Cha Cha Cha In Ping Pong Percussion - Jose Gonzalez

 

Bolero Dansero

Cha Cha Cha In Ping Pong Percussion

Jose Gonzalez and His Orchestra

Pirouette Records RFM 71

Mamborama

La Paloma

Cha Cha Amor

Bolero Dansero

Peek-A-Boo Cha Cha

Mambo Viva

Amigos

Bolero Momento Intimo

Cha Cha Fantastique

Mambo Ranchero

The Good Life - Nancy Wilson

 

The Good Life

Nancy Wilson

The Good Life

Pickwick International STEREO SPC-3348

Selections previously released on Capitol Records

1973

The Good Life

As Long As He Needs Me

Call Me Irresponsible

The Second Time Around

The Sweetest Sounds

Our Day Will Come

Sunny

My One And Only Love

For Once In My Life

Free Again - Nancy Wilson

 

Free Again

Nancy Wilson

Free Again

Pickwick International STEREO SPC-3313

Perviously released on Capitol Records

1972

The Look Of Love

A Lot Of Livin' To Do

Alfie

What Now My Love

Free Again

Watch What Happens

People

If He Walked Into My Life

Gentle On My Mind

Earl Bostic Plays Sweet Tunes Of The Sentimental 40s

 

Moonlight In Vermont

Earl Bostic Plays Sweet Tunes Of The Sentimental 40s

King Records 640

1959

Mam'selle

Moonlight In Vermont

Till The End Of Time

While We Were Young

La Vie En Rose

I'll Walk Alone

Full Moon And Empty Arms

I Think Of You

It Might As Well Be Spring

Long Ago And Far Away

That Old Black Magic

Autumn Serenade

Track list as it appears on the disk label:

Moonlight In Vermont

Long Ago And Far Away

That Old Black Magic

It Might As Well Be Spring

I Think Of You

Polonaise

Full Moon And Empty Arms

Mam'selle

Autumn Leaves

La Vie En Rose

While We're Young

I'll Walk Alone

The Best Easy Sounds - In A Mellow Mood 6 - Various

Joyce's Samba

The Best Of The Easy Sounds

In A Mellow Mood 6

Program Director: Ernest K. Dominy

CP Creative Products / Capitol Records SL 6602

1969

The Look Of Love - Laurindo Almeida

An Affair To Remember - George Shearing

Naked City Theme - Nelson Riddle

Joyce's Samba - Cannonball Adderley & Sergio Mendes with The Bossa Rio Sextet

Goin' Out Of My Head - Stu Phillips

Once In A While - Stan Kenton

Sabor A Mi - Mexico's Golden Violins

Fly Me To The Moon - Glen Gray

Baubles, Bangles And Beads - Gordon Jenkins

The Green Leaves Of Summer - Nelson Riddle

Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)

And I Love Her - The Hollywood Strings

Songs Everybody Knows - Teresa Brewer

 

My Happiness

Songs Everybody Knows

Teresa Brewer

Coral Records STEREO CRL 757361

1961

Walking The Floor Over You

Have You Ever Been Lonely

Mocking' Bird Hill

Mexicali Rose

Anymore

My Happiness

Jealous Heart

Half As Much

When Do You Love Me

Your Cheatin' Heart

San Antonio Rose

Jambalaya (On The Bayou)

Martial Solal In Concert

 

Dermaplastic

The Martial Solal Trio In Concert

Cover Design: Studio Five

Liberty Records LRP-3335

1963

From the back cover: A decade ago – late in 1953 – there burst into international jazz a new pianist of startling talent, Martial Solal.

Solal is a young Algerian Frenchman, born in Algiers, August 23, 1927. His first recordings for the French label, Vogue, immediately establish him as a jazz entity to be taken with utmost seriousness. His style appeared to combine strong influences of Art Tatum (in the technical department) and Bud Powell (in his rhythmic and harmonic conceptions) but it was evident that he was no slavish imitator. Solal was his own man from his debut in the world-wide theatre of jazz expression. He is still his own man.

