Oscar Peterson Plays The Cole Porter Songbook (1953/1959)

2024 EU import consisting of a combination of tracks from two albums: Oscar Peterson Plays Cole Porter (Clef, 1953) and Oscar Peterson Plays The Cole Porter Song Book (Verve, 1959) plus two bonus tracks from the earlier recording session. Here at CDP, we consider that a two-fer. I'm a big fan of Cole Porter (also, apropos of nothing, we share a birthday) and these piano trio interpretations go down real easy. A fantastic pairing of performers and material.

2024 liner notes by Alan Guntry.

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OSCAR PETERSON PLAYS THE COLE PORTER SONG BOOK (1959)

The first twelve tracks of the CD are the 12 tracks - in the same order - originally released on the 1959 Verve album.

Original liner notes by Lawrence D. Stewart.

Peterson - piano
Ray Brown - bass
Ed Thigpen - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• HiFi/Stereo Review: "Peterson is functioning as a superior workman in the fields of contrivance without very much emotional drive in what he is doing."
• CashBox: "A must for the jazz collectors - yet with definite pop appeal."
• DownBeat (★★★): This is not ambitious Peterson by any means; the intent was apparently to aim at the commercial market. It should hit that bull's eye dead center."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: All are quite nice and it sounds like the trio is having a great time; my favorites today are Love For Sale, I've Got You Under My Skin, Every Time We Say Goodbye, Why Can't You Behave?, and It's De-Lovely.

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OSCAR PETERSON PLAYS COLE PORTER (1953)

The remain 14 tracks come from sessions that took place between 1951-54, 12 of which were released in 1953 on the Clef label. These 12 tracks are not presented in the same order as originally released, plus there are two bonus tracks included. As these cuts originally appeared on 10" vinyl, I guess the order doesn't really matter. We've also got a slight change in instrumentation from the earlier tracks: add guitar, subtract drums.

Original liner notes by producer Norman Granz.

Peterson - piano
Bernie Kessel - guitar
Herb Ellis - guitar Ray Brown - bass

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard (76/100): "the sets will indicate again Peterson's inventiveness, imaginative improvisation and his rhythmic drive."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: my picks of these 14 tracks include I Get A Kick Out Of You, Let's Do It, Anything Goes, Begin The Beguine, and So Near And Yet So Far. The final cut, From This Moment On, includes vocals from Peterson and while they're perfectly fine, it provides a startling conclusion to an otherwise instrumental album. Yes, I prefer the 1959 recordings, but the entire 26-track CD is worth a listen, even with the few repetitions. 

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Not with this CD in particular, but with this sort of beautiful music. When I was a child in the mid-1970s, my family seldom went out to a restaurant for dinner. Given my behavior at the time, that's hardly surprising. On rare occasions (maybe once or twice a year), the family would go to Furr's Cafeteria on Grandview Ave.

My parents would always say, "Don't let your eyes be bigger than your stomach" but of course I'd always get too much food anyway. My excessive choices were well worth the weary, frustrated "I told you so" that inevitably ended the meal. In any case, in the Furr's dining room there was often a piano player playing standards like those found on this CD. Mac & cheese, a slice of chocolate pie, and the Great American Songbook. I didn't know how good I had it.

Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Session (1999)

Recorded in 1983, first released in 1999, re-released in 2010, then re-re-released in 2024.

Allow me to expand on that: the show was originally recorded live on December 6, 1983, at CHCH-TV studios in Hamilton, Ontario then edited for broadcast. Somebody at the TV studios was thinking and saved the thing. The session was edited and released as a single CD in 1999 then re-released in 2010 with a bonus DVD of the television broadcast. Finally, the full show (in order) was released in a 2 CD set by Stax in 2024 for the album's 25th anniversary. That's the version I'm spinning today. The digisleeve packaging includes a 16 page booklet which reprints liner notes from both the 1999 release and the 2010 re-release. A 4K Blu-Ray upscale of the TV feed would have been a nice bonus, but no dice. Maybe I was just born under a bad sign.

