Down To Earth - Ramsey Lewis

 

Soul Mist

Down To Earth

The Ramsey Lewis Trio

Plays Music From The Soil

The Ramsey Lewis Trio appears by arrangement with Argo Records

Supervision: Jack Tracy

Cover Photography and Design: Leroy Winbush

Recorded at Tel-Mar Recording studios in Chicago, Nov. 6 and Dec. 4, 1958

Mercury SR 80029

1959

Personnel:

Piano: Ramsey Lewis

Bass: El Dee Young

Drums: Red Holt

From the back cover: Most "trios" are really nothing of the sort. They usually consist of a piano soloist who hires a bassist and drummer to keep time for hime and gives each of them one solo to mollify their egos.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio is the genuine article.

It is made up of three men, each of whom has a vital role in contributing to the overall sound and feeling of the group. Should any one of them leave, the organization would take on an entirely different musical appearance and would be virtually unrecognizable save for some obvious surface qualities.

This is the course that Lewis, El Dee Young, and Red Holt have chosen to follow ever since they decided they wanted to play together late in 1956. They worked a series of Chicago night clubs for more than two years, always polishing, honing, and patting the group into the unified entity they sought before going out on the road at the beginning of 1959 for a successful opening in New York at Birdland.

For a time the influence of the Modern Jazz Quartet could strongly be heard in the performances of Ramsey, El Dee and Red. The group in fact subtitled itself "The Gentle Men Of Jazz." Their Music was quiet, under firm control, and swung softly.

But gradually the group began to undergo a change. There was a constriction implied in the "Gentle Men" cognomen that kept them from digging in and snarling should they feel like it.

And so when this album was being plotted, the first point established was that there was to be no holds barred. The trio could play exactly as it wished on the material selected and forget about gentleness.

Dark Eyes

Come Back To Sorrento

Soul Mist

John Henry

Greensleeves

We Blue It

Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child

Suzanne

Billy Boy

Decisions

Pearl Bailey Sings The Cole Porter Songbook

 

I've Got You Under My Skin

Pearl Bailey 

Sings The Cole Porter Songbook

Album Design: Forlenza Venosa Associates

Roulette Records SR 59052

I've Got You Under My Skin

Love For Sale

Never Give Anything Away

Nobody's Chasin' Me

Mr. & Mrs. Fitch

I Hate Men

Josephine

I Loved Him

Always True To You Darling In My Fashion

The Laziest Gal In Town

Swing Sessions - Eiji Kitamura

 

Avalon

Swing Sessions

Eiji Kitamura and His All Stars

Producer: Fumimaru Kawashima

Musical Director: Hiroshi Isaka

Engineer: Eiji Uchinuma

Technical Coordinator: Takeo Niimi

Lathe Operation: Mitsuo Yamaguchi

Lathe Operators: Shizuo Nomiyama & Kohei Nakamura

Disc Plating & Pressing: Record Division, Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.

Recording Date: April 21, 1978

Recording Location: Iruma City Auditorium, Saitama Pref., Japan

Recording Supervisor: Terry Isono

Album Releasing Coordinator: Yutaka Horikoshi

Album Cover Design: Katsuhiko Iida

Front Cover Photo: Yasuhisa Yoneda

Other Photos: Masami Hotta

Liner Notes Translation: David Ball, FLC Inc.

Crisis  Service: Ichiro Okuno, President, RVC Corp.

A production of RVC Corporation, 1-7-8 Shibuya Tokyo 150 Japan:

affiliated with RCA Records and Victor Company of Japan

STEREO Limited Direct-To-Disc Edition

RCA RDCE-10 STEREO (JPL 1-1349)

Personnel: 

Eiji Kitamura: Clarinet

Lchiro Masuda: Vibraphone

Yoshitaka Akimitsu: Piano

Yukio Ikezawa: Bass

Hiroshi Sunaga: Drums

Judy Anton: Vocal

From the jacket notes: 

Eiji Kitamura (cl) was born in 1929. As an undergraduate at Keio University in Tokyo he devoted himself to clarinet playing. His hobby is fishing an listening to Japanese classical comic stories. He electrified the audience at the 20th Anniversary Jam Session of the famous Monterey Jazz Festival held on the West Coast of U.S., in September 1977. To the Japanese jazz press which traditionally tends to favor modern jazz, Kitamura's participation caused a sensation. He had made a deep impression on his fans through his rich playing on his regular TV program, and by taking part in this world famous event, he made a giant leap into prominence. 

