The New Johnny Smith Quartet

Montage

The New Johnny Smith Quartet
Roost Records
ROOST LP 2216
1957

From the back cover: There was a time – and not so very long ago at that – when the guitar was thought of as little more than just another member of the rhythm section. Occasionally it was expected to speak for itself, but for the most part it was assumed that it would say pleasantly in the background. Exception to the rule was made, of course, for such a guitarist as Charlie Christian or Albert Casey. The rule was clear enough, however: the guitarist was a character actor, whose supporting role was to keep the beat going with a hum, sweet hum.

How things, and strings have changed! The position of the guitarist in jazz is almost precisely the opposite of what it used to be. Far from being a background noise – an amplifier with a head and a heart – the guitar has moved bodily out of the rhythm section. It has asserted its human rights. Now it occupies the soloist's chair almost all the time. And one of the reasons it does so is the work of the musician whose several excellences concern us here and how, John Henry Smith, Jr., better known as Johnny.

Johnny has consistently made commendable the sound of the guitar, solo or in combination with just a handful of other instruments. From the memorable Moonlight In Vermont of 1952 through his distinguished small band collections of recent years, he has been demonstrating with abiding elegance the great variety of which the guitar is capable, the variety of beats, the variety of genres, the variety of textures. Up tempo, middle, and down, very slow, almost funereal, he has plucked away at his instrument. He has outlined with moving simplicity the attractive tunes of such a composer of taste and skill as Jimmy Van Heusen. He has contrived fetching countermelodies to go with the blues and swinging pieces with longer lines. And throughout, no matter what the tune or tempo or mood, he has played with technical precision and splendor of tone, one of the few men who can produce on the electronic version of the guitar some of the sumptuousness of sound we normally associate with such a master of the unamplified instrument as that Andres Segovia whom Johnny so much admires.

In this latest of Mr. Smith's adventures, he goes to vibes and a suitable assortment of figures and beats to take advantage of the association. The mallets are in the hands of Johnny Rae, that youngster who mad his auspicious debut with the George Shearing Quintet in early 1955 and has been showing well ever since, showing well as a swinging vibist capable of a line of his own, but most of all and best of all as a man with a beat. The variety is drawn from a samba with hill-billy overtones, an early American folk tune, a couple of ballads at contrasting tempos, a handful of swinging pieces, and two excursions into the realm of bop (at least for subject matter).

Surely there are few musicians around today – surely there have never been very many – who could manage the delicate balance of tastes which moves the first side of this record from the artfully constructed ballad mood, the tender chording of It Never Entered My Mind, through the Samba that gets to Brazil only after an unmistakable Arkansas aside, the lovely solo formulations (altogether without accompaniment) of the stately folk-song Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair, the Christian-like single-stringing of the uppish Pawn Ticket, to the similarly zestful 'S Wonderful, even upper.

Overleaf, Johnny helps Johnny happily to hit and settle into a groove, middle-tempo and motto ingratiating in the opening You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, and the ensuing Blue Light, the adjective of which denotes the form and the mood.

A shimmering vibration of vibraphone and guitar puts out the Light and leads into the appropriately named Montage, a serious set of reflections on handsome melodic material of classical proportions, the kind of thing some of John's old friends from his symphony days might very well blow up into a tone poem or a large-scale set of theme and variations, instead of which the two Johns just blow.

Conclusion to the festivities is wrought by that blues of foppish association, Milt Jackson's always infectious groove, Bags Groove, and the solemn cadences of Monk's Round About Midnight, intoned with a kind of swinging solemnity by the guitarist, the vibist and their rhythm-playing collaborators, bassist George Roumanis (who steps out in several short solos of distinction in the faster jazz) and drummer John Lee (capable not only of a solo break or two but also of a good, firm, steady beat throughout). – Barry Ulanov

From Billboard - April 27, 1957: There is a deftness, almost a slickness, in this offering by guitarist Smith and his new group. Deviating more than usual from a basically ballad format, Johnny's program in this set runs from his meet-the-ballad to folk material to outright jazz blowing. The heavy emphasis is with the blowing. The variety of the program plus the close-knit rapport among the musicians and another fine packaging job by Roost should help sell this one. Jocks can select an extremely well-paced segment from the material available here.

