Jordi Pujol's Fresh Sound label continues its nifty "Rare & Collectible Albums by Unsung Bandleaders" series by releasing killer recordings by George Romanis and Rey DeMichel. I last wrote about this terrific lost bandleader collection in May, when I posted on Sam Trippe's Explosion! album for the Sheen label that was released just after Trippe's fatal car crash in Los Angeles in late 1959 (go here).
Never heard of Romanis (above) or DeMichel? You're not alone. Both were big-band sidemen and arrangers who worked behind the scenes for bigger-name artists in the 1940s and in the movie and television studios of the 1950s and beyond. Interestingly, both arrangers recorded just two albums each as leaders of big bands at the dawn of 12-inch stereophonic sound. Back in the late 1950s, stereo was just catching on and labels were hungry to hire leaders and arrangers who could fully exploit the new format's wide, dimensional sonics.
Romanis was based largely in New York and DeMichel (above) in Los Angeles. The Romanis albums are Modern Sketches in Jazz for Coral and Double Explosure!!! for Decca. The DeMichel pair are Cookin' With Rey and For Bloozers Only, both on the Challenge label. Both two-fer sets are tight, powerhouse albums.
In the case of Romanis's Modern Sketches (1959), the band featured Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen and Joe Ferrante (tp); Eddie Bert and Urbie Green (tb); Don Butterfield (tu); Al Cohn (ts); Jerome Richardson (ts,fl); Barry Galbraith (g); George Duvivier (b); Mousie Alexander (d); and Joe Venuto (perc), with Romanis conducting.
On his Double Explosure! (1961), the knockout band consisted of Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen, Clark Terry, Nick Travis, Jimmy Maxwell and Jimmy Nottingham (tp); Urbie Green, John Messner, Wayne Andre and Frank Rehak (tb); Paul Faulise (b-tb); Don Butterfield (tu); Tommy Newsom (fl,pic); Eddie Costa (vib); Barry Galbraith (el-g); Chuck Wayne (g); George Duvivier (b); and Mousie Alexander and Bunny Shawker (d,perc), with Romanis conducting.
On the West Coast, DeMichel's Cookin' With Rey (1959) was arranged by John DeFoor and featured Marvin Brown, Irv Bush and Ollie Mitchell (tp); Dave Wells (tp,b-tb); Ed Freudenberg (tb); Lanny Morgan (as); Jay Corre and Jack Kernan (ts); Dave Madden (bar); Dick Grove (p); Buddy Matlock (g); Jack Smalley (b); and Roy Roten (d); with DeMichel conducting.
And his For Bloozers Only (1959), arranged by Kenny Farrar and John DeFoor, included Marvin Brown, John Anderson and John Audino (tp); Dave Wells and Ed Freudenberg (tb); Lanny Morgan (as); Teddy Edwards (ts); Modesto Briseno (ts,bar); Ted Parker (bar); Joyce Collins (p); Buddy Matlock (g); Jack Smalley (b); and Roy Roten (d) with DeMichel conducting.
All four albums sound like a professional boxer working out on a heavy bag. The blows are loud, hard and firm. You can feel each explosive rhythmic shot. All four albums are flawless and there isn't a dud arrangement among them. The musicians on the dates were all crack studio players. Plus, the album's tracks sing, swing and sting. I hesitate to call them dance-band albums, since such a term comes with the stigma of commercial intent and proms. These are simply great big band albums with swell barely-known leaders at the peak of the stereophonic big-band era. Let's put it this way, my left hand is sore from snapping absentmindedly to the beat.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the George Romanis set here and the Rey DeMichel set here.
Joyfully, both two-fers are available at Spotify!
JazzWax clips: Here's I Can't Get Started from George Romanis's Double Explosure!...
Here's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered from George Romanis's Modern Sketches in Jazz...
Here's Meet the Rey from Rey DeMichel's Cookin' With Rey...
And here's Kingfish (not Bill Holman's) from Rey DeMichel's For Bloozers Only...
