Arnold Schonberg - Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21

Part 1: Poems 1 - 7

Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot Lunaire
Melodrama for Recitation and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 21
Conducted by Arthur Winograd
Speaker: Alice Howland
Piano: Edward Steuermann
Flute and Piccolo: Lois Schaefer
Clarinet: Donald Lituchy
Bass Clarinet: David Kalina
Violin and Viola: Robert Koff
Cello: Seymour Barab
MGM Records
A High Fidelity Recording E3202

From the back cover: Schoenberg' melodrama Pierrot Lunaire was completed in Berlin in 1912 and can be said to have been composed during that period of his development in which tonality, due to the every-increasing use of chromatic alteration, had ceased to function, but had not yet been replaced by the twelve-tone system. Organization has been achieved by the tying together of musical elements in an atonal composition through the repetition of linear motives.

Some of the pieces have been realized in strict counterpoint: No. 8 (Nacht) is a passacaglia: No 17 (Parodie) contains a double canon; and No. 18 (Mondfleck) is a three-part fugato accompanied by a double retrograde canon (the fugato in the piano extending for the length of the piece while the canon between the piccolo and clarinet turns about at the half-way point and appears backwards, last note to first).

In terms of expressive power, one is made conscious of the fact that each of the twenty-one pieces, adhering to highly specific programmatic illusions, has emerged with its own clearly etched profile, and has been made to function as a seemingly inevitable part of the congruent whole.

The three times seven poems of Albert Giraud, upon which the work is based, were translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben.

Communication - Nelson Riddle

Uptown Dance

Communication
Nelson Riddle
Produced by Willi Fruth and Claus Ogerman
Recorded at Bavaria Tonstudio, Munich
Engineering: H. Kramper
Photos: Hubertus Mall and Dorte Groning
Design: MPS Atelier / Reilly
BASF MPS STEREO MB 20888
1972 (disc date) 1973 (jacket date)

Born Happy
A Night Of Love
Uptown Dance
Time And Space
Dedication
Volcano's Daughter
Romantic Places
It's Your Turn
Rachel
Greenwich Village

L'Arlesienne - Andre Kostelanetz

Danse Bohémienne 

L'Arlesienne
Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra
Columbia Records
CL 739

L'Arlesienne Suite No., 1
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2
Danse Bohémienne (From "La Jolie Fille de Perth")

Jazz Dance Session

Beat Drum Beat

Jazz Dance Session
The Alan Swain Orchestra
Orion High Fidelity Records
LP 101

From the back cover: All life is movement to Chicago Choreographer Gus Giordano, whose own life is. He graduated straight from the University of Missouri to Broadway, where summa cum laude is a matter of talent and timing. On Broadway as a featured dancer he shed himself of any ivory-towered conception of the dance. Performances in such hits as Wish You Were Here, Guys And Dolls, and Damn Yankees gave him some raw jolts and exciting ideas. He left the neon embrace of New York to evoke some glitter of his own. With his fine flare for mixing and matching music and movement, the glitter has reached the explosive stage. In three years he has (1) become the leading modern jazz choreographer and teacher in the Middle West, (2) originated a TV jazz-dance series, (3) taught his free-style technique for the National Association of Dance Masters (Chicago), the Texas Association of Dancing Teachers, the Hinote Dance Festival and at dance conventions from Little Rock and Indianapolis to Denver and in-between, (4) found a bailiwick as a choreographer for industrial films, summer musicals in upstate New York and at Music Theatre, Highland Park, Illinois one of the top summer theaters in the U.S. Now, with this album ("there is a basic need for blending the dance and music experience,") Gus Giordano has added a body beat to the hot-cool tree of jazz, one that will set any pulse bouncing.

A drum-led combo led by Bobbie Christian on timpani-timbales and Maurie Laurie on drums and bongos fashioned some new "beat" crystals in this ten-selection album that may cause some reflection in the less-progressive jazz circles. Both Bobbie and Maurie are almost lyricists with percussion instruments and are in constant demand as recording artists. In the filigreed department of the quintet is Alan Swain, well-known Chicago bandleader and jazz pianist who wrote and arranged all of the selections. Trumpet spicing is by Dick Judson, most recently with Les Elgart and Warren Time, staff musician at CBS television who has made the rounds with Ray Anthony. The flute-like sound on several of the numbers is Warren playing his trumpet without a mouthpiece.

