Two original Jazz LPs converted to one CD:-
Robert WRIGHT (1914-2005)
and George FORREST (1915-1999)
KEAN
– A jazz version of the Broadway Musical
Sweet Danger
[3.38]
Chime In!
[3.34]
Penny Plain
[4.15]
To Look Upon My Love
[5.12]
The Fog and the Grog
[3.47]
Elena
[4.29]
Inevitable
[4.32]
Willow, Willow, Willow
[4.18]
Riverside Jazz Stars: Blue Mitchell (tp),Clark Terry (tp, flgh), Ernie Royal (tp), Julius Watkins (Frh),George Dorsey (ah), Jimmy Heath (ts), Arthur “Babe”
Clarke (bar), Bobby Timmons (p), Ron Carter (b), Albert “Tootie” Heath (d),
(rec October and November 1961 and issued originally on Riverside RLP 9397 stereo)
THE SOUL OF HOLLYWOOD
Never on Sunday
(Manos Hajidakis) [2.45]
Maria
(Leonard Bernstein) [2.47]
Tara’s Theme
(Max Steiner) [3.57]
Fanny
(Harold Rome) [3.58]
On Green Dolphin Street
(Bronislau Kaper) [2.34]
One-Eyed Jack
(Hugo Friedhofer) [2.29]
Exodus
(Ernest Gold) [2.25]
Invitation
(Bronislau Kaper) [4.00]
The Apartment
(Williams-Moran) [3.32
Spellbound
(Miklos Rozsa) [3.28]
Junior Mance Piano and Orchestra
(recorded in October and December 1961 and January 1962 and issued originally on Jazzland JLP 963 stereo)
FRESH SOUND RECORDS FSR-CD 828
I will confess, immediately, my ignorance of the musical Kean which apparently was based on the career of the great early 19th century
Shakespearean actor focussing mainly on his tempestuous love life. It opened on Broadway in early November 1961 and after 92 performances ended its run of
less than three months. Maybe such a short run inhibited further productions including perhaps a London run. Nevertheless Google informs me that “Anoriginal cast recording was released by Columbia Records. This album is one of the most valuable original cast
albums because of its scarcity.”
So, I must comment on music I scarcely know and on jazz arrangements played here by highly talented musicians delivering a tuneful, mightily swinging,
thoroughly enjoyable concert. What more need I say.
The other half of this double bill had instant appeal to me as the Founder Editor of Film Music on the Web. These arrangements, it should be said,
are idiosyncratic so anyone expecting slavishly emulated performances of the original conceptions of much loved movie themes will be disappointed.
Pianist, Junior Mance, was a member of several notable jazz groups (Dizzie Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley etc.) before forming his own highly successful
trio. Arranger Melba Liston first shone as a trombonist in orchestras led by Gillespie and Quincy Jones. She has suited the makeup of this orchestra to fit
the needs of the specific film themes. Just to mention a few here: Exodus still retains a basically noble and heroic mood, Max Steiner’s ‘Tara’s
Theme’ from Gone With the Wind manages to retain all its epic sweep and its romantic intensity and its intimacy while the immoral morality tale
that was The Apartment has an added raciness and tenderness through Melba Liston shrewd vision. Even the sacrosanct Brahms Third Symphony
sounds fresh and entrancing (Well, after all it was once used as the popular song, ‘(You’re) The Song Angels Sing’ in the film Goodbye Again.).
An entertaining album.
Ian Lace
CD Reviews
FRESH SOUND RECORDS FSR-CD 828
