Dreamer's Holiday - Gordon Jenkins

The Thrill Is Gone

Dreamer's Holiday
Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra and Chorus
Vocalion VL 3615
A Product Of Decca Records
1958

Bewitched
Vocal Chorus by Bonnie Lou Williams - Piano Solo by Gordon Jenkins

Linda
Vocal Chorus by Charles La Vere, Swingtettes

Tell My Why
Eileen Wilson and Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Quizas, Quizas, Quizas)
OsvaldoFarres Orchestra and Chorus – Tony Bavaar, Soloist

My Foolish Heart
Orchestra and Chorus - Sandy Evans, Soloist

Skip To My Lou
Orchestra and Chorus – Bill Seckler, Beverly Mahr, Soloists

Dark Eyes
Vocal Chorus by Five Hits and a Miss

The Thrill Is Gone
Bob Craig and Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra

Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)
Bob Stevens, Soloist

A Dreamer's Holiday
Eileen Wilson and Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra

I Love You Too Much Too Much
Bonnie Lou Williams, Soloist

For You
Vocal by Five Hits and a Miss

Sound Of Sitar - Chim Kothari

Eleanor Rigby

Sound Of Sitar
Chim Kothari
Musical Supervision: Arthur Greenslade
Producer: Mike Vernon
Sound Supervision: Vic Smith
DERAM DES 18001
The Decca Record Company, Ltd.
1966

From the back cover: Chiman K. Kothari was born in Uganda, of Indian stock, twenty three years ago. He learnt too play the Sitar in the classical fashion whilst at school, when he was some eleven years of age. He has been resident here for over seven years, and during that time has spent most of his leisure hours playing the Sitar for his own enjoyment. Based on the Raga, "Bhigmangon Ka Mela" was arranged some years ago to close an end-of-term school variety shows. "Barsaat" was especially written for inclusion here. A mixture of mood and English weather conditions, "Barsaat" translated means "Rain". – Mike Vernon

From Billboard - May 20, 1967: A sleeper which could score strongly – especially with the current stepped-up enthusiasm over the sitar. Kothari's renditions of "Winchester Cathedral" and "Strangers In The Night" will immediately standout. His two Indian originals "Barsaat" and "Beggars' Festival" are excellent.

Strangers In The Night
Winchester Chathedral
Barsaat – Rain
Eleanor Rigby
La Playa
Downtown
Guantanamera
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (lo Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)
Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo
Bhigmangan Ka Mela - Beggars' Festival
Looking Through The Eyes Of Love
Cast Your Fate To The Wind

Percussion Spectacular - Arthur Lyman

Bamboo Tamboo

Percussion Spectacular!
Arthur Lyman
Produced by Richard Vaughn
A&R Direction: Gary Brown
Cover Design: George Lieberman
HiFirecords, Inc. Life Series L-1004
1961

From the back cover: The name Arthur Lyman symbolized the exotic percussion era. There have been other albums by the same title but none as apropos of the real spirit of exoticism.

Arthur and his group have started more startling sounds than can be remembered. This can be readily believed from the array of instruments played by each of his group.

The exotic percussive sounds of Arthur Lyman recorded in Henry J. Kaiser's Aluminum Dome, outside the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu contrast the native and the modern. The group, their instruments of sound, and their music, are native, pulsating primitive, often eerie. The Aluminum Dome is unmistakably modern, the product of 20th Century construction genius.

Arthur Lyman plays vibes, marimba, and percussions of all kinds, having learned from his Hawaiian father since age 6. John Kramer plays bass, ukulele, guitar, flute, clarinet and percussions. Alan Soares is pianist, plays celeste, guitar and percussions. Harold Chang is a percussion virtuosos, and plays xylophone. The bird sounds heard are from actual birds, with some imitative bird calls by Lyman and Kramer. Arthur Lyman's group entertains enthusiastic listeners in the Shell Bar at the Hawaiian Village Hotel where they appear nightly.

Included in the astounding array of percussions heard are congas, bongos, timbale, cocktail drums, boobams, cowbell, ass's jaw, conch shell and guido, as well as the more ordinary percussions, such as tambourine, snare drums, wood block, cymbals, Chinese gong and sleigh bells.

