Like Bongos! - Bob Rosengarden and Phil Kraus

Baia

Like Bongos!
Conceived and Arranged by Bob Rosengarden and Phil Kraus
Series 2000
Time S/2025
1960

From the inside cover: The group is led jointly by Bob Rosengarden and Phil Kraus, both of whom are among the top free-lance percussionists in New York. During a nine-year stretch on the National Broadcasting Company staff, Rosengarden was seen regularly on the Steve Allen and Ernie Kovacs shows among many others. He does most of the solo bongo work in this set. Kraus, who also served a long apprenticeship in radio and television before going out on his own, plays all the instruments involving mallets – vibes, marimba and xylophone as well as bongos. Handling other percussive sounds are Johnny Pacheco, who specializes in both bongo and conga and Steve Berrios, an expert in all types of Latin American drumming who concentrates on timbales in these numbers. Another essential member with remarkable rapidity from oboe to flute to piccolo to alto and baritone sax.

Featured musicians: Al Caiola, guitar; Nick Tagg, keyboards; Frank Carroll, bass.

Taboo
Glow Worm
Mack The Knife
Caravan
Baia
Bongo Frailich
Hawaiian War Chant
Babalu
Monterrey
Bongolina
Yankee Doodle Bongo
Tony's Wife

Love Is Blue - Manny Kellem

And I Love Her

Here, There And Everywhere

Love Is Blue
Manny Kellem His Orchestra
Arranged and Conducted by Al Gorgoni

Produced by Manny Kellem

Cover Photo: Frank Lerner

Cover Design: Michael Mendel
Epic BN 26367
1968

From the back cover: Manny Kellem - Hit-record producer, trend setter, mood minter.

Tuned in on Today and music for mammas and papas, teens and teeny-boppers. Polished, professional background. Flourished in Philadelphia. Nourished in New York. Now Epic's Executive Producer.

Nurtured such artists as Mike Douglas, Nancy Ames, The Hollies, Donovan, Dave Clark, Jackie Gleason, Al Martino, Jane Morgan, The Vibrations and more... like Lulu, The Tremeloes.

Mounted such hits as "The Men In My Little Girl's Life," "Devotion," "Cry Me A River," "To Sir, With Love."

"Love Is Blue" is his first record with his own name attached. His touch with instrumental-vocal styling is electric and plugged in on the current music scene.

Love Is Blue (L'Amour Est Bleu)

A Man And A Woman (Un Homme et Une Femme, from the Motion Picture "A Man And A Woman" – an Allied Artists Release)

And I Love Her

It's Not Unusual

I Will Wait For You (Love Theme from the Motion Picture "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg")

Here, There And Everywhere

Free Again

Trains And Boats And Planes

Claudine

What A Wonderful World

My Love

The Dance Of The Hours

The Dance Of The Hours

The Dance Of The Hours
And Hungarian Dances

Philharmonia Orchestra
Halo HI-FI 5075 

12-inch Long Playing Records - The "Colorful" Line

1957

Dance Of The Polovetzki Maidens

Brahms - 10 Hungarian Dances

Solo - Kai WInding

Playboy's Theme

Solo
Kai Winding

Produced by Creed Taylor

Cover Art by Leroy Neiman

Recorded in New York City Jan. 24, Feb. 4 & 5, 1963

Recording Engineer: Phil Ramone
Verve V6-8525
1963

Personnel on:

How Are Things In Glocca Morra, The Things That We did Last Summer, Hey There, Days Of Wine And Roses: Kai Winding (trombone), Ross Tompkins (piano), Russell George (bass), Gus John- son (drums).

You've Changed, I Believe In You, The Sweetest Sounds, Playboy's Theme: Tommy Check for Gus Johnson (drums). The rest same as above.

I'm Your Bunny, Bossa Nova, Capricious, Ricardo: Kai Winding (trombone), Ross Tompkins (piano), Russell George (bass), Dick Garcia (guitar), Gus Johnson (drums).

NOTES ON THE PLAYERS

*Ross Tompkins with Winding for past three years. Prior to this association, he played with Chet Baker and the Al Cohn- Zoot Sims group.

*Russell George-a former trombone player who switched to bass eight years ago. He worked with Marian McPartland and Pee Wee Russell before joining Winding.

Tommy Check a well-schooled drummer who not only plays the various percussion instruments but composes and arranges. His credits-a number of name bands, including the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra directed by Lee Castle.

