TV Radio Mirror (Jul - Dec 1961)

ON THE RECORD JAZZ POLL WINNERS Gerry Mulligan, MJQ, Bill Evans, Mel Torme, Miles Davis Head List • The Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band won honors in the Billboard Music Week, trade magazine's annual Jazz Critics' Poll. The band's LP, "Gerry Mulligan at the Village Vanguard" (Verve 8396) won the Best Band category. Best Small Combo in the poll was the Modern Jazz Quartet with their two-record LP "European Concert" (Atlantic 2-603). Best Featured Instrumentalist was Miles Davis with the Gil Evans orchestra for his "Sketches of Spain" (Columbia 8271), while Bill Evans' "Explorations" (Riverside 351) was judged Best Piano. Vocal jazz honors were shared by two LP's, "Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley" (Verve 2132) for Best Male Jazz Singer, and "Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross Sing Ellington" (Columbia 1510) for Best Vocal Group. But the sixteen jazz critics, all eminent in the field, couldn't agree on Best Female Jazz Singer. Among those named: Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Humes, Sarah Vaughn, ( Continued on page 80H ) The Sound of Jazz Is Gaining Popularity Recent records on pop radio stations have had a definite sound of jazz. "Last Night" by the MarKeys (Satellite 107) and "Water Boy" by the Don Shirley Trio (Cadence 1392) have been high on pop lists, and Dave Brubeck, a jazz "name," has "Take Five" (Col. 41479) making it big. Three other recent jazz-flavored pop hits have been Ray Charles "One Mint Julep" (Impulse), Eddie Harris' "Exodus to Jazz" (Vee Jay), and Cannonball Adderley's "African Waltz" (Riverside). Expect more and more jazz sounds in the pop field. Two record firms specializing in jazz, Riverside and Prestige, have just formed separate companies to record jazz aimed at the pop market. THE MOVIES: HEAR NOW, SEE LATER • Movie music is better than ever. A movie musical used to produce a couple of hit tunes after the movie opened at downtown theaters, but now, not only is the music released on records months early, the movie isn't necessarily a musical. Number one record last year was the theme from "Exodus," with Pat Boone's vocal version and Eddie Harris' jazz interpretation, "Exodus to Jazz" (Vee Jay 3016), both finding additional favor. It seems as if every motion picture released nowadays has a recording of music from the film — sometimes of music that was played only during the beginning credits. The latest ironic development to this trend is the theme from "Fanny," starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Boyer and Horst Buchholz. Nobody sang in the movie, except for two brief talk-a-long hum-a-long sequences, yet "Fanny" was originally a Broadway musical — and now the Morris Stoloff movie theme is a hit. Movie makers are fully aware of the softening-up value of a hit single in increasing the success of a picture. And record makers are just as aware that successful movie themes are sure-fire LP items. This fall you have a wide choice of music from the movies (and TV too, of course). United Artists has followed up previous success with "More Original Sound Tracks and Hit Music from Great Motion Picture Themes" (UAL 3158), ranging from "Gone with the Wind" to "God's Little Acre." Medallion has Vardi and the Medallion Strings doing "Maggi's Theme" (ML 7527) from "The Parent Trap" and others. Felix Slatkin has an adroitly titled LP "Many Splendored Themes" on Liberty (LMM13001), and from the same label comes Gene McDaniels singing "Movie Memories" (LRP 3204) . RCA Victor's Stereo Action series "Goes Hollywood" (LSA 2381) with the Marty Gold orchestra, and a companion LP "Goes Broadway" (LSA 2382) via the Dick Schory orchestra. The Merrill Staton Voices combine the two meccas of music in "Sounds Broadway! Sounds Hollywood! Sounds Great!" (Epic LN 3797). Some movies are getting the full treatment, an LP all to themselves. Henry Mancini has "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on RCA Victor (LSM 2362) and "Gone With the Wind" is done by MGM (E3954), Warner Bros. (W 1322), and RCA-Camden (CAL 625), with the latter most favored by buyers. With so many artists recording material from the movies and the allied arts of Broadway and TV — including many more not mentioned here — it's increasingly possible you'll be hearing people say: "No, I missed the movie — but I heard the music!" MOM ORlCINAi. SOUND T8ACKS AMD HIT MUSIC F*OM GREAT MOTION PICTURE THEMES MARTY GOtO 80 B