Tag Archives: Cheek to Cheek

Mel Tormé: Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire

In December 1956, “Bethlehem” label released “Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire”, the fourth Mel Tormé album.

Personnel:

  • Mel Tormé – vocals
  • Marty Paich – arrangements, conductor
  • Herb Geller – alto saxophone
  • Jack Montrose – tenor saxophone
  • Jack DuLong – baritone saxophone
  • Pete Candoli – trumpet
  • Don Fagerquist – trumpet
  • Bob Enevoldsen – valve trombone
  • Vince DeRosa – French horn
  • Albert Pollan – tuba
  • Max Bennett – bass
  • Alvin Stoller – drums

Track listing:

  1. Nice Work If You Can Get It – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
  2. Something’s Gotta Give – Johnny Mercer
  3. A Foggy Day – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
  4. A Fine Romance – Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern
  5. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
  6. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails – Irving Berlin
  7. The Way You Look Tonight – Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern
  8. The Piccolino – Irving Berlin
  9. They Can’t Take That Away from Me – Geirge Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
  10. Cheek to Cheek – Irving Berlin
  11. Let’s Face the Music and Dance – Irving Berlin
  12. They All Laughed – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin

Mundell Lowe: The Mundell Lowe Quartet

In November 1955, “Riverside” label released “The Mundell Lowe Quartet”, the debut Mundell Lowe album. It was recorded August – October 1955, at “Reeves Sound Studios” in New York City, and was produced by Orrin Keepnews.

Personnel:

  • Mundell Lowe – guitar
  • Dick Hyman – piano, organ, celesta
  • Trigger Alpert – bass
  • Ed Shaughnessy – drums

Track listing:

  1. Will You Still Be Mine – Matt Dennis, Tom Adair
  2. I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz
  3. I’ll Never Be the Same – Gus Kahn, Matty <alneck, Frank Signorelli
  4. All of You – Cole Porter
  5. Yes Sir, That’s My Baby – Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson
  6. The Night We Called It a Day – Matt Dennis, Tom Adair
  7. Bach Revisited – Dick Garcia, Muncell Lowe
  8. Cheek to Cheek – Irving Berlin
  9. Far from Vanilla – Mundell Lowe

Sarah Vaughn: No Count Sarah

In December 1958, “EmArcy” label released “No Count Sarah”, the tenth Sarah Vaughan album. It was recorded in August 1957, and was produced by Jack Tracy. The album title refers to the fact that Vaughan was accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, but without Count Basie.

Track listing:                                                                     

  • Sarah Vaughan – vocals

The Count Basie Orchestra

  • Marshal Royal, Frank Wess – alto saxophone
  • Frank Foster, Billy Mitchell – tenor saxophone
  • Charlie Fowlkes – baritone saxophone
  • Wendell Culley, Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Joe Newman – trumpet
  • Henry Coker, Al Grey, Benny Powell – trombone
  • Ronnell Bright – piano
  • Freddie Green – guitar
  • Richard Davis – double bass
  • Sonny Payne – drums
  • Johnny Mandel, Luther Henderson, Thad Jones, Frank Foster – arrangements
  • Hal Mooney – recording
  • Emmett McBain – design

Track listing:

  1. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes – Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern
  2. Doodlin’ – Horace Silver
  3. Darn That Dream – Eddie DeLange, Jimmy Van Heusen
  4. Just One of Those Things – Cole Porter
  5. Moonlight in Vermont – John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf
  6. No ‘Count Blues – Thad Jones, Sarah Vaughan
  7. Cheek to Cheek – Irving Berlin
  8. Stardust – Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish
  9. Missing You – Ronnell Bright

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: Ella and Louis

In October 1956, “Verve” label released “Ella and Louis”, a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet. It was recorded in August 1956, at “Capitol Studios” in Los Angeles, and was produced by Norman Granz.