Cha-Cha Tropicale
Drums For Hire
Blues For Drums
Jazz Mambo
Drums Allegro
Frankie And Johnny Cha-Cha
Beat Drum Beat
Hoot-Nanny
Leap Frog (March)
Lazy Bongos

The Jazzbone's Connected To The Trombone - Bobby Byrne

Wild Bones

The Jazzbone's Connected To The Trombone
Bobby Byrne
Joins With Four Other Great Trombonists
And An All-Star Rhythm Sections
To Present Exciting Jazz Moods
Produced and Originated by Enoch Light
Cover Painting For The Grand Awards Collection by Irwin Rosenhouse
Grand Award Record Company
G.A.33-416
1959

From the back cover: If any single musician can fill the gap left in the top ranks of trombone virtuosos by the death of Tommy Dorsey, that musician is Bobby Byrne. From the ultra-smooth, singing tone on ballads to the rough, lusty jazz attack, Bobby's playing parallels the remarkable scope of the great T. D. And it is not presumptuous to speak of Bobby Byrne filling Tommy Dorsey's shoes because Bobby has done it before – when Tommy was alive and Bobby was only 17.

It happened in 1935 when young Bobby was a member of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. In the Spring of that year came the celebrated argument that broke up the Dorsey Brothers band – when Tommy accused Jimmy of setting the tempos too fast and then stalked off the stand to start a band of his own. Jimmy moved Bobby Byrne into Tommy's chair, gave him all of Tommy's parts to play. And Bobby took over so completely and so well that, instead of being lost in the shadow of the great trombonist he had replaced, he became such a musical personality in his own right that within four years he was able to launch a highly successful band of his own.

Today Bobby Byrne is not only an unusually brilliant and polished trombonist but he is a musician with ideas. In this album he explores the excitingly rich and varied musical sounds that can be drawn from a full trombone ensemble. He has brought together three different groups of top trombonists for these pieces, groups which include Lou McGarity, a master of an exuberant, rough-and-tumble trombone style; Urbie Green, who has ranged from suave to swing with Woody Herman, Benny Goodman and other great bandleaders; Frank Rehak, one of the brightest new jazz trombone stars; Bob Alexander, who followed Bobby Byrne in Jimmy Dorsey's trombone section; and bass trombonists Tommy Mitchell, Dick Leib and Dick Hixon. The Rhythm section that supports the trombone ensembles has been chosen with the same care. It is made up of four remarkably imaginative and flexible musicians – Moe Wechsler, piano, Tony Mottola, Guitar, Jack Lesberg, bass, and Terry Synder, drums – who have worked together so frequently that they contribute to each piece as closely knit unit as well as individual stars.

Speak Low
Sometimes I'm Happy
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
After You've Gone
Street Of Dreams
Wild Bones
That Old Black Magic
I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
I Get A Kick Out Of You
Frenesi
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

Love Makes The World Go Round - Anna Maria Alberghetti

Love Make The World Go Round

Love Makes The World Go Around
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Arranged and Conducted by Luther Henderson
Cover Photo: Howell Conant
Recording Engineer: Phil Ramone
Produced by Howard Scott
MGM High Fidelity E 4001
1962

From the back cover: Anna Maria began her flirtation with music on the day she was born. Her father, who had once been a singer, had set his heart on having a boy who would carry on his own career. But when the nurse announced that the newest Alberghetti was very much a girl, he decided then and there "I'll make a singer of her anyhow."

Maestro Alberghetti was as good as his word, Anna Maria made her vocal debut at the advance age of six. The occasion was a hospital benefit in the bomb-shattered island of Rhodes. In the audience sat a high Italian official who was so impressed with the girl's talent that he arranged the family's escape from the war-torn island.

For the rest of the war, the Alberghettis took refuge in the Italian countryside. With the coming of Allied troops, however, Anna Maria emerged from the farm to sing to the GIs. The American went wild over her – as they have ever since.

When Anna Maria was thirteen, the family came to the United States. Anna was already a seasoned veteran of European concert stages and almost the first thing she did upon arrival was to take hard-bitten Carnegie Hall by storm. Then following a dizzying round of appearances in concerts, on television and – inevitably – in motion pictures. She won kudos for her touching film performance in the Gian-Carlo Menotti's spine-chiller, "The Medium."

Since then Anna Maria has set her sights more and more on the world of popular entertainment. She restyled herself from a child prodigy into a sophisticated show-woman. Summers were spent in stock theatre, where she sought out those roles that would let her develop as an actress. Winters were spent in nightclub engagements, where she became the darling of sophisticated ringsiders.

