Octokats - Cool West Coast Jazz Comes to Toronto

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:58
Size: 168,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:36) 1. El Prince
(1:23) 2. Dave Pell Intro
(5:09) 3. Nap's Dream
(5:10) 4. Java Junction
(3:11) 5. Have You Met Miss Jones
(2:50) 6. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me
(3:35) 7. Cheerful Little Earful
(6:02) 8. Love Me Or Leave Me
(3:54) 9. Intermission Riff
(2:53) 10. Dave Pell Intro To Lester Young
(4:06) 11. You Can Depend On Me
(4:31) 12. Lester Leaps In
(5:07) 13. How High The Moon
(2:39) 14. When You're Smiling
(5:19) 15. Just You, Just Me
(3:59) 16. One O'clock Jump
(5:31) 17. Jumpin' At The Woodside
(3:56) 18. Session At Pete's Pad

West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged, and more often composition-based.

We, the Octokats, have resurrected this relaxed sytle of jazz here in Southern Ontario. The very essence of COOL can be found in this style of music. One of the most famous West Coast Jazz Musicians is Dave Pell. We modeled our octet after the Dave Pell lineup.The instrumentation for his octet consisted of Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Guitar, Bass and Drums.http://www.octokats.com/?page_id=56

Personnel: Sarang Kulkarni (Baritone/Alto Saxophones); Gary Martin (Alto/Tenor Saxophones); James Shea (Trumpet/Flugelhorn); Michael Kearns (Trombone); Stephen Landsberg (Guitar); William Bryant (Piano); Mauro Bellotto (Upright Bass); John Collin (Drums); Alan Reid (Drums)

Special Guests: Dave Pell; Pat Labarbera

Cool West Coast Jazz Comes to Toronto

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Dave Pell - A Pell Of A Time

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1957
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:41
Size: 103,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:31)  1. Jazz Goes To Siwash
(3:07)  2. Suze Blues
(6:41)  3. Grey Flannel
(5:38)  4. Angel Eyes
(2:42)  5. G Tune
(5:18)  6. Sandy Shoes
(4:11)  7. Cameo
(7:14)  8. Love Me Or Leave Me
(5:19)  9. Them There Eyes

The Dave Pell Octet was one of the great cool jazz bands of the mid- to late '50s. This fairly rare LP found Pell altering the personnel greatly, with Pell and pianist/arranger Marty Paich being the only holdovers. In addition, the arrangements of Paich, Bill Holman, Paul Moer (who, like trombonist Ray Sims, is a substitute on three songs), and Jack Montrose are opened up, and the musicians take much longer solos than on Pell's earlier albums. With trumpeter Jack Sheldon often starring and there being some excellent spots for baritonist Pepper Adams, this is a rather different album by the Dave Pell Octet, a bit harder-charging and more hard bop-oriented while still retaining the identity of the original group. Worth searching for. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-pell-of-a-time-mw0000314352

Personnel:  Tenor Saxophone, Leader – Dave Pell;   Baritone Saxophone – Pepper Adams;  Bass – Tom Kelly;  Drums – Mel Lewis;  Guitar – Tommy Tedesco;  Piano – Marty Paich, Paul Moer;  Trombone – Bobby Burgess, Ray Sims;  Trumpet – Jack Sheldon

R.I.P.
Born: February 26, 1925
Died:  May 8, 2017

A Pell Of A Time

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Chet Baker - Live at the Trade Winds 1952

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1991
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:19
Size: 152,2 MB
Art: Front

(16:18)  1. Out of Nowhere
( 7:00)  2. Bernie's Tune
( 5:27)  3. My Old Flame
( 5:55)  4. Avalon
(11:15)  5. How High the Moon
( 7:01)  6. There Will Never Be Another Yo
( 5:47)  7. Sweet Georgia Brown
( 7:33)  8. I'll Remember April

