Uncredited - Swinging Sax

Here we go with another of those no-name cassettes I'm so fond of -- and again it's from Switzerland. Swinging Sax was distributed in North America by the Quebec company Madacy and sold in K-Mart, Wal-Mart and other similar stores.

As always, there's no recording information. No release date on the cassette either. The insert claims all titles are traditional (which I doubt, but I'm no expert) so the recording company didn't have to pay any songwriter royalties.

Below is a link to a sample track, Gelatino, with sax that has echoes of Billy Vaughn or Max Greger and a rhythm section that strongly suggests Bert Kaempfert. I like the tune a lot -- that is until a female chorus starts oohing and aahing half way through. Oh, well ...

Gelatino

All 14 tracks from the Swinging Sax cassette have turned up on CD at least twice.

Happy Sax was a Swiss release (date unknown) and doesn't appear to be in print. The selections are also included in 50 Golden Sax Favorites, a three-CD set put out by our friends at Madacy. Unfortunately the set also contains about a dozen songs you probably never want to hear again (Feelings anyone?). Still when used copies can be had for less than a buck there should be enough decent tunes to keep most listeners happy.

Enoch Light & the Light Brigade - Cecilia

Enoch Light's contributions to the world of stereo recording were detailed in an earlier post. For a more complete view of Light and his recordings, there are several excellent web resources, including The Space Age Pop Music Page.

After Light sold his ground-breaking Command Records in 1965 he quickly formed the Project 3 label. There was now less emphasis on exploring the possibilities of stereo -- and there was a distinct change in the type of songs that were being recorded as well. While Command emphasized albums of standards by the likes of Berlin, Gershwin and Porter, Project 3 concentrated on easy listening versions of current pop hits.

Case in point is the version of Paul Simon's Cecilia recorded by Enoch Light & the Light Brigade in 1971. It was issued as a single (b/w Eglantine) and included on the album 4 Channel Dynamite, which was designed to cash in on the shortlived phenomenon of Quadraphonic sound. More on Quadraphonic in a moment, but first here's a link where you can get Cecilia. The MP3 is taken from a stereo 45.

Cecilia

Quadraphonic was an early form of the surround sound that is commonly used today in TV sound systems. But in the 1970s few people were ready to purchase the special equipment and extra pair of speakers that were needed to reproduce four-channel sound.

If you have a few Quadraphonic albums kicking around and are able to hook a turntable up to your surround sound system, you'll be able to hear these LPs in four-channel sound. I tried it a few years ago and it worked fine, but I really wanted to keep my TV and music systems separate.

To finish up -- another selection from 4 Channel Dynamite, taken from YouTube. Light's version of the big band standard Cherokee was also included in another of his albums, Big Band Hits of the 30s and 40s.

Rubin Mitchell - Presenting Rubin Mitchell

Two 1967 LPs for Capitol, Presenting Rubin Mitchell and Remarkable Rubin, and an earlier self-released album on the Starmaker label, The Golden Hands of Rubin Mitchell, appear to be the pianist's entire recorded output. There were some singles on Capitol as well but as far as I can tell most, if not all, were tracks taken from the two albums.

According to the Schenectady Gazette newspaper of March 7, 1967, Mitchell was playing in the Albany-Troy, New York, area before being signed to Capitol. That's where his debut LP Golden Hands was recorded. After making his Capitol recordings he played in several New York City clubs and bars, then seemingly disappeared from the music scene. There is little information about him on the web.

Below is a link to a track from his first Capitol album, Presenting.

What Now My Love



Rubin Mitchell's version of Mas Que Nada appeared on Bossa Novaville, Vol. 14 of Capitol's Ultra-Lounge series of CDs. It's still in print and easily obtained.

There is a Mitchell collection called HiFi Hits available as a download. However, its cheap looking cover makes its origin a bit suspect.

Although these are tracks from his Capitol recordings, this release certainly didn't orginate with that company. Listening before buying would be a good idea.

Here's another Rubin Mitchell track, taken from YouTube.

Helen O'Connell with Joe Reisman and His Orchestra - Amapola

Big band vocalist Helen O'Connell (1920-1993) achieved her greatest fame with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra in the early 1940s. Partnered with vocalist Bob Eberly, she had a series of Latin influenced hits, including Brazil, Green Eyes, Tangerine, Yours and Amapola.

In the late 1960s, O'Connell made two recordings for Reader's Digest, reprises of her Dorsey Band hits, Amapola and Green Eyes. These sides were included in a number of various artist compilations that stretched into the digital era.

O'Connell's re-recording of Amapola, accompanied by Joe Reisman and his orchestra, turned up in a 1970 vinyl box set called Let's Take a Sentimental Journey. The link to the track is below.