Dick Garcia-an important though under- rated guitarist who has worked with Tony Scott, Joe Roland, and became nationally known during his stay with the George Shearing Quintet.

Gus Johnson- veteran jazz drummer who first achieved prominence with the Jay McShann band over twenty years ago. Since then, he has appeared with Count Basie, Earl Hines, and Gerry Mulligan, among others.

*A member of the current Kai Winding Quartet.

From the back cover: Kai Winding, one of jazz's most fluent and influential trombonists, is not one to use equivocal language when playing or speaking. He believes in moving directly to the point. "Music must be a living thing," he asserts. "The cold, abstract, mathematical approaches to it are not for me.

"A well-known contemporary composer once said: 'Don't be afraid of simplicity and warmth; there is no need to mask your message in a mass of techniques.' I am in complete agreement with this concept."

Winding came into jazz in the early 1940s when this idea was more firmly entrenched than it is today.

The big bands held sway. Soloists, because of the nature of the context in which they functioned, were forced to develop the ability to express themselves succinctly. Blow- Wing space was limited, especially when compared with the latitude typical of the more casual small band. Therefore, every note had to count.

Soloists worked for definitive control and organization of their ideas -a logical flow that would clearly illuminate thoughts and the character of emotions. They learned not only what to play, but more important, what to leave out.

The training ground the big band Kai Winding (trombone), Ross Tompkins provided was invaluable. Some players could tell the stories of their lives in sixteen bars," says veteran tenor saxophone star Lucky Thompson.

When many big band soloists made the change in the mid-1940s to small bands, the only accommodation necessary-to larger quarters for their ideas-was generally accomplished with comparative ease.

Why? They came to this milieu prepared; the foundation had been

laid. Like the short story writer who moves into the larger area of the novel, they had only to apply the techniques, disciplines and knowledge gained on the smaller playground.

Kai Winding did not falter when he emerged from a series of big band experiences in April of 1947 and entered the ranks of the small band blowers. Stints with Sonny Dunham, Alvino Rey, Benny Goodman, and particularly the Stan Kenton Orchestra stood him in good stead. 

To a number of small bands in New York, which included such leading modernists as Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Allen Eager, Stan Getz, Brew Moore, Max Roach, and others, Winding brought an appro- Brew Moore, Max Roach, and priately modern trombone style.

The Winding manner of expression was (and is) characterized by fluid- ity. His jabbing, often penetrating long lines, played with great dex- terity, generally surprised listeners used to the rougher, more jagged stylings of the older practitioners. The brassiness of the horn had been retained; yet, as Leonard Feather has pointed out: Winding added something new; he "pioneered in the difficult task of transferring the technically complex requirements of bebop to the incompatible medium of the slide trombone."

Winding and the equally influential J. J. Johnson, with whom he later led a successful group for two years (1954-56), showed the way to mod- ernism on the trombone, without losing touch with the realities of jazz playing. The instrument became more expressive in their hands. The techniques they used, though first introduced on less un- wieldy instruments-the saxophone and trumpet-were cogently adapted to the trombone and allowed trom- bonists who followed to touch bases previously inaccessible to them.

Since Winding helped co-spark the trombone revolution in the mid- 1940s, he has successfully headed jazz groups and endeavored "to further evolve as a player and to ex- tend the limits of the trombone."

His most widely exposed unit, featuring three trombones, himself and a rhythm section, formed in the late 1950s and with which he still appears on occasion, occupied the major portion of his time until recently. The sound of the trombone in various ensemble and solo combinations was given swinging il- lustration nightly as Kai and his slidemen traveled the nitery, con- cert, and college circuits. Because of its flexibility, its appeal to both dyed-in-the-wool jazz fans AND dancers around the nation, the group built a following. Winding, however, progressively felt more and more of a need to "stretch out."

"The septet was a kick," says Winding, "We could capture the sound of the big band, project with the intimacy of a small band, and run a wide range of feelings. But it didn't afford me the freedom offered in a small group situation.

"After a while, restlessness got the better of me. I had to play more!"

Winding's restlessness has somewhat subsided since the formation of his current quartet. Improvisa- tion is the focus around which the unit revolves. The improvisatory approach even extends to its arrangements which evolve as a result of the contributions of the players. Like all Winding's groups, however, there is a defined sense of organiza- tion about all it does.