Chet Baker was a primary exponent of the West Coast school of cool jazz in the early and mid-'50s. As a trumpeter, he had a generally restrained, intimate playing style and he attracted attention beyond jazz for his photogenic looks and singing. But his career was marred by drug addiction.Baker's father, Chesney Henry Baker,Sr., was a guitarist who was forced to turn to other work during the Depression; his mother, Vera (Moser) Baker, worked in a perfumery. The family moved from Oklahoma to Glendale, CA, in 1940. As a child, Baker sang at amateur competitions and in a church choir. Before his adolescence, his father brought home a trombone for him, then replaced it with a trumpet when the larger instrument proved too much for him. He had his first formal training in music in junior high and later at Glendale High School, but would play largely by ear for the rest of his life. In 1946, when he was only 16 years old, he dropped out of high school and his parents signed papers allowing him to enlist in the army; he was sent to Berlin, Germany, where he played in the 298th Army Band. After his discharge in 1948, he enrolled at El Camino College in Los Angeles, where he studied theory and harmony while playing in jazz clubs, but he quit college in the middle of his second year. He re-enlisted in the army in 1950 and became a member of the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco. But he also began sitting in at clubs in the city and he finally obtained a second discharge to become a professional jazz musician.  Baker initially played in Vido Musso's band, then with Stan Getz. (The first recording featuring Baker is a performance of "Out of Nowhere" that comes from a tape of a jam session made on March 24, 1952, and was released on the Fresh Sound Records LP Live at the Trade Winds.) His break came quickly, when, in the spring of 1952, he was chosen at an audition to play a series of West Coast dates with Charlie Parker, making his debut with the famed saxophonist at the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles on May 29, 1952. That summer, he began playing in the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, a group featuring only baritone sax, trumpet, bass, and drums -- no piano -- that attracted attention during an engagement at the Haig nightclub and through recordings on the newly formed Pacific Jazz Records (later known as World Pacific Records), beginning with the 10" LP Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which featured Baker's famous rendition of "My Funny Valentine."..More.. ~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chet-baker-mn0000094210/biography                

Personnel:  Chet Baker (trumpet) Sonny Criss (alto sax) Wardell Gray, Dave Pell (tenor sax) Jerry Mandell (piano) Harry Babasin (cello, leader) Bob Whitlock (bass) Lawrence Marable (drums)

Live at the Trade Winds 1952

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Dave Pell Octet - Love Story

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:00
Size: 99,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:31)  1. Can't We Be Friends
(2:15)  2. I've Got A Crush On You
(3:34)  3. I've Got A Geeling I'm Falling
(3:31)  4. Love The Sweetest Thing
(3:31)  5. If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
(3:07)  6. Let's Do It
(3:14)  7. You Can't Pull The Wool Over My Eyes
(4:56)  8. Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
(3:03)  9. Just One More Chance
(4:20) 10. Who Walks In When I Walk Out
(4:33) 11. Solitude
(3:19) 12. I've Found A New Baby

?Dave Pell started out touring with the Tony Pastor, Bob Astor, and Bobby Sherwood bands as a teenager, before moving to California in the mid-'40s. He found work with Bob Crosby on the latter's Ford radio show in 1946, then played with the Les Brown band from 1947 to 1955. Drawing from the ranks of the Brown band, he began leading his own groups in 1953, usually in an octet format, augmented by guests like Pepper Adams, Benny Carter, Mel Lewis, Red Mitchell, Marty Paich, and Art Pepper. He also played as a sideman on records by Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Benny Goodman, and Gene Krupa in the 1950s, while recording under his own name for Atlantic, Kapp, Coral, Capitol, and RCA Victor. 

His primary focus of activity in the 1950s and '60s was in the record business, working as a producer for the budget Tops label in the '50s, and Liberty (where he supervised a few hit pop/rock records for Gary Lewis & the Playboys) and briefly Uni in the '60s. He formed a group in the late '70s called Prez Conference, a variation on the theme of Supersax, as a tribute to Lester Young, recording two albums for GNP/Crescendo. In the '80s and '90s, Pell revived his octet for recordings on the Fresh Sound (1984) and Headfirst (1988) labels, and sporadic live dates in the Los Angeles area, including an appearance at the Jazz West Coast festival in 1994. ~ Richard S.Ginell https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-pell-mn0000690700/biography

Personnel: Dave Pell (saxophone, tenor saxophone);  Maury Berman (baritone saxophone);  Don Fagerquist (trumpet);  Ray Sims (trombone);  Tony Rizzi (guitar);  Mel Pollan (bass);  Irv Kluger (drums).

Love Story

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Dave Pell - Dave Pell Remembers John Kirby & The Big Small Bands

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 69:57

Size: 160.1 MB

Styles: Bop, Saxophone jazz

Year: 2008

Art: Front

[2:52] 1. Then I'll Be Happy

[3:15] 2. A Smoo-O-O-Oth One

[2:36] 3. In An 18th Century Drawing Room

[3:16] 4. Summit Ridge Drive

[2:22] 5. At The Codfish Ball

[3:04] 6. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid

[3:02] 7. Popo

[3:11] 8. Boplicity

[3:30] 9. Dark Eyes

[3:34] 10. Viva Zapata

[3:37] 11. Walking Shoes

[2:50] 12. Mountain Greenery

[3:09] 13. Rose Room

[2:50] 14. Royal Garden

[2:32] 15. Anita's Dance

[2:53] 16. It Feels Good

[2:58] 17. Tootsie Roll

[2:45] 18. Double Walk

[3:01] 19. Undecided

[2:52] 20. Blue Skies

[3:31] 21. Coquette

[2:54] 22. Opus 5

[3:11] 23. 20th Century Closet

Twofer: Tracks #1-12 from the Capitol 12" album "The Big Small Bands" (ST 1309). Track #13-23 from the Capitol 12" album "I Remember John Kirby" (ST 1687). Dave Pell (ts, bs), Jack Sheldon, Don Fagerquist (tp), Bob Enevoldsen (v-tb), Abe Most (cl), Art Pepper (as), Ronny Lang (bs), Marty Paich, André Previn, John T. Williams (p), Bob Gibbons (g), Red Mitchell (b), Frank Capp, Shelly Manne (d).

In these two albums, Dave Pell presents swinging memories of the bands small in size, but grand in stature that traced the history of the jazz combo and accounted for some of the greatest hit recordings of their times.

In The Big Small Bands, we can enjoy exciting and authentic re-creations of tunes made famous by groups such as those of John Kirby, Artie Shaw, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Shorty Rogers. Although the tunes start with early sounds, the sequence is varied a little to provide a more interesting programming line-up.

On I Remember John Kirby, Pell, who was a legitimately schooled clarinetist like Buster Bailey, had virtually abandoned the instrument as a solo medium until he had undertook this project. Here he plays with complete command to lead this Kirby-inspired sextet featuring Benny Carter, who gets a beautiful projection of the buoyant lilt that Russell Procope put in his alto solos.

Dave Pell Remembers John Kirby & The Big Small Bands

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Dave Pell - Dave Pell Plays Artie Shaw

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:02
Size: 71.1 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 2002/2011
Art: Front

[2:42] 1. Nightmare
[3:29] 2. Yesterdays
[3:15] 3. Stardust
[3:42] 4. Jungle Drums
[2:20] 5. I Concentrate On You
[2:59] 6. Frenesi
[3:05] 7. Moonglow
[3:13] 8. September Song
[2:41] 9. Could Be
[3:32] 10. I Could Write A Book

Dave Pell is one of the founding fathers of West Coast jazz. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1944, Pell played on Bob Crosby's radio show and freelanced, joining Les Brown's band in 1947. In the years that followed Dave became one of California's most prolific studio musicians and ensemble leaders, forming a popular octet from the ranks of Brown's orchestra. Dave was a virtuoso player at an early age, able to mimic the sound and tone of virtually any popular tenor saxophonist.

In the early 1950s, Dave was instrumental in developing West Coast jazz's sound and mystique. An early developer of linear, "storytelling" jazz solos, he also earned extra cash as a photographer at the start of the 1950s. With a Rolleiflex, Dave documented the emerging West Coast jazz scene. He took dozens of cover photos, including the famous Gerry Mulligan Quartet 10-inch LP, Pacific Jazz's first release. Today Dave owns one of Lester Young's tenor saxophones and plays it regularly in concert, much to the delight of audiences. Young's only other known horn is at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies.

