The Songs Of Will Hudson & Eddie De Lange - Johnny Guarnieri

Jazznochracy

The Songs Of Will Hudson & Eddie De Lange
Johnny Guarnieri
Coral Records CRL 57085
1957

Arnold Fishkind, bass
Mundell Lowe, guitar
Denzil De Costa, drums
Barry Gailbraith, guitar
Eddie Safranski, bass
Donald Lamond, drums

From Feb. 9, 1957 Billboard: Even the Guarnieri fans could be disappointed by this set. Few of the tunes by this writer team can claim to be "immortal," and Hudson's several swing band novelties such as…

Unfortunately, Billboard's pasteup department failed to flow, or ran out of space because of an ad and simply did not flow the rest of the copy so we will never know why they, somewhat uncharacteristically, seem to trash this set.

This is a fine LP based on my experience with mid-50s period small combo jazz albums. There is a soft timeless bluesy groove to enjoy. The artist's craft is excellent and to top it off, Coral's engineering is excellent featuring rich bass and sparkling piano/guitar passages.

The period over the first "i" in Guarnieri's name is missing on the front cover. None-the-less… this is a fine example of mid-50s cover design.

Organ Grinders Swing
Don't Kiss Me Again
By The Great Horn Spoon
Tormented
Moonglow
White Heat
Hobo On Park Avenue
Sophisticated Swing
With All My Heart And Soul
Midnight At The Onyx
The Least Little Thing You Do
Jazznochracy

My Foolish Heart - Betty Smith

Bewitched

My Foolish Heart
The Betty Smith Group
Accompaniment Directed by Malcolm Lockyer
London ffss PS 136

Obituary excerpt: Her trip to the States had whet her appetite and she returned with the quintet, touring on the same programme as Bill Haley's Comets. Her record of "Bewitched" reached the American hit parade. She proved skilled at finding work and the quintet played summer seasons in Guernsey and other places. The group had a residency on the liner Franconia and she played and sang – for she was a good vocalist – with the Ted Heath Orchestra. She did a lot of radio and television work and for a while had her own radio programme on Radio Luxembourg.

My Foolish Heart
Down Among The Sheltering Palms
Sleepy Lagoon
The Faithful Hussar
Autumn Nights
Maria, My Own
Indian Summer
Song Of The Boulevards
Galway Blues
Blue Blues
Forgotten Dreams
Bewitched

Never On Sunday

Never On Sunday

Never On Sunday
And Other Romantic Themes
Palace M-682

Total budget conservative organ music set performed by Bill Martin (a credit noted only on the record label). Unfortunately, the title track is the only song that features a cheesy hint of small combo lounge. The cover features a photo that Palace, I guess, must have thought "related" to the movie "Never On Sunday".

"All ORGAN" is scrawled on the cover as if written by the first person who purchased the album as a warning.

Never On Sunday
Ciribiribin
Beautiful Dreamer
I Love You
Carry Me Back To Old Virginny
La Cumparsita
Theme From Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto
Bird In A Gilded Cage
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes
I Dream Of Jeanie
My Heart At Thy Sweet Voice
I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen

Music To Turn You On - Pete Fountain

Music To Watch Girls By

Music To Turn You On
Pete Fountain
Arranged and Produced by Charles "Bud" Dant
Coral CRL 757496
1967

From the back cover: The simple, and simply delightful, fact about today's pop music scene is that there are any number of ways to turn one on. There are many ways, yes, but only a small fraction of talent on the contemporary music scene possesses the means to do so. Maybe the secret is not to let musical fads and fancies slip you by, for even the most seemingly harmless of new pop music approaches may hold the seed buds of greatness. The past decade or so has revealed as much, time and time again.

Pete Fountain, as this happy and romantic album bears out, is soundly tuned in to what is surely the most sophisticated pop music generation ever.

Throughly Modern Millie
The Eyes Of Love
Music To Turn You On
This Is My Song
Casino Royale
Luzianne
Tiger Rag
Somethin' Stupid
Music To Watch Girls By
Jimmy
Bourbon Street Parade

Claude Bolling - Big Piano

Georgia On My Mind

Claude Bolling
Big Piano
Sax solo: Gerard Badini
Joue les succès de Ray Charles
Philips P 77.152 L

This somewhat obscure Bolling album seemed to be marketed to capitalize on the "twist" craze. The set is actually more small combo light pop lounge. Some tracks are helped along by Badini's sax work.