It Never Entered My Mind
Samba
Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair
Pawn Ticket
S' Wonderful
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
Blue Lights
Montage
Bag's Groove
Roun D About Midnight

Sentimental Sy - Sy Oliver

Yes Indeed

Sentimental Sy
Sy Oliver and His Orchestra
Dot DLP 3132
1958

From the back cover: Like almost everybody else, Sy Oliver has his sentimental moments. But Sy's sentimental moments have a special significance that the others usually lack – special, at least, for anyone who remembers the early Forties or thereabouts.

For Sy Oliver was, in many ways, the musical voice of that era. His arrangements gave to the far-famed Tommy Dorsey orchestra, and, earlier, to the great Jimmy Lunceford band, the distinctive sounds that so entranced their listeners everywhere.

Thus, in his sentimental moments, Sy recalls the happy crowds that danced to his music at the Meadowbrook on the Newark-Pompton Turnpike, at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago, at the Casino Gardens on the pier at Ocean Park. Those were the days when Swing was king, the Dorsey band was in its glory, and Sy was turning out arrangement after arrangement destined to become a big band "classic."

In this album, with great delight, Sy presents some of those arrangements once again. Three of the songs are his own compositions – Opus One, Well Git It and Yes Indeed. Sy sings the last of these, as he does East Of The Sun, Blue Skies and On The Sunny Side Of The Street. In the Dorsey days they were sung by another vocalist, one Frank Sinatra, but that doesn't intimidate Sy. In his own subtly swinging way he does an equally convincing job.

Sy Oliver has been making popular music history for about thirty years now (he began a notable trumpet career while still a teen-ager). During this time he managed to do regularly what few arrangers have done at all – to create an arrangement of a song that is so "right" that it in effect becomes the song, and all other versions seem somewhat wrong.

Ranked with Duke Ellington and Benny Carter as one of the arranging giants of jazz, Sy never let himself be trapped by preconceived notions of how a tune should be played. He may shift a normally slow number into high, or slow a normally uptempo tune to a walk; his arrangements may venture into complicated counterpoint or relax in single-finger simplicity. He plays constantly with new sounds and new instrumental relationships; there is always in his work a fresh, dynamic approach to the basic qualities of the music.

On The Sunny Side Of The Street
Then I'll Be Happy
Star Dust
Without A Song
Yes Indeed
Opus One
Well Git It
Chicago
East Of The Sun
Blue Skies
For You
Swanee River

La Pachanga - Rene Touzet

Son Montuno Son

La Pachanga
Rene Touzet
Gene Norman Presents
GNP 57
1961

From the back cover: First the bolero, then the Rhumba, Guaracha, Mambo, Guaguanco, Chachacha, Son Montuno and now LA PACHANGA. Cuba is a fertile land not only agriculturally, but musically. From her bosom have sprung many of the exciting rhythms the whole world dances and dreams to.

For many years the small conjuntos and charangueros of Oriente, the easternmost province of Cuba, played a kind of music which was different from the music which was played in the rest of the Island. But it was only about a year ago that Eduardo Davidson, a noted TV writer gave form to those rhythms by writing a tune and calling it "La Pachanga." The tune in itself caught fire, and the new sound with its pulsating rhythm and exciting strains captivated the fancies of all who love to dance in Cuba. It soon spread to the South American countries, Mexico, and lately, to the U.S., via Miami and N.Y. Despite the short time that it has been exposed, The Pachanga has become a steady part of the "dancing vocabulary" of Latin dance addicts everywhere.

As a technical detail we might add that the Pachanga has a definite two-beat feeling and the dance is simple and flexible enough to be assimilated and enjoyed by everyone.

From Billboard - May 1, 1961: Another in the ever-growing line of pachanga-charanga LP's – this one features the Rene Touzet ork in a very danceable set. There are many vocals with solo singer and vocal chorus.

