The Atlantics - Greensleeves (45 single)

The Atlantics have been one of my favorite surf instrumental bands since I purchased a used jukebox copy of Bombora/Greensleeves back in the late 1960s.

The group had no trouble emulating the sound of Dick Dale & the Del-Tones and other California surf bands despite the fact that they hailed from Australia. Bombora topped the Australian chart in 1963 and was a big hit in Italy, but had almost no impact in North America. The followup, The Crusher, was also a hit in their native land. Despite several first-rate instrumental albums and more singles, that was the extent of their chart action.

On the flip side of Bombora was a version of the standard Greensleeves, an English folk song that dates from the 16th century. It's more recent popularity derives from composer Ralph Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Greensleeves (1934).

Greensleeves



After the success of the Bombora single there was of course a similarly titled LP.

                                          (Photo from the Surafdelic blog)

Many of the Atlantics' recordings are available on CD including a fine "best of" collection from CD Baby. A similar selection of albums is sold as downloads on iTunes and elsewhere.

Here's the group's big hit.

Holiday Break

Guitars & All That Jazz will be taking a holiday break until Dec. 31. Many thanks to all of you who have supported the blog with your comments and +1s on Google Plus.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season and a great 2014.

The Midnight Strings Orchestra - Reminiscing

Reminiscing (Excelsior, 1980) by the Midnight Strings Orchestra is typical of instrumental mood music albums of the 1970s and early '80s -- muted brass and strings accented by a prominent beat provided by an electric bass. The bass sound on many of the easy listening recordings, including this one, was very similar to that heard on numerous disco records of the era.

The Midnight Strings Orchestra was conducted by Syd Dale (1924-1994), a British composer and arranger of easy listening, funk and library music, which consists of tunes designed for use in commercials, films and TV. In fact Reminiscing sounds very much like an album designed to be played as background music in a commercial enterprise of some kind. To put it in less complimentary terms it's elevator music or Muzak, the much maligned and now defunct commercial background music service.

Still I rather like Dale's approach to the familiar pop hits on Reminiscing. It's definitely not foreground listening but is enjoyable nonetheless. You can listen to Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, which was a duet hit for Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.

Too Much, Too Little, Too Late



None of the half dozen or so LPs by the Midnight Strings Orchestra on Excelsior have been released on CDs or as downloads. But vinyl copies of these albums abound. They didn't sell well and most were dumped into discount bins. These albums are still turning up in thrift stores and the dollar section of record stores.

Plenty of Syd Dale's other recordings, mainly of the library music variety, are available on iTunes and elsewhere.

Here's a track from another Midnight Strings Orchestra LP, On the Radio (1981). Although it might be grammatically correct the title on the video is wrong. The correct title of the song is You Never Done It Like That, a hit by the Captain & Tenille.

Paul Nero Sounds - Golden Western Hits

This is NOT pianist Peter Nero. This Nero plays neither neither piano nor fiddle -- in fact that's not even his real name.

Paul Nero is the name adopted by German jazz saxophonist and composer Klaus Doldinger for a series of instrumental pop albums in the 1960s. Some, like Golden Western Hits (1969), were released on Liberty in North America as well as in his native country. Others, including a few in the non-stop dancing mode popularized by James Last, were confined to a European release.

Since 1971 Doldinger has led a jazz group called Passport whose music has been likened to that of Weather Report. He's also well respected as a composer of music for films and is responsible for the scores of Das Boot (1981), The Never-Ending Story (1984) and Palmetto (1998).

The Paul Nero recordings began in 1965 with The Big Beat, credited to Paul Nero's Blue Sounds, and ended in 1970 with Tops for Dancing. Somewhere along the way the "Blue" was dropped from the group's name.

On Golden Western Hits most of the tracks are familiar themes from western films and TV shows, including of course Bonanza. Jay Livingston and Ray Evans wrote the theme for the long-running series and it was orchestrated by David Rose and arranged by Billy May for the soundtrack. But it was guitarist Al Caiola who had the hit recording, in 1961.

The Nero version has a Caiola-style guitar, but it's surrounded by a very inventive string and brass arrangement.

