Days Of Wine And Roses

If the recognition of one's peers is the true measure of success, then few men are as successful as composer, arranger, and conductor Henry Mancini. In a career that spanned 40 years, writing for film and television, Mancini won four Oscars and twenty Grammys, the all-time record for a pop artist. For 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's alone, Mancini won five Grammys and two Oscars. Breakfast at Tiffany's includes the classic "Moon River" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer), arguably one of the finest pop songs of the last 50 years.

Show tunes provide a multitude of reference material for the traditional vintage jazz or pop vocalist. Then there are movie themes, more familiar to the general public, especially when they were seen later on a modern invention called television. This collection of 26 tracks features a modicum of jazz, but mainly pop tunes from the Golden Era of the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Big bands are prevalent as the backup groups, sometimes including strings, with little instrumental improvisation and stock charts. Among the most famous of these sentimental journey songs are "Moon River" from Billy May, "Call Me Irresponsible" by Bobby Darin, Dean Martin's slightly sloshed "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa" and his actually hip "The Continental" (two of three Cole selections heard here). There are also two from Johnny Mandel with the Pied Pipers, "Swinging on a Star" by Freddie Slack, a young Nancy Wilson with "Secret Love," and soupier group vocal pieces from the King Sisters, Bob Hope with the Clark Sisters, the Lettermen, the Four Freshmen, and Ray Anthony with the Belvederes on the apropos "Thanks for the Memory." Overall, this is nothing more than a trip down that lane of reminiscence for those familiar with the old dirt road path to grandma's, now a superhighway.

Massimo Faraò, who is from Italy, first visited the United States in 1983 when he played with Red Holloway. In Europe he has since worked with many top performers including Tony Scott, Jesse Davis, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jack DeJohnette and a notable tour in 2007 with organist Joey DeFrancesco. Even with all of that, it is as the leader of his own trio that he really shines. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates. For this release his trio accompanied with Academia Arrigoni's Strings Orchestra, conducted by Bill Cunliffe.