When In Daytona

Next time I come to Daytona, I think I want to stay here instead of at a plain old ordinary Hampton Inn.

Oodles Of Doodles CCXXXVI

Another quick doodle for you tonight, this time from a Columbia Records inner sleeve. Not sure of the year, but there is no mention of stereo. There is, however, a long boring paragraph about Variable Groove, a trick to increase the playing time on records. They brag about fitting 65 minutes of music onto a single 12" record. I bet that sounded great... Anyhow, the doodles you see are part of the little illustrations from the different sections on the sleeve. The top drawing illustrates "Music By The Hour", the one below is "Columbia High Fidelity" and the one at the bottom is "Take Care Of Your Records", but you know that because I didn't edit out the text. I always like these little guides that tell you how to handle your records. And yes, these were printed in blue! How cool is that? (There's a signature in there next to the guy's left foot, but I can't make anything out.)

This sleeve was inside Martyn Green With Lehman Engel Conducting The Columbia Operetta Chorus And Orchestra-Martyn Green's Gilbert & Sullivan (Columbia Masterworks ML 4643, 1953). So maybe 1953 is our date. That's awfully early. Somewhere I've seen records on Columbia that proclaim something about the tenth anniversary of the LP. I'm going to have to find one of those and see what the date it.

Oodles Of Doodles CCXXXV

Here's a doodle for you from really late in the game. In case you don't recognize them, this is Ferrante & Teicher from The ABC Collection (ABC AC-30013, 1976). This doodle actually appears on the inner sleeve, but it's visible through the die-cut outer jacket. Sort of an interesting cubist take on the piano duo here. I couldn't read the signature, but the liner notes credit the illustration to John Casado from Casado Design, Ltd. I've featured a doodle from F&T before, and I can only remember one other doodle from the seventies. (Nope, I was wrong. Two, errr, three...) By this time, it was cheap enough to print full-color sleeves, mostly illustrated with pictures, so the ultra-cheap-to-print doodles had gone the way of the 78.

Frank, Frankie, Frankest

I thought I had enough Frank Ortega music to last me a lifetime. I shared out his great 77 Sunset Strip (featuring Sy Oliver) LP with you a while back, then more recently I gave you a second LP, Swingin' Abroad, that wasn't quite as good. Imagine my shock when I stumbled across this third LP last week. It's in a sleeve that's closer to paper than cardboard, and I almost flipped past it for that very reason. But something made me look, and there it was. Turns out that this is a Canadian pressing, which helps explain the odd sleeve. It's pretty straightforward piano noodling, so you might not enjoy it if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea. This one actually predates those other albums by quite a bit. But if you're a completist, then you know you need to download Frankie Ortega And His Group-The Piano Styling Of Frankie Ortega (Imperial LP 9025, 1956).

Oodles Of Doodles CCXXXIV

I hate to do this to you, but I have to share the worst doodle ever with you tonight. From the flip side to Glenn Miller And His Orchestra-The Golden Hits From His Original Soundtracks (20th Fox Fox 1001, 1961), this is rough. I think I could have drawn something better than this, and I'm certainly no artist. I wouldn't have shared it at all, except for the picture below that came from the front cover. It's Glenn's band for '41 and '42. Look close on the upper left and you'll see Billy May! I had no idea that he played with Glenn Miller. I suppose the things I don't know could easily fill more than one book, but there are things I really should know. Ray Anthony is in there, too, but he doesn't impress me so much as Billy.

Harp Interlude

Those of you who enjoyed the Hi-Fi Living series will want to download this one just for the memories of those harp interludes, the rest of you need to download it for other, more esoteric reasons. There are parts of this album that sound like your typical late fifties mood music, and there are other parts of this that just don't sound like what you expect when you see the harp on the cover. You've heard Gene Bianco here on the blog before doing Christmas tunes, but this experiment in harpistry precedes that experience by a few years. Note the credit for Mundell Lowe as a supporting player. (Remind me when Christmas rolls around that I have something from Mr. Lowe to share.) Other contributors that are less well credited include Joe Venuto (from the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra!), Don Lamond (From Woody Herman's Herd) and Wendell Marshall (Duke Ellington sideman). How can you go wrong with a group like that? So have I got you interested yet? Be my guest and download Gene Bianco And His Group Featuring Mundell Lowe-Harp, Skip & Jump (RCA Camden CAL-452, 1958). You'll be glad you did.

The Middle Of May

The calendar picture this week is a shot of the drawbridge over Longboat Pass which connects Anna Maria Island to Longboat Key. That's a white egret in the foreground. You can't tell it from this picture, but their feet are bright yellow. It stands in sharp contrast to their black legs. I'm not sure if I had a point here, but if I did, it's long gone now...

Oodles Of Doodles CCXXXIII

Here are a great pair of doodles for you. Well, the car is actually a photograph, but the doodle part didn't make any sense if it wasn't in there. There's actually a credit for the car on the LP sleeve! It says "Sport Car: The Austin-Healey 100", and there's another picture of it on the front of the LP. You can tell it's the same couple in the picture below, or at least the same guy. Look close and you'll see he's wearing the same hat in both drawings. These wonderful doodles both come from the flip side of Andre Previn-Let's Get Away From It All (Decca DL 8131, 1955). This is certainly the first doodle from Previn, and one of only a handful from the Decca label. Exciting stuff, isn't it?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Here's a special little treat for you from your Uncle Miltie. Don't worry, he doesn't sing on any of these tracks. There's a little bit of narration on three of the tracks, but other than that, he lets the professionals do their job. If your mother remembers seeing Milton on television, then she'll enjoy the tunes from Milton Berle Conducts His Orchestra And Chorus-Songs My Mother Loved (Roulette R-25018, 1958). Now go call your mommy.