Dave Pell Plays Artie Shaw

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Dave Pell Octet - Jazz For Dancing And listening Disc 1 And Disc 2

The Dave Pell Octet was one of the most successful West Coast modern jazz combos in the 50s, playing a stimulating and swinging repertoire ideal for the group s aims. Dave Pell favoured variations on the melody rather than the harmonic emphasis heard in the work of his contemporaries. The deftly crafted arrangements, by Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers, Johnny Mandel, Wes Hensel, Bill Holman, Jack Montrose, André Previn, and Jimmy Giuffre, established the group s sound and personality, and offered shrewdly placed spots for its stellar soloists. They were a hit everywhere, with concerts and teenage dances notable showcases for the unit. With three of its key personnel, Pell, Don Fagerquist and Ray Sims, honed by years as star soloists of Les Brown s band, the Octet s cohesion was remarkable. These originally Atlantic and Capitol sessions also featured the wonderfully swinging sound of Bob Gordon s baritone sax. Elected New Star of the Year in the 1955 Down Beat critics poll, he was killed in an automobile accident two months after these recordings were made. His work here remains a brilliant display of his great talent. ~ Editorial Reviews  http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-For-Dancing-Listening-Romantic/dp/B000PFU97Y

Styles: Saxophone Jazz

Year: 2012

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 50:53

Size: 117,3 MB

Art: Front

(2:53)  1. How Are Things In Glocca Morra?

(4:04)  2. Memphis in June

(2:53)  3. Deep in the Heart of Texas

(4:24)  4. New Orleans

(2:55)  5. White Cliffs of Dover

(3:53)  6. Sunday In Savannah

(2:45)  7. Isle Of Capri

(2:53)  8. Shuffle Off to Buffalo

(3:37)  9. Paris in the Spring

(3:19) 10. On A Slow Boat To China

(3:23) 11. London in July

(2:32) 12. Flying Down to Rio

(2:49) 13. I Had the Craziest Dream

(3:24) 14. Jazz Wagner

(2:24) 15. Mike's Peak

(2:36) 16. Poopsie

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Dave Pell Octet - Jazz For Dancing And listening  Disc 2

Year: 2012

Time: 53:07

Size: 122,3 MB

(2:52)  1. Star Eyes

(2:43)  2. Klump Jump

(2:40)  3. My Heart Belongs to Daddy

(2:05)  4. On The Good Ship Lollipop

(3:28)  5. Can't We Be Friends

(3:33)  6. I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling

(3:30)  7. Love Is the Sweetest Thing

(2:13)  8. I've Got A Crush On You

(3:29)  9. If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight

(3:05) 10. Let's Do It

(3:09) 11. Just One More Chance

(4:19) 12. Who Walks In When I Walk Out

(3:11) 13. You can't pull the wool over my eyes

(4:54) 14. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

(4:31) 15. Solitude

(3:19) 16. I've Found A New Baby

Jazz For Dancing And listening Disc 1, Disc 2

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Dave Pell Octet - Young & Healthy

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:52
Size: 83,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:20)  1. Look Who's Dancing
(3:07)  2. East of the Sun
(2:53)  3. You
(3:21)  4. Young and Healthy
(2:34)  5. The Continental
(2:41)  6. Dance for Daddy
(3:02)  7. When I Take My Sugar to Tea
(2:46)  8. If I Had You
(2:55)  9. Cheek to Cheek
(3:10) 10. Let's Face the Music and Dance
(2:57) 11. Prom to Prom
(2:59) 12. Walkin' My Baby Back Home

