Linda Ronstadt with Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra - Round Midnight Disc 1 And Disc 2

Album: Round Midnight Disc 1

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1986
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:31
Size: 138,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:53)  1. What's New
(3:29)  2. I've Got A Crush On You
(4:14)  3. Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
(3:35)  4. Crazy He Calls Me
(4:12)  5. Someone To Watch Over Me
(4:10)  6. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance
(4:09)  7. What'll I Do
(4:21)  8. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)
(4:50)  9. Good-Bye
(2:27) 10. When I Fall In Love
(3:11) 11. Skylark
(4:23) 12. It Never Entered My Mind
(4:13) 13. Mean To Me
(4:23) 14. When You Lover Has Gone
(4:53) 15. I'm A Fool To Want You

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Album: Round Midnight Disc 2

Time: 61:31

Size: 141,0 MB

(2:25)  1. You Took Advantage Of Me

(3:42)  2. Sophisticated Lady

(2:33)  3. Can't We Be Friends?

(3:27)  4. My Old Flame

(2:39)  5. Falling In Love Again

(3:54)  6. Lush Life

(3:50)  7. When You Wish Upon A Star

(4:27)  8. Bewitched Bothered & Bewildered

(3:37)  9. You Go To My Head

(5:28) 10. But Not For Me

(3:01) 11. My Funny Valentine

(4:19) 12. I Get Along Without You Very Well

(2:59) 13. Am I Blue

(3:44) 14. I Love You For Sentimental Reasons

(2:15) 15. Straighten Up And Fly Right

(4:36) 16. Little Girl Blue

(4:27) 17. Round Midnight

Round Midnight is a two-disc box set that compiles all three of the traditional pop albums Linda Ronstadt recorded with Nelson Riddle (What's New, Lush Life, and For Sentimental Reasons). Only dedicated fans will need to own all three of the albums, and, for those listeners, this is a classy way to purchase them.

Credits of 'Round Midnight with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra: Bob Magnusson Bass;  Bob Mann Guitar;  Johnny Mercer Composer;  Nelson Riddle Arranger, Performer, Conductor;  Tommy Tedesco Guitar;  Ray Brown Bass;  Dennis Budimir Guitar;  John Guerin Drums;  Jim Hughart Bass;  Linda Ronstadt Vocal;  Louie Bellson Drums.

Round Midnight Disc 1, Disc 2

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Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra - The Silver Collection

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 1972
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:53
Size: 144,4 MB
Art: Front

(2:11)  1. My Life
(2:56)  2. My Sweet Lord
(4:03)  3. Sao Paulo
(3:49)  4. Close To You
(3:09)  5. My One And Only Love
(3:03)  6. Lamento
(3:33)  7. When The World Was Young
(3:21)  8. Naomi
(2:13)  9. Just A Little Lovin'
(2:30) 10. Changing Colors
(3:44) 11. Born Happy
(2:50) 12. A Night Of Love
(3:40) 13. Uptown Dance
(2:08) 14. Time And Space
(4:11) 15. Dedication
(3:17) 16. Volcano's Daughter
(3:28) 17. Romantic Places
(3:14) 18. It's Your Turn
(2:52) 19. Rachel
(2:31) 20. Greenwich Village

