It was a movie for the ages. Cinematic history in how it was filmed and how many extras were required. The 1959 epic had the largest budget, over $15 million, as well as the largest sets built, of any film produced at the time. And the score was just as large. So get ready for big music from the big screen in Volume 28: Ben Hur.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Miklos Rozsa ‎– Ben-Hur
Label: MGM Records ‎– SIEI, MGM Records ‎– 1E1
Format: Box Set, Deluxe Edition Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Released: 1959
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Score

Prelude
Love Theme of Ben Hur
The Rowing of the Galley Slaves
Naval Battle
Victory Parade
The Miracle And Finale

Photo credits
https://scvhistory.com/

While I am familiar with this band leader’s music, I was not familiar with the main piece of music on this record. It’s not really his style. So we’ll hear the story of why Perez Prado wrote it and we’ll listen to all three movements in Volume 26: Voodoo Suite.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Perez Prado, featuring Shorty Rogers ‎– Voodoo Suite Plus Six All-Time Greats
Label: RCA Victor ‎– LPM-1101
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono
Released: 1955
Genre: Jazz, Latin
Style: Latin Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Cha-Cha, Mambo

I Can’t get started
composed in 1938 by Vernon Duke

Voodoo Suite
Composed in 1954 by Perez Prado

In the Mood
Composed by saxophonist Joe Garland in 1938

ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

If you haven’t noticed, my dad’s vinyl collection is filled with Dixieland jazz musicians. But there aren’t many musicians who were as famous as this artist born in New Orleans, stayed there for most of their career and died there. So, let’s lick that licorice stick down in the Big Easy for Volume 25: Pete Fountain a High Society Fathers Day

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Pete Fountain ‎– High Society
Label: Pickwick ‎– SPC-3201
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Released: 1956
Genre: Jazz
Style: Dixieland

Recording Date: June 10, 1956 – June 12, 1956 in New Orleans, LA

High Society
Written in 1901 by Porter Steele
That’s A Plenty
1914 ragtime piano composition by Lew Pollack. Lyrics by Ray Gilbert
The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
1919 composed by Ernest Seitz
Up A Lazy River
1930 Hoagy Carmichael
Mahogany Hall Stomp
1929 Spencer Williams
Farewell Blues
1922 jazz standard written by Paul Mares, Leon Roppolo and Elmer Schoebel

ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

We’re going to do something a little different in this episode

I’m not only interested in the music itself, but I’ve always loved the more technical side of recordings as well. What equipment was used to record and play back music has always fascinated me. And I really dig the history of recording that is included inside the gatefold of this album that RCA Victor put out. Yes…we will learn a little about the dog that stares into the old phonograph that you see on RCA Victor records.

So get ready to hear some great music while we learn about the technology that recorded it and played it back in Volume 24: Music America Loves Part 1

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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My experience and research only goes so far.
See corrections to recording dates below provided by collector, YouTuber @eblackadder3:

Various ‎– 60 Years Of “Music America Loves Best”
Label: RCA Victor Red Seal ‎– LM-6074
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Gatefold
Released:1959
Genre: Jazz, Pop, Classical, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Vocal, Opera, Romantic, Swing, Instrumental

Enrico Caruso
Vesti La Giubba (From “Pagliacci”)
Composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Recorded February 1, 1904
117 years ago
(The Caruso recording of “Vesti la Giubba” heard here was his second version for Victor, recorded on March 17, 1907. And the version on this album is the “re-recorded” version , with an electrically recorded orchestral accompaniment overdubbed onto the original orchestra in 1932.)

Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra
Whispering
Written by Vincent Rose
Recorded on August 23, 1920

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Prelude In C-Sharp Minor
Sergei Rakhmaninov
Recorded April 23, 1919
(The Rachmaninoff prelude is the electrical version recorded April 4, 1928; the acoustical recording was made October 14, 1921 (not in 1919).)

Mario Lanza
Be My Love
lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Nicholas Brodszky
Recorded in 1950

Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
“Lohengrin” Prelude, Act III
Composed by Richard Wagner
Recorded in 1954
(1951)

The Ames Brothers
The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane
written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett
Recorded on September 8, 1954

Perez Prado
Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
Composed by Louis Guglielmi
Recorded in 1950
(1955)

ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain

Photos
McCord Museum, Montreal, Canada, 2007 Gramophone company

To commemorate what would have been my parents’ 62nd anniversary, we’ll pull out a record filled with the type of Italian music you would hear in a festive restaurant.

This episode drops on June 6. My parents’ wedding anniversary. Even though Italian was not spoken around the house, there was still very much an Italian vibe within the family. When you’re 100% Italian, it’s hard for there not to be.

So let’s celebrate what would have been 62 years of marriage for my parents with Volume 23: Anniversary Special for the Cafe Italiano

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Jo Basile, Accordion And Orchestra ; Aldo Conti, Tenor* & Chorus* ‎– Cafe Italiano
Label: Audio Fidelity ‎– AFLP 1893
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1958
Genre: Jazz, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk

Miguel
written by Marino Marini, Ramón Cabrera

Guaglione Kid
written by Nisa, Giuseppe Fanciulli

Scapricciatiello
written by Ferdinando Albano, Pacifico Vento

Sophia
written by Nino Oliviero, Enrico Caputo, Franco Mele

Maruzzella
written by Åke Gerhard, Renato Carosone, Enzo Bonagura

Pizza Pizza

O Ciucciariello
written by Nino Oliviero, Roberto Murolo

ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain