Hal March Conducts

Candy

Hal March Conducts
Hamilton HLP 101
1960

This package is a bit dated when compared to other current 1960 "mood" releases. None-the-less, Hamilton created a very good budget priced mood set that was made special by the addition of Paul Horn's sexy woodwind solos.

From the back cover: Paul Horn is an extremely talented young artist with virtuoso ability in the entire family of woodwind instruments. A serious student of music (with a Bachelor's Degree from Oberlin College, and a Master's from the Manhattan School of Music). Paul is equally adept as a jazz soloist, having performed with distinction in the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra and with the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Woodwind solos by Paul Horn.

From Billboard - March 14, 1960: Good mood album with Hal Match's name value possibly accounting for some additional business. Lush string sound is applied to the likes of "I'll Be Around," "Moonlight Becomes You," "Please" and "Don't Blame Me." Arrangements are relatively simple, and tho not especially varied do make the disk suitable for background use.

Candy
I'll Be Around
Contented
But Beautiful
Oh, You Crazy Moon
Moonlight Becomes You
I'll Buy That Dream
Please
Sunday, Monday, Or Aways
It Could Happen To You
Don't Blame Me
Jeannine, I Dream Of Lilac time

12 String Guitar - Floyd Robinson

12 String Boogie

12 String Guitar
Floyd Robinson
Diplomat DS - 2306

From the back cover: Floyd Robinson, plays something that is a cross between the blue grass music and the rock and roll beat. Floyd plays a 12 string guitar – the newest fad since the Beatles. But this is really more than a fad, it's a whole trend in music that will soon come into its own.

Walk Right In
12 String Bossa Nova
High Born Lady
Under The Double Eagle
12 String Boogie
Arkansas Traveler
Red Wing
Wildwood Flowers
Grandfather's Clock
Fingers On Fire
Cotton-Eyed Joe
Billy In The Low Ground

Mardi Gras - Andre Le Bec

Gamin De Paris

Mardi Gras
Andre Le Bec and his Accordeon
Exciting Music of the French Quarter
Silver Seal UTS 505

Small combo set on budget label, Silver Seal, featuring Andre Le Bec. Collectible for the cover art, but also featuring simple solid arrangements that play through with more of an "international" theme than a "French Quarter Mardi Gras" sound.

Arrivederci Roma
Gamin De Paris
Le Gondolier
La Mer
Complainte Des Infidèles
Histoire D'un Amour
Autour Du Monde
Julie La Rousse
Avec Celui Qu'on Aime
Place Pigalle
Adieu Lisbonne

Jazz Hoot - Woody Herman & The Herd

Sidewinder

Jazz Hoot
Woody Herman & The Heard
This Album Contains Previously Unissued Performances Of The Great Herd Of The 60's
Columbia C3530
1974

Discography

Recorded live at Basin Street West, San Francisco on June 28, 29, 30, 1965:

I Can't Get Started featuring Bill Chase on Trumpet / Hallelujah Time / Satin Doll/ Jazz Hoot / Watermelon Man / Greasy Sack Blues

Personnel:
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Woody Herman
Tenor Saxophone - Gary Klein, Salvatore Nistico, Andy McGhee
Baritone Saxophone - Tom Anastasia
Trumpet - Gerald Lamy, Dusko Goykovich, Bob Shew, Don Rader, Bill Chase
Trombone - Henry Southall, Frank Tesinsky, Donald Doane
Piano - Nat Pierce
Bass - Anthony Leonardi
Drums - Ronnie Zito

Greasy Shack Blues - Don Rader, Arranger / Wood Herman, Clarinet, Piano, Don Rader, Trumpet
Jazz Hoot - Bill Holman, Arranger

Recorded in New York
Sumptous (previously released as "Mardi Gras") – recorded October 8, 1965
The Black Opal (originally titled "The Snake") – recorded October 8, 1965
Sidewinder – recorded July 7, 1966 - Same personnel as in San Francisco - Vocal – Woody Herman
The Duck – recorded March 23, 1967

Personnel on The Duck and Boopsie: Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Woody Herman
Tenor Saxophone - Al Gibbons, Steve Marcus, Bob Pierson (flute)
Baritone Saxophone - Joe Temperley
Trumpet - Lloyd Michaels, Lynn Biviano, Dick Ruedebusch, Bill Byrne, John Crews
Trombone - Jim Foy, Mel Wanzo, Bill Watrous
Piano - Mike Alderman
Bass - Bob Watrous, Bob Daugherty
Featuring Charlie Byrd on guitar

Boopsie - recorded March 23, 1967
Vocal - Woody Herman
Arranger - Dusko Goyovich

The Dueling Banjos - Curtis McPeake

Doodling' Banjos Part II

The Dueling Banjos
As From The Motion Picture Deliverance
Featuring Banjo by Curtis McPeak
Power Records POW-MOE-210

Cover Photo: Ray Pike
Liner Notes: Deddie Pearson
Produced: Tommy Hill (who also appears to have done most of the arranging)
Art Work: IDG
Back Liner Art: Jenny Mehlenbacher

From the back cover (which actually features only type and no "liner art"): In this album you hear the version, "The Dueling Banjos," done by Curtis Mcpeake, the featured banjo artist of The Nashville Brass.

Presented here because The Atomic Attic enjoys "exploitation" sets. This budget bluegrass set from Power Records was made to cash in on the popular opening song from the movie Deliverance. Even though, it appears that Power worked hard to make this album something to listen to, the title tune lacks the energy of the original popular song as do many of the tracks.

None-the-less, the last track on the LP (sample above), a banjo solo, manages to sound spontaneous or fresh.

