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Saturday, December 3, 2016

Patterns - Frank Comstock

Romantique (stereo)
Patterns
Frank Comstock And His Orchestra
Columbia CL 1156 & CS 8003
1958

From Billboard - July 23, 1958: Arranger_conductor Frank Comstock, who has backstopped many of the Columbia's line-ups of vocal stars with his suave settings, swings out on his own in this attractively packaged platter. It is loaded with fresh and inventive ideas in the use of everything from the percussion section to the unexpected appearance of a contrabassoon in such new-sounding oldies as "Am I Blue?" "Sing Something Simple" and "Small Fry," among others. Great stuff for big band fans.

From the back cover: As an arranger-conductor, Frank Comstock has scored many successes, not only with his orchestra, but as accompanist for such major stars as Doris Day, The Hi-Lo's, Rosemary Clooney and Margaret Whiting. He has been associated with Les Brown as an arranger since 1943, and has done considerable scoring for the movies as well, including Doris Day's "Calamity Jane." Assignments on The Hit Parade in its radio days and with such cartoon figures as Mr. Magoo have also served to fill out what spare time he had left. Before joining Les Brown, he played trombone and arranged for Sonny Dunham, then did arrangements for Benny Carter. All of those groups were notable for their bright, incisive sound, one of the particular pleasures of this collection, and in designing this particular selection of patterns, Frank Comstock has retained that happy sound, using the ensemble as the star, rather than soloists; it sounds, it has imagination and it swings.
Am I Blue
Sometimes I'm Happy
Love Is Just Around The Corner
Sing Something Simple
Coffee Time
Azure
Patterns
Small Fry
Smoke Rings
Romantique
Am I In Love
Adios

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