Solal, who began piano studies at seven, had become a convert to jazz via European radio when he was about 13 or 14. World War II was aflame at the time, and it is likely that it was BBC broadcasts from London which caught his attention, inasmuch as the Nazi-dominated Vichy regime, then governing France and French North Africa, can hardly be said to have been sympathetic to the broadcasting of such "degenerate" music. Whatever the source, Solal absorbed the jazz he listened to so avidly on the air and by 1945 was playing piano over Radio Algiers. His broadcasts continued after he had been drafted into the French Army and was posted to Rabat, Morocco. By 1949, when he was discharged, he had made up his mind. He must go to Paris. He did so in February 1950.

The three years that followed saw Solal fighting to become established in the French jazz community. He was to play his dues in four dance bands before finally attaining some celebrity as a featured solicit on a radio series called Jazz Varieties. Engagements followed at two Paris nightclubs where Solal shone as an outstanding soloist.

Shortly after his debut on record, Solal was featured at the Troisieme Salon International du Jazz in Paris during June 1954. Wrote British critic Mike Never: "Solal to my mind was the surprise of the concert. A young Frenchman not yet heard of in Britain, he is definitely one of the most promising pianists in Europe. He is not a copyist; he plays the articulate manner of Bud Powell – but he plays with dynamic dexterity. His phrasing is clean, balanced and forceful." French jazz critics concurred.

In Down Beat magazine, critic John A. Tynan has written of Solal's recorded work: "His two ideals of jazz piano are peerless – Art Tatum and Bud Powell – and if there be a reservation about his playing, it is the unconcealed homage he constantly pays both. Solal combines the blinding technique of Tatum with the boppish conception of Powell. The combination is most salutary... Solal is a major piano artist and an important jazz voice – on either side of the pond." Similarly, critic John S. Wilson commented in the same publication: "Known for his technical virtuosity, Solal has a superb touch and produces a magnificently pianist sound, Brilliant, warm and sonorous." In the same piece Wilson remarked on the pianist's "breath of view in structuring a performance." These characteristics, as well as his all-embracing scope, are quite evident in this album recored in concert at the Salle Gaveau in Paris, May 3, 1962.

For the event, Solal's idea was to present an entirely new program to Paris jazz world. He composed over a dozen new pieces for the two-hour recital. (Only one, Duke Jordan's Jordu, in this selection culled from the tapes of that concert, is non-solar, but even in this the treatment is characteristically individualistic. Solal's piano, for example, behind Guy Pederson's bass solo, does not merely comp, but injects little figures skittering high in the treble.).

Possible the most distinctive feature in terms of overall impact of the Solal trio's performance at this concert is the rhythmic breaking out tempos. In Dermaplastic, for instance, the tempos are most plastic, veering into one groove, now another, before finally settling into a comfortable, very swinging attitude.

Say Solal of this penchant  for rhythmic breaks and staggering of tempos. "I believe that the music of jazz needs architecture (of which it has been frequently deprived until recently) especially in terms of the small group. This architecture permits the creation of different music climates. For me this corresponds to a need, not a system. I want to say that because of that we change temp not in a systematic manner, bout only when the need makes itself felt, when the emotion that is our demands it."

Solal has a way with a ballad. For a revealing example listen to Aigue-Marine with its reflective, caressing summer-day feeling of gentle response. And in the waltz-time swinger, Averty, Crest Moi, note the pianists right hand taking off on a high table series of variation as he left stabs out divergent patterns in the bass. In Gavotte A Gaveau (Composed expressly for this concert) note the brilliant exchanged of ours with drummer Daniel Humair, a percussionist who drive and sympathetique is an integral element in this session. Similarly, bassist Pedersen displays an umbilical tie with Solal and Humair. 

