American Contemporary /Chifara / Cowell - Mirecourt Trio

 

Chihara / Cowell

American Contemporary

Chihara Trio - Elegy

Cowell - Hymn and Fuguring Tune No. 9

Gravely and Vigorously

Mirecourt Trio

Cover by Judith Lerner

Recorded by Alan Leichtling, February and October, 1977 at Herrick Chapell, Grinnell College

CRI 386 STEREO

1977

From the back cover:  PAUL CHIHARA PIANO TRIO ELEGY

Mirecourt Trio (Kenneth Goldsmith, violin; Terry King, cello; John Jensen, piano)

PAUL SEIKO CHIHARA was born in Seattle in 1938. His music education began at the age of eight with piano and violin lessons, and he began composing soon thereafter. He studied with Robert Palmer at Cornell, with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and Gunther Schuller for three summers at Tanglewood. He has received numerous awards and prizes, including a Fulbright Fellowship (to Berlin), Lili Boulanger Memorial Award, and Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts, and Fromm Foundation grants. His music has been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, New Philharmonia Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, American Symphony, Houston Symphony, Roger Wagner Chorale, and the San Francisco Ballet. In addition, Chihara has com- posed for movies and television, including the feature, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. He writes:

"This PIANO TRIO was composed in 1974 for the Mirecourt Trio, who first performed it at Carnegie Recital Hall on February 3, 1975. The ELEGY, which is intended as a companion piece to the TRIO, was written in memory of my father, who gave me my first violin lesson, and encouraged me to be a musician."

HENRY COWELL

HYMN AND FUGUING TUNE NO. 9 (1950) FOUR DECLAMATIONS WITH RETURN (1949) Terry King, cello; John Jensen, plano

GRAVELY AND VIGOROUSLY (In Memory JFK) (1963)

Terry King, cello

HENRY COWELL (1897-1965) was a major creative force in music, and his compositions covered the entire gamut of musi- cal experience. Cowell's esthetic was that of a pre-romantic, and he was never dedicated to any single musical style or technique. Said Cowell, "I want to live in the whole world of music! ... I have never deliberately concerned myself with developing a distinctive 'personal' style, but only with the excitement and pleasure of writing music as beautifully, as warmly, and as interestingly as I can... If a man has a distinctive personality of his own, I don't see how he can keep it out of his music. And if he hasn't, how can he put it in?"

This recording contains Cowell's only available cello works. The HYMN AND FUGUING TUNE is the 9th in his series of neo-baroque compositions conceived as "something slow followed by something fast." The specific musical materials came from the British Isles via rural American hymnody. Cowell combines the modal style of the ballad tunes that were appropriated for hymns with the fuguing idea associated with Billings and other colonial American composers.

The 4 DECLAMATIONS WITH RETURN is a miniature decla- ration of spontaneous pleasure in the beautiful Guarnerius cello acquired by Seymour Barab in 1949. Barab spent an evening demonstrating the instrument's special beauties and difficulties to several friends, most of them composers. Lou Harrison gleefully wrote a piece designed to "sound" only on this particular instrument, a piece that he declared would be unimpressive or even impossible on any other; most of the other composers wrote cello pieces for Barab soon thereafter, too. Henry Cowell wrote this one that same evening, for Barab to play with their friend William Masselos. The composition is one of tremendous chromatic dissonance and explores the lush sonorities of the cello. The first three declamations are quite lyrical, the fourth is a gigue-like section while the Return is an exact intervallic retrograde of the first three declamations, though the rhythm is changed.

GRAVELY AND VIGOROUSLY is for unaccompanied cello. Mrs. Cowell writes:

"Word of President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963 reached Mr. Cowell late in the day because he never played the radio. It seems to have sent him at once to score paper and pen in the New York City apartment. The streets were empty and the city was literally silent. A sad little sign on the grocery door said: 'Pres. ded. Gone home.'

"Mr. Cowell's interest in politics was slight but he had met President Kennedy several times and he fully appreciated the importance of the Kennedys' interest in the arts, unprecedented in the White House and long overdue in a 20th century government. We had been part of that golden evening when American music was honored by invitations from the President and Mrs. Kennedy to representative American composers, conductors and critics to a formal dinner made uniquely memorable by the generous playing of Pablo Casals that followed.

"To Mr. Cowell the invitation meant that his lifelong struggle for the recognition of contemporary composers was acquiring allies in an unexpectedly powerful quarter. The occasion was festive and brilliant. That the radiant enjoyment of life the Ken- nedys showed that night could be so suddenly extinguished is a painful shock still today.

"During that long November afternoon Mr. Cowell fiddled in- expertly from time to time with our tiny radio in the fruitless hope that the news would be contradicted. He worked on his piece into the small hours of the morning, which is why it bears the date "November 23rd," since he normally dated a piece (when he dated it at all) from the day he finished it.

"His first idea was to give the music a place as No. 17 in his series of hymns with fuguing tunes, since it is written in that two-movement slow-fast form and owes something to the style of early American folk hymnody. But the publishers felt it should not be part of a series and in the end its title was taken from the headings of the movements: GRAVELY for present shock and grief, VIGOROUSLY for the most visible quality of a man the composer liked, admired, and always mourned. The next Hymn and Fuguing Tune (which turned out to be the last of the series) was numbered 18; No. 17 never was written. Mr. Cowell sent the manuscript to Mrs. Kennedy as an expression of sympathy written in the language he knew best. The holograph is among the papers in the Kennedy Library.

"GRAVELY AND VIGOROUSLY was for several years played in unison by the cello section of the BBC Symphony in London, to honor the memory of President Kennedy on the anniversary of his death."

THE MIRECOURT TRIO was formed in 1973. It is in residence at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.

