Today, the day this episode drops, would have been my mom’s 87th birthday. Earlier today, I dropped ten roses on her gravestone to signify how many of those birthdays we have had without her.

I’ve said this before, that my mom’s spirit is within this album collection just as much as my dad’s, and it’s artists like this that I know she enjoyed very much.

My parents did get to see him once in concert. He is one of the world’s most recognized tenors, even years after he has been gone. 

So get ready to hear Luciano sing to celebrate my mother’s birthday in Volume 196: Pavarotti for Pauline. 

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Luciano Pavarotti – Verismo Arias

The portrait reproduced for the cover was done by Gerrit Greve, and was one of Pavarotti's favorites.

We will hear 10 of the 15 songs on this album.

Amor Ti Vieta

Dai Campi, Dai Prati

La Dolcissima Effigie

L'Anima Ho Stanca or My Soul Is Tired

Apri La Tua Finestra!

Colpito Qui M'Avete.....Un Di All 'Azzurro Spazio

Come Un Bel Di Di Maggio

Ch'Ella Mi Creda

Ma Se Vi Talenta.....Tra Voi, Belle

Ah! Non Y'Avvicante!

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

This is truly an interesting find in my dad’s collection. We know by now my dad’s love for the Dixieland style of music. So it’s not surprising I found this record in the stacks.

But what was surprising is that this recording was made by seven musicians that had never played together before. You most certainly can’t tell. And they’re not exactly household names. 

So, get ready to hear what it must have sounded like rollin’ down the Mississippi River in the late 19th and early 20th century in Volume 195: Delta Dixieland.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Delta Kings – Down The River With The Delta Kings

We will hear 6 of the 10 songs on this album.

Ole Man River

Beautiful Ohio

'Way Down Upon The Swanee River

Waitin' For The Robert E. Lee

Up That Lazy River

Down By The Riverside (I Ain't Goin' to Study War No More)

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

I’m not sure why, but the episodes that feature Ray Conniff music have been among the most popular…by far. Maybe because his music is so enjoyable. Maybe because his music is laid back and brings back memories of better times, or what are assumed to be better times.

But Conniff’s music had a very unique sound because of how he treated vocals in many of his songs. He used voices as instruments as they sang wordless notes. But on this record? They use their real words.

So get ready to hear some sweet music with that unique Conniff vocal arrangement in Volume 194: Ray's Honey. 

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Ray Conniff And The Singers – Honey

We will play 7 of the 11 songs on the album.

Honey (I Miss You)

Gentle On My Mind

Spanish Eyes

I Say A Little Prayer

The Look Of Love (From "Casino Royale")

Sound Of Silence

Goin' Out Of My Head

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

We slide now quite nicely into the second record of a two album set of popular New York City Jazz musicians taking their music around the U.S. In fact, according to the album back cover, they performed in front of 200 thousand fans during 37 concerts in 25 cities. This is one of those concerts.

So get ready to hear the East-West Coast All Stars with music refined at a famed jazz club named after one of the best saxophonists that ever lived in Volume 193:  Birdland Stars Tour 2.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

The Birdland Stars – The Birdland Stars On Tour Vol. 2

Recorded February 27, 1956, Webster Hall, New York

We will hear 4 of 6 songs from this record.

Hip Boots!

Ah Funky New Baby

Playboy

Birdland Fantasy

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Here is the first of two from Doris my dad had. And it's just some downright pretty music. She's got a soft, delicate voice. I can see why Colonel Potter fell in love with her. But that's a story for later in the episode.

A car accident cut her budding dancing career short, but she showed off her voice on radio in Cincinnati and ended up attaining fame in both music and movies.

So get ready to hear one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century in Volume 192: Day Dreaming.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Doris Day – Day Dreams

We will hear 6 of the 12 songs from this album.

Bewitched

Sometimes I'm Happy

I Didn't Know What Time It Was (GREAT lyrics)

I've Only Myself To Blame

Darn That Dream (such language Doris)

Imagination

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

This album is the epitome of extended music.