Dave Pell's behind-the-scenes career may be more familiar to space age pop fans than his own accomplishments as a performer. As head of artists and repertory (A&R) for Liberty Records and United Artists in the 1960s, Pell produced many of the best-known albums by Martin Denny, Si Zentner, the Ventures, Trombones Unlimited, and others. But Pell started as a working musician in the heyday of the big bands. He joined Tony Pastor's band in 1944, spent two years working with Bob Crosby's Bobcats, then moved to Los Angeles and joined Les Brown's new "Band of Renown" group in 1947. As a tenor sax player, Pell became one of the stars of the Brown band, and he remained with them until 1955. He then formed his own group, the Dave Pell Octet, along with trumpeter Don Fagerquist, and adopted a lighter style, very much in the spirit of the West Coast jazz movement. Pell hired some of the best arranging talents available, including Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers, Jerry Fielding, and Bill Holman, and the group's albums sold well. Some critics panned the group as "middlebrow jazz" and Pell himself once referred to it as "mortgage-paying jazz," but its tight ensemble recordings have become highly collectable.

Pell also recorded a series of albums with a larger band, performing in the style of the most famous names from the big band era, for a small budget label he owned called PRI. Several years later, he cashed in on the percussion album craze by hiring drummer Frankie Capp to overdub percussion parts on these recordings and released them as Percussion in a Tribute to ... on Kimberley Records, another label he started. Like many West Coast jazz musicians, Pell moved to the security of studio work as the interest and market for live jazz waned. He joined the staff of Liberty Records and soon became a major contributor. He worked hard on both the technical and musical sides, improving Liberty's studio processes and working to develop its roster of artists. He often collaborated with producer Snuff Garrett and arranger Bob Florence, cultivating both pop and rock artists. He was the first to record singer Vicki Carr, fresh out of stint as a girl singer in Ray Anthony's road show, and produced her first 11 albums, including It Must Be Him, which sold over a million copies. Pell released three albums under his own name on Liberty. The first two, in 1963, featured Florence's arrangements for small combo and jazz chorus. The last, released in 1969, is now a great favorite of soft pop/easy tempo fans, with terrific versions of Piero Umiliani's dippy classic, "Mah-Na, Mah-Na," the Electric Indians' "Kemo Sabe," and the title tune from the nude musical, "Oh, Calcutta."

After Liberty was ingested by United Artists, Pell became creative director for Motown Records, where he hired the Commodores and helped the label through its challenging transition from Detroit to Los Angeles, and from the "Motown sound" to 70s soul and disco. He worked with Garrett again in the 1980s, heading Garrett's Viva label, which had some of the hotter country artists of the period in Shelly West and David Frizzell, and running a music publishing conglomerate that encompassed over 30 different companies. He joined up with another West Coast jazz vet, Lennie Niehaus, and handled the soundtrack recordings for a number of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds films, including "Sudden Impact" and "Sharkey's Machine" (which included the last known recording by former Liberty cover girl Julie London). He also founded Headfirst, a pioneering digital recording label. Bio ~ http://www.davepell.com/about.html

Young & Healthy

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Dave Pell - I Had The Craziest Dream

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:31
Size: 123,0 MB
Art: Front

(2:52)  1. I Had The Craziest Dream
(3:27)  2. Jazz Wagner
(2:27)  3. Mike's Peak
(2:39)  4. Poopsie
(2:56)  5. Star Eyes
(2:47)  6. Klump Jump
(2:44)  7. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
(2:09)  8. On The Good Ship Lollipop
(2:22)  9. The Way You Look Tonight
(5:12) 10. Nap's Dream
(3:12) 11. Time After Time
(3:48) 12. Crescendo Date
(2:40) 13. People In Love
(3:32) 14. The Way You Look Tonight
(3:22) 15. The Man I Love
(3:36) 16. Love Is Just Around The Corner
(2:37) 17. Play, Fiddle, Play