Bonanza



None of Klaus Doldinger's Paul Nero recordings have made it onto CD or have been made available as downloads. But Doldinger doesn't appear to want to hide them. They're listed in the discography on his official website.

To close, here's the rather offbeat rendering of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly off the Golden Western Hits LP.

Perry & the Harmonics - Intrigue with Soul

Music from and inspired by the James Bond films is the theme of Intrigue with Soul (Mercury, 1965), the only album released by Perry & the Harmonics, a Chicago-based group.

The recognizable name among the five musicians is Ed Townsend, who had a 1958 vocal hit on Capitol with For Your Love. Townsend, who produced and plays piano on Intrigue with Soul, later co-write the 1970s hit Let's Get It On with Marvin Gaye.

The other members of Perry & the Harmonics are Clarence Perry on tenor sax, Richard McCrea on organ, guitarist Paul Pratt and drummer Maurice Wells. There are also vocals and narration on several tracks, courtesy of Townsend.

Among the soul-jazz offerings from the group is a version of From Russia with Love.

From Russia with Love



Do the Monkey with James was pulled from Intrigue with Soul as a single, but neither it nor the LP had any impact. Both are now collector's items. The one LP is the entire recorded output of Perry & the Harmonics. It has not been released in a digital format.

Here's another track from the album.

Ray Anthony - House Party Hop

Trumpeter Ray Anthony was considered among the most modern of big band leaders, although his arrangements could not by any stretch be considered progressive or experimental. Still, he managed to continue into the rock 'n' roll era (his version of Peter Gunn was a sizeable hit) and he was a Las Vegas regular for many years.

In earlier years, Anthony had hits with the theme from Dragnet and Bunny Hop, a novelty dance that is thankfully not heard much anymore.

Ray Anthony's House Party Hop was the bandleader's first LP, issued first as a 10-inch album in 1951 and in 1956 as a 12-inch with four additional tunes, one of which unfortunately was Bunny Hop. However, the others tracks are mainly big band and pop standards that swing along quite nicely. Among them is a version of the Duke Ellington hit Perdido.

Perdido



The House Party Hop album isn't available on CD or as a download but some of the tracks from it are available on the many CD and download compilations of Ray Anthony's recordings. Some of the downloads are of questionable quality so always audition before buying.

Here's the title tune from House Party Hop accompanied by several nice shots of the Anthony band in action.

Houston Person - Goodness!

Houston Person was very much in a funk/soul jazz vein for Goodness! (1969), his sixth album for the Prestige label. The tenor saxophonist was still relatively unknown at the time he recorded it.

Guitarist Billy Butler and organist Sonny Phillips were the prominent sidemen on the session, which also included Bob Bushnell on bass, Frankie Jones on drums and Buddy Caldwell, congas.

To promote the LP Prestige issued a single with severely shortened versions of Jamilah and the title song.

As you can see Goodness clocked in at just 3:50 on the 45. On the LP it was over nine minutes. The single version is below.

Goodness



The Goodness! album was released on CD by Original Jazz Classics in 1995 and cheap copies of it abound on Amazon and elsewhere. It isn't available as a download.

Here's the full length version of Jamilah from the LP.

The Manhattan Pops Orchestra - Topkapi (track)

Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis (1925-1994) gained worldwide fame after his theme for director Jules Dassin's lighthearted film Never on Sunday (1960) won an Academy Award.

Never on Sunday starred Melina Mercouri, so when Dassin and Mercouri were teamed again on the caper flick Topkapi (1964) the director called on Hadjidakis once more to provide the score. Although the Topkapi music didn't prove to be as popular as that in Never on Sunday the soundtrack did provide several delightful tunes, including the title theme.

There were many recordings of the Topkapi theme and it provided the title for an LP by jazz organist Jimmy McGriff. Among those to wax Topkapi was the Manhattan Pops Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Joe Cain.

A number of easy listening and light classical albums were recorded under the Manhattan Pops name for the Time Records label in the 1960s. Various conductors were employed, including Cain and Richard Hayman.

