Johnny Richards - Rare Alternate Arrangement of Omo Ado

[Teasing the Korean]

I recently waddled over to Qobuz and purchased an inexpensive download bundle of a bunch of Sabu albums.

Included in the download was the entire Johnny Richards Rites of Diablo album, along with this alternate arrangement of the opening track, "Omo Ado." 

This is a different arrangement.  The LP version clocks in at  6:03, and this one at 4:22.  

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[sgcim]

Great sound on that recording.Some of the JR records I've heard sounded out of tune, or poorly recorded.

He must have sold his soul to Diablo to get that type of sound out of the band.

[Teasing the Korean]

27 minutes ago, sgcim said:

Great sound on that recording.Some of the JR records I've heard sounded out of tune, or poorly recorded.

He must have sold his soul to Diablo to get that type of sound out of the band.

Do you know the album?  It is FANTASTIC, kind of like a more exotica version of Cuban Fire.  

The clip above is mono.  My copy of the album is stereo.  The separation is a little severe, as was common at the time, and the percussion sometimes gets buried under the brass, but generally, the sound is very good in spite of those quirks.

[Dub Modal]

Reminds me I need to pull that Mosaic Select out again...

[Larry Kart]

36 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Do you know the album?  It is FANTASTIC, kind of like a more exotica version of Cuban Fire.  

The clip above is mono.  My copy of the album is stereo.  The separation is a little severe, as was common at the time, and the percussion sometimes gets buried under the brass, but generally, the sound is very good in spite of those quirks.

Gene Quill on alto. He and JR were a volatile combo. Jimmy Cleveland's volatility also tuned in to JR's.

[Teasing the Korean]

1 hour ago, Larry Kart said:

Gene Quill on alto. He and JR were a volatile combo. Jimmy Cleveland's volatility also tuned in to JR's.

Yes, I'd forgotten that the soloists are specified on each track. 

2 hours ago, Dub Modal said:

Reminds me I need to pull that Mosaic Select out again...

I did a CD-R with Cuban Fire, plus the seventh track that didn't make Cuban Fire; Rites of Diablo, and the alternate "Omo Ado," posted above.  It all fits, and it's a great listen.

I've had other Johnny Richards albums, including Wide Range and Spanish Spoken Here, but they didn't do it for me. 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[Teasing the Korean]

This is a very beautiful tune, once you get past the very scary intro, and start at around 1:35.  "Oluo Anu" sounds similar to my wife's pet name for me, so in the summer, when we listen to this album and drink rum, when the pretty ladies sing "Oluo Anu," my wife sings along with my name! 

 

[sgcim]

20 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

Gene Quill on alto. He and JR were a volatile combo. Jimmy Cleveland's volatility also tuned in to JR's.

Dupes of "Wide Range" were being passed around the bunch of musicians I work with, and Quill's sound on that recording was so rich and full that we're still not sure if it was Phil or Quill playing.

[Larry Kart]

It is Quill, absolutely, on both takes of "Cimmaron" from "Wide Range." The sheer obliqueness of his phrasing, like he's kicking a suitcase down a flight of stairs. By this point in my arguably ill-spent life, it's hard for me to mistake Gene and Phil.

[JSngry]

I'll listen to the Jonny Quest theme once or twice a year and then I've had enough.

[Teasing the Korean]

45 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I'll listen to the Jonny Quest theme once or twice a year and then I've had enough.

Did you get the 2-CD set that La-La-Land released in 2016?  It is incredible.  Hoyt Curtin is very under-appreciated.

Looks like it's still in print!

https://lalalandrecords.com/jonny-quest-limited-edition-2-cd-set/

Edited June 17, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[JSngry]

I did not. I grew up with a steady diet of Hanna-Barbera, literally day and night, so...I get it already.

[Teasing the Korean]

46 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I did not. I grew up with a steady diet of Hanna-Barbera, literally day and night, so...I get it already.

Same experience here, which was precisely why I ordered it the day it was released.  

[JSngry]

Are you old enough to have seen Flinstones/Jetsons/Top Cat in Prime Time? Or Huckleberry Hound/Yogi Bear in more or less first run, actually sponsored by Kellogg's? When I say that I heard all this stuff day and night, I mean exactly that. If so, then ok, glad you survived, if nothing else.

Full Props to Hoyt Curtin (and his hot step-sister Jane), but, really no appetite here for more, the cartoons or the music.

had it, picture sleeve and all.

 

[sgcim]

 

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Are you old enough to have seen Flinstones/Jetsons/Top Cat in Prime Time? Or Huckleberry Hound/Yogi Bear in more or less first run, actually sponsored by Kellogg's? When I say that I heard all this stuff day and night, I mean exactly that. If so, then ok, glad you survived, if nothing else.

Full Props to Hoyt Curtin (and his hot step-sister Jane), but, really no appetite here for more, the cartoons or the music.

had it, picture sleeve and all.