"I've surrounded myself with vigorous, creative men," reports the trombonist-leader. "They act on me in a way that can only be described as beneficial. Every time I pick up the horn, it's another situation, another challenge."

Solo serves to re-introduce Kai Winding in an old role-that of an improvising jazzman. It is a depart- ure in that this is the first time Winding has recorded without other front-line horns. He is out there alone, though his excursions are not as extended as those taken at New York's Playboy Club, where he is musical director and "wails" with his group from early in the evening until early in the dawning six eve- nings a week.

The music herein, much of which will be familiar to you, is rendered in a manner which underscores Winding's musical attitude. The cold, the abstract, the mathematical are nowhere to be found. Instead, we find warmth, directness, sim- plicity, and not least of all, swing.

BURT KORALL
How Are Things In Glocca Morra
Recardo
Playboy's Theme
The Things We Did Last Summer
The Sweetest Sounds
Hey There
I'm Your Bunny Bossa Nova
Days Of Wine And Roses
You've Changed
I Believe In You
Capricious

Penny Lane & Time - Kai Winding

Penny Lane

Penny Lane & Time
Arranged and Conducted by Kai Winding

Produced by Creed Taylor

Cover Design: Acy R. Lehman

Cover Photo: Gartner-Hammerstein

Lighting: Stimulite & Sound, Inc.

Director of Engineering: Val Valentine

Recorded February 2, 9, 13 and March 2, 1967 at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Verve V8691
1967

Time and Elanor Rigby: Flute, Alto & Bass Flutes - Daniel Bank; Jerry Dodgion; Hubert Laws; Romeo Penque / Guitar - Joe Beck / Bass - Ron Carter / Drums - Grady Tate

A Man And A Woman and Battle Hymn Of The Republic: Flute, Alto & Bass Flute and Piccolo - Daniel Bank; Hubert Laws; Romeo Penque; Jerome Richardson / Bass - Ron Carter / Drums - Grady Tate / Guitar - Bucky Pizzarelli / Trombones - Kai Winding; Thomas Mitchell; Bill Watrous

Mini-Skirt, Amor Em Paz, A Time For Love: Flute - Alto & Bass Flute - Daniel Bank; Jerry Dodgion, Romeo Penque, Jerome Richardson / Bass - Ron Carter / Drums - Grady Tate / Guitar - Bucky Pizzarelli

Penny Lane, Here There And Everywhere, Amy's Theme, Lugar Bonito: Flute, Alto & Bass Flute and Piccolo - Daniel Bank, Jerry Dodgion, Romeo Penque, Jerome Richardson / Drums - Grady Tate / Guitar - Bucky Pizzarelli / Vibes, Tympani, Triangle, - Warren Smith / Tombones - Kia Winding, Thomas Mitchell, Bill Watrous / Bass - Ron Carter

From the inside cover (gatefold): The same thing is being said by Pinter and Ionesco and Tennessee Williams and Leroi Jones, and Edward Albee, and William Burroughs: a terrifying concert attesting to the lack of communication. Well world, I for one disagree. Is that an act of arrogance? Certainly seems a sin, somehow to disagree. World, I don't think they are listening. And, if they are, then they aren't hearing. I mean, is it possible that they haven't heard the "new" music? Music critic Ralph Gleason recently wrote of this current generation taking the creation of today's music and lyrics out of the hands of the hacks and giving it over to the poets. To Lennon and McCartney (who unfortunately, at times feel compelled to sing what they write). To John B. Sebastian. To Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. To Antonio Carlos Jobim. To Kai Winding. Penny Lane and Time is a culmination of ideas. New ideas. Its vitality reaches out.

Penny Lane
A Man And A Woman
Here, There & Everywhere
Amor Em Paz
Eleanor Rigby
Lugar Bonito
A Time For Love
Amy's Theme
Mini-Skirt
Battle Hymn Of The Republic

Harp, Skip & Jump - Gene Bianco

Love For Sale

Harp, Skip & Jump
Gene Bianco And His Group
Featuring Mundell Lowe
RCA Camden CAL 452
1958

From Billboard - November 10, 1958: The introduction of a smoothly plucked harp as a jazz instrument comes off rather well in this interesting package. The blend of harp and studio man, Mundell Lowe's guitar, while still maintaining a jaz pattern, imparts an uncommon lightness and refinement to the medium. The combo of familiar items such as "Gigi" and "Stairway to the Stars."

