Fuerte Ventura

Tenor saxophonist Charlie Ventura (born Charles Venturo) was a byproduct of the Chu Berry/Coleman Hawkins methodology of gutsy swing and early bop improvisation. The Classics Chronological Series did the world an enormous favor when they reissued Ventura's earliest recordings as a leader and followed suit with this fascinating second volume of rare material. Back in Los Angeles during the spring of 1946, Ventura - still billed on record as "Charlie Venturo" – paired up with master clarinetist Barney Bigard in front of a rhythm quartet anchored by bassist Red Callender. Two of the four sides waxed on this occasion feature an unidentified male vocalist who sings wistful ballads without doing too much damage…

Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana returns to Orchid Classics with a recital of Spanish music for violin and piano. Described as ‘an amazing talent’ by Gustavo Dudamel, Fullana has a natural affinity with this repertoire, which includes dazzling virtuoso pieces by the great violinist-composer Pablo de Sarasate, as well as the evocative ‘Sonata Española’ by Joaquín Turina. The recital also features works by several composers from the Catalan region: Enrique Granados, Eduardo Toldrà and Joan Manén, all of whom subtly combine characteristic Catalan folk styles with harmonic influences from France.

Anthony Ventura is the only big-band instrumantalist who could rightly rival the orchestras of Paul Mauriat & James Last. The only reason why many of our contemporaries have not heard of Anthony Ventura & his orchestra is because the albums that were released originally, many years ago, in the vinyl version, are no longer burnt into cds by the big record companies today. Since most people nowadays no longer own a record/vinyl player - it's all cds & more in today's days - these wonderful albums are fast disappearing with the mists of Time. Ventura's music selections are marked by style, romance & sophistication and by his harmonious & nostalgic melodies of very familiar tracks that have trickled down to us through the decades. ~ Sherna Bhumgara, Amazon

The main reasons to investigate the recordings of Charlie Ventura are of course his wonderful handling of the tenor saxophone and the excellent ensembles he led. Ventura's recordings were predominately instrumental in 1945 and 1946. As the decade drew to a close, singers dominated the recording industry and many bandleaders chose to feature more and more of them. The third volume of the complete recordings of Charlie Ventura illustrates this process in high relief. Four sides recorded for the National label in September of 1947 spotlight the vocal talents of Buddy Stewart, an able crooner who sounded best when bop scatting like a third horn alongside Ventura and trombonist Kai Winding on "East of Suez" and the dynamic "Eleven Sixty," a masterpiece of high-energy bop that Ventura had recorded in March of 1947 as "Stop and Go"…