When the experienced bandleader and trumpet player, Dan Terry (1924-2011), settled in Los Angeles in spring 1952, he organized a 16-piece band, hired some of the finest West Coast players and used one of the scene’s best new arrangers in Marty Paich. He won a successful residency at the Hollywood Club Oasis and a couple of singles for a small Pasadena label followed, but it proved difficult to keep the band together financially, and they disbanded.
Undaunted, Terry assembled a swing band in 1953, working with a more commercially slanted book than Paich’s original, largely written by Gene Roland. The band achieved a compact rather than a blasting sound on the up-tempos, and played slow dance tempos with imagination and variations in color. The richly-textured band’s emphasis was on a full ensemble sound. “It’s the swinginest band” said Terry. “Even the ballads swing. It has the excitement, I think, that characterized the great band period.”
In the following years, Dan Terry continued up to early Nineties —always with the same enthusiasm— heading ambitious big band projects. And, though not all made a lasting mark, his ability to attract the finest players was a tribute to the regard in which he was held. He remains one of the most underrated bandleaders of the post Big Band Era.
Tracklist
Total time: 75:41 min.
01. Wail-Tail (Marty Paich) 2:54
02. Autumn in New York (Vernon Duke) 3:11
03. Terry Cloth (Marty Paich) 2:45
04. Free Again (McLaughlin-Olsen-Johnson) 3:12
05. Terry’s Tune (Gene Roland) 1:42
06. Denim Blues (Gene Roland) 3:04
07. Sloppy Joe (Gene Roland) 1:50
08. Saddle Shoe Shuffle (Gene Roland) 1:47
09. Jelly Bean (Terry-Roland) 2:32
10. Seventeen (Gene Roland) 3:03
11. Goofin’ Blues (Gene Roland) 2:40
12. Lazy Alley (Gene Roland) 2:35
13. Organ Grinder’s Swing (Parish-Mills-Hudsen) 2:58
14. White Buck Special (Gene Roland) 1:44
15. Totem Pole (Gene Roland) 2:35
16. Levi Leap (Gene Roland) 2:20
17. Southern Fried (Jordan-Ross-Leonard-Culliver) 2:42
18. Teen Ager (Gene Roland) 2:35
19. Coca Cola Rock (Roland-Martell-Roland) 2:09
20. Bull Fiddle Walk (Gene Roland) 2:34
21. Good Feeling Blues (Goodman-Hampton) 3:19
22. It’s a Wonderful World (Adamson-Savitt-Watson) 3:17
23. Trailways Five Star (Ernie Wilkins) 2:59
24. Catalina Crawl (Ernie Wilkins) 3:32
25. Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) 3:34
26. Metronome Charge (Ernie Wilkins) 1:50
27. Jazzinova (Gene Roland) 2:36
28. Eclipse (Gene Roland) 3:09
Album details
Sources:
Tracks #1 & 2, from Vita 1008
Tracks #3 & 4, from Vita 1007
Tracks #5-11 & 18, from the Columbia 10” album
"Teen-Age Dance Session" (CL 6288)
Tracks #12-16, from the Harmony 12” album
"Teen-Age Dance Party" (HL-7002)
Track #17, from the Columbia single CL40212
Tracks #19 & 20, from the Devere single D-317
Tracks #21-26, from the 12” album "Good Feeling Blues" (Cinema 1001)
Tracks #27 & 28, from a Metronome 7” promotional EP
Personnel on #1-4:
Dan Terry and His Orchestra —Arrangements by Marty Paich
Dan Terry, leader and trumpet; Pete Candoli, Bobby Clark, Ollie Mitchell, Carlton McBeath, trumpets; Jimmy Priddy, John Halliburton, Lloyd Ulyate, Fred Lewis, trombones; Clint Neagley, Herb Steed, alto saxes; Bob Enevoldsen, tenor sax and valve trombone; Tino Isgrow, tenor sax; Bob Lawson, baritone sax; Fred Otis, piano; Lloyd Lunham, bass; Shelly Manne, drums; Beverly Moran, vocal (#4).
Recorded at Radio Recorders Studios, Hollywood, Ca, June 19, 1952
Personnel on #5-18:
Dan Terry and His Orchestra —Arrangements by Gene Roland
Dan Terry, leader and trumpet; Conrad Gozzo, John Anderson, Vito Mangano, Ray Linn, Tom Reeves, trumpets; Milt Bernhart, Herbie Harper, Jimmy Knepper, Jimmy Priddy, trombones; Herb Geller, Bud Shank, alto saxes; Joe Maini, Gil Bernal, tenor saxes; Dave Madden, baritone sax; Fred Otis, piano; Al Hendrickson, guitar; Joe Mondragon, bass; Alvin Stoller, drums; The Terrytones, vocal group.
Recorded at Radio Recorders Studios, Hollywood, February 22-25, 1954
Personnel on #19-20:
Dan Terry & the Band with the HI-FI Sound —Arranger Gene Roland
Dan Terry, conductor & trumpet; Leo Ball, John Frosk, Clyde Reasinger, Gene Roland, trumpets; Billy Byers, Willie Dennis, Jimmy Knepper, Billy VerPlank, trombones; Dick Meldonian, Gene Quill, alto sax; Jim Reider, Fred Greenwall, tenor saxes; Gene Allen, baritone sax; Bob Corwin, piano; Sam Herman, guitar; Bill Takas, bass; Jimmy Campbell, drums; Freddie Martell, singers (#19).
Recorded in New York City, March 1958
Personnel on #21-26:
Dan Terry’s Big Band —Arrangements by Ernie Wilkins
Dan Terry, conductor & trumpet; Clyde Reasinger, Bobby Nichols, Benny Bailey, John Estridge, trumpets; Eph Resnick, Lawrence Boyle, Roy Wiegand Jr., Thomas Main, trombones; Edmund J. Pistey, Aaron Sachs, alto saxes; Max Robinson, Ronnie Jannelli, tenor saxes; Jack Furlong, saxes; Hal Turner, piano; Howie Collins, guitar; Jack Six, bass; Richard Sheridan, drums.
Recorded at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, February 10, 1961
Personnel on #27-28:
Dan Terry and His New Yorkers —Arrangements by Gene Roland
Rolf Ericson, flugelhorn; Eddie Bert, Jimmy Knepper, Willie Dennis, trombones; Dick Meldonian, Jerome Richardson, Budd Johnson, Irv Moscher, soprano saxes; Bobby Donovan, alto sax; Zoot Sims, tenor sax; Gene Allen, baritone sax; Ralph Martin, piano; unknown, bass; Sonny Payne, drums.
Recorded at Columbia Studio, New York City, January 25, 1963
Original recordings produced by Larry Mead (#1-4), Gene Becker (#5-18) and Dan Terry (#19-28)
Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Hi Fi / Mono · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
