The Trendsetters Of The 60's - 101 Strings

The Trendsetters Of The 60's

101 Strings
Alshire S-5017

Here's another fun and obscure 101. The more interesting tunes can be found online purchase/download. So I will not be posting a sample.

Groovy tunes include The Beatles A Hard Day's Night and I Want To Hold Your Hand. 101 also rocks out the Theme From Peter Gunn. The closing track on side two, Discotheque is also totally light 60s mood fun!

Shay Torrent At The Hammond Organ

Caravan

Shay Torrent At The Hammond Organ
Cover Photo Courtesy of Asco Sound Corporation
Mercury MG 20415
1959

Apparently Torrent spent much of most of his long career as an organist working for The Chicago White Sox and The California Angels.

From the back cover: Remo Biondi plays guitar, violin and mandolin at various places in this album. The sound is solid since Remo worked 5 years with Gene Krupa's Orchestra as guitarist and arranger and has written music for movie productions and recordings. He is heard on recordings with many of the country's finest bands and vocalists, as well as his own orchestra.

From Billboard - August 29, 1959: Here's a sock package of swingy organ solos by Torrent at the Hammond Organ. Torrent plays a group of catchy standards and originals with a fine beat, including "By The Waters Of Minnetonka," "Poinciana," "Tiger Rag," "Caravan," etc. Good stereo sound values.

By The Waters Of Minnetonka - Indiana Love Song
Poinciana (Song Of The Tree)
Cherokee (Indian Love Song)
Cotton Pickin' Boogie
Caravan
Little Brown Jug
William Tells All
Riviera
Maybelle
Tiger Rag

Feelings At The Movies - Enoch Light And The Light Brigade

You Light Up My Life

Feelings At The Movies
Enoch Light And The Light Brigade
Arrangements: Jeff Hest
Produced by Enoch Light
Associate Producers: Jeff Hest & Tony Mottola
Recording Engineer: Steve Friedman
Project 3 PR-5099 SD
1978

Drums: Jimmie Young, Eliot Zigmund
Bass: John Miller, Jule Ruggiero
Keyboards: Derek Smith
Guitars: Vinnie Bell, Tony Mottola
Percussion: Phil Kraus, Sue Evans
Saxes and Woodwinds: Eddie Daniels - Flute Solo (A1), Tenor Sax Solo (B1), George Young Soprano Sax Solo (A1), Lew Delgado
Trumpets and Flugehorns: Marvin Stamm - Solos (B3 and (A1), Mel Davis, Don Hahn - Solo (A4)
Trombones: Bruce Bonvisutto, Paul Faulise
Strings: Max Hollander (concertmaster), Fred Buldrin, Julius Brand, Joe Malin, Al Brown, Charles McCracken, Jesse Levy
Vocal Solos: Mark Franklin ("Goodbye Girl"), Neal Rosengarden ("Night Fever") and ("Stayin' Alive"), Lisa Hart ("The One And Only"), Jane Meryll ("You Light Up My Life")

Theme From "Rocky" (Gonna Fly Now)
Theme From "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind"
Goodbye Girl (Theme From "The Goodbye Girl")
Theme From "Star Wars"
Stayin' Alive (From "Saturday Night Fever")
Night Fever (From "Saturday Night Fever")
Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born")
The One And Only (Theme From "The One And Only")
How Deep Is Your Love (From "Saturday Night Fever")
You Light Up My Life (From "You Light Up My Life")

Valley Of The Dolls - 101 Strings

To Sir With Love

Valley Of The Dolls And Other Academy Award Hits!
101 Strings 

Recorded Under Direction of D. L. Miller

Cover Design: Chic Laganella
Alshire S-5097
1968

From Billboard - August 10, 1968: Here's another big one for the Strings. Selections include, in addition to the title song, themes from such hit films as "To Sir With Love," "Bonnie And Clyde" and "Talk To The Animals" from Doctor Dolittle. The performance is lush as ever.

Valley Of The Dolls
To Sir With Love
Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde
Those Sweet Hurtin' Blues
Malibu Sun
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Ode To Billie Joe
Talk To The Animals
Please Don't Ever Go Away
Frankie And Johnny

Mood Music - The Musical Styles Of Greene And Iles

Misirlou

Mood Music
The Musical Styles Of Greene And Iles
Alternating between Hammond Organ, Piano, Celeste, Magna Harp and Kurger String Bass Keyboard
Mercury Records MG 20214
1957

From the back cover: Eddie Greene and Stephen Iles have been playing together as a phenomenally successful team ever since (since they met in the dining room of Buffalo's Sheraton Hotel). Their freshness of style, unfailing good taste and extreme fidelity to the highest standards of musicianship have brought them the highest of professional compliments: extended runs – not days, but months at a time – in the toniest of dining and cocktail rooms of the swank Sheraton Hotel chain.

A few tunes, including the sample I posted above, are percussive and suggestive of Korla Pandit's style. They could easily have been exposed to Pandit's work earlier work. All of the songs have subtle touches that help raise the tracks above the standard period organ fare.

My Funny Valentine
The Boy Next Door
A Sleepin' Bee
Love Letters
Lucky To Be Me
Misirlou
I'm Glad There Is You
A Foggy Day
Moonlight In Vermont
Land Of Dreams
What Is This Thing Called Love
Love Is A Simple Thing

Cha Cha Cha In Ping Pong Percussion

Mambo Ranchero

Cha Cha Cha In Ping Pong Percussion
Diplomat RFM 71

A ping-pong album on a budget label with no credit given to an artist usually means pointless "ping-pong" effects tacked onto the lead-in to a stock music track.

