The last of a series of showtune albums recorded by the trio of pianist Andre Previn, bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Shelly Manne finds the all-star group focusing on the music of West Side Story (Previn and Manne alternated leadership, and it was the drummer's good fortune to have the famous My Fair Lady album under his own name). This CD reissue has eight of the main themes from the famous musical, including "I Feel Pretty," "Maria" and "America." As usual, the melodies are treated respectfully yet swingingly, and Andre Previn in particular excels in this setting. Recommended.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

The soundtrack of the West Side Story film is deservedly one of the most popular soundtrack recordings of all time, and one of the relatively few to have attained long-term popularity beyond a specialized soundtrack/theatrical musical audience. (It is an entirely different recording, it should be emphasized, from the original Broadway cast recording, which was also a massive-selling album.) Its widespread impact could be attributed to a few factors: the wide range of compositional and orchestral styles, from cool swing jazz and shades of Latin pop to classical; the universality of the storyline, pitting underdog lovers against the world; and an assortment of songs that goes well beyond the sentimental love odes that are the staples of musicals (though it has some of those, too), including some downright tough posturing and sardonic social commentary. "Jet Song," "America," "Gee, Officer Krupke," "Tonight," "Cool," "Maria," "I Feel Pretty," and "Something's Coming" are all among the most famous and oft-sung soundtrack numbers ever. Why might you want to upgrade if your familiar old album has been moldering in the collection for decades, or if you got it passed down for free from older relatives? Well, aside from the excellent remastered sound and historical liner notes about the film and soundtrack production, it has four tracks designated as previously unreleased. One of those, "Intermission Music," is pretty dispensable, as it's simply a 90-second instrumental version of "I Feel Pretty." But "Overture" is a worthy instrumental fanfare, and the "Finale" and "End Credits" that close the release have some supremely booming funereal tones, in keeping with the downbeat end of the film.© TiVo

West Side Story was a bit of an unusual session for several reasons. First, the popularity of both the Broadway musical and the film version that followed meant that there were many records being made of its music. Second, rather than woodshed on the selections prior to entering the studio, the Oscar Peterson Trio spontaneously created impressions of the musical's themes on the spot. "Something's Coming" seems like a series of vignettes, constantly shifting its mood, as if moving from one scene to the next. Ray Brown plays arco bass behind Peterson in the lovely "Somewhere," while the feeling to "Jet Song" is very hip in the trio's hands. The snappy interplay between the musicians in the brisk setting of "Tonight" turns it into a swinger. "Maria" initially has a light, dreamy quality, though it evolves into a solid groove. The romp through "I Feel Pretty" is full of humor, while the CD closes with a brief reprise of several themes from the musical to wrap the session with a flourish.© Ken Dryden /TiVo

Presented with the idea of a West Coast West Side Story, you might imagine some kind of unorthodox interpretation, but in fact this 2013 production, recorded live (and recorded very well indeed) for the San Francisco Symphony's in-house label falls squarely into traditions laid down by the work's composer, Leonard Bernstein. This is not to say that conductor Michael Tilson Thomas follows Bernstein's own recording of the Romeo and Juliet tale of the Sharks and the Jets, which had a heavily operatic tinge: this is a Broadway-style recording, not an operatic one, and the vocal qualities of Cheyenne Jackson as Tony and Alexandra Silber as Maria are not too far from those in the hit soundtrack recording of the 1960s. Instead, it is Bernstein the composer who is the star of Tilson Thomas' show. Unlike the works of other Broadway composers who wrote tunes and left assistants to fill in conventional orchestration, Bernstein often made the orchestra a key partner in the action, and Tilson Thomas captures such details as the small keyboard line in "Maria" (perhaps a celesta) that is swallowed up in live performances and recordings. Tilson Thomas, like Bernstein, is comfortable with the variety of pop rhythms in the show, and the end result is a recording that really represents the best of both worlds. Highly recommended.© James Manheim /TiVo

