The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits from the Hot 100 1958-1966

by N/A

Overview

Though the decade roughly spanning the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s is rightly remembered as the time when rock & roll asserted itself as the most popular music in the United States, pop charts and pop radio still accommodated plenty of non-rock singles. This volume of Ace's long-running stellar Golden Age of American Popular Music series focuses entirely on jazz 45s that managed to make the charts between 1957 and 1966, sometimes in a very big way. Even casual listeners to oldies radio will recognize the biggest smashes here, including Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto's "The Girl from Ipanema," Ramsey Lewis' "The 'In' Crowd," Cannonball Adderley's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," Vince Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," and Cozy Cole's "Topsy II." What's great about this 28-track compilation, however, is that it also has quite a few songs that haven't been played a lot since their heyday, but have a similarly enduring combination of jazz with varying elements of pop, R&B, soul, bossa nova, and Latin music. There's Herbie Hancock's original version of "Watermelon Man"; Mongo Santamaria's instrumental "Yeh, Yeh!," later made into a vocal hit by Georgie Fame; Mel Torme's anguished classic "Comin' Home Baby"; Jimmy Smith's cinematic "Walk on the Wild Side"; the Young-Holt Trio's exuberant soul-jazz novelty "Wack Wack"; Eddie Harris' interpretation of the film theme "Exodus"; Jimmy McGriff's explosive instrumental cover of Ray Charles' "I've Got a Woman"; Richard "Groove" Holmes' bopping cover of the overdone "Misty"; and even Nelson Riddle's "Route 66 Theme." The overriding common element is a catchy melody or riff, without compromising the straight jazz skills of the players. While some serious jazz buffs might scorn this set as sellout commercial fodder, in fact it's an exemplary anthology of the most accessible jazz of its era, and of jazz that crackled with pop appeal without losing its sense of swing or cool. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	07/15/2008
Label:	Ace
UPC:	0029667032520
Rank:	78742

Tracks

1. Watermelon Man  - Herbie Hancock
2. Yeh, Yeh!  - Mongo Santamaria
3. Comin' Home Baby  - Mel Torme
4. Desafinado  - Stan Getz
5. Soul Sauce (Guarachi Guaro)  - Cal Tjader
6. Like Young  - Andre Previn
7. Walk On The Wild Side Parts 1 & 2  - Jimmy Smith
8. Take Five  - Dave Brubeck
9. The Sidewinder Part 1  - Lee Morgan
10. The Swingin' Shepherd Blues  - Moe Koffman
11. The "In" Crowd  - Ramsey Lewis
12. Cast Your Fate To The Wind  - Vince Guaraldi
13. African Waltz  - John Dankworth
14. The Girl from Ipanema  - Stan Getz  - Astrud Gilberto  - Joao Gilberto
15. Misty  - Richard "Groove" Holmes
16. Shake A Lady  - Ray Bryant
17. Exodus  - Eddie Harris
18. Wack Wack  -  Young Holt Trio
19. The Shampoo  - Les McCann
20. The Greasy Spoon  - Hank Marr
21. The Loop  - Johnny Lytle
22. I've Got A Woman  - Jimmy McGriff
23. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Live/Single Version)  - Cannonball Adderley
24. A Taste Of Honey  - Victor Feldman
25. Dawn  - David Rockingham
26. El Watusi  - Ray Barretto
27. Topsy II  - Cozy Cole
28. "Route 66" Theme  - Nelson Riddle

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Victor Feldman   Primary Artist
Jimmy Smith & The Big Band   Primary Artist
David Rockingham   Primary Artist
David Rockingham Trio   Primary Artist
Victor Feldman Quartet   Primary Artist
Ray Barretto y Su Orquesta   Primary Artist
David Rose   Primary Artist
Vince Guaraldi   Primary Artist
Charlie Byrd   Primary Artist
Vince Guaraldi Trio   Primary Artist
Lee Morgan   Primary Artist
Johnny Lytle   Primary Artist
Les McCann   Primary Artist
Nelson Riddle   Primary Artist
Ramsey Lewis   Primary Artist
Ray Barretto   Primary Artist
Mel Torme   Primary Artist
Cannonball Adderley   Primary Artist
Moe Koffman   Primary Artist
Young-Holt Trio   Primary Artist
Mongo Santamaria   Primary Artist
Cal Tjader   Primary Artist
Hank Marr   Primary Artist
Stan Getz   Primary Artist
Jimmy Smith   Primary Artist
Joao Gilberto   Primary Artist
Richard "Groove" Holmes   Primary Artist
Ramsey Lewis Trio   Primary Artist
Ray Bryant   Primary Artist
Astrud Gilberto   Primary Artist
Herbie Hancock   Primary Artist
Dave Brubeck   Primary Artist
Andre Previn   Primary Artist
John Dankworth   Primary Artist
Jimmy McGriff   Primary Artist
Cozy Cole   Primary Artist
The Dave Brubeck Quartet   Primary Artist
Eddie Harris   Primary Artist
Moe Koffman Quartet   Primary Artist
Johnny Dankworth   Primary Artist