Cain (real name, Joseph Caiani) was born in Philadelphia in 1929. His real love was Latin music and he became an influential producer and arranger in that genre, working with vocalist Vicentino Valdes and many others. At the same time he recorded numerous LPs under his own name and as the man in charge of ad hoc aggregations like the Manhattan Pops Orchestra. Topkapi was on the orchestra's 1965 LP Motion Picture Themes.

Topkapi



Some of the Manhattan Pops' recordings for Time are available as downloads, but not Motion Picture Themes.

This YouTube selection features Richard Hayman conducting the orchestra on David Rose's Holiday (not Holidays as in the video caption) for Strings. It's from the 1965 Time LP Fiddlers on the Roof.

Woody Herman - Sound of Jazz

Sound of Jazz is a cheap, but surprisingly good quality, European CD reissue (1996) of a Woody Herman small group session recorded for Lionel Hampton's Who's Who in Jazz label in the late 1970s.

Herman, who's heard on clarinet and alto and soprano saxophone, is accompanied by Hampton on vibes, guitarist Al Caiola (check the bizarre misspelling of his name on the CD insert), drummer Richie Pratt, bassist George Mraz, pianist Roland Hanna (his name is also misspelled, even on the original LP) and Candido on conga.

All five tracks are standards, including Body and Soul.

Body and Soul



Ridiculously cheap used copies of this CD abound, including on Amazon. It's well worth a listen and you shouldn't have to pay more than a couple of bucks for it. The contents of this CD may be available as downloads, but not under the Sound of Jazz name.

Vinyl copies of the original LP, Lionel Hampton Presents Woody Herman (1977), also seem to be fairly common.

You shouldn't be paying more than $5 or $6 if vinyl is your medium of choice.

The one Woody Herman tune everybody seems to remember is Woodchopper's Ball, his orchestra's biggest hit.

Louis Bellson, Ray Brown & Paul Smith - Intensive Care

Like Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson is usually thought of as a bombastic drummer. But on the trio outing Intensive Care with bassist Ray Brown and pianist Paul Smith, Bellson is definitely more laid back than usual.

That's not to say the album is boring. Far from it. Ballads alternate with more up-tempo offerings on this collection of standards recorded in 1978.

The album first saw the light of day as a direct-to-disc LP issued by Discwasher in '78, with the cover art pictured above. There were several reissues, including one a decade later on the Voss label -- on both CD and cassette.

As you can see the cover art is much more pedestrian, but rest assured the music is still great. The sample track is taken from a cassette version of the album.

On a Clear Day



Although all releases of Intensive Care are out of print, used copies of the Voss CD can be had very cheaply on Amazon -- and probably elsewhere. The album hasn't been made available as a download.

Here's some early Louis Bellson in a quintet setting. These two tracks originally appeared on a 1954 Norgran LP, Louis Bellson and His Drums. It was reissued on Verve in 1957 as Concerto for Drums.

The Mastersounds - Swinging with the Mastersounds

Two of guitarist Wes Montgomery's brothers, Buddy (vibes) and Monk (bass), formed the easy listening bop aggregation The Mastersounds in 1957 with pianist Richie Crabtree and drummer Benny Barth.

The quartet was popular only for a relatively short time, recording 10 albums in four years, for World Pacific, Pacific Jazz and Fantasy, before breaking up in 1961. Today they are remembered primarily for their link to Wes Montgomery.

The Mastersounds were overshadowed by the similarly formatted and vastly more successful Modern Jazz Quartet. As well, the music of the Mastersounds really seemed more suitable for background listening than something to be savored and remembered.

Swinging with the Mastersounds (Fantasy, 1961) was one of the last studio recordings by the group. It was mainly a collection of standards in the quartet's usual laid back style. To promote the LP Fantasy issued a 45 single with severely truncated versions of two of the tracks -- Golden Earrings and I Could Write a Book.

On the LP Golden Earrings ran for almost 10 minutes. Below you can listen to the short version that radio DJs received.

Golden Earrings



Swinging with the Mastersounds has received at least two CD releases -- as a standalone album and combined with another Fantasy LP, A Date with the Mastersounds, on a two-on-one disc titled simply The Mastersounds.

Both CD releases are out of print, although copies of the one pictured above can be purchased cheaply through Amazon. Swinging with the Mastersounds is not available as a download.

