Ping Pong
Futura
Stereo Action
The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow
Bernie Green and His Orchestra
Produced by Lee Schapiro
Photo: David B. Hecht
Recorded in RCA Victor's Studio A, New York City
Recording Engineer: Bob Simpson
Stereo Action Mastering: Marty Gold and Jack A. Somer
RCA Victor LSA-2376
1961
From the sleeve: THE STORY BEHIND THIS ALBUM FUTURA... What will popular music sound like in 1970? In this album we are probing with both ears for full Stereo Action perception. We intend to foreshadow the future sounds and techniques of popular music recording. – BERNIE GREEN, Orchestra Leader, circa 1961
Bernie Green, an orchestra leader who became endeared to millions when he conducted the unusual music for Henry Morgan's weekly radio show not too long ago, is a musician who could well belong to the generation that will walk the earth in 1970. His ideas and techniques, particularly his tonal color achievements and his unabashed sense of musical humor, have placed him in the classification, "Ahead of His Time."
FUTURA was conceived by Bernie Green a full two years before Stereo Action made its debut. The arrangements were written with an eye to the future. They literally cried for performance in Stereo Action. Now that time has caught up with Mr. Green, and his musical ideas have become practical due to the development of Stereo Action equipment by RCA Victor engineers, this album appears to be headed for a classification as unique as that into which its creator has been placed: "Most Exciting Album Yet."
Some of the electronic techniques used in FUTURA are pretty far out. In the program notes overleaf Mr. Green will describe them as closely as words can. They have opened an entirely new field of work in the popular music area. Many of the orchestral devices and techniques used for color and texture are Mr. Green's own, and come from a mind in constant creative ferment. – FERRIS BENDA
THE STORY OF STEREO ACTION – Stereo Action is a revolutionary new concept of stereo recording in which instruments, singers, whole sections, and even full orchestras are placed into movement so that the listener has, literally, music his eyes can follow.
Stereo Action is a conscious and deliberate effort to set music in motion by utilizing actual movement of instruments and sounds from one speaker to the other, and even, at times, suspending an instrument or sound between speakers. It is a pioneering concept in stereo listening, and resulted from years of extensive experiments and remarkable technical break-throughs by the RCA Victor corps of engineers.
Stereo Action requires a wholly new approach to recording. Musical motion is first conceived by the composer and arranger. Every note of the music to be recorded must be scored with Stereo Action in mind, as if it were a new and dominating musical instrument or voice. An elaborate sys- tem of charting each and every instrument for proper stereo placement guides the actual scoring. In addition to the musical annotation, a companion series of non-musical diagrams for the studio work is developed.
This wedding of musical artistry and electronic creativity produces Stereo Action – literally, the sound your eyes can follow.
GUIDE TO LISTENING
SIDE 1
FUTURA The title song of our album points the way to the dance band of the "70s, its rhythm, color. and harmonic qualities.
The introductory rhythmic figure played by bass, guitar and xylophone moves from right to left. Listen for the movement of the soloists as they enter. Each time the flute, sax and trumpet carry the melody, they move across from side to side. Watch for the trombones coming at you... then around you at the close! (ASCAP 1:48)
I LOVE PARIS – One of the results of rural electrification was to make the amplified guitar the most. popular musical instrument in the U.S.A. By 1970 there will be enough fine virtuosi of this instrument so that this arrangement for six electric guitars and percussion is a safe bet to be "voguey."
An eerie steel guitar floats across your speakers from the right with the melody at the start. A bass guitar solos in the second chorus and takes a walk while doing it. The steel guitar returns for another stroll toward the end. (ASCAP 2:04)
PING PONG – Stereo will have such a profound effect on composers that they will write especially for the medium. Ping Pong is such a composition. It is a duet for vibraphones in which the melody is batted from one speaker to the other by the two soloists. There are four vibes strung across the space between your speakers. Try to determine where the Stereo Action electronic movement begins and Bernie Green's arrangement for the vibes quartet leaves off. Or does it? (ASCAP 3:01)
KISS OF FIRE – The things done with magnetic recording tape will amaze us all. This is the first example available to the public of a new process called "Animated Tape." The notes of the solo part were recorded separately, measured and cut to proper length, then spliced together. Each bar of music required precisely twenty-eight inches of recording tape. Quarter-notes were seven inches long, eighth-notes three and one-half inches, and sixteenth-notes one and three-quarter inches. There were 778 splices in the complete solo track. The original trumpet notes were played by Tony Greenwald and each one was a real sound. Remember, you heard it here first!