From the back cover: A bright spotlight is turned on some relatively un- explored musical territory in this album as Gene Bianco, the brilliant young harpist who made an exciting and widely heralded recording debut on STRINGIN' THE STANDARDS (RCA Camden CAL-366), shows how thoroughly the harp can be integrated into a swinging small group.

Bianco demonstrated in his earlier set that the harp has a great deal more to offer than the customary glittering glissandos and arpeggios. When his hands are on the strings, its tone can remain angelic even while it takes a more assertive, less ethereal role than we are accustomed to hear.

The emphasis in that first set was on Bianco's virtuosity as a harpist. Now that that attribute has been well established, he moves on to new adventures here – placing the harp in the context of a brilliant small jazz group where it holds its own as both an ensemble and solo instrument; using the same kind of group as a vehicle for pop tunes, standards and original pieces of his own, and trimming the richly varied package with a pair of mood-evoking harp solos.

The single holdover from Bianco's earlier group is Mundell Lowe, a magnificent guitarist who is skilled in so many styles of music that he has been in constant demand in New York's television and recording studios for the last eight years. It was Lowe who inadvertently interested Bianco in using the harp in a small group when they were both working on Ernie Kovacs' television show, and Bianco discovered to his surprise that Lowe's guitar could blend with his harp and simultaneously provide a contrast.

Because he wanted more color and depth in these arrangements than the harp-guitar combination alone could provide, Bianco sought out Joe Venuto whose work on vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, celeste, drums, tuned water glasses, Chinese gong and a battery of instrumental oddities added so much color to the unusual arrangements played by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. At this session Venuto concentrated on vibraphone on most selections, switching to celeste on Gigi and In the Still of the Night, and turning to the brightly percussive xylophone for Bianco's delightfully strutting version of 12th Street Rag.

To round out his group, Gene reached into the very topmost drawer of rhythm section men: on drums he has Don Lamond, the driving spark behind Woody Herman's magnificent First Herd in the middle Forties and latterly considered one of the best studio men in New York; while the bassist is Wendell Marshall, long a Duke Ellington standby until he, too, settled down to the relative comfort and high recognition of studio work.

The selections, all arranged by Bianco, run a wide gamut. There are bright, pulsing standards from the jazz repertoire – From This Moment On and Oh Lady Be Good from a recent jazz genre, 12th Street Rag from an earlier one. On this last number Lowe switches. effectively to banjo and Bianco makes the fascinating discovery that the harp is an ideal instrument for playing the older, ragtime-touched tunes in a manner that keeps the old spirit even while dressing them in bright, new colors.

From This Moment On is a dazzling swinger which brought a sigh of relief from Mundy Lowe when it was finished.

"I'm glad we didn't goof on that," he said. "That's the best I've ever played."

He could be right, too.

In contrast, there is the moodier jazz feeling of Love for Sale, the darkly swinging style of Stairway to the Stars and I'll See You in My Dreams (both of which carry reflections of George Shearing, who has been one of the two main jazz influences in Bianco's work-the other is Bobby Hackett). And, moving away from jazz, there is the subtle simplicity of the recently arrived pop tune, Gigi, and the seasoned beauty of that standard of the pop repertoire, In the Still of the Night.

Bianco's facility for creating light and catchy melodies is brought out in his two originals, Harp, Skip & Jump and Cairo After Dark, both written with Norman Beatty, a trumpet player and pianist who joins the group on piano in Cairo After Dark. On this piece Lowe sets up such a driving background riff that he couldn't get out of it when he came to his solo spot. So he kept it up and later dubbed in his solo on top of it. And you have Bianco's word for it that when he wrote Harp, Skip & Jump, he handed himself a fantastically difficult harp assignment.

No harpist's program would be complete without at least one demonstration of the delightful mood music that can be drawn from the instrument. Gene Bianco has included two samples of his mood style-his unaccompanied solos of September Song and Stella by Starlight. That these are particularly mellow examples of the harpist's art is due, in part, to the fact that Bianco's instrument is completely equipped with gut strings instead of the sharper, more piercing nylon strings preferred by some harpists.

The problem of balancing the harp properly within a group of this type and in pieces like these was not one that concerned Bianco alone. It was also a matter of consideration for the rest of the musicians, for they had to modify their usual manner of playing to avoid drowning out the harp. They had to be subdued with- out losing any of their musical vitality.

"Push me, fellows," Bianco told them at the begin- ning of the session, "but softly."

