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.