''My Fair Lady'', recorded by "

Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, ...

& His Friends" and released in 1956 by

Contemporary Records Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players. West Coast players Contemporary became identified with a style of ja ...

, is the first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

ever made consisting entirely of

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

versions of tunes from a single

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), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

. It was an instant hit and became one of the best-selling jazz albums of its day.

Origins

''Shelly Manne & his Friends* (*André Previn and Leroy Vinnegar): modern jazz performances of songs from My Fair Lady'', as the full name appeared on the 12-inch LP jacket (Contemporary Records C3527), was begun when drummer Shelly Manne, pianist

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

, and bassist

Leroy Vinnegar Leroy Vinnegar (July 13, 1928 – August 3, 1999) was an American jazz bassist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles, California, during the 1950s and 1960s. His trademar ...

assembled on August 17, 1956, in the Contemporary studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to produce an album of jazz versions of miscellaneous

show Show or The Show may refer to: Competition, event, or artistic production * Agricultural show, associated with agriculture and animal husbandry * Animal show, a judged event in the hobby of animal fancy ** Cat show ** Dog show ** Horse show ** ...

tunes. (The three, having already recorded together as "Shelly Manne and His Friends", had some experience performing as a trio.) Previn and Manne were exchanging ideas with producer

Lester Koenig Lester Koenig (December 3, 1917 – November 21, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and founder of the jazz record label Contemporary Records. Biography Koenig was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harli ...

, who suggested they do some tunes from the current Broadway musical ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

''. Manne and Previn were so impressed with the

Lerner Lerner may refer to: Organizations * Lerner Enterprises, a real estate company in Washington, D.C. * Lerner New York, the former name of the New York & Company clothing chain * Lerner Newspapers, a former newspaper chain in Chicago * Lerner Pu ...

and Loewe songs for the show, that they decided to record more of them. They ended up filling the entire album with ''My Fair Lady'' tunes. Koenig brought in the complete

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

, and that evening Manne and Previn, between them, worked out the

arrangement 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 orchestr ...

s and recorded the entire album in one session, with Vinnegar providing the third "very important musical voice in the trio." Lively and appealing, and clearly aimed at popular taste, the music also showed some daring, in the vein of the experimentation that was a factor in much

West Coast jazz West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rel ...

in the 1950s. Previn, with considerable musical training, and having composed several

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s himself, was able to suggest certain technical modifications to the

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

and other aspects of the music. Manne, as the date's leader, provided suggestions of his own, for example to treat what was a fast number in the show as a slow

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

instead. The final number, "

I Could Have Danced All Night "I Could Have Danced All Night" is a song from the musical ''My Fair Lady'', with music written by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,

", was given a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

touch, with Manne even adding the sound of a

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

. "There was a total thing going back and forth," as Manne later put it. The sound was recorded by Roy DuNann, later recognized as one of the great recording engineers.

Legacy

The result of that session was an unexpectedly successful album, generally cited as the most successful jazz album up to that time, or at least one of them.See Yanow; also Brand, p. 87, and Gordon, pp. 142-43. After that success, the combo, sometimes under Manne's name, other times under Previn's, as "André Previn and His Pals", recorded numerous other treatments of Broadway musicals in the next few years (the first with Vinnegar on bass, the rest with

Red Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927 – November 8, 1992) was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. Biography Mitchell was born in New York City. His younger brother, Whitey Mitchell, also became a jazz ...

, who took over the bass chair when Vinnegar left the group to pursue other musical opportunities), including ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...

'' (1957), '' Pal Joey'' (1957), '' Gigi'' (1958), '' Bells Are Ringing'' (1958), and ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

'' (1959), all issued on the Contemporary label. Shortly after the Manne hit with ''My Fair Lady'' had shown what could be done in this vein, that musical received whole-album treatment by other jazz artists.

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the a ...

and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

brought out '' My Fair Lady Loves Jazz'' in 1957, and this was followed by albums of ''My Fair Lady'' music by

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

('' Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady'') ;

Wild Bill Davis Wild Bill Davis (November 24, 1918 – August 17, 1995) was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electric organ recordings and for his tenure with t ...

;

Dick Hyman Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts ...

with

Ruby Braff Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Garry Moore television show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong". Bra ...

;

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

('' The Oscar Peterson Trio Plays "My Fair Lady"''); and others. Manne himself worked with arranger

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

to present a different treatment of the musical in 1964, first issued as ''

My Fair Lady with the Un-Original Cast ''My Fair Lady with the Un-original Cast'' is an album by drummer Shelly Manne with Jack Sheldon and Irene Kral and musical direction by Johnny Williams, recorded in 1964 and released on the Capitol label.Jack Sheldon Beryl Cyril "Jack" Sheldon Jr. (November 30, 1931 – December 27, 2019) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor. He performed on ''The Merv Griffin Show'' and participated in episodes of the educational music television series ''Scho ...

and

Irene Kral Irene Kral (January 18, 1932 – August 15, 1978) was an American jazz singer. Life She was born to Czechoslovak parents in Chicago and settled in Los Angeles, California, in the early 1960s. She died from breast cancer in Encino, Los Angeles. ...

Track listing

''All tunes by Frederick Loewe. (Lyrics of the original songs were by Alan Jay Lerner.)'' # "

Get Me to the Church on Time "Get Me to the Church on Time" is a song composed by Frederick Loewe, with lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1956 musical ''My Fair Lady'', where it was introduced by Stanley Holloway. It is sung by the cockney character Alfred P. Doolittl ...

" - 4:11 # "

On the Street Where You Live "On the Street Where You Live" is a song with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 Broadway musical ''My Fair Lady''. It is sung in the musical by the character Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who was portrayed by John M ...

" - 5:37 # "

I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" is a song from the 1956 in music, 1956 musical theatre, musical ''My Fair Lady'', with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It was originally performed by Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Hig ...

" - 3:21 # "

Wouldn't It Be Loverly "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" is a popular song by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, written for the 1956 Broadway play ''My Fair Lady''. The song is sung by Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and her street friends. It expresses Eliza's wish f ...

" - 5:31 # "Ascot Gavotte" - 4:17 # "Show Me" - 3:40 # "

With a Little Bit of Luck "With a Little Bit of Luck" is a popular song by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, written for the 1956 Broadway play ''My Fair Lady''. It was sung by Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle in both the original stage and film versions. I ...

" - 6:01 # "

I Could Have Danced All Night "I Could Have Danced All Night" is a song from the musical ''My Fair Lady'', with music written by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,

" - 3:00

Personnel

;Shelly Manne & His Friends *

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, leader *

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

;Technical *

- producer * Roy DuNann - recording engineer

Notes

References

* Brand, Jack. ''Shelly Manne: Sounds of the Different Drummer'' (Discography and filmography by Bill Korst) (Percussion Express, 1997) * Gordon, Robert. ''Jazz West Coast: The Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950s'' (Quartet Books, 1986)

External links

* Yanow, Scott. "My Fair Lady: Review" (''allmusic'' Web site)
Conrad, Thomas. "The Search for Roy DuNann" (April 2002; ''Stereophile'' Web site)
{{Authority control 1956 albums André Previn albums Contemporary Records albums Shelly Manne albums Leroy Vinnegar albums