Marco Rizo- Brazilian Jazz Bossa Nova

Here we have a record of Brazilian music performed by a Cuban pianist so I am not sure where you want to classify this during our month of foreign records. I paid $3 for this Sommerset Record ( Sommerset being a budget label). I bought this in 2015, I believe.

Marco Rizo, born n Santiago de Cuba, 1920, studied music in his youth and rose to be the official pianist of the Havana Philharmonic Orquesta, under the direction of blog favorite, Ernesto Lecunoa. He moved to New York and hooked up with his childhood friend Desi Arnaz who asked him to work with his band. Arnaz later hired Rizo again to orchestrate I Love Lucy. He composed and arranged for various musicians and movies. He died in 1998 of a heart attack. He was 77.

Being a budget record, I probably did not pay much attention to this. However, after a listen, I was quite pleased with this record. In fact, I recorded every song off of here for sample consideration. The record has some standards such as “Desafindo” and “One Note Samba”. However, it is “Chit Chat” and “Chopin Geos To Rio” which get the nod. Really good stuff here and I am so sorry I waited so long to play this.

Chit Chat
Chopin Goes to Rio

Astrud Gilberto- Look To The Rainbow

We are headed back to Brazil for this Saturday in a month where were are focused on travel since we currently can not. Here is a 1966 release from Verve Record from Astrud Gilberto, one of the premier bossa-nova/ samba singers of all time. Arranged by Gil Evans, this would have been her third solo alum. I paid $2 for this , making it a steal.

Gilberto ( born Salvador, Bahia, BR 1940) had not sung professionally before when she sang on two songs on the seminal Getz/ Gilberto album ( featuring her then husband Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, and Antonio Carlos Jobim). Of those two songs, “The Girl From Ipanema” became a smash hit and cemented her singing career. Not bad right out of the gate.

Pretty good album. Actually, it is a really good album. there were many highlights as I think I recorded 3/4’s of it for sample consideration. However, it was pretty evident that I was going to go with Michel LeGrand’s “I Will Wait for You”. So we are actually going to France by the way of Brazil today.

I Will Wait For You

Al Hirt- Plays Bert Kaempfert

Here is a good album that salutes artists who are all over this blog. From 1968 / RCA/Dynagroove, we have Hirt playing Bert ( Al and Kaempfert that is). I have posted tons of records from both artists. So this, I thought, would be a good anniversary month record.. I paid $2 for this.

What else can I say about this. It is literally Al Hirt playing songs by Bert Kaempfert. If you know these guys, you should know what this is going to sound like. That said, excellent record. Normally, I would file these guys under Dixieland and German respectively. However, I feel that these guys transcended those categories.

All the big songs are here including “Danke Schoen”, A Swingin’ Safari”, and “Wonderland by Night” . However, it is “The World We Knew” that gets the top spot today.

The World We Knew

Robert Maxwell- The Harp In Hi-FI

Trying to close out this week as well as this month’s 6th anniversary as easy as possible. I jumped on this for $2 for the title alone. When I got it home, I was even more stoked to see that his was one of Robert Maxwell’s. I kind of stumbled over an earlier Maxwell record from this site which you can see here . I kind of stumbled on that in the same fashion.

From 1956 and Mercury Records, here we have Maxwell ( credited as Bobby on the front cover) and his harp which flows with ease between the exotica and the space-age pop. Really excellent record. I think I recorded the whole thing. It is amazing.

Against my better judgement, I am going to go with four samples; two written by Maxwell, ( “Ebb Tide” & Shangri-La”) and two standards, “Hindustan” and blog favorite, “Limehouse Blues”. I known I doubled “Limehouse” this month, again, against my better judgement.

Ebb Tide
Shangri La
Hindustan
Limehouse Blues

VA- The Sound Of Richard Rodgers’ Music/ Great Hits from the Great White Way

We have one of the greatest songwriters Broadway has ever seen ( or heard) on the record prepared expressly from B.F. Goodrich by RCA Victor in 1966. Of course we are talking about Richard Rodgers. I paid $1 and have had this in the on deck circle several times before pulling it for various reasons. Well today, it gets its due.

I imagine this records was culled from RCA’s catalog from artist who have previously tackled the Rodgers’ work, either with Lorenz Hart or Oscar Hammerstein. Pretty good mix of both on here and a pretty good mix of artists from John Raitt and Mary Martin to Andre Previn and Arthur Fiedler. we have both instrumental and vocal tracks on this effort.

For samples I went with Peter Nero and “Mountain Greenery” from 1926’s Garrick Gaieties revue. I also went with “Bewitched” from Pal Joey and the great Lena Horne. Both tracks were Hot numbers for the record.

