Bobby Munro - Piano Country

Canadian pianist Bobby Munro was a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, and was active on the country scene in his native land in the 1960s and '70s. He backed many Canadian country artists including Dick Nolan, Myrna Lorrie and the group Eastwind.

Soon after Piano Country came out in 1974 the company that issued it, Marathon Music, went bankrupt and was sold to another Canadian company, Boot Records. Other than the fact that he apparently played some gigs in Hawaii, I could find no more information about Mr. Munro.

Among the tracks on Piano Country was Truck Stop, which had been a minor hit for Nashville pianist Jerry Smith in 1969. Munro has a more robust approach to the tune, which you can listen to below.

Truck Stop



All the tracks from the 1974 LP, plus 12 more, are included on a Piano Country CD, apparently available only from the Canadian mail order firm Country Music Treasures.com.

To conclude, here's Jerry Smith playing the original version of Truck Stop.

Uncredited Artist (Longines Symphonette) - Hawaii...Melodies from Paradise

No matter what you might think of the product put out by those mail order record companies like Reader's Digest and Longines Symphonette in the 1960s and '70s, there's no denying they usually took extreme care with the technical quality of their LPs.

Happily this five-record box set, probably from the early to mid-1970s, is no exception. Hawaii...Melodies from Paradise is, at least for me, an enjoyable experience from both technical and musical standpoints. Granted this isn't authentic Hawaiian music and probably was recorded in the mainland U.S. or perhaps in the United Kingdom, where much of the Longines product originated. (For some background on Longines Symphonette, read this post and this one as well.)

A melodic steel guitar lead is framed by muted brass on many of the selections -- to excellent effect. Here's a sample.

Blue Hawaii



Most people associate Blue Hawaii as the title tune for the 1961 Elvis Presley film, but it was actually written for a 1937 movie, Waikiki Wedding, starring Bing Crosby, who sang it backed by Lani McIntyre and His Hawaiians, a genuine Hawaiian musical group. Here's how it sounded.

And if you're interested in the Hawaii...Melodies from Paradise set watch your local thrift stores. It seems to turn up in playable condition fairly often.

Kai Winding - Esto es Felicidad (Let's Do It) (track)

Esto es Felicidad (Let's Do It) by trombonist Kai Winding (1922-1983) is taken from a 1962 MGM LP, Anatomy of Dancing: The Latin Mood. Anatomy of Dancing was sold as a three-album set, although the LPs also appeared to have been marketed individually.

Winding contributed two tracks to The Latin Mood, with the rest by Charles Foxx and his orchestra. Esto es Felicidad first appeared on the trombonist's 1961 Verve LP Kai Ole. Verve was then owned by MGM.

Winding was very much in a pop-jazz mode on many of his Verve recordings and had a sizeable hit with More, the theme from the film Mondo Cane.

Here's that tune from The Latin Mood.

Esto es Felicidad (Let's Do It)



None of the contents of Kai Ole or Anatomy of Dancing: The Latin Mood appear to have made the transition to a digital format, so grab the sample track.

Tommy Tedesco Trio - Carnival Time (2nd post)

"Tommy Tedesco was billed as the most recorded guitarist in history and he certainly seemed to live up to his reputation with his thousands of sessions in almost every conceivable style of music." So began my original post on this album back in July 2012.

The claim may very well be true, although at this stage it's impossible to verify. It's unbelievable that little if any of this marvelous musician's solo work is available in a digital format. All of his jazz CDs are out of print, with only his last (Tedesco died in 1997), Fine-Fretted Friend, available at a reasonable price. Tedesco's one solo album that was available as a download, Hollywood Gypsy, has now been discontinued.

Carnival Time (1983), a sparkling three-guitar album also featuring Jim Bruno and Jon Kurnick, was recorded live at the Musicians' Institute in Los Angeles. Here's a sample track taken from a cassette version of the album.

Lo Yisa Goy



For more details on Tommy Tedesco and this album read the previous post.

In 1965 Imperial Records released The Guitars of Tom Tedesco, a Latin-flavoured jazz album in which the guitarist is accompanied by pianist Pete Jolly's trio. Here's a sample.