Amapola



Helen O'Connell's Reader's Digest recordings of Amapola and Green Eyes are available on a 17-track album called The Reader's Digest "Songbird" Sessions, which also includes selections by Margaret Whiting and Helen Forrest. The album is available only as a download from all the major sources (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc.).

Here's the original recording O'Connell and Bob Eberly made with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra in 1941.

Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith - Boomerang

Country guitarist Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith began his recording career in 1938 for RCA Victor's Bluebird label, but didn't gain wide fame until a decade later when MGM released Guitar Boogie. This 78 single (later on 45) was a massive hit, expanding the fan base of Smith and his band, the Cracker Jacks, way beyond their normal country audience.

Although Smith claimed authorship of Guitar Boogie, black blues guitarists had been playing similar riffs for years. Guitar Boogie, its flip side Boomerang and other early recordings by Smith were purchased by MGM from the small Super Disc label. Since almost everyone has heard Guitar Boogie at one time or another, here's a link where you can catch Boomerang.

Boomerang



Guitar Boogie, Boomerang and the vast majority of Smith's MGM sides are widely available on CD and via downloads. One of the best CD compilations is One Good Boogie Deserves Another, from the French Jasmine label.

You should be able to get a copy of this for $10 or less.

Guitar Boogie has become one of the most frequently recorded guitar instrumentals in the 60-plus years since Arthur Smith's version. A rock 'n' roll version, Guitar Boogie Shuffle, was a hit for The Virtues in 1959. But here, from YouTube, is Smith's original.

James Bond Movie Themes, Vol. 2

Here's another one of those uncredited European releases where you're just dying to know who the artist is. This is a cassette release from Switzerland, probably from the 1980s, on the Intertape label and was distributed in Canada (and possibly the U.S.) by the Quebec company Madacy, which is still in business.

These are full orchestral versions of Bond themes and they're obviously dubbed from vinyl. If you listen closely (it's more obvious on headphones) you can hear surface noise from the record. These cassettes, and many others like them, were sold in K-Mart and similar outlets. There's a sample track available from the link below.

From Russia with Love



Both volumes of James Bond Movie Themes were also issued by Intertape on a double-LP set (did this company really use one of their own vinyl albums to make the cassette version?) under the title James Bond Filmmusik. I've no idea whether they used the same crazy cowgirl cover for the LP, but here's how the record label looked.

Sam Lazar - Camp Meetin' (45)

There's precious little information about organist Sam Lazar, who had several albums and a bunch of singles on the Argo label from 1960-62.

According to Wikipedia, Lazar was born in St. Louis in 1933, played with Ernie Wilkins and toured with saxophonist Tab Smith before serving in the military from 1951-53.

There was a period away from music to study medical technology before Lazar, inspired by a Jimmy Smith date at a St. Louis club, took up the Hammond organ.

His first album, Space Flight (1960), featured a young Grant Green on guitar, but Green was gone from Lazar's group by the time the single Camp Meetin' (b/w I Ain't Mad at You) came out in 1962. It was issued on both the Argo and Checker labels, both imprints of Chess Records. Camp Meetin' didn't make it on to one of Lazar's albums, but you can download it from the link below.

Camp Meetin'



Lazar does not appear to have recorded after his stint with Argo and the only one of his albums released in a digital format was Space Flight. It was issued on a Japanese CD that now goes for about $50. But Space Flight is also part of a 2007 Grant Green CD compilation, Organ Trio And Quartet, which can be had for less than $10.

Vinyl copies of Sam Lazar's Argo releases also approach the $50 mark.

There are several very good quality Lazar tracks available on YouTube, including this one:

Sonny Stitt - Stardust

On the 1966 date that resulted in the album Stardust, saxophonist Sonny Stitt (see previous posts HERE and HERE) became the first musician to play the Varitone, an electronically amplified sax that allowed him to play octaves and change the sound of the instrument if he so desired. Stitt continued spotlighting the Varitone for the next five years or so. Not one of the music world's great ideas according to the critics and judging by the contents of this LP.

Despite the presence of stalwarts like Illinois Jacquet (tenor sax), J.J. Johnson (trombone) and Ellis Larkins (piano), the results were decidedly mixed. Below is a link to What's New from the album.

What's New



This album has not been released on CD and there's no sign of it being available as a legal download. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Stardust to appear in either format.

Here's another -- and far superior -- version of What's New by Stitt, this time in the company of organist Don Patterson.

