trumpets: Ray Copeland, Lloyd Michaels, Joseph Newman and Woody Shaw
Trombones: Benny Powell and George Jeffers
Guitar: Kenneth Burrell and David Spinosa
Drums: Herbie Lovelle and Grady Tate
Organ, Piano and Rocksichord: Frank Anderson and Frank Owen
Bass: Charles Rainey
Flute, Alto Sax, Baritone Sax and Tenor Sax: Hubert Laws and Chris Woods

Command styled set and book-fold jacket featuring the photos from the inside as seen above. The set consists of light jazz arrangements that struggle to find just the right blend between the brass section, the vibe of the original song and the solid straight up jazz passages that hold the project together.

Spinning Wheel
Everyday People
Come Together
Get Back
Honky Tonk Women
Sugar Sugar
Susie Q
Baby It's You
One
Journey To The Center Of The Mind
Down On Me