Rusty Bryant - Fire Eater (45 single)

The tenor saxophone of Rusty Bryant (1929-1991) graced some fine soul-jazz albums for Prestige in the late 1960s and early '70s. He'd come up through the rhythm-and-blues ranks in the '50s, recording several sessions that were issued on Dot. Among the tunes recorded was a frantic version of Night Train that was re-titled All Nite Long and became something of a jukebox hit.

But ... back to those Prestige recordings. Fire Eater was the title tune of a 1971 album that included Wilbert Longmire on guitar, Leon Spencer and Bill Mason alternating on organ and Idris Muhammad on drums.

For jazz DJs Prestige issued a single, Fire Eater/The Hooker, with severely truncated versions of those album tracks -- three minutes as opposed to about nine minutes on the LP. Here's the Fire Eater single. Mason is the organist on this track.

Fire Eater



Fire Eater and another Rusty Bryant album from 1971, Wildfire, were combined on a 1991 Prestige CD, Legends of Acid Jazz, Vol. 2. You'll have no trouble scoring a copy of this as cheap copies (some for less than $5) abound online.

From YouTube here's a sample of Bryant's hard driving R&B style from 1956.

Jørgen Ingmann - Danish Guitar Ace (2nd post)

Regular readers of this blog will already have been introduced to Danish Guitar Ace, a deluxe four-CD box set, with book, covering the career of Jørgen Ingmann. For those of you who missed the earlier post, it's here. It has all the background on this very worthwhile, but difficult to find, set for lovers of Les Paul-style guitar.

Danish Guitar Ace included a peppy little tune called Trudie, which made its first appearance on a Metronome single in Denmark in 1958. It was a cover version of a hit that year by British musician Joe "Mr. Piano" Henderson. His single went to No. 14 on the U.K. chart and the sheet music for the tune, which Henderson wrote, was a top seller as well.

Below is Ingmann's version

Trudie



Interestingly the Jørgen Ingmann version of Trudie turned up in the U.S. on the flip side of a 1958 single on Disney's Buena Vista label.

As you can see the label bills the backing as by the Camarata Orchestra. Tutti Camarata was musical director for Disney at the time and he definitely wasn't involved in the original recording session for Metronome in Denmark. I can't imagine that the Buena Vista release is anything but the original Danish recording, since it came out in the same year.

Ingmann doesn't appear on the "A"side of the single, Ridin' West, which is by the Camarata Orchestra. Ridin' West was the theme for Spin and Marty, a series of short films that was used in the Mickey Mouse Club TV show.

To close, here's a sample of Ingmann's playing in the 1970s that's firmly in the easy listening camp. It's a version of Nostalgia, popularized by Belgian guitarist Francis Goya.

Billy Maxted & His Manhattan Jazz Band - Bourbon St. Billy and the Blues

Pianist and arranger Billy Maxted (1917-2001) led a top notch Dixieland group, the Manhattan Jazz Band, which he formed in the late 1940s and held together for more than a decade. He began playing with trumpeter Red Nichols's group in 1937 and during the Second World War wrote arrangements for the bands of Benny Goodman and Claude Thornhill.

But Maxted is seldom remembered today, partly because most of his recordings were for small labels like Seeco, which issued Bourbon St. Billy and the Blues in 1959. The personnel on this session included Chuck Forsyth on trumpet, Johnny Dengler, tuba, bass sax and clarinet, Lee Gifford on trombone, Dan Tracey on clarinet, Jack Fay on bass and Maurice Purtill, drums. A sample tune is below. My copy of the LP showed considerable wear and tear when it was added to my collection some years ago, so there's a bit of distortion evident.

Billy's Delight



Bourbon St. Billy and the Blues does not appear to have crossed the digital frontier to CD or downloads. In fact, only one collection of Maxted's recordings is available on CD.

Most major online merchants are selling this good quality collection of recordings made between 1955 and 1966. Choose from CD or downloads.

There are several other Maxted albums being marketed as downloads, but they are from the substandard Hallmark imprint and are not recommended.

Billy Maxted's recording of Satin Doll (it's included in the compilation album pictured above) got quite a bit of airplay after its release in 1961 and here it is from YouTube.

Emanuelle in America (soundtrack)

Emanuelle in America (1976) was the fourth in the series of Black Emanuelle soft-core films starring Laura Gemser. Although they are aimed at a similar audience these flicks are not linked to the Emmanuelle (and yes, there is a difference in spelling) films starring Sylvia Kristel.

