On the Town [Original recording remastered]

On the Town [Original recording remastered]

ASIN: B000058A1A

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
On the Town captures the Oscar Peterson trio at its zenith, with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis joining the pianist on this 1958 live recording from Toronto's Town Tavern. The three had been together for five years, and Ellis's imminent departure would lead Peterson to redefine the group in more conventional terms, with drums in place of guitar. As this recording demonstrates, the group had achieved a stunning level of cohesion. The three had a collective knack for finding different approaches within a single tune, and Ellis and Brown worked in tandem to support and prod Peterson's explosive flights. On up-tempos such as the opening "Sweet Georgia Brown" and Dizzy Gillespie's "The Champ," the effect is extraordinary, with Peterson generating solos of astonishing momentum and multidimensional complexity. Ellis's solos are a distinct pleasure in themselves. He adds an expressive twang to tunes like "Easy Listenin' Blues," and his more direct, lyrical playing presents an effective contrast to Peterson's knottier style. This Verve Master Edition adds five previously unreleased tracks to the original LP, material originally slated for a second LP. It stretches the CD to a generous 77 minutes and includes a superb medium-tempo version of Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring" that's highlighted by Peterson's restrained single-note lines. The improved audio of the 24-bit remastering, however, is a mixed blessing. While the instruments gain new luster, the bar chatter does, too, reaching distracting levels on some of the ballads and bass solos. --Stuart Broomer

Tracks:

Wizard of OzSelection (Arthur Pryor's Band)
The Bullfrog and the Coon (Ada Jones)
Pocahontas (Edward M. Favor)
Daisy Donohue (Harry Tally)
Down on the Brandywine (Collins & Harlan)
Come Take a Skate with Me Sung (Collins & Harlan)
I Love You All the Time (Harry Macdonough)
The Moon Has His Eyes on You (Ada Jones)
When You Love, Love, Love (Thomas E. Whitbred)
When We Get Whats a-Comin to Us
Mister Dooley Sung (Edward M. Favor)
Julie Dooley (J. W. Myers)
Meet Me Down at the Corner (Jones & Spencer)
Budweisers a Friend of Mine (Billy Murray)
Theres a Lot of Things You Never Learn at School (Bob Roberts)
Under a Panama (Billy Murray)
Good Bye Fedora (Collins & Harlan)
Sitting Bull (Collins & Harlan)
I Love Only One Girl in this Wide Wide World (Harry Macdonough)
Sammy (Harry Macdonough)
The Tale of a Stroll (Morgan & Stanley)
Cant You See Im Lonely? (Ada Jones)
Are You Sincere? (Byron G. Harlan)
Hurrah for Baffins Bay (Collins & Harlan)
Football (Dan W. Quinn)
Id Like to Go Halves in That (Burt Shepard)
Rejoice!The Wizard is No Longer King
The Traveler and the Pie
Must You? (Dan W. Quinn)
Thats Where She Sits All Day (Dan W. Quinn)
The Sweetest Girl in Dixie (Henry Burr)
Scarecrow Laugh (Fred Stone)

Tracks:

Sammy Mira (Music Box Disc)
Must You? (Mira Music Box Disc)
Opening Prayer
Phantom Patrol
Just a Simple Girl from the Prairie
Poppy Song
Love is Love
When We Get What's A-Comin' to Us
The Traveler and the Pie
When You Love, Love, Love
Rejoice! The Wizard is No Longer King
Phantom Patrol (Aeolian Piano Roll)
My Little Maid of Oz Aeolian Piano Roll
The Tik-Tok Man of OzSelection (Rythmodik Piano Roll)
The Tik-Tok Man of OzSelection (Piano Roll)
Ask the Flowers to Tell You (Macdonough & Dunlap)
My Beautiful Dream Girl (John Barnes Wells)
My Pretty Little Piece of Dresden China (Bessie Wynn)
Gay Paree (Montgomery & Stone)
Travel Travel Little Star (Montgomery & Stone)
A Scotch Moriah (Montgomery & Stone)
Hurrah for Baffins Bay (Dan W. Quinn)
Daisy Donohue (Trombone Solo by Arthur Pryor)
Mr. DooleyMedley (Xylophone Solo J. Frank Hopkins)
Down on the BrandywineMedley (Edison Military Band)
The Bullfrog and the CoonMedley (Six Brown Brothers)
Ill Take You Back to Italy (Ada Jones & Billy Murray)
Father Goose Songs (Sallie Osbourne)

Album Description

The Wizard of Oz a musical with book and lyrics by L. Frank Baum and music by Paul Tietjens premiered on June 16, 1902, at the Grand Opera House in Chicago. It was an instant hit and made stars of David Montgomery (the Tin Woodman) and Fred Stone (the Scarecrow). On January 21, 1903 the show opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York. It ran for nine months and set out on the road with a second company right on its heels. The show toured, came back to New York, toured, and returned to New York again many times until finally disbanding around 1911. Stock and amateur companies continued to present it into the 1930s when it was overshadowed by the classic MGM film starring Judy Garland.

