Tony Muréna, Accordion and Orchestra Vive Paris [1962]

Time Records Series 2000 S/2060 

Tony Muréna (born 1917, died 1970) was an Italian-born Musette accordionist and jazz composer who lived and worked in France.

Antonio Muréna was born in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy. His family emigrated to France in 1923 and settled in Nogent-sur-Marne. His uncle gave him his first accordion and he began a performing career assisted by his cousin Louis Ferrari. Muréna played in cabarets and music halls from an early age.

In 1932 Muréna began to play the bandoneón in tango orchestras, including that of Rafael and Eduardo Bianco Canaro, at French clubs including La Boule Noire, Java, The Silhouette, Balajo (rue de Lappe), Pré Catelan and Ciro's. He also toured in South America, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. In 1949 he bought the Le Mirliton cabaret where he often played with Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. He also played with Matelo Ferret, Henri Crolla, Didi Duprat, Jo Privat and Gus Viseur. In 1958 he established the Radio Luxembourg Orchestra and also hosted the 36 Candles television show. He died in France. [Wikipedia]

Themes Like Old Times: 90 of The Most Famous Original Radio Themes Volume 2 [1972]

Viva Records V36020

Themes Like Old Times: 90 of The Most Famous Original Radio Themes Volume 1 [1969]

Viva Records V36018

The Knightsbridge Strings The Strings Sing [1959]

Top Rank International ‎RM 303

The Knightsbridge Strings were England's answer to 101 Strings. Actually, this name was used for releases on both the U.K. label Top Rank and Bob Moore's Nashville-based Monument. I suspect the Monument albums were just U.S. reissues of the Top Ranks.

Felix Slatkin Fantastic Strings [1964]

Liberty Records LST-7376 

Among the most consummate of studio musicians, Felix Slatkin achieved fame for violin performance, directing recordings of both standard symphonic fare and appealing arrangements of light music, and for being the leader of a string quartet fondly remembered as one of the finest of its time. Through his affiliation with Capitol Records, he and his wife, Eleanor Aller (cellist with Slatkin's Hollywood String Quartet), were afforded the economic base to pursue performance in areas notoriously unprofitable. Slatkin's death from a heart attack in 1963 caused genuine upset in the Hollywood/Los Angeles studio music world. He had become, by that time, all but irreplaceable.

Leonard Pennario Chopin Waltzes [1955]

Capitol Classical Records FDS P-8172

Pennario recorded over 60 LPs, most of them of composers dating from Chopin and later. He is perhaps best known for championing certain modern composers such as George Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, Rózsa, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Sergei Prokofiev. In 1958, he was tied with Walter Gieseking in terms of best-selling classical records involving the piano.

Norrie Paramor, His Strings and Orchestra The Zodiac Suite [1959]

Capitol Records T10073

One of the many interesting things about The Zodiac Suite is its arresting cover art, which pictures an exotic woman surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. Norrie Paramor's early concept album presents 12 compositions, one for each sign of the zodiac, along with printed descriptions of the signs' alleged characteristics and how they are reflected in the music. The Zodiac Suite would be categorized as a mood music album and it is wonderfully dreamy and ethereal in places, but sometimes the arrangements sound more like orchestral pop or light classical music. "An Aries Aria" and "Ode to Pisces" use a wordless soprano to great effect and come closer than any of the other pieces to matching the exotica the cover promises. The complicated melodies, meticulous and varied arrangements, and inspired theme make The Zodiac Suite an intriguing and unusual find.