Teasing the Korean

Now Playing: Concert Jazz - RCA LPM 1051. Cover art: Jim Flora. Now drinking: La Croix orange sparkling water. Side 1: The Loop - Named in honor of Chicago. Medium-up, full ensemble with plenty of soloing. Jazz content with space-age touches, including a high-register marimba solo from Joe Venuto. Concerto in F - Taken from the second movement of the Gershwin concerto. Slow-tempo, moody, lots of varying textures. This is very nice. The Land Between - Another ballad, this time with Nick Travis featured on trumpet. Serious with some definite space-age sparkle. I'm picking up a Pete Rugolo vibe from the orchestration in certain passages. This is also very nice. So far, this album captures what I love about Sauter-Finegan, but I'm bracing myself for the inevitable Doodletown shenanigans that mar even their best albums. Madame X - Mid-tempo and space-age all the way. Lots of orchestral variety. All ensemble work with no solos. Where or When - The inevitable vocal number, delivered by the aforementioned Sally Sweetland. Too much vibrato for my taste. The arrangement is fairly old-fashioned, almost like a society orchestra in places. And her high note at the end is too much. A completely unnecessary track in light of what has come before. Sadie Thompson - A slow, bluesy number that sounds like it could be on the soundtrack of The Man with the Golden Arm. And that is meant as a compliment. Some nice dissonances. Side 2: John Henry - Sung by Andy Roberts. Unnecessary Doodletown silliness. Beyond annoying. Solo for Joe - A ballad featuring Joe Venuto on marimba. Accompaniment includes wordless, sustained male and female vocals in octaves, along with rhythm section and trombones. Sleepy Village - A quiet ballad featuring Al Block on flute. Nice harmonies and orchestrations. More on the space-age side of the spectrum, I would say. Pictures from Sauter-Finegan Land - A (fairly lengthy) travelogue of the US, with occasional narration, including musical passages depicting the bustling metropolis , snowscapes, steel factories, western sunsets, night skies over the prairie. It is much better than you may expect, with very minimal Doodletown content. Overall: While I'm not sure any of this rises to the level that Jsngry is seeking, it is a fairly solid album - the two vocal numbers aside - and I would recommend it (with caveats) to fans of either 1950s ensemble jazz or space-age bachelor pad music.

Yes, I'm so sorry. We had a cat who did the same thing.

It's like an episode of Dark Shadows with Barnabas getting bricked in alive in the basement! Glad you found her! And 19 is a good long life for a kitty!

It is cold and rainy here, and we hadn't seen our outdoor cat for almost 24 hours. We were calling her last night and this morning to feed her, and she was nowhere. A short time ago, my wife got in her car to visit her mother, and she called me five minutes later: "There is something screaming in my car!" The cat must have gotten in the car yesterday afternoon when we were unloading groceries. She was freaked and and huddled under the front passenger seat. Miraculously, she did not pee in the car. She is currently eating on the front porch and howling. Cats are troublemakers.

I may own more albums by Legrand than any other artist. As someone who loves jazz, film music, and EZ/mood music/space-age bachelor, and the Now Sound, I sometimes think that even some seasoned listeners don't really have a handle on the vastness of Legrand's skills and contributions. Some of my jazz friends think Legrand was a jazz dabbler. Film music fans in the US often consider Legrand second- or third-tier, because he never composed a Williams/Goldsmith kind of score for a Spielberg blockbuster. Legrand was a brilliant composer, arranger, pianist, songwriter, even singer, in numerous styles and genres. Along with Bacharach, Jobim, and Mancini, he epitomizes for me the 1960s, especially the international jet-set aesthetic. Maybe sgcim would agree, as I know he shares my love of film music.

Next Up: The Sound of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra - RCA Victor LPM 1009 Cover art: Cartoon, but unfortunately not Jim Flora. Now drinking: Iced coffee with Silk almond creamer This was the latest Sauter-Finegan album to have entered my life, circa early 2000s, and it is one of only two Sauter-Finegan albums that I subsequently unloaded. Why? Maybe I felt like I had too many S-F albums, maybe I was in a mood, maybe I was disappointed that the cover wasn't by Jim Flora. But my main recollection is that it represented almost everything I didn't like about S-F, and almost none of the qualities that drew me to them. Even the titles are awful: "Horse Play," "Child's Play," "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum," "Yankee Doodletown." What was up with S-F's obsession with Doodletown? Almost every album has a Doodletown track. The worst was "Child's Play," in which our heroes take the childhood taunting motif of "NAAH NAAH nuh NAAH NAAH" and turn it into a bombastic, Kenton-esque magnum opus. An exercise in cleverness that no one in their right mind would want to hear, especially with a hangover. Here is the track list. A1 Child's Play A2 Horseplay A3 Time To Dream A4 The Honey Jump B1 Nina Never Knew B2 Love Is A Simple Thing B3 Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dum B4 Stop Beatin' 'Round The Mulberry Bush B5 Now That I'm In Love B6 Yankee Doodletown For those braver than I, here is the full album. If anyone thinks anything here is worth a listen, please share the timings.