 

Speaking of "the indisputable leader of the band", one of my first big gigs when I was about 18 or 19 was playing at a big NY theater for Sandler & Young. Their MD was the guy who did Benny's voice in "Top Cat", Leo De Lyon (who knows what his real name was) , and he used to break me up doing Benny's voice on breaks. He could also whistle and sing Bach two-part Inventions!

They brought in Bernie Glow to play lead trumpet, and Charlie Fowlkes was on bari. Some guy in the audience was a friend of Leo's, and he came up to him after the show and told him he saw him with his wife in Florida. Leo told him, "That wasn't my wife", but the guy kept insisting that he was putting his arms around her and all. Leo answered again, "I know, but that wasn't my wife". The guy looked at him like he couldn't believe it. I realized that my innocence was gone, and there was no turning back; I had just entered the world of show biz scandal!

Edited June 18, 2021 by sgcim

[Teasing the Korean]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Are you old enough to have seen Flinstones/Jetsons/Top Cat in Prime Time? Or Huckleberry Hound/Yogi Bear in more or less first run, actually sponsored by Kellogg's? 

Did you watch these shows?  If you had, you would remember that the Jonny Quest music is very different from the music of those you cited.

[JSngry]

Of course I watched those shows, and of course I knew then that it was a different bag. I watched Jonny Quest EVERY Saturday AM.

Look, I was born in 1955, and we were the proud owner of a Zenith. The TV in our house was always on.

8 hours ago, sgcim said:

 Leo De Lyon (who knows what his real name was) ,

Irving Levin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_De_Lyon

but Maurice Gosfield did Benny...

[mr jazz]

On 6/16/2021 at 6:04 PM, Dub Modal said:

Reminds me I need to pull that Mosaic Select out again...

Worth it as a starting place?

[Dub Modal]

1 minute ago, mr jazz said:

Worth it as a starting place?

Yeah, especially if you can find it for under $50 or so. There's some commercial gloss here and there, but once you get behind that there's some good tunes and nice solos. 

[Teasing the Korean]

2 minutes ago, mr jazz said:

Worth it as a starting place?

I would say the Kenton albums Richards arranged are a much better starting place.  

The only Richards album I really like is Rites of Diablo.  Like Stan Kenton, Richards has the capacity of simultaneously being hip and square. 

[JSngry]

The only Kenton/Richards I can get with is Adventures In Time, and that's just because of the speed-fueled spaceships buzzing around my alien-abducted fever dream energy.Like if George & Jane had a three-way with Rosie and Rosie short-circuited from all the bodily fluids and then everybody got electrocuted and they just kept going.

That's not a particularly...appealing image, but it is an interesting one to ponder during that record.

What REALLY turned me against Richards was a little while back when I got into Boyd Raeburn, whose "3rd Phase" (and raeburn, like Kento, was good/bad about hiring arrangers to mae the band, rather than hiring arrangers to write for the band). I was thinking, ok, maybe HERE is where we get the good stuff, but no, Richards' charts were THE WROST. Showiy but corny as fuck, like, ok, I don't care how fancy you get about it, corn is corn. Cheap perfume doesn't smell better when you use more of it, nor does after-shave, for that matter. Ask yu Dad (or your dad's wife...or somebody).

So after that...I got no use for the guy no more, life is short. Or, life is long, but it don't need to be THAT long.

[Teasing the Korean]

2 minutes ago, JSngry said:

The only Kenton/Richards I can get with is Adventures In Time, and that's just because of the speed-fueled spaceships buzzing around my alien-abducted fever dream energy.Like if George & Jane had a three-way with Rosie and Rosie short-circuited from all the bodily fluids and then everybody got electrocuted and they just kept going.

That is a great album, but I also love West Side Story and Cuban Fire.  

[JSngry]

Neither for me. full of sound and fury, signifying nothing afaic. Not even a Jetsons sex image, 

Now, if Richards had done a record that would have alluded to Rob/Laura/Jane (instead of George/Jane/Rosie), then I would re-evaluate. But that chance has come and gone.

[Dub Modal]

I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of Richards', but this album is on the Mosaic Select and it's not bad if you like or are in the mood for this sort of thing: 

Alto Saxophone – Gene Quill Baritone Saxophone, Piccolo Flute – Billy Slapin* Bass – Chet Amsterdam Bass Saxophone – Shelly Gold Drums – Maurice Marks French Horn – Al Antonucci Leader, Arranged By – Johnny Richards Liner Notes – Dom Cerulli Piano – Hank Jones Tenor Saxophone – Frank Socolow Timpani – Willie Rodriguez Trombone – Frank Rehak, Jim Dahl*, Jim Cleveland* Trumpet – Burt Collins, Doug Mettome, Jerry Kail, Paul Cohen Tuba – Jay McAllister

[JSngry]

Oh, he always had great bands. Always. Pretty much had to, those were hard charts, especially from a blending standpoint. Couldn't get a band full of just soloists and make it work.