Personnel:
Larry Elgart (as, dir), John Murtaugh, Lewis Gluckin (arr)
Reference: BMCD 896
Bar code: 8427328008969
· Collector's Edition
· Issued in Digipack
· 2 Original LPs on 1 CD
· Original Cover Art and Liner Notes
· Stereo Recordings
· Newly Remastered in 24-Bit· Collector's Edition
To record these albums Larry Elgart assembled his famous 18-men orchestra to deliver the most realistic session. With 21 Channels at his disposal, the engineer achieved tremendous flexibility and exciting instrumental presence. The physical seating arrangement of the musicians was worked out very carefully so as to keep all sections of the orchestra in close contact with each other. This all added up to Elgart's idea of Music in Motion. The over-all impression, when listening to the results, is one of exceptional clarity regardless of the arranger’s complex instrumentation. The arrangements, by the way, were specifically created by John Murtaugh and Lewis Gluckin to further demonstrate the new 21 Channel Sound. It’s All Music! Faithfully recorded to re-create, on record, the famous—and natural—Larry Elgart bandstand sound!
"It’s possible to argue that this double album delivers a double dose of nostalgia although you’d need to be an octogenarian to extract the last penny of interest from your memory bank and recall that brief period when stereo separation was the recording companies’ new train set and the market was flooded with albums featuring ping-pong locomotives moving across the grooves and liner notes explaining that the brass was on the right, the reeds on the left and the voice in the centre.
Larry Elgart was with MGM from 1960-1962 and in the latter year he recorded Music In Motion and Music In Motion 2 which have now been reissued on one CD.
If you file your albums under bandleaders you may find yourself on the horns (sorry about that) of a dilemma as all of the 24 tracks are a blend of the signature “swing” of Billy May produced by the supplemental instrumentation of Sauter-Finnegan as arranged by John Murtaugh and Lewis Gluckin. The notes on the sleeve and 11-page booklet concentrate heavily on the 21-channel sound – referring to the “18-men orchestra” whilst featuring 22 instruments in an illustration of “balancing” - which more or less leaves the music to speak for itself. And it does so does eloquently. The sore thumb spot is shared by the likes of Time After Time, Spring Is Here, Like Someone In Love, When Your Lover Has Gone, The Touch Of Your Lips, In A Sentimental Mood and My Funny Valentine, none of which lend themselves readily to “swing” yet actually work as well as the more obvious Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries."
Leon Nock
Jazz Journal (February, 2017)