The funky lounge score for Emanuelle in America, by Italian Nico Fidenco, offers plenty of delights of its own, not the least of which is the Emanuelle in America Theme.

Emanuelle in America Theme



The Emanuelle in America soundtrack was released on LP by Beat Records at the time of the film's release. Copies go for north of $100. There was an expanded, limited edition CD release by Beat in 2010. A few copies are for sale online for about $30-35. With prices like that I have no problem telling you that there are numerous less-than-legal sites where you can download the soundtrack.

From YouTube here's a further selection from the soundtrack.

Sounds Like Santo & Johnny No. 1

Who exactly would buy an album like this, aside from collectors of the obscure, is beyond me. Surely no one in the 1960s would have picked this up thinking they were getting the real Santo & Johnny, the duo behind the massive 1959 hit Sleepwalk.

And how does a company make money on something like this? Granted the uncredited musicians were probably paid a pittance, but those are real strings in there, so the session costs must have been fairly substantial. Then there are the costs of manufacturing and distribution. Royalty payments to composers were probably an afterthought.

In any case the results bear some resemblance to the real Santo & Johnny, and the album does have a version of Sleepwalk plus other tunes the duo recorded like Ebb Tide and Enchanted Sea.

Origins of the recording are obscure. The cassette I have is from Spain, on the Senn-Sound label, but the music appears to be licensed from a British company. The album was also released in Italy, where Santo & Johnny had a substantial following. There was a version on LP as well, but the track listing appears to have been slightly different.

The physical quality of the cassette is not the greatest and it appears to have been manufactured very cheaply, so bear that in mind when listening to the sample track, Lady Mary. I believe this is the same traditional tune recorded in the '60s by Joan Baez and The Seekers.

Lady Mary



Lady Mary and other tracks on Sounds Like Santo & Johnny No. 1 have interesting arrangements and I'd love to hear a good quality recording of the album. It apparently sold well enough because there was a No. 2, pictured in the 8-track version below. I have not heard it.

And finally, a taste of the real thing -- Santo & Johnny appearing on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall in 1959. They perform both Sleepwalk and the single's flip side, All Night Diner.

Milt Buckner - Fever (45 single)

Like many of the Hammond organ players in jazz Milt Buckner (1915-1977) began as a pianist. His penchant for rocking rhythms and boogie woogie served him well when he began using the organ in the 1950s.

Buckner, if one discounts the early pipe organ recordings of Fats Waller and the occasional forays on the organ by Count Basie, was a pioneer, along with Wild Bill Davis, in the use of the instrument in jazz. His influence extended into both jazz and rhythm-and-blues and helped pave the way for the likes of Bill Doggett, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and countless others.

Buckner recorded prolifically for Capitol, Argo, Bethlehem and Cadet in the '50s and '60s. You'll get your money's worth with any of these recordings. In my opinion Buckner never made a bad album -- and I've heard most of them.

After 1966 Buckner lived almost exclusively in Europe. He recorded a series of high-quality albums in France for the Black & Blue label.

The Bethlehem 45 of Fever (b/w Why Don't You Do Right) dates from 1963. Both sides of the single were included on the LP The New World of Milt Buckner.

Buckner is accompanied by Gene Redd on vibes, Bill Wallis on bass and Phil Paul on drums. You can listen to Fever (MP3 taken from the 45 single) below.

Fever



The New World of Milt Buckner apparently was issued on a Japanese CD earlier this year, but it doesn't appear to be available anywhere outside of Japan. The album, however, is easily obtained as a download from a variety of sources.

From YouTube here's the extended album version of Fever. It's a minute or so longer than the 45 edit -- in stereo, too.

Uncredited (Longines Symphonette Society) - The American Composers Musical Hall of Fame

The Longines Symphonette Society was a division of the "Century Old Longines-Wittnauer Watch Co., makers of 'The World's Most Honored Watch'," according to an advertising blurb of the period. In any case the society issued some very fine quality LP box sets during the 1960s and '70s. There were a number of single LP releases as well.

The Longines Symphonette recordings were sold via a mail-order subscription service and featured both well-known artists (eg., Mills Brothers, Benny Goodman) and an uncredited orchestral group that played lush instrumental versions of standards and pop hits. In other words, the company was mining the same territory as Reader's Digest and Time-Life Records.