La Pachanga - Eduardo Davidson
Calculadora - Rosendo Russell
Son Montuno Son - Rene Touzet
Incertidumbre - Gonzalo Curiel
Dime Que Si - Rene Touzet
El Panchanguero - Eduardo Davidson
Pachangueando - Rene Touzet
Levantate - Jose D. Quinones
Mango Mangue - Fellove
Total - Ricardo Perdomo
Pa' Chimsos Tu - Rene Touzet
Piano Pachanga - Rene Touzet

Red Hot Harp - Robert Maxwell

Second Avenue Scene

Red Hot Harp
Robert Maxwell
His Harp And Orchestra
Cover Photographs by Robert Randall
MGM Records E3676
1958

From the back cover: The extensive listing of theaters, night clubs, hotels and television shows which have hosted harpist Robert Maxwell gives more than a hint of his popularity with the American Public. Yet, to all intents and purposes, this enormous success of a harpist defies the usual convention. After a few moments o listening to this youthful entertainer performing on his chosen instrument, all doubt to the reason for his popular following will disappear. First and foremost, Robert Maxwell is a musically showman; the harp is merely his channel to entertaining an audience. Bob turns his harp into true theatrical property. Specially fitted with a system of colored lights which he operates with his feet to dramatic effect, the harp takes on a brilliant new role in the Maxwell hands. His repertoire is enormous, including classical selections, show tunes, current novelties and "pop numbers". He can produce mood music or he can, as in this album, "swing". His ability to use his instrument for comic effect as well as straight performance has endeared him to thousands of his fans. Bob's study of the harp has been both comprehensive and unique. While a student in a New York grammar school, he entered a competition with fellow students in a musical aptitude test. He won and was awarded a scholarship to Juilliard School of Music. A choice of instruments was offered to him, but he was so smitten at the sight of a harp that he chose it. His eventual engagement in orchestras in the New York area led to his becoming a member of the National Symphony Orchestra. He was seventeen at the time and the youngest member of that stellar group. Solo recitals in New York and Los Angeles and engagements with such great symphonic conductors as Arturo Toscanini and Serge Koussevitsky followed. But, it was not until Bob became a member of the Coast Guard during the war that he got the chance to show his individuality on the harp. His C.O. was Rudy Vallee, who might be said to have given Bob his first real break. Valley arranged for him to tour the United States and the South Pacific as a soloist entertaining servicemen. This gave the experience and the composure to go on to becoming a solo star in later civilian life. He began modestly in radio, passing quite quickly from there to his present position of fame and demand. He has appeared in motion pictures, on the biggest TV show, and the success of his recording career has been phenomenal. He is the father of two girls, both of who he hopes will become harpists.

Bing Bang Boomerang
Johnson Rag
Runnin' Wild
Just Foolin' Around
Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe
Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing)
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Second Avenue Scene
Tarantula
Lullaby In Rhythm
One O'Clock Jump
Good Night, Sweetheart

Francis Bay's Latin Beat

Caravan

Francis Bay's Latin Beat
Philips Records PHM 200-001
Through a licensing agreement, this recording is made available through Philips Phonographische Industries of The Netherlands
1962

From the back cover: "You must never conduct again,: Francis Bay's doctor told him. For a time it was ...well, a possibility, but then the Belgian radio invited him to form a band. How could such a chance – and such a challenge – be refused by a man who had lived for music since the age of seven?

For that is how old Francis Bay was when he started playing the clarinet in local orchestras; at fourteen he was busily getting down to composition; at fifteen he was fast becoming a keen jazz addict; and at sixteen he won the first prize in clarinet at the Conservatoire of Malines.

From then on he increased his technical accomplishments by learning to play the other reeds. This, together with valuable experience in the ensembles of Paul Godwin and Boyd Bachman, was how he attained the complete practical mastery that has made him such an authoritative orchestra leader. Apart from all this, he has also played in other orchestra of many nationalities (Swiss, Dutch, Swedish, German and Belgian), arranged and composed film music, and taken an interest in "trick" recordings and in jazz of the more advanced kind.

