Gene Krupa - Gene Krupa and His Sidekicks

This collection of Gene Krupa tracks, featuring some of the famous sidemen who appeared with the drummer-bandleader's orchestra, was first issued by Columbia in 1955. The LP cover looked like this:

The cover pictured at the beginning of this post is from a 1974 reissue. Among those featured on the album are Benny Carter, Anita O'Day, Helen Ward and Gerry Mulligan. Mulligan is spotlighted on How High the Moon, but as an arranger not a soloist. This arrangement, Mulligan's first for Krupa's band, was recorded in 1946. Featured soloists are Charley Kennedy on alto sax and Red Rodney on trumpet.



There has been no CD release for Gene Krupa's Sidekicks and the couple of download versions that are available are of the dubious European out-of-copyright variety, taken from less than pristine vinyl, no doubt. Far better to look for a good copy of the 1974 re-release LP, which seems generally to sell for a reasonable price.

In 1941 Krupa and his band appeared in Ball of Fire, a musical comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper in which the orchestra played Drum Boogie. I'm not sure whether the Krupa track called Ball of Fire was also used in the movie, but it was released a single on Columbia's Okeh label around the same time. Roy Eldridge is the trumpet soloist.

Joe Morello - It's About Time

Drummer Joe Morello's first album under his own name carries the fitting title It's About Time (RCA Victor, 1962). Morello of course held the drum chair in the Dave Brubeck Quartet from 1956 to '67 and this LP was released just after Brubeck reached the peak of his popularity with the hit single Take Five.

Brubeck's group was known for playing in somewhat unorthodox time signatures and there's some of that on Morello's LP as well. But this sextet effort (there's a big band on a few cuts) seems looser than a lot of Brubeck's output of the period. Alto saxophonist Phil Woods, who sounds a bit like the Brubeck quartet's Paul Desmond on some cuts, and Gary Burton on vibes get much of the solo space. Also on the date are pianist John Bunch and bassist Gene Cherco.

Here's a sample track.

Time After Time



Most of the cuts on It's About Time turned up in 1989 on an RCA/Bluebird CD titled simply Joe Morello.

It's long out of print and commanding prices of $40 to $100 and up on Amazon and eBay. I did see one reasonably priced copy on Groove Collector, a long-established European site.

There doesn't seem to be a legal download version of the It's About Time tracks, so here's another sample.

Paul Humphrey - Humphrey's Overture (single)

It's not surprising that this single from Detroit drummer Paul Humphrey has one foot in the disco camp, since it's from the soundtrack of a 1974 blaxploitation flick, Black Fist, in which star Richard Lawson plays a streetfighter who goes to work for a gangster.

Philip Michael Thomas (Miami Vice) and Dabney Coleman are the most recognizable names in the cast, which also includes Edward James Olmos making his screen debut.

Although the film came out in '74 the soundtrack album, featuring disco and funk tracks from various artists, wasn't released until 1977.

Paul Humphrey's contribution was also released as a single (b/w Bionic Salsa).

Humphrey's Overture



Neither the Black Fist soundtrack nor any of Paul Humphrey's recordings, including his 1971 hit Cool Aid (credited to Paul Humphrey and the Cool Aid Chemists), are available as downloads, despite what iTunes may think. That site has managed to confuse the drummer with a Toronto-based singer of the same name. The Paul Humphrey and Cool Aid Chemists album (1971) is available on a Japanese CD, but prices start at about $30.

So, in the meantime here's Cool Aid.

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.

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.

Dino, Desi & Billy - Desi's Drums (track)

The pre-bubblegum pop trio of Dino, Desi & Billy got into the Top 30 twice in 1965 (I'm a Fool and Not the Lovin' Kind) on very little talent and lots of connections. Dino was the son of Dean Martin and Desi the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. Billy Hinsche completed the trio, who had just entered their teens when they began recording for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label.

All three supposedly played instruments, but almost without exception the band on their recordings was made up of top Los Angeles session men like guitarist James Burton, pianist Don Randi and drummer Hal Blaine. Notice I said "almost without exception." Desi, the "drummer" of the group, apparently did the honours on Desi's Drums, which I believe is the group's only instrumental and appeared on their second album, Our Time's Coming (1966). When you hear it, you'll realize why producer Lee Hazelwood chose to use Blaine on the rest of the tracks. Burton does his best to cover the holes with some hot guitar licks, but it's all for naught. The kindest way to describe this would be chaotic but energetic. For diehard instrumental collectors and Dino, Desi & Billy fans only.

Desi's Drums



Dino, Desi & Billy never entered the Top 40 again after 1965 and their career was finished by the end of the decade.

For those of you who must have some of their bland vocal pop the Collectables label combined Our Time's Coming with the trio's first album I'm a Fool on a single CD in 2005. It's still available, as is a download version.

Here's a sample of what you'll hear if you buy this album.