This anonymous aggregation, which at least one source says was led by Robert Farnon at recording sessions in Britain, is aboard for the box set The American Composers Musical Hall of Fame, a tribute to Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Hoagy Carmichael and Jerome Kern. Below you can listen to Porter's True Love, from the film High Society.

True Love



Longines Symphonette also issued a single LP with selections from this set. It's difficult to say whether any of this material has been released on CD or is being sold as downloads (legal ones, that is). That's because Longines sold its record business to the Warner Music Group and the Longines recordings since the 1990s have been credited to merely the Symphonette Society (and other equally bland names) without any reference to the watch company. But Longines Symphonette vinyl recordings still turn up with surprising regularity in thrift stores and online, usually at reasonable prices.

Here's a selection from a 1974 Longines Dixieland-themed set entitled The Roaring '20s.

Ronnie Price - Bewitched (track)

Pianist Ronnie Price (1923-1996) became one of the U.K.'s most sought after session musicians after playing in dance band and jazz outfits led by Teddy Foster, Tito Burns and Sydney Lipton, among others. Later he was music director for singer Anne Shelton and played in the big band of Don Lusher.

Among the artists Price backed on record were Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby and Andy Williams. Price was amazingly versatile, playing everything from jazz to easy listening to light classics. He made numerous easy listening recordings that were included in Reader's Digest LP box sets, such as Cocktail Piano Time (1970). Bewitched is from that set.

Bewitched



Several of Ronnie Price's Reader's Digest tracks are available for download, but Bewitched isn't among them. Some of the Reader's Digest tracks were issued on a 1997 CD set called Moonlight Piano, available in the Amazon Marketplace.

And there is this CD also for sale in the Amazon Marketplace for about $12 for a used copy. It appears to be in a similar vein.

Here's a selection from The Dancing Piano of Ronnie Price, an LP issued in 1984.

Sergio Mendes & Bossa Rio - Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada! ("You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet!")

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 were all over the radio in the late '60s with hits like Mas Que Nada, Constant Rain (Chove Chuva) and Fool on the Hill. Their albums for A&M were big sellers as well.

In the late 1950s Mendes had succumbed to the lure of bossa nova in his native country, abandoning thoughts of a career as a classical pianist. Even though he was still in his teens he kept company with the likes of João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Mendes had relocated to New York by 1964, about the time Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada! ("You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet!") was released by Philips in his homeland. In North America the LP didn't appear until 1967, under the title The Beat of Brazil on Atlantic. The release came in the wake of the success of Mendes and Brazil '66.

The album wasn't a big seller in the U.S. and Canada at the time but there were numerous vinyl reissues under various titles in countries like The Netherlands and Japan. Here's a sample tune.

Ela é Carioca (She's a Carioca)



The album (under The Beat of Brazil title) is available on CD for literally pennies for a used copy in the Amazon Marketplace. The release is on the very reliable Collectables label, so you can buy with confidence.

As a download the album is being sold as both The Beat of Brazil and Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada! by iTunes and others.

From YouTube comes Primitivo, another selection from the album.

Laurens van Rooyen & Francis Goya - Concierto

I can't say that I'm usually much of a fan of the music of Dutch pianist Laurens Van Rooyen. Most of his albums, with the use of synthesizers and other electronic enhancements, seem to inhabit a nebulous area between old-fashioned easy listening and new age, without having much depth or character.

But Van Rooyen's 1987 album Concierto, a collection of pop versions of Latin classics, is enlivened by the presence of Belgian guitarist Francis Goya, who has also enhanced albums by similarly-styled pianists Richard Clayderman (France) and Richard Abel (Canada). Goya and Van Rooyen seem to bring out the best in each other as you can hear in the sample below, taken from a cassette version of the album.

La Comparsa



Concierto, which was issued on CD, vinyl and cassette, has long been out of print. It is, however, easily obtainable as a download.

Both Van Rooyen and Goya have an extensive collection of their back catalogues available as downloads. Only a few albums from each can be purchased on CD.

Here's Francis Goya performing Nostalgia, the tune that was a big hit for him in Europe in 1975 and launched his solo career. The video, uploaded to YouTube by the Francis Goya Foundation in 2012, appears to have been taken from a recent performance, although no date or venue is given.

“ The aim of the Francis Goya Foundation is to help young children and teenagers from “problem” regions and families worldwide by giving them access to art and music workshops and classes. ”