Then, last season, along came "Carnival" – with its ready-made role for her unique gifts as singer and as actress. And the rest is show business history. – Notes by Freda Bright

While We're Young
Where Are You
I Want To Be Happy
Hi-lili Hi-lo
More That You Know
It's A Most Unusual Day
Don't Worry 'Bout Me
I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)
How Long Has This Been Going On
This Can't Be Love
Do It Again "Theme From Carnival!" (Love Makes The World Go Round)

Porgy And Bess - The Original Cast Album

It Takes A Long Pull To Get There

Selections From George Gershwin's Folk Opera
Porgy And Bess
George Gershwin, Du Bose Heyward & Ira Gershwin
The Original Cast Album
Featuring Todd Ducan, Anne Brown, The Eva Jessye Choir, Edward Matthews, Helen Dowdy, William Woolfolk & Avon Long
Decca Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Smallens, Conductor
Decca Records DL 9024 & DL 79024
1962

Act 1 – Scene 1
Overture and Summertime (Anna Brown)
A Woman Is A Sometime Thing (Edward Matthews assisted by Harriet Jackson with Eva Jessye Choir)
Introducing Summertime
Act 1 – Scene 2
My Man's Gone Now (Anne Brown with Eva Jessye Choir
Act 2 – Scene 1
It Take A Long Pull To Get There (Edward Matthews)
I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (Todd Duncan with Eva Jessye Choir)
Buzzard Song (Todd Duncan with Eva Jessye Choir)
Bess You Is My Woman (Todd Duncan and Anne Brown with Eva Jessye Choir)
What You Want Wid Bess? (Anne Brown and Todd Duncan)
Act 2 – Scene 3 (Street Cries)
(a) Strawberry Woman's Call (Helen Dowdy assisted by Gladys Goode)
(b) Crab Man's Call (William Woolfolk assisted by Georgette Harvey)
I Loves You, Porgy (Todd Duncan and Anne Brown)
Act 3 – Scene 1
The Requiem (Eva Jessye Choir)
Act 3 – Scene 2
There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York (Avon Long and Anne Brown)
Act 3 – Scene 3
Porgy's Lament and Finale (Todd Duncan with Eva Jessye Choir)

Percussion Around The World - International Pop All Stars

April In Portugal

Percussion Around The World
International "Pop" All Stars

Directed by Harry Frekin
Phase 4 Stereo London SP 44010
1961

The Poor People Of Paris
Frenesi
The Third Man Theme
Calcutta
La Montana
The Children's Marching Song
Volare
April In Portugal
Never On Sunday
Japanese Sandman
Cielito Lindo
Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart

Sweet Piano Melodies - Jean Paques

Blue Skies

Sweet Piano Melodies
Jean Paques and His Sweet Music
Photo: Murray Laden
Richmond High Fidelity
A Product Of London Records
B 20050
1959

From Billboard - November 16, 1959: Sweet tunes, sweetly played, with the piano of Jean Paques featured, are the strong points of this new album. The tunes include "Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody," "Blue Skies," "Tea For Two," and other standards.

A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody
'S Wonderful
I'm Alone
Broadway Melody
Blue Skies
Tea For Two
For You Only
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
Goodnight, Sweetheart
Margie

The Shadow Of Your Smile - Phil LaPenna

The Nearness Of You

The Shadow Of Your Smile
Phil LaPenna
Director: K. Warriner
Engineer: G. Starr
A Product of Arc Sound LTD., Toronto, Ontario
ARC AS-734
1968

From the back cover: Phil LaPenna is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding organists in Canada today. Equally at home on pipe or theatre organs, he has performed all over Canada in concert, in nightclubs, and has also played many serious recitals. In addition he was featured regularly on CBC network shows. During the last few years he has concentrated on single concerts with an occasional foray into the nightclub field, and has devoted much of his remaining time to teaching and composing.

The music on this album was specially selected to show off his dynamic technique on the Baldwin Theatre organ. Phil's masterly arrangement of Tico-Tico played at a tremendously fast pace, shows to the full what a brilliant musician can accomplish on a really first class instrument. Making full use of the vast musical vocabulary built into the Baldwin Organ, and with the assistance of Keith Chappell on drums, Phil LaPenna switches from the toe-tapping sounds of "Hoedown Holiday" to the soft and subtle "I'll Close My Eyes" with the greatest of ease, and with the tongue in cheek humor, transports the listener to the cobble-stoned street in a Bavarian Village for a real beer-drinking polka. To round out the program, he swings into a driving up-tempo version of "Meditation" and beautifully performed versions of "The Carioca" and "Moon Over Naples" among other selections.

The Shadow Of Your Smile
Hoedown Holiday
Moon Over Naples
Baron Bonschittenhelm's Bavarian Polka
Meditatio
The Mexican Hof
The Carioca
Lara's Theme
Tico-Tico
I'll Close My Eyes
Brazilian Polka
The Nearness Of You