duaneiac

Hardly "The Sound of Young America", this is still a pleasant enough easy listening album. "Hello Young Lovers" is quite the big band swinger and "Ol' Man River" is given as dramatic a treatment as its theatrical origins. And look at the arrangers. Did Oliver Nelson do much -- or any -- other work for Motown?

I have it on a CD combined with the album The Happy Cats, but I'm not sure about the socks thing. Since I had to move a couple months ago, a lot of my collection is still boxed up and I don't have quick access to things. Maybe being in his stocking feet reflected the "soft" nature of the music promised by the album title? I only have the Stash CD and Truly Wonderful was an apt title!

I haven't been there since last fall, I guess, but I wondered what was going on with that chunk of the store which used to house the jazz (and other less "popular" musics) section being closed off. I hope the new addition works out for them. I wouldn't think there would be a shortage of places meeting the market demand for those products in Berkeley. (Will they be selling Amoebuds?) I'd rather they still had room for the larger jazz selection instead of the much smaller one they did the last time I was there. I'm also sorry to hear that Rasputin vinyl shop closed up. Last time I was there I picked up some good, cheap albums plus a couple of books. Did they move the vinyl selection back across the street to their main store?

Keep in mind that the Mame film soundtrack album had Lucille Ball "singing" the title role, which is about as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard. There are other songs from the show which one hears (or at least did hear back int he days when TV variety shows were a thing). Every Christmas you're likely to hear at least one version of "We Need a Little Christmas" playing at the mall and "If He Walked Into My Life" and "Bosom Buddies" were also occasionally heard in contexts outside of the original show. The film version of TSOM was the highest grossing film of all-time until, what, Jaws (I think) surpassed it, so naturally there would have been a strong and lasting demand for the soundtrack album. As for Mr. Gopnick's assertion that, "By 1964, all that had altered for good; a successful original-cast album went from the place where hits always happened to a place where they rarely did”, I could mention "Send In The Clowns", "Big Spender", "Ease On Down The Road", "I Don't Know How To Love Him", "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", "Memory", "Grease Is The Word", "The Impossible Dream", "What I Did For Love", "One Night In Bangkok", "I Am What I Am", "Seasons of Love" just off the top of my head. Yes he did win the 1962 Grammy for "Best Jazz Performance -- Large Group (Instrumental)"

Disc 1 of 2

I bought this CD a couple decades ago. At the time, some of the singers included on this disc were known to me and others were not. I must admit one of the things which really persuaded me to buy this disc was the inclusion of the Austin Cromer track. As noted in the liner notes to this disc, Joel Dorn, in his liner notes to the album Austin Cromer Sings For Her, predicted that the singer would finally be known as more than "the guy who sang 'Over The Rainbow' with Dizzy Gillespie's band". That's exactly where I knew him from and that was all I knew about him. I loved his voice and the track he has here is mighty impressive as well. I have not tracked down a copy of that album yet. I'd hate to get it and be disappointed since there's not likely a lot more Austin Cromer recordings out there. I gotta say though, Maxine Sullivan comes in at the very end of this CD and, despite her advanced years and failing health at the time, simply wipes away everything that came before with this gorgeously sensitive performance of a song about lost love with some finely crafted, poignant lyrics by Carolyn Leigh (and music by Jule Styne). This is still one of my all-time favorite recordings:

Disc 3 from the previously mentioned Georgie Fame boxed set. I have a lot of material from early and late in his career; it's these middle years with which I was really not too familiar.

Which is Disc 4 of 6 from this boxed set -- This disc includes 7 tracks from a previously unreleased 1974 concert. On these tracks, Georgie Fame led a 12 piece big band (no trombones) that included Alan Skidmore and Elton Dean. I just got this boxed set and since I already have some of the material included on some of the other discs, I figured I'd dive in on this one which has material all new to me.

Disc 1 of 2

Yes indeed. Heaven forbid musicians use social media to get people to watch as well as listen to their performances. Every one knows audience members should go to a concert and then close their eyes while listening to the musical performance and simply pretend they are listening to it in the comfy confines of home. If you're interested in seeing/hearing this Leo P guy in a more straight forward jazz setting, here he is (along with Christian Scott) playing some Mingus at last year's BBC Proms. From playing in NYC subways to playing at Royal Albert Hall -- not a bad career path to be on. His playing may not be for every one (and Mingus may very well have taken a few swings at him), but the crowd in these videos seem to love it.

Discs 3 & 4 of 4.