Kenneth Goldsmith studied violin with Mischa Mischakoff, William Kroll and Nathan Milstein, and graduated from Stanford University. He has been a member of the American Arts Quartet, Group for Contemporary Music, Fromm Quartet, Festival of the Two Worlds (Spoleto), Casals Festival, and, most recently, the world-renowned Mirecourt Trio. TERRY KING, one of the country's finest cellists, was a protégé of Gregor Piatigorsky and served as his assistant in the master class at the University of Southern California. His famed teacher joined him in a duo concert last spring in one of the master's last concerts. The New York Times recently proclaimed that King's playing "could not be faulted... playing with relish and technical aplomb." Many prominent American composers have written works for King as well as entrusted him with their premieres, among them Roy Harris, Virgil Thomson, and Halsey Stevens. King is presently (1977) Artist-in-Residence at Grinnell College with the Mirecourt Trio. John Jensen studied piano with John Crown and Gwendolyn Koldofsky at the University of Southern California. He has toured as accompanist for several artists under the auspices of Com- munity Concerts, and is active as a jazz theorist and pianist. He has three solo albums of traditional and ragtime jazz on Genesis Records, and has appeared on the Andy Williams show and at centers of serious jazz in Southern California.

Music From The University Of Illinois - American Contemporary

 

Music From The University Of Illinois

American Contemporary

Music From The University Of Illinois

The University of Illinois Contemporary Chamber Players

Fredrickson - Triptych

Johnston - Duo for Flute and Bass

London - Psalm of These Days III

Zonn - Gemini – Fantasy

Produced by Carter Harman

Recorded by Jeff Wimsatt and Rex Anderson, at the University of Illinois

Cover by Judith Lerner

CRI 405 STEREO

1979

From the back cover:  

EDWIN LONDON

PSALM OF THESE DAYS III

1. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?

2. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

3. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

EDWIN LONDON (b. Philadelphia, 1929) studied at the Ober- lin Conservatory (French horn) and the University of Iowa. His composition teachers were P.G. Clapp, Phillip Bezanson, Luigi Dallapiccola and Darius Milhaud. During his duty as faculty member at Smith College (1960-68) he conducted the Smith- Amherst Orchestra and the Amherst Community Opera. At the University of Illinois from 1968-78 he was chairman of the Composition – Theory Division where he founded and directed Ineluctable Modality and conducted the Contemporary Chamber Players. He was a University of Illinois Center for Advanced Study fellow in 1969, a Guggenheim Fellow in 1970, a four-time fellow of the MacDowell Colony and recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1978 he became chairman of the music department, Cleveland State University. He writes:

"PSALM OF THESE DAYS III is the centerpiece in a cycle of five works which deal in a variety of religious experiences. All are based on biblical Psalm texts. Each of five segments deals with a different instrumental combination and posture, as well as an assortment of vocal approaches and attitudes.

"PSALM OF THESE DAYS I-Psalm 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth – set for mezzo, women's chorus, kazoos, flute, and string quartet.

"PSALM OF THESE DAYS II - Uses Psalm 131 in its entirety and concerns itself with the struggle of a computer programmed to speak, in its progress toward religious enlightenment, and is scored for four solo virtuoso singers.

"PSALM OF THESE DAYS IV-Psalm 47:6, Sing praises to God, sing praises unto our king, sing praises. Written for clarinetist, Phil Rehfeldt and reciter-composer Barney Childs with tape.

"PSALM OF THESE DAYS V – in progress.

"PSALM OF THESE DAYS III-lines from Psalm 2 traffics in the desire to make first rate instrumentalists sing as well as play. Commissioned by the University of Illinois Contemporary Chamber Players.

"It has been asserted that the condition most characteristic of the age is paranoia. Without the constraints traditionally imposed by institutional religion and/or the agencies of social organization, the use of guilt mechanisms to guard and guide the psyche's development has been effectively neutralized. As Brecht and Weill suggest in Mahagonny, something is missing in societies where anything goes and everything is allowed. In the absence of this something. 'voices' appear to occupy the vacuum created. These 'voices,' raging and mumbling, are the resultant of our own energies run amok in search of significance."

Performed by: John Fonville, flute; Paul Martin Zonn, clarinet/vocal quartet; Ray Sasaki, trumpet; James Staley, trombone/vocal quartet; Daniel Perantoni, tuba/vocal quartet: Don Baker, percussion; Arthur Maddox, piano; Guillermo Perich, viola; Thomas Fredrickson, doublebass/vocal quartet; Edwin London, conductor/vocal solo.

BEN JOHNSTON

DUO

BEN JOHNSTON (b. Macon, Georgia, 1926) holds degrees from William and Mary College, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Mills College. He joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1951, and currently serves as Professor of Composition and Theory. Among his works which have been widely performed are Knocking Piece for piano interior and two percussionists and String Quartet No. 2 (recorded on Nonesuch by the Composers String Quartet). His widely diversified commissions include Eleazar de Corvalho, former conductor of the St. Louis Symphony, (Quintet for Groups, 1967). The Swingle Singers commissioned (Ci-Git Satie), the ETC Company of La Mama of New York (his opera Carmilla, 1970) and recorded by them on Vanguard, the Smithsonian Institution (two commissions: for a film score and for a sound environment), the Polish Radio (Strata). Among the honors he has received are a Guggenheim Fellowship (1959), a grant from the National Council on the Arts and the Humanities (1966), and Associate Membership in the University of Illinois Center for Advanced Study (1966). Sonata for Microtonal Piano is part of New World Records' Anthology of American Music. He writes:

"The DUO for flute and string bass was written for Bertram and Nancy Turetzky in April, 1963. It is in three short movements: Prelude, Interim, and Flight. The pitch organization of all three movements is serial, being based on twelve-tone rows made up of combinatorial hexachords. The two rows used in the outer movements are both shown, during the second movement, to be derived from a simpler row composed of symmetrically arranged segments. A cadenza near the end of the last movement again interconnects the thematic material. Especially in the first two movements, many of the pitches are inflected microtonally. The rhythmic texture of the first movement is polyrhythmic, that of the second based upon proportional durations, and that of the last movement composed of changing metric patterns and proportional tempi."

Performed by: John Fonville, flute; Thomas Fredrickson, doublebass.