Interesting! JSngry and I were using "Esquivel" as shorthand to indicate hi-fi, space-age sparkle. You don't really have to know is music to recognize that sort of sound, which was fairly pervasive at the time.

Here is the Sauter-Finegan page from the Space-Age Pop Website. The discography is not complete. http://spaceagepop.com/sauterfi.htm

I accumulated my humble Sauter-Finegan collection in the 1990s. This was the period when everyone was unloading their LPs, yet before eBay. All these albums were available for 50 cents a throw. I am not a huge fan of Sauter-Finegan, but the jazz and space-age aspects make them perfect for me in theory, but not always in practice. But the albums were available for 50 cents a throw, and many of them had Jim Flora covers, so I had little to lose. So we begin our odyssey with what I believe is their first album: Inside Sauter-Finegan - RCA LJM 1003. Cover art: Jim Flora. Now drinking: Cabernet Sauvignon. Never heard of the "LJM" series. Is this for jazz records? And the label is silver with maroon text. Never seen one of these, or if I have, I've forgotten. Side 1: 1. Four Horsemen - Serious with traces of both corny and Esquivel. The hunting trumpets are a bit much. 2. Old Folks - Vocal by Andy Roberts, with an understated arrangement. Kind of like the four chamber music tracks on Sinatra's "Wee Small Hours" album, including a celesta, but I would stick with Sinatra. 3. How About You - Serious, uptempo bebop content. Trumpet with rhythm section. Trumpet solos for one chorus, guitar takes the second solo, back to trumpet for the third chorus.. Nick Travis on trumpet, Park Hill on Guitar. 4. 10,000 Years BC - Full-on exotica. Slow tempo, lots of pentatonic chords and wordless female vocals. I would classify this as novel/serious, along the lines of "Fellow Delegates" by George Russell. 5. Wild Wings in the Woods - All woodwinds. This is serious. It sounds like Stravinsky, like the woodwinds are rehearsing Le Sacre du Printemps while the rest of the orchestra is on a cigarette break. 6. Finegan's Wake - This is my favorite track so far, blending serious with Esquivel, and minimal corn. My wife just got out of the shower and asked if this was "A Foggy Day." It may be based on the changes. Side 2: 1. Autumn Leaves - Another vocal number, by Sally Sweetland. The intro sounds like La Mer. The female vocalist has a tad too much vibrato for my taste, but the arrangement is both rich and understated at the same time. Nice counter-melodies and orchestral colors, like proto-Gil Evans in places. Probably "serious," overall. 2. Eddie and the Witch Doctor - Another exotica track, but this is more of a novelty than "10,000 Years BC." Mostly percussion, until the bass and alto flute arrive. At that point, it could almost fit on Les Baxter's Le Sacre du Sauvage, but then it gets silly with a climactic scream. Still, if I were DJing an exotica event, as I have in the past, I would play this. And I have in the past. Serious, Esquivel, and corny in more-or-less equal ratios. 3. New York…4 AM - Lots of arrangers recorded this piece at one time. Bobby Nichols solos on trumpet with an understated chamber rhythm section backing. This is more or less serious, I guess. I don't know, the wine is kicking in and maybe I'm less discriminating in my assessments. The celesta is beautiful. Again, it reminds me of the chamber arrangements that Nelson did on four tracks on Sinatra's Wee Small Hours album. 4. Pennies from Heaven - Sonny Russo takes a trombone solo with rhythm section. Mid-tempo. Serious and fun overall. 5. September's Sorrow - Slow and impressionistic. Moody, very noir-ish. Ray Shiner plays English horn. Understated and complex. Bobby Nichols comes in on trumpet. This is a favorite. Serious. 6. When Two Trees Fall In Love - I first heard this on one of the RCA "Space Age Pop" CD compilations. Slow. Joe Venuto on marimba with rhythm section. Understated and tasteful. Serious with a touch of Esquivel, although Esquivel was never this restrained. 7. The Thundisbreak - Based on a Sousa march. Esquivel with a touch or corny, much more bearable than I would have expected. OK, now it is getting annoying. Now they are chilling out a little. Overall? This album is all over the place, but it held together somehow. Given that SF started recording for RCA in 1952 and their (apparent) LP debut is from 1954, I suspect that this is a collection of singles. So: Considering the musical content and the amazing Jim Flora cover art, I would recommend this album, with the caveat that you may encounter something that you don't like all that much.