Ichiro Masuda (vib) is the leading vibes player. Before becoming a jazzman, he was a proponent of Hawaiian music and had a group, the Coconut Islanders and it was then that he became interested in the electric guitar. Masuda has also been a well-known audio critic 20 years. He was born in 1933. He was already working as a professional while still an undergraduate of Meiji University in Tokyo.

Yoshitaka Akimitsu (p) is the leading swing piano player, but he has not made many recordings with Kitamura. This was because Kitamura first recorded with Day Wilson, although he knew Akimitsu. He was born in 1929. As an undergraduate of Musahino Music University in Tokyo, he devoted himself to jazz, working under Shin Matsumoto and Misao Ikeda. He was the leading player in the Rhythm Aces and also performed widely with his combo.

Ikuo Ikezawa (b) is a senior member of Kitamura's regular group. At a time when Kitamura's group was not so famous as today, Masuda and Ikezawa most often accompanied Kitamura on local tours. He was born in 1931. A graduate of Meiji University. He has been with Kitamura for the past 20 years. His hobby is baseball and drinking cold sake. He is a fashionable dresser and on the recording day he wore a brown shirt and beige pants.

Hiroshi Sunaga (ds) is the 2nd bandsman of the Kitamura group. He also favors brown color but with a downtown taste. He was born in 1932, and he turns professional when he was still a student at Musashino Music University in Tokyo. Later, as one of the members of a big band called Blue Coats he established a reputation as the leading drummer. There is no one his equal in swing music. His hobby is fishing and listening to comic stories. He is very keen on developing talent among the younger generation, and Yuki Haraguchi of Seishi Okumura's Quartet was his first pupil.

Judy Anton (v) adds a special charm to the album. She was born in U.S.A. on March 18th, 1949. Her mother is a singer and her father was big band fan, in particular, of Benny Goodman. She came to Japan with her father, a professor who came to teach at Tokyo and Kyoto University. She studied at Aoyama University, Notre Dame Women's College, and Waseda University. She has once worked as a TV personality when she met Yuzuru Sera, a jazz pianist, who encouraged her to take up singing. She has developed as a leading singing talent with her feeling that her roots are indeed in the country of her birth. Her favorite singers are Mildred Bailey and Martha Tilton.

Avalon

Body And Soul

I Hadn't Anyone Till You

Memories Of You

Shine

Petiti Fleur

What A Little Moonlight Can Do

Good-Bye

Pete Kelly At Home - Jack Webb - Pete Kelly's Big 7

 

Sweet Eloise

Pete Kelly At Home

Jack Webb

Pete Kelly's Big 7

RCA Victor LPM-1413

1957

Personnel:

Trumpet: Dick Cathcart

Trombone: Abe Lincoln

Clarinet: Matty Matlock

Saxophone: Jack Chaney

Piano: Ray Sherman

Bass: Jud DeNaut

Guitar & Banjo: George Van Epps

Drums: Nick Fatool

From the back cover: The last time Pete Kelly's Big 7 cut an album it was a Sunday. There's a rumor jazz was set back a generation. This time it was done Saturday night – a jazzman's Saturday night, which means nobody goes home until Sunday. And nobody did.

The only formal thing about the album is that it's on tape. Otherwise, it follows the same pat formula jazz has always known, from Storyville down, to wit: pretty much what you make it.

Somebody asked me one day at lunch to list the twelve songs Pete Kelly and the group might do at home. I did. Next thing, we were in Ray Heindorf's living room in Encino and it seemed like this was the only musical place in the world to me.

If Pete Kelly was ever at home, this was home – with Mother to boot. Besides being a palace, Ray's living room has tonal characteristics of sheer magnificence. Plus his taping an playback gear. The sum: Outer Space.

The boys began playing at six p.m. And, with one exception, they didn't stop until Ray's rooster came in for a chorus about dawn the next day. The exception was a boatload of pastrami and pickles, on a raft of rye. It was expressed up Ventura Boulevard by Wolfie's Delicatessen about midnight to keep the crew from caving in.