The foundations of his music-making are thus as firmly built as could be, but he has never let himself get bogged down. The story of his career, in fact, bristles with meteoric successes. Francis Bay's orchestra, the result of that irresistible Belgian invitation, had existed only 175 days when it won the Golden Gondola at the International Song Festival in Venice. Within a few years it has been hailed as Belgium's Big Band No. 1, and even, in one of the most important American magazines, as Europe's second-best orchestra. And Francis Bay is not the man to rest on his laurels as a result of such appreciation; on the contrary, it only spurs him on to greater efforts, and so his band continues to go from strength to strength. A really solid basis of musical knowledge and practical experience, a talent for choosing the right men for the job (for Bay's orchestra includes some first-rate soloists) and for leading them in the right way, without needing years of adjustment to weld his diverse material into a thoroughly unified team – Francis Bay is indeed an ideal combination of fast mover and mover in the right direction. On this record the direction is south-eastern. Many moods and many styles are within the command of the Francis Bay Orchestra, but swingy view can be played with as much gusto by a Continental band as by any of its transatlantic counterparts.

You don't believe us? The proof is – literally! – in your own hands.

Mambo Jambo
Un Poquito De Tu Amor
Malaguena
Begin The Beguine
The Peanut Vendor
Copacabana
Caravan
Mama Inez
Maria La O (Maria My Own)
Perfidia
Acercate Mas
Para Vigo Me Voy (Say Si Si)

The 20's Roar - The Chicago High Lights

The Sheik Of Araby

An Adventure In Sound
The 20's Roar
The Chicago High Lights
Promenade Records 2120
Mfg. by Synthetic Plastics Co., Newark, N. J.

Bedelia
Goody, Goody
Varsity Drag
The Sheik Of Araby
Give My Regards To Broadway
Ma He's Making Eyes At Me
Rings On Her Fingers
The Bowery
Dixie
Ballin' The Jack
Deep River
East Side West Side

Man With The Horns - Boyd Raeburn

Tonsillectomy

Man With The Horns
Boyd Raeburn And His Orchestra
Volume No. 1

Production: Ozzie Cadena
Remastered: Rudy Van Gelder
Notes by H. Alan Stein
Savoy Record Co. MG-12025
1955

Love Tales - Arr. George Handy
Soft And Warm - Arr. George Handy
Man With A Horn - Arr. Johnny Richards
Hip Boyds - Arr. Ralph Flanagan
Prelude To The Dawn - Arr. Johnny Richards
Duck Waddle - Arr. Ed Finckel

Dale Pierce, Ray Linn, Frank Beach, Bob Fowler - Trumpets.
Burt Johnson, Tommy Pearson, Ollie Wilson - Trombones
Wilbur Schwartz - Alto Sax
Ethmer Roden - Alto Sax and Flute.
Ralph Lee - Tenor Sax and Bassoon.
Gus McReynolds - Tenor Sax
Bill Starkey - English Horn and Bass Sax
Hy Mandel - Baritone Sax
Hal Schaefer - Piano
Tony Rizzi - Guitar
Harry Babison - Bass
Mack Albright - Drums
Ginnie Powell - Vocal

Forgetful - Arr. George Handy
Rip Van Winkle - Arr. George Handy
Tonsilectomy - Arr. George Handy
Yerxa - Arr. George Handy

Dale Pierce, Tommy Allison, Johnny Napton Alan Jefferys - Trumpets
Ollie Willson, Jack Carmen, Sy Zentner - Trombones
Hal McKusick, Lenny Green - Alto Saxes
Frank Socolow, Stuart Anderson - Tenor Saxes
Gus McReynolds - Baritone Sax
Boyd Raeburn - Bass Sax
George Handy - Piano and Arrangements
Hayden Causey - Guitar
Ed Mihelich - Bass
Jackie Mills - Drums
Ginnie Powell, David Allyn - Vocals

Little Boyd Blue - Arr. Ed Finckel
Blues Echoes - Arr. George Handy

Frank Beach, Dale Pierce, Ray Linn, Nelson Shelladay - Trumpets
Ollie Wilson, Fred Zico, Hal Smith - Trombones
Harry Klee - Alto Sax and Flute
Wilbur Schwartz - Alto Sax and Clarinet
Ralph Lee - Tenor Sax and Bassoon
Gus McReynolds - Tenor Sax
Hy Mandel - Bariton Sax
Boyd Rarburn - Bass Sax and Tenor Sax
Julie Jacobs - Oboe, English Horn and Tenor Sax
Gale Laughton - Harp
Hal Schaefer - Piano
Tony Rizzi - Guitar
Lloyd Otto, Evan Vail - French Horns
Jackie Mills - Drums
Harry Babison - Bass
David Allyn - Vocal