What'd I Say
Fich' Le Camp Jack! Hit The Road Jack
You Be My Baby
Yes Indeed
Unchain My Heart
Tell All The World About You
Preachin' Charles
I'm Movin' On
Tell Me How Do You Feel
That's Enough
One Mint Julep
Tell The Truth
Georgia On My Mind

Dream Awhile - Bobby Hackett

Stardust (Mono)

Dream Awhile
Bobby Hackett
With Johnny Seng on the Wurlitzer Pipe Organ
Arrangements by Glenn Osser
Cover Photo: Gary Gladstone
Columbia CL & CS 1602
1961

From the back cover: The organ played by Gleen Osser and Johnny Seng is the four-manual Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, formerly the famous Paramount Theatre Studio organ. It is presently installed in the studio of Richard Loderhose. Mr. Seng, a demonstrator for the Wurlitzer company, provides a rich backdrop for the persuasive Hackett sound.

From March 6, 1961 Billboard: Bobby Hackett moved out of the jazz scene several years back to join the Jackie Gleason crew in some successful mood albums, and this new one featuring the fine, clean - Hackett trumpet tones against a mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ… The organ essays, the sound of an ork or band – it's that big, and Hackett moves in to take his pleasant solos.

Stairway To The Stars
Stardust
Misty
The Boy Next Door
These Foolish Things
Fools Rush In
Sweet And Lovely
Bewitched
I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night
Dream
It's Been A Long, Long Time
That Old Feeling

A Today Kind Of Thing - The Four Freshmen

Michelle

A Today Kind Of Thing
The Four Freshmen
Liberty Records LST-7542
1968

From the back cover: Wow, music has come a long way! I mean remember the yesterday kind of thing that lulled you into warm romantic trances? The kind of thing that still retained the lush hum of Glenn Miller but said something personal to you and your girl. The kind of "Love Lost-Laura" sound that captured an atmosphere so vividly that you are still transported on waves of warmth when you hear it. Remember?

Yeah, we all remember, and that music still has its moments late in the seductive hours of our evenings. But what do the Four Freshmen have to do with the Doors, the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, the Turtles, or Simon & Garfunkel? Where do they fit in now?

This album is the answer. Here are the Freshmen singing "A Today Kind Of Thing."

What would a tribute to the lyrical beauty of the "Today Kind Of Thing" be without recognition of the marvelous musical contributions of the Beatles? On both "Michelle" and "She's Leaving Home" the Freshmen demonstrate a remarkable affinity for the Lennon-McCartney sensitivity to youth and harmonic innovations. This is natural, in a sense, for the Freshmen are a talented group of singer-musicians whose impact on an earlier generation was immediate and exciting.

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Michelle
Happy Together
Never My Love
The Wonderful World Of Color
Glad To Be Happy
Byrd Avenue
She's Leaving Home
California My Way
Love Is A Happy Thing
Kites
Homeward Bound

Dancing And Dreaming - Jean-Michel DeFaye

Pourquoi Pas Moi

Dancing And Dreaming
Jean-Michel DeFaye
Philips PHM 200-023
1962

From the back cover: Here are the musically romantic efforts of a twenty-seven-year-old Frenchman, Jean-Michel DeFaye, and a Gallic galaxy of half-a-hundred expert musicians. Maestro DeFaye's studies at the Paris Conservatory have led to a host of international awards (the Grand Prix of Rome, among them), and recognition as a serious composer of note. Jean-Michel, despite his classical training, had no trouble shifting to the other end of the musical spectrum, becoming a much-in-demand arranger for such popular theater and movie "names" as Zizi Jeanmaire.

This recording marks, auspiciously, the vinyl debut of the Defaye orchestra, richly fabricated aggregation whose principal component is a lush violin section that creates a many-mood panorama of melody.

Above average "lush strings" set featuring plenty of space age touches.

Guitar Tango
Reve Mon Reve
Nuit D'Espagne
In A Little Spanish Town
Le Voyageur Sans Etoile
Ton Adieu
Pourquoi Pas Moi
Oui Devant Dieu
I'm In The Mood For Love
Pizzicati Pizzicato
Moon River
Cristal Tango
Et Maintenant
C'est Joli La Mer

Have You Met Don Rondo?

