Easy-listening jazz - guitar, upright bass, vibes, keyboards, percussion.

11 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Traditional Jazz Combo, EASY LISTENING: Lounge



Details:
ABOUT THE ALBUM

This is an easy-listening jazz album. The quintet consists of guitar, vibes, keys, upright bass and percussion.
(Total time: 51:32)

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bob Burford is a self-taught finger-style jazz guitarist who grew up with a guitar in the house. He was surrounded by uncles on both sides of the family who played Texas Swing and Hillbilly (that was before the term "Country & Western" was coined). He started playing in clubs at the age of 15 in the resort area of southwestern Michigan in the early 1950s. At age 17 he began working with show bands playing rhythm and blues and jazz. Later, he studied privately with renowned guitarist Charlie Byrd who, with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, introduced bossa nova to North America with their âJazz Sambaâ album in the early 1960s. Byrd introduced him to John Marlow at American University in Washington, D.C., with whom he studied classical guitar. From there he went to Las Vegas where he worked for Al Ramsey who contracted a stable of musicians who backed all of the casino headliners. Ramsey later became director of entertainment at Caesarâs Palace. Burford's claim to fame comes more from who he did not work with rather than who he has worked with. He got the call from Ramsey's office to work the Sinatra show but he missed that date because his answering service failed to give him the message until 26 hours later. He is most proud of his two-year association with legendary guitarist George Barnes (Chet Atkins' favorite guitarist) at Concord Jazz in California. That collaboration produced what came to be known as âthe Concord Sound.â Burford is semi-retired now but still owns a private investigative agency in Nashville where he is actively involved in the music scene.

ABOUT THE TUNES

1. Coming Home Baby - Herbie Mann recorded this tune at the Village Gate in New York City in 1961. It was one of his biggest successes. I may be wrong about this, but I think he was using two uipright basses during this era.

2. Fly Me To The Moon - The original title was "In Other Words." Bart Howard's publisher wanted to title it "Take Me To The Moon." Howard wanted to title it "Fly Me To The Moon" and, obviously, won the argument.

3. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To - Traditional Cole Porter classic. There's a nice unison guitar/vibes improv line; not quite sure where or from whom that was "borrowed."

4. I'll Walk Alone - Introduced by Tennessee's own Dinah Shore in the 1944 movie, "Follow The Boys." It was a hit for Mary Martin ("Peter Pan"). Dinah Shore was stricken with polio when she was 18 months old which left her with one leg a bit shorter than the other. She always wore slacks long before it became fashionable.

5. Miss Memphis - Back in the late 1950s and 1960s magazines such as "Down Beat", "Metronome" and "Playboy" conducted an annual jazz poll. For several successive years the poll winners were Barney Kessel (guitar), Ray Brown (bass) and Shelley Manne (drums). Each year this trio recorded a "Poll Winners" album which was a fairly easy thing to arrange since they all lived in the Los Angeles area. This is a Marvin Jenkins tune on their 1956 or 1957 album.

6. This Masquerade - written by Leon Russell, one of Nashville's more prolific writers. This was a huge hit for George Benson. Benson wanted to break out of the jazz guitarist mold and start vocalizing. His manager disagreed. I may be wrong about this, but I think Benson fired his manager, recorded this tune and, as they say, the rest is history.

7. I've Never Been In Love Before - Thank god we've been blessed with people like Frank Loesser who wrote lyrics to more than 700 tunes. He also wrote the music to several well-known tunes. He's probably best known for having written 1950's "Guys and Dolls", tunes from which made a whole lot of people a whole lot of money.

8. Suicide is Painless - In the movie "M*A*S*H" there is a wacko send-up "last supper" scene. The dinner was a send-off for Painless, one of the characters in the film who had decided to commit suicide. Director Robert Altman was to write the lyrics and Johnny Mandel the music. Altman gave Mandel the lyrics to Mandel with the comment, "I couldn't write anything this stupid, so I gave it to my 15-year-old son, Mike." They had no idea M*A*S*H was going to turn into one of TV's biggest hits, nor did they have any idea this tune would be its theme.

9. Sugar - Stanley Turrentine's jazz standard done in a traditional way.

10. Salute to Charlie Christian - Written by Barney Kessel and recorded on his "Easy, Like" album.

11. Faded Love - Bob Wills classic known as "the national anthem of Texas swing." Done in a completely traditional way. Nothing jazzy about it. The reason it's included on this album is because it was completed and "in the can", having been used on a different commercial project. And, besides, it's a pretty tune.