TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1963)

-MC*-fc GREAT! -K-K-K GOOD LISTENING -Mc ra if? ^oc/Af o« -K IT'S YOUR MONEY the underpinnings, when fitted out with important lines, remain undercover. One important strand of this tapestry is a phrase of four notes, which is played by the cellos — it opens the work and is repeated constantly throughout the First Movement with Variation. On one such part, your reviewer found some ponderous, middle register brass figures completely covering this major part of the organic whole. Oh, well, the record has its moments, but the work has been performed better. About the acoustics in Lincoln Center, only heaven knows what can be done about them. SPECIAL ****Ten Great Bands: Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Larry Clinton, Louis Armstrong, Hal Kemp, Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman. (Special package — limited price offer, RCA Victor, 5 L.P.s) — This kind of package, I hope, is what we'll be getting from here on in, as the recording industry comes out of its infancy: History! This special package is a document of a period. A stirring period called the swing era. A time during the Thirties and early Forties when the "dance band" was king. (When Tommy Dorsey counted among his vocal company Jo Stafford, Connie Haines and a thin chap called Sinatra!) A period in big band dance and jazz music which couldn't help outdoing itself year in and year out. An early Goodman, then later in '38 another re-vitalized and resurgent Goodman . . . Jimmy Lunceford and Fletcher Henderson setting a pace which was caught and surpassed by Count Basie ... (a Basie who, as recently as five short years ago, was sitting on top of the world with a roaring band and the vocal talent of Joe Williams). . . . The semi-forgotten voices which persist quietly. . . . The brass style of Hal Kemp, the arranger-bandleader Larry Clinton and other short-lived, worthwhile, excursions. . . . The tangents off Goodman which produced Krupa, Hampton and Harry James. ... It was an exciting time full of dynamic musical moments. In this "Ten Great Bands" package, it all comes alive again. Each band has one side of an L.P. (six tunes, that is. from each band). As a whole, this mammoth package is a rewarding experience. An anthology, a glimpse, a thread leading back twentyfive years. RCA is certainly deserving of applause for this monument to an age xthat, surprising as it may seem, is a mystery to the large bulk of young people in America. (The cover is in keeping with Victor's Soria Series. Built for wear. The booklet of notes could be more enlightening.) JAZZ: MOOD ****Desmond Blue, Paul Desmond with Strings; arr. and cond. by Bob Prince; featuring Jim Hall (RCA Victor) — The reason for the category is simply that this album is large in spectrum. It's probable that record fans of a generalized taste can easily enjoy it. It's a warming example of fine taste in choice of material and glowingly direct in its intent. Paul Desmond, who is by far the most popular saxophonist in America, is here heard in an entirely different setting from the Brubeck group, with which we are so accustomed to hearing him. Here, there are woodwinds, and strings, splashes from the harp and percussion section and an attempt by arranger Bob Prince to write organically, so that each piece realizes itself completely. Paul's own two compositions are delights. "Desmond Blue," though rooted in blues material, is an elegantly fragile cobweb of blues-type melodic trajectories. His "Late Lament" is another example of his fine compositional sense. The other tunes are all standards dressed up like every day was Sunday. Paul's wonderful lyric conception could hardly find a better comple ment. He soars over the strings and converses with the woodwinds. This is a much more honest and valuable expression than what is heard on many new jazz albums. Whether your niche is jazz, mood or the warm and embracing musical experience generally, I suggest you take a listen to what I like to think of as the nightingale of jazz, Paul Desmond. CHORAL: CHRISTMAS ***It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, The Roger Wagner Chorale with the Sinfonia of London; Roger Wagner, cond. (Capitol) — There is more of the momentous Christmas feeling in this album than in several others this reviewer has received this season. Roger Wagner, being a gifted conductor as well as master of the choral idiom, brings us refreshing new versions of some traditional material. He does not skirt the counterpoint (or descant style, as the hymnals call it) but brings us the traditional form with an injection of new but unobtrusive harmonies and melodic invention. The orchestral writing is wonderfully integrated into the choral scheme. It never shrouds the voices, but is always there to enhance as well as set the mood. Wagner's arranging can only be called economic in material and glorious in dramatic intent. On the title tune the chorus begins singing as if in the distance, then grows — and finally fades as if the singers had passed on to sing their carols at the next house. I hate to use the word respectable, but it seems the logical one when one considers the respect that is given here to this music. A lovely Yuletime album.