Nelson Riddle was quite possibly the greatest arranger in the history of American popular music. Over the course of his long and distinguished career, he was also a popular soundtrack composer, a conductor, a trombonist, and an occasional hitmaker in his own right. He worked with many of the major pop vocalists of his day, but it was his immortal work with Frank Sinatra, particularly on the singer's justly revered Capitol concept albums, that cemented Riddle's enduring legacy. Riddle was a master of mood and subtlety, and an expert at drawing out a song's emotional subtext. He was highly versatile in terms of style, mood, and tempo, and packed his charts full of rhythmic and melodic variations and rich tonal colors that blended seamlessly behind the lead vocal line. He often wrote specifically for individual vocalists, keeping their strengths and limitations in mind and pushing them to deliver emotionally resonant performances. As such, Riddle was perfectly suited to the task of framing vocal interpreters, as opposed to just singers; he was most in sync with the more nuanced and artistically ambitious vocalists, like Sinatra. Riddle knew how to lay back and bring certain lyrics or vocal subtleties to the forefront, and how to add countermelodies that emphasized other lyrics, or made important transitions. He could draw the listener in with catchy embellishments, challenge them with adventurous harmonies, and build to climaxes that faded into surprisingly restrained endings. In short, Riddle was everything a top-notch singer could ask for. Nelson Smock Riddle was born June 1, 1921, in Oradell, NJ. His father was an amateur musician who performed in a local band, and Riddle learned classical piano as a child, later switching to trombone at age 14. Debussy and Ravel were favorites early on, though he also listened to pop music and big-band swing. In 1940, he joined Jerry Wald's dance orchestra as trombonist and arranger; the following year, he moved on to Charlie Spivak's band, leaving to join the merchant marine in 1943. Exiting the service, he spent 1944-1945 as a trombonist with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, also writing a couple of arrangements ("Laura," "I Should Care"). In 1946, he returned to the New York area, where he arranged for big bands like the Elgart Brothers and Elliot Lawrence. By year's end, however, he had decided to relocate to Los Angeles, where he landed a job as an arranger for Bob Crosby. From there he moved on to become a staff arranger at NBC Radio in 1947, also composing background music for dramatic programs, and continued to study arranging and conducting with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Victor Young. Riddle caught his first big break when Les Baxter recruited him to ghostwrite a few arrangements for Nat King Cole. One of Riddle's efforts, "Mona Lisa," became Cole's biggest hit ever in 1950 (though it was credited to Baxter). "Too Young" was another huge success in 1951, and Cole hired Riddle as his primary arranger; that relationship would endure for over a decade and produce classics like "Unforgettable." In 1952, Riddle wrote an arrangement of "The Blacksmith Blues" for Ella Mae Morse that turned even more heads at Capitol; soon, the label hired him on as an in-house arranger. 

When Frank Sinatra signed with Capitol in 1953, the label encouraged him to work with the up-and-coming Riddle; Sinatra was reluctant, initially wanting to remain loyal to his chief Columbia arranger, Axel Stordahl. He soon recognized the freshness of Riddle's approach, however, and eventually came to regard Riddle as his most sympathetic collaborator. The first song they cut together was "I've Got the World on a String," and as Sinatra moved into the LP format, Riddle became a hugely important collaborator. Sinatra wanted to record conceptually unified albums that created consistent moods, and Riddle's arrangements had to draw out the emotional subtext of the material Sinatra chose. Riddle's work was alternately romantic (the 10" LPs Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy), desolate and intimate (In the Wee Small Hours, Only the Lonely), or confident and hard-swinging (Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, A Swingin' Affair!). The results were some of the finest and most celebrated albums in the history of popular music. Capitol signed Riddle as an artist in his own right during the early '50s; leading his own orchestra, he recorded a series of albums (upward of ten) geared for the easy listening audience. In 1956, he scored a breakout hit single with "Lisbon Antigua," an instrumental of European origin that climbed all the way to number one on the pop charts. The follow-up "Port au Prince" made the Top 20, as did two albums, 1957's Hey...Let Yourself Go! and 1958's C'mon...Get Happy!. Plus, his 1958 composition "Cross Country Suite" won him his first Grammy. As the '50s wore on, Riddle got increasingly involved in the motion picture industry, thanks in part to Sinatra; he worked on the scores for the Sinatra films Johnny Concho (1956), Pal Joey (1957), A Hole in the Head (1959), and Come Blow Your Horn (1963), plus the Rat Pack vehicles Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964). Branching out into other film projects, he worked on the W.C. Handy biopic St. Louis Blues (1958) and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, and earning Oscar nominations for his scores for Li'l Abner (1959) and the Cole Porter musical Can-Can (1960). He also served as the musical director on variety shows starring Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Rosemary Clooney. In addition to Riddle's 1950s associations with Sinatra and Cole, he wrote arrangements for -- among others -- Betty Hutton, Jimmy Wakely, Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, and Judy Garland, the latter of whom turned in two of her finest interpretive albums in 1956's Judy and 1958's Judy in Love under Riddle's guidance. At the end of the decade, he began a fruitful relationship with Ella Fitzgerald, cutting two sessions with his orchestra backing her up (Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson and Ella Swings Gently With Nelson) and contributing extensively to her mammoth Songbooks series, particularly the Gershwin, Kern, and Mercer volumes. Over the course of the '60s, Riddle went on to work with the likes of Rosemary Clooney (1960's Rosie Solves the Swingin' Riddle), Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Al Martino, Johnny Mathis (1961's I'll Buy You a Star), Shirley Bassey (1962's Let's Face the Music), Billy Eckstine, Jack Jones, Eddie Fisher, Keely Smith, and many, many others. His last full album with Sinatra was 1966's Strangers in the Night, on which Riddle's feel for contemporary pop in the post-rock & roll age helped Sinatra regain his commercial standing. 

