Pete Rugolo Mercury Discog Question

[Teasing the Korean]

Two of Pete Rugolo's early (earliest?) Mercury LPs were "Out on a Limb" and "Music for Hi-Fi Bugs." Both were recorded in mono and stereo, but released only on mono LPs.

Later, when stereo LPs were available, the tracks from both albums were reshuffled and issued with new cover art as "Rhythm Meets Rugolo" and "Music from Out of Space."

Apparently, the first two mono LPs were never released in stereo with the original cover art and track lineups.

Of the two stereo LPs, I have seen mono copies of "Rhythm Meets Rugolo."

I have read that "Out of Space" also came out on a mono LP, but I have never actually seen one. I have seen reference to the catalog number, but sometimes albums get a catalog number but never get released.

Can anyone confirm if "Music from Out of Space" ever did come out in mono, and if so, does anyone have a jpeg of the cover?

Edited March 14, 2011 by Teasing the Korean

[JSngry]

These two sources give a catalog # of MG-20550 for the mono issue:

http://microgroove.jp/mercury/SR60118.shtml

http://www.jazzdisco.org/mercury-records/catalog-20500-series/#mg-20550

No ocver scans available though, so...

[Larry Kart]

Not an answer to your question, perhaps, but I recently bought this:

http://www2.broinc.com/search.php?row=0&brocode=&stocknum=&text=rugolo&filter=all&cd=1&submit=Search

which combines "Music for Hi-Fi Bugs" and "Brass in Hi-Fi." Nicely remastered as far I can tell, though I haven't heard the LPs. A note from remastering engineer Michael Dutton says:

"These recordings are from the very early days of stereo, and some of the balances are slightly different to the mono recording feeds. The only track available in its original mono format was 'Oscar and Pete's Blues': the mono master was vastly superior to its stereo counterpart, hence its appearance here."

Given that info, the "Music for Hi-Fi Bugs" material, while quite listenable, is not as together sonically as the "Brass in Hi-Fi" material: the stereo spread on the former is too wide and ping-pong-ish, and there are a few "washy" moments, probably because (as Dutton explains) of phase problems "because ribbon microphones in the 'figure of eight' method were used in the original recording sessions." (Others who know more that I do can translate.)

As for the music, for my tastes Rugolo was getting too giggly cute and/or ponderous by this point, even by his own prior standards. There are moments when poor Shelly Manne sounds like he's trying to move a sixteen-wheel truck all by himself. OTOH, the orchestral execution is pretty striking from that arguably limited point of view. The collective trumpet section is Buddy Childers, Don Paladino, Maynard Ferguson, Pete Candoli, Ray Linn, and Don Fagerquist, trombones are Frank Rosolino, Milt Bernhart, Herbie Harper, and George Roberts.

My favorite track first time through (and there may never be another time) was "Everything Happens to Me" from "Brass in Hi-Fi," a fairly conservative feature for Linn, who plays handsomely on it in a neo-Armstrong manner. Some nice solo bits elsewhere but also a lot of Rugolo semi-nonsense.

[Teasing the Korean]

The sound on my stereo copy of "Rhythm Meets Rugolo" is similar to early Capitol stereo: It sounds like two mics at the back of an empty hall pointed to an orchestra at the other end. It creates a natural room sound, but certain details get lost, especially with the rhythm section.

Larry, it's interesting that you use the adjective "ponderous" to describe Pete Rugolo. That is an adjective I would use to describe Kenton himself, along with Bill Russo and Bill Holman; not so much for Johnny Richards or Bob Graettinger.

To me, Rugolo is the opposite of "ponderous" - He took Kenton's modernistic, futuristic approach, but with a sense of humor and style that Kenton could never approximate on his best day. The liner notes of Kenton's Capitol albums tell you all you need to know. By contrast, spin "Here's Pete," the opening track on one of Pete's early Columbia albums. I wouldn't trade side two of "Richard Diamond" for Kenton's entire (non-Rugolo) Capitol output.

As someone who equally loves both "serious" jazz orchestral stuff and space age bachelor music, I can say that Pete consistently satisfies in both categories in a way that few other arrangers can. And his late 1990s score for the Jim Thompson adaptation "This World, Then the Firework" exceeded even my high expectations.

[Larry Kart]

The sound on my stereo copy of "Rhythm Meets Rugolo" is similar to early Capitol stereo: It sounds like two mics at the back of an empty hall pointed to an orchestra at the other end. It creates a natural room sound, but certain details get lost, especially with the rhythm section.

Larry, it's interesting that you use the adjective "ponderous" to describe Pete Rugolo. That is an adjective I would use to describe Kenton himself, along with Bill Russo and Bill Holman; not so much for Johnny Richards or Bob Graettinger.

To me, Rugolo is the opposite of "ponderous" - He took Kenton's modernistic, futuristic approach, but with a sense of humor and style that Kenton could never approximate on his best day. The liner notes of Kenton's Capitol albums tell you all you need to know. By contrast, spin "Here's Pete," the opening track on one of Pete's early Columbia albums. I wouldn't trade side two of "Richard Diamond" for Kenton's entire (non-Rugolo) Capitol output.

As someone who equally loves both "serious" jazz orchestral stuff and space age bachelor music, I can say that Pete consistently satisfies in both categories in a way that few other arrangers can. And his late 1990s score for the Jim Thompson adaptation "This World, Then the Firework" exceeded even my high expectations.

I agree in one sense -- Rugolo was often impish in ways that Kenton himself never was -- but he could be pretentious enough, or if you prefer just blatant ("Salute" on "Brass in Hi-Fi" struck me that way IIRC). Also, on some tracks the writing, in rhythmic terms, is ponderous like a pachyderm.

[Teasing the Korean]

I agree that some of those albums have a clunker or two, often a novelty tune, certainly true of the early Columbia albums. I need to revisit some of those Mercury albums. The main two I've spun in recent years are "Percussion in Hi-Fi" and "Richard Diamond."

I think his arrangements for June Christy and Patti Page's "jazz" albums are pretty flawless.

[Teasing the Korean]

I'm spinning, back to back, the mono and stereo versions of "Rhythm Meets Rugolo." The mono has more presence in the rhythm section, but the stereo has nice room ambiance, even though the balance is off at times.

Such cool music...

[Bill Nelson]

During the 'golden era' of the LP, Mercury certainly issued smart, laminated jackets with some of the most eye-catching graphics and photo subjects. Too bad their actual recordings rarely matched the sizzle -- at least with Mercury's early stereo releases.

For 'Rhythm Meets Rugolo' (SR-60119), as TTK wrote, two mikes seem to be placed in the left and right corners of a cavernous studio. On record playback, the channels get wide separation (hard left and hard right) and yet all the instruments seem distant. Even the piano (left channel) rings with the studio wall echo.

The overall image gets centered better in Patti Page with the Rugolo All Stars 'In the Land of Hi-fi' (SR-80000), though Rugolo's charts never shined brighter than for June Christy's 'Something Cool'. The stereo Capitol re-recording of 1960 has a more natural balance of voice and instruments, with a warm bass in the center.

While we're talking about Pete Rugolo on Mercury, they finally got the recording right on 'Percussion At Work' (SR-80003). The track 'One Plus Four' is a favorite, with brass and reeds call-and-responding amid alternating time signatures.

[Teasing the Korean]

Since starting this thread many years ago, I have acquired the original mono For Hi-Fi Bugs and I really do prefer the close-miked sound the cavernous sound on the corresponding tracks found on Out of Space.