Play Music from West Side Story (Mono Remastered Edition) Manny Albam and His Jazz Greats

• 1 Prologue and Jet Song (Remastered) 04:52
• 2 Something'S Coming (Remastered) 03:31
• 3 Cool (Remastered) 04:37
• 4 Maria (Remastered) 03:18
• 5 Tonight (Remastered) 05:45
• 6 I Feel Pretty (Remastered) 03:29
• 7 Somewhere (Remastered) 02:26
• 8 Finale (Includes: "I Feel Pretty", "America", "One Hand, One Heart") (Remastered) 04:55
• Total Runtime 32:53

Info for Play Music from West Side Story (Mono Remastered Edition)

In the late 40s Emmanuel Albam laid aside his baritone saxophone because it was getting in the way of his pen. From that moment on, he established himself firmly as one of the most skilled, possibly the busiest, of all the free lance arrangers on the New York scene. Although he worked with great success in the pop field, he is usually associated with jazz. His originals for Basie, Herman, Gibbs, Ferguson, and other big bands are as familiar as the many remarkable LPs listed under his own name. With West Side Story, Albam achieved one of his greatest works. Most of the material is intensely emotional in a mood sense, but the precise execution of Albam's inspired arrangements, along with appropriate solos, injected considerably more life, jazzwise, into Bernstein's provocative score.

"I owe a great deal to the musicianship of every player in the final analysis of the sounds heard herein. The soloists and "part players" alike share with Leonard Bernstein, who provided the impetus with his highly imaginative and provocative score, the spotlight for the production of this album.” — Manny Albam

"With West Side Story, Albam achieved one of his greatest works. Most of the material is emotionally charged and moody, but the precise execution of Al barn's inspired arrangements, along with superbly apt solos, injected considerably more jazz life into Bernstein's provocative score.” — Jordi Pujol

Manny Albam And His Jazz Greats

Digitally remastered

Manny Albam
(June 24, 1922 – October 2, 2001) was an American jazz arranger, composer, record producer, saxophonist, and educator. During a career that spanned seven decades, he collaborated with a who's who of jazz greats including Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Stan Getz. He also developed successive generations of new talent as co-founder and musical director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.

Albam was born when his parents were en route from their native Russia to their new home in New York City, and his mother went into labor while their ship was outside of the Dominican Republic port of Samana. At the age of seven Albam discovered jazz after hearing a Bix Beiderbecke record, and soon after began playing the alto saxophone; at 16 he dropped out of school following an invitation to join Muggsy Spanier's Dixieland combo, then Don Joseph (1940) Musgy Spannier (1941), Bob Chester (1942), Georgie Auld (1942 – 5), Charlie Spivak and Boyd Raeburn (1943-5).

During his two years with Spivak, his arranging skills flourished, and he generated an average of two arrangements per week. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, (1945-6) he ubndertook similar work for Sam Donahue (1947), Charlie Barnet (1948-9), Jerry Wald (1949) and others, and as his interest in writing and arranging grew, he effectively retired from performing in 1950, a decision that coincided with the last gasps of the big band era.

Albam quickly emerged as a sought-after freelancer, composing and arranging material for many of the bop era's brightest talents. Within a few years, he became known for a bebop style that emphasized taut and witty writing with a flair for distinctive shadings; flute-led reed sections became something of an Albam trademark. One of his most popular works from that era was "Samana", an Afro-Latin composition he did for the Stan Kenton Innovations Orchestra, named after his birthplace Samaná in the Dominican Republic.

Albam eventually signed to headline his own LPs for labels including Mercury, RCA Victor, and Dot, bringing together musicians including Phil Woods, Al Cohn, and Bob Brookmeyer for acclaimed easy listening efforts including The Blues Is Everybody's Business and The Drum Suite. His 1957 jazz arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's score to West Side Story so impressed Bernstein that the maestro invited Albam to write for the New York Philharmonic.

The offer prompted Albam to study classical composition under Tibor Serly (1958 to 1960), later yielding such works as the luminous "Concerto for Trombone and Strings." Albam also wrote for feature films, television, and even advertising jingles, and in 1964 signed on as musical director for Sonny Lester's fledgling Solid State label, which two years later issued his jazz suite The Soul of the City. By that time Albam was increasingly channeling his energies into teaching, however. (Source: AMG)

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