DISCOGRAPHY - VOLUME XII
1) Lovely Hula Hands
Instrumental by the All Star Hawaiian Band
Band composed of: Benny Kalama, Randy Oness ((steel guitar), Herb Ohta (ukulele), Alex Among (vibraphone), Jimmy Kaopuiki (bass), Al Bardi (drums).
2) The Hawaiian Wedding Song
Ray Conniff and his Orchestra
This is the moment I've waited for I I can hear my heart singing Soon the bells will be ringing This is the moment of sweet Aloha I I will love you longer than forever Promise me that you will leave me never Here and now dear All my love I vow dear Promise me that you will leave me never I will love you longer than forever Now that we are one my darling Clouds won't hide the sun my love Blue skies of Hawai smile on this Our wedding day I do Love you With all my heart I do Love you With all my heart
Ray Conniff, one of the few commercially successful musical geniuses of our time, was born on November 6, 1916, in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Ray was exposed to music at an early age, his father was the leader/trombonist of the local Jewelry City Band and his mother played the piano.
As a junior in Attleboro High School, Ray and some of his buddies decided to start a dance orchestra. Taking some musical tips from his father, Ray started practicing trombone and wound up playing first trombone for the band. It was for this group that Ray did his first arrangement, his fellow musicians loved his interpretation of "Sweet Georgia Brown."
Out of high school, Ray got his first professional job with Dan Murphy's "Musical Skippers" in Boston. He played trombone, arranged music and drove a panel truck for the band. When a friend of his told him that Boston was too small for a talented musician to make it, Ray headed for the Big Apple.
In the early 50's, the big break in Ray's career happened when he met Mitch Miller of Columbia Records, who hired him as an arranger. In 1955, Ray got his first chance to try out his sure-fire theory of arranging. The lucky record was Don Cherry's "Band Of Gold." It became a runaway hit. This spurned a series of Conniff-arranged Columbia recording sessions, which resulted in many hit records.
Ray's success arranging and conducting for other recording artists prompted Columbia to let him record an album under his own name, he was the first artist to use voices and vocal arranging as part of the instrumentation, for instance, female voices double with trumpets, high saxes or clarinets; male voices with trombones or saxes in low register.
By the early 60's Ray's record sales were booming. The Ray Conniff Orchestra and Singers were in great demand. Ray, who prides himself on being able to produce live in concert the same sound created on recordings, brought to the public the first live stereo concert ever to take place in the world.
He also performed at the White House during the Vietnam War. In 1974, Ray was the first pop artist from the West asked to go to Russia to record an album in Moscow.
Ray has survived in the music business for over 65 years, he has recorded over 100 albums to date and has sold over 70 million albums, cassettes and CD's. In September 2001, Ray gave a series of concerts in Brazil, before he celebrated his 85th birthday on November 6. In March 2002, Ray followed an invitation of Liza Minnelli and David Gest and performed his greatest hit, "Somewhere My Love" at their wedding in New York.
After having suffered a stroke he made very good progress during a stay at the Palm Springs Stroke Center. He had already made plans for another tour and new recordings. However, on 12th October 2002 Ray Conniff passed away in San Diego.
3) Torna Sorrento by Alex Fox
Alex Fox was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Music has always occupied his life - at age six he began piano lessons and soon moved on to classical guitar. As a teenager Alex Fox received a scholarship to train with the director of the Teatro Colon Symphony Orchestra in Buenos Aires. It was at the Teatro Colon where Alex Fox learned to conduct and write his own compositions and began to earn a living teaching music and playing in his own band.
Fox's move to the United States in 1984 enabled him to pursue the career he had dreamed about and he began to perform regularly at one of Miami's most popular outdoor locations, South Beach Ocean Drive. With his energetic, passionate and unique stage presence it did not take long to build his fan base. Alex Fox has successfully created an interesting blend of music that fans cannot get enough of: one that combines classical rumba and flamenco rhythms with a Mediterranean flair. .
Highlights of his career include performing for President Bill Clinton in 1997; recording with Julio Iglesias on the 1996 release La Carretera; opening several concerts at the Istanbul Amphitheatre in 1999 for Tito Puente, the greatest percussionist of all time; and performing for 12,000 people in Beirut at the Bacardi Jazz Festival in 2000. Alex Fox's talents have been enthusiastically received in France, Germany, Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, The Bahamas, and throughout the United States.
Alex Fox has recently formed the group "Fox Trio" which include his two sons, Sebastian & David. He and his group continue to perform at concerts, benefits and private events around the globe. He is based in Miami and performs regularly in the Ft Lauderdale/ Miami area.
4) Don’t Cry for Me Argentina - Paul Mauriat Orchestra 5) Mozart - Paul Mauriat
Paul Mauriat grew up in Marseilles and began leading his own band during the Second World War. In the 1950s he became musical director to at least two well-known French singers, Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier, touring with them respectively.
Mauriat composed the music for several French soundtracks including Un Taxi Pour Tobrouk (1961. Between 1967 and 1972 he wrote a lot of songs for Mireille Mathieu and contributed 130 song arrangements for Charles Aznavour.
In 1965 Mauriat established Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, and released hundreds of recordings and compilations through the Philips label for the next 28 years. In 1994 he signed with Japanese record company Pony Canyon, where he re-recorded some of his greatest hits and wrote new compositions. Mauriat recorded many of these albums in both Paris and London, utilising several English classical musicians in these recordings.
Many of Mauriat's recordings are recompositions of other composers' songs and music. Mauriat relied heavily on strings and synthesiser to create interesting music. The arrangements are usually very bright and busy with sensible use of the percussive section to deliver a grand style of performance. In his 70s and 80s live concerts, Mauriat often used singers to provide backing for numbers such as Penelope, Love is Blue and the World Melody section he arranged for his 1980 and 1982 concerts.
Mauriat gave his final performance in 1998 in Osaka, but his orchestra keeps touring around the world and has twice traveled to China.
On November 3rd, 2006, Paul Mauriat died at the age of 81.