Dennis Farnon - Caution! Men Swinging

Dennis Farnon was born in 1923 in Toronto, Canada as John Denis Farnon to Robert and Elsie Farnon (née Menzies). He grew up in a musical family, and learned to play the trumpet at age 12. Through his older brother Robert, he enlisted into the Canadian Army Band, also travelling to Europe to entertain the Allied troops during the last years of the war. In his mid-20s, he moved to Chicago where he played in jazz clubs and pursued studies in conducting, arranging, and orchestration, strongly influenced by the works of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Béla Bartók and Sergey Prokofiev.

Several years later, he accepted an invitation to Hollywood as musical director for singer Johnny Holiday, and he stayed, continuing to compose, conduct and arrange. In 1956, he was tapped by RCA Records to head their West Coast A&R and signed on as producer, arranger and recording artist. During that time, the Dennis Farnon Orchestra recorded numerous albums, including Magoo in Hi-Fi, over 10 episodes of Mr Magoo cartoon shorts, Chet Atkins in Hollywood, Velvet Carpet with The George Shearing's Quintet, The Enchanted Woods, Songs From The Motion Picture Gigi, While My Lady Sleeps with Phineas Newborn Jr., and Caution! Men Swinging.

This roaring, vibrant album has all the drive, sparkle and vibrancy that characterized swing big bands in their heyday, plus imaginative new ideas. Not only is the swing youthful, but Dennis Farnon's own musical imagination has also brought it up to date and added new lustre and meaning to the idiom. Caution! Men Swinging stands out for its precision and powerhouse sound of the brass and sax sections in the overall set, arranged and conducted by Canadian Dennis Farnon. In addition, there is ample room for solo blowing by Don Fagerquist, who plays all the jazz trumpet; pianists Lou Levy and Jimmy Rowles, guitarist Howard Roberts, tenor Ted Nash, plus the superb lead trumpet work of Frank Beach and George Roberts' bass trombone very present at all times. This 1957 album was the only jazz LP Farnon recorded in his entire career and, possibly thinking he could hardly have surpassed it, he devoted his work primarily to writing arrangements and conducting for pop singers. Enjoy this fantastic swinging big band session! *Jordi Pujol*

Back in the 1950s, as the Big Band Era was slowly dying, the money for musicians was to be made in the studios, with alumni from Herman, Rogers and Kenton playing for TV shows and movies in order to pay off their mortgages in  the San Fernando Valley. Here are a couple swinging albums from Hollywood in the swinging Eisenhower Years.

Canadian conductor Dennis Farron leads a 1957 studio orchestra that includes Pete Condoli/tp, Ted Nash/ts, Bob Enevoldsen/vtb, Howard Roberts/g, Jimmy Rowles-Lou Levy/p and Alvin Stoller/dr for a mix of originals and standards. They sound like a background sound track for a film noir on the swaggering "Caution! Men Swinging" while the muted horns sway on "Lover Come Back To Me". West Coast Cool moods dominate "Why Don’t You Do Right" while big brass is bold on "Just You, Just Me" with the team sounding like Kenton on the hard hitting "Three Little Words". Bright primary colors. *George W. Harris*

Side 1

1 - Caution! Men Swinging

(Dennis Farnon)

2 - Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year

(Frank Loesser)

3 - Lover Come Back To Me

(Oscar Hammerstein, Sigmund Romberg)

4 - Shoo-Shoo Baby

(Phil Moore)

5 - Just You, Just Me

(Jessie Greer, Raymond Klages)

Side 2

06 - Isle Of Capri

(Wilhelm Grosz, James Kennedy)

07 - South Of The Border

(M. Beresford, J. B. Kennedy)

08 - It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

(Duke Ellington, Irving Mills)

09 - Why Don't You Do Right

(Joe McCoy)

10 - Three Little Words

(Harry Ruby)

11 - Resume Speed

(Dennis Farnon)

Pete Candoli, Frank Beach, Don Fagerquist, Paul Geil (trumpets); Tommy Pederson, Joe Howard (trombones); Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone); George Roberts (bass trombone); Jack Dumont, Brian Farnon (alto saxes); Ted Nash, Gene Cipriano (tenor saxes); Chuck Gentry (baritone sax); Howard Roberts (guitar); Jimmy Rowles [#1, #2, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9], Lou Levy [#3, #4, #10, #11] (pianos); Cliff Hills (bass); Alvin Stoller (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, May 30, 1957.

 

Hal Schaefer - Rare And Oscure Jazz Albums

Like Erroll Garner, Hal Schaefer had his own distinctive jazz piano style and transformed every song he played into pure magic. He could turn standards inside out with a swinging fury and, with his right hand, whip up improvised lines that left listeners dazzled.

Born in 1925 in Queens, N.Y., Schaefer began playing professionally as a teen at resorts in the Catskill Mountains a few hours north of New York.

By the mid-1940s, he was playing and recording with Tommy Dorsey and Boyd Raeburn. During this time, he led a trio that played during intermissions at Duke Ellington concerts.

