Back in June, I posted on a Mundell Lowe album from 1961 that RCA released only on reel-to-reel tape. Tape was in its infancy then for the home market and was likely an extension of the stereo revolution taking place in the late 1950s. The album was After Midnight, featuring "Mundell Lowe with Mood Guitars."
I first learned about the album from Pierre-M. Hellenbrand-Le Conte of the Jazz Discog Corner in Paris. Pierre came across the mystery album while working on Mundy's discography and sent me an email. All we had to go on was an entry in Ed Berger's discography of bassist George Duvivier, who mentioned the session in his gig diary that Berger used as a source. [Photo above of Mundell Lowe]
Intrigued, I began to dig. One email led to the next and I found April Tucker, an audio engineer and superb researcher who is working on an eagerly awaited documentary called Living Sound, on the life and career of Ethel Gabriel, one of the record industry's pioneering female pop producers. Gabriel worked in RCA's contemporary division and oversaw the recording of the label's Living Strings albums. Back in 1955, she produced Perez Prado's huge hit, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White. [Photo above, from left, of Don Wardell, Ethel Gabriel and Alan Dell, co-producers of The Tommy Dorsey/Frank Sinatra Sessions at the 1983 Grammy Awards, courtesy of EthelGabrielDoc.com here]
Recently, April had an opportunity to look up the Mundy tape album at the Sony Archives. Here's what she found:
The Mundell Lowe album was recorded on March 2, 1961. The personnel was...
- Mundell Lowe (leader, guitar)
- George Duvivier (contractor, bass)
- Sol Gubin (drums)
- Eddie Costa (vibes, piano)
- Phil Bodner, Bill Hammond and Walter Levinsky (flutes, clarinets)
- Don Arnone, Barry Galbraith, Allen Hanlon and Remo Palmier (guitars)
- Ray Hall (engineer) and Ethel Gabriel (producer).
Another JazzWax mystery solved! A special thanks to April Tucker and the Sony Archives.
JazzWax clips: Here's Mundy and the Mood Guitars playing Ill Wind...
And here's You Don't Know What Love Is...