The show was legendary for its success and its impact on American culture. It was the Cats or Les Mis of the early 1900s--but the show has been swallowed by history. What made audiences of the early 1900s devour the show and return for more again and again? In this unprecedented 2-CD set—featuring over 145 minutes of vintage recordings and 64 pages of lyrics, photos, notes and synopsis—you can discover how The Wizard of Oz entertained the American public for the first two decades of the 20th century. And like the audiences of nearly a hundred years ago, you can hum along to "Budweiser," "Sammy," and "Hurrah for Baffin's Bay"—everyone's favorite songs from The Wizard of Oz! Also included in this comprehensive collection are recordings from later Oz musicals, The Woggle-Bug and The Tik-Tok Man of Oz written by Oz creator L. Frank Baum, as well as vintage non-Oz recordings by original "Wizard of Oz stars" Montgomery & Stone and Bessie Wynn

Customer Reviews:

A Collection of the Original Oz Stage Productions.......2006-12-07

This Double-Disk Collection contains music from the original and varied Oz Stage Productions: "the Wizard of Oz", "the Woggle-Bug" (based on 'Marvelous Land of Oz) and "the Tik-Tok Man of Oz" (based on 'Ozma of Oz'). There are plenty of "Wizard" songs and music, but there isn't a lot of "Woggle-Bug" and/or "Tik-Tok Man".
I often wondered how different the 1st & Original Production of 'Oz Wizard' was different to the book, and thanks to Mark Evan Schwartz's book "Oz: Before the Rainbow" I found out for myself (WORTH A READ!!). Later I got this CD to go along with the book's stage telling (more or less) and I listened in interest to the songs which, I read, were entirely different to the future Musicals of Oz. The songs are good, but not all of them are actually completely restored to perfection, so the singing may/will sound somewhat muffled. Also, due to the time it was made (for some reason), the songs don't actually fit into the story (even the stage's rewritten story) and sound distant/unrelated. But there are songs that sound similar to the original story ("Rejoice! The Wizard is No Longer King"). CD 2's Track 3 has music played during Silent Oz Film "His Majesty, Scarecrow" on the MGM 3-Disk DVD.
The best thing about this CD Collection is the two booklets packaged along with the disks: the first (entitled "The Records") has writing on "What the Wizard Was" with a synopsis of the stage production story and "About the Recordings", a listing of all the songs on CD 1 (which are helpful for "Selection" Tracks not specifically named on the back) and notes on the songs like their origins and background. Booklet 2 (entitled "The Lyrics") has the words to the songs (in case you can't make out the words/want to sing-along). BOTH CDs include b&w photos of the actors, performance (few of which can be seen in "Oz: Before the Rainbow" book) and even reprints of a few illustrations made for the stage. The pictures are the best part of this purchase.
The Entirely Different Songs may not fit with the story, original or rewritten, but there's nothing really wrong with the music when one enjoys to what they're listening to.
I know that there is also another 'Oz on Stage' CD Collection called "Before the Rainbow" . . . hmmm, I wonder if I should get that too?

Ain't it a Shame!.......2006-05-20

I think that this is a wonderful album of HISTORICAL value. Not too many people know this, but "the wizard of oz" was made into a smash hit in 1903, but because all the history was BARELY in obscurity, hungry tiger press wanted to educate the blockheads in the world about this remarkable piece of history. that being said, david maxine collected all of the old material, such as Piano rolls (my especial favorite of all of them is "the poppy song", i LOVE the bass notes: "nnn-ded-deh mmmm-ded-deh"), and music boxes, and cylinders, and records!
however, it is quite a shame that that CRAPPY movie with judy garland pushed this lovely musical into obscurity. i would have liked to see it in my day, but it was already lost in darkness, but thanks to the highly DIGNIFIED people in the world, this cd is available!! BUY IT!!!! I *ORDER* YOU!!! YOU CANNOT BE DIGNIFIED WITHOUT THIS REPLACING YOUR "RAP" GARBAGE WITH THIS JEWEL!!!!

Why the 1903 "Wizard" was forgotten.......2004-03-20

This truly remarkable 2-disc collection of old cylinders, discs, music boxes and piano rolls explains why the 1903 musical version of "The Wizard of Oz" did not survive the early thirties. It wasn't because it was before its time or even of its time, but simply because it was way behind the times. Its producers resisted composer's Paul Tietjens' attempts to write plot-driven numbers. His contribution survives only in the incidental music preserved on piano rolls (and the most interesting element on this collection) linking very disparate and even incongruous vaudeville acts by various authors and performers that graced the stage during the musical's multi-decade run. In other words, Baum was telling a story and the songs were telling another... As fascinating as they are for historical reasons, those numbers are commonplace, mostly uninspired flash-in-the-tin-pan ditties, with timid syncopation and a stong reliance on musical clichés. There is not a single standard among them and not even a decent lyric where "