Chris Connor - I Miss You So

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:19
Size: 72,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:28)  1. I Miss You So
(2:56)  2. Go Away From My Window
(2:19)  3. Trust In Me
(2:41)  4. Past The Age Of Inocence
(2:45)  5. Time Out For Tears
(2:41)  6. I Love You Yes I Do
(2:23)  7. My Heart Is Full Of You
(2:28)  8. My Ideal
(2:53)  9. Mixed Emotions
(2:21) 10. They All Laughed
(2:39) 11. Speak Low
(2:41) 12. Radar Blues

Chris Connor was in her musical prime during the 1950s, but this long-out-of-print LP was a misfire. Essentially a middle-of-the-road pop date, Connor is backed by a string orchestra with voices arranged by Ray Ellis. The jazz content is quite low, even on "My Ideal" and "Speak Low"; only "They All Laughed" swings much. Most of the other numbers were current pop tunes that have been mostly forgotten in the decades since. All of the dozen songs are under three minutes long, and Connor never really gets away from the generally weak melodies. 

A rather forgettable effort, weighed down by Ellis' dull arrangements and a distracting vocal group. In 2001, I Miss You So was reissued on CD as part of the two-fer I Miss You So/Witchcraft. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-miss-you-so-mw0000883696

I Miss You So

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Bing Crosby - Bing Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook

Styles: Vocal, American Popular Song, Swing
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:40
Size: 142,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:10)  1. P.S. I Love You - 1934 Version
(2:39)  2. I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande) - Single Version
(3:06)  3. Too Marvelous For Words - Single Version
(2:54)  4. You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby - Single Version
(2:12)  5. Day In, Day Out
(3:00)  6. I Thought About You
(2:40)  7. Mister Meadowlark
(2:56)  8. Skylark
(3:12)  9. Blues In The Night
(2:47) 10. That Old Black Magic
(3:12) 11. On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe - Single Version
(2:41) 12. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive - Single Version
(2:56) 13. Lazy Bones
(2:49) 14. Autumn Leaves
(2:01) 15. In The Cool Cool Cool Of The Evening
(3:34) 16. Jamboree Jones
(3:06) 17. When The World Was Young (Ah, The Apple Trees)
(2:48) 18. Glow Worm
(2:01) 19. Jeepers Creepers
(3:20) 20. And the Angels Sing
(1:59) 21. Something's Gotta Give
(3:26) 22. P.S. I Love You - 1953 Version

Bing Crosby was a media superstar during the first half of the 20th century. He was the best-selling recording artist of all time until the rock era hit, having sold over a half-billion records, and he was a movie star, too, the biggest box office draw of the 1940s. None of this would have been possible if he couldn't sing, but he could, defining the very template of a crooner, and his vocal style, warm and natural, was influential everywhere. Crosby had a particular fondness for songs by Johnny Mercer, his friend and frequent collaborator, and he tracked 100 or so of them during his long career. 

This generous set collects 22 of these recordings on a single disc, including several previously unreleased radio performances, and fun duets with the Andrews Sisters, Louis Armstrong, and Mercer himself, among other valuable archival gems. ~ Steve Leggett https://www.allmusic.com/album/bing-sings-the-johnny-mercer-songbook-mw0002570937

Bing Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook

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Tex Beneke - 1946 Live In Hi-Fi At The Hollywood Palladium

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 1946/2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:06
Size: 126,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:02)  1. Introduction / Jeep Jockey Jump
(3:30)  2. Falling Leaves
(3:13)  3. A String Of Pearls
(2:44)  4. Here We Go Again
(2:37)  5. Sun Valley Jump
(2:43)  6. Troop Movement
(3:22)  7. Juke Box Saturday Night
(3:53)  8. Anvil Chorus
(3:08)  9. The Volga Boatmen
(3:13) 10. Serenade In Blue
(5:02) 11. Meadowlands
(3:17) 12. Tuxedo Junction
(3:17) 13. St. Louis Blues
(3:20) 14. American Patrol
(3:00) 15. Texas Tex
(3:36) 16. I Hear You Screamin' / Closing

1946 Live in Hi-Fi at the Hollywood Palladium features some fine broadcast remotes from the post-war Glenn Miller Orchestra when it was being fronted by Tex Beneke. Tex was not the first leader to pilot the Miller organization after the major disappeared forever over the English Channel; Jerry Gray performed the unenviable task of filling the big man's shoes in Miller's AEF Band while it was still overseas. When Gray obtained his honorary discharge in November 1945 he decided to take a well-deserved break from the strain of being Glenn Miller's stand-in. Miller's widow, Helen, contacted Beneke, himself only recently discharged from a stint leading a Navy dance band at the unlikely location of Norman, OK, and asked him to take up the job of leading a new Miller "civilian" orchestra. Beneke was an interesting choice; Miller himself had fired him from the civilian orchestra on July 12, 1942. But of all the star soloists and singers who'd appeared with Miller over the years, it was clear that Beneke was the one the public recognized and cherished the most. So in January 1946, the new Glenn Miller Orchestra opened with Beneke at its head, and he would stay in this job through the end of 1949 when he finally decided he was fed up with the Miller Orchestra's management and their policy not to update or change anything about the band's sound. The Hollywood Palladium was one of the Beneke-Miller band's friendliest venues; they first played there on September 5, 1946. In what may have been the last blast of the big-band era, a December 1947 Beneke-Miller show at the Palladium drew a record crowd of more than 6,000 souls. Many of Beneke's appearances with the new Glenn Miller Orchestras of the late '40s were broadcast as remotes on the CBS network. 