The Dave Pell Octet was the epitome of mid-'50s West Coast jazz. With its tight arrangements, concise performances (usually around three minutes long despite the rise of the LP), soft tones, and distinctive brand of restrained swing, Pell's ensemble was a perfect representative of cool jazz. The ensemble originally was part of the Les Brown Big Band, gaining an independent life of its own in 1955. This valuable reissue CD from 1998 has all of the first 13 selections that Pell recorded for Capitol eight from 1955 and the remainder from 1957 plus four titles (one previously unissued) led by trumpeter Don Fagerquist with a similar band in 1955 (one of only two opportunities that the underrated great had to head his own date). Dave Pell's four-horn, four-rhythm group includes Fagerquist, either Bob Gordon or Ronny Lang on baritone, the leader on tenor, trombonist Ray Sims, guitarist Tony Rizzi, pianist Paul Smith, drummer Jack Sperling, and one of three bassists. The Fagerquist group differs in that, instead of a trombone, he featured three tenors (Pell, Zoot Sims, and Bill Holman). The arrangements (by Marty Paich, Wes Hensel, Shorty Rogers, Bill Holman, Jack Montrose, and Andre Previn) put an emphasis on melody, subtle surprises, and light swing, even at faster tempos. Basic originals alternate with updated versions of standards (mostly from the swing era). Of the soloists, Fagerquist and Rizzi come off best, although Pell also fares quite well. Although this style of West Coast jazz is largely extinct decades later (other than the notable Phil Norman Tentet), the music still sounds quite fresh and timeless. The Dave Pell Octet's many other recordings (for Trend, Kapp, Atlantic, Victor, and Coral) are out of print, so grab this valuable CD while you can. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-had-the-craziest-dream-mw0000041365

Personnel: Dave Pell (tenor saxophone); Bob Gordon, Ronny Lang (baritone saxophone); Don Fagerquist (trumpet); Ray Sims (trombone); Paul Smith (piano); Tonny Rizzi (guitar); Joe Mondragon, Ralph Pena, Rolly Bundock (bass); Jack Sperling (drums); Roy Harte (bongos) ; Bill Hollman,  Zoot Sims (tenor saxophone); Bob Gordon (baritone saxophone); Donn Trenner (piano); Vernon Polk (guitar); Buddy Clark (bass); Bill Richmond (drums).

I Had The Craziest Dream

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Dave Pell Octet - Jazz & Romantic Places

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1955
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:14
Size: 93,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:59)  1. How Are Things In Glocca Morra
(3:56)  2. On A Slow Boat To China
(2:56)  3. Memphis In June
(2:56)  4. Paris In The Spring
(4:28)  5. London In July
(2:35)  6. Isle Of Capri
(2:56)  7. The White Cliffs Of Dover
(3:22)  8. Sunday In Savannah
(4:07)  9. Deep In The Heart Of Texas
(3:41) 10. Shuffle Off To Buffalo
(3:26) 11. New Orleans
(2:46) 12. Flying Down To Rio

In the midst of the 1950s, Dave Pell was one of the so-called "cool" jazz musicians on the West Coast of the United States, though he hasn't received as much recognition as others. Utilizing a variety of charts by talented arrangers including Johnny Mandel, Marty Paich, Jack Montrose, Wes Hensel, and Shorty Rogers (who also conducted the sessions), Pell's octet interprets the charts with gusto. For those not familiar with Pell's work, these sessions are similar in nature to recordings by Gerry Mulligan. The outstanding group includes baritone saxophonist Bob Gordon, trumpeter Don Fagerquist, and trombonist Ray Sims. In addition to the usual standards, Pell delves into infrequently heard gems like "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" (from the Broadway musical 42nd Street) and even a playful take of "Deep in the Heart of Texas." This is a very enjoyable LP that has been out of print for decades and it may be somewhat challenging to locate.
~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/jazz-and-romantic-places-mw0000790334

Jazz & Romantic Places

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Dave Pell Octet - Swingin' In The Ol' Corral

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:07
Size: 92,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:52)  1. I'm An Old Cowhand
(3:10)  2. Oklahoma Hills
(3:24)  3. Cool Water
(3:08)  4. I'll Be Hanged
(2:26)  5. Gal In Calico
(4:29)  6. Empty Saddles
(2:43)  7. Arkansas
(3:14)  8. Camptown March And Blues
(4:19)  9. South Of The Border
(4:13) 10. Wagon Wheels
(2:26) 11. Across The Alley From The Alamo
(3:38) 12. My Sombrero

