In order to begin to appreciate Leroy Anderson you need to reflect upon the fact that his big break came in 1938 when Arthur Fiedler commissioned him to write a piece for the Boston Pops Orchestra. "Jazz Pizzicato" and its sequel "Jazz Legato" attracted lots of attention and were eventually followed by "The Syncopated Clock" and "Promenade" (1945); "Serenata" and "Fiddle-Faddle" (1947); "Saraband" (1948), and "A Trumpeter's Lullaby" (1949). With the possible exception of "The Syncopated Clock," nothing Anderson wrote came anywhere near achieving the popularity of the famous "Sleigh Ride," apparently composed while doing housework on a sweltering hot day in July 1948. Between 1950 and 1958, Anderson worked for the Decca record company making albums that rivaled Fiedler's in popularity. The piece that gives this compilation its title, "Blue Tango" is a masterpiece of beauty, charm and accessibility. In addition to a healthy sense of humor, Leroy Anderson had a knack for devising pleasant, harmless, catchy melodies that have since endeared him to generations of pops concert attendees. This is wholesome hunky dory apple pie music, cheerful and middle brow; Leroy Anderson wrote veritable anthems for the Good Life, and thanks to the Living Era reissue label some of his niftiest performances are on tap once again for those in need of a refreshing if utterly unfounded sense of well-being. ~ arwulf arwulf