PAUL ZONN

GEMINI-FANTASY FOR OBOE AND SIX PLAYERS

PAUL MARTIN ZONN (b. Boston, 1938), composer, conductor, clarinetist, teacher, scholar is an important figure on the new music frontier in the midwest, performing regularly throughout the musical centers. His musical activities have won him awards and honors that include two Ford Foundation Humanities Fel- lowships, a Rockefeller Fellowship at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY Buffalo, an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, an appointment to the University of Illinois Center for Advanced Study, an ACA recording award (CRI SD 299), and numerous commissions. He has been on the faculty of Grinnell College, and since 1970 a member of the com- position faculty of the University of Illinois where he served as the theory-composition division chairman between 1972 and 1976 and where he conducts the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and performs with and conducts the Contemporary Chamber Players. He writes: "GEMINI-FANTASY is one of many compositions written to celebrate the artistry and virtuosity of oboist Wilma Zonn. Simultaneously it espouses personal musical ideas about staticity and collateral sonorities. The music divides into that which is fixed and that which is mobile or modular, although for this recording (and in any performance) the mobile material also becomes fixed. The last section of music is recapitulatory and coda-like. GEMINI-FANTASY is dedicated to Harold Gomberg, who was Wilma's teacher and a great influence on both of us."

Performed by: Wilma Zonn, oboe; Ray Sasaki, trumpet; Daniel Perantoni, tuba; Don Baker, percussion; Arthur Maddox, piano; Guillermo Perich, viola; Thomas Fredrickson, dou- blebass; Paul Martin Zonn, conductor.

THOMAS FREDRICKSON

TRIPTYCH

THOMAS FREDRICKSON (b. Kane, Pennsylvania, 1928) holds degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University and the University of Illinois and studied composition with Tilden Wells, Hubert Kessler and Burrill Phillips. He served as Director of the School of Music of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign from 1970 to 1974, and since then as professor of composition and theory. He has composed extensively in a variety of styles and media and is active as a double bassist in symphonic, chamber and jazz ensembles. He is one of the founders of the University of Illinois Contemporary Chamber Players. His compositions written for this group are among his most widely-played works. He writes:

"TRIPTYCH (1977), for oboe, viola, trumpet, and bass trom- bone, is in three movements. The musical analog of a triptych, i.e., a painting with a central panel and two flanking panels that fold over it, is achieved only in concert performance, when the second movement is played spatially with a player in each corner of the stage. An inner triptych results as the main section of the middle movement is preceded and succeeded by brief streams of eight-part harmony. The first movement concerns itself with alternating sections of free and strict time and the third with rates of motion."

Performed by: Wilma Zonn, oboe; Ray Sasaki, trumpet, James Staley, trombone; Guillermo Perich, viola.

WILMA ZONN is a well-known performer of the most difficult contemporary music. She has been featured soloist in Festivals of Music in Hawaii, Las Vegas, Chicago, Tanglewood and Urbana, to name a few. Her career has included a stint as solo oboist of the Oregon Symphony as well as teaching duties at the University of lowa, University of Portland and University of IIlinois. She has recorded on CRI 299, Ubres, and Advance.

JOHN FONVILLE has given numerous solo and chamber per- formances, and has performed extensively with the U. of Illinois. Contemporary Chamber Players. He is presently (1979) engaged with the Syracuse Society for New Music, and teaches at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Beauty Shop Beat - The Clark Sisters

 

Fly Kentucky Baby

Beauty Shop Beat

The Clark Sisters

Coral Records CRL 57290

1959

From the back cover: Clark Sisters. Hardly anything more can be said about these fabulous girls that hasn't been said before; – suffice it to say that they reached stardom with the great Tommy Dorsey orchestra as the Sentimentalists, and that their recordings of "CHICAGO" and "SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET" with Tommy are among the greatest vocal records ever made. Their stint with Tommy was unusually rewarding in that he, as one of the greatest instrumentalists of our time, taught them to control their breathing for tone, to phrase as he phrased, and to let the words tell the story. These added qualities were to become as invaluable to the girls as they have become to other great singers who came from the Dorsey band and went on to scale the heights on their own. Along with coaching from so eminent a teacher, they also had the opportunity to work with Si Oliver whose wonderful arrangements of "Chicago" and "Sunny Side" helped them get to the top.

The Clark Sisters are unique in that they are not only gifted singers, but creative singers as well, and they combine their extraordinary vocal talents with rare musicianship to achieve the style and the blending of voices for which they are so well-known.

Breathes there a man, woman or child who doesn't thrill to the sound of fine singers harmonizing the great nostalgic barber-shop ballads and songs? The Clark Sisters think not, for this latest album is indeed a veritable collector's item of some of the best-known of these perennial evergreens, all gussied up in their modern swing fashion, but retaining at all times the rich harmonies and the dignity of the songs themselves which are indeed a valuable part of our American musical heritage. These girls really come on, and the listener will be quick to note the many things which combine to make them the wonderful performers they are; – the warm blend, the perfect intonation, the incredible ensemble range, and the beat. Incidentally, in one of their numbers, "MOONLIGHT MEDLEY" the girls are joined by Papa Clark who got them all started singing, and, take it from an old kitchen basso who has pumped out many a low C to a "Sweet Adeline" or "Whiffenpoof Song," – 'Old Dad' makes it real good!

Bob Bain (and The Players), keen student of all types of popular songs and equally accomplished on all the guitars, was an invaluable member of the team whose talent, ideas and advice were important factors in making this an outstanding performance. Another valuable team-member was Charles Bud Dant – conductor-arranger and musical director.