If the songs here are unforgettable, to me the session that put them in this album is more so. It reminded me of the day, almost too long ago, when 35th and Calument in Chicago was the center of the universe. And when the boys got set at 35th and Calumet, it was just a case of every tub on its own bottom.

The riders are the same who brought in the Pete Kelly's Blues album, except that Jack Chaney pinch-hits for Eddie Miller on tenor and Abe Lincoln takes over the slide for Elmer "Moe" Schneider on trombone. They are a gang who know P.K. since his radio days and they haven't let him down yet.

Matty Matlock is back on clarinet, blowing like the days at the Jam Club on 52nd Street, but with a refinement; he puffed a piccolo for the "Dixie" bit. The cornet is Dick Cathcart (who else?), an old Air Force pal of min whose expression and comment in brass are flawless. Lincoln on trombone emancipates about every note in the dictionary. Chaney's tenor comes through with some of the loveliest inflections ever played. Ray Sherman learned the alphabet on the family's piano at the College Inn in the old jazz days. George Van Eps plays guitar and banjo and they just stay played. Nick Fatool's drums and Jud DeNaut's bass give the unified attack a gusto which is not lost in the precision parts. Matlock and Cathcart arranged. – Jack Webb

Over There

Manday

They Can't Take That Away From Me

Collegiate 

Sweet Eloise

O Solo Mio

La Cucaracha 

Do You Know What It Means Miss Orleans

Dixie

You Came Along (Out Of Nowhere)

Old Pigeon-Toed Joad

Fight On (for Old S. C.)

Solo Mood - Paul Weston

 

Body And Soul

Solo Mood

Hi-Fi From Hollywood

Paul Weston and His Music From Hollywood

Columbia Records CL 879

1956

Featuring: Joe Howard, Matty Matlock, Babe Russin, George Van Epps, Clyde Hurley, Paul Smith, Eddie Miller, Bill Schaefer, Barney Kessel, Stanley Wrightsman, Ted Nash & Ziggy Elman

From the back cover: The extraordinary success of Paul Weston's "Mood For 12" collection (on LP CL 693 or Extended Play set B-525) was the basis of this new garland of fine popular songs. His initial experiment in this direction succeeded musically, with the critics, and with the public, and moreover proved Paul's idea that mood music could still have a distinct character and flavor along with its well-known soothing qualities. With that in mind, he rounded up twelve of the finest soloists working on the west coast, gave them superior songs and accompaniments, and set them to work at their own improvisations. Anyone who has heard the excellent results will know what to expect in this new presentation, and those who missed it should hurry out and rectify that error.

Paul Weston was among the first arranger-conductors to present the fine old songs in ear-caressing arrangements, and has had notable success with his ideas. Among other factors that contributed to his present eminence was the constant presence of a soft ideal for listening or dancing, thus pleasing two groups at once. Another was his uncanny knack for the right song – lovely ballads that never attained full popularity, or others that had become displaced by newer songs. But now he uses the same frame-work to present, in addition to the songs, some of the finest soloists this country boasts, and to give a new dimension to the music through the contrast of a variety of solo instruments and a variety of individual approaches.

Rockin' Chair: Trombone solo by Joe Howard. A member of the original Stan Kenton orchestra, he has also appeared as soloist in a concert conducted by Igor Stravinsky, and has played with Woody Herman, Ray Noble and Artie Shaw

A Foggy Day: Clarinet solo by Matty Matlock, one of the most active studio men in California, playing regularly for the movies, television and records. He started with the Beasley Smith orchestra, joined Bed Pollack in 1930, and in 1935 helped organize the Bob Crosby orchestra, with seven other musicians.

Body And Soul: Tenor Sax solo by Babe Russin, another perennial in California studio groups. Earlier, he was star soloist with Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey in the great days of swing.

Sweet Lorraine: Guitar solo by George Van Epps, recently featured in the movie "Pete Kelly's Blues." A busy free-lance artist since 1936, he played with the Smith-Ballew orchestra in 1929, later joined such other orchestras as those of Benny Goodman, Freddy Martin and Ray Noble.

When It's Sleepy Time Down South: Trumpet solo by Clyde Hurley, another alumnus of the Ben Pollack group. Having played with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw, he played with the MGM Studio Orchestra for six years, and is currently on the staff of NBC.

