André Previn was, at sixteen, already a piano prodigy. Born in Berlin in 1929, he moved to Los Angeles with his family at the end of 1938. He came to jazz from traditional music, but never turned his back on his origins, maintaining a vigorous discipline in both musical fields, and brilliantly diverse in his musical talents.
Since he first walked through the gates of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1945 as a music department employee at the age of 17, André Previn, kept one foot firmly planted in the two worlds of which he was a citizen the Hollywood celluloid cosmos that earned him security, prestige and Academy Award recognition through his work as an M-G-M music director, and the jazz scene, in which he found leave-of-absence enjoyment with a combo in a club. His jazz style was out of King Cole, with touches of Art Tatum.
On these recordings, made in 1955 and 1956 with some close friends, he displayed all his personal qualities, ease and technical skill over a variety of moods and tempos, in an atmosphere of relaxation. Its subtle - and the Touch is unmistakeably Previn.
Tracklist
Total time: 78:00 min.
01. Let's Get Away From It All (Dennis-Adair) 2:42
02. Moonlight In Vermont (Blackburn-Suessdorf) 3:19
03. It Happened In Sun Valley (Warren-Gordon) 3:07
04. Serenade to Sweden (Duke Ellington) 3:15
05. Island In The West Indies (Duke-Gershwin) 3:26
06. Flying Down To Rio (Youmans-Kahn-Eliscu) 2:31
07. Honolulu (Warren-Kahn) 2:50
08. How Are Things in Glocca Morra? (Lane-Harburg) 3:44
09. On A Slow Boat To China (Frank Loesser) 3:20
10. London In July (Duke-Cahn) 3:25
11. San Francisco (Kaper-Kahn-Jurmann) 2:57
12. Sidewalks Of Cuba (Oakland-Parish-Mills) 2:24
13. Reprise: Let's Get Away From It All (Dennis-Adair) 2:40
14. Moonlight Becomes You (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:23
15. It's Easy To Remember (Rodgers-Hart) 3:07
16. Invitation (Bronislau Kaper) 3:45
17. Let's Fall In Love (Arlen-Koehler) 2:53
18. I Fall In Love Too Easily (Styne-Cahn) 3:04
19. Too Late Now (Laner-Lerner) 3:29
20. Laura (Raskin-Mercer) 4:09
21. You Are Too Beautiful (Rodgers-Hart) 3:18
22. It Could Happen To You (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:01
23. When You Wish Upon A Star (Harline-Washington) 2:04
24. My Foolish Heart (Young-Washington) 2:10
25. But Beautiful (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:13
Album details
Sources:
Tracks #1-13, from the album "Let's Get Away from It All!" (Decca DL 8131)
Tracks #14-25, from the album "Hollywood At Midnight" (Decca DL 8341)
Personnel on "Let's Get Away from It All!":
Andre Previn (piano), Al Hendrickson (guitar), Red Mitchell (bass), Irv Cottler (drums).
Recorded in Hollywood, April 11 (#1,3,8,9,13), 13 (#5,6,10,11) and 18 (#2,4,7,12), 1955
Personnel on "Hollywood At Midnight":
Andre Previn (piano), Al Hendrickson (guitar), Carson Smith (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).
Recorded in Hollywood, March 28 (#16,17,18,19,22,25), and 30 (#14,15,20,21,23,24), 1956
Orginal recordings produced by Milt Gabler
This compilation produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Blue Moon Producciones Discograficas S.L.Press reviews
"I don't see why its such a crime to make records that will appeal to people other than jazz fans."
–Andre Previn