Here's the Gershwin tune Somebody Loves Me, from the 1959 World Pacific LP The Mastersounds in Concert.

Tor-Chula - The Sentinals (45 single)

The Sentinals left a relatively small footprint in the annals of surf music -- less than a dozen singles for several labels and two albums on Del-Fi, all from 1961-63.

The band was formed in 1961 in San Luis Obispo, on California's central coast. Guitarist Tommy Nunes was the group's primary composer while drummer Johnny Barbata would go on to play with the Turtles and Jefferson Starship.

Nunes was adept at coming up with Latin-flavored tunes like Latin'ia, the Sentinals' best-known tune, and Tor-Chula, which bears a strong resemblance to the Champs' 1958 hit Tequila. Latin'ia and Tor-Chula were paired on a 1962 single for Era Records.

Tor-Chula




Both sides of the single appeared on the Sentinals' first album for Del-Fi, Big Surf! (1963). The second LP, Surfer Girl, appeared later that year. The two albums have been combined on CD at least twice -- in 1999 by Del-Fi and in 2004 by Collector's Choice. Both are out of print, with only the Del-Fi release, under the title Sunset Beach: The Best of the Sentinals, available at a reasonable price.

However, tracks by the Sentinals have appeared on numerous CD compilations of surf music and almost all of the Sentinals' recordings are available as legal downloads from the major sources.

Here's the "A" side of the Sentinals single pictured above.

Doc Severinsen - High, Wide & Wonderful

His 25 years as the bandleader on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson arguably made Doc Severinsen the best known trumpet player in North America.

Severinsen took over the post in 1967, the year after Skitch Henderson departed, but had been a member of the orchestra on The Tonight Show since 1952 when it was hosted by Steve Allen.

The fame that came from the television gig enabled Severinsen to begin recording a series of LPs for Command, the groundbreaking stereo label headed by Enoch Light. And when Light put out his own albums Severinsen was the lead trumpeter in the band.

High, Wide & Wonderful came along in 1965 and included a version of Toots Thielemans's Bluesette. The Belgian musician had had a worldwide hit with his unison guitar and whistling recording of the song three years earlier.

Bluesette



High, Wide & Wonderful has not been been made available on CD or as a legal download.

At age 86 Doc Severinsen, who has lived in Mexico since 2006, still occasionally appears with a big band or a small Latin group. Visit his website for tour dates.

Here's some vintage Doc as he appears with a couple of other trumpet greats on the Steve Allen hosted Tonight Show in the 1950s.

The T-Bones - Everyone's Gone to the Moon (and Other Trips)

Like the Marketts before them the T-Bones who recorded for Liberty Records in the 1960s weren't an actual group but rather a collection of top Los Angeles session players. At various times these musicians included Glen Campbell and Tommy Tedesco on guitars, Leon Russell on piano, Steve Douglas and Plas Johnson on saxes, bassist Carol Kaye and drummer Hal Blaine.

Yes, there were touring versions of the Marketts and the T-Bones, but these groups were put together after the records began selling.

The T-Bones, under producer Joe Saraceno, gained fame in 1965 with the instrumental No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In), based on an Alka-Seltzer jingle. The inevitable album followed, as did several more singles and LPs, but there were no more hits.

Everyone's Gone to the Moon (and Other Trips) in 1966 was the final T-Bones album, which included a number of vocals. Among the instrumentals was a version of Fly Me to the Moon, which was all over the radio in the '60s thanks to a hit version by pianist Joe Harnell in 1962. Lionel Bart had composed the song in 1954 under the title In Other Words, but after the tune became popular he officially changed its name.

Fly Me to the Moon



There are a couple of T-Bones CDs that are readily available, including their hit No Matter What Shape, as well as a number of tracks that can be downloaded from iTunes and other legitimate sites. But none of the material from Everyone's Gone to the Moon can be had in a digital format.

For those of you who haven't heard it recently, here's the T-Bones' big hit.

Hollywood Studio Orchestra - Broadway Memories (Post No. 2)

Longtime readers of this blog may remember I made favorable mention of this budget CD in May 2012. Like many of the cheap CDs emanating from Europe, this 1985 release credited to the Hollywood Studio Orchestra contains no information about the who, where and when of the recording.

