Decameron Nights 1953

Autumn in New York (1950). An early LP for Jo Stafford (and the LP format itself), 1950's Autumn in New York assembled a dozen standards set at ballad tempo and arranged with crying strings by Stafford's primary arranger (and husband), Paul Weston. Most of them were show tunes, some dating back to the '20s, and all seemed tailor-made for Stafford's sweet, pure tone and way with a lovelorn lyric. The title song and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" earned pride of place, but there simply wasn't a deficient tune in the bunch - "Sometimes I'm Happy," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Just One of Those Things" - and Stafford treated them all with the reverence and devotion they deserve…

"Delicado" (1953) presents love songs from South America, "Amour, Amor, Amore" (1955) presents love songs from the Continent, and together they prove that Percy Faith's music is romantic in any language!
Percy Faith was one of the most popular easy listening recording artists of the 1950s and '60s. Not only did he have a number of hit albums and singles under his own name, but Faith was responsible for arranging hits by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, and Burl Ives, among others, as the musical director for Columbia Records in the '50s.

Wow! Howlin' Wolf included in the Chronological Classics blues & rhythm series - now that's fantastic because we're sure to get all the recordings the Wolf ever made in order (eventually)…

Dizzy Gillespie albums are sometimes criticized for being silly, never for lacking stamina. Pleyel Jazz Concert 1953 is no exception to this rule, though it would certainly be understandable if it were. The live recording, issued and repackaged at least three times since the late '90s, dates from a period when Gillespie was in Paris and as busy as God, as musicians like to say in reference to the deity, not the European noise music band. If datebooks kept by people nicknamed Dizzy are to be trusted, the bebop kingpin had during a previous 48-hour period cut albums for two different competing firms, one involving a string orchestra. About ten collections have been published involving this material. Meanwhile, his rhythm section cut an album on the same day of the Pleyel Concert Hall event, also reissued at least three times and representing the sole effort by pianist Wade Legge as a leader…

This LP contains two broadcasts featuring Charlie Parker at Boston's Storyville club in 1953. one set finds him accompanied by the Red Garland Trio (two years before Garland became famous playing with Miles Davis) while the other one also features trumpeter Herb Pomeroy and a trio led by pianist Sir Charles Thompson. The recording quality is just so-so but Bird was in fine form for these sessions, playing hot versions of his usual repertoire.