Lullaby In Rhythm: Piano solo by Paul Smith, who appears through the courtesy of Capitol Records. Best known as the leader of the Paul Smith Trio, one of the coast's most popular groups, he as also been heard with Tommy Dorsey and Les Paul.

A Hundred Years From Today: Tenor Sax solo by Eddie Miller, star soloist with Bob Crosby and his Orchestra from 1935 to 1943. Currently he is heard on television and has done staff work at the 20th Century Fox Studios.

Dancing On The Ceiling: Trombone solo by Bill Schaefer. Starting with the Francis Craig Group, he then worked for Ray Noble and is now busy with recording and television assignments.

Autumn In New York: Guitar solo by Barney Kessel, appearing through the courtesy of Contemporary Records. He has been heard with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson and Norman Granz, in addition to free-lance radio and motion picture work.

Honeysuckle Rose: Piano solo by Stanley Wrightsman, who is also heard of Columbia Records as a member of the Rampart Street Paraders. Universal and Warner Bros. are among the studios for which he has worked in films.

You Are Too Beautiful: Alto sax solo by Ted Nash; noted for his high-note playing. For years the star alto sax soloist with Les Brown, he has lately settled in Hollywood for film and television work.

The One I Love: Trumpet solo by Ziggy Elman, enduringly famous for the composition and performance of And The Angels Sing with Benny Goodman. He has also played with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra and led his own group for recording and dance dates.

The Best Of Arthur Prysock - Number 2

 

Fly Me To The Moon

The Best Of Arthur Prysock

Number 2

Produced by Hy Weiss

Director of Engineering: Val Valentin

Cover Art: Ralph Keefe

Cover Design: Acy R. Lehman

Verve STEREO V/V6-5038

1967

From the back cover: Randall's Island, August 12, 1967, saw and heard a jazz concert notable for two impressive features: an audience who ranged in age from teenagers to well beyond middle age; and the long, enthusiastic, sincere ovation they gave to a singer whose style reached out to all of them. It is the magic of Arthur Prysock to cut across age groups – to have something personal to communicate to the young who have barely had time to discover him, to the fortunate older who have had time to be enchanted by the intimate warmth of that beautiful baritone delivery.

Full Moon And Empty Arms - Arranged and Conducted by Mort Garson)

My Funny Valentine - Arranged and Conducted by Mort Garson)

In The Still Of The Night - Arranged and Conducted by Mort Garson)

Let It Be Me - (Arranged and Conducted by Charlie Calello)

Fly Me To The Moon - (Arranged and Conducted by Herb Gordy)

Let There Be Love - Arranged and Conducted by Mort Garson)

The Very Thought Of You

I Just Want To Make Love To You

For Your Love - Arranged and Conducted by Mort Garson)

All Or Nothing At All - (Arranged and Conducted by Johnny Richards)

He - Arranged and Conducted by Mort Garson)

Hollywood Sessions - HS-099

 

Disco Truck Wash

Americanism

Cheer Up

Hollywood Sessions

Sunrise Records, Inc.

HS-099

1986

So Close - Jimmy Aronis

So You Think Love Is A Game - Avis D. Stafford

The Pay I Receive - Lydia Thibodeau

Picture Of My Dad - Birtie L. Douglas

Some Other Time - Edna (Eddy) H. Vail

Truck Wash - Joseph Pate

The Ladies Man - David J. Nesler

Freedom In The Forest - Freedom Everywhere - Muriel Daniels

Second Nature Blues - Faye Halveson & Fabio Turchetti

Americanism - Alex Nwigbo

Cheer Up - William V. Whittington

Yes - Barbara Rosser

My Honky Tonk Girl - Arthur J. Scharinger

Don't Take Me For A Ride - S. M. Ndeley

It's Just Like Paradise - Marie Emerson

Electric Flowers - Ivan Tcherepnin

 

Overture / The Ghost Violin

Electric Flowers

Music Of Ivan Tcherepnin

Composer-Supervise Recording

Produced by Carter Harman

Associate Producer: Carolyn Sachs

Art Director: Judith Lerner

Cover: Judith Lerner

Drawing by Edward Lear from "The Complete Nonsense Of Edward Lear" Dover Publications, Inc., N.Y. 1951

CRI - Composers Recording, Inc.