But surprisingly, unlike many of its ilk, Broadway Memories is a pretty decent listen thanks to some good big band and orchestral arrangements.

Many of the songs are of course linked to stage productions, while others, such as Misty, seem to have no connection at all to the theater. As far as I know pianist Erroll Garner's 1954 composition has no Broadway link. The song, made popular by Johnny Mathis's 1959 recording, did play a prominent role in a couple of movies (eg., Play Misty for Me), but that was much later.

In any case Misty is included on Broadway Memories.

Misty



As mentioned in the earlier post probably the best chance at getting a copy of Broadway Memories is checking the bins at your area thrift stores.

Here's Erroll Garner's original 1954 recording of Misty.

Hank Mobley - Goin' Out of My Head (single)

This 45 was issued by Blue Note in 1968 to promote Hank Mobley's LP Reach Out. The album was the bop saxophonist's not altogether successful attempt to court a wider audience by covering a couple of R&B and pop tunes.

The LP took its name from a cover of the Four Tops hit Reach Out, I'll Be There, which was the "A" side of the Goin' Out of My Head single.

The two tracks on the single have been drastically shortened from the album cuts, so if jazz takes on R&B hits are your thing, buy the album, which is easily obtainable either on CD or via download. In the meantime, here's the shortened 45 version of Goin' Out of My Head.

Goin' Out of My Head



Although Reach Out was somewhat of a misfire musically, it's not the disaster painted by many jazz critics and others who view themselves as jazz purists. They would do well to remember that jazz was once popular music and to have a musician such as Mobley attempt to regain the genre's wider audience is no sin.

Finally, here's the full LP version of Reach Out, I'll Be There.

Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony - Love Is the Answer

How you feel about Van McCoy (1940-1979) depends in large part on how you feel about disco. Although McCoy was recording, producing and writing songs before that much maligned genre came along his name is almost always associated with it because of his chart-topping hit The Hustle (1975).

He was never able to repeat that success although he remained active until he died of a heart attack in 1979. He was just 39.

For myself McCoy and disco are best taken in small doses -- and with a healthy slice of melody thrown in. Tunefulness was in short supply in the disco era, unfortunately.

Love Is the Answer (Avco, 1974) came along just as the disco era was beginning to hit its stride, so there were still some great tunes on this LP, including a cover of Diana Ross's Touch Me in the Morning.

Touch Me in the Morning



Love Is the Answer has never received a digital release, but a couple of tunes from the LP are included on the compilation The Hustle and the Best of Van McCoy (Amherst, 1995), available via CD or download.

Here's the title tune from Love Is the Answer.

Cal Collins - Blues on My Mind

An early recording by Cincinnati guitarist Cal Collins was in the spotlight a while back. This time it's one of his better known LPs for Concord Jazz.

Like most of his fine recordings for the label, 1979's Blues on My Mind has not been released on CD or as a legal download. Collins is accompanied by pianist Larry Vuckovich, bassist Bob Maize and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The one non-standard on the album is the title tune, which Collins wrote himself.

Blues on My Mind



The only one of Cal Collins's Concord releases that appears to be easy to get hold of is Ohio Style (1990). Also available is his final album, S'Us Four: Jazz Guitar Cincinnati Style, released by J-Curve Records in 1998.

All his Concord LPs are worth searching for in the used record store bins.

To close, here's Cal Collins introduced by Benny Goodman at a 1976 concert in Warsaw, Poland. You could easily skip the first 40 seconds. It's just Goodman looking smug as the audience applauds.

Henry Mancini - Driftwood and Dreams

Driftwood and Dreams (Liberty, 1957) predates Henry Mancini's fame as a soundtrack composer and is far different than his TV and movie scores. The LP, his first, is a collection of exotica music, mostly standards, and apparently was recorded in mono only. Note that Mancini's name is in very small print at the bottom.

When he became well-known, primarily through his score for TV's Peter Gunn, Liberty reissued the album as The Versatile Henry Mancini (1959). The recording now appeared in stereo, with at least one source saying that the music was re-recorded for this release, using identical arrangements and basically the same musicians. Featured were Laurindo Almeida (guitar), Dominic Frontiere (accordion), Bob Bain (bass guitar), Lou Maury (organ) and Loulie Jean Norman (wordless vocals).

