''Soulful Brass'' is an album by American jazz composer/arranger
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...
and pianist/entertainer
Steve Allen
Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...
featuring performances recorded in 1968 for the
Impulse!
Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...
label.
[Impulse! Records discography](_blank)
accessed April 12, 2011.
Reception
The
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 ...
review by Douglas Payne awarded the album 1½ stars, stating: "Not one of Nelson's most memorable: watered-down arrangements and pop tunes framing Allen's electronic harpsichord noodling".
[Payne, D]
Allmusic Review
accessed April 12, 2011.
Track listing
:''All compositions by Steve Allen except as indicated''
# "Torino" (Lou Garisto) - 2:03
# "Sound Machine" (Steve Allen, S. Clayton) - 3:40
# "
Goin' Out of My Head
"Goin' Out of My Head" is a song written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, initially recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1964. Randazzo, a childhood friend of the group, wrote the song especially for them, having also supplied th ...
/
Can't Take My Eyes off You
"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is a 1967 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded as a single by Frankie Valli. The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for a week ...
" (
Teddy Randazzo
Alessandro Carmelo "Teddy" Randazzo (May 13, 1935 – November 21, 2003) was an American pop songwriter, singer, arranger and producer, who composed hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", "Pretty Blue Eyes", ...
, Bobby Weinstein /
Bob Crewe
Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Season ...
,
Bob Gaudio
Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote and produced the vast majori ...
) - 2:50
# "
Spooky
Spooky or Spookey may refer to:
something that will cause creepiness or uncanniness.
Arts and entertainment Music Musicians
* Spooky (house music duo)
* Spookey (UK band), a 1970s soul band based in Manchester
*DJ Spooky, musician and producer
* ...
" (Mike Sharpe, Harry Middlebrook) - 3:43
# "125th Street & 7th Avenue" (Oliver Nelson) - 3:55
# "
Green Tambourine
"Green Tambourine" is a song written and composed by Paul Leka (who also produced it) and Shelley Pinz. It was the biggest hit by the 1960s Ohio-based rock group the Lemon Pipers, as well as the title track of their debut album, ''Green Tambouri ...
" (
Paul Leka
Paul Leka (February 20, 1943 – October 12, 2011) was an American songwriter, record producer, pianist, arranger, and orchestrator, most notable for co-writing the 1960s hits "Green Tambourine" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", the latter of ...
, Shelly Pinz) - 2:28
# "
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was recorded by Redding twice in 1967, including once just three days before his death in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. Th ...
" (
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
,
Steve Cropper
Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...
) - 2:32
# "Goin' Great" (
Stan Applebaum
Stanley Seymour Applebaum (March 1, 1922 – February 23, 2019) was an American composer, arranger, musician and conductor. He arranged the orchestration on many pop hit records, most notably in the early 1960s, including The Drifters' " Sa ...
) - 3:11
# "Things I Should Have Said" (Steve Allen, David Allen) - 2:46
# "Go Fly A Kite" - 2:30
# "Melissa" - 3:59
# "Last Night (Was a Bad Night)" - 2:34
:*Recorded in Los Angeles, California, on March 15, 1968 (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 7 12), and March 18, 1968 (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7 & 10)
Personnel
*
Steve Allen
Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...
-
electric harpsichord
An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
*
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...
-
arranger
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
,
conductor
*
Bobby Bryant
Bobby Bryant (born January 24, 1944) is a former cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings.
Early life
At Willingham High School, he was a star in football along with basketball, track and field, and baseball. Bryant was recruited to play for the Un ...
-
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
*
Tom Scott -
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
*
Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway (born November 1, 1939) is an American composer, arranger and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Kellaway was born in Waban, Massachusetts, United States. He is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory. Kellaway has composed commissio ...
-
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
*
Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups a ...
-
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
*
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.
...
,
Jimmy Gordon -
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
Ron Carter - bass
Britt Woodman - trombone
Grady Tate - drums
*Other unknown musicians
References
{{Authority control
Impulse! Records albums
Oliver Nelson albums
Steve Allen albums
1968 albums
Albums produced by Bob Thiele
Albums conducted by Oliver Nelson
Albums arranged by Oliver Nelson