Glenn Osser • Be There At Five [1956] Mercury MG 20218

 

The son of Russian immigrants, Osser has had a successful career arranging and conducting for many leading bands and singers. He has also achieved a distinctive string sound through his clever scoring, which he describes as ‘voicing register, and composition of the counterpoint’. In his early career, Osser concentrated on arranging, and his scores were accepted by Bob Crosby, Charlie Barnet, Bunny Berigan, Paul Whiteman, Les Brown, and Red Nichols. During the 50s, while still regularly working with Whiteman (who was Musical Director of the ABC Network at that time), Osser was in demand to back many singers for albums, including Georgia Gibbs, Vic Damone, Jack Jones, Frankie Laine, John Raitt, Maurice Chevalier, and Guy Mitchell. Osser was also recording his own instrumental albums, notably some with Bobby Hackett and Joe Bushkin. Further albums found Osser backing Johnny Mathis, Jerry Vale, Tony Bennett, Robert Goulet, and Leslie Uggams. Leaving US Columbia Records and moving to RCA Records, Osser worked with Della Reese and Sam Cooke. Until 1987 he was Music Director and arranger for the Miss America Beauty Pageant on television, with Osser and his wife contributing various original songs including 'Miss America, You’re Beautiful' and 'Look At Her'. He has also written many works for concert bands that are still regularly performed by many high school and college bands in the USA.  [AllMusic]

Let's Take A Sentimental Journey: Warm and Wonderful Musical Memories For Listening and Relaxation [Reader's Digest 9 LP Boxset] [1970] Reader's Digest RDA 84-A

 

From 1970, here is a Reader's Digest box set with something for everyone!  It encompasses big band, jazz, easy listening, and even a bit of country. There are a plethora of artists to enjoy; Harry James, Benny Goodman, Lawrence Welk, Paul Weston, Joe Reisman, and many others.  The 24-page booklet makes for very interesting reading with a treasure trove of information.

Dave Apollon • Mandolins! Mandolins! [1960] Coral Records CRL 757342

 

Dave Apollon was born in Kiev (Kyiv), Russia, in 1897. Originally a student of the violin, he became acquainted with the mandolin through an old bowl-backed model his father had lying about the house. By the young age of 14, he was performing on the instrument in theaters throughout Kiev (Kyiv), but a stint as a soldier during the Russian Revolution stalled his burgeoning career. After the war, Apollon moved to the Philippines, where he continued playing his mandolin and dancing. After a brief stop in Japan, he headed for America. In 1919, Apollon landed in New York and began working in vaudeville.

Dave Apollon • The Man With The Mandolin: Complete Recordings 1930-1956 [2 CD Set] [1997] Acoustic Disc ACD-27

 

Scans of the 20-page booklet are available for download via email request!

This two-CD collection, compiled and produced by the king of "Dawg Music" (a kind of swinging bluegrass jazz), David Grisman, is filled with overlooked treasures by a mandolin genius. Apollon was a bit of a novelty act in his early years, and much of the first disc is a bit bogged down with some of the promotional and film work that showcased him as a rather clownish Hungarian. But by the second disc, his fingers fly freely on masterful renditions of such wide-ranging work as "Perfidia," "Zigeunerweisen," and "The Man I Love." A must for guitar and mandolin fans. 

A favorite Argentine tango of mine - leading up to the next post . . . A Media Luz (In Dimmed Light) with lyrics in English

 

A media luz (In dimmed light)  Music: Edgardo Donato – Lyrics: Carlos Lenzi (1924)

It’s the 1920’s. They might be young or not. They have met at a milonga or not. He might be charming, she might be pretty or not. One sure is certain, if they want to see one another again, in a more ‘intimate’ setting, they’ll probably go to his bachelor flat in downtown Buenos Aires.

A media luz describes these bachelor flats used for fun and the fussy sex of the period. In these flats, everything was carefully thought of to create a suitable atmosphere: todo a media luz (“everything in dimmed light”).

The song describes with a lot of humour the measures taken to protect the privacy of these apartments – “there’s no concierge and no neighbour”, the rugs “muffle sounds”, and even the cat keeps quiet: “a cat made of porcelain so that it doesn’t mew at love.”

These small apartments were decorated with the flourished style of the period. Everything seems to have been bought at the Maple furniture shop, which was very famous at the time and stocked everything from furniture to rugs to decorations, even porcelain cats – the 1930s porteño version of Ikea!

Don’t be surprised by the last paragraph: until the beginning of the 1930s, cocaine, morphine, and opium had a legal medical usage. Being sold as preparations in pharmacies, these drugs were commonly found in medicine cabinets at home.

A media Luz has been translated by Nathalie at Tanguito, Argentine Tango Academy in London.

LYRICS:

"3, 4, 8 Corrientes Avenue,

2nd floor with elevator.

There’s no concierge and no neighbour.

Inside, cocktail and love.

The little apartment furnished by Maple:

a piano, a mat, a bedside table,

a phone that answers,

a phonograph that weeps

old tangos from my youth,

and a porcelain cat

which doesn’t mew at love.

And everything in dimmed light,

what a sorcerer love is,

in dimmed light the kisses,

in dimmed light the two of them.

And everything in dimmed light

a twilight indoors.

What a soft velvet

the dimmed light of love is!

12, 24 Juncal avenue,

don’t hesitate to call.

In the afternoon, tea and pastries;

at night, tango and songs.

Sundays, dancing teas;

Mondays, desolation.

There’s everything in the little house:

cushions and sofas;

cocaine like at the pharmacy;

rugs that muffle sounds

and a table set for love."

Bert Kaempfert •10 Original Albums and Bonus Tracks [2014] Intense Media 600240

 

Welcome to the updated and expanded version of The Vinyl Cloak!  I am a big fan of The Intense Media box sets and also a big fan of Bert Kaempfert.  

This box set is in a wallet box with each of the 10 CDs in a hard paper sleeve.  The back of the sleeve contains the album name, the album artist, original release date, tracklist, and composers. 

I bought this set specifically for the 23 singles included as bonus tracks.  All of the scans are available for download; send an email to receive a link and instructions.  👍

EU-only 10 CD box that gathers together ten original LPs that brought the German bandleader and songwriter Bert Kaempfert world fame, as well as twenty-three successful singles as bonus tracks. The set includes sought-after rarities, such as the LP published under the pseudonym Raimondo and the Memory Strings. The full list of the albums included: Portugal - Fado, Wine and Sunshine (1958), Combo Capers (1960), Wonderland By Night (1961), The Wonderland of Bert Kaempfert Part One (1961), The Wonderland of Bert Kaempfert Part Two (1961), Immer Wieder Jung (1961), Dancing in Wonderland (1961), With a Sound in My Heart (1962), A Swingin' Safari (1962), Afrikaan Beat and Other Favourites (1962).

Small Hints of Things To Come . . .

 

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