And that may be one more significant contribution to our music that Gene Bianco makes in this album: the soft push.

Harp Skip & Jump
Gigi
In The Still Of The Night
12th Street Rag
September Song
From This Moment On
Love For Sale
Cairo After Dark
Stella By Starlight
Stairway To The Stars
Oh Lady Be Good
I'll See You In My Dreams

The Contemporary Piano Project - Vol. III - Dwight Peltzer

  The Contemporary Piano Project - Vol. III

The Contemporary Piano Project - Vol. III
Francis Throne: Sonata

Loren Rush: Hexahedron

Arthur Custer: Found Objects No. 7

The Pianist: Dwight Peltzer

Album Produced by Mullen Boyd

Cover Design: Virginia Smith
Serenus Corporation SRS 12071

From the back cover: COMPOSERS' NOTES - FRANCIS THORNE: PIANO SONATA

The PIANO SONATA was commissioned by compo- ser-pianist Robert Helps in 1972, but due to a hand injury sustained by Mr. Helps the premiere was performed, instead, by John De Main in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1975. It received its New York premiere in 1976 by Dwight Peltzer, who has also played it extensively on tour in the United States and Europe. It is cast in four move- ments, each of a special character; a brief description of the move- ments follows:

1. A study in contrasts, shifting tempos, dynamics and col- ors, and becoming quiet and more lyric in character toward the end.

2. A fast, brilliant study featuring an eighth note quasi-ostinato in the right hand in the middle range of the piano, while the left hand skips back and forth making a striking visual display.

3. A very slow, free movement in rhapsodic style, marked Adagio Cantabile, building to a large climax in the middle and becoming very slow and dreamlike at the end..

4. A fast toccata movement with a subtle rhythmic underpinning that is reminiscent of bossa nova. The movement grows re-. lentlessly in power and weight as it builds to loud, fast octave pas- sages. The Sonata calls for a performer of extreme virtuosity.

FRANCIS THORNE was born in Bay Shore, N. Y. in 1922, of a musical family. His maternal grandfather, Gustave Kobbe, was the au- thor of an important reference book on opera, his stockbroker fa- ther was an accomplished ragtime planist, so that he was exposed to a wide range of musical influences in his youth.

He was graduated from Yale University where he studied composition under Paul Hindemith for two years; but this experience was so unfortunate that he did not attempt to write music for fifteen years thereafter. Meanwhile he was a naval officer for four years, a credit analyst for the Bankers Trust Company and a stockbroker. After nine years in business he resigned to study piano and composition; and shortly thereafter he began a long engagement at the famous Hickory House in Manhattan. During this period he made a number of television appearances with a small jazz group and was the producer of the Great South Bay Jazz Festival.

Francis Thorne's music has been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Denver Symphony and numerous other orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the western hemisphere. His catalogue includes three symphonies, two piano concertos, three string quartets, an opera, three sets of orchestral variations, many works for solo voice and solo instruments with and without accompaniment. The St. Paul Chamber orchestra has introduced his 2nd Piano Concerto and his Violin Concerto recently under Dennis Russell Davies, Thorne has received many awards and commissions including those of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the New York State Council on the Arts, etc. Besides his compositorial activities he has always been a friend of the composer and in this guise has been instrumental in securing awards and commissions for composers other than himself. In 1975 he was chosen to be president of the American Composers Alliance, an association of composers of contemporary music, banded together in common interest. His music reveals his familiarity not only with the usual Francis Thorne continued:

traditional sources but his intimacy with the popular music of his era, the people's music that has been both root and fountainhead of all art music since its very beginning.

LOREN RUSH; HEXAHEDRON

Enter a garden by one of several entrances. Definite boundaries exist. One path may lead by a brook, another by a tree, another by a glade so the choice of the path is significant. A view of the total garden will depend on the paths taken; the view thus varies, although the garden structure is constant. "Hexahedron," written in 1963-64 for Dwight Peltzer, is similar, One concern was to develop a musical structure which remains constant, although our perception of it might vary considerably from performance to performance depending on the paths chosen by the performer.

For the first several performances the music was printed on a large cube, a "hexahedron," which, with its six related surfaces, provided more paths than would have been practical by more ordinary formats. The problems of portability and reproduction, how- ever, were resolved only with the belated discovery of index tabs- the present format.