From the back cover: Certainly one of the highest points in music during the middle 40's ws the emergence of the great Raeburn orchestra. Combining with the talents of the finest instrumentalists available with the outstanding compositions and arrangements of George Handey, Eddie Finckel, Johnny Richards and Ralph Flanigan this musical organization set the world of big band jazz of fire, inspiring critics, fans and musicians alike. Critics declared Boyd the first original innovator in big bands since Duke Ellington... others said he showed Stan Kenton the way to Progressive Jazz in Concert Form... some said he was the bridge between the classics and jazz, expressed the American way. Well, no matter where you stood then, time passed, and with the smoke cleared away, we can be ever thankful for this re-mastered high-fidelity set of some of the outstanding works that marked the Boyd Raeburn career.

To best describe the music herein, let us use Raeburn's own words... "This stuff we play is modern classical music applied to swing. We've based it on the theory of modern music as presented by Hindemuth, the Harvard Professor, and we follow the lines of the great contemporary moderns... Stravinsky and Shostakovich. Actually, we are presenting new sounds in jazz but introducing extra notes in chords." Well, let us add the influence of Milhaud, Schoenberg, and the French impressionists, Debussy and Ravel, and I think that will give some idea of the background to the music.

The end result of these ideas brought some exciting manuscripts forth. Raeburn and Handy began use of voicings completely foreign to the band scene previously. They added instruments like the French horn, harp, flute, English horn and others to the normal saxes, trumpet and trombone formula for extra color. They added flatted fifths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths to their chordal structures bringing new tensions into the most lyric passages and they went back to basic counter point within the new harmonies for added excitement. With all this, they never let go of the basic beat, the opportunities for solo improvisation within the framework of the arrangement and even, the ability to dance to this music.

Many of today's top instrumentalists got their formal introduction to modern sounds in the Boyd Raeburn band. The opportunity to work regularly, playing exciting sounds, and develop a modern jazz with its feet squarely in the midst of swing was indeed, and the the smoke as cleared, leaving the remarkable impression of one man who brought Big Band Jazz twenty giant steps forward in just a few years, and gave us this invaluable collection of all-time great music to keep for the future.

Boyd Raeburn, the man, comes from a ranch in South Dakota. His first studies were piano and clarinet, and this stayed with him during his years as a student at the University of Chicago. There, besides playing baseball, studying, and leading a dance band, he entered a contest for bands at the Hotel Sherman, won, and was given a year's contract to play at the World's Fair. This started his professional musical career. Many remember his many broadcasts on the Coca Cola "Spotlight Bands" program, his series on the "Jubilee" show along with the Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker combo for the Armed Forces Radio, as well as his late night air-checks form the Hotel Edison in N.Y., the Band Box in Chicago, the Orient Theater, and many other top spots across the country. When the war ended, Raeburn also introduced Jazz concerts into his many appearances on the road.

Once glance at the impressive list of sidemen who played with one or more editions of the Raeburn band will convince that this was indeed a high calibre organization, in solo work as well as in the performance of the new, and exciting arrangements. Not enough can be said here for the contribution made by George Handy, the man whose arranging skill set the pace for the entire organization. The majority of the selections in this album give proof of this statement. 

