Uploaded January 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE CHARTS - 1976
Song that entered the charts : "A Fifth Of Beethoven"
Performed by : Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
HCP = --1-- The instrumental song A Fifth Of Beethoven was a top 20 one hit wonder for Walter Murphy. He had other songs that received minor radio airplay like Theme From E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial). This song was taken from the movie soundtrack "Saturday Night Fever". The piece was based upon Symphony Nbr 5 by Beethoven
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LES ELGART
Les Elgart was an American swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter.
Lester E. (Les) Elgart began playing trumpet as a teenager, and by age 20 had landed professional gigs. In the 1940s he played in bands led by Raymond Scott, Charlie Spivak, and Harry James, and occasionally found himself in bands alongside brother Larry. Together they put together their own Les & Larry Elgart Ensemble in 1945, hiring Nelson Riddle, Ralph Flanagan, and Bill Finegan to do arrangements. The union was short-lived, however, due to the waning of swing jazz's popularity; they split in 1946.
In 1952, the pair reunited and released a substantial number of albums on Columbia Records, many to considerable sales success. Among their better-known tunes is "Bandstand Boogie", which was used by Dick Clark as the theme song for American Bandstand. Later in the 1950s Les moved away from performing to handling the band's business end, and had essentially stopped performing by the end of the decade.
In 1963, the pair reunited, (re-)hiring arrangers like Charles Albertine and Bobby Scott for material that tended more toward the contemporary easy listening sound.
THEY DIDNT BELIEVE ME
"They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.
First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914. The show had originated in Britain, but impresario Charles Frohman had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U.S. run. It became Kern's first major song success.
MHO
I just love the smooth, clean sax sound of the Elgarts and with Charles Albertine taking care of arrangements, heaven suddenly seems "within reach" ;-) The Musical Heaven that is, of course. Stereo (which was still rather "new" when these recordings were made (1960)) is just exquisite here and one doesn,'t have to be a 'specialist' to notice the care, passion and attention that has been given to these recordings, both artistically and technically. "Ear candy in its purest form" I would call this big band music.
Ear candy brought to us by "The Band with That Sound"... And what a sound that is ! Enjoy !
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE CHARTS - 1976
Song that entered the charts : "A Fifth Of Beethoven"
Performed by : Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
HCP = --1-- The instrumental song A Fifth Of Beethoven was a top 20 one hit wonder for Walter Murphy. He had other songs that received minor radio airplay like Theme From E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial). This song was taken from the movie soundtrack "Saturday Night Fever". The piece was based upon Symphony Nbr 5 by Beethoven
.
LES ELGART
Les Elgart was an American swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter.
Lester E. (Les) Elgart began playing trumpet as a teenager, and by age 20 had landed professional gigs. In the 1940s he played in bands led by Raymond Scott, Charlie Spivak, and Harry James, and occasionally found himself in bands alongside brother Larry. Together they put together their own Les & Larry Elgart Ensemble in 1945, hiring Nelson Riddle, Ralph Flanagan, and Bill Finegan to do arrangements. The union was short-lived, however, due to the waning of swing jazz's popularity; they split in 1946.
In 1952, the pair reunited and released a substantial number of albums on Columbia Records, many to considerable sales success. Among their better-known tunes is "Bandstand Boogie", which was used by Dick Clark as the theme song for American Bandstand. Later in the 1950s Les moved away from performing to handling the band's business end, and had essentially stopped performing by the end of the decade.
In 1963, the pair reunited, (re-)hiring arrangers like Charles Albertine and Bobby Scott for material that tended more toward the contemporary easy listening sound.
THEY DIDNT BELIEVE ME
"They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.
First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914. The show had originated in Britain, but impresario Charles Frohman had felt it needed additional material to enliven its U.S. run. It became Kern's first major song success.
MHO
I just love the smooth, clean sax sound of the Elgarts and with Charles Albertine taking care of arrangements, heaven suddenly seems "within reach" ;-) The Musical Heaven that is, of course. Stereo (which was still rather "new" when these recordings were made (1960)) is just exquisite here and one doesn,'t have to be a 'specialist' to notice the care, passion and attention that has been given to these recordings, both artistically and technically. "Ear candy in its purest form" I would call this big band music.
Ear candy brought to us by "The Band with That Sound"... And what a sound that is ! Enjoy !