Meanwhile, Riddle continued his soundtrack work, crafting some of his most notable material for television. He wrote the distinctive theme for The Untouchables in 1959, and his theme song to the series Route 66 was hugely popular, even making the pop charts when it was released as a single in 1962. Although Riddle didn't write the legendary theme song to the Batman TV series, he scored many of the individual episodes. He also worked on shows like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Tarzan, Emergency!, and Barnaby Jones, among others. In 1967, he signed on as musical director of the popular Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and went on to serve in a similar capacity on early-'70s variety shows hosted by Julie Andrews and Helen Reddy. He earned another Oscar nomination for his work adapting the score of Paint Your Wagon (1969), and notched his first Oscar win for the score of 1974's The Great Gatsby. Meanwhile, Riddle continued to work with Sinatra on special projects, including the singer's 1971 farewell concert at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, and a 1974 comeback show at Madison Square Garden. As his music grew increasingly jazzy and driving, he also continued his own recording career on Sinatra's Reprise label for a time, later switching to Liberty/United Artists and a succession of smaller imprints. By the mid-'70s, Riddle was largely retired, a combination of changing musical tastes and health problems that necessarily curtailed his activities. He emerged in the early '80s to work with Linda Ronstadt on a succession of traditional pop albums: 1983's What's New, 1984's Lush Life, and 1986's For Sentimental Reasons. The former two both earned him Grammys for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocals. Riddle's final completed project was Blue Skies, a 1985 collaboration with opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa. He passed away in Los Angeles on October 6, 1985. ~ Steve Huey https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nelson-riddle-mn0000322027/biography

The Silver Collection

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Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra - Sea Of Dreams

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 1958
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:35
Size: 77,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:41)  1. Out Of The Night
(3:31)  2. My Isle Of Golden Dreams
(2:32)  3. Tangi Tahiti
(2:53)  4. Dream
(2:23)  5. Theres No You
(3:22)  6. Drifting And Dreaming
(2:46)  7. Easter Isle
(2:22)  8. Lets Fall In Love
(3:12)  9. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
(1:54) 10. Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)
(3:12) 11. Autumm Leaves
(2:42) 12. Sea Of Dreams

Sea Of Dreams by Nelson Riddle (1921–1985) was released in 1958 on Capitol Records, but not only did it have to fend off a glut of Exotica releases of all flavors, for Riddle himself was his biggest competitor in the realms of string-laden Easy Listening: His own album C'mon… Get Happy, released in the same year, is Riddle’s more successful album, peaking at #20 in the Billboard Charts. However, Sea Of Dreams is much more lush, romantic and, most important in the given context, exotic. If you are begging for sarcasm, one could say that Riddle copies Les Baxter’s sound perfectly, which would neither be an insult, nor a coincidence, for Riddle teamed up with Baxter quite a lot and was in fact hired by him in order to come up with releases on Capitol Records. If you are craving for the romantic side of the Exotica genre, you are making the right choice with Sea Of Dreams. Instead of interweaving exotic percussion with the surroundings, Riddle concentrates exclusively on the strings, leaving a small niche for mallet instruments and bells of all kinds. In his later years, Riddle presented some variety in his albums, but here, the sphere of action is much more restricted, or as the saying goes, once you know one song, you know them all. The coherence isn’t bad at all, though, for romantic Exotica records need to maintain a certain quality in their continuity, I believe, so be aware of this. It’s also harder to write about them in greater detail. If you don’t like romantic Exotica and favor the tropical heat and bongo-driven savagery, you better stay away from it. I won’t, as the following paragraphs will show. Out Of The Night starts majestically and features a mellifluousness that is definitely kitschy. The whirling strings merge perfectly with the sustained serenity of main melody. Careful harp tones add articulated warmth to the mix which shows that Riddle doesn’t inundate the listener with string washes, but actually leaves room enough for placidity and particularities of other instruments. A negligible intro, if you ask me. The following classic My Isle Of Golden Dreams, though, is a killer track, even though this is just some cruddy Easy Listening album, right? Well, it’s not cruddy at all due to the start of the track which features gorgeous harp sprinkles and a careful fade-in of the string orchestra that plays extremely lush and dreamy. Additional xylophones shimmer through from the background and the character of the main melody is the slightest bit drugged or warped yes, seriously, making the first half of the track a surprisingly modern peculiarity in the genre. The second half is smoochy Easy Listening by the numbers whose sky-high strings are enhanced with quieter, blurry counterparts. Taking the limiting genre boundaries into account, this track is all the more successful in depicting the longing for an island in the tropics. Tango Tahiti (The Call Of Tahiti) is equally great, surprisingly laid back and reduced in volume. This has nothing to do with a Tango as we know it today, so don’t expect an explosive hot-blooded performance. The pulsating strings are meandering and spread spaces all over the song. Even though the volume is low, the strings are pompous and warm. Success! The next title is simply titled Dream and consists of violins played in high ranges but due to the sheer amount of violinists, the listener is washed away in terrifically mellow strings. The last song of side A, Drifting And Dreaming, has one particular element that you didn’t hear before on the album: Short double bass droplets create a lush bass line that works perfectly well with the acoustic guitar, the dark harp strings and the glinting xylophones. When the violinists return in full force, these diversified elements are still audible. In the boundaries of Sea Of Dreams, these small additions could be called risks or even dynamic experiments … but again, begone, sarcasm!

Easter Isle is a top-notch start of side B and continues the variety shown in Drifting And Dreaming. A repetitive two-note harp melody is soaked up and echoed by glitzy xylophones. The strings work particularly well and the cascading harp is utterly gorgeous. The double bass backings are again a vibrant rhythmic device. This could well be the Riddle’s best song that is featured on Sea Of Dreams. I’m not too sure about this due its the steady variety, but my rule of thumb is basically the following: once an string-laden Easy Listening track features a variety of additional instruments, it is certainly good. Let’s Fall In Love is the next great tune, and due to its name, the strings are even more lush than they were before, encapsulating a romance that erupts in multilayered melodies, for example darkly trilling strings, blissful harp chords and bold string washes. Jimmy Van Heusen’s 1940 Jazz standard Polka Dots And Moonbeams is next, and the transition can only be called phantasmagoric. The main melody is still recognizable, but much more dreamlike due to the full-scale orchestra. While the French classic Autumn Leaves is the most melancholic song on the album with the greatest wanderlust mood and a melodramatic motif that is interchanged with short outbursts of happiness, the final title-giving track Sea Of Dreams is a typical closer that is exuberant in its depiction of care-free happiness and majestic serenity. The final harp tones in the last 15 seconds show the great weakness of the whole album: the concentration on violins rather and the inferiority of other string instruments. Nelson Riddle delivers just another Easy Listening album in the pool of many other releases. In 1958 alone, he released at least 11 LP’s! Consistent quality is the tractive force we all strive for, but if a certain quality level is reached, the result is a whitewashed plateau. Sea Of Dreams has its moments and gorgeous tunes My Isle Of Golden Dreams, Easter Isle and, ahem, Let’s Fall In Love come to mind –, but its coherence and raison d’être prevent it from making a long-lasting impression in its entirety. In contrast to Les Baxter’s way of conducting, the strings aren’t remarkable and effervescent enough. The mood doesn’t change at all, there are no dark undertones, and only Autumn Leaves allows a strong wave of melancholy to enter the Sea Of Dreams. The Exotica level is still appropriate enough for me to consider this album in this section due to its island theme and the topics of reveries and romance. The only outstanding inclusions are a few mallet instruments and harp strings that could have enhanced the Exotica factor if they had been used more often. Recommended for the aforementioned target audience and fans of Les Baxter. Not recommended, though, for listeners who want energetic, tropical and percussion-driven Exotica skits; this niche is better served with the official next of kin to Sea Of Dreams, the much more exotic Love Tide, released on Capitol Records in 1961. That album even features two original tunes written by Nelson Riddle, and although I do not see that great a connection between Love Tide and Sea Of Dreams, it is a noteworthy contender as well. In smaller doses and in the right moments, Riddle’s Sea Of Dreams is charming. It is also easily available on digital music stores and streaming services. http://www.ambientexotica.com/exorev070_nelsonriddle_sod/

