America the Beautiful, billed by its composer as “America’s first protest symphony,” is certainly Gary McFarland’s magnum opus. But it is not the McFarland album most people remember nearly some six decades later. That honor probably belongs to either the Stan Getz and Bill Evans albums he waxed for the jazz diehards or Soft Samba…
Lalo Schifrin – “The Venetian Affair” (1967)
It’s hard to fathom, but in 1966 alone Lalo Schifrin (1932-2025) composed the music for at least five theatrical films, including “Murderers Row” (which yielded a soundtrack album at the time), two TV movies, four TV documentaries, and four TV series, including “T.H.E. Cat” and, most memorably, “Mission: Impossible.” He also recorded the masterful Marquis…
Gary McFarland/Peter Smith – “Butterscotch Rum” (1971)
For better or worse, Butterscotch Rum is unlike any other album in the entire discography of composer, arranger, producer, vibraphonist, keyboardist and vocalist Gary McFarland (1933-71). Was this a one-off, a way forward, or something else? We’ll never know. The disc is also the last record issued under McFarland’s name, although, in his remaining months,…
Gary McFarland & Co. – “Does The Sun Really Shine on the Moon?” (1968)
Depending on how you count, Does the Sun Really Shine on the Moon? is the first of either three or five discs composer, arranger, vibraphonist and vocalist Gary McFarland (1933-71) recorded for the Skye Recordings label he co-owned with friends and fellow performers vibraphonist Cal Tjader and guitarist Gabor Szabo. The three records include this…
Armando Peraza – “Wild Thing” (1968)
Wild Thing (1968) is the only disc Cuban percussionist Armando Peraza (1924-2014) released under his own name during his lifetime. It is also the fifth disc released on the short-lived Skye Recordings, the label founded earlier that year by musicians Gary McFarland, Cal Tjader and Gabor Szabo. If it did nothing other than offer a…
John Lewis/Gary McFarland – “Essence” (1964)
Like fellow Modern Jazz Quartet member Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis (1920-2001) recorded prolifically outside of the revered jazz group on various solo projects. Unlike Jackson, whose solo records tended toward more swing and bluesy-ness than the MJQ, however, Lewis’ solo endeavors often swung toward film and ballet scores and outré or altogether non-jazz efforts.…