In November 1968, Verve Records released what today may seem like an unusual album but back then was perfectly in sync with the youth-focused times. The LP was called Leonard Feather Presents...The Sound of Feeling and the Sound of Oliver Nelson. The album's first side featured a six-person ensemble called The Sound of Feeling with Oliver Nelson soloing on soprano saxophone. The group consisted of three singers, one of whom played piano with three other members of the rhythm section. The second side featured just the Oliver Nelson big band. [Photo above of the Sound of Feeling, from left, Rhae Andrece, Alyce Andrece and Gary David]
Recorded in 1966 (tracks for Side B) and 1967 (Side A), and produced initially by Creed Taylor and then Jesse Kaye after Creed left for A&M to start CTI, The Sound of Feeling featured a Los Angeles-based vocal trio formed by pianist Gary David that comprised of Gary and identical twins, Alyce and Rhae Andrece.
Gary first met the twins in San Francisco in the early 1960s. They were originally from the Midwest but had moved to Las Vegas where they appeared as showgirls at the Sands Hotel. They were in San Francisco trying to get started as a singing duo when a friendship formed and Gary helped them put together a book of arrangements.
The three of them relocated to Los Angeles in 1964 and began singing as a jazz trio, with Gary on piano, Paul Breslin on bass and Curry Tjader (Cal Tjader's brother) on drums and vibes. Their first gig was at The Losers on La Cienega Blvd., but they were too far out for long runs. Nevertheless, the jobs kept coming, and in 1967 they played Donte's in North Hollywood.
In the audience that night was producer and critic Leonard Feather. He wrote a rave review about their performance and reached out to Gary to ask if the group was up for recording an album for Verve. Nelson had just recorded half an album, heard The Sound of Feeling and agreed to record the other half of the album with them. The group featured the twins with Gary David (p,vcl,marxophone), Ray Neapolitan and Chuck Domanico (b) and Dick Wilson (d).
As Gary writes in his liner notes to The Sound of Feeling: Up Into Silence, which compiles all of the group's recordings released by Britain's Sunbeam Records in 2007:
The band had been playing together for over a year, and though our charts were simple, the moves were not easy. Oliver did not have an easy task. He took my scores, some of them skeletal schemes, and went into a room by himself. After about 45 minutes, he came out and said, "Let's play some music."
The album's release in 1968 led to an invite by George Wein to appear at the Newport Jazz Festival that year, which, in turn, resulted in a Mercury Records contract. The album was called Spleen and came out in 1969. As Gary writes:
I experimented with everything, from original compositions to a theme by Bartok, to Simon and Garfunkel and Donovan... We were treated well at Mercury but there was dissatisfaction with the way the group was being promoted. The beauty of the twins as well as their acting turns on TV's "Star Trek," "Bonanza," "Batman" and other shows naturally led the label to commercial thoughts. We tried a number of tracks along those lines that were never released, for which I'm grateful. [Photo above of the twins with Oliver Nelson]
After the group's release from Mercury, other opportunities emerged with art rock bands, but the group eventually ran aground and broke up in the early 1970s. [Photo above of the twins with Leonard Feather]
The first five vocal tracks with Nelson remain bold and way ahead of their time. Most of all, there's a youthful sophistication about them that was both provocative and fresh. Gary and the Andrece twins weren't jingle singers or commercial vocal harmony swingers. They were innovative artists who could go places most vocalists and groups couldn't. Nelson clearly sensed the trio members were risk-takers and were up for something free and cutting edge. As you'll hear, he invokes John Coltrane's feel on soprano, weaving in and out of the vocalists, who were well up to the task
Interestingly, the Nelson album came out the same year that Verve released the Velvet Underground & Nico. Believe it or not, the Velvets' album sounds more pedestrian and safe. The Sound of Feeling, as you'll hear, was theatrical and avant-garde, eager to push the boundaries and stick to a sound the group felt was artistically significant.
The album's remaining four tracks on the second side feature the Oliver Nelson big band in a straight-ahead, brassy mode, a fascinating contrast coming off of the kaleidoscopic vocals of the Sound of Feeling. Spleen is on the Sunbeam set as well and is equally edgy and alluring. One of my favorite tracks is Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence. Because the song is familiar, you have a fine sense of how interesting the arrangement and approach were here. [Photo above of Oliver Nelson]
Alyce died in 2005; Rhae passed away in 2009. I'll have an interview with Gary in the coming weeks.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Sound of Feeling: Up Into Silence (Sunbeam) here.
You'll find the album with Oliver Nelson here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Waltz Without Words from the Oliver Nelson album...
Here's the full Spleen...
A special thanks to Bill Kirchner. Bill also sent along a Star Trek episode featuring the twins. Here they are as eye candy in the episode I, Mudd (1967), further proof that the series today is unwatchable. But the twins stand out...