The Versatile Henry Mancini was issued with at least two different covers, of which this is the most common. Note the emphasis on Mancini's name.

The sample track, in stereo, is taken from a rather scratchy version of the above LP.

Flamingo



Ten of the 12 tracks from the album were issued on vinyl a third time as The Sounds & Voices of Henry Mancini, on Liberty's Sunset budget label in 1966.

In 2008, both the mono and stereo versions of The Versatile Henry Mancini were combined on one CD from the U.K. This is still available from Amazon and other online sources.

And for those of you who simply must have this album on vinyl, check those thrift store bins! Both The Versatile and Sounds & Voices releases turn up frequently.

Here's another sample.

Bill Black's Combo - The Memphis Scene

By the time this album came out on Mega Records in 1971 all the core members of the Bill Black's Combo that scored a number of instrumental hits in the 1960s were long gone. In fact leader Black had died of a brain tumor in 1965, at age 39.

Black, of course, was the bass player on all the early Elvis Presley recordings for Sun and the first sides that Elvis recorded for RCA Victor.

Black formed his own combo in 1959 and scored a number of instrumental hits, among them Smokie, Part 2, White Silver Sands and Don't Be Cruel.

The band heard on The Memphis Scene is under the direction of producer Larry Rogers, who had opened a Memphis recording studio, Lyn Lou Studio, with Black in 1962. Saxophonist Robert Gladney is the only musician identified on the album, although road manager and bassist Bob Tucker, who joined the combo in 1963 and had taken over leadership of the group after Black's death, likely also was part of this recording.

The Memphis Scene retains the basic sound of the classic Bill Black's Combo of the '60s, but adds a few funk elements as well.

Memphis Shuffle



The Memphis Scene is not available in a digital format.

Here's another selection, a funky little thing called Cotton Carnival, that was included on the LP.

Sonny Stitt - Gimme, Gimme Good Lovin' (single)

Sonny Stitt has earned half a dozen posts so far -- and here's another one. Scroll down to the search box on the right hand side if you're interested in reading more about and listening to more of Stitt.

It's not that the saxophonist is a particular favorite. It's just that I happened to pick up a bunch of his 45s a number of years ago that I'm now revisiting.

This record isn't the jazz side of Sonny Stitt. This is a musician looking for some pop/R&B airplay by covering hits of the mid to late 1960s. Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' was a 1968 hit for Crazy Elephant while the flip side of the 45 was a version of Mendocino, which the Sir Douglas Quintet had placed on the charts in 1969. Both tracks come for Stitt's LP Come Hither (1969), on which he plays the Varitone electric sax, accompanied by guitarist Billy Butler, organist Paul Griffin and Jerome Richardson on sax and flute.

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'



Come Hither has not received a CD or legal download release, so it's down to searching the vinyl bins if this album appeals to you.

The Gladiators - Tovarich (single)

The Gladiators started out as Nero & the Gladiators and managed two chart records during the British instrumental boom of the early 1960s -- In the Hall of the Mountain King and Entry of the Gladiators.

The group was fronted by pianist Mike O'Neill, who billed himself as Nero and wore a toga on stage. The rest of the group (guitar, bass and drums) wore Roman legionnaire costumes.

Their two hit singles were recorded for Decca and after a third unsuccessful 45 for that label, the group switched to HMV for what proved to be their final outing, Bleak House/Tovarich (1963). Although O'Neill still led the group, the "Nero" billing had disappeared. No keyboards are evident on Tovarich, a stomper fronted by guitarist Colin Green.

Tovarich



Tovarich has appeared on several CD compilations over the years. One that's still available is Les Geants de la Guitares, a four-CD box from Magic Records in France. Guitar instrumental hits and obscurities from both Europe and the U.S. are included in this first-rate set.

I can't find any evidence that Tovarich is available as a legal download, although the title is frequently misspelled as "Tovaritch," so that may help you track it down.