There are six contrasting "events, " each defined and characterized by specific compositional details and divided into four sections. To begin, the performer plays any one of the twenty-four event- sections. He then proceeds to another event-section with index tabs according to choices printed at the end of the event-section just played. The choice will be: (-) continue with the next section of the same event; (t) turn to a contrasting event-section which has already influenced the event-section just played; or (+) turn to a contrasting event-section which will show the influence of the event section just played. This procedure of choice between continuity and two types of contrast continues until the performer has played any event-section a second time, which concludes the performance.

The total duration for all the material printed is about twenty-four minutes. However, not all four twenty-four event-sections can be played before duplication occurs; so any one performance is most likely to last from seven to fourteen minutes.

The first performance was given by Dwight Peltzer at Hertz Hall, University of California, Berkeley, November 15, 1964,

LOREN RUSH was born in Los Angeles in 1935. He began the study of piano at the age of six and gradually extended his instru- mental studies to include bassoon, contrabass, percussion and koto. His principal teacher of composition was Robert Erickson, with whom he spent six years of intensive study. He has also studied composition with Charles Cushing, William Denny, Andrew Imbrie, Wendell Otey, Seymour Shifrin, Leland Smith, Karlheinz Stockhausen; and computer music with John Chowning. His academic studies include San Francisco State University, the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley, and Stanford University where he received a doc- toral degree in 1969.

He has been awarded a number of fellowships and prizes including the University of California's Prix de Paris, the Rome Prize of the Loren Rush - continued:

American Academy in Rome, an Institute of Arts and Letters A- ward, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and grants from the National En- dowment for the Arts. His music has been performed by the Ars-. Nova Ensemble of Paris, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, members of the New York Philharmonic, Die Reihe Ensemble of Vienna, the Rome Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco New Music Ensemble and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Currently, Dr. Rush is co-director of the Center of Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford where, with funding sup- port from the National Science Foundation and the National Endow- ment for the Arts, musicians with a variety of backgrounds, including computer sciences, psychology, electrical engineering and music composition, use the large computer system of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory as both a research tool and a musical instrument.

ARTHUR CUSTER: FOUND OBJECTS NO.7

FOUND OBJECTS NO. 7 is one of a series of pieces for instruments and pre-recorded tape. It was written for Dwight Peltzer, friend, colleague and fellow adventurer in the world of exploration. Dwight's piano sounds are used in the tape component, along with synthesized and "concrete" sounds. The various source materials are selected, manipulated, and organized to form an integrated, complementary partner to the live performance.

The interplay between the live and tape components has been deve- loped on a time line. For performance, a stopwatch is needed for some of the cues. Other cues are derived by the performer from the tape. Indications of elapsed time are given periodically in the score.

FOUND OBJECTS NO.7 is a dramatic piece. It is about conflict and identity. These elements are manifested in the dialogue be- tween piano and tape, which undergoes a number of expressive per- mutations. Dwight Peltzer gave the first performance at Compo- sers Theatre in New York on April 4, 1974. Thus far Serenus has issued, on SRS 12045 The Music of Arthur Custer, Vol. 3, the following "Found Objects":

No. 5 for 5 Instruments and Tape (cl., trpt., trb., vln., cb)

No. 8 for Violin and Tape (Daniel Kobialka, violin)

No. 6 for Flute and Tape (Marjorie Shansky, flute)

No. 3 for Contrabass and Tape (Bert Turetzky, contrabass)

ARTHUR CUSTER was born in Manchester, Connecticut, on April 21, 1923. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (B.A.). with graduate studies at the University of Redlands (M, Mus.) and Doctoral Studies at the University of Iowa (Ph.D.). He has stu- died composition privately with Paul Pisk,Philip Bezanson and Nadia Boulanger. As composer he has written works in all genres, large orchestral works and works for solo instruments, works for chorus and for solo voice, works for performance in all areas: not only for the concert and recital hall but for documentary films and tele- vision as well. He has also held a number of most important admiministrative posts and his writings appear often in those publications dedicated to the interests of music both as art and education. Interested parties should refer to his Serenus Recorded Editions The Music of ARTHUR CUSTER - Vols. I, II and III for more extensive notes on his career.

