CD Details
- Released: May 21, 2002
- Originally Released: 2002
- Label: Collectables Records
- Original Album#1: Columbia CS-8105 (1959)
- Original Album#2: Columbia CL-905 (1956)
Description by OLDIES.com:
Percy Faith's favorite composer was George Gershwin. From 1958 this excellent distillation of music from the play, instrumentally of course, shows the lasting magic of Gershwin. The orchestra, as always, is phrased to "play the words." It swings, and one of the soloists on trumpet is Doc Severensen! In "Most Happy Fella" from 1956, Faith bests himself again with strong melodies and showstoppers such as "Big D" and "Joey, Joey, Joey." A nostalgic trip back in time! (Bill Halvorsen)
Tracks:
- 1.Catfish Row
- 2.Summertime
- 3.A Woman Is A Sometime Thing
- 4.My Man's Gone Now
- 5.Leavin' For The Promised Land
- 6.I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
- 7.The Buzzard Song
- 8.Bess, You Is My Woman Now
- 9.Oh I Can't Sit Down
- 10.It Ain't Necessarily So
- 11.The Strawberry Woman And The Crab Man
- 12.I Loves You, Porgy
- 13.There's A Boat That's Leavin' Soon For New York
- 14.Bess, Oh Where's My Bess
- 15.O Lawd I'm On My Way
- 16.The Most Happy Fella
- 17.Somebody Somewhere
- 18.Standing On The Corner
- 19.Joey, Joey, Joey
- 20.Abbondanza
- 21.Don't Cry
- 22.Sposalizio
- 23.How Beautiful The Days
- 24.Fresno Beauties
- 25.Warm All Over
- 26.Big D
- 27.My Heart Is So Full Of You
Product Description:
2 LPs on 1 CD: PORGY & BESS (1959)/THE MOST HAPPY FELLA (1956).
Originally released on Columbia (8105) & Columbia (905).
Personnel: George Ockner (violin); Harold Feldman (oboe); Jimmy Abato (alto saxophone); Russell Banzer (tenor saxophone); Doc Severinsen (trumpet); Bernie Leighton (piano); Terry Snyder (drums).
Recording information: 05/21/1956-01/15/1959.
Percy Faith made some excellent albums containing orchestral instrumental treatments of the music from Broadway shows in the 1950s, and here are two of them on one discount-priced CD. Both were highly ambitious projects for their composers, George Gershwin and Frank Loesser, respectively. Porgy & Bess, of course, was Gershwin's "folk opera," a commercial disappointment in 1935 that grew in stature until, when a film version was released in 1959, the record stores were swamped with recordings of it. Faith matched the ambitions of the score, employing two large orchestras and some notable soloists. Faith brought something of a swing sensibility to his arrangements, but he preserved those gorgeous Gershwin melodies and gave a feel of the passion and tragedy of the story. His recording was justly successful in the charts. 1956's The Most Happy Fella was a more contemporary work, Loesser's sung-through operetta of a musical that took three discs to contain the original cast recording. Faith picked and chose his way through the score, keeping the big songs like "Standing on the Corner," "Joey, Joey, Joey," and "Big D." He brought out the varying colors of the music well, veering from marching-band style to lush ballad arrangements, which gave a sense of the diversity of Loesser's music. Taken together, the two albums present some vibrant instrumental music, both in the familiar tunes and in the more obscure ones that get treatment just as meticulous. ~ William Ruhlmann
Based on 