These broadcasts have never been properly accounted for or identified, but they seem to survive in great numbers, and have been parceled out in bits and pieces over the years on LPs and through dissemination on tapes in the Old Time Radio underground. This disc claims to represent "the band's first engagement at the Hollywood Palladium in 1946," but it is obviously drawn from at least six or seven remotes, and it is impossible to tell if they are all from the Hollywood Palladium or even all from the year 1946. If some are, then the pianist in the band was 22-year-old Henry Mancini, although the only evidence of his presence is a little piano tinkling heard here and there in quiet passages. Nonetheless this is a choice selection of Beneke-Miller goodies, most played with real verve and fire with only a couple of exceptions, for example a tentative reading of "Tuxedo Junction." Standout tracks include great, swinging performances of "St. Louis Blues March" and rarities such as "Jeep Jockey Jump" and "Troop Movement." The broadcasts used here probably are pretty early due to the heavy reliance on numbers written for the band's book by Jerry Gray. "Meadowlands" is identical to the piece recorded as "Russian Patrol" on the last-known broadcast done by the Miller AEF Band during Miller's own lifetime, on that occasion led by Gray. The sound here varies from source to source, but generally is very good for broadcasts of the period, though not quite "Hi-Fi" as promised on the front cover. There are little bits and pieces missing here and there from certain tracks, perhaps due to imperfections in the sources, but just as likely the result of over-eager "tic" removal. The whole ending of "Falling Leaves" is swallowed up for some reason. About a minute's worth of "Moonlight Serenade" is heard at the end of the disc, but mention of it appears nowhere in the notes. Despite these admittedly minor complaints, 1946 Live in Hi-Fi at the Hollywood Palladium is well worth seeking out, and is a pleasing general representation of the live sound of the immediate post-war Glenn Miller band. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis https://www.allmusic.com/album/1946-live-in-hi-fi-at-the-hollywood-palladium-mw0000055438

1946 Live In Hi-Fi At The Hollywood Palladium

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Grachan Moncur III Octet - Exploration

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:04
Size: 124,7 MB
Art: Front

(8:11)  1. Exploration
(5:26)  2. Monk In Wonderland
(8:48)  3. Love And Hate
(9:54)  4. New Africa
(7:34)  5. When?
(6:59)  6. Frankenstein
(2:55)  7. Excursion
(4:13)  8. Sonny's Back!

Ralph Ellison once wrote a great essay in which he seemed to predict jazz's ultimate dependence on a music industry driven (and subsidized) by a star system. The irony, Ellison suggested, is that jazz is largely created by anonymous musicians, who because they are "devoted to an art which traditionally thrives on improvisation [...] very often have their most original ideas enter the public domain almost as rapidly as they are conceived to be quickly absorbed into the thought and technique of their fellows." There is a bittersweet implication here as if it's somehow nobler to be an unknown, poverty-stricken musician, and as if becoming a jazz celebrity inevitably involves selling out. But I don't know if you could convince trombonist and composer Grachan Moncur of either of these propositions. Though he may agree that the star system is a horrible invention, he recently had the opportunity to reestablish his own reputation, and I can almost hear him thanking [insert the deity of your choice here] for that. After all, until this chance came along, Moncur was coming very close to total obscurity and from what I can tell, he wasn't enjoying it, materially or philosophically. In the '60s, he had been a participant and leader in several stellar Blue Note sessions (now collected on a Mosaic box set), but he more or less hadn't been heard from again until, well, last year. Why? It could be that his (smart) impulse to control his own publishing rights got him blacklisted by the Blue Note big wigs. Or maybe that blacklisting had something to do with his turn toward the avant-garde. Or perhaps it was something else altogether something even more painful (see Fred Jung's AAJ interview with Moncur for several moving allusions). 

In any case, here at last is one of the rewards of a jazz culture that has become downright curatorial in recent years (a fact sometimes too-quickly decried by those of us who prefer our music in the clubs): at least we're starting to value the contributions of lesser-known veterans. To be sure, Moncur's new album, Exploration, is markedly different from his '60s output. Here, he is dealing with a much larger ensemble (an octet featuring such varied personages as Gary Smulyan, Billy Harper, and Andrew Cyrille), for which Mark Masters' compelling, dense arrangements are perfectly suited. True to its name, Exploration is not a simple repackaging of Moncur's work, but, rather, a sincere statement of artistic growth (a noble thing any age, but particularly when you're in your late 60s). A brief summary: "New Africa" is a gorgeous suite whose creation was apparently assisted by Moncur's wife, Tamam. "Sonny's Back" weighs in on the "almost-bop" side of things and is named after Moncur's friend, Sonny Rollins. And speaking of friends in high places, Moncur's signature tune ("Monk in Wonderland") is named after another fellow traveler (you-know-who), who I suspect is his biggest influence. (I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the amazing alto solo on this tune, incidentally. Thanks, Gary Bartz.) "Love and Hate" is strangely named; it sounds like all love to me (slow, mellow, sweet). And for the hardcore fan, "Excursion" is a more or less totally free several minutes. I could go on, but you get the idea. Bottom line: welcome back, Grachan. We missed you. ~ Andrew Durkin https://www.allaboutjazz.com/grachan-moncur-iii-exploration-by-andrew-durkin.php

Personnel: Personnel: Grachan Moncur III, trombone; Mark Masters, arrangements; Tim Hagans, trumpet; John Clark, French Horn; Dave Woodley, trombone; Gary Bartz, alto sax; Billy Harper, tenor sax; Gary Smulyan, baritone sax; Ray Drummond, bass; Andrew Cyrille, drums.

Exploration

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