Dave Pell's behind-the-scenes career may be more familiar to space age pop fans than his own accomplishments as a performer. As head of artists and repertory (A&R) for Liberty Records and United Artists in the 1960s, Pell produced many of the best-known albums by Martin Denny, Si Zentner, the Ventures, Trombones Unlimited, and others. But Pell started as a working musician in the heyday of the big bands. He joined Tony Pastor's band in 1944, spent two years working with Bob Crosby's Bobcats, then moved to Los Angeles and joined Les Brown's new "Band of Renown" group in 1947. As a tenor sax player, Pell became one of the stars of the Brown band, and he remained with them until 1955. He then formed his own group, the Dave Pell Octet, along with trumpeter Don Fagerquist, and adopted a lighter style, very much in the spirit of the West Coast jazz movement. Pell hired some of the best arranging talents available, including Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers, Jerry Fielding, and Bill Holman, and the group's albums sold well. 

Some critics panned the group as "middlebrow jazz" and Pell himself once referred to it as "mortgage-paying jazz," but its tight ensemble recordings have become highly collectable. Pell also recorded a series of albums with a larger band, performing in the style of the most famous names from the big band era, for a small budget label he owned called PRI. Several years later, he cashed in on the percussion album craze by hiring drummer Frankie Capp to overdub percussion parts on these recordings and released them as Percussion in a Tribute to ... on Kimberley Records, another label he started. Like many West Coast jazz musicians, Pell moved to the security of studio work as the interest and market for live jazz waned. He joined the staff of Liberty Records and soon became a major contributor. He worked hard on both the technical and musical sides, improving Liberty's studio processes and working to develop its roster of artists. He often collaborated with producer Snuff Garrett and arranger Bob Florence, cultivating both pop and rock artists. He was the first to record singer Vicki Carr, fresh out of stint as a girl singer in Ray Anthony's road show, and produced her first 11 albums, including It Must Be Him, which sold over a million copies. 

Pell released three albums under his own name on Liberty. The first two, in 1963, featured Florence's arrangements for small combo and jazz chorus. The last, released in 1969, is now a great favorite of soft pop/easy tempo fans, with terrific versions of Piero Umiliani's dippy classic, "Mah-Na, Mah-Na," the Electric Indians' "Kemo Sabe," and the title tune from the nude musical, "Oh, Calcutta." Pell and Florence are rumored to have become so familiar with Martin Denny's style that they ghosted several of Denny's albums while the performer was out on tour. Certainly Pell and Moog player Paul Beaver had more to do with the great Exotic Moog than Denny himself did, which Denny himself readily admits. After Liberty was ingested by United Artists, Pell became creative director for Motown Records, where he hired the Commodores and helped the label through its challenging transition from Detroit to Los Angeles, and from the "Motown sound" to 70s soul and disco. 

He worked with Garrett again in the 1980s, heading Garrett's Viva label, which had some of the hotter country artists of the period in Shelly West and David Frizzell, and running a music publishing conglomerate that encompassed over 30 different companies. He joined up with another West Coast jazz vet, Lennie Niehaus, and handled the soundtrack recordings for a number of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds films, including "Sudden Impact" and "Sharkey's Machine" (which included the last known recording by former Liberty cover girl Julie London). He also founded Headfirst, a pioneering digital recording label. Pell continues to work in the music industry and has his own website, www.davepell.com. And over forty years after their first release, his "Tribute" series made its third appearance, this time on Pell's CD label, Group 7 Records. Bio ~ http://www.davepell.com/about.html

Swingin' In The Ol' Corral

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Dave Pell Octet - Shuffle Off To Buffalo

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:03
Size: 85,6 MB
Art:

