Bob Freedman / Keith Williams – East & West Coast Series – Jazz & Swing Orchestras

When the dust from the collapse of the Swing Era settled, there were few big bands left that had survived. Yet, because they loved the swinging drive of a full-on jazz orchestra, a series of adventurous and unsung bandleaders optimistically organized some fine, but short-lived, new orchestras that were packed with jazz and studio musicians, holding the flag of Swing high.

The exciting motion picture score from Anatomy of a Murder, written and performed by the Duke Ellington orchestra, became one of the best sold jazz albums of 1959. That same year, Ellington's dramatic jazz score, was recorded again in fine stereo sound and by an eleven-piece band arranged and conducted by Bob Freedman (1934-2018). For this job, he assembled some of the best musicians from the Herb Pomeroy orchestra—the leading band in Boston. Freedman's writing is sturdy, unpredictable, and succeeds in getting an excellent crosssection from the shouting richness of full-blown brass to the multishades of gray in muted and creatively voiced horns. The soloing we find sprinkled throughout the album is of high level.

The resurgence of the Big Band Jazz Sounds during the '50s was due in part, to the trend which started with the sweeping popularity of jazz themes from motion picture scores, notably Elmer Bernstein's “The Man With the Golden Arm” and Leith Stevens' “The Wild One,” and later developed into an even stronger pattern with popular jazz successes from television, such as Hank Mancini's “Peter Gunn,” and Count Basie's “M-Squad. Prior to his emergence as a big band leader, the musical career of Keith Williams (1924-2008) was multi-tangential, with indelible marks of success in each segment of the music business. But it was his never-ending desire to organize a swinging jazz aggregation, which in 1956 led to the creation of his 17-piece band labeled “The Dazzling Sound.”

Track Listing:

Jazz Themes from Anatomy Of A Murder:
1. Main Title (Upper and Outest) - 5:09   2. Flirtbird - 3:38   3. Almost Cried - 1:53   4. Happy Anatomy, Part I - 2:15   5. Midnight Indigo - 2:53   6. Haupé - 2:32   7. Sunswept Sunday - 2:56   8. Grace Valse - 4:18   9. Happy Anatomy, Part II - 4:14   Big Band Jazz Themes from Television & Motion Pictures: 10. Perry Mason - 2:05   11. Themes from “The Wild One” - 2:18   12. M-Squad - 2:20   13. Sound and The Fury - 2:01   14. 77 Sunset Strip - 2:14   15. Compulsion - 2:53   16. I Want to Live! - 2:30   17. Peter Gunn - 1:54   18. The Thin Man - 2:38   19. Richard Diamond - 2:00   20. Melancholy Serenade - 2:35   21. The Man With the Golden Arm - 2:17

Sources:
Tracks #1-9, from the album "Jazz Themes from Anatomy of a Murder" (Coronet CX-99)
Tracks #10-21, from the album "Big Band Jazz Themes From TV & Motion Pictures" (Edison International SDP-501)

Personnel:

Personnel on "Jazz Themes from Anatomy of a Murder": Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by Bob Freedman:
Bob Freedman (conductor, arranger & alto sax) , Herb Pomeroy / Lennie Johnson / Bill Berry (trumpets) , Gene DiStasio (trombone) , Varty Haroutunian / Joe Caruso (tenor saxes) , Jimmy Mosher (baritone sax) , Ray Santisi (piano) , John Neves (bass) , Jimmy Zitano (drums)
Recorded at Ace Recording Studios, Boston, 1959

Personnel on "Big Band Jazz Themes From TV & Motion Pictures": Keith Williams and His Orchestra:
Keith Williams / Frank Beach / John Audino / Don Fagerquist (trumpets) , Joe Howard / Herbie Harper (trombones) , George Roberts (bass trombone) , Benny Carter / Ted Nash (alto saxes) , Tommy Tedesco (guitar)
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 1959