Sea Of Dreams

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Nelson Riddle - Love Is A Game of Poker

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 1962
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:01
Size: 80,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:54)  1. Playboy's Theme
(2:37)  2. Alone Too Long
(3:09)  3. Queen of Hearts
(3:00)  4. Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume
(3:29)  5. Finesse
(2:15)  6. A Game of Poker
(2:22)  7. It's So Nice to Have A Man About the House
(3:18)  8. Witchcraft
(2:12)  9. Two Hearts Wild
(3:13) 10. You Fascinate Me So
(2:59) 11. Penny Ante
(2:27) 12. Indiscreet

"The exciting new sound of Nelson Riddle...a new sound breakthrough," proclaimed the cover of this album, recorded at the end of Riddle's tenure with Capitol Records before he decamped to rejoin Frank Sinatra at Reprise. That exciting new sound seemed to derive from Riddle's recent successes on the large (Lolita) and small (Route 66) screen, and to have been influenced by Henry Mancini's similar success, leading to a more prominent rhythm section and a jazzier feel than one usually associates with Riddle's charts. The conductor's feel for melody was not extinguished by any means but, probably due to his recent experience, his arrangements and (on three tracks) compositions had a far more cinematic flair, which gave them an early-'60s contemporaneity and brought him out of the '50s just as he was moving on to new challenges.~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-is-a-game-of-poker-mw0000939022

Love Is A Game of Poker

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Rosemary Clooney - Rosie Solves the Swingin' Riddle!

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 1961
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 30:50
Size: 72,4 MB
Art: Front

(2:14)  1. Get Me To The Church On Time
(2:25)  2. Angry
(2:44)  3. I Get Along Without You Very Well
(2:51)  4. How Am I To Know?
(2:59)  5. You Took Advantage Of Me
(2:40)  6. April In Paris
(2:54)  7. I Ain't Got Nobody (And Nobody Cares For Me)
(2:16)  8. Some Of These Days
(2:30)  9. By Myself
(2:20) 10. Shine On Harvest Moon
(2:35) 11. Cabin In The Sky
(2:16) 12. Limehouse Blues

Rosemary Clooney declared her love affair with Nelson Riddle "the best blending of my job and my personal life that I've ever had." While it ended their respective marriages, it also resulted in some excellent music. Riddle will be familiar to most as the guy who orchestrated the great Sinatra records for Capitol; that is, if he's familiar at all. Suffice it to say that he was one of the greatest arrangers of all time, creating backgrounds for several different artists that all managed to present that particular person in the best light. Rosie Solves The Swingin' Riddle , from 1961, is no different. Riddle has a large arsenal of musicians at his disposal who are able to create all kinds of textures, from the resonant bells of "Get Me To The Church On Time" to the brassy swagger of "I Ain't Got Nobody." But Riddle was also capable of straddling the line between bombast and beauty, and "I Get Along Without You Very Well" features the same bouncy, ocean bottom groove that anchored Sinatra's "I've Got You Under My Skin." The orchestration never overwhelms Clooney, since Riddle expertly creates backing that gives support rather than shelter.