(2:42)  1. How Are Things In Glocca Morra
(2:40)  2. Shuffle Off To Buffalo
(4:04)  3. New Orleans
(2:23)  4. Flying Down To Rio
(3:06)  5. On A Slow Boat To China
(3:47)  6. Memphis In June
(3:20)  7. Paris In The Spring
(3:12)  8. London In July
(2:41)  9. Isle Of Capri
(2:44) 10. The White Cliffs Of Dover
(3:36) 11. Sunday In Savannah
(2:42) 12. Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Dave Pell started out touring with the Tony Pastor, Bob Astor, and Bobby Sherwood bands as a teenager, before moving to California in the mid-'40s. He found work with Bob Crosby on the latter's Ford radio show in 1946, then played with the Les Brown band from 1947 to 1955. Drawing from the ranks of the Brown band, he began leading his own groups in 1953, usually in an octet format, augmented by guests like Pepper Adams, Benny Carter, Mel Lewis, Red Mitchell, Marty Paich, and Art Pepper. He also played as a sideman on records by Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Benny Goodman, and Gene Krupa in the 1950s, while recording under his own name for Atlantic, Kapp, Coral, Capitol, and RCA Victor. His primary focus of activity in the 1950s and '60s was in the record business, working as a producer for the budget Tops label in the '50s, and Liberty (where he supervised a few hit pop/rock records for Gary Lewis & the Playboys) and briefly Uni in the '60s. He formed a group in the late '70s called Prez Conference, a variation on the theme of Supersax, as a tribute to Lester Young, recording two albums for GNP/Crescendo. In the '80s and '90s, Pell revived his octet for recordings on the Fresh Sound (1984) and Headfirst (1988) labels, and sporadic live dates in the Los Angeles area, including an appearance at the Jazz West Coast festival in 1994.  ~ Richard S. Ginell  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-pell-mn0000690700/biography

Shuffle Off To Buffalo

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Dave Pell Octet - Jazz Goes Dancing (Prom to Prom & Campus Hop)

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:26
Size: 178,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:19)  1. Look Who's Dancing
(3:09)  2. Let's Face the Music and Dance
(2:55)  3. Prom to Prom
(3:00)  4. Walkin' My Baby Back Home
(4:17)  5. Java Junction
(2:49)  6. You're My Everything
(4:17)  7. Forty-Second Street
(3:04)  8. By the River Sainte Marie
(3:57)  9. I Know Why and so Do You
(3:31) 10. We're in the Money
(3:02) 11. Cheerful Little Earful
(3:04) 12. East of the Sun
(4:36) 13. Would You Like to Take a Walk
(3:24) 14. Lulu's Back in Town
(2:35) 15. I'll String Along with You
(3:03) 16. Remember Me
(3:01) 17. Summer Night
(2:52) 18. You
(3:22) 19. Young and Healthy
(2:36) 20. The Continental
(2:43) 21. Dance for Daddy
(3:02) 22. When I Take My Sugar to Tea
(2:44) 23. If I Had You
(2:55) 24. Cheek to Cheek

Shortly after it was formed in 1953, the Dave Pell Octet won best new combo of the year in polls conducted by America s Daily News and Mirror newspa- pers. Six of its eight members were included in Down Beat magazine s 1953 poll of the top musicians in the country. Pell and his group flipped fans every where they appeared, specializing in Proms and School Dances, and becoming the first name jazz group ever to play for dancing at one of the top Sunset Strip clubs, The Crescendo, and also the Hollywood Palladium. Its jazz was described variously as tasty, sophisticated, subtle, warm, bright, clean, friendly, inventive, happy, and a complete show and concert rolled into one. One successful Octet approach was to have the crowd gather around the bandstand to watch it play a fast jive number featuring the band s excellent soloists. An essential contributing factor in the Octet s success was that Pell hired the West Coast's finest arrangers to write the beguilingly melodic and alway attractive, danceable band charts; people of the calibre of Marty Paich, Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Jack Montrose, Med Flory, John T. Williams. And it was this canny combination of quality and accessibility that really made the Octet s name and gave the music its enduring flavour. In Dave's own words: "Here's hoping you enjoy our combined dance-and-jazz Campus Hop!"~ Editorial Reviews  

http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Pell-Octet-Dancing-Campus/dp/B00AROAWJI

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Jazz Goes Dancing (Prom to Prom & Campus Hop)

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