Kaiser's Aluminum Dome is a half sphere, seating about 1500 persons, is used for live entertainment and movie showings. Its ingenious simplicity of structural design and ideal sound form suggest its wider use for low cost auditoriums of pleasing space age appearance. We chose this place for our recording because the half sphere has no "peaks" and allows a pleasing "easy" sound reproduction with natural room acoustical reverberation. As you listen you will hear the unique effects produced by moving percussions, giving a certain sound perspective which intrigues.

From Billboard - March 27, 1961: Here's a bright, lightly swinging percussion record that should interest sound and hi-fi fans. It should move across dealers' counters rapidly, since it features the strong-selling Arthur Lyman group playing a collection of standards smartly and tastefully. Songs include "Yellow Bird," "Havah Nagilah," and Ravel's "Bolero."

Havah Nagilah
Yellow Bird
Ravel's Bolero
Autumn Leaves
Arrive Derce Roma
Sweet And Lovely
Bamboo Tamboo
Andalusia
Adventures In Paradise
Granada
September Song
John Henry

Dream Dancing Today - Ray Anthony

Downtown

Dream Dancing Today

Ray Anthony... His Trumpet, Chorus and Orchestra
Produced by Al De Lory
Cover Photo: Peter Losser
Capitol Records ST 2457
1966

Everybody Loves Somebody
The Girl From Ipanema
I Left My Heart In San Francisco
Volare
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Downtown
Red Roses For A Blue Lady
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
Cara Mia
A Taste Of Honey
Dear Heart

The World We Knew - Living Strings

The World We Knew

The World We Knew
Living Strings Plus Two Pianos
Arranged and Conducted by Geraldo
Produced by Ethel Gabriel
Recorded in England
RCA Camden CAS-2190
1968

The World We Knew (Over and Over)
Medley: There Must Be A Way, My Heart Cries From You, Temptation
Medley: Last Date, Espana Rhapsody, Exodus
On The Trail
Medley: Yellow Days (La Mentor), My Summer Heart, Days Of Love
Medley: Romance, Mattinata
Sleep

Dedicated To The One I Love - Living Guitars

Wednesday's Child

Dedicated To The One I Love
Living Guitars
Produced by Ethel Gabriel
Recorded in RCA Victor's Studio A, New York City
Recording Engineer: Bob Simpson
RCA Camden CAS-2156
1967

Somethin' Stupid
This Is My Song (from the film "A Countess From Hong Kong")
Daddy's Little Girl
Theme from "The Quiller Memorandum" (Wednesday's Child)
Dream Baby
Casino Royale (from the film "Casino Royale")
Let's Fall In Love
California Nights
Morningtown Ride
Dedicated To The One I Love

Tonight! - Roger Williams At Town Hall

 Un Sosprino - Jalousie - Dark Eyes

Tonight!

Roger Williams At Town Hall
The Complete Concert
With The Quiet Men and Introducing Sebastian
KAPP KXL-5008
1960

The Quiet Men
Roger Nichols - Bass
Gilbert Hintz - Guitar
Sam Cavarretta - Guitar

From the inside cover: In 1955, a recording of the song "Autumn Leaves" skyrocketed a young pianist named Roger Williams into nationwide attention. The American public quickly realized that a great new talent had been discovered , for here indeed was a pianist with something unique to offer – magnificent technique, sincere musicianship and inspired artistry, bursting with new ideas. Since that date Roger Williams has grown in stature and reputations, and every new album – in addition to being a best seller – has added a host of brilliant melodies and unforgettable interpretations to the musical scene. Each album, rather than being a repetition of a previous success, has added a new chapter to the Roger Williams story – a contributing factor to his becoming the largest selling popular pianist in the history of the recording industry. And this, it should be remembered, has been achieved in the amazingly short period of five years.

Honored on television in "This Is Your Life" and "Person To Person", the Ed Sullivan and Perry Como Shows, (the full list of his guest appearances is too long to enumerate), the story of "Mr. Piano" is well known: how, by the age of twelve, he had mastered as many musical instruments as he had years; how, after receiving his BA And MA in Music, he worked as a lumberjack to pay his tuition for future studies; how, at New York's famed Julliard School of Music, he completed his classical background, studying also under jazz 'greats' Teddy Wilson and Lennie Tristano. The rest of the story is told most eloquently by his recordings, which display the many facets of his versatile career, ranging from classics to jazz and indentified by a polished and masterly approach to all music.