Edited from the record label's website:

At the In Session taping, 60-year-old Albert ruled over the proceedings like a benevolent father, retaining control while allowing his 29-year-old guest loads of solo space in which to display his awesome command of the electric guitar. Stevie avoided flaunting his prowess, however, and instead delivered some of the most deliciously restrained playing of his career, laying back when his mentor dictated, turning up the heat only when Albert deemed it appropriate. The interplay between the two blues masters is uncannily empathetic, and Albert's fans will find special pleasure in hearing him play rhythm parts at such length. At one point between tunes, Albert complained about problems with his guitar strings, then told Stevie, "I'm about ready to turn it over to you.... I've got to sit back and watch you."

Albert was, in a sense, passing the torch to Stevie. In Session is the only known recording of Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan performing together. Its long-overdue commercial release stands as a fitting tribute to the genius of two of the greatest musicians ever to have played the blues on electric guitar.

The only known recording of Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan performing together. Simply put, it's well worth your time.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: did not chart
• Billboard Blues: #1

Tracks: King's Born Under A Bad Sign is a stone cold classic and it leads things off and you immediately hear how well King's vocals and Vaughan's guitar mesh. Other top tracks on the first CD are Pride And Joy and Blues At Sunrise. From Disc 2: Overall Junction, Match Box Blues, and Don't Lie To Me. But this is the rare live 2 disc set you'll want to hear from top-to-bottom.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:

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Stevie Ray Vaughan

Original Album Classics (2013)	Greatest Hits (1995)
The Real Deal: Greatest Hits Vol 2 (1999)	Family Style (1990)

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Albert King

Born Under A Bad Sign (1967)

Evie Sands - Any Way That You Want Me (1970)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2005 Rev-Ola reissue import from the UK that includes a bonus track.

I consider the 1975 album Estate Of Mind to be one of the best pop albums of the 1970s, so I picked up this CD based solely because it was Evie Sands. I wanted more of the same; I didn't get it. It's not a terrible album - Evie is in fine voice - it's simply not what I wanted nor expected. Different songwriters, different producers, different backing band. It happens.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "definitely commercial but always in good taste."
• Billboard: "sure to win many new fans"
• CashBox: "strong melodic vocal talent"
• Record World: "Evie has a husky-sweet voice and the look and sound of a winner."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: It's fairly generic slow tempo '60s folk rock with an occassional hint of soul music (think Dusty In Memphis with weaker material). Single releases that appear on the album include But You Know I Love You (#110), Any Way That You Want Me (#53), Take Me For A Little While, and One Fine Summer Morning. I think the title cut is the best track on the original album, closely followed by Take Me For A Little While. Inexplicably, we only get 30 seconds (fade in-fade out) of a cover of James Taylor's Carolina On My Mind. Would like to have heard the whole thing.

Bonus track: the 1969 single Maybe Tomorrow, composed by Quincy Jones with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. It was recorded for the film John and Mary and 'bubbled under' Billboard's Hot 100 at #116. The chorus is quite nice, but I understand why it didn't chart higher.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Estate Of Mind (1975)

Monkey House - Headquarters (2012)

Canadian import

A full press release for this album is available here, but here's a snippet from the Alma Records website:

Monkey House, the slick, funky brainchild of Emmy-winning songwriter/producer Don Breithaupt, is an oasis of pop smarts and jazz harmony in a by-the-numbers world. Headquarters, the band's first new album since 2005, includes guests like Steely Dan veterans Michael Leonhart and Drew Zingg, and Canadian guitar heroes Kim Mitchell and Rik Emmett. Named for a 1970 Kurt Vonnegut book, Monkey House began in 1992 as a vehicle for songs Breithaupt considered "maybe too quirky to cover." Years of accolades (including ten CSJA nods) and multi-genre airplay (AC, jazz, pop, AAA, smooth jazz) followed.

