Peter Hamilton and His Orchestra - Golden Film

Golden Film by Peter Hamilton and His Orchestra was issued on CD and cassette in 1991 by Point Productions, based in The Netherlands. But the tracks had been recorded by Vedette Records in Italy, probably in the 1970s.

Vedette was a label that was primarily associated with Italian beat groups, but the company also made a number of easy listening albums, some of which came out under the Peter Hamilton name. It's likely a pseudonym.

Golden Film was marketed mainly in discount outlets like Wal-Mart and K-Mart and can often be found in the thrift store bins. Among the selections is Michel Legrand's theme from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg), the 1964 French romance written and directed by Jacques Demy and starring Catherine Deneuve.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg



More than a dozen Peter Hamilton albums are available for download from iTunes and other major sources. You'll find at least some of the tracks from Golden Film among these collections that are being marketed by the original Vedette label.

Here's the Peter Hamilton version of the Barbra Streisand film theme The Way We Were. This can be found on the download album Spotlight -- Film Themes.

Hank Crawford - Double Cross

Saxophonist Hank Crawford is firmly in the soul jazz camp for Double Cross (Atlantic, 1968), which is not surprising since it was released at the height of popularity of saxophone and/or organ led combos.

Crawford's alto takes the vast majority of the solo space, although tenor heavyweight David (Fathead) Newman is along to provide support as are trumpeters Joe Newman and Melvin Lastie. Guitarist Carl Lynch works in quite a few licks as well.

What better track to choose as a single than the Quincy Jones-penned theme for In the Heat of the Night, one of the biggest movie hits of 1967 and winner of five Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor (Rod Steiger).

The single, at 2:13, is about half the length of the LP track. But unlike a lot of jazz singles this one isn't merely faded out when convenient. It has actually been edited into a reasonably coherent track by cutting some of Crawford's solo. The 45 likely was designed mainly for DJ and jukebox use as I can't see many jazz fans opting for a single over the album. If you like what you hear you'll probably want the full version.

Note for trivia buffs: The piano fills on In the Heat of the Night are by Brother Jack McDuff, who's usually heard on organ.

In the Heat of the Night (45 edit)



Double Cross received a first-rate CD release in 2001, a two-on-one issue on the Collectables label that pairs it with an earlier Crawford album on Atlantic, True Blue. It's available directly from the company at Oldies.com, at a very reasonable price.

Double Cross is also available from most of the major sources as a download issued by Rhino/Atlantic.

Wrapping it up, here's another tune from the album, also taken from a 45 apparently.

Ramblin' Valley Boys - Guitar Hop (single)

The country/rockabilly instrumental Guitar Hop sounds like it was recorded in the 1950s, but it's from 1967 and was on the "B" side of a Vietnam War-themed country vocal, Hill 881.

Although Northland Records was based in Nashville, the Ramblin' Valley Boys apparently were from Michigan. And that's all I know about them. Northland released a dozen or so singles between 1967 and 1970 before calling it quits.

Guitar Hop



This single is likely the only release by the Ramblin' Valley Boys, whoever they might have been. Guitar Hop is included on two widely available download compilations. Rockabilly Hoodlums, Vol. Two comes from the Netherlands-based Collector Records and was previously released on CD (1995). A few CD copies still seem to be floating around. Expect to pay in the $20 range.

True Rockabilly, Vol. 1 (Serenity, 2014) is a download only release that contains many of the same tracks as Rockabilly Hoodlums, so the latter should probably be your first choice.

Here's another instrumental that's included on Rockabilly Hoodlums.

Eddie Maynard & His Orchestra - Broadway in Ping Pong Percussion

Stereophiles wanting to give their new sound systems a workout in the late 1950s and early '60s had a wide range of companies waiting to sell them records that would do just that.

Top-line labels like Command, Mercury Living Presence and Time Records offered mainly easy listening, big band and exotica LPs that featured ping-ponging percussion and sound effects that traveled from left to right and back again. Then there was a host of budget labels that also offered the same type of thing, but often with inferior recording quality and pressed on substandard vinyl. These cheap albums often sold for a third of what the top-line products were going for.

Labels like Diplomat, Spin-O-Rama, Pirouette, Promenade, Premier and a host of others, many of them based in New Jersey, sold most of their products from racks in drug stores, supermarkets and other businesses, rather than in record stores.

A name that often popped up on these labels was Eddie Maynard and His Orchestra. I suspect that this was a name that was just slapped on any collection of tracks that the companies happened to have sitting around awaiting release to ride the coattails of whatever fad was current.

The quality and style of recordings bearing the Maynard name varied widely -- anything from marching bands and easy listening to exotica and big bands. Happily Broadway in Ping Pong Percussion is one of the better releases and is obviously aimed at the customer who was buying those early Command label releases by Enoch Light and his cohorts.

