''Dance the Bop!'' is a 1957 album by
Ray Conniff
Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.
Biography
Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United St ...
. All the tracks were written by Conniff with a "solid rock and roll beat" to appeal to the teenage audience of the time. The album was produced in February, 1957. Released by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
, the album was an attempt by the company to cash in on the teen dance craze.
Conniff himself never liked this album and felt under pressure by producer and a&r chief
Mitch Miller
Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
to record it. He once stated in an interview with German television "We should have burnt the tapes". Miller thought that the "new dance" Bop (which has nothing in common with the jazz style of the same name) was on the way to the top at that time while Conniff was afraid of killing his new sound concept (instrumentally singing voices doubling instruments) which he started off with in the late 1956 by releasing his album ''
'S Wonderful''. After the Bop album he returned to this sound which turned out to be a worldwide success in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Track listing
# Walkin' the Bop
# The Drop
# Just Boppin'
# Doin' the Twister
# The Flea Hop
# Cross Over
# Walkin' the Bop Again
# Swingin' the Bop
# Hand Around
# Play a Guitar Solo
# The Spinner
# Honky-Tonk Rock-Around
References
1957 albums
Ray Conniff albums
{{1950s-album-stub