Customer Reviews

Explores the Music of Henry Mancini: Originals

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been waiting for this CD to come out in the US for almost twenty years. The only way to get this on CD previously was to find an extremely rare import that was available many years ago. I've only seen 2 copies ever and wasn't willing to pay $185 for it on eBay the last time I saw it.

Needless to say this is a great record, in my opinion. The tunes are all by Mancini, but Quincy Jones gives each one a fresh treatment with new arrangements for his band. And these tend to be a little jazzier and funkier than the Mancini arrangements. The highlight of this disc for me is "Mr. Lucky" which I must admit even as a huge Mancini fan I like even better than the original. Some of this stuff is fairly "space age pop"-sounding, with unusual instrumentation and some audio effects, so be warned it is not pure jazz in the classic sense. But is sure is fun listening. And the more serious numbers like "Dreamsville" and "Soldier In the Rain" are truly beautiful.

As one might expect from a Quincy Jones Mercury Release, the band personnel are all the best jazz and studio aces from the era, and the recording itself is exquisitely detailed in stereo. If you like innovative big band music or just dig Jones' other work from this period, do not hesitate to buy.

Despite that this doesn't have new liner notes, or the little booklet that other Verve by request reissues had, I'm still giving it 5 stars since this album has been out of print for decades. It was reissued on an audiophile lp pressing a few years back though. These are fun takes on Mancini originals. Jones sure has a great imagination and is fun. The occasional track sounds dated using sound effects that was popular in the 60's, but on the whole, this album is really fun and is worth checking out. But the big minus is that they didn't reproduce the liner notes in a little booklet. It's reproduced on the cover and is really small. That is a shame since the notes are informative. Other than that, a fine reissue with top notch remastering!

Es tan grato deleitarse escuchando estos maravillosos arreglos hechos por el gran Quincy Jones a finales de los '60 de la hermosa música de otro gran músico y colega Henry Mancini. Los doces temas contienen arreglos tan ingeniosos que realmente nos hace valorar aún más el genio del gran Quincy Jones que ha llegado a ser uno de los productores y arreglistas más importantes del siglo en USA. Dominio interesante de la instrumentación, destacan los arreglos hechos para los temas "Charade","Days of Wine and Rose" y la ecléctica versión de "Moon River".
Es realmente grato que las empresas disqueras relancen en formato cd y totalmente remasterizados estas joyas de grabación que muchas de ellas solo han quedado en formato vinilo.

As you'd expect from Quincy'¨s powerhouse band of the day, the ensemble and soloists are spectacular. However, I've only rated it three stars because of the CD's meager total time of about 38 minutes. That isn't Jones' fault of course, but Verve's. LPs could only contain up to 25 minutes per side, so when a 50's LP like this is finally released on CD, record companies should combine them with like short LPs on one CD which can hold 80 minutes of music.