''Pal Joey'' (full title ''Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from Pal Joey'') is a jazz album by 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 ...

& His Pals, bassist

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 ...

and drummer

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, ...

, recorded in 1957 and released on the

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

label.Contemporary Records discography
accessed May 18, 2015 The album features Previn's jazz interpretations of songs from

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

and

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; " The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; " Bewitched, Bo ...

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 ...

, '' Pal Joey'' and followed the success of Manne's 1956 album, ''

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 ...

''. The album was recorded around the same time as the release of the

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

states: "Best known is 'I Could Write a Book,' which quickly became a standard, but the other, more obscure songs such as 'Take Him,' 'Zip' and 'Do It the Hard Way' are also generally good devices for jazz improvising. An enjoyable set of straight-ahead trio music". On

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

Dave Rickerts states "Surprisingly ''Pal Joey'' seems like it would come later on in Previn's career when he might be scraping the bottom of the barrel for musicals to swing... It's clearly not a top shelf musical; only two songs from it became standards and it's rarely revived today. Still, there must have been something to grab Previn over other more worthy material, and the trio make a silk purse out a sow's ear by taking the mediocre and producing some wonderful improvisations".Rickert, D.
All About Jazz Review
November 23, 2011

Track listing

''All compositions music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart.'' # "

I Could Write a Book "I Could Write a Book" is a show tune from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical '' Pal Joey'', where it was introduced by Gene Kelly and Leila Ernst. It is considered a standard. Critical reception An uncredited critic reviewing "New Plays in Manha ...

" - 4:52 # "That Terrific Rainbow" - 6:04 # "

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered "Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered)" is a show tune and popular song from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical '' Pal Joey''. It is part of the Great American Songbook. The song was introduced by Vivienne Segal on December 25, 1940, in the Broa ...

" - 5:37 # "Take Him" - 3:35 # "Zip" - 3:40 # "It's a Great Big Town" - 3:34 # "What Is a Man?" - 3:19 # "I'm Talkin' with My Pal" - 5:02 # "Do It the Hard Way" - 4:05

Personnel

;André Previn & His Pals *André Previn -

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 ...

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pal Joey (Andre Previn album) 1957 albums Contemporary Records albums André Previn albums