And now, find an easy chair, grab yourself a barber-shop chord and have yourself a swinging ball as you hear the Clark Sisters romp away with "Beauty Shop Ballads" – They're all dressed up to go swinging and, Man, they're a gas! – Sonny Burke

Oh By Jingo (Oh By Gee, You're The Only Girl For Me)

Play That Barbershop Chord

Goodbye My Coney Island Baby (Arranged and Adapted by C, Dant)

That Old Gang Of Mine

Down By The Old Mill Stream

My Honey, Honey (Arranged and Adapted by Bob Bain)

You Tell Me Your Dream I'll Tell You Mine (Adapted and Arranged by Gus Call & Ann Clark)

Waiting For The Robert E. Lee

Fly, Kentucky Baby (Adaption by G. Call)

Sweet Adeline

Rockin' In The Cradle Of The Deep

Moon Medley: By The Light Of The Silvery Moon (Adaption by C. Dant), Oh Mr. Moon, In The Evening By The Moonlight (Adaption by C. Dant)

Chop Suey Polak - Johnnie Bomba

 

Chop Suey Polka

Chop Suey Polka

With Johnnie Bomba and His Orchestra

Dana DLP 1200

1957

Hot Foot Polka

Polish Hop Polka

That's My Pop Polka

Snappy Polka

Old Fashioned Polka

Brokenhearted Polka

Evening On The Shore Polka

Chop Suey Polka

Bright Eyes Polka

Lazy Farmer Polka

Universal Polka

Indiana Hop Polka

Musica y Castañuelas de Espana - Emma Maleras

 

Musica y Castañuelas de Espana

Musica y Castañuelas de Espana

Emma Maleras y su Balley Espanol

La Voz De Su Amo LCLP 175

1962

Amanecier Granadino

Sevillanas

Las Carretas Del Rocio

Verdialies De Gibraltar

Rumor De Fuente

Las Espigadoras

Zaragozana

La Boda De Luis Alonso

Malagueña's

Rapsodia Valenciana

Lagarteranas

Manolete

Greatest Hits - Hawaii Calls / Webley Edwards

 

Hiilawe

Webley Edwards Presents

Hawaii Calls

Greatest Hits

Newly Recorded in Honolulu with Al Kealoha Perry

Cover Photo: Bob Greene

Capitol Records ST 1339

1960

FEATURED ARTISTS: Webley Edwards, Al Kealoha Perry, Haunani Kahalewai, Ben Kalama, Jules Keliikuihonua Ah See, Nina Kealiiwahamana, James Kaopuiki, Dan Kaleikini, Donald Paishon, John Kamana, Danny K. Stewart, Lani, Alvin Kalanikau Isaacs, Sam Kapu, Sol Kamahele, Charles Kaipo Miller, Randy Oness, George de la Nux, Norman Kaleimanuia Isaacs, Miriam Punini McWayne, Victoria Ii Rodrigues, Iwalani Kamahele, Iwalani Kahalewai, Kanekolia Rodrigues, Edward Shonk, Tomo Fukui, Leilani Whitmarsh, Puanani Watson.

From the back cover: Fifty thousand people helped select the songs for this album!

And a mighty chorus of Hawaiian voices sings them-the largest group of the best singers ever assembled in the Islands for a recording.

Here are fine old Hawaiian songs, some richly dramatic, some haunting and dreamy – ballads and love songs with all the romance of a moonlit night by a shining ocean, vigorous rhythms of war song and hula, and a touch of the Hawaiians' own quiet comedy.

These are the greatest hits of Hawaiian music, as chosen by an extensive poll of listeners and mainland visitors to Webley Edwards' famous "Hawaii Calls" weekly radio programs from the Beach at Waikiki –– one of the oldest of all nationwide network broadcasts of the United States and Canada, heard on several other continents as well.

The big chorus, instrumentalists, and soloists were all chosen from among the leading entertainment groups along Waikiki Beach. Many of them are recording stars in their own right.

They sang together for many weeks to get a full choral effect in the old authentic Hawaiian style, yet with a new sound. Their delight and enthusiasm during the recording were unusual even in Hawaii, where recording sessions are notable for informality and for the enjoyment that Hawaiians always seem to get from their own singing. Summed up: An unusual Hawaiian chorus, singing unusual new arrangements of authentic Hawaiian song favorites.

SIDE ONE

Blue Hawaii One of the greatest of all Hawaiian ballads, in a fresh new arrangement featuring Haunani Kahalewai (the girl who sings like a baritone) and the steel guitar of Jules Keliikuihonua Ah See.

Hiilawe An authentic Hawaiian rhythm that sounds surprisingly modern, with Hawaiian slack key guitar and the interesting sounds of ipu gourd, split bamboo pu-ili, and pahu drum. James Kaopuiki is the soloist.

Hawaiian Wedding Song (Ke Kali Nei Au -"I Am Waiting for Thee") The number-one all-time favorite Island song, presented in a full-chorus arrangement for the first time. The fresh young voices of Nina Kealiiwa- hamana and Donald Paishon are featured in this great love duet.

Beyond The Reef A modern Hawaiian love song that is so much a part of Hawaiian music it is often mistaken for a folk song. Ben Kalama is the soloist.

The Hukilau Song A favorite of mainland visitors to Hawaii because it is an easy one for "learning to do the hula." The hukilau (literally, "pull the leaves") is a fishing party, often staged by an entire village; leaves are attached to the long net to keep the fish moving shoreward. Dan Kaleikini solos.

Song of The Islands (Na Lei O Hawaii) One of the best-known Hawaiian standards, performed here with the authentic words and music, but in a full choral arrangement that is entirely new.

SIDE TWO

Lovely Hula Hands An unusual blending of love ballad and perfect hula tempo, high on everybody's list of favorite Hawaiian songs. Ben Kalama stars, with assistance from little Nina Kealiiwahamana.

Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-hu-wa-hu-wai) Drums and chanters in solid Hawaiian rhythm, with a surprising variation: the singers at times actually use the off-tempo beat of Polynesian drum style in their sing- ing. Dan Kaleikini and John Kamana have the lead parts.

King's Serenade (Imu Au Ia Oe) The theme motif of the motion picture Bird of Para- dise, this has remained a haunting Hawaiian favorite for many long years. Jules Ah See's steel guitar is featured, against the back- ground sound of the waves of Waikiki.