"Man With A Horn" features Boyd himself, on the English horn, only one of the many reed instruments he plays. It is a lyric and warm ballad-type arrangement. Yerxa, the elegy movement form George Handy's" Jitterbug Suite", is very Ellington-ish in mood. Liquid solo alto carries the theme with typical Handy double time bass breaks to accent the long lines of the slow mood. "Hip Boyds" is a medium-tempoed jump along the lines Will Hudson pioneered, yet brought up to date with the interplay of new harmonic treatment. Pedal note trombone under riffs for a fade-out last chorus. "Rip Van Winkle" starts with "hip" patter leading into Ginny Powell's vocal. Though the tune means nothing, her hip phrasing and the colorful splash background effects that George Handy paints in his manuscript make this sparkle. David Allyn sings "Forgetful" coming into this slow, straightforward melody after a truly abstract, staccato introduction that drops the listener into the chorus like a sigh. Again Handy utilizes the lush organ effects counteracted by biting staccato bursts during the ensemble choruses. The close finds Allyn showing his mastery of pitch against atonal changes, ending on the major 7th. "Little Boyd Blue" is Eddie Finckel's arrangement. It is early Raeburn and swings at top speed. The basic statement is descending unison trumpets against ascending unison trombones and sax. Exciting counterpoint, leads into a Hawkins-styled tenor by Ralph Lee, a Ray Linn trumpet chorus and some piano and trombone split chorus work by Hal Schaefer and Freddie Zito. The entire effect romps, giving roomful plenty of find solo work. "Duck Waddle" is an Eddie Sauter-type arrangement with unison clarinet lead saxes on a riff against biting brass taps, off and  on the beat. Tenor, trombone, trumpet, and piano solo work that so marked the 1946 period of early Bop development. "Prelude To The Dawn" features Wilbur Schwartz's liquid alto throughout and spots occasional harp work coming through. "Love And Warm." Ginny Powell, Raeburn's lovely wife, sings the ballad with her wonderful voice quality and admirable attention to lyrics and phrasing. A retard ending features harp and flute. "Tonsillectomy" was recorded in early 1946 and is one of George Handy's finest arrangements. Opening on descending bass piano, this is picked up by the trombones for the melody line with alto, abruptly switching to muted trumpet effects. Catch the foppish muted trumpet solo and pretty tenor. Biting brass come in ON the beat and piano takes over till a reprise of the first chorus theme. The startling staccato effects that open "Blue Echoes" make an ordinary latin-ish ballad into a thing of great interest. Dave Allyn vocals over a jumping background that switches from a swinging thing to a lush treatment from chorus to chorus. Ollie Wilson's trombone solo and Ralph Lee' running tenor against trumpets switch abruptly back to vocal for a retard and shifting harmonic ending.

– Notes by H. Alan Stein

Man With A Horn
Hip Boyds
Prelude To The Dawn
Duck Waddle
Forgetful
Rip Van Winkle
Tonsillectomy
Yerxa
Little Boyd Blue
Blue Echoes
Love Tales
Soft And Warm

It's About Time - Joe Morello

It's About Time (LSP-2486)

It's About Time
Joe Morello With His Sextet and Orchestra
For The First Time On His Own –
The Drummer Other Drummers Listen To
(And The Jazz Poll Voters Vote For)
Arrangements by Phil Woods and Manny Albas
Featuring Phil Woods, Alto Sax and Bary Burton, Vibraphone
Produced by George Avakian
Recorded in Webster Hall and RCA Victor's Studio A, New York City
Recording Engineer: Ernie Oelrich
RCA Victor LSP-2486 & LPM-2486
1962

From the back cover: About Joe Morello by Marian McPartland

Joe Morello is a drummer's drummer. As Long as I have known him, which is close to ten years (when he first came to New York and sat in with me at the Hickory House in 1952), he has always been surrounded by drummers who came from all over to listen to him play, to talk to him, to work out or to study his amazing technique at close range. Joe joined my trio in 1953, and it was always interesting to me to see how much time he devoted to the study of the drums, even to practicing every spare minute between sets. He was absolutely fanatical about this, and at times there seemed to be a kind of controlled fury in his playing – sort of a fierceness which belies the appearance of this quiet, soft-spoken guy. Only when he plays does he reveal some of the inner conflict and frustrations that have shaped and directed him in his restless drive for perfection.

Joe was a child prodigy on the violin and can play piano quite well. He is a sentimental person who thinks deeply, who loves to daydream and to philosophize while listening to music – every kind of music. His musical tastes run all the way from Casals to Sinatra to Red River Valley. He is a complex person; on one hand, gentle, quiet and imaginative; then, in the next instant, a complete extrovert, doing impressions of his friends and laughing like a schoolboy; then again he becomes remote, moody, shut off from everybody in his own self-contained little world.