The Soul Of Harlem

El Bronx

The Soul Of Harlem
Orchestra Del Oro
Conducted By Juan Del Oro
Scores by Don Coasta
Session Supervision by D. L. Miller & R. Seijo

Engineer: Dr. W. Wille

Cover Painting: Joe Krush

Cover Art: W. Dressler
Sonodor TRANS 35 ALBUM MOSON 100

From the back cover: Harlem, the Blues – Harlem, the Cha-Cha. A polyglot lady expressing herself in guttural down home slang, hipsters jargon and three dialects of Spanish spawned from the Antilles to Mexico City... the quiet sophisticated bars where conversations drift from Bach to Bop... greasy chitlin' joints raucous with the sounds of too much cheap wine... from Ellington to Lecuona, soulful jazz to staccato bongos. Arriba to go man, go! These are chunks of pigment in an ever colorful, ever-moving mosaic framed in Harlem.

Headin' Home
Harlem Nocturne
Durango
Night Train
Dansero
Yes, Oh Yes
Mood Indigo
Spanish Harlem
That Old Black Magic
Misirlou
El Bronx
Street Scene

Potent Percussion - Don Catelli

Potent Percussion

Potent Percussion
Don Catelli and The All Stars

Album Designer and Production Director: Sam Suliman

Printing: Queens Lithographing 

Plating and Stampers: Audio Matrix

Stereo Mastering: Joyce Avery - Avcolabs

Monaural Mastering: Art Chryst - Bell Sound

Pressing Plant: Diskmakers

Product Co-Ordinator: Charles Goldberg
Directional Sound DM 5010
A Product of Premier Album

1961

From the inside (gatefold) cover: SIDE ONE  – A1. Cole Porter's I LOVE PARIS is from the captivating CAN-CAN of 1953 which depicted Parisian life in the time of Toulouse-Lautrec. The song itself, says Porter, was inspired by scenic designer Jo Mielziner's brilliantly evocative sky line of the city on stage. In this version, bongos and tambourines ignite the percussion until the tartly nostalgic accordion sings out the melody. Note the pungent harmonic voicings and the sprays of color from the vibraphone, scratcher, bongos, accordion, and clarinet. The piece ends as the clarinet soars over all.

A2. MANHATTAN, one of the most renowned of Rodgers and Hart standards, is from the first edition of THE GARRICK GAIETIES in 1925. Theatre historian Stanley Green calls this "an almost wistfully bucolic tune," and its winsomeness is enhanced by the Latin flavor that pervades this album. The soft opening cymbals rise in volume and lead to a mellow muted trumpet, vibrant bass, crisp bongo drums, piano, silvery vibraphone and clarinet, a provocative contrast between bongos and bells, and the final spiraling tonal spread through woodwind, percussion, guitar and vibraphone.

A3. SO IN LOVE was written by Cole Porter for the 1948 KISS ME KATE. The tenderness of the blend of piano, vibes, guitar and cymbals is made even more piquant by the rattling bongos and the sizzling maracas. The vibes ring out the melody over the boiling percussion section, succeeded by a soft tenor saxophone and a firm píano over rebellious bongos and timbales. As a hypnotic romantic mood is set, the saxophone returns over tambourines and bongos, vibes join with guitar, and there is a sinuous, Bolero-like ending.

A4. Tolchard Evans' LADY OF SPAIN has been a ballroom classic for many years, conjuring up the dark beauty and elusive gaiety of the Spanish temper. Here, after provocative tympani, the trumpet lead converses with guitar over a penetrating rhythm section, stating the theme in precise rhythmic patterns. An agile piano darts over timbales and the tenor saxophone adds depth of timbre. The swirling finale finds trumpet and tenor over the animated percussion.

A5. OLD CAPE COD, a tribute to one of Massachusetts' most attractive summer resorts, was a major hit for Patti Page three years ago. Appropri- ately it was written by three Bostonians-Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus, and Allan Jeffrey. Note the hushed, inviting introduction with subtle sounds from the temple blocks, snare drums, and piano. A clarinet in low register over guitar deepens the mood and is followed by a marimba spiced with bongos. A steel guitar asserts the melodic line until prome- nading trumpet, clarinet and accordion arrive. The roles shift as guitar joins with accordion over the insistent percussion until the opening is heard in reprise.

A6. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN was written by Cole Porter for the 1936 MGM musical, BORN TO DANCE, which starred Eleanor Powell and James Stewart. This infectious treatment opens imaginatively by pinpointing bass, drums and tympani. Clarinet and vibes provide a lyrical interlude which is sustained by the piano. The hard, dry bongos complement the warm guitar. Piano and guitar play a duet, and the clarinet then resumes the melodic line with guitar as the track fades.

