The George Shearing Quintet-Rare Form!

Keeping it quite familiar this week with a record I bought this year for a dollar.  Despite having one of my favorite songs, “Sunny” on it, I bought this mainly because it was a dollar.  I don’t see ,any dollar records anymore.

This record was recorded by the George Shearing Quintet between two nights in 1963 at San Francisco’s Black Hawk Club (that is two Black Hawk references in two days for those keeping score).  It was released three years later in 1966 on Capitol Records.  Pretty good collection of songs and a pretty good performance.  The quintet at this time included Vernal Fournier on drums, Gary Burton on vibes, Gee Cherico on bass, Ronald Anthony on guitar, and Armando Peraza on latin percussion.  The album is mostly Broadway standards with two original Shearing numbers.

I enjoyed most if not all of this record but for a sample, I went with Doug Marsh’s “Why Not”.  The more Shearing albums I listen to. the more I appreciate the man’s work.  Satisfactory.

Maxwell Davis- The Compositions of Lionel Hampton and Others…

I bought this because I failed to properly read the front cover other than the being one dollar part.  I saw Lionel Hampton and the price and just picked it up.  When I got home, upon closer inspection, I saw it was a budget record.  That is how they get you.

Here is a record from 1959 on Crown Records, featuring songs written by vibe legend, Lionel Hampton. Theses songs were arranged and conducted by Maxwell Davis, the R&B saxophonist who was the musical director of the label’s parent, Modern Records.

Decent idea for a record I suppose and despite being a cover record, the tunes are okay.  In respect to Hampton, the album does feature a lot of vibes.

One strike against this record however was that it was in horrible condition.  Almost every track skipped.  So for a sample I went with the track that skipped the least which was “Airmail Special”, which was one of the tunes from the “and others”.  Written by Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, and James Mundy, the tune was a popular hit for Ella Fitzgerald. When you listen to it, remember I said that it skipped the least.

Was I disappointed that this was not Hampton.  Yes, but for a dollar, this is not bad and pretty true to the composer’s intent if memory serves me well. Satisfactory.

Baja Marimba Band- Heads Up

Well, finishing this anniversary month with this effort.  I am sure Herb Alpert would have been a more fitting choice, but as I do not have anymore of his albums, here is the next best thing.  This was $1.  I got it for “Georgy Girl”.

I didn’t realize it until I wrote this post, but this month’s selections are rather vibe heavy.  Well, no turning back at this point.  Released in 1967, this would have been the band’s fifth album.  It is a decent collection of songs. led by marimba-ist Julius Wechter. A decent enough track list although it has one of the more tepid versions of “Temptation” on it.

For a sample, I went with the song I liked the most, “The Cry of the Wild Goose” although it sounds very derivative of “Ghost Riders in the Sky” which was presented on an earlier post from this band. I also decided to go with “Georgy Girl” as well since it was the reason I bought this record.

Satisfactory record.  Thank you for joining me this month for what has been this blog’s second anniversary.

Arthur Lyman- Cotton Fields

DSC_0115_5effafb9-bc61-4f58-91f3-3273292e17c8_largeHey, I am one year old today.  What started as posting pictures of records I purchased cheap on Facebook tuned into an outlet to channel time while I was between jobs which turned  into a labor of love and then for awhile, just a labor, but there is still enough love (or should I say enough records) for me to continue.  During this year, I have been exposed to a few albums, songs, and artists which have greatly changed how I feel about music. There has been a lot of crap as well.  And then mostly just middle ground that really appeals to no one. Kind of like this picture:Happy-Birthday-15

In celebration of the anniversary, I found a list of alternate names I had for the blog.  Can you guess where they came from?  Answers at the bottom of the page.

  1. Every Dragging Hand Clap

2. Bubba Zanetti

3. Pray for Mojo

4. Hot Ashes for Trees

5. Going Down the Sugar Tree

6. Tralala

7. Geek, Dweeb, or Spazz

arthur lyman

I picked a special record for this post, vibraphonist/ marimba player Arthur Lyman’s Cotton Fields.  There are three big figures in the world of Exotica; Martin Denny, Les Baxter, and Lyman.  Born in 1932 on the island of Oahu, Lyman got his start playing with Denny in the early days.  According to Lyman, it was he who originated the bird call sounds. Lyman would split to form his own band after the success of Denny’s Quiet Village.  Wikipedia says the two remained friendly rivals, but after hearing some interviews with Denny, I get the impression that he was a bit sore at first when Lyman left.  Lyman formed his own band taking the music a bit out a bit further than Denny. Lyman would pass in 2002.

Lyman Link

This album came out in 1963 and may have been his 13th.  It is pretty good.  The trademark bird calls are on some songs but not many.  The album does contain four of my favorite songs but I can only post two so sorry “Cotton Fields” and theme from “Walk on the Wild Side”.DSCN4252

Thus for samples, here is “Brazil” and “Hawaiian War Chant”.arthur lyman album cover

Top Rated album for sure. BTW, it was $3.00 at a record show.

 

Answers to quiz above:

  1. Lyric from the Clash’s “Death or Glory”

2. Blond haired, second in command villain in the original Mad Max movie. The hierarchy, I believe would be The Knight Rider, Toecutter, and then Bubba Zanetti. *(As a further side point,  I have always felt that Humungus from the second movie was a grizzled and jaded Fifi from the first.  Discuss.)

3. A quote from the Simpsons where Homer gets a helper monkey named Mojo.

4. Lyric from Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”.

5. A line from an awful poem written by John C. Reilly’s character in Boogie Nights.

6. A chapter based on an ill-fated character from H. Selby’s book, Last Exit to Brooklyn.

7. Name of a game show on Saturday Night Live during the Sandler/Spade era.  Emilio Estevez was the host of the episode.  Contestants were popular high school kids who would guess if their classmate was a geek, dweeb, or spazz.  David Spade played a spazz. It was swww-eeeeet.