Clooney is in fine form as well, investing the songs with the bold innocence that figured on her previous releases. She's capable of delivering the youthful gaiety of "Get Me To The Church On Time" as well as the wounded independence of "By Myself." Of course the song selection is part of the trick, and there's a nice balance between familiar songs and lesser known, yet catchy melodies. Riddle and Clooney are even capable of a few surprises; "April In Paris" features a strong Latin groove that takes a while for the brain to organize into a discernable pattern. If the riddle was, "How can you create a great vocal album that will stand up forty years later?" Rosie and Riddle did indeed solve it. Bluebird released a Rosemary Clooney compilation a few years ago that was only mediocre; they should have released this album instead. Rosie Solves the Swingin' Riddle is a terrific collaboration, and a classic vocal album. When Rosie's singing isn't grabbing you, it's a sure bet the orchestrations will. ~ David Rickert https://www.allaboutjazz.com/rosie-solves-the-swingin-riddle-rosemary-clooney-bluebird-review-by-david-rickert.php
 

Personnel: Rosemary Clooney (vocals) arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.

Rosie Solves the Swingin' Riddle!

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Various - Capitol Records From The Vaults: The Best Of '56

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:33
Size: 145.5 MB
Styles: R&B, Easy Listening, Pop-Rock
Year: 2000
Art: Front


[2:35] 1. Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
[2:32] 2. Nelson Riddle - Lisbon Antigua
[2:16] 3. Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This
[2:33] 4. Kit Carson - Band Of Gold
[2:24] 5. Les Paul - Moritat
[2:25] 6. Les Baxter - The Poor People Of Paris (Jean's Song)
[2:10] 7. The Cheers - Black Denim Trousers & Motorcycle Boots
[2:49] 8. Billy May - Man With The Golden Arm
[2:33] 9. Gordon Macrae - I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
[2:51] 10. Nat King Cole - Too Young To Go Steady
[2:58] 11. Nat King Cole - Never Let Me Go
[2:24] 12. Don Robertson - The Happy Whistler
[3:04] 13. The Four Freshmen - Graduation Day
[2:46] 14. Dean Martin - Standing On The Corner
[2:43] 15. Tex Ritter - The Wayward Wind
[2:16] 16. Nat King Cole - That's All There Is To That
[2:28] 17. Margaret Whiting - True Love
[2:17] 18. Stan Freberg - Heartbreak Hotel
[2:36] 19. Woody Herman - I Don't Want Nobody (To Have My Love But You)
[2:15] 20. The Five Keys - Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
[3:02] 21. Dick Haymes - Two Different Worlds
[2:08] 22. Louis Prima - Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days
[2:20] 23. The Four Preps - Dreamy Eyes
[2:28] 24. The Five Keys - Wisdom Of A Fool
[2:28] 25. Sonny James - Young Love

