All Cats Welcome

Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw were among the most famous and beloved figures in swing music both as clarinet soloists and orchestra conductors. They were still very active musically in 1957, when Buddy De Franco decided to record a series of sessions paying homage to them. Thirty-five performances were recorded (including four medleys containing three songs each) in four extended sessions made on four consecutive days and with two different groups (guitarist Barney Kessel, however, is present on most of the tracks). The first two sessions included trumpeter Don Fagerquist, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and On all tracks plu: pianist Carl Perkins. The second group includes trumpeter Ray Linn and another modern jazz pianist: Jimmy Rowles.

This is a very logical tribute. Jeanie Bryson has a small but coolly sensual voice, just as Peggy Lee did during her prime. Bryson performs three songs on which Lee wrote the lyrics (including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'"), ten other songs that have been associated with Lee (such as "Some Cats Know," "Why Don't You Do Right" and the inevitable "Fever"), and a number ("Where in the World Are You") penned by Jeanie's mother Connie Bryson. T

"Bad Heads And Bad Cats", recorded in the autumn of 1975, was released in 1976 as the eighth LP of the Munich band Embryo. It was also their first album on April, their newly founded independent distribution and label. According to drummer Christian Burchard, it is one of Embryo's best LPs. Due to its jazz focus, however, it might be too unwieldy for some listeners. The first of the two bonus tracks was recorded in the Stommeln Dierks studio in 1975, together with the other LP tracks, and couldn't be placed on the album for a lack of space. The second one was recorded at the first Vlotho festival on June 28th, 1975, and was first released on the "Open Air Concert Vlotho-Winterberg" LP. Again all tracks were written by the Embryo members themselves.