Today I learned CSJA stands for Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. The awards, originated by station WAVE, were handed out annually for 7 consecutive years, spanning from 2005 to 2011. But I digress.

I've already written quite a bit about Monkey House:

• Big Money: "fantastic, highly melodic pop music played by real musicians"
• Left: "a master class in smoothness"
• Remember The Audio: "a conglomeration of great melodies, complex harmonies, fantastic arrangements, and perfectly chosen guest artists."
• Crashbox: " a beautiful series of adult contemporary melodic pop songs that are immediately recognizable as Monkey House, complete with bandleader Don Breithaupt's characteristic cadences, instrumentation, and production. And those close vocal harmonies throughout? Goosebumps."

You get the picture. I dig this sort of slick, smooth, sophisticated stuff. Go check out these witty, well-crafted tunes at your preferred streaming site. Or, better yet, support the artists and buy a copy. Let's get physical!

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: 14 tracks, 64 minutes. Nothing to skip, but the middle section is where things get really good. My choice picks are Where's Mantis Evar?, I Could Do Without The Moonlight, Too Much Too Much, December Girls, Right About Now, and The Man You Love To Hate.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I must have first listened to this album while sitting on the front porch of our house in 2012 because I always flashback to that place when I spin this thing. Below is a picture of said porch. We sold that property in 2017. I don't miss tending to an acre of flora, but I sure do miss rocking (and rockin') on that porch.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Crashbox (2025)
Remember The Audio (2022)
Friday (2019)
Left (2016)
Big Money: Singles, Remasters, Rarities, 1992-2005 (2005)

Also:
Just Passing Through: The Breithaupt Brothers Songbook, Vol. II (2014)

Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand, Vol. 2 (1956)

Note: the CD I listened to was the mono 2008 Rudy Van Gelder Edition.

If a little bit is good, more is better.

Smith - organ
Thornel Schwartz - guitar
Donald Bailey - drums

Original liner notes by Leonard Feather. 2008 reissue liner notes by Bob Blumenthal.

Reviews/ratings:

• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with favorites indicated:

	Title	Writer(s)
1	Caravan	Juan Tizol & Duke Ellington	✔
2	Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing	Sammy Fain & Paul Francis Webster
3	Get Happy	Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler
4	It's All Right With Me	Cole Porter	✔

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Best of Jimmy Smith (1988)	Midnight Special (1961)
Keep On Comin' (1983)	Crazy! Baby (1960)
The Dynamic Duo (1967)	Houseparty (1958)
Back At The Chicken Shack (1963)	The Sermon! (1958)
Home Cookin' (1961)	At Club Baby Grand, Vol. 1 (1956)

Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand, Vol. 1 (1956)

Note: the CD I listened to was the mono 2008 Rudy Van Gelder Edition.

Smith's first live album, recorded on August 4, 1956 at Club Baby Grand in Wilmington, Delaware, just months after his first Blue Note releases. We're treated to Smith in a loose, exuberant club environment, where his astonishing technique is apparent. And, for the most part, the rhythm section gets the hell out of the way and lets Smith shine. More relaxed and less polished than Smith's studio records, sure, but it's solid work and, at times, electrifying.

Smith - organ
Thornel Schwartz - guitar
Donald Bailey - drums

Original liner notes by Leonard Feather. 2008 reissue liner notes by Bob Blumenthal.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard (74 out of 100): "skillful modern stylings strapped to a fundamental, deep-rooted beat."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with favorites indicated:

	Title	Writer(s)
1	Introduction	Mitch Thomas
2	Sweet Georgia Brown	Maceo Pinkard	✔
3	Where Or When	Rodgers & Hart
4	The Preacher	Horace Silver	✔
5	Rosetta	Earl Hines & Henri Woode