Personnel:

  • Ella Fitzgerald– vocals
  • Louis Armstrong– vocals, trumpet
  • Oscar Peterson– piano
  • Herb Ellis– guitar
  • Ray Brown– bass
  • Buddy Rich– drums
  • Val Valentin – engineer
  • Phil Stern – photography

Track listing:

  1. Can’t We Be Friends? – Paul James, Kay Swift
  2. Isn’t This a Lovely Day? – Irving Berlin
  3. Moonlight in Vermont – John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf
  4. They Can’t Take That Away from Me – Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin
  5. Under a Blanket of Blue – Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes
  6. Tenderly – Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence
  7. A Foggy Day – Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin
  8. Stars Fell on Alabama – Mitchell Parish, Frank Perkins
  9. Cheek to Cheek – Irving Berlin
  10. The Nearness of You – Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington
  11. April in Paris – Vernon Duke, Yip Harburg

Lowell George: Thanks I’ll Eat It Here

On March 2, 1979, “Warner Bros” label released “Thanks I’ll Eat It Here”, the only Lowell George solo album. It was recorded in 1078, at “Sunset Sound” in Los Angeles, and was produced by Lowell George. The cover art, painted by Neon Park, is a version of Édouard Manet’s painting “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe” with Marlene Dietrich, Fidel Castro and Bob Dylan as the diners.

Personnel:

  • Lowell George – vocals, guitar
  • Ron Koss – guitar, engineer
  • Turner Stephen Bruton- guitar
  • Dean Parks- guitar, keyboards
  • Luis Damian – guitar, keyboards
  • Jimmy Greenspoon – guitar, piano
  • Roberto Gutierrez – vocals, guitar, drums
  • Bonnie Raitt- vocals
  • Maxine Dixon – piano
  • Arthur Gerst – piano
  • Peggy Sandvig – piano
  • Nicky Hopkins- keyboards
  • Gordon DeWitty – keyboards, piano
  • James Newton Howard- keyboards
  • Denny Christianson – keyboards, horns
  • David Foster- keyboards
  • David Paich- keyboards
  • Bruce Paulson – keyboards
  • Bill Payne- keyboards, vocals
  • D. Souther- vocals, bass
  • Paul Stallworth – bass, guitar
  • Dennis Belfield – bass
  • Chuck Rainey- bass
  • Chilli Charles – drums
  • Jim Keltner- drums
  • Jim Gordon- drums
  • Michael Baird- drums
  • Jeff Porcaro- drums
  • Floyd Sneed – vocals, drums
  • Richie Hayward- drums
  • Jerry Jumonville – saxophone, guitar
  • Darrell Leonard – vocals, horn
  • Jim Price- horns
  • Bobby Bruce – violin, guitar
  • Maxayn Lewis- vocals
  • Herb Pedersen- vocals
  • Joel Peskin – vocals, saxophone
  • John Phillips- saxophone, drums
  • James Self – tuba
  • Steve Madaio – horns
  • Fred Tackett- guitar, vocals
  • Maxine Willard Waters – vocals
  • Donn Landee, George Massenburg– engineer
  • Billy Youdelman, Bruce Botnick, Doug Botnick – engineer assistant
  • Michael Ward – truck driver, drum tech
  • Brad Kanawyer, Michael Hollyfield – design
  • Elizabeth George, Bob Marks, Nancy Goldfarb – photography

Track listing:

  1. What Do You Want the Girl to Do – Allen Toussaint
  2. Honest Man – Lowell George, Fred Tackett
  3. Two Trains – Lowell George
  4. I Can’t Stand the Rain – Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, Bernie Miller
  5. Cheek to Cheek – Lowell George, Van Dyke Parks, Martin Kibbee (aka Fred Martin))
  6. Easy Money – Rickie Lee Jones
  7. Twenty Million Things – Lowell George, Jed Levy
  8. Find a River – Fred Tackett
  9. Himmler’s Ring – Jimmy Webb