Solal's talent has been summed up quite compactly in the magazine, Jazz Hot, by French critics Lionel Andre and Pierre Crescent: "Martial Solal is without doubt one of the most interesting musicians in Europe."

Actually, Solal is now recognized on both sides of the Atlantic in this new world of international jazz, thus, he can be healed as one of the latest vital links in French-American cultural relations.

Jordu

Nos Smoking

Special Club

Dermaplastic

Aigue-Marine

Averty, C'est Moi

Gavotte A Gaveau

The Epitome Of Jazz - Herbie Mann

 

After Work

The Epitome Of Jazz

The 14 Best Of Herbie Mann

Herbie Mann

Bethlehem Records - Cincinnati, Ohio

BCP 6067

From the back cover: This is a collection of what Bethlehem Records believes to be the "Best of Herbie Mann" tracks cut during Herbie's stint on the Bethlehem label. Herbie recorded four albums for Bethlehem, the first in December, 1954.

BCP 24, "The Herbie Mann Quartet" was recorded three months after he had organized his quartet featuring Joe Puma on guitar, Chuck Andrus on bass, and Harold Granowsky 24. BCP 58, "Herbie Mann Plays" came next, featuring again a quartet, but with different personnel on the two recording sessions. Benny Weeks on guitar, Joe Puma guitar, Keith Hodgson bass, Whitey Mitchell bass, Lee Rocky drums and Herbie Wasserman drums. BCP63, "Love And The Weather" was a new approach and featured his alto flute with Ralph Burns conducting and arranging on the A side and Frank Hunter conducing and arranging on the B side. The orchestra was basically strings and rhythm using five  violins, two violas, and one cello, Harry Lookofski concertmaster and Urbie Green is heard on trombone, the only wind instrument used. On BCP 40, the great Sam Most teams with  Herbie Mann to present the Mann-Most Quintet and it is in this album that the flute as a jazz instrument really comes of age. The nuclei of the former groups – guitarist Joe Puma, bassist Jimmy Gannon and drummer Lee Kleinman – rounded out the unit. Russ Garcia contributed twelve original arrangements of some of the great jazz classics.

The success story of Herb Mann is best summed by Joe Quinn who wrote "The present day components of jazz – like the music itself – have come about through the process of evolution that has made certain instruments vital to the structure of such units *** rather flute had come of age." Quinn was discoursing on the acceptance of the flute as a jazz instrument and with this the ascent and talent and recognition of Herbie Mann as a star. As all jazz buffs know, Herbie concentrate on tenor at first but as he experimented with the flute he became more and more aware of the flute's lyrical and lightly swinging characteristics.

In the years since his introduction on Bethlehem, Herbie Mann has continued to grow in stature and perfect his ideas and techniques, but the beginning is all found in the tracks contained in this latest Bethlehem LP with are truly the end – the epitome – the best – culled from the Herbie Mann vault master!

For those of you who haven't been acquainted with the life of Herbie Mann, we repeat his own story:

"I was born in Brooklyn in 1930, started playing clarinet when I was 9 years old, and but the time I graduated from high school I had begun to take sax and flute lessons. After high school I spent four year in Trieste (had a ball!). In January 1953, I met Mat Mathews and worked with I'm until I joined Pete Rugolo's band in September 1954, the latter gig lasting until Pete disbanded in November."

"A few week later I heard that Bethlehem Records was looking for some new groups. They liked my ideas for the group, so we proceeded to prepare the first LP."

"A group that has a flute in it should be a light swinging, happy sounding one. Those are the qualities of the instrument. But a great deal of the flute jazz recorded to date is lacking in this respect. Many potentially great jazz flutists have been hampered by heavy, sluggish, accompaniment that failed to complement the flute sound. The flute cannot be treated like any other horn. It must be surrounded with instruments which do not weigh it down to that point at which it loses its natural character." 