From Billboard - August 8, 1960: Here it is, the thing the Williams fans have waited for – a complete Town Hall concert, captured live at the famous New York house. In the dual-LP package, handsomely illustrated and prepared in the book-fold style, Williams offers just about everything in his repretoire, which covers pop, classical and even jazz. In jazz he's nicely accompanied by the Quiet Men, a rhythm group. Sebastian, the toy piano is also here. A solid hunk of packaging.

Un Sospiro (Liszt)
Jalousie (Jacob Gade)
Dark Eyes (Traditional)
Mexicali Rose (Jack Tenny)
Tales From The Vienna Woods (Strauss)
I Love You Truly (Carrie Jacobs-Bond)
Sweethearts (Victor Herbert)
Beautiful Ohio (Mary Earl)
Liza (George Gershwin)

Prelude #1 In C Minor (J.S. Bach)
(From "The Well-Tempered Clavier")
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Traditional)
Memories Are Made Of This (Gilkyson-Deher-Miller)
Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo ( Deutsch-Kaper)
Fascination (F.D. Marchetti)
Catch A Falling Star (Pockriss-Vance)
Anything You Can Do (Irving Berlin)
Prelude In C Sharp Minor (Rachmaninoff)
Sabre Dance (Khachaturian)
Nola (Felix Arndt)
Stout Hearted Men (Romberg-Hammerstein)
The Girl I Left Behind Me (Traditional)
Volare (Modugno - Miguacci)
Autumn Leaves (Kosma-Prevert-Mercer)
Brahm's Lullaby (Johannes Brahms)

Maid With The Flaxen Hair (Debussy)
Vaya Con Dios (Russell-James-Pepper)
I Got Rhythm (George Gershwin)
Till (Sigman Danvers)
Near You (Craig Goell)
Almost Paradise (Norman Petty)
Rock 'N Roger (Rodger Williams)

The Warsaw Concerto (Richard Addinsell)
Turkish March (Mozart)
Taking A Chance On Love (Vernon Duke)
Ghost Riders In The Sky (Stan Jones)
Hungarian Rhapsody In C Sharp Minor (Liszt)
Cumana (Barclay Allen)
Ritual Fire Dance (De Falla)
Somebody Love Me (George Gershwin)
Flight Of The Bumble-Bee (Rimsky Korsakoff)
I Know That You Know (Sinding)
Let's Fall In Love (Harold Arlen)
Spring Song (Mendelssohn)
Hungarian Rhapsody In C Sharp Minor (Liszt)

Jo Basile and His Accordeon di Roma

Te Vojo Ben

Jo Basile and His Accordeon di Roma
Photography by Bob Witt
Production - A&R: Sidney Frey
Audio Fidelity AFLP 1871
1958

From the back cover: Jo Basile is much in demand both in the United States and abroad as an accordion virtuoso. Winner of the coveted Grand Prix du Disques, France's outstanding recording award in 1957, Basile has received critical acclaim everywhere, both as soloist and accompanist. He has been the accompanist for France's fabulous Patachou ever since the internationally known singer first won widespread recognition, and as an accomplished performer in his own right has been heard in France and in the United States in leading supper clubs, on radio and television. With his accordion, Basile here recreates the haunting beauty of Italian song favorites, playing with consummate skill of a fine musician well versed in his subject.

From Billboard - November 10, 1958: Basile has a listenable accordion sound on the popular Italian and International melodies. The talented artist displays his mastery on such fare as "Carnival of Venice," "Ciribiribin" and "O Mari."

La Roma Nina
Te Vojo Ben
Esperanza Perdutas
Carnival Of Venice
Vieni Vieni
Notte Di Napoli
Volo Degli Angeli
Cirbiribin
La Cirbiricocola
Serenata
O Mari

Ladies Of Jazz - Mary Lou Williams & Barbara Carroll

Autumn In New York

In A Purple Grotto

Ladies Of Jazz
Mary Lou Williams & Barbara Carroll
Recording Engineer: Kenneth Grayson & Bob Doherty
Cover Design: Arnold Saks
Supervision: Ahmet Ertegün & Herb Abramson
Atlantic Recording Corporation
Atlantic 12711
1958

Personnel:

Side One: Barbara Carroll, piano; Joe Shulman, bass; Her Wasserman, drums
Side Two: Mary Lou Williams, piano; Carl Pruitt, bass; Bill Clark, drums

From the back cover: Since it has long been the conviction of this writer that a woman's place is in the groove, the back-to-back flower arrangement that brings two of the jazz world's greatest feminine talents in juxtaposition on one economy-size LP seems to me a move as desirable as it is decorative.