Classical composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein periodically had tried his hand at writing Broadway musicals, starting with On the Town (1944) and continuing with Wonderful Town, (1953), not to mention, less than a year earlier, Candide, a musically magnificent, dramatically unsuccessful effort. But none of these was as ambitious as West Side Story, a score that is infused with Bernstein's classical sensibility, even as it deliberately draws in influences from jazz and Latin music. A contemporary retelling of Romeo & Juliet set among New York street gangs, the show combines refined and vulgar elements, and Bernstein's music revels in the contrasts, veering from the hymn-like themes he provides for the lovers' ballads (they may be Italians on one side and Puerto Ricans on the other, but they're probably all Catholics, so the religious influence is something they have in common) to the jarring rhythms that accompany the continual "rumbles" of the gangs. Newcomer lyricist Stephen Sondheim traces the same contrast in his words. For the Romeo character, here called Tony, the mere name of his Juliet, here called Maria, has religious significance: "Say it loud and there's music playing," he sings in a song called "Maria," "Say it soft and it's almost like praying." In this song, as in their duets "Tonight" and "One Hand, One Heart," Tony and Maria are not just idealistic, but idealized, and Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence embody them well. On the other hand, Sondheim fills the language of their friends with a rough slang that sometimes alludes to common obscenity (e.g., "when the spit hits the fan") and sometimes pushes the limits of language allowable on a Broadway stage in the '50s ("bastard," "S.O.B."). When they're not cursing, these characters engage in biting criticism and sarcasm. "America," a song of dueling Puerto Rican girls, one who wants to go home and one who wants to stay in Manhattan (the fiery Anita, ably played by Chita Rivera), and "Gee, Officer Krupke!," a gang's taunting of a police officer, are not just typical comic songs in a Broadway musical. They are savagely witty, marking the introduction of a lyricist on a par with Lorenz Hart or Cole Porter, at the very least. That said, however, this isn't really a lyric-oriented show, or even a character-oriented one, oddly enough. It is notable that the album cover says, "West Side Story (based on a conception of Jerome Robbins)," not "based on a play by William Shakespeare." Robbins, the show's director/choreographer, has conceived it as a dance show, and there are extended instrumental passages on this album during which the stage actors would be dancing, although one only hears them shouting occasionally and snapping their fingers. Powerful as Bernstein's music is, and clever as Sondheim's lyrics are, West Side Story is largely about dancing, which means that only a portion of it can be appreciated on disc. That is enough, however, to mark it as a landmark among Broadway cast albums as well as Broadway musicals.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

When the producers of the film West Side Story heard a sampling of what the Stan Kenton Orchestra had done to their score, they were disappointed that they had not thought to ask the band to play on the soundtrack. Johnny Richards's arrangements of ten of the famous play's melodies are alternately dramatic and tender with plenty of the passion displayed by the characters in the story. Soloists include altoist Gabe Baltazar, veteran tenor Sam Donahue and trumpeter Conte Candoli, but it is the raging ensembles that are most memorable about the classic recording. This CD reissue is highly recommended.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

Cinema Paradiso is the 14th studio album from Katherine Jenkins and sees her paying tribute to the silver screen. Jenkins takes on such classics as "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's, "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio, and "Never Love Again" from A Star Is Born, amongst others.© TiVo

For Romain Leleu, what we call "classical" music could never have gained all its richness and variety without absorbing manifold influences from “popular” music that continues to be its fuel since the dawn of time! Parallel to the release of his album of film music prominently featuring the trumpet, the French virtuoso, backed by his friends and partners in the Romain Leleu Sextet, has brought into a face to face dialogue a selection of hit tunes from far-flung sources that transcend genres and national borders. © harmonia mundi

The soundtrack of the West Side Story film is deservedly one of the most popular soundtrack recordings of all time, and one of the relatively few to have attained long-term popularity beyond a specialized soundtrack/theatrical musical audience. (It is an entirely different recording, it should be emphasized, from the original Broadway cast recording, which was also a massive-selling album.) Its widespread impact could be attributed to a few factors: the wide range of compositional and orchestral styles, from cool swing jazz and shades of Latin pop to classical; the universality of the storyline, pitting underdog lovers against the world; and an assortment of songs that goes well beyond the sentimental love odes that are the staples of musicals (though it has some of those, too), including some downright tough posturing and sardonic social commentary. "Jet Song," "America," "Gee, Officer Krupke," "Tonight," "Cool," "Maria," "I Feel Pretty," and "Something's Coming" are all among the most famous and oft-sung soundtrack numbers ever. Why might you want to upgrade if your familiar old album has been moldering in the collection for decades, or if you got it passed down for free from older relatives? Well, aside from the excellent remastered sound and historical liner notes about the film and soundtrack production, it has four tracks designated as previously unreleased. One of those, "Intermission Music," is pretty dispensable, as it's simply a 90-second instrumental version of "I Feel Pretty." But "Overture" is a worthy instrumental fanfare, and the "Finale" and "End Credits" that close the release have some supremely booming funereal tones, in keeping with the downbeat end of the film.© TiVo

Composer Leonard Bernstein's greatest hits, so to speak, all come from the 1940s and 1950s: Fancy Free, Candide, On the Town, and West Side Story. Less well-known, but very closely tied to those works is Bernstein's only film score, for Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront. All of these works represent music that is meant to be combined with another form of performing art to tell a particular story. Even though some of these are humorous and some are serious, a commonality of those stories is that they all revolve around young people maturing in some way. As well as having memorable melodies and a cosmopolitan combination of pop rhythms and symphonic textures, each one of them underscores the complexity and conflict of emotions in a timesless way that strikes a chord with audiences. They have become classic examples of American music. With the exception of Fancy Free, which is the full, if brief ballet, all the works as they appear on this album are concert arrangements made from the original scores by Bernstein. They capture, very succinctly, the essences of the original versions in a way that is as moving as the original. These particular performances also, with Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in the early '60s, seem to have a youthfulness and rawness to them that accentuates the music. In the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, the cross-rhythms and sharpness of change in mood and texture are clear and immediate. There are spots in the dances from On the Town where the brass or the strings are ever so slightly not together, which adds to the impression of young high spirits. And the drama of the suite from On the Waterfront, sometimes stated with just one or two instruments, is intensely powerful. There is a snap and energy to these performances that is missing from Bernstein's more polished sounding recordings from the late '70s/early '80s. It's not just the performance, but also the sound of the recording that seems to suit the music better also. It's not necessarily a warm sound, and there's is a resonance of distance that is entirely appropriate to the cityscape settings of the stories. Because of their feel and sound and because it's the composer conducting, these seem to have become the definitive versions of these concert works. That, plus the fact that the music is so popular, gives Sony the perfect excuse for the numerous reissues and repackagings of them, like this one.© TiVo

Astoundingly, Ramsey Lewis released a total of six albums in 1964 alone, which brought his total as a bandleader to 14 in eight years on the scene -- 15 if you include an early best-of. While it was not uncommon for a musician to release more than one album a year in those heady days, six was ambitious by anybody's standards. Live at the Bohemia Caverns (in Washington D.C.) was Lewis' second live date, and one that provided a blueprint for the later live dates that would put him near the top of the pop charts a year later with The In Crowd. The material on this set was very ambitious. Along with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Redd Holt, Lewis began the show with a long medley from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, comprising the tunes "Somewhere" (which bookends it), "Maria," and "Jet Song." It is a dramatic way to start an evening -- especially since the texture of the first tune in the medley features Young switching to arco playing on his double bass. But it's a charmer. You can tell an audience is in the building, but they are quiet and understandably moved. Lewis' discipline and classical training are on display here in spades and he is way up to the challenge, especially as he improvises on the changes before Holt kicks it with his cowbell on "Maria," introducing a full-blown, tough soul-jazz workout before it closes. The band kicks it with a bossa nova reading of "People (Who Need People)" as a way of bringing the more than likely stunned audience back to the reason they made it to the gig in the first place. It's gentle but it swings and it is full of subtle touches from the rhythm section, with Lewis moving in and out of blues and soul and back to a genteel hard bop. These two cuts make the first side, but the fireworks really start with the finger-popping reading of Chris Kenner's R&B classic "Something You've Got," which was popular at the time, and some female fans in the crowd begin singing the chorus and everybody else claps. The wild thing is that Young is alternately playing and bowing his bass -- way funky but cool. The only argument with Lewis' sets at this time was his nearly irritating method of following each uptempo workout with a ballad. He does that here with a very slow, elegant but sleepy reading of "Fly Me to the Moon." In contrast to the cooking that went on just a couple of moments ago, it could make one lose the vibe. Thankfully, the trio gets right back to it with a smoking, over the top version of Willie Dixon's blues standard "My Babe," which is a showcase for Young's soloing ability -- he carries the melody, as well as improvising on it, and with Holt's hi hat-snare shuffle in double-time, it pushes thing into the realm of the ecstatic. Lewis follows it with his only original, a roughshod piano blues jam called "The Caves," improvised no doubt for the date. Doesn't matter, it's a killer 12-bar with Ramsey pulling out his gospel and R&B chops to weave through his beautiful hard bop phrasing. The reworking of the country classic, "The Shelter of Your Arms" that closes this set is a knotty little workout with some great work by Holt, who precedes the beat just a bit, moving it through a series of wily changes in tempo and melody. Ramsey begins by using Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" in his solo and then decides to work the tune in against the original melody, and it brings the house down. This is a hip date with that one distraction, and like all of his Argo and Cadet live sides, should be chased down.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

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