In the meantime here's the "A" side of the Tovarich single by The Gladiators, featuring the piano of Mike O'Neill.

For a full account of the career of Nero & the Gladiators, visit the Obscure Bands of the 50's and 60's blog.

The Moments - The Other Side of the Moments

I always tend to cast a jaundiced eye towards albums in which a pop or R&B/soul star decides to redo some prime selections from the standards songbook. The misfires far outnumber the successes, often because the artist has little or no affinity for the material.

Happily, The Other Side of the Moments (1972, Stang) is one of those that does succeed, due to a combination of the group's genuine feel for the songs and the out-of-the-park arrangements by Sammy Lowe.

Lowe's roots lie in the big band era, during which he played with and arranged for the Erskine Hawkins orchestra. He would go on to arrange and conduct on one of James Brown's biggest hits, It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World (1966), and dozens of other chart singles and LPs by the likes of Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, The Tokens and Della Reese.

In 1972 came Lowe's work on The Other Side of the Moments, a New Jersey soul group who topped the R&B charts twice in the 1970s, with Love on a Two-Way Street (1970) and Look at Me (I'm in Love) (1975).

Included on the LP was Lowe's most unusual arrangement of Blues in the Night, composed in 1941 by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. The MP3 is sourced from the original LP.

Blues in the Night



The Other Side of the Moments can be had as a download from iTunes and other sources. The album has received two releases on CD, the easiest of which to obtain is a 2006 release from the Collectables label that pairs it with another Moments release, My Thing. Reasonably priced copies are available in the Amazon Marketplace.

Here's one of The Moments' chart-topping hits.

Shelly Manne & His Men - Checkmate

The TV series Checkmate ran for 70 episodes on CBS from 1960-62, with Anthony George and Doug McClure playing the owners of a San Francisco detective agency, Checkmate Inc. They were aided by a criminologist portrayed by Sebastian Cabot.

The complete series was released on DVD in 2010, but with prices hovering in the $50 range I'd probably think twice about parting with my cash. I suspect it would make pretty tame (boring) viewing today.

Nonetheless Checkmate featured a fine jazz-tinged score by young composer Johnny Williams, who as the more mature-sounding John Williams would go on to write the scores for Star Wars, Superman, the Harry Potter films and other blockbusters.

Among the musicians appearing on the soundtrack of Checkmate was drummer Shelly Manne (1920-1984), a veteran of the West Coast jazz, studio and soundtrack scene. He was already the go-to guy for Henry Mancini and had performed on his classic TV scores for Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky.

Manne also turned out his own version of the Peter Gunn score for the Contemporary label in 1959. The group was billed as Shelly Manne and His Men, a moniker that was also applied when the drummer turned his attention to the Checkmate score, again for Contemporary, in 1962. The other members of the group were tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca, trumpeter Conte Condoli, Chuck Berghofer on bass and Russ Freeman on piano. The LP contained a wonderful ballad, Fireside Eyes.

Fireside Eyes



Shelly Manne's Checkmate was available briefly on CD via a 2002 release on Original Jazz Classics. A copy now will set you back $40-50. There is a download available from iTunes in some countries but its origin is highly suspect.

To close, Manne and his men tackle the title theme from Checkmate.

R. Frechette - Sexy Sax

What can I tell you about R. Frechette? Not much, except that his first name was Roger, he played sax and was from Quebec. Perhaps the name is a pseudonym.

In any case there were half a dozen albums credited to R. or Roger Frechette in the 1960s and '70s. Among them were three volumes of Sexy Sax, all with cheesecake covers, issued by Franco FD Inc., a Montreal company. The first volume is pictured above. Some of the tracks had been issued earlier on LPs on the Trans-Canada Royal label.

The packaging of the LPs, and the music therein, were obviously aimed at the people who bought the seemingly never-ending series of albums by Italian saxophonists Fausto Papetti and Gil Ventura, which were quite popular in Canada, particularly in Quebec.

All that aside there's some great light jazz on the first Sexy Sax LP. Martha features some interesting guitar work and solos from both the sax and trumpet. None of the musicians are credited.

Martha



None of the Frechette tracks appear to have made it into a digital format although it's possible they may have been repackaged under another name.