Jack Quigley - Class in Session - Sand C-30

[Teasing the Korean]

Those of us who were buying vinyl in the 1990s - back when you could find rare LPs for a buck a throw - will remember stumbling across a certain album, taking a chance, being very surprised, and never coming across that album again.  

For me, one of those albums is Class in Session by composer-arranger-pianist Jack Quigley (Sand Records C-30).

Why did I grab it?  I never heard of Jack Quigley. Eight of the album's ten tracks are originals, and I did not know the other two tunes.

The group includes Paul Horn (reeds), Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Joe Mondragon (bass), Frank Capp (drums), Emil Richards (percussion), and Ralph Hansell (percussion), with Quigley alternating between piano and celeste.

Dave Pell contributes the liner notes.  The album must date from the early 1960s.

Stylistically, this album falls somewhere between highly arranged 1950s chamber jazz and a very hip space-age bachelor pad album.

Quigley, as you will see in his obituary below, attended the BU School of Music and moved to L.A. in 1961.  His biggest claim to fame in an otherwise journeyman career was writing the title tune to the Johnny Mathis album Rapture.  He recorded at least three other LPs, all apparently piano trio albums. 

All ten tracks are on YouTube.  If you search for "Jack Quigley Class in Session," a row of them appears, with graphics reading "Way Out Hollywood."

Here is Quigley's obit:

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=jack-quigley&pid=122000594

And here is one of the tracks.  This music nicely captures that spirit of futuristic space-age optimism.  It reminds me of the soundtrack of a 16mm science film I would have seen in elementary school. 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Teasing the Korean

[Teasing the Korean]

Like nearly all threads that I begin, this one died a quick death.

But I am reviving it in the hopes that some of you with adventurous taste in music might do a few needle drops on this one.  

The entire album is on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/378oUOU5vIZvn8VTj2IyHL

The album inhabits a space between tightly arranged postwar chamber jazz and futuristic Jetsons cocktail soundscapes.  

 

 

 

[TheMusicalMarine]

Very nice! Saw the name Jack Quigley in the LPs that didn't make it to CD thread, and then found this thread!

Looks like Blue Moon has released maybe all of his output on CD.

Edited July 16, 2021 by TheMusicalMarine

[Teasing the Korean]

On 7/16/2021 at 11:17 PM, TheMusicalMarine said:

Very nice! Saw the name Jack Quigley in the LPs that didn't make it to CD thread, and then found this thread!

Looks like Blue Moon has released maybe all of his output on CD.

I LOVE this album.  It has a very futuristic Jetsons sound with a smallish, maybe seven-piece group!