The status of girl instrumentalists in jazz has been the subject of intermittent debates for two or three decades. Inevitably the girl musician is faced both with the advantage of being a novelty and with the handicap of curiosity value, an element that sometimes drive her, against her will, into the synthetic surroundings of an all-girl combo or band. Thus the prospect of taking up music as a career confronts her with conflicting prejudices. As Barry Ulanov observed in a recent issue of Down Beat (Jan. 9, 1958): 'That women can be suffered to play any instrument in highly demanding, unmistakable discriminating male company has been proved many times now... How strange it is, really, that jazz should be so long in accepting women as instrumentalists, and equally curious that women should have taken so long to demand a sizable place for themselves in jazz. It may be that jazz musicians are more conservative than they – or we – usually think."

My belief that Ulanov is right has its foundation in several personal experiences involving endeavors to secure recognition and employment for some of these musicians. Barbara Carroll is an important case in point. Born Jan. 25, 1925 in Worcester, Mass., with a background of studies at New England Conservatory and a U.S.O. tour with the inevitable all-girl trio, she arrived in New York in 1947 and began to gig along the then jumping 52nd street scene. To musicians willing to look beyond visual values it was immediately apparent that Miss Carroll was the first musician of her sex to execute, with complete confidence and uncommon competence, the type of jazz then known as bebop. To many, though, the concept of a girl playing bop piano was strictly a novelty' for almost two years she remained perched on this precarious level of semi-acceptance.

In March, 1949 I managed to finagle her recording debut as a sidewoman (if that is the word) of two sessions for obscure labels; one date was led by the late Serge Chaloff, the other by Eddie She. It was evident then, as it is today, that the sound of Bud Powell had not escaped Miss Carroll's ears. Little by little, as her style began to formulate itself more firmly and her personality made its charming impact on audiences around Manhattan, Barbara began to widen her following. By 1952, when she first played at the Embers, she had shaken off the "not-bad-for-a-girl" stigma forever. The trio heard with her at the once-hip East Side bistro was the same group featured on the Broadway stage in 1953 in Me And Juliet and heard on Side One of this record. The sympathetic vibrations between Barbara and her bassist were both musical and personal; in September, 1954, she became Mrs. Joe Shulman, cementing a partnership that was broken tragically by Shulman's death in August 1957.

The seven tracks on Barbara's side of this LP reflect, both in matter and in manner, the environment in which she matured musically and the setting in which she ultimately met her greatest success. The manner is that of the modern jazz soloist, drawing inspiration from Powell but adding to it a touch that is in no way stigmatized by being termed distinctly feminine. The matter, as the titles show, is the vast cornucopia of show tunes and songs the have earned their widest popularity, at least in New York, in the area east of Fifth Avenue, where the audiences are sophisticated enough to dig My Funny Valentine and Autumn In New York for the great tunes they are, but probably too sophisticated ever to have heard of Bud Powell. Miss Carroll caters to their taste with preeminent grace, striking a beautiful balance between the impact of her first influences and the requirements of her later settings.

The relationship of Mary Lou Williams to jazz history goes back longer than Barbara's and has it roots in an early and honorable phase when Kansas City jazz was a living, fire-breathing entity. If Mary Lou's is a name less familiar to some present day jazz followers than that of her vis-d-vis on these sides, it will be because she has only recently emerged from a period of retirement and meditation that may well be unique in jazz.

A native Pittsburgher, Mary spent the 1930s as pianist and arranger with the Andy Kirk orchestra, mainly in and around Kansas City. Throughout most of this time she was virtually the only internationally prominent female jazz instrumentalist. During the 1940s she was heard with her own trio or combo around New York. Though she was among the fist musicians of the older generation to appreciate the newer developments in jazz (Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell were among her closest friends and disciples), the caprices of time and fashion seemed to have left her in limbo by the end of 1952. Without honor in her own country but still remembered by record fans overseas, she spent all of 1953 in England, and the following year in France.

