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Monday, August 1, 2016

The George Gershwin Song Book - Buddy De Franco and Oscar Peterson

The George Gershwin Song Book
Buddy De Franco And Oscar Peterson
Cover photo by Phil Stern
Orchestra Conducted By Russell Garcia
Verve MGV 2022

Available from a variety of online sources so I will not be posting a sample.

From Billboard (review of the 1955 Norgren MGN 1016 release) - March 26, 1955: The flashy talents of clarinetist De Franco and pianist Peterson jell neatly here in the well-arranged ork setting. De Franco has won all of the jazz polls for the past nine years, and Peterson usually come close in his department, so these are names to reckon with, The fact that they play Gershwin isn't important, since both men reduce the material at hand into what has become their personal cliches.

Billboard nailed their review. You don't have to like Gershwin to enjoy this set. Gracia's more traditional orchestrations blend with and completely support the jazz passages by De Franco and Peterson. Good stuff.

From the back cover: Concerning the musicians themselves, Boniface "Buddy" DeFranco is the one clarinetist who has assumed the mantle of Benny Goodman's successor. A veteran of such bands as Tommy Dorsey's, Gene Krupa's and Charlie Barnet's, DeFranco is know best for his expressive tone and brilliant technique. He has won any number of magazine polls as the foremost clarinetist of the 1950s. He is a native of Camden, N. J.

Paints Oscar Peterson, a Canadian from Montreal, is another possessed of a dazzling technique and readily identifiable sound. From several years he was featured with the Johnny Holmes band, on of Canada's most popular. Finally, in 1949 Peterson was lured to the United States where he has been heard ever since both on concert tours and with his own trio, comprising Ray Brown, bass, and Herb Ellis, guitar – both of whom are also on this album.


I Wants To Stay Here
I Was Doing All Right
'S Wonderful
Bess, You Is My Woman
Strike Up The Band
They Can't Take That Away From Me
The Man I Love
I Got Rhythm
Someone To Watch Over Me
It Ain't Necessarily So

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