Have You Met Miss Jones

Have You Met Don Rondo?
Produced by Morty Palitz
Cover Design by Sy Leichman
Photography by Varon
Arranged and Conducted by Dave Terry - Sy Oliver
Jubilee 1081
1958

From the back cover: Don has been on the national vocal scene since "Two Different Worlds" His recording of that ballad put one of the first serious dents in the rock-and-roll rule. It tempered the tastes of the teen-agers. It wafted him out and up from the local vocal scene for good.

That local scene was not one that began and ended in snap-of-a-finger time. It encompassed the type of training and background and struggle that makes more likely the ability to absorb the knock of an opportunity and stay on one's feet.

Don Rondo was raised on a dairy farm in Ware, Mass. That farm was where he was born, milked cows, gathered hay. Ware was where he went to school, sold milk, won local amateur singing contest that started his professional career.

There is a you've-heard-one-like-this-before kind of story about that contest. During World War II, when two of his brothers were drafted, Don had to leave high school to work full time on the farm. Don like to sing while he worked. His parents, though they were not at all musical, had no objection. Then, one day, two grain buyers visited the farm, heard Don sing and entered him in that contest at the local Lion's Club.

The winning of the contest gave Don a once-a-week radio show on WACE. That exposure got him work with local bands, gave him the necessary experience to gain him a spot with an USO unit that toured Europe.

When Don was 17 he met Ida May Bousquet. Two years later they were married. Now they have three children – Ronald, Debrah and Gay. And they all have to eat whether Dan was singing or not. So, frequently, Don would work at anything to make "bread" – sometimes he worked as a farm hand, often he was a construction worker, most frequently he earned his keep as a plumber.

Always, there was the singing career and the club-dates, etc. to keep it going. Then came a chance meeting at a New York rehearsal hall – a meeting with singing comedienne, Fay De Witt. She was working on a CBS Radio Show called "Young Ideas." She liked the way Don sang, introduced him to her producer. So Rondo joined the cast… and the national vocal scene.

From November 17, 1958 Billboard: Don Rondo's following in the singles field should assure this package of sizable sales. The warbler sings with verve on a group of swingy arrangements of oldies with girl's names as titles – "Liza" Stereo tag isn't important here. Jocks should play both versions. Cover is marred by unflattering photo of Rondo.

Liza
Stella By Starlight
Ramona
Charmaine
Laura
Margie
Jeannine
Mona Lisa
Diane
Dolores
Peg O' My Heart
Have You Met Miss Jones?

Soft Vibes Soaring Strings - Lionel Hampton

On Green Dolphin Street (Jack Pleis)

Soft Vibes Soaring Strings
Lionel Hampton
Produced by Teo Macero
Songs conducted and arranged by Teo Marceo or Jack Pleis
Cover photo by Scott Hyde
Columbia CS 8461
1961

From the back cover: Hamp's new vibraphonic excursions into form and instrumentation have always been interesting and dynamic, never without logic – often complexly logical – intention. Take his Golden Vibes (CL 1304, CS 8110, Stereo), for instance. Here, the musicians were divided between rhythm and reeds. The most memorable work-outs, probably, on that record were The Nearness Of You and The High And The Mighty, with Hampton caressing his vibes, and then heating them near to the melting-point.

From October 9, 1961 Billboard: Here's a lushly orchestrated package of melodic mood music with a tasteful jazz flavor. Blending his standout vibe solo work with sweet strings, Hampton provides rich, listenable instrumental treatment of "Deep Purple," "Once In A While," "Ruby." and other dreamy oldies.

The arrangements are not "cutting edge" by early 60s standards, although the arrangement on The Blues I Got Comin' Tomorrow does including a "thumping" bass effect which causes this track to sound "out-of-place" in the set. The majority of the set is one if the better "lush-strings" albums I've collected. The strings blend nicely with Hampton's vibes and the "light jazz" influences help keep the music sounding fresh today.

Deep Purple
Stairway To The Stars
Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
Over The Rainbow
Once In A While
Gone Again
Star Eyes
Laura
On Green Dolphin Street
The Blues I Got Comin' Tomorrow
Ruby