CRI SD 467

1982

From the back cover: Ivan Tcherepnin (b. 1943, Paris) comes from a family of Russian musicians. He grew up in Chicago, where he received early training in music from his father, composer Alexander Tcherepnin, and his pianist mother, Ming. He graduated from Harvard University, where his principal teacher was Leon Kirchner, and taught at the San Francisco Conservatory and Stanford University before being named an assistant professor of music and director of the electronic music program at Harvard. He is active in the U.S. and Europe as a conductor and performer of his own compositions. In his live-electronic work, Ivan has been aided by his brother, Serge, who since 1970 has designed and constructed an impressive array of devices used in Ivan's performances.

Flores Musicales calls for oboe, psaltry and violin, all of whose sounds are processed and transformed (sometimes imperceptibly, sometimes radically) by a veritable armada of electronic modules. The work received its first performance on November 29, 1979, at Boston University.

Also from the back cover: The performers on Flores Musicales are all soloists in their own right. Peggy Pearson is a member of the Emmanuel Wind Quintet, winner of the 1981 Naumburg competition, and teaches at Wellesley and the Longy School Of Music; Wilma Smith, a native of the Fiji Islands, is first violinist of the Lydian Quartet and has been concert master of the Harvard Chamber Orchestra. Marion Dry began music studies after graduating from Harvard. She has been a soloist in the Boston area and across the country and is a successful voice teacher. Jean-Pierre Dautricourt earned his Ph.D. in composition at Harvard and teaches at the University of California at Riverside, where he also directs the electronic music studio.

Five Songs was commissioned by WFMT-FM in Chicago as part of a project initiated by author/ critic Karen Monson on the twentieth-century art song. The premier took place in March, 1979, on WFMT, with Marion Dry as soloist. A review of the work in Chicago Magazine noted that "The songs' format and texts explore the border zone between sense and nonsense, truth and deception, comedy and tragedy... the area in between categories, where life mostly takes place."

Flores Musicales (1980)

Overture (P'tite P'tite)

The Ghost Violin

Grand Fire Music

Concatenations

Peggy Pearson, oboist; William Smith, violinist; Ivan Tcherepnin, psaltery and organ player, electronic processor

Five Songs (1979) for voice, flute and digital and tape delay with associated electronics

Do-Mi

Apres le Do-Mi

Pfft!

Queues

After The Queues (Tales)

Marion Dry, contralto; Jean-Pierre Dautricourt, flutist; Ivan Tcherephin, electronic processor

The Inspiration I Feel - Herbie Mann

 

Drown In My Own Tears

The Inspiration I Feel

Herbie Mann

Arranged and Conducted by William Fischer

Produced by Nesuhi Ertegun & Joel Dorn

Album Design: Haig Adishian

Cover Portrait: Dimitrie Berea

Recording Engineer: Adrian Barber

Atlantic STEREO SD 1513

1968

From the back cover: 

Ray Charles

After a long night 

In the slow quiet of an early day 

There is only one thing.

I don't want to hear surface

but center.

Ray Charles

Above all – I believe him

He is – the inspiration I feel

– Herbie Mann

Lonely Avenue

Drown In My Own Tears

Sticks and Stones

I Got A Woman

Come Rain Or Come Shine

Georgia On My Mind

Stan Getz With Guest Artist Laurindo Almeida

 

Maracatu-Too

Stan Getz With Guest Laurindo Almeida

Laurindo Almeida appears through the courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.

Produced by Creed Taylor

Cover Design: Acy R. Lehma

Cover Art: Alberta Hutchinson AKM

Director Of Engineering: Val Valentine

Recorded At Webster Hall, March, 1963

Verve V6-8665

1966

Personnel:

Stan Getz - Tenor Sax

Laurindo Almeida - Guitar

George Duvivier - Bass

Edison Machado, Jose Soorez & Dave Bailey - Drums

Luiz Parga & Jose Paulo - Latin Rhythm

From Billboard - December 3, 1966: Another winner for Stand Getz. With Laurindo Almeida (guitar) an a superb group of Latin specialists, the popular saxophonist surges through six swinging Brazilian tracks. Attractively packaged an beautifully produced, this album should do very well in the pop-jazz market.

Minina Moca (Young Lady)

Once Again (Outra Vez)

Winter Moon

Do What You Do, Do

Samba, Da Samba (Sahra's Samba)

Maracatu-Too