In the past few years Joe has traveled all over the world with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He is now a seasoned performer, and shows the results and benefits of working with Dave. He has made a great reputation, and this is revealed in a different approach to his solos. His musical ideas run along new lines; he uses his fantastic technique to better effect than ever, and he seems to have broadened his scope, not only in his playing but in various little intangible ways – in his increased confidence in a certain gregariousness he never used to have. Yet, he is humble and at time almost disbelieving of his success. He has unquestionably made a great contribution to the Brubeck group, and I am sure that Dave would be among the first to agree that the success of tunes like Take Five, the Paul Desmond composition which put the Quartet on the nation's best-selling charts, is in some measure due to Joe's unique conception of unusual time signatures and his ability to play them interestingly.

The time is right for Joe, now one of the most illustrious sidemen in jazz, to record for the first time as a leader (although, of course, in public he is still the drummer of the Brubeck Quartet). For Joe, this has a very special meaning. It is not just on opportunity to perform with a hand-picked group of musicians, including his great friend Phil Woods as saxophonist and arranger. This album represents the fulfillment of a long-expressed desire which grew out of his first tentative experiments, as a boy, with a pair of brushes on the kitchen table in his home in Springfield, Massachusetts.

I believe that Joe was born to be a brilliant musician. This album will justify and renew the faith he has in himself, as well as the high praise and respect he has received from musicians all over the world. In discussing Joe recently, Buddy Rich called him "the best of the newer drummers; he has tremendous technique, and he is the only one to get a musical sound out of the drums."

The tunes and arrangements by Manny Album and Phil Woods give him ample scope to express himself – whether with sticks on a hard-swinging, white-hot, uptempo tune such as Just In Time; or Every Time We Say Goodbye. In Joe Morello's playing you can hear the fire, the relentless drive, the gentleness, and the humor that is in him, and he has surrounded himself with some of the best musicians there are, to help him make this – his first album on his own – great.

Also from the back cover: About This Album by George Avakian

A basic small combo is heard throughout the album, with a brass ensemble added for four numbers (I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Every Time We Say Goodbye, Time On My Hands and It's About Time). Manny Albam, arranger and conductor for these numbers, has integrated the combo so that there is frequently a concerto gross quality to the sound of the ensemble.

Phil Woods, alto saxophonist throughout this set, is the arranger of five of the six remaining selections. Completing the album is a trio improvisation (Fatha Time) by pianist John Bunch, bassist Gene Cherico and Joe.

Joe's approach, in assembling the musicians and asking Manny and Phil to write for them, was that the music must, at all times, swing. There was no attempt to use complex rhythms for their own sakes. The musicians, of course, had to be chosen with care. The principle soloists – Woods, Bunch and vibraphonist Gary Burton – are strong "blowers." They are soloists of the type who dig in and go.

Woods, the best-known soloist; is one of the finest saxophonists of the post-bop era. He is a musician whose blazing musical temperament is perceptible even on ballads. Gary Burton is a teen-ager virtuosos who has bowled over seasoned musicians for the last two years and is just beginning to became known. He impressed Chet Atkins, RCA Victor's recording manager in Nashville (and one of the great guitarists of all time), so deeply that Chet promptly signed him. His first RCA Victor album will appear shortly. John Bunch, whose vigorous piano is sprinkled liberally throughout this album, is a youthful veteran of the Benny Goodman, Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson bands, and has also played in the small combos of two of the country's most popular drummers, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

From Billboard - March 17, 1962: Morello, who is the star drummer with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, has a wonderfully varied album here. The set switches up to medium to ballad temp on different selections without loss of feeling or concept. The highly facile arrangements are by Phil Woods (who also stars as alto sax soloist) and Manny Albam. Also featured is Gary Burton on vibes. Since the theme of the album is time, each of the track titles, both standard and originals, has the word in the title. "Just In Time," Everytime," Fatha Time" and "Mother Time," are a few of them.

