Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (1953)

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…

Arnold Schönberg. Austrian composer and painter, best known as the (putative) innovator of the twelve-tone technique. Leader of the Second Viennese School…

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…

Conductor, composer, violinist, and pianist Mantovani was one of the most popular and prolific easy listening artists of all time. His trademark "cascading strings" (or "tumbling strings") effect gave him an instantly recognizable sound, and his heavy reliance on the string section in general helped map out the blueprint for much of the light orchestral music that followed in his wake. His repertoire did feature original compositions, but was built chiefly on lush adaptations of familiar melodies: TV and movie themes, show tunes, pop hits (chiefly of the MOR variety), classical material, and the like…