Mama's Muu-Muu One of the top comedy songs of Hawaii (of which, surprisingly, there are many!). Solo passages are by James Kaopuiki, Ben Kalama, and Jules Ah See.

Sweet Leilani The Island song that never grows old, in an outstanding new arrange- ment for the big Hawaiian chorus, with the solo voice of Nina Kealiiwahamana.

Aloha Oe Hawaii's famous Farewell Song, richly sung by Haunani Kahalewai and a chorus of twenty-four voices.

Gemini - Erroll Garner

 

When A Gypsy Makes His Violin Cry

Gemini 

Erroll Garner

Producer: Martha Glaser

Engineer: Bob Simpson

Cover Design: Bob Vanosa

Mastering: Dom Romeo, Sol Kessler, Garry Latham

Piano by Baldwin

Octave Records STEREO/XPS 617

1972

Erroll Garner - Piano and harpsichord

Jose Mangual - Conga Drummer

Jimmie Smith - Percussion

Ernest McCarty, Jr. - Bass

Gemini and Eldorado composed by Erroll Garner. All material in this album was improvised on the spot, at the recording sessions, with head arrangements by Garner.

Special note about the cover: The original painting from which the cover portrait is derived was done by renowned German painter, Rheinhod W. Timm, and presented to Mr. Garner during his 1971 Berlin appearance, by MPS RECORDS. The sketch of a building at the bottom of the portrait is that of Philharmonie Hall, Berlin.

From the back cover: Admittedly, I'm not much into astrology. But sometimes, the characteristics of a sun sign fit an individual born under it so remarkably well that skepticism must be suspended.

Erroll Garner is a consummate Gemini. This is the sign which emphasizes duality, contrast and unpredictability. Geminis are given to mercurial changes and love adventure and experimentation. They have the capacity to raise the level of those around them.

To begin with, Garner is a twin. He is fully ambidextrous, playing golf or tennis with either hand and giving out both left and right-handed autographs. No performing artist gives more freely of himself than Garner – the master of total and immediate projection and communication. In contrast, the man remains a private person always reserving some secret part of himself. What is revealed is like the tip of an iceberg, his own inner levels still in the process of being explored.

Musically, Garner's duality is complete. His music combines intellect and emotion in perfect balance, moving and involving the listener on many planes, from sheer unreflecting enjoyment to total astonishment. It is at once extroverted and introverted, completely free, yet totally disciplined, virile and lyrical, sentimental and irreverent, playful and moody, complex and simple.

Pursing the dualistic theme, we find that Garner is pianist and composer, balladeer and swinger, an acrobat holding tension and release in delicate equilibrium, a master of contrasting dynamics, a painter and a dancer, an artist given to antithetical musical statements, but, reflecting nature itself, always arriving at a harmonic resolution.

Garner's love of surprise is, of course, reflected in his startling, teasing introductions which keep his audiences and his accompanists in a state of suspense and joyful anticipation – not to mention those many dazzling cliffhangers any Garner improvisation, once the theme has been established, holds in store.

Musically, this process of exploration has continued unabated from the time Garner first exploded on the jazz scene. It is hard to believe that he now is entering his fourth decade as a major musical figure, for he is as youthful, vital and astonishing as ever-if anything, even more so.

In this album, which surely must rank with his all-time best, Garner will astound and enchant even his most dedi. cated fans. For newcomers to Garner, or to jazz, there could be no better introduction.

GEMINI is a portrait of the artist in the process of self-renewal and discovery. In an age of constantly debased superlatives one hesitates to employ them, but nothing less will do for Garner. He is a genius, a sorcerer, a benign monster of music whose inspiration flows as naturally as his breath, bathing the listener in a river of life-restoring sound. He can make you believe there is still hope for our world-the greatest gift an artist can bestow.

HOW HIGH THE MOON is a space-trip a la Garner. In no less than nine superlative choruses, he reinvests a once most familiar tune with new life. The tempo is fast but utterly solid, and as the pithy ideas unfold, each chorus becomes a new experience. From the fifth on, fasten your seat belts, please. The penultimate chorus is a dazzling visit to the land of bop, encompassing some active doubling unlike anything heard from Garner before.

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU is another transfiguration of a standard theme. The teasing introduction has a gospel flavor. The melody is stated as only Garner can accomplish this seemingly easy yet most challenging of musical feats (i.e., to state a theme clearly and fully, yet make it wholly your own). The second chorus is a demonstration of the meaning of the verb to swing (the tempo seems to accelerate but holds absolutely firm), tension is built and gradually released in a perfectly sculpted performance.

GEMINI, one of the two new Garner originals on this album, is a treat. The theme, a seemingly simple, yet ultra- sophisticated blues (with a bridge which subtly reworks the thematic material of the main stream), is presented with an Afro-Latin flavor.

WHEN A GYPSY MAKES HIS VIOLIN CRY might strike some as an odd vehicle for Garner, but the fact is that he has had a long-time profound affection for Gypsy music. This is not Garner's first excursion into this territory (re- member PLAY, FIDDLE, PLAY, and DARK EYES) but cer- tainly his most fascinating. The abstract introduction is a masterpiece in itself, and as he moves into tempo, Garner states the melody ever so softly and hauntingly, with Gypsy inflections and effects. He builds in volume and intensity, and then, for one of the album's multi-surprises, moves over to the harpsichord, an instrument he hasn't played in some fourteen years, when he first made some experimental recordings on it.

The sounds Garner coaxes from the harpsichord are wholly his own, and here appropriately become reminis cent of the Gypsy instrument, the cimbalom. This acoustical harpsichord excursion is improvisation at its most pure. The ending Garner creates here employs both piano and harpsichord in gem-like interaction.

Side two opens with an almost unbelievable outing on TEA FOR TWO, with its set of changes that has served many a great musician well, but seldom, if ever, better. A rhythm section introduction sets the stage for Garner's harpsichord (sounding like another instrument than on Gypsy by the way) outlining the theme in the ultimate of economy and subtle rhythmic displacement. For his second chorus, Garner glides into the piano, creating monumental swing. Then, without breaking the time or feeling, he re- turns to the harpsichord, invents a riff, sounds like an organ, then a guitar, then returns to the simplicity of the opening. A stunning piece.