It was during a night club engagement in Paris that Mary made her decision. Too many years of one-nighter tours, crazy hours and rotten liquor, too many signs around her of sickening lust for fame and material wealth, convinced her that the time had come to quit: "Life looked mean and ugly to me, music bored and irritated me – I was unhappy and fed up with everything," she told a reporter for Hue Magazine. And then began the period that kept Mary Lou Williams from the public eye for almost three years. Helped in her decision by her old friend, pianist-singer Hazel Scott, she turned to prayer and meditation; convinced that the world was headed catastrophe, she set out to prepare her friends for it by writing and talking to them. Back in New York in December 1954, she set out to make her home a haven for musicians who were down on their luck. She prepared herself for acceptance into the Catholic faith and in May, 1957, along with Lorraine (Mrs. Dizzy) Gillespie, was baptized at St. Ignatius Church.

After almost two years out of work, two years in which every waking moment has been devoted to helping others, Mary found herself heavily and seriously in debt. Providentially, a Redemptionist priest, Father John Crowley, who had once played saxophone, convinced her that God had given her a great gift that should not too unused. In July, Mary Lou Williams, just past her 47th birthday, and held in saintly awe by the hundreds she had befriended during her self-imposed exile from the world of jazz, returned at last, as a participant in the American Jazz Festival at Newport Rhode Island.

Mary today has found renewed faith in life, in music and in herself. Once again she has blessed night club audiences with her superlative blend of traditional and modern jazz influences; her trio is in demand and her future, perhaps for the very first time in her long and torturous career, seems reasonably secure.

The trio heard with Mary Lou on her side of this disc includes two sidemen who have worked with her off and on since the late 1940s. Bill Clark, the drummer, is best known as a member of the George Shearing quintet from 1953-56.

Like Barbara, Mary has adapted a fundamentally progressive keyboard style to the requirements of the better show tunes: purely by coincidence Richard Rodgers and Cole Porter are represented on both sides of this record. But because she has enjoyed for many years a corollary reputation as a composer and arranger, two Williams originals are included. The first is Opus Z, for which Mary shares credit with another talented young pianist-composer whose work she has encouraged, Herbie Nichols (his other compositions include Lady Sings The Blue). In The Purple Grotto, dedicated to Al "Jazzbo" Collins and named for the record program he ran on WNEW, is a moderato blues.

Throughout her seven performances Mary maintains a gentle, almost stealthy brand of swing, sometimes achieving a Garner-like lag in the beat and always bearing in mind and hand the essential nature of the piano as a vehicle for ambidextrous, ten-fingered expression rather than a mere medium for the single-note solo line exposition.

It is doubtful whether, after hearing these sides, you will conclude there is a school of Feminine Jazz in the sense that there is a Dixieland or West Coast style. Indeed, the only conclusion that can and should be drawn from these fourteen performances is that the more adroit and inspired of our distaff contributors have done much to enrich the jazz sense, and to impose on it their distinctive and distinguished individual personalities. – Leonard Feather, Author of The Book Of Jazz (Horizon Press)

From Billboard - March 24, 1958: Repackaged item spotlights two top Jazz pianists in a program of standards. Their contrasting styles – Miss Carroll concentrating more on melodic improvisation and Miss William's mainly concerned with chordal and harmonic variation – are shown to excellent advantage. Miss Williams' set includes two originals. Good potential.

My Funny Valentine
Taking A Chance On Love
You Took Advantage Of Me
'Tis Autumn
The Lady's In Love With You
Love Of My Life
Autumn In New York
You're The Cream In My Coffee
Surrey With The Fringe On Top
Pagliacci
Opus Z
From This Moment On
In The Purple Grotto
'S Wonderful

Amore Musica - Renato Renzi

More

Amore, Musica
e... Renato Renzi
Rezar Records R-1501

From the back cover: Renato Renzi, born in Rome, Italy, is one of the best known of the modern romantic Italian singers. In this LP he displays to the listener his wonderful voice. Renato began a career in music after leaving medical school and was discovered by the adopted son of Giacomo Puccini, the conductor Giulo Gesare Carignani with whom he studied for seven years.

It is with good reason the Renato Renzi is called "The Romantic voice of Italy" and not only is he accomplished in the realm of music but he has also appeared in various films, among them "Domenica D'Estate", an Aldo Favrizi film and "I Pappagalli" with the famous Italian movie luminary, Marcello Mastroianni.

Mala Femmina
Comme Facette Mammeta
Reginella Campagnola
More
Mamma
Un Giorno Ti Diro
Tango Delle Rose
Love Me With All Your Heart
Quando, Quando
Quando M'Innamoro
Arrivederci Roma
Ciao Ciao Bambina (Piove)