Shelly Manne
Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, sw ...
& His Friends" and released in 1956 by
Contemporary Records
Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players.
West Coast players
Contemporary became identified with a style of j ...
, is the first
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
ever made consisting entirely of
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
versions of tunes from a single
Broadway musical
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
. It was an instant hit and became one of the best-selling jazz albums of its day.
Origins
''Shelly Manne & his Friends* (*André Previn and Leroy Vinnegar): modern jazz performances of songs from My Fair Lady'', as the full name appeared on the 12-inch LP jacket (Contemporary Records C3527), was begun when drummer Shelly Manne, pianist André Previn, and bassist
Leroy Vinnegar
Leroy Vinnegar (July 13, 1928 – August 3, 1999) was an American jazz bassist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles, California, during the 1950s and 1960s. His trade ...
assembled on August 17, 1956, in the Contemporary studios in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
to produce an album of jazz versions of miscellaneous show tunes. (The three, having already recorded together as "Shelly Manne and His Friends", had some experience performing as a trio.)
Previn and Manne were exchanging ideas with producer
Lester Koenig
Lester Koenig (December 3, 1917 – November 20, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and founder of the jazz record label Contemporary Records.
Biography
Koenig was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harli ...
, who suggested they do some tunes from the current Broadway musical ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
''. Manne and Previn were so impressed with the
Lerner Lerner is a German and Jewish family name. Its literal meaning can be either "student" or "scholar". It may refer to:
Organizations
* Lerner Enterprises, a real estate company
* Lerner Newspapers
* Lerner Publishing Group, a publisher of child ...
and Loewe songs for the show, that they decided to record more of them. They ended up filling the entire album with ''My Fair Lady'' tunes. Koenig brought in the complete score, and that evening Manne and Previn, between them, worked out the arrangements and recorded the entire album in one session, with Vinnegar providing the third "very important musical voice in the trio."
Lively and appealing, and clearly aimed at popular taste, the music also showed some daring, in the vein of the experimentation that was a factor in much
West Coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...
in the 1950s. Previn, with considerable musical training, and having composed several
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
s himself, was able to suggest certain technical modifications to the harmony and other aspects of the music. Manne, as the date's leader, provided suggestions of his own, for example to treat what was a fast number in the show as a slow
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
instead. The final number, "
I Could Have Danced All Night
"I Could Have Danced All Night" is a song from the musical ''My Fair Lady'', with music written by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
touch, with Manne even adding the sound of a
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
. "There was a total thing going back and forth," as Manne later put it.
The sound was recorded by Roy DuNann, later recognized as one of the great recording engineers.
Legacy
The result of that session was an unexpectedly successful album, generally cited as the most successful jazz album up to that time, or at least one of them.See Yanow; also Brand, p. 87, and Gordon, pp. 142-43.
After that success, the combo, sometimes under Manne's name, other times under Previn's, as "André Previn and His Pals", recorded numerous other treatments of Broadway musicals in the next few years (the first with Vinnegar on bass, the rest with Red Mitchell, who took over the bass chair when Vinnegar left the group to pursue other musical opportunities), including ''
Li'l Abner
''Li'l Abner'' is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbilly, hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written a ...
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
'' (1959), all issued on the Contemporary label.
Shortly after the Manne hit with ''My Fair Lady'' had shown what could be done in this vein, that musical received whole-album treatment by other jazz artists.
Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the a ...
and
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
brought out '' My Fair Lady Loves Jazz'' in 1957, and this was followed by albums of ''My Fair Lady'' music by
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
(''
Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady
''Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady'' is a 1963 album by Nat King Cole of songs from the 1956 musical ''My Fair Lady''.
Track listing
# "With a Little Bit of Luck" – 2:52
# "I Could Have Danced All Night" – 2:30
# "The Rain in Spain" – 3:2 ...
'') ;
Wild Bill Davis
Wild Bill Davis (November 24, 1918 – August 17, 1995) was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electric organ recordings and for his tenure with t ...
Ruby Braff
Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Garry Moore television show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong".
Braff ...
;
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards ...
('' The Oscar Peterson Trio Plays "My Fair Lady"''); and others.
Manne himself worked with arranger John Williams to present a different treatment of the musical in 1964, first issued as '' My Fair Lady with the Un-Original Cast'', and later reissued as ''My Fair Lady Swings''. This album was based on arrangements thoroughly worked out in advance, and some of the tunes were sung by
Jack Sheldon
Beryl Cyril Sheldon Jr. (November 30, 1931 – December 27, 2019), known professionally as Jack Sheldon, was an American singer, musician, and actor. He performed on '' The Merv Griffin Show'' and participated in episodes of the educational musi ...
and
Irene Kral
Irene Kral (January 18, 1932 – August 15, 1978) was an American jazz singer who was born to Czechoslovakian parents in Chicago, Illinois and settled in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. She died from breast cancer in Encino, California.
Kral's ...
.
Track listing
''All tunes by Frederick Loewe. (Lyrics of the original songs were by Alan Jay Lerner.)''
# "
Get Me to the Church on Time
"Get Me to the Church on Time" is a song composed by Frederick Loewe, with lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1956 musical ''My Fair Lady'', where it was introduced by Stanley Holloway.
It is sung by the cockney character Alfred P. Doolit ...
" - 4:11
# "
On the Street Where You Live
"On the Street Where You Live" is a song with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 Broadway musical ''My Fair Lady''. It is sung in the musical by the character Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who was portrayed by John Mic ...
Wouldn't It Be Loverly
"Wouldn't It Be Loverly" is a popular song by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, written for the 1956 Broadway play ''My Fair Lady''.
The song is sung by Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and her street friends. It expresses Eliza's wish fo ...
With a Little Bit of Luck
"With a Little Bit of Luck" is a popular song by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, written for the 1956 Broadway play ''My Fair Lady''.
It was sung by Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle in both the original stage and film versions.
I ...
" - 6:01
# "
I Could Have Danced All Night
"I Could Have Danced All Night" is a song from the musical ''My Fair Lady'', with music written by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
*
Leroy Vinnegar
Leroy Vinnegar (July 13, 1928 – August 3, 1999) was an American jazz bassist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles, California, during the 1950s and 1960s. His trade ...
Lester Koenig
Lester Koenig (December 3, 1917 – November 20, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and founder of the jazz record label Contemporary Records.
Biography
Koenig was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harli ...
- producer
* Roy DuNann - recording engineer
Notes
References
* Brand, Jack. ''Shelly Manne: Sounds of the Different Drummer'' (Discography and filmography by Bill Korst) (Percussion Express, 1997)
* Gordon, Robert. ''Jazz West Coast: The Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950s'' (Quartet Books, 1986)