Say It With Music

Ray Conniff | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 3, 1991)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000024QX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,941 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conniff's Latin-Flavored Album a Must for His Fans!, December 8, 1998

By 

Lee S. Downie "lsd_home" (Gaston, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Say It With Music (Audio CD)

I was first attracted to the Ray Conniff sound as an aspiring teen-age bass player, nearly forty years ago. My father, a professional guitarist and bassist, had taught me the virtues of dance-able tempos and rhythms and had also introduced me to the classics. Conniff's early album, "Concert in Rhythm, Vol. 1," brought these lessons together for me in a way only a musician can understand. His treatment of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" theme was just plain breathtaking. When Conniff brought his crew to Charlotte, NC for a concert at the old Coliseum and opened up with "Swan Lake," my date thought I was going to run to the stage, grab the bass player's instrument, and play the job myself! "Say It with Music" fully deserves its resurrection and remastering to CD form. It presents a slightly different Conniff, exploring the Latin flavor that would soon become so popular with American listeners, dancers, and musicians. It also ventures into an area where many pop artists still fear to go, into the dark world of minor keys. The opener, "Besame Mucho," lays it on the line: an urgent, insistent rhythm pattern, crackling brass, dramatic crescendo to a lover's plea. Gershwin's "Summertime" fairly drips with old Charleston's heat but still produces that soothing, tomorrow's-gonna-be-OK feeling. Romberg, who? Open up the volume again, and try "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise." You won't hear it again like this. It's powerful. If you don't see the sweep of the desert or the open ocean in your mind's eye, you should go back to Monday Night Football. Is it all sad, introspective stuff, you ask? No way. Check out "Brazil." Wowie! Let's go to Rio, honey! I wonder if anyone actually wrote "Brazil," or if it just grew during Carnaval. Conniff's arrangement flies. I do wish that individual musicians were named in the album notes. Conniff's bass trombone player has always been a sort of amen-corner for the band, or perhaps the shortstop. (A shortstop in a dance band??? Yeah. If you don't understand it, dont worry about it!) Get it folks, you'll Like "Say It with Music."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Ray Conniff with a Latin flair!, October 11, 2003

By 

PATRICK J.POWERS "PAT POWERS" (Duncombe,IA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Say It With Music (Audio CD)

If you enjoy the melodies of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin done with a Latin beat then this is the Ray Conniff C.D. I personally recommend.The orchestra and voices blend together for an uptempo 12 tune set. "Night and Day" and "Deep Purple" are my favoites from Mr. Conniff. In later years, Conniff was a big star in Latin America and this is how his music was introduced to that part of the world. Hope you enjoy this C.D.!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i wore out the vinyl edition, August 11, 2005

By 

big ears "-> peter" (MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Say It With Music (Audio CD)

there are some conniff recordings that fans come back to again and again. this 1960 effort is one of those that i've revisited many, many times over its 45 years.

"say it with music" was somewhat of a departure for ray in that he introduced his latin-flamenco guitar device with resounding success. these renditions prove conniff's mettle as a skillful and innovative arranger. the sound is big band, the production values are impeccable, and the rhythms are infectious. one of conniff's superior productions.

sidemen for this album include billy butterfield (his treatment of "summertime" is incredibly beautiful) and doc severinsen on trumpet.

to think that ray conniff's first full-fledged recording ('s wonderful) was a mere 3 years earlier than this particular album....what a tremendous evolution in the conniff sound in such a short period.

"say it with music" is consummate conniff!