However, this album features some decent space age cha cha LP. The "ping-pong" effects still tend to be lead-in effects, but they blend well and seem to have been recorded with the rest of the song. The engineering is not great.

Jose Gonzalez and His Orchestra are credited on the record label. Gonzalez may be lost to history. Or Gonzalez was possibly a made up name for a session band leader.

Let's Get Together - Richard Hayman

Turkey Mambo

Let's Get Together
Richard Hayman His Harmonica And Orchestra
Mercury Wing
WING MGM 12100
1956

The terrific cover design is worth the price of admission. The set plays through as a mix of straight mood numbers in addition to tunes that feature Hayman's harmonica.

From the back cover: New England and bred, Richard Hayman is a self-taught harmonica player and musical arranger. At 18 he joined Borrah Minnevitch's world-famed Harmonica Rascals. At 21 he became a member of the Vaughn Monroe group, doing a specialty novelty harmonica act. After several years, he joined the Horace Heidt group, which eventually brought him to Hollywood. Here he played bit roles in a score of musical films, and gained further experience arranging under the expert tutelage of George Still. Hayman, himself, has composed such outstanding instrumentals as Skipping Along and No Strings Attached. Huckleberry Finn and Carriage Trade which were also composed by Hayman are part of this WING Long Play album.

Alt Wein
Huckleberry Finn
Port Of Spain
Song Of April
Blossom
Harmonica Joe
Spring Is Here
Never Again
The Perfect Song
A Night Of Stars
Turkey Mambo
Carriage Trade

Percussion Espanol Vol. 2

Dengozo Samba

Percussion Espanol Vol. 2
Time S/2026
Series 2000
1961

Arranged and conducted by Al Caiola. Guitarists include: Al Caiola, Don Arnone, Al Casamenti, Allen Hanlon, Bucky Pizzarelli, Art Ryerson and Mr. "X". Cover design: Murray Stein

Well engineered light pop.

Frenesi
Chiapenecas
Guadalajara
Maria Elena
Vito Paso Doble
Aidos
Valencia
Siboney
Espana
Ay, Ay, Ay
Dengozo Samba
La Golondrina

Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi On Piano

Delilah

Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi On Piano
Tops L1534
1957

From Tipton's Wiki Page: Having split over differences in opinion with his wife, nightclub dancer and stripper Kitty Kelly (Kitty Oakes) on how to raise their adopted sons, Tipton moved into a mobile home and lived in poverty until his death.

In 1989, at the age of 74, Tipton had symptoms he attributed to emphysema and refused to call a doctor. Actually he was suffering from a hemorrhaging peptic ulcer, which, untreated, was fatal. It was while paramedics were trying to save Tipton's life, with son William looking on, that William learned that his father was female assigned at birth. Tipton was pronounced dead at Valley General Hospital. The coroner shared this with the rest of the family. In an attempt to keep the secret, Kitty arranged for his body to be cremated, but one of their sons went public with the story. The first newspaper article was published the day after Tipton's funeral and it was quickly picked up by wire services. Stories about Tipton appeared in a variety of papers including tabloids such as National Enquirer and Star, as well as more reputable papers such as New York Magazine and The Seattle Times. Tipton's family even made talk show appearances.

Two wills were left by Tipton: one handwritten and not notarized which left everything to William Jr.; and the second, notarized, leaving everything to Jon Clark.[8] A court upheld the first will, and William inherited almost everything, with John and Scott receiving one dollar each.

From the back cover: Billy Tipton is the lad pictured on the front cover between the pulchritude. (As Bob Hope would say, "Pulchritude, that's highbrow for gorgeous gals.") But there's nothing highbrow about Billy or his superb musicianship on the eighty eights. He's an Oklahoma boy, Oklahoma City, to be precise, who was born in 1919.

As a youngster his family moved on to Kansas City, Missouri where he studied at The Horner Conservatory of Music after graduation at Southwest High School. He continued his schooling at Oklahoma Junior A&M College, where he also did some sax tooting in between studies.

It was after getting out of college that his piano playing really began in earnest when he took a job in a small and smoky honky tonk in Oklahoma City. The fans thought him "the most" right from the start, and moved him up to a much wider audience at Radio Station KOMA, Oklahoma City.

Next came a series of "going places" jobs that began with Scott Cameron's band, a mid-western favorite of the '40s, then two and a half years at Joplin, Missouri's Cotton Club and again back to radio, this time at Station KWTO, Springfield, Mo. By this time Billy had played enough piano and gained an amount of superb skill, feeling and imagination to rank him among the greatest. His top talent has been displayed from coast to coast in many of America's smartest supper clubs, such as Ciro's, Hollywood; College Inn, Chicago; Latin Quarter, New York and many others.

Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man

Marie

Delilah

These Foolish Things

What'll I Do

The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise

You Go To My Head

Christopher Columbus

Begin The Beguine

If I Had You

Blue Skies

Stars Fell On Alabama

Leroy Anderson Conducts His Own Compositions

Leroy Anderson Conducts His Own Compositions
Decca Gold Label Series - Vol. 2
2 Record EP Set - ED-1401
1953