In 1947, he settled in Los Angeles and teamed with vocalist Peggy Lee and her husband, guitarist Dave Barbour, on record dates. He also squeezed in a session with Bob Cooper's band backing vocalist June Christy. In the early 1950s, he made records for MGM with Woody Herman and singer Billy Eckstine.

By early 1953, he was swept by the movie industry and began working as Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach and accompanist, helping her get up to speed for her solo vocal on Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend for the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a song he arranged while working closely with film choreographer Jack Cole. He also worked with her on the music and arrangements for "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "River of No Return" in 1954.

Like many men who came into Monroe's orbit, Schaefer was lulled into thinking their relationship was more than it was. According to Schaefer, he became her lover in 1954 and confidant during the nine months she was married to Joe DiMaggio and beyond. Then Schaefer's relationship with the actress began slipping away. In July 1955, he said, he tried to commit suicide over his inability to hold onto her.

During this period of sexual despair, Schaefer recorded two albums for RCA as a leader — Just Too Much, a trio date months before his suicide attempt, and Jazz Workshop with a sextet months after being released from the hospital. Both are glorious recordings. 

On Just Too Much, recorded in late 1954 and early 1955, the album featured Schaefer (p,cel), Joe Mondragon (b) and Alvin Stoller (d). Schaefer sounds spectacular throughout the album, taking on "Thou Swell", "The Song Is You", "It Could Happen to You" and "St. Louis Blues" among others, creating impossibly inventive renditions that became musical catnip for the listener.

On the Jazz Workshop album, recorded over three sessions in the fall of 1955, the tracks on the first date were "Spring Is Here", "Isn't It Romantic", "Real Lee" and "A New Sound". The band Schaefer arranged featured Jimmy Nottingham and Nick Travis (tp), Schaefer (p), Milt Hinton (b), Don Lamond and Ed Shaughnessy (d).

On "Blues Skies", "This One's for Jack", "A Song of Love" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter", the personnel included Billy Byers, Urbie Green, Fred Ohms and Chauncey Welsch (tb); Tom Mitchell (b-tb); Hal Schaefer (p); Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d).

And on "Imagination", "Dancing in the Dark", "Of Things Gone By" and "Let's Have a Cerebration", the musicians were Hal McKusick, Sam Marowitz and Phil Woods (as); Hal Schaefer (p); Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d).

"This One's for Jack" must have been for Jack Lewis, RCA's head of jazz A&R at the time, when the 12-inch album format was brand new for pop records. Lewis created the Jazz Workshop series to give top artists a chance to lead a recording session of their own conception. The series also let Lewis quickly fill his quota of newly recorded albums for RCA's 12-inch LP pipeline.

Prior to Schaefer's suicide attempt, a jealous Joe DiMaggio with Frank Sinatra and others broke down the door of the wrong apartment at 3 a.m. looking for Monroe and Schaefer. Following this event, the pianist was regularly harassed in the days before trolling and social media. So much so that Schaefer feared his hands would be broken by goons in retribution and left Hollywood in the late 1950s.

In New York, he continued to play and record jazz albums as well as coach star singers such as Barbra Streisand, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno and Julie Wilson. He moved to Florida in the 1990s and died in December 2012. Marilyn Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose in August 1962 that was widely considered a suicide. *Marc Myers *

Hal Schaefer

Rare And Oscure Jazz Albums

Hal Schaefer (1925-2012) was an extremely talented, thoughtful, and polished New York pianist who, by the age of 30, had already immersed himself in many musical circles. From an inauspicious start as a teenager playing with Lee Castle, he went on to join Ina Ray Hutton’s band for two years before settling in Los Angeles in 1943. There, he played with the bands of Benny Carter, Harry James, and Boyd Raeburn, with whom he gained notable recognition.

From the late 1940s onwards he accompanied Peggy Lee and Billy Eckstine before breaking into the world of film as an arranger and rehearsal pianist. His studio work would include the lucrative role of vocal coach to some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Marilyn Monroe.

In 1954, affected by personal problems, Hal decided to leave the movieland scene behind to start a jazz recording career. His debut album as a leader, Just Too Much, came out in 1955 on the RCA Victor label, on which Hal performed in a trio with Joe Mondragon and Alvin Stoller and attracted considerable attention from jazz fans and critics alike.