"Guitar is, I believe, the natural complement to the flute sound. Our guitarist was Benny Weeks. I'd known him for over two years (we were both in Mat Mathews' group). Benny and our drummer, Lee Rockey were with Neal Hefti's first band. Benny and I both had worked frequent gigs with our bassist, Keith Hodgson, so the four of us felt our rapport was entirely adequate for a recording session."

"I got together with Benny on December 4th, 1954, to decide on the tunes, and to get a rough sketch on how we were to do them. We had our first rehearsal with the group the following Tuesday, mainly working out the chords for the session. At a subsequent rehearsal on Thursday we made some changes. Keith, Benny and Lew worked out the intros on Suede Shoes and After Oak. We had a final rehearsal the following Monday, We now felt we were beginning to swing. The group recorded the next day. – Hal Neely

My Little Suede Shoes

Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

Autumn Nocturne

Why Do I Love You

Empathy

Woodchuck

A Sinner Kissed An Angel

Chicken Little

After Work

Deep Night

The Things We Did Last Summer

It Might As Well Bt Spring 

Love Is A Simple Thing 

But Beautiful

The Fifties - Various

 

The Fifties

The Original Hit Performances!

The Fifties

Decca Records DL 4009

1959

La Vie En Rose - Louis Armstrongs

It Is No Secret - Bill Kenny Of The Ink Spots

The Hot Canary - Florian Zabach

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World - Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

Theme From "The Medic" - Victor Young Singing Strings

It's Almost Tomorrow - The Dream Weavers

Love Is A Many Splendored Thing - Four Aces

I Could Have Danced All Night - Sylvia Syms

To Love Again based on Chopin's E Flat Nocturne - Carmen Cavallaro

Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody - Jerry Lewis

Padre - Toni Arden

My Heart Is An Open Book - Carl Dobbins, Jr.

Sophisticated Swing - Les Elgart

 

Geronimo

Sophisticated Swing

By America's College Prom Favorite

Les Elgart and His Orchestra

Columbia Records CL 536

1953

From the back cover: This dance collection introduces a bright new band to the Columbia label, that of Les Elgart. Well on his way to becoming the nation's College Prom king, Elgart leads a modern ensemble that cheerfully reflects the sophisticated aspects of the tastes of young dancing America. Modern, as used here, does not mean the often self-conscious distortion of the progressive bands; it simply means a good, solid beat divorced from the shackles of yesterday's music. The band's two-beat interpretations are conceived for dancing, but its harmonies and counterpoints are aimed at the ears of a musically discriminating and discerning generation.

The sound of the Elgart band is unmistakable. Brother Larry Elgart, one of the country's finest alto saxophonists, leads the sax section with its unusually wide range of dynamics and color; the section can be intimate, as in Sophisticated Swing or Soon (the latter featuring Larry Elgart) or forceful and swinging, as in The Gang That Sang Heart of My Heart or the Hubie Wheeler original, The Turtle Walk. The Elgart brass, with its frequent feature of unison trombones, is sharp and biting. Avoiding piano, the band puts extra emphasis on the guitar. Most of the arrangements are the work of Charles Albertine: Geronimo is one of his originals and such merry ideas as Bendix Bounce and The Weasel Pops Off are demonstrative of his work as is the wonderfully intricate setting known as Comin' Thru the Scotch.

Les Elgart, often called the "trumpet players' trumpet player," had his first big-time job as lead trumpet with Bunny Berigan's orchestra. Later he played lead trumpet with Harry James, and with Charlie Spivak. Born in New Haven, he and his brother began their musical education early, under the tutelage of their mother, a concert pianist. During the war, Les served in the Navy, and joined Woody Herman after his discharge. Later he joined the CBS radio staff, and a few years later with his brother Larry organized the orchestra that presents such bright, danceable music on this record.

Sophisticated Swing

The Gang That Sang Heart Of My Heart

Bendix Bounce

Soon

The Weasel Pops Off

Geronimo

I Never Knew

Why Don't You Fall In Love With Me?

Comin' Thru The Scotch

Sophisticated Lady

The Turtle Walk

Time To Go