Notice the ultra-cheap album cover on which someone (not me) has thoughtfully scrawled the name of the artist in grease pencil. Maynard's name appears only on the record label. Note that although the cover identifies the releasing label as Diplomat the label says Pirouette. Not only that but the title on the label is Broadway Percussion Sampler, which gives you some idea of the level of quality control. At least the catalog number is consistent.

Still, this is a great sounding recording, especially for a cheap label, in the easy listening-exotica genre. The minute's worth of train sound effects, created by percussion, moving back and forth between channels at the beginning of the sample track is stunning, bearing in mind that the recording was made more than 50 years ago.

They Call the Wind Maria



Broadway in Ping Pong Percussion has not been released in a digital format, at least legally. However, Eddie Maynard LPs populate thrift store bins just about everywhere.

Another LP recorded under the Maynard name was a version of the Pal Joey score. It came out on Promenade in the U.S. and on the Gala label in the U.K. some time around 1957. Here's the Main Theme (on some pressings it's called The Overture, which is probably more correct).

Be aware that if you spot this LP anywhere it's mainly vocals, with only the opening and closing themes being instrumental. Several tracks, dubbed from a vinyl EP issued in the U.K., are available for download on most major sites.

Various Artists - Georgia Blues

The 17 tracks on the compilation LP Georgia Blues (Rounder, 1975) consist of field recordings made by blues scholar George Mitchell in the Lower Chattahoochie Valley of southwestern Georgia from 1969 to 1971.

These are mainly simple recordings, with the vocalist accompanied by just guitar or sometimes harmonica. Among those recorded by Mitchell was Bud Grant, who lived and worked all his life in his birthplace of Thomaston, Ga.

Grant died in 1970, at age 46, less than a year after recording tracks included in the Rounder LP. Grant would play the blues at sawmills where he worked and also played at parties -- "mostly little frolicking pieces, you know, just for somebody to dance off," he told Mitchell. Perhaps they sounded something like the instrumental Bud Grant's Hen Strut, taken from the album Georgia Blues.

Bud Grant's Hen Strut



The Georgia Blues LP has not been issued on CD. However, all of George Mitchell's Georgia field recordings are available in a box set, either CDs or vinyl. The George Mitchell Collection can be purchased directly from Fat Possum Records.

In this video, George Mitchell talks about the unique sound of blues from the Lower Chattahoochie Valley.

Tutti Camarata - Tutti's Trombones (Post No. 2)

While arranger, composer, conductor, producer and music company executive Tutti Camarata (1913-2005) was running Disney's music companies for two decades he managed to put out two great big band albums -- Tutti's Trumpets (1957) and Tutti's Trombones (1970). For the background on these two albums please read this previous post.

Bainbridge Records re-released Tutti's Trombones on LP, cassette and CD in 1983. That's the release pictured above.

The Sweetest Sounds was among the selections on this album. Richard Rodgers wrote both the music and lyrics for this song, which was included in the 1962 musical No Strings. The Sweetest Sounds was also used as the title for an episode on Rodgers in PBS's American Masters series.

The Sweetest Sounds



As stated in the previous post the best bet for obtaining the contents of Tutti's Trumpets and Tutti's Trombones is via download. All CD issues are out of print and pricey.

Twelfth Street Rag is a genuine relic of the ragtime era, composed in 1914 by Euday L. Bowman. It became well known in 1927 when Bennie Moten's band recorded it. But the best-known recording is by Pee Wee Hunt, who had a No. 1 hit with it in 1948.

This version is from Tutti's Trombones.

Sonny Stitt - Deuces Wild

Sonny Stitt's 1967 Atlantic LP Deuces Wild found him in the familiar company of organist Don Patterson and drummer Billy James.

For the most part this is a typical tenor sax/organ date, but the participation of alto saxophonist Robin Kenyatta on the two original tunes he contributed takes the album into hard bop territory. There's also one track with Rufus Harley on bagpipes, definitely an acquired taste.

Although this album is billed as "Introducing Robin Kenyatta" this may not be his first recorded work. His discography lists earlier appearances on Atlantic LPs by pianist Valerie Capers and trombonist Roswell Rudd.

One of the Kenyatta originals on Deuces Wild is In the Bag, which was paired with the title tune on a promotional single for jazz DJs. Both tunes were severely shortened from the album versions.

Here's the version of In the Bag from the single.



Deuces Wild was released on CD in 2001 by Collectables Jazz Classics. It's still in print and available from Oldies.com at a reasonable price. The album is also easily obtained as a download from many sources.

From YouTube here's the title tune from Deuces Wild.