This sixth installment of Capitol records' label retrospective -- Capitol From the Vaults -- concentrates on the transitional and influential music released in 1956, as rock & roll began to show continual staying power on the pop music charts. However, as the 25 tracks on this volume illustrate, adults and even young people were still buying and listening to traditional popular music, and that is exactly what "the tower" was releasing. The set kicks off with a chart-topping entry from Tennessee Ernie Ford singing "Sixteen Tons" -- which had also been recorded by Merle Travis, who not only wrote the song, but was also a fellow Capitol recording artist. Although it had been a regional hit for Travis, it is Ford's version that became most memorable. There were several other notable male vocalists who also climbed the charts for Capitol in 1956. As Dean Martin's popularity continued to soar, "Memories Are Made of This" -- featuring the Terry Gilkyson-led Easy Riders -- was not only his first Top 40, but also first number-one hit. The disc ushered in 1956 firmly atop most pop-music and jukebox charts. Although not a number one, the show tune "Standing on the Corner" was another hit for Martin during March of that year, and is likewise featured on this collection. Another male vocalist who dominated the upper echelons of the pop singles chart during 1956 was newcomer Sonny James. The catchy "Young Love" -- James' entrée into pop music -- became one of his signature tunes and racked up hit singles on Capitol's country charts well into the 1970s. Jazz vocal fans continued as huge proponents of the label. Nat "King" Cole -- whose "Too Young to Go Steady," "Never Let Me Go," and "That's All There Is to That" are featured here -- was one reason. Another are Stan Kenton alumni the Four Freshmen -- heard here on their Top 20 hit "Graduation Day." Other notable inclusions on Capitol From the Vaults, Vol. 6: The Best of '56 are the novelty "The Happy Whistler" -- a Top Ten hit for one-hit wonder Don Robertson. Also worth noting is the biting, satirical view of Stan Freberg as he disassembles Elvis on his decidedly derogatory rendition of "Heartbreak Hotel." Recording engineer Bob Norberg lovingly remastered this entire series from the best possible source materials, and the results are uniformly spectacular. Music historian and musician Billy Vera produced Capitol From the Vaults and likewise penned some highly informative and entertaining liner notes for each volume. ~Lindsay Planer

Capitol Records From The Vaults: The Best Of '56

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Matt Monro, Nelson Riddle - Matt Sings, Nelson Swings

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:34
Size: 102.0 MB
Styles: Vocal, Swing
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[2:33] 1. Brother John
[2:16] 2. Come Back To Me
[2:59] 3. What To Do
[2:32] 4. Let's Face The Music And Dance
[3:01] 5. In The Arms Of Love
[3:16] 6. Walk Away
[2:48] 7. It's Alright With Me
[3:58] 8. Born Free
[5:26] 9. When You Become A Man
[3:16] 10. Shadow Of Your Smile
[4:43] 11. The John F. Kennedy March
[3:16] 12. Softly As I Leave You
[4:25] 13. Strike Up The Band

Neither Matt Monro or Nelson Riddle need any introductions as they are both legends in their own field of work. Matt the versatile crooner with a string of hits and great recordings behind him and Nelson one of the most successsful arrangers and orchestrators ever, having worked for Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole amongst many others. This album is a recording of the one and only time that Matt and Nelson worked together. It was recorded in front of an invited audience at the BBC Television Centre in 1967. The recording has been remastered giving it a top quality sound.

Matt Sings, Nelson Swings

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Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle - St

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:00
Size: 94,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:57)  1. My Foolish Heart
(3:37)  2. Judy
(4:07)  3. 'Round Midnight
(2:51)  4. Someday My Prince Will Come
(3:21)  5. Come Sunday
(4:12)  6. Nightingale
(5:40)  7. My Ship
(3:41)  8. A Sleepin' Bee
(4:25)  9. Portrait of Jenny
(4:05) 10. Goodbye

The Nelson Riddle Orchestra was always great enough to play music for film and television soundtracks, and accompany the greatest of stars, including Louis Jordan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among many others. For the band to back up the 1963 version of the Oscar Peterson trio with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen might have created some tension, with Peterson always wanting to cut loose and go over the top as opposed to the silky smooth sound Riddle favored. Fortunately, Peterson strikes a balance between playing it cool and lettin' 'er rip on this collection of standards with the dinner hour in mind. Though not exclusively subtle and romantic, Riddle and Peterson strike a golden bipartisan compromise in rendering these well-known American popular songs into quietly burning embers of pure delight. It's a predictable mix, but so warm and heartfelt that one has to commend the participants for allowing each other their own personal ideas without selling out. 

Riddle's contribution was to form a unique group, unfortunately all unattributed, of ten cellos (no violins or violas), five horns, three flutes, a harp, and a percussion section. No one section dominates, which is the beauty of the famed arranger/composer/bandleader's concept. Summarily, Peterson chooses to not clash with the instruments as he trades phrases while generally not playing along with them. This non-interruptive dialogue makes for communication that creates the best chemistry from a dynamic standpoint. In the case of "Come Sunday," Riddle's unadulterated chart of Duke Ellington's immortal composition finds Peterson in perfect sway, while separate and equal bluesy proportions of Count Basie-like melody earmark the easy swinging "Judy." There's more Basie included in the concise, three-minute "Someday My Prince Will Come" with good new lines from Peterson, while a great rendition of "A Sleeping Bee" recalls the Frank Foster years with Basie with lots of counterpoint as the cello tentet adds considerable depth to the proceedings. 