Dueling Banjos
Worried Man
Brassy Bluegrass
Home Sweet Home
Fireball
Sally Goodin'
Doodling' Banjos Part 1
Red Dress
Black Mountain Rag
Old Joe Clark
Ruby
Doodling' Banjos Part II

USTA Contest Twirling Album

Kiefer's Special

USTA Contest Twirling Album
Purdue University Band
Al G. Wright - Conductor
Fidelity Sound Recordings - Redwood City, California
LPS-1267

The Shearing Spell - George Shearing

The Man I Love (Duophonic)

The Shearing Spell
The George Shearing Quintet
Capitol Records T648 & DT 648
1955 / Duophonic reissue 1959

This is a terrific mid-50s set. Thielemans gets a mention on the back cover as well as the billboard review, so I thought that I share a his sample, but there are many high points to listen to, including my favorite, Cuban Fantasy.

From Billboard - November 5, 1955: The pianist's shift in labels, after all these years, is not accompanied by any radical change in style. Indeed, if anything stands out here, it is simply that he is saying what he has been saying a long time – but with greater refinement. A new high, in terms of his own idiot, is the subtle, chastely conceived "Moonray." Shearing's most significant experimentation continues to be in Afro-Cuban stylings of standards: "Out Of This World" and "Strange" are particularly successful essays. The work of Jean Thielemans on guitar and harmonica once more must be specially singled out in this rich well programmed package. Easy sales are predicted.

From the back cover: Sharing melodic honors with George and his piano is Johnny Rae and his vibes. Vibes have been used before as a solo jazz instrument, but they have rarely been so successfully integrated into a jazz group. Johnny brings to his music a background of training at the Boston and New Englan Conservatories as well as professional experience with various jazz combos around the country.

Armando Pedraza at the bongos and conga drum, and Willie Bobo at the timbale, form a duo whose flashing percussive effects have been closely identified with Shearing's style. With this unusual instrumentation George directs his group into the varying jazz colors and excitement of the Afro-Cuban idiom.

A special word must be spoken for Jean "Toots" Thielemans, guitar and harmonica. A native of Belgium, he was discovered by Benny Goodman during one of the latter's European tours. Encouraged to come to America, he took over the important guitar chair with Shearing, periodically stepping out as a harmonica soloist. His work on The Man I Love, one of his rare recorded efforts, proves what in-person listeners have realized for some time, that "Toots" Thelma is a jazz harmonica virtuoso.

Autumn In New York
Strange
Yesterdays
Out Of This World
Goodnight, My Love
Moonray
Cuban Fantasy
Midnight In The Air
The Man I Love

Sticks And Strings In Hi-Fi - Marty Gold

Laura

Sticks And Strings In Hi-Fi
Marty Gold And His Orchestra
Arranged and Conducted by Marty Gold
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, November 13, 15 and 16, 1956
Recording Engineer: Ray Hall
Produced and Directed by Herman Diaz, Jr.
Gown by Kasper of Arnold and Fox
Vik/RCA LX-1082
1957

One of Gold's better projects and a prefect entry for the 1957 mood music market that was filled with "exotic" sounds. The jacket features vibrant cover art that nicely sets the tone for Gold's soft sounding arrangements that shimmer with percussion and flow from one track to another without breaking the spell he brews up in this package.

From the back cover: The man responsible for the original approach heard in this collection, Marty Gold, is a New Yorker who made his debut in a recital at Town Hall at the age of twelve and decided then and there that music was to be his career. He is an arranger, composer and conductor whose talents have been sought and used by Vaughn Monroe, Sarah Vaughan, Patti Page, Charlie Barnet, Ben Bernie, the Four Aces and Georgia Gibbs. Since 1948, he has been associated with the Three Suns and he has worked on all of the Three Suns and Orchestra albums. – John S. Wilson

Summertime
Bewitched
Dancing On The Ceiling
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Bali Ha'i
I'll Remember April
The Nearness Of You
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Mad About The Boy
April In Paris
Laura
September Song

Popular Dance Time

Clarinet Boogie

Popular Dance Time
All Time Parade Of Hits
National Dance Orchestra
Halo 5059

Enjoy a well played sample from a budget compilation mess that features a few uncredited vocal numbers on side A and a set of old fashioned "dance" numbers on the flip side that might have actually been record behind the Iron Curtain by a group calling themselves the National Dance Orchestra.

Boogie Woogie
To A Wild Rose
Clarinet High Jinxs
Barcarolle
Clarinet Boogie
Oh Marie
Golden Wedding
Stars And Strips Forever
Serenade For Strings Air
Pathetique Air
String Quartet Air
Tschaikowsky 5th Air
Flight Of The Bumble Bee
Tschaikowsky Piano Concerto Air

Gershwin, Shavers And Strings - Charlie Shavers

I've Got Rhythm

Gershwin, Shavers And Strings
Charlie Shavers
Orchestra Conducted By Sy Oliver

Cover: Burt Goldblatt
Bethlehem Records BCP-27
1955

From the back cover: Charlie Shavers was delighted at the prospect of displaying his trumpet in such a musically astute setting. Despite the fact that he never knew Gershwin, Charlie has the greatest respect for this man who seemed to sense the rigid requirements of a musician's music, and dipped his pen accordingly. It isn't so much that the combination of Charlie Shavers with strings lends itself to a successful venture, as that Charlie Shavers the musical is able to interpret in his own lyric way the composition of a man who has gained the respect of music lovers the world over for his sincerity and devotion to his art. – Joe Quinn

I've Got A Crush On You
Someone To Watch Over Me
Somebody Loves Me
The Man I Love
It Ain't Necessarily So
Liza
Embraceable You
I've Got Rhythm
Summertime
But Not For Me