Al Nevins & His Orchestra - Dancing with the Blues

Musician Al Nevins (1915-1965) had two main claims to fame. In 1939 Nevins, whose main instrument was guitar, founded The Three Suns with his brother Morty, an accordionist, and a cousin, Artie Dunn, who played organ. The trio turned into one of the most popular instrumental combos of the 1940s and '50s. Their big hit was Twilight Time, co-written by the Nevins brothers and Buck Ram.

After Al Nevins's performing career was over he founded the publishing company Aldon Music with Don Kirshner. Some of the most important pop songwriters of the early 1960s were under contract to Aldon at one time or another, including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill.

Amongst all this activity, Al Nevins found time to record several albums under his own name for RCA Victor, including a 1958 release called Dancing with the Blues. This easy listening dance band album swung along quite nicely, as you can hear if you download the sample track from the link below.

Alone with the Blues



None of Al Nevins's solo recordings appear to have been released on CD or are available as downloads. There have been umpteen reissues of Three Suns' recordings of widely varying quality.

Here's a sample, via YouTube, of another of Nevins's trio of RCA albums, this one also released in 1958.

Sleepy LaBeef - Downhome Rockabilly

Sleepy LaBeef is a genuine rockabilly survivor, having been there when the music was born in the 1950s and still performing today at the age of 77.

After a few rockabilly singles in the late '50s, Labeef moved to Nashville where his music took a decidedly country turn. He had a couple of minor hits (Every Day and Blackland Farmer) before signing with the rejuvenated Sun Records and returning to his rockabilly roots.

The album Downhome Rockabilly was issued (on gold vinyl yet) by Sun in 1979. From it comes Boogie Woogie Country Girl. The MP3 available at the link below comes from a cassette copy.

Boogie Woogie Country Girl



Downhome Rockabilly is available as a download, but does not appear to have been released as a standalone CD. However, all of Labeef's Sun tracks were issued on the six-CD box Larger Than Life by the German company Bear Family in 1996.

From YouTube here's a dynamite Sleepy Labeef performance at the Minnesota State Fair in 2006.

Jean Claude Borelly - Les 16 Oscars de la Musique de Films (2)

I first posted about this album by French trumpeter Jean Claude Borelly back in February 2012 and since the opportunities of buying his music on CD or via legal download seem scant, I thought a revisit might be in order.

For those who fancy trumpet instrumentals of the easy listening variety here's a second track from this 1985 album.

Exodus



Most of the comments made in the earlier post still are valid. It's a mystery to me why an artist who sold so many albums in the 1970s and 80s has so little available for purchase in the digital age.

Here's a 1976 video of Jean Claude Borelly playing Le concerto de la mer.

Con-Funk-Shun - Bumpsumboody (single)

Con-Funk-Shun, as the name suggests, was a funk band, formed in Memphis in the late 1960s by California high school classmates Michael Cooper and Louis (Tony) McCall.

The group gained major hit-making status after joining Mercury Records in 1976. You can read more about them here.

Before signing with Mercury, the group recorded a bunch of tracks for producer Ted Sturges in Memphis. Among them was the instrumental Bumpsumboody, the "B" side of a forgettable cover of Mr. Tambourine Man released in 1974 on the Fretone label (owned by Estelle Axton, who had earlier co-founded Stax Records). Neither of the tracks appears to have made it on to an LP or CD, so below is link to obtain Bumpsumboody.

Bumpsumboody



Con-Funk-Shun split up after their last Mercury album in 1988, but a reformed group, which now includes original members Cooper and Felton Pilate, has been touring off and on since the mid-1990s. They have a website that indicates they have dates booked through Dec. 1.

David Roach - I Love Sax

Yeah, I know what you're thinking -- another cheap album of makeout music. God knows these albums are all over the internet and usually have a soloist backed up by the scream-inducing sound of somebody fiddling with a bunch of computer-generated backing instruments.

I Love Sax is a big step above the pack, with saxophonist David Roach fronting a group of real live musicians, including one of my favorite British session guitarists, Paul Keogh. This 1983 release was marketed on British TV. My copy is vinyl and there doesn't appear to have been a CD version.

Granted the selections are mostly the warhorses of this type of production -- Killing Me Softly, Just the Way You Are, My Way, etc. The only real surprise is a cover of Don Gibson's 1961 country hit Sea of Heartbreak.

Roach's background is mostly in classical music and he has been a member of the Michael Nyman Band since 1985. The saxophonist released a single, Emotional Jungle, in 1984, the same year I Love Sax graced the British albums chart. Below is a link to a sample track from the LP.

When I Need You



From YouTube, here's Roach's Emotional Jungle single, which sounds like it could have fit into both dance and smooth jazz formats when it was released.