Our patchwork phantom soloist bounces back and forth from speaker to speaker at the start, then pro- ceeds to float, somewhat jaggedly, between the speakers as he moves from side to side. The bass guitar and piano in deep registers set off the work of the soloist. Listen for a couple of flashes of the world's weirdest piano about halfway through. (BMI 2:23)
THE MUSIC BOX WALTZ – Just as the guitar vogue is a product of rural electrification, the vibraphone is a product of urban electrification. Just as the elec- tric guitar is a favorite "country" instrument, the vibraphone is a favorite in the city jazz spots. If in 1970 we have guitar orchestras, we assuredly will also have vibraphone orchestras such as the one that plays The Music Box Waltz.
The solo vibraphone at the start moves airily from the left over a shimmering background. The middle soloist also moves, but he takes the rhythm section with him. (ASCAP 2:37)
OUT OF THIS WORLD – Somehow the title seems to fit this album and we believe the arrangement does, too. After an introduction by bongos, piano and flute, there is a high, floating bass clarinet solo. This is an instrumental color not heard now. Shortly there follows a dazzling obbligato on the solo violin. We predict that these two colors will find places for themselves in the big band palette of 1970.
Everything's in a hurry at the start. The bongos rush from right to left, the piano rushes from left to right, and the flute races from right to left and back again. Listen for the bass clarinet's entrance from the right. The bass clarinet and the flute cross against each other, with the flute's figure setting up the violin figure to follow. The violin crosses from the right behind the bass clarinet, alto sax, and then the soprano sax. There's movement galore, and much of it threatens to go out of this world, like those trumpets at the end. (ASCAP 3:43)
SIDE 2
UNDER PARIS SKIES (Sous le ciel de Paris) – We unveil an interesting new electronic device called the Tonalyzer. Musical tones piped through the Tonalyzer may be sent shimmering upward or cascading downward in startling fashion. At the moment the Tonalyzer is in a very hush-hush stage, but we predict that one day it will be an important part of every well-equipped recording studio.
Watching the opening movement here is like being at a tennis match. The Tonalyzer sound opens from the left, then from the right, and so on until your neck hurts. Clue: keep your eyes and ears on the trumpet. And listen for more of the "Animated Tape." (ASCAP 2:10)
(All of a Sudden) MY HEART SINGS-In the future this will be an "old standard," popular among the guitar orchestras of the period. It might be given a nostalgic rock-'n'-roll treatment as it is here. Some touches of "Animated Tape" are used in this arrangement.
The "Animated Tape" is heard from the left at the start just before the finger-popping begins, and again before the guitars dig into the melody. Listen for the movement of the various guitars as they cross, criss-cross, and wander about. (ASCAP 2:08)
PENTAGON – It has been said that a pentagon is a five-sided square. That definition, not being a musi- cal one, does not apply here. The first half of this number is in 5/4 time and there's nothing square about it at all. It is for a dance called "The Pentagon." In 1970 this dance may be as much a part of American culture as the Square Dance is today.
The score of this work, with the Stereo Action movement marked in red, looks a lot more frightening and complex than The Pentagon in Washington, D. C. The trombones enter from the right, setting the rhythm. Listen for the wandering solo trumpet to come in from the left. Note how the sound seems to burst open with each sweep of the xylophone. (ASCAP 2:38)
STEEL BONES – There is an association from "dry bones" to the xylophone to the vibraphone to Steel Bones. This composition (based on Dry Bones) is played by The First Vibraphone Quartet. We sin- cerely believe it will not be the last vibraphone quartet.
There's movement here right from the opening fig- ure. And whenever that figure appears through the piece, there's more movement. The sound is that familiar light and airy blend of the vibes ensemble. (ASCAP 3:27)
I'LL REMEMBER APRIL – In 1970 this will be called an old-fashioned fox trot... but the country club set will still like this kind of music and dance to it. Note how the vibes and the bass each float from right to left in the introduction. Later on, there's some reed section movement, and some surprises. Talk about your walking bass... (ASCAP 2:15)
FUTURA (Reprise) – This treatment of Futura combines "Animated Tape" loops as a rhythmic pattern with the orchestra of guitars. Possibly by 1970 the "Animated Tape" machine will be a part of the rhythm section of every dance orchestra.
The "Animated Tape" and bass clarinet do most of the movement at the start. You figure out what you're hearing at the end! (ASCAP 1:55) – Program notes: BERNIE GREEN, Stereo Action notes: FERRIS BENDA