Hal returned to New York City in 1955, the same year that RCA Victor inaugurated a new series of recordings titled The Jazz Workshop, which was specifically intended to showcase new ideas in jazz orchestration, composition, and instrumentation. His producer Jack Lewis asked Hal to record his second album as part of the series. With the simple title of Hal Schaefer, the music featured Hal’s creative writing as well as his skilled andmindful approach as a soloist. For this project he used piano, bass, and drums, adding different instrumentation in each of the three recording sessions: one with three reeds, one with five trombones, and the last with two trumpets, himself on harpsichord and an extra drummer. There are several stimulating as well as humorous moments in the writing, largely involving the freshly changing textures with especially charming ballads and sparkling new ideas in jazz. *Jordi Pujol*

1 - All The Things You Are

(Kern, Hammerstein II)

2 - I’ll Remember April

(Ray, DePaul, Johnson)

3 - You Are Too Beautiful

(Rodgers, Hart)

4 - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

(Arlen, Koehler)

5 - I’m Glad There Is You

(Madeira, Dorsey)

6 - The Song Is You

(Kern, Hammerstein II)

7 - Thou Swell

(Rodgers, Hart)

8 - St. Louis Blues

(W.C. Handy)

9 - Yes

(Hal Schaefer)

10 - Have You Met Miss Jones?

(Rodgers, Hart)

11 - You Stepped Out Of A Dream

(Brown, Kahn)

12 - Montevideo

(Hal Schaefer)

13 - Dancing In The Dark

(Dietz, Schwartz)

14 - Imagination

(Van Heusen, Burke)

15 - This One's For Jack

(Hal Schaefer)

16 - A Song Of Love

(Hal Schaefer)

17 - Isn't It Romantic

(Rodgers, Hart)

18 - A New Sound For The Blue

(Hal Schaefer)

19 - Let’s Have A Cerebration

(Hal Schaefer)

20 - Of Things Gone By

(Hal Schaefer)

21 - Blue Skies

(Irving Berlin)

22 - I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter

(Young, Ahlert)

23 - Spring Is Here

(Rodgers, Hart)

24 - Real Lee

(Hal Schaefer)

#1 to #12: from Just Too Much: The Progressive Piano of Hal Schaefer (RCA Victor LPM-1106)

Hal Schaefer (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Alvin Stoller (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, December 27, 1954 (#5, #6, #7, #12), January 4, 1955 (#2, #4, #8, #10) and January 10, 1955 (#1, #3, #9, #11).

#13 to #24, from The RCA Victor Jazz Workshop (RCA Victor LPM-1199)

#13, #14, #19, #20:

Hal McKusick, Sam Marowitz, Phil Woods (alto saxes); Hal Schaefer (piano); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 28, 1955.

#15, #16, #21 , #22: 

Billy Byers, Urbie Green, Freddie Ohms, Chauncey Welsh (trombones); Tommy Mitchell (bass trombone); Hal Schaefer (piano); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 9, 1955.

#17, #18, #23, #24: 

Jimmy Nottingham, Nick Travis (trumpets); Hal Schaefer (harpsichord); Milt Hinton (bass); Don Lamond, Ed Shaughnessy (drums).

Recorded in New York City, October 17, 1955.

The Oscar Peterson Quartet (Album#1, Album#2 and one more...)

Heretofore, one of the disadvantages of making jazz records has been the restrictions of the ten inch 78 r.p.m. record, because all that you could do was three and one-half minutes of music, and your musicians had to produce their best in that short period. As a result, many musicians felt inhibited, and the excitement that comes from improvisation and from building to a climax has pretty generally been lost in this type of recording. 

I thought it a good idea to utilize the Long-Play record with Peterson, and I told him to play as long as he chose, (up to fifteen minutes), and forget the time. "Just play the way you feel". 

I'm sure you'll agree that "The Astaire Blues"’ is some of the most exciting jazz of any type put on record, and certainly nothing like it has been done before with the piano. And, try to restrain your foot from tapping to "Stompin' At The Savoy". Impossible! the beat is just too much!! 

Oscar is complemented by Barney Kessel, his analogue on guitar, and both are assisted by Ray Brown, probably one of the two or three greatest bassists in the country, and Alvin Stoller, a drummer with a thorough background in jazz from Tommy Dorsey's big band to Oscar Peterson's Quartet. If you own a phonograph that plays good records, then this is a must for your collection. *Norman Granz (liner notes)*

Oscar Peterson

The Oscar Peterson Quartet

This 1952 studio session is one of a few recordings made during guitarist Barney Kessel's brief tenure working with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown. Expanded to a quartet for this session by the addition of drummer Alvin Stoller, the group's extended workouts allow for a lot of showmanship, starting with Peterson's rapid-fire "The Astaire Blues", where the pianist's volcanic technique never fails to dazzle. The leader gives Kessel a bit more space in the subdued but swinging renditions of "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Body and Soul." Brown provides his usual strong pulse, while Stoller's rather light touch is welcome. Although reissued as a Book-of-the-Month Club LP during the '70s, this enjoyable session has been strangely overlooked for reissue on CD. *Ken Dryden*

1 - The Astaire Blues

(Peterson)

2 - Stompin' At The Savoy

(Sampson, Webb, Razaf, Goodman)

3 - Body And Soul

(Green, Heyman, Sour, Eyton)

4 - Oh, Lady Be Good!

(G. and I. Gershwin)

5 - Tea For Two

(Youmans, Caesar)

Oscar Peterson (piano), Barney Kessel (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), Alvin Stoller (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, February 26, 1952.