SOMETHING, one of the finest pop tunes of recent years, is a flawless introduction and single chorus-just that. One minute and 48 seconds of bliss. This miniature masterpiece resulted from a take that broke down at the end of the first chorus (due to the unfamiliarity of one of the accompanists with the song). Thanks to the producer for letting us in on this rare vignette.

ELDORADO, the second new Garner composition un- veiled here, also is in the very contemporary Afro-Latin vein-a minor blues with a bridge. Again, the performance builds masterfully, from contrapuntal intro to "tag" ending  – with a natural fade effect. The theme, as in so many of Garner's compositions, is instantly captivating. Garner has been into the Afro-Latin vein since the early 50's.

THESE FOOLISH THINGS, a classic standard, gives rise to a classic Garner interpretation. The brief intro leads to a superb paraphrase of the melody in ballad tempo, showing Garner's matchless ability to swing in any tempo. A freely invented rubato passage links this with the next chorus, in easy bounce tempo. What follows is Garner's melodic inventiveness at its loveliest. Until now, Lester Young's and Billie Holiday's versions of this song have occupied a special place of reverence in my collection. Now Garner's join them.

The task of accompanying a musical giant is not an easy one, particularly in improvisations, but Garner's accompanists here rise to exciting levels fed by Garner's challenging on-the-spot creations.

The senior member, Jose Mangual, with Garner for some five years, has an uncanny ability to intuit Garner, though at times Garner even eludes Jose. Unlike many Latin percussionists, he never overplays. His time is im- peccable and complements Garner well.

Drummer Jimmie Smith, a steady, dependable supporter of the common musical cause, has been aboard the Garner spaceship for some three years and rides easily with the ever-changing signals, with deft shadings and great elan.

Bassist Ernest McCarty, Jr., the baby of the group, has been with Garner for two years and makes his first recording appearance with the leader here. He is a fine timekeeper and blessed with a good ear and funky attack.

Garner's unpredictable and glorious travels into the spheres, guided by heart and head, continue to reveal new dimensions. When he first appeared on the scene, Garner already had at his command a new musical language which he had created, and which since has become part of the vocabulary of jazz (and popular) piano expression. But even as others listen and borrow, Garner remains light- years ahead-one of those rare beings in any art who is wholly original and inviolably his own man.

No matter what your birth sign, you'll find this Gemini totally fresh and relevant contemporary music, requiring only open ears and an open heart to receive its life-affirming message. This album is your ticket to Eldorado, and it never will expire. – Dan Morgenstern

How High The Moon

It Could Happen To You

Gemini

When A Gypsy Makes His Violin Cry

Tea For Two

Something

Eldorado 

These Foolish Things 

The Common Ground - Herbie Mann

 

Uhuru

The Common Ground

The Herbie Mann Afro-Jazz Sextet + Four Trumpets

Recording engineer: Tommy Nola Cover photo: Ruth Mann
Supervision: Nesubi Ertegun

Atlantic Records 1343 (STA-60282 PR)

1960

The cover photo was taken on the palace grounds of the Kabaka of Buganda (one of the four provinces of Uganda). The Kabaka, or king, has a troupe of dancers and professional musicians in his employ, and they have living quarters on the palace grounds. Herbie Mann is seen playing flute in the doorway of the but where the Kabaka's flutists live.

PERSONNEL

On Baghdad, Asia Minor, High Life & The Common Ground, the personnel is: Herbie Mann, flutes; John Rae, vibraharp & percussion; Nabil Totah, bass; Ray Mantilla, conga drums; Ray Barretto, bongos; Rudy Collins, drums; Michael Olatunji, percussion; Doc Cheatham, Leo Ball, Ziggy Schatz & Jerry Kail, trumpets.

On Walkin', St. Thomas & Night In Tunisia, the personnel is the same except that Michael Olatunji, percussion, is not heard.

On Sawa Sawa Dé & Uhuru, the personnel is: Herbie Mann, flutes; John Rae, vibraharp & percussion; Nabil Totah, bass; Ray Mantilla, conga drums; Rudy Collins, drums; Michael Olatunji, percussion. The vocals are by Maya Angelou, Dolores Parker & Michael Olatunji (Michael Olatunji appears by arrangement with Colum bia Records).

This is a high fidelity recording. Transfer from master tapes to master lacquers is made on Ampex 300 Tape Recorder, Scully Variable Pitch Lathe, and Grampion Feedback cutterhead. The variable pitch control of the Scully widens the grooves for loud passages and narrows them during quieter sections, forming the light and dark patterns that can be seen on the surface of the pressing. The finest vinylite compound is used. For best results observe the R.I.A.A. bigh frequency roll-off characteristic with a 500 cycle crossover.

From the back cover: A characteristic of modern jazz is its interest in both its own root materials and in other kinds of music with which jazz can be naturally fused.

Afro-Cuban music is one "root" that particularly fascinates the modern jazz musician. It represents an early confrontation of West African music and "European" music; in some parts of the Caribbean, the music remains very "African." My fascination with the Afro-Cuban idiom is an old one, and that is why I felt very happy about a recent opportunity to make an extensive trip to Africa itself. The indigenous African music I heard, the Afro-Cuban synthesis, and modern jazz are different branches of the same family tree, and in this album I have tried to bring them together and find a level on which they could relate to each other. That is what I mean by The Common Ground.

My group and I were invited earlier this year to tour 17 African countries. Our 14-week trek began at Dakar, and went on through Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Congo, Mozambique, Southern and Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Ethiopia, Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia. Besides giving concerts, we also listened to as much native music as we could. Four of the compositions in this LP: High Life, Uburu, Baghdad and Sawa Sawa Dé contain melodic and rhythmic suggestions from African music. We also collected many instruments. I picked up 20 different flutes and a variety of percussion instruments.