Mountain Greenery
Bewitched

Nancy Wilson- From Broadway With Love

We have been celebrating the 6 year anniversary of this blog with familiar faces but we are taking it a step further with a salute to Broadway this week. Or more proper, a salute to Broadway albums from established stars, most of which are Blog regulars. Let’s kick things off with this 1966 Capitol/ EMI release from Nancy Wilson. I paid $2 for this

This is an excellent album of Broadway tunes from Wilson, with arrangement by Sid Feller. I really like the mix of songs and the fact that there were some from plays I did not know. I mean you had “Hey There” from Pajama Game, “Somewhere” from West Side Story, and “Hello Dolly” but on the other hand you had works from The Roar of The Greasepaint The Smell Of The Crowd, Whoopie, and High Spirts among others. I liked that there were no repeats of songwriters.

Well for a sample, we went with Greasepaint and “This Dream”.

This Dream

The Last of the Red Hot Mamas- In Concert at The Tulsa Spotlight Theater

Based on the cover alone, there was no way I was turning down the $2 to buy this independently produced from what I think was 1972. I could not find much on line about this group other. Apparently, this was group of female musicians named after a Sophie Tucker song from the Tulsa, OK area who played events and dinner parties. The group consisted of Glenna Morgan ( who got the most press on the back cover as well as sat in with Al Hirt’s band) on the trumpet, school music teacher Marna McKinney ( who passed away in 2000 at age 87 , was a tremendous piano player and came from musical family, former Texan Bette Taylor on trombone, and Chicagoan Eve Dundee on drums. Dundee began playing music professionally in 1926. As the drummer, I wondered if the other band members made fun of her.

I found this records quite enjoyable. Pretty much what you would expect it to sound like by looking at the back cover. For a sample, I went with the medley of ” I’ll Take Care/ Lazy River/ Limehouse Blues” as I thought it best showcased all the talents in one piece. Also, as we are highlighting blog favorites, I went with what I think is the most sampled song on the blog, “Caravan”.

Medley
Caravan

Pete Fountain- Make Your Own Kind Of Music

Welcome to the anniversary month of Donkey Show. The sixth to be exact. We are hitting it this month with a lot of artists who tend to show up frequently on this blog ( or perhaps did at one point). Let’s start it off with this oddity from one of the legends of New Orleans’ jazz, Pete Fountain. I paid $6 for this 1969 release from Coral, a subsidiarity of MCA.

What is the future of the Show, you might ask, after 6 years. Well, not great. I unfortunately, sort of see an end of the tunnel for this. Not because I don’t like doing it but because I am kind of running out of space in my apartment and I feel right now I am too close to the edge of living like a hoarder. Also, I quit my favorite part of this blog, which was shopping for records. The need for this was made apparent when I went out earlier this year looking for Irish Records for last month, only to come back home each time with 30 records that were not Irish. Why not get rid of some records, you may ask? Well, I just can’t do that ( yet). Regardless, fret not as I have at least enough record on hand to last another year, maybe more. And if recent history taught me anything, things can change between that time.

So one to this , which for Fountain comes off as a novelty of sorts as the cover would imply. Fountain covers 11 modern tracks which deviate from his normal Dixie land routine. At first listen, I was not really that all impressed mainly because the sound quality. However, after I got a new record player last week ( I got tired of having to replace the needle on the old one every 6 months), I was able to enjoy it a bit more. It is one of those records that most likely had a hard time finding an audience between the Fountain Dixie Land purists and the modern listener in 1969 but I will give it an E for effort.

With the songs arranged by The Dank-man Bud Dant, Fountain tackles Burt Bacharach, Rod McKuen, Neil Diamond , and John Denver among others. However, for a sample, I went with a song that is also featured heavily on this site, Bob Crewe’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. I think my love affair with this song stems from hearing it played by a cover band in a bar in Twickenham in 2001. The crowd all joined in with the chorus.

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You

Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra- My Way Of Life

Typically March is for country and Irish records but I did note that there would be one expectation and that is this, which I am playing for my Birthday, which is today. As of this writing, I am unsure what I am doing today or what is allowable so hopefully, I can do something tonight as I would hate to waste a Friday birthday. Regardless, here is a record I have been looking for for sometime, Bert Kaempfert’s recording of the classic “My Way Of Life”. Half Price Books in Webster must have known this had some value as I paid $8 for this. five years ago, it would have been $1 or $3 at the most.

From Decca Records, in 1968, this record features not only this seminal song plus 11 more instrumentals. Very heavy on fox trots ( nine of the twelve tracks). Regardless, very good album.

For a sample, I am going with the title track, which is why I bought this in the first place.

I am still looking for the Enoch Light version, but for the time being, I will gladly make do with this. Happy Birthday to me.

My Way Of Life

The Longines Symphonette Presents Dixieland Jazz From The Terrific Twenties

Here is a record I got for $2 due to the quality of work from the Longines Symphonette Recording Society, an educational service of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company. Not sure when this came out. I bought this in 2019 when everybody was comparing the upcoming decades to the Roaring Twenties of a century past. Well, if Covid did anything positive, it got people off that train.

All the heavyweights are here including :South Rampart Street Parade”, “When The Saint’s Go Marching In”, “Tiger Rag”, and “The Darktown Strutter’s Ball”. Reminds me of how I was first exposed to Dixie Land music. Can remember if I posted this or not.

I decided to try something new for a sample so here is “The Wang Wang Blues”.

The Wand Wang Blues