SIDE TWO – B1. Cole Porter's IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT was part of his remarkably appealing score for the 1937 MGM picture, ROSALIE, with Nelson Eddy, Eleanor Powell, and Ray Bolger. Again, the cymbal pro- vides a provacative introduction. With the rhythm section in full force, a rhapsodic steel guitar is heard with organ in the background, and suddenly a stinging muted trumpet leaps in complemented by guitar and a rustling rhythm section. A full-toned tenor saxophone takes over the theme with biting cross-accents by bongos and guitar. A surge of organ with bongo underpinning leads into sweeping guitar, muted trumpet and piano. The guitar is set in relief, backed by delicate organ and bongos, until trumpet and tenor softly return, followed by guitar until the song fades gently away.

B2. ALWAYS TRUE TO YOU IN MY FASHION is another Cole Porter achievement from KISS ME KATE. The title, incidentally, comes from line in an Ernest Dowson poem. This exuberant arrangement be- gins with a crisply swinging rhythm section, intensified by clicking temple blocks. French horns carry the melody with accordion and guitar as the undertow. The piano solos over the energetic rhythm section, spurred on by the bongos, and the French horns come back. A burst of tambourines and drums precede a driving tenor saxophone; and then come the vibes, piano, and the percussive conclusion.

B3. SMALL WORLD ISN'T IT is from Jule Styne's score to the large- scale hit musical, GYPSY, starring Ethel Merman. It begins softly but complellingly with rhythm section, bongos, and a Chinese bell tree. Guitar and vibes blend and are broken by an explosive drum break. "They return with interjections from the piano. The vibes turn to the piano for melodic support and the piece ends with the rhythm section subtly reasserting itself.

B4. THE GLOW WORM by Paul Lincke has proved one of the most enduring of all show standards. It comes from the 1907 musical, THE GIRL BEHIND THE COUNTER, starring Lew Fields, and presented at the Herald Square Theatre. When Miss May Maudain sang the tune dur- ing the run of the play, she was forced by insistent applause into dozens of encores of THE GLOW WORM every night. Here a piercing trumpet lead sets the disciplined rhythmic pattern with a succession of color combinations provided by timbales, the scratcher, guitar, assertive organ, trumpet again, a buoyant combination of bongos and timbales, and a final meeting of trumpet and organ.

B5. BALLIN THE JACK by Chris Smith has been a jazz standard for Dixieland bands for many years. This is an uncommonly lilting version, introduced by staccato drums with the trumpet taking over the melodic line, turning it over to a supple clarinet as the irrepressible rhythm section continues its driving punctuations. Note the sizzling, muted trumpet interlude, the full-ranged confrontation of bongos, bass drums, and snares; and then the melodic verve of clarinet and trumpet before the pulsating end as the piano sets a shuffle rhythm in the background. B6.. MY HEART BELONGS TO DADDY made a star of Mary Martin in her Broadway debut in 1938 in Cole Porter's LEAVE IT TO ME! It was to this song that the lissome Miss Martin did her celebrated strip. Cymbals open this arrangement with drums leading to a swinging trum- pet accompanied by darting piano and cohesive rhythm section. The colors change with the fusion of clarinet and guitar. A series of solos- trumpet, guitar and incisive clarinet-precede the last ensemble as the trumpet leads the orchestra into a riffing finale.

Guitarist Don Catelli's all-stars include himself, Art Spence, and Phil Ross on rhythm and electric guitars and banjo; Lew Cantor, Tony Maxwell, and Freddie Calabrese playing organ, piano, accordion, and vibes; a reed section of Roger Tully, Jesse Nishihata, and Dennis Miller; and Charlie Knectel and Preston Ford in the brass section. Handling the challenging variety of percussion are Joe Landau, Ross Gregory, Frank Wade, and Frank Powis. Their formidable equipment includes bongos, snare drum, maracas, marimba, scratcher, tambourine, two sets of tym- pani, chromatic temple blocks, finger cymbals, bells, conga drum, a Chinese bell tree, and regular drums.

This is indeed POTENT PERCUSSION, – NAT HENTOFF

I Love Paris
Manhattan
So In Love
Lady Of Spain
Old Cape Cod
I've Got You Under My Skin
In The Still Of The Night
Always True To You
Small World Isn't It
Glow Worm
Balling The Jack
My Heart Belongs To Daddy

Background Music

Background Music and Sound Effects For Your Home Movies
Major Records MLP 1040