We are a group of many nationalities, and this made a big impression on the African audiences, who are not used to seeing "mixed" bands. Nabil Totah is Arabic, born in Palestine; Rudy Collins is an American Negro; Olatunji is from Nigeria; Ray Mantilla and Ray Barretto are Puerto Rican; Johnny Rae is of Italian descent and I am Jewish of Russian and Roumanian descent. (This was the group that went with me on the tour; for the record session I added a trumpet section to act as a kind of "kicker" for the rest of the group.)

Because of this variety in backgrounds, there is greater understanding among the members of this group for my attempt to blend the African, Afro-Cuban and modern jazz elements into a unified style. Incidentally, I have termed this style "Afro-Jazz" to make clear that it is more broadly based than Afro-Cuban music. My interest and that of other musicians in Afro-Cuban music originated from a feeling that conventional jazz is limited in rhythm possibilities. Har- monic exploration in modern jazz has taken many different avenues, but this has not been equally true of rhythm. My experience in Africa has given me many valuable new ideas on use of rhythm in jazz. This does not exhaust the possibilities, however. Other native musics of the world offer other possible areas of jazz use. I am thinking right now, for instance, of incorporating American Indian music into jazz.

The "African" origin of jazz has been overstated. Some of the rhythmic drive of jazz perhaps derives from Africa, but jazz as we know it today is so idiomatically American that African audiences, particularly those south of the Sahara, do not understand or appreciate it. They are making great efforts to do so. There are, in fact, such strong forces at work for the people to become "civilized" that much of the old music is not played any more. Africans seem to be afraid that the native music will be considered "jungle" or "Tarzan" type music by outsiders, and so they tend to favor American and European music of the commercial type. In coming back to Africa with some of their own music transformed into unrecognizability, – I hope we made them as we admitted before feel to some extent how highly the rest of the world regards their native heritage.

Baghdad is not in Africa, of course, but the music of Asia Minor is related to that of North Africa. They have a common Moslem culture. Incidentally, Nabil Totah, my bassist, is Arabic, and so it was logical that the melody should be played in unison with Nabil bowing bass in the Arabic style and myself on wooden flute.

Asia Minor also has a genuine Near Eastern feeling, which is natural enough, considering the fact that the composer, Roger Mozian, is Armenian. This is a piece that Charlie Parker liked to play. He recorded it with Flip Phillips and Machito.

Walkin' is a well-known jazz standard, but I don't think that it has ever been done before with the particular styling and feeling we have given it here.

Sawa Sawa Dé is done with small group and singers led by Olatunji. We heard some children singing this folk song in Sierra Leone. The rhythms are a combination of things. The flute I play on this is an African cane flute and Johnny Rae is playing a wooden marimba from Mozambique. It has a very happy feeling.

St. Thomas is based on a folk song from the Caribbean. Sonny Rollins adapted it as a jazz riff. This piece has become one of the most popular items in our repertoire.

High Life also has a strong Afro-Cuban feeling. In it I also tried to express the Spanish love of brass sound. It is based on a West African dance, a fascinating dance using elaborate robes and gestures. It can be danced by two people or ten. Rudy plays it here in quadrille march tempo, as we did it when we played at the Inauguration Ball of President Tubman in Liberia.

Uhuru is the Swahili word for "Freedom." It is a word that you hear everywhere in Africa today. I wrote Uhuru as the last movement of my Jazz Evolution Suite, which we played in our concerts on the African tour. It uses the language of modern jazz, but tries to suggest older strains, going back through Negro "church" music all the way back to Africa. The lyrics are by Olatunji and are Swahili, Yuruba and English.

Night In Tunisia is one of the first Dizzy Gillespie Afro- Cuban compositions. It exerted a tremendous amount of in- fluence on the early modern jazz movement, and deservedly belongs in this LP. With all due despect to Dizzy, we were in Tunisia, but we didn't hear any music that was anything like this.

The Common Ground is perhaps the most successful synthesis of the three strains of music that has occupied our group in recent months native African, Afro-Cuban and modern jazz. It is an indication of the direction we are going. The value of the give-and-take of a group with as diverse backgrounds as ours is well illustrated in this closing number. – HERBIE MANN (as told to Gary Kramer)

SIDE ONE

1. a) BAGHDAD by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP.

    b) ASIA MINOR by Roger Mozian; Arkayem Music, ASCAP.) (Total Time: 5:12)

2. WALKIN' y Richard Carpenter; Prestige Music, BMI. (Time: 5:21)

3. SAWA SAWA DÉ - Arranged by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. (Time: 3:00)

4. ST. THOMAS by Sonny Rollins; Prestige Music, BMI. (Time: 3:23)

SIDE TWO

1. HIGH LIFE by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. (Time: 2:10)

2. UHURU by Herbie Mann & Michael Olatunji; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. (Time: 4:53)

3. NIGHT IN TUNISIA by Dizzy Gillespie & Frank Paparelli; Leeds Music, ASCAP. (Time: 5:58)

4. THE COMMON GROUND by Herbie Mann; Herbie Mann Music, ASCAP. Time: 3:48)

Ridin' High - Maynard Ferguson

 

The Rise And Fall Of Seven

Ridin' High

Maynard Ferguson

Produced by Alvertis Isbell

Recorded at Bell Sound Studios

Recording engineers: Tori & Yarmark

Mixed & edited by Tom Dowd

Cover photo: Compliments of Bently's Cycle & Sports, Montreal, Quebec

Cover design: Haig Adishian

A&R Supervision: Ira Sabin

Enterprise Records 13-101

Distributed by Atlantic Records 

1968

Maynard Ferguson - trumpet or flugelhorn

Natale Pavone, Charles Camilleri, Richard D. Hurwitz & Lewis M. Soloff - trumpets

James Cleveland & Locksley W. "Slide" Hampton - trombones

George Jeffers - bass trombone or tuba

Richard O. Spencer - alto sax or soprano sax

Frank A. Vicari & Lewis B. Tabackin - tenor saxes

Park "Pepper" Adams - baritone sax

Daniel B. Bank - bass sax or piccolo

Michael J. Abene - piano

Joseph A. Beck - guitar

Donald R. Payne - bass or electric bass

Donald F. McDonald - drums

John Pacheco - conga drums, tambourine or shaker.

From the back cover: Those were the days!

People were not so thoroughly imbued with the sense which passes for silliness today.

Heathcliff was younger then, as were most of us who were born around the same time. He used to cook for us so magnificently, purged by the dint of shear pleasure.

Then as the twilight of even began to fall and rustle the trees in its weak, we would smuggle around the fire in our robes and look at the flames as they danced. As we got toasty warm in front, our backs would get cold. Then we would look at the flames some more and consider all those won- derful days in the past: how many cornflakes would it take to fill one of those W.W. I mess kits; how were Tom Mix an' the Red Sox doin'; was Dad ever going to scrimp and scrave to get enough together to get the furnace fixed?

Most of us have grown up and gone our ways, with Heathcleft the most flagrant of all. Casti- gated, castrated, eviscerated, finally cremated, he had worked his way to the near-perihelion of his career only to be shot down in flames when his individuality got the best of him one day and he began putting meat in the chili while work- ing in the student cafeteria of a large Eastern university.

When Maynard was by last, with the band sounding better than ever before, we reminisced of him. It was quite an exhilarating experience, what with recollections of Heathkit and those days, the news about Dad (of which more later), and the feeling of good fellowship that comes of sharing (with Maynard, the guys in the band, two road managers, assorted wives, friends, fiancées, camp followers and the band bus driver) my cleverly appointed one-room efficiency digs.

Victuals presented somewhat of a problem (the poor fridg, gladly accommodating the fixings for an impromptu candlelit midnite tête-à-tête or two, as well as a liberal supply of orange juice for the morning, simply rebelled at the workload of keeping so many hungry, happy working people fed), but we managed; and with it all, everyone got to know each other pretty well that week... and the music was superb!

Things have changed somewhat, back there. Dad still hasn't gotten around to getting the furnace fixed, but he has addled some other improvements. The fireplace never drew too well anyhow (we all have many a tear-stained eye to look back on attesting the fact), so he blocked it off the rest of the way and installed some 15-inch loudspeakers and a pair of 200 watt amplifiers, there- by creating an exponential horn the magnitude of which has neighbors raving for miles around!

Now, in his total environment room, as he calls it, all he need do is put his stack of Haleloke and Frances Langford records (which he obtained, with a stroke of near-genius business acumen, at tremendous discount) on the changer, crank up the gain, and what with those 2 X 200 watts pushing in tandem he need no longer be concerned about the temperature outside.

He seems no longer concerned about the temperature inside, as well, as he has given up drinking too, in deference to the Electric Company.

And now you, dear listener are hereby cordially invited to partake of the music herein in a similar fashion. If perchance you are found wanting of a suitable fireplace-chimney complex, an excellent alternative would be to contact your favorite potable and/or your favorite wife (etc.), friend, fiancé(e), camp follower or bus driver and participate in the music thusly.

However so you may choose, in the words of that famous, too-little-known underground poet, Estelle Inez Garcin:

Autism affect/association ambivalence/ano- rexia nervosa/but most of all/ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY!!!

Prof. Clyde W. Windchaffe - Translated from the original text "Jungimmethum" by JACK SHAW

The Rise And Fall Of Seven

Light Green

Kundalini Woman 

Sunny

Meet A Cheetah

Molecules

Wack-Wack

Satan Speaks

Alfie

The Ballad Side Of Teresa Brewer

 

Don't Smoke In Bed

The Ballade Side Of Teresa Brewer

Moments To Remember

Arranged and Conducted by Alan Lorber

Philips Records PHM 200-119

1964

From the back cover: Like maple syrup and griddle cakes, mustard and hot dogs, or even hot dogs and soda with baseball, this album represents above all, a lot of good things getting together.

Take Teresa Brewer, the pint-sized bundle of ever-smiling vocal talent who's been making hit records practically half of her young life. Team her most affectionate feeling for a really good song with the memorable, musical nostalgia dished up over the seasons by Willard Robison, a light-hearted, seventy-year-young songwriter. Season them both with the highly professional arranging skill of Alan Lorber. Put them all together and they spell musical enchantment for all to hear.

In a sense, this newest and most ear-catching concert on wax by Miss Music is a tipping of the hat and a low bow to one of the great, and comparatively unsung American Tin Pan Alleyites. Willard Robison is the owner of some of the very best of our standards, and eight of his songs are included in this program, in Teresa's own persuasive, heart-filled style.

Listen to her caress the familiar strains of "Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer." Listen again as she weaves a spell of heartbreak around the tragic message of a broken love in the classic "A Cottage for Sale." Or perhaps you're more attuned to those ditties that serve as flashbacks to less burden- some days as in Robison's "Wheatfields in the Moonlight," "Moonlight Miss" and "Brownstone in Brooklyn."

For variety, Teresa sprinkles her concert with selected other items, all carrying the wallop of pure nostalgia. One of these, "Far Away Places" is almost an answer to the last pair of tunes. Then, there'll be still other fond memories of "The Old Lamplighter," "Moments to Remember," and again the story of one who fell in love with his city, "I Left My Heart in San Fran- cisco," a sort of West Coast answer for the lover of the city of Brooklyn.

As good and satisfying a repertoire of songs as any you'll find-and what's best of all-you'll fall in love yourself with Tessie's ever warm, sincere, deeply expressive musical picture painting. We suggest you find out for yourself. Flip the switch and spin-along with Teresa's own special kind of vibrant vocalizing. – Ren Grevatt

A Cottage For Sale

Old Folks

Moments To Remember

Moonlight Miss

Far Away Places

I See Wheatfields In The Moonlight

Don't Smoke In Bed

Old Brownstone In Brooklyn

The Old Lamplighter

Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer

(I Left My Heart) In San Francisco