I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Time After Time
Every Time We Say Goodbye
Just In Time
Summertime
Time On My Hands
Mother Time
Fatha Time
It's About Time

Sabor A Mi - Lucho Gatica

Romantica

Sabor A Mi
Lucho Gatica con Acompañamiento de Orquesta
Direction: Jose Sabre Marroquin
*Direction: Vicente Bianchi
Odeon Industria Argentina LDM-8148

La Noche De Mi Amor (A noite do meu bem) - Bolero*
Sabor A Mi - Bolero
Romantica - Bolero
Lloraras - Bolero
Esclavo De Tu Piel - Bolero"
You A Apagar La Luz - Bolero
Al Caer La Tarde (Quando vien la sera) Mambo - Rock
Es Cierto - Rock Lento
Preguntaselo A Dios - Bolero
Arrivederci - Bolero
Santa - Bolero
Palabras De Mujer - Bolero

Emotion, Inc. - King Guion

No Blues Is Good Blues

Emotion, Inc.
King Guion And His Orchestra
Musical Arrangements by Elliot Jacoby and Pee Wee Erwin
Title "Emotion, Inc." suggested by Jack Lazare
Produced by Sid Feller
Cover Photo: William Bell
ABC Paramount
A Product of Am-Par Record Corp.
ABC 172
1957

From the back cover: The name King Guion has, for years, been surrounded with an aura of respect and admiration from his colleagues and contemporaries of the music business. For more than a decade, he was known to be among the handful of studio musicians and arrangers in the Hollywood film studios who were on call by any studio at any time. This accounted for his status as one of the highest-paid sidemen in the world for a period of many years.

Ever since he had begun his career as a musician, King had pursued a natural desire to exploit the field of instrumental voicing and shedding to an ultimate conclusion of having created a sound so distinctive and compelling that it could readily embody an elusive, almost mysterious quality. To do this – and yet to preserve the basic melody theme – presented somewhat of a formidable challenge. Still, with the same perseverance which has been characteristic of King Guion since childhood, he was determined to attain this objective.

Within this album, then, you will hear the result of years of painstaking effort, research and constant application of purpose. With his sincere modesty, the maestro feels that it could be considered presumptuous to term this "The King Guion Sound" – but, in truth, the distinctiveness of what you are about to hear is basically and unalterably his. It is doubtful that other arrangers, musicians and composers will be able to decipher the extraordinary recipes which King Guion has concocted – at least, not for some time, and then only after some nerve-wracking and painstaking analysis.

The complexity of the arrangements and instrumental voicing notwithstanding, the listener will never be in doubt as to which of these standard compositions is being played. Mr. Guion has a deep-rooted respect for composers whose works are outstanding enough to become perennial standards, and feels that being disguised through the progressivism of some arrangers represents a flaunting of dramatic license. You will find, therefore, that the familiarity of these compositions is still preserved in King's renditions and the nostalgic flavor takes on new beauty and awe as a result.

In the development of "The King Guion Sound" and its coordinated presentation to the public, King feels that due credit should be given to those associates and interested observers who supported his theory. In this regard, important names are Mr. Gray Gordon, long an associate of Mr. Guion, a musician and ex-leader himself, who now serves as Mr. Guion's personal manager; Mr. Sid Feller, Co-Director of Popular Artists & Repertoire of ABC Paramount, who sense the tremendous portent of the sound; and to Rusty Dedrick and Al Heckler, who accomplished the amazing task of the arrangements, in collaboration with Mr. King. – Nat Hale

From Billboard - June 10, 1957: Guion continues his long-time pursuit of a "new sound," and weights his reed section too much for comfort, producing a sound that is not always attractive. As a dance band, it's often too heavy – hardly irresistible. There always are jocks looking for something different in the band line, but from the commercial viewpoint, this one hasn't got it.

My Silent Love
Don't Blame Me
When The Lover Has Gone
Someone To Watch Over Me
Lover's Paradise
(What Did I Do To Be So) Black And Blue
Alone Together
Penthouse Serenade
No Blues Is Good Blues
You Call It Madness (I Call It Love)
My Melancholy Baby
The Orient Express