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Best of Jimmy Smith (1988)	Midnight Special (1961)
Keep On Comin' (1983)	Crazy! Baby (1960)
The Dynamic Duo (1967)	Houseparty (1958)
Back At The Chicken Shack (1963)	The Sermon! (1958)
Home Cookin' (1961)

Seawind - Light the Light/Seawind (1979/1980)

UK import

A remastered two-fer reissue from the Hawaiian band (1974-82) who created sophisticated, uplifting soft rock featuring silky harmonies, jazz-funk grooves, polished arrangements, and - most importantly - tasty horn licks. Why are the horn parts so important? Founding band member and trumpeter Jerry Hey wrote most of the band's characteristic horn arrangements. When Seawind moved from Hawaii to California in the mid-1970s, the "Seawind Horns" quickly developed a reputation among studio musicians and producers. Quincy Jones discovered Hey's talents and he became the go-to horn arranger/player in many Los Angeles studios.

It's not an exaggeration to call Hey one of the most important horn arrangers in the history of pop music. He's been nominated for 11 Grammy awards and won 6 of them. Yeah, that's Jerry on albums by Michael Jackson, Al Jarreau, Toto, Chicago, and Earth, Wind & Fire, among many others. When I was in high school, I read a lot of album credits (because I didn't have many dates but that's a story for another time), and noticed the same three names appeared with some frequency on many of the records I purchased: guitarist Steve Lukather, bassist Nathan East, and Jerry Hey. More on Hey from this 2016 interview.

The above band photo was taken from an article in DownBeat magazine (August 8, 1979) titled "The Second Generation of Fusion" that featured Seawind along with Spyro Gyra, Auracle, and Caldera. As you might imagine, the article's tone was passively condescending and dismissive. Screw 'em - I dig this stuff.

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LIGHT THE LIGHT (1979)
8 tracks, 37 minutes

Produced by Tommy LiPuma, this was the band's third album release and the only one on Horizon, a subsidiary imprint of A&M Records.

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "Seawind's first album for Horizon may be the label's best effort yet."
• Billboard: "aiming toward a more pop commercial idiom"
• Record World: "the debut for their new label is an auspicious one"
• DownBeat (★★½): "rhythm section is authoritative on funk yet durable on ballads"
• High Fidelity: "essentially derivative"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #143
• Billboard Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #127
• CashBox Jazz: #9
• Record World Jazz: #7

Tracks: The lead track, Hold On To Love, was released as a single and peaked at #70 on Billboard's R&B chart, but didn't see the Hot 100. The whole thing is very 'yachty' and all 8 tracks go down smooth. Reminds me more than a little of stuff from Crackin'. According to the seven pages of informative liner notes, the centerpiece of the album is the ballad Follow Your Road. The most jazz-oriented pieces are the instrumentals Morning Star and Enchanted Dance.

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SEAWIND (1980)
9 tracks, 39 minutes

Produced by George Duke, this was the band's only release on A&M and is pop-oriented compared to its predecessors. I'd compare it more to the sound of The Dude or Sergio Mendes. I wouldn't call this jazz by any means, but it did well on the jazz charts, so what do I know. And as much as I like Light The Light, I prefer this one.

Press of the time:

• Record World: "this group's heartbeat is in the rhythm section"
• Note: I find it odd that the group's first release on a major label got so little press coverage. And yet it turned out to be more successful. Go figure.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #83
• Billboard R&B: #20
• Billboard Jazz: #13
• CashBox: #101
• CashBox Jazz: #6
• Record World Jazz: #5

Tracks: Again, the first track on the album was released as a single. A great, funky track titled What'Cha Doin', it peaked at #18 R&B and #28 dance. The next track, The Two Of Us, was also released as a single and although deserving, it failed to chart. The rest is more of the same and that's a good thing. Only one instrumental this time around, Pra Vosé written by the band's guitarist Bub Nuanez, which sounds like a Brazilian tune from an Earl Klugh album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but I sure wish someone had given a copy of that Seawind album to young Mark back in 1980.