A pastoral mood hovers over "My Foolish Heart" with the your turn-my turn piano-orchestra's respectful trading of melody in full regalia, while the flute section takes the serene beauty image further during the Peterson-Gene Lees composition "Nightingale" and the always lovely "Portrait of Jenny." The version of "'Round Midnight" is an example of Peterson going off a bit on the arpeggiated side amongst a fairly stock horn chart, but utterly lovely, and not too creamy. Again this is not a soft and fuzzy overstrung effort dominated by cheese or cotton candy, but instead a quietly strong, rich, fully evocative set of great tracks that emphasize the undercurrent rather than the overflow of emotions. It is unusual in a starkly emotional sense of being, but the way all projects of this size and nature should be approached with taste, class, and a healthy portion of restraint. ~ Michael G.Nastos  http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-oscar-peterson-nelson-riddle-mw0000809157

Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle

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Ella Fitzgerald & Nelson Riddle - The Complete Sessions

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 59:09
Size: 135.4 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Vocal jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[2:35] 1. Somebody Loves Me
[2:05] 2. Cheerful Little Earful
[2:18] 3. I Hear Music
[3:29] 4. Georgia On My Mind
[3:32] 5. Call Me Darling
[2:49] 6. Love Me Or Leave Me
[3:59] 7. The Gentleman Is A Dope
[2:54] 8. Mean To Me
[2:42] 9. What Am I Here For
[3:32] 10. I Can't Get Started
[2:44] 11. Alone Together
[2:06] 12. Pick Yourself Up
[3:46] 13. Don't Be That Way
[3:21] 14. All Of Me
[2:36] 15. I Only Have Eyes For You
[2:58] 16. I'm Gonna Go Fishin'
[2:31] 17. Darn That Dream
[3:31] 18. I Won't Dance
[2:58] 19. When Your Lover Has Gone
[2:34] 20. It's A Pity To Say Goodnight

Born June 1, 1921 in Oradell, NJ, Nelson Smock Riddle studied piano as a child, later switching to trombone at the age of 14. After getting out of the service, he spent 1944-1945 as a trombonist with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, also writing a couple of arrangements (“Laura”, “I Should Care”). By the end of 1946, with the help of good friend, Bob Bain, he secured a job arranging for Bob Crosby in Los Angeles. He then became a staff arranger at NBC Radio in 1947, and continued to study arranging and conducting with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Victor Young.

Soon he was occasionally writing for Nat King Cole, initially as a ghost-arranger. However, the successes of his arrangements for “Mona Lisa” (1950) and “Too Young” (1951) set him on his way to doing most of Nat’s music at Capitol Records. By this time, Nelson Riddle had become conductor of the orchestra and had his name printed on the record label. He was no longer an anonymous arranger.

When Frank Sinatra signed with Capitol Records in 1953, the label encouraged him to work with the up-and-coming Riddle, who was now Capitol’s in-house arranger. Though he had helped Nat achieve his biggest hit, “Mona Lisa”, Sinatra was still reluctant. He soon recognized the freshness of Dad’s approach, however, and eventually came to regard him as his most sympathetic collaborator. The first song they cut together was “I’ve Got the World on a String.” When Sinatra and Dad began to record conceptually unified albums that created consistent moods, the results were some of the finest and most celebrated albums in the history of popular music. There was a great mutual respect between them. As Dad comments in his 1985 KCRW interview, “He opened some doors which without his intervention would have remained closed to me.”

Dad’s work with Ella Fitzgerald on the Gershwin Songbook in 1959 was considered one of the most elegant and unique interpretations of a most amazing body of work. ~Rosemary Riddle

The Complete Sessions

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