''Off-Beat'' is a 1960 album by American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

vocalist

June Christy June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a sol ...

, arranged and conducted by

Pete Rugolo Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011) was an American jazz composer, arranger and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settle ...

. The tracks on the album were included on a 1997 double-CD re-issue under the title ''

The Song Is June! ''The Song Is June!'' is a 1958 album by June Christy recorded with Pete Rugolo's Orchestra. It was reissued in 1997 as a double CD with '' Off-Beat''. Track listing # " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman) – 4: ...

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that "Pete Rugolo's typically unusual and surprising arrangements inspire the singer and make this a fairly memorable (if not famous) outing." ''

Jazz Times ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

'', in a review of the album's reissue, wrote that "despite their vocal limitations, these performances are hauntingly expressive mementos of an artist who never gave less than her all, and is fondly remembered by a host of devotees."

Track listing

# “ Remind Me” (

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

Dorothy Fields Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), "On th ...

) # “ Out of This World” (

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

) # “You Wear Love So Well” (

George Handy George Handy (born George Joseph Hendleman) (January 17, 1920 – January 8, 1997) was an American jazz arranger, composer and pianist whose musical beginnings were fostered under the tutelage of composer Aaron Copland. While he had an impressiv ...

Jack Segal Jack Segal (October 19, 1918 – February 10, 2005) was a pianist and composer of popular American songs, known for writing the lyrics to '' Scarlet Ribbons''. His composition '' May I Come In?'' was the title track for a Blossom Dearie album. ...

) # “Off Beat” (Leon Pober) # “The Bad and the Beautiful” (

David Raksin David Raksin (August 4, 1912 – August 9, 2004) was an American composer who was noted for his work in film and television. With more than 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit, he became known as the "Grandfather of Film Music ...

Dory Langdon Dorothy "Dory" Veronica Previn ( Langan; October 22, 1925 – February 14, 2012) was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter and poet. During the late 1950s and 1960s, Previn was a lyricist on songs intended for motion pictures and, with her t ...

) # “Who Cares About April?” (

Ken Hanna Kenneth Lucien Hanna (July 8, 1921 - December 10, 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, arranger, composer, and bandleader, best known for his work with Stan Kenton. Hired in 1942 by Kenton to add commercial arrangements to the library, he also ...

Hank Levy Henry Jacob "Hank" Levy (September 27, 1927 – September 18, 2001) was an American jazz composer and saxophonist whose works often employed unusual time signatures. He is best known as a big band composer for Stan Kenton and the Don Ellis Orc ...

) # “You Say You Care” (

Jule Styne Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became s ...

Leo Robin Leo Robin (April 6, 1900 – December 29, 1984) was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope and Shirl ...

) # “Out of the Shadows” (Pete Rugolo,

Bobby Troup Robert William Troup Jr. (October 18, 1918 – February 7, 1999) was an American actor, jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter. He wrote the song " Route 66" and acted in the role of Dr. Joe Early with his wife Julie London in the television progr ...

) # “

A Sleepin' Bee "A Sleepin' Bee" is a popular song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote. It was introduced in the musical '' House of Flowers'' (1954) and performed by Diahann Carroll. While ''House of Flowers'' was a flop, "A Sleepin' ...

” (Harold Arlen,

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

) # “Somewhere (If Not in Heaven)” (

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

)

Personnel

Tracks 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 * June Christy - vocals * woodwinds including

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

- also saxophone, flute * Bob Cooper - tenor saxophone, oboe *

Larry Bunker Lawrence Benjamin Bunker (November 4, 1928 – March 8, 2005) was an American jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist. A member of the Bill Evans Trio in the mid-1960s, he also played timpani with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra. ...

- vibraphone * Pete Rugolo - arranger, conductor * string quartet Recorded

Capitol Tower The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of the city's landmarks. Construction began soon afte ...

, Hollywood, California, August 8, 1960 Tracks 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9 * June Christy - vocals * trumpets including

Don Fagerquist Donald Alton Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 – January 23, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States. Career Fagerquist was a featured soloist with several major bands, including M ...

* trombones including

Frank Rosolino Frank Rosolino (August 20, 1926 – November 26, 1978) was an American jazz trombonist. Biography Rosolino was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, He performed with the big bands of Bob Chester, Glen Gray, Tony Pastor, Herbie Fields, Gen ...

* French horns * woodwinds including Bud Shank - alto saxophone, flute * Bob Cooper - tenor saxophone, oboe * Joe Castro - piano * Pete Rugolo - arranger, conductor Recorded Capitol Tower, Hollywood, California, 19 August 1960

References

External links

* * June Christy albums Albums arranged by Pete Rugolo 1960 albums Albums recorded at Capitol Studios {{1960s-jazz-album-stub