I am listening to the various artists disc in the Legrand/Demy box set and this track came on just as I finished reading your post!!!!

A genius, and the only artist of whom I own three different box sets. Caetano Veloso said in an interview that Jobim had a massive ego and thought he was better than anyone, and that Michel Legrand was Jobim's only contemporary whose talent really scared him. RIP.

It seems that "Science Fiction" was only on a 45, which is too bad, because it is indeed a gem. Regarding the Jazz Government, I'm sure Wynton (M) would steal the election, and cut all Sauter-Finegan funding.

I don't view "hep" and "corny" as opposite sides on a line, but rather as points on a circle. You can get so corny that you are hep, e.g., Gordon Jenkins, and you can get so hep that you are corny, e.g., Stan Kenton. As someone with a lot of jazz records and a lot of so-called EZ/mood music/space-age bachelor records, I can attest to the following: Sometimes, when a jazz musician tries to make something commercial, the results are less interesting and less adventurous than what the overall "commercial" artist might do.

Let me review my software's graphic capabilities and I'll get back to you. This probably won't begin until Sunday, so hang tight. EDIT: I have 8 LPs and 1 CD. I unloaded another two LPs, including the one in this thread title. I will review the LPs in chronological order, and then review the CD based on how accurately it captures overall what S-F was about.

You know, it sure seems like they should have, but apparently they did not, at least on the albums I have. Maybe Dick Schory, who sits beside most of my Sauter-Finegan albums, recorded this one. This thread has inspired me to go through my relatively substantial Sauter-Finegan collection and review each album - and even each track - for serious, Esquivel, and corny content. Imagine a pie divided into three equal pieces, each representing one of the three styles. This is a useful graphic, because each of the three borders the other two, and each dominant category can teeter into territory on either side, or even both sides. I will start this thread in the artists section, or perhaps the discography section, and title it "A Bachelor's Guide to Sauter-Finegan," and include videos when and where available. Wish me luck. This will be a labor of love and mixology.

And then there are tracks like this that are serious, Esquivel, and corny in a single arrangement. I would say the ratios are maybe 40% Esquivel, 50-55% serious, and 5-10% corny, depending on what kind of mood I am in.

You need to understand that there are at least THREE categories of S-F music: "Serious," Esquivel, AND CORNY, which I believe you and I would both hate. Most of the existing comps have mostly corny, with little of the other two categories. I would be happy with a serious and Esquivel comp, minus the corny, but it doesn't exist. And what's wrong with Esquivel? He's so much more interesting and fun than most "serious" jazz arrangers.

As I said, there is stuff like that sprinkled across all of their LPs. You have to endure some corny stuff, albeit in different ratios from album to album. I have never found a good SF compilation.

Block chords with clarinet on top and tenor an octave below playing the melody, other saxes playing the harmonies between. The LPs I have contain lots of stuff like that, but sandwiched between corny stuff. It can be frustrating.

Of course they don't. I meant that if SF recorded "In the Mood," "Moonlight Serenade," or Chattanooga Choo-Choo," SF's audience at the time would have been very familiar with the songs and the Glenn Miller versions. They don't have to know the name of an arranger to recognize an arrangement, and they don't have to know what block chords are to to recognize Glenn's signature reed sound. SF was offering a contrast to the originals. A listener today likely would not have the same reference points that a 1952 listener would have.

I'm assuming that SF's audience at the time was listening to SF within the context of the originals, and the SF versions provided a sense of contrast. Someone listening to SF today, assuming anyone listens to them at all, may be listening to SF on their own terms, and either liking them or not.

I'll take Sauter-Finegan over Goodman or Miller any day. Then again, as a child of the postwar era, I prefer my music with a dash of space-age sparkle.