''The Groovy Sound of Music'' is an album by vibraphonist

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...

recorded in 1964 and released on the

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

label which features jazz interpretations of tunes from the

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'' written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.Gary Burton discography
accessed November 24, 2011

Conception, Recording and Packaging

The album was recorded at the request of RCA Records who, as part of their negotiations with composer Richard Rodgers for the ''Sound of Music''

movie soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

(also released in 1965), had promised to get artists on their roster to record songs from the musical. It was recorded in two sessions, one featuring Burton as part of a jazz sextet (as well as playing "Edelweiss" solo), and the other with a small orchestra arranged and conducted by

Gary McFarland Gary Robert McFarland (October 23, 1933 – November 3, 1971) was an American composer, arranger, vibraphonist and vocalist. He recorded for the jazz imprints Verve and Impulse! Records during the 1960s. '' Down Beat magazine'' said he made "on ...

.Charles Waring, liner notes to ''Something's Coming!/The Groovy Sound Of Music/The Time Machine'' (BGO Records, 2016) Burton would later profess disappointments with the album, particularly with McFarland's uncharacteristically "conventional and uninspiring" arrangements. He was also embarrassed by the title and cover art that RCA chose for the project; after complaining to the company executive

Steve Sholes Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent American recording executive with RCA Victor. Career Sholes was born in Washington, D.C. and moved with his family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of nin ...

and threatening to leave the label, he was promised that he would henceforth be allowed more input in such matters.

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 databa ...

review by Ken Dryden stated: "Aside from 'My Favorite Things', jazz musicians haven't been particularly drawn to songs from ''The Sound of Music'', so the ''Groovy Sound of Music'' songbook by Gary Burton is quite a treat".Dryden, K
Allmusic Review
accessed November 24, 2011

Track listing

:All compositions by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II # "

Climb Ev'ry Mountain "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The Sound of Music.'' It is sung at the close of the first act by the Mother Abbess. It is themed as an inspirational piece, to encourage people to take every s ...

" - 4:50 # "

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

" - 3:34 # "An Ordinary Couple" - 4:50 # " My Favorite Things" - 5:55 # " Sixteen Going on Seventeen" - 4:30 # "

Do-Re-Mi "Do-Re-Mi" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The Sound of Music''. Each syllable of the musical solfège system appears in the song's lyrics, sung on the pitch it names. Rodgers was helped in its creation by long-time ...

" - 3:50 # "

Edelweiss EDELWEISS (Expérience pour DEtecter Les WIMPs En Site Souterrain) is a dark matter search experiment located at the Modane Underground Laboratory in France. The experiment uses cryogenic detectors, measuring both the phonon and ionization signal ...

" - 3:03 # "

" - 5:27 :*Recorded at RCA Victor's Studio A in New York City on December 21 & 22, 1964.

Personnel

Musicians * Gary Burton —

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

, arranger (tracks 2, 4 & 6) *

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

— alto saxophone, clarinet *

Joe Puma Joe Puma (August 13, 1927 – May 31, 2000) was an American jazz guitarist. Puma was born in the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; ...

—

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 strin ...

Bob Brookmeyer Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer (December 19, 1929 – December 15, 2011) was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of G ...

—

valve trombone A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

Steve Swallow Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...

— bass *

Ed Shaughnessy Edwin Thomas "Ed" Shaughnessy (January 29, 1929 – May 24, 2013) was a swing music and jazz drummer long associated with Doc Severinsen and a member of The Tonight Show Band on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Biography Shaughn ...

, Joe Hunt — drums *

— arranger (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7 & 8) Production * Mickey Crofford – engineer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groovy Sound of Music, The 1965 albums Gary Burton albums RCA Records albums The Sound of Music