Teasing the Korean

There used to be a guy at record shows who sold all these overpriced prog records. I plucked a minty copy of this from his dollar bin!

This is the only album like this that they did, AFAIK. It's crazy good, avant-garde and catchy at the same time!

He is credited as Musical Director, so I suppose so.

Does everyone know their incredible CTI album A Wilder Alias?

Most people know about Legrand Jazz, but Plays Richard Rodgers is a real overlooked gem. Legrand uses an expanded big band with rhythm, saxes, and brass, along with a French Horn and woodwind section. Players include Clark Terry, Bob Brookmeyer, Urbie Green, Phil Woods, Paul Gonsalves, Milt Hinton, Gary Burton, and Tommy Flanagan or Hank Jones. Superb arrangements with just that perfect amount of space-age sparkle. Great soling too. Comparable to the kind of stuff that Q or Oliver Nelson were doing at this time, but with a sound that is very Legrand. Digitally, this is available on the Anthologie set, and also paired with Broadway is My Beat, which is more orchestral pop than jazz. On LP, this came out in the US as Philips PHM 200-074. Highly recommended if you like this kind of stuff.

That's it! OJC reissue!

It is on Fantasy, with Ira Sullivan. It has Laura, Taking a Chance on Love, and The Song is You.

Lalo Schifrin will receive an Honorary Oscar. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/honorary-oscars-be-given-cicely-tyson-marvin-levy-lalo-schifrin-1140136

OH YES! One of these tracks - forget the title - sounds like an outtake from Les Baxter's Que Mango!

And then there is the LA production score by Dexter Gordon, some of which is on the Dexter Calling album. Someone needs to do a multi-disc set with all four versions!

I'm seeing a lot of question mark images.

I was working under the assumption that the Bird and Chet Baker records were cornerstones of the genre.

I am a Gary McFarland freak, and I completely forgot about this album! I need to revisit this. I have at least two of these. I love "Latin for Lovers." I can't remember "Warm Wave."

Those kind of unexpected covers by crossover artists make me wonder how jazz or pop may have evolved in different directions if they had caught on. I also wonder what jazz would sound like today if there had been books of Lennie Tristano's transcribed solos rather than Charlie Parker's!

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions! I guess these kind of records fall into a few different categories. I would consider albums such as those by Stan Getz/ Eddie Sauter and Gary McFarland/Steve Kuhn to be more adventurous jazz/classical/orchestral hybrids. I love these albums, by the way. I think of the "With Strings" albums as the jazz guy generally doing his (her?) thing with strings and perhaps woodwinds added for coloration. These albums tend to focus more on ballads and seem to going for more of a romantic/mood music kind of vibe. Of course, depending on what the artist, arranger, or A&R guy wanted to achieve, the results could land at various point on spectrum between the two extremes. Not making the distinction to limit the conversation or suggestions in any way, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

If we have a thread like this, feel free to link to the other one. Two "With Strings" albums I really like for late night listening are the Sonny Stitt album on Verve, with arrangements by Ralph Burns; and the Phineas Newborn album on RCA with arrangements by Dennis Farnon.

Love that version!

Uhuru Africa is one of the great exotica albums!

Thanks. Most (not all) of what you are referencing is stuff that kids listened to. I was talking primarily about moderne, hi-fi, space-age jazz that suave, sophisticated adults listened to in their moderne homes. In that regard, Decca was light years behind the other three labels. And, their LPs were pressed on styrene, even worse. Decca had occasionally cool albums, like the three amazing albums by Gene Rains, Manhattan Latin by Dave Pike, The Man with the Golden Arm and Sweet Smell of Success by Elmer Bernstein, but these were few and far between compared to the other three major labels. They had no idea what they were doing.

Capitol had the best roster of any of those labels in the 1950s. Sinatra, Nat, Duke, Stan Kenton, Peggy Lee, June Christy, and of course THEE GREAT LES BAXTER.

Does Beerhoven play in Biergartens?

Mildly off-topic, but considering that Decca was a major, major label during the 78 era, how was it that they ended up being left in the dust by Capitol, Columbia and RCA in the LP era? It is like Decca completely lost touch with pop music trends. When they accidentally released something good, like Sammy Davis or Dave Pike or Gene Rains, the albums were impossible to find. I guess they did well with country music, but not much else.

Provocatif by John McFarland on UA. Four of the nine tracks are on the InterTubes, but I haven't heard the others. This one should have been reissued on CD as part of the Capitol Jazz series.