These melodies had been recorded before, but the technology of the 78 RPM kept them limited in length. Once the opportunity to put more music on one disk became available with the new Long Playing technology of the 1950s, most musicians were adding more songs to put  together an album.

Not this episode’s featured artist. He kept adding to the songs on this album. Just when you think the tune is getting ready to conclude, it heads off in a different direction. In doing so Duke has created absolute masterpieces.

And because of the length of these recordings, we’ll only hear three songs on this episode.

So, get ready to hear uncut concert arrangements by one of the most prolific composers in history in Volume 191: Master Ellington.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Masterpieces By Ellington

Recorded December 19, 1950

These are uncut concert arrangements. 

All music written by Duke Ellington, arranged by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

Sophisticated Lady

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Here’s an artist dwelling in my father’s collection we haven’t heard from yet. We’ll be hearing selections from the first of three Billy Vaughn records he had.

This record isn't just filled with the pop hits Vaughn would arrange and record for orchestra to be played on those easy listening radio stations. These are standards. In fact, the hit recordings of these songs sold a lot of records.

So, get ready to hear 7 tunes that were recorded over 1,200 times combined over the years in Volume 190: Billy's Million Sellers.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Billy Vaughn – Billy Vaughn Plays The Million Sellers

We will hear 7 of the 12 songs on this album.

Holiday For Strings

Canadian Sunset

Tonight We Love

Fascination

In The Mood

Around The World

So Rare

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

The four letter album title in large yellow font along with the same color silhouette of a pair of hands playing a trumpet over a black background immediately sets the tone for this LP. 

It’s familiar music played a little more sparsely than you are used to hearing it. But fear not, there are some great treatments of music you may know on this disk, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did listening to this unfamiliar trumpet player.

So get ready to hear a honeyed horn from a musician who actually was more popular in another profession in Volume 189: Jim's Java.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Jim Collier – Java

We will hear 7 of the 10 songs on this album.

Java

Miss Daisy De Lite

Happiness Is A Thing Called Fun

Honey In The Horn (which according to the front cover is the featured song even though it's number one on side two.)

Anymore

Chills

Get It Movin'

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

#jimcollier #trumpetsrule #jazzmusic

Let’s get back to some of the big band and early swing my dad listened to a lot. And this record is a real find because of the two main musicians.

One played a brass instrument, one played reeds. One ended up just a little more famous than the other. But they were brothers. And they had their famous beginnings in a band with the family name that recorded in the early to mid-1930s.

So get ready to hear a compilation of some of the last studio recordings for this sibling duo that began on 78 RPM Shellac and ended up on this 33 ⅓ RPM Vinyl in Volume 188: The Brothers Dorsey Shine.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

The Dorsey Brothers' Original Orchestra – Their Shining Hour

We will play 7 of the 11 songs from this album.

By Heck

Solitude

Rhythm Of The Rain

Night Wind

Eccentric is actually cut 3

Sugar Foot Stomp

The Weary Blues

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Like I’ve mentioned before, my dad liked his cowboy music too. So, we’ll go back to a box set where we’ll pull out the fourth of its seven records.

The title of each of these sides is Deep in the Heart of Texas and Western Landscapes, hence the mashup title of this episode.  

Four songs from side one were all big hits and reference our second biggest state. The selections from side two are lesser known but paint a beautiful picture of the old west. 

So get ready to hear what is really Tumbling Tumbleweeds part 4 in Volume 187: Texas Landscapes.

More information about this album, see the Discogs webpage for it. 

Credits and copyrights

Various – Tumbling Tumbleweeds

We will be listening to record 4, sides 1 and 2. We will hear 7 of the 11 tunes from this disk.

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Deep In The Heart Of Texas

George Hamilton IV - Abilene

Gene Autry - The Yellow Rose Of Texas

Jerry Reed - El Paso 

The Sons Of The Pioneers - Moonlight On The Colorado

Jimmy Wakely - The Call Of The Canyon

Hank Snow - Cross The Brazos At Waco

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.