My Fair Lady (Shelly Manne album)
My Fair Lady | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1956 | |||
Recorded | August 17, 1956 | |||
Studio | Contemporary Records (Los Angeles) | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 35:56 | |||
Label | Contemporary Records C 3527 | |||
Producer | Lester Koenig | |||
Shelly Manne chronology | ||||
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André Previn chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [3] |
My Fair Lady, recorded by "Shelly Manne & His Friends" and released in 1956 by Contemporary Records, is the first album ever made consisting entirely of jazz versions of tunes from a single Broadway musical.[4] It was an instant hit and became one of the best-selling jazz albums of its day.[5]
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
Previn and Manne were exchanging ideas with producer Lester Koenig, who suggested they do some tunes from the current Broadway musical My Fair Lady.[6] Manne and Previn were so impressed with the Lerner 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."[7]
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
The sound was recorded by Roy DuNann, later recognized as one of the great recording engineers.[10]
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.[11]
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
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 and Quincy Jones brought out My Fair Lady Loves Jazz in 1957, and this was followed by albums of My Fair Lady music by Nat King Cole (Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady) ; Wild Bill Davis; Dick Hyman with Ruby Braff; Oscar Peterson (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 and Irene Kral.
Track listing
All tunes by Frederick Loewe. (Lyrics of the original songs were by Alan Jay Lerner.)
- "Get Me to the Church on Time" - 4:11
- "On the Street Where You Live" - 5:37
- "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" - 3:21
- "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" - 5:31
- "Ascot Gavotte" - 4:17
- "Show Me" - 3:40
- "With a Little Bit of Luck" - 6:01
- "I Could Have Danced All Night" - 3:00
Personnel
- Shelly Manne & His Friends
- Shelly Manne - drums, leader
- André Previn - piano
- Leroy Vinnegar - bass
- Technical
- Lester Koenig - producer
- Roy DuNann - recording engineer
Notes
- ^ AllMusic review
- ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ Gordon, p. 143. Gordon gives the year as 1957, but this is certainly an error. The album cover and other sources give it as 1956.
- ^ Gordon, pp. 142-43. See also Brand, p. 87.
- ^ Though this musical became the longest-running Broadway musical of its day, it had at this time been running on Broadway for only five months.
- ^ Brand, p. 87.
- ^ Gordon, p. 143.
- ^ Quoted in Gordon, p. 143.
- ^ See the comments by Thomas Conrad in his April 2002 article in Stereophile magazine. (See external links, below.)
- ^ See Yanow; also Brand, p. 87, and Gordon, pp. 142-43.
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)