duaneiac

Recorded Oct. 24, 1973, exactly seven months before EKE would leave us. A quite beautiful and, at times, moving concert. Alice Babs has some beautiful moments and according to the liner notes, she had seen none of the music until a rehearsal held the day before the concert. Paul Gonsalves was absent from the concert, for as the liner note writer Stanley Dance puts it, he "had obviously been entertained too extravagantly by London "friends"".

Probably the weakest examples of bossa nova one might ever find, but there are still interesting reinterpretations of several familiar songs from the Kenton library here.

A puzzling bit of art direction, using a 1930's era photo of BG on this album of recordings from 1950-52. The still swinging Terry Gibbs is the only constant component in all the groups heard here, but other members included Teddy Wilson, Paul Smith, Johnny Smith, Mundell Lowe, Eddie Safranski and Don Lamond. Some more puzzling work from Columbia. Side A of this LP contains songs from the 1974 Manhattan Wildlife Refuge album, while Side B's contents come from 1975's The Tiger of San Pedro. It's better than nothing, I guess. Good music from a seemingly forgotten band.

From 2002, with Jay Leonhart & Joe Ascione.

Some new used CDs I bought today: A 1976 album on which Carmen McRae covers (unconvincingly) pop songs of the era by Earth, Wind & Fire, James Taylor, Bill Withers and Eric Carmen.. The best track is "A Child Is Born", which was arrnged by its composer, Thad Jones. To be fair, I will have to give it another listen since I dozed off halfway through. That's not a reflection on the quality of the music -- I liked what I heard, but was just really tired.

So what did you think of that one? Was this actually your first encounter with a BG band on record?

A great trio (terzet?) session with Harold Danko and Jay Leonhart from 1983.

My copy is a mono version, but the album cover does state: This monophonic microgroove recording is playable on monophonic and stereo phonographs. It cannot become obsolete. So take that, iTunes -- Capitol Records personally guaranteed that vinyl will never be obsolete!!! It's inconceivable!!! Recorded in June 1970 for MPS.

An album of "traveling" or "location" songs such as "South America Take It Away", "You Come a Long Way From St. Louis" and "Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home". No musician credits, but I assume it's a band led by Louis Bellson.

Side 2 only, and mainly just for this song, which I have not listened to in years and years. It works so beautifully as a ballad (I'd say even better than the hit version). I wonder if many singers even know there are lyrics to this tune, because it does deserve to be covered by other singers.

I guess O.C. Smith was the last of the big band singers (he was with Count Basie from 1961-63) to go on to have some crossover success in the pop music market. He had such a great voice and I'm surprised/disappointed that he did not have a bigger career. The first album here (from 1968) contains his "greatest hit", "Little Green Apples", as well as some good covers of such songs as "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" and even "Honey (I Miss You)" (which was a hit for either Bobby Sherman or Bobby Goldsboro - I always get those two mixed up). The second album (from 1967) was supposedly one of those "live in the studio before an invited audience" recordings. He was accompanied by Jack Wilson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Jimmie Smith with Larry Bunker added on vibes on some songs. A fine recording and probably the most jazz oriented of his Columbia albums.

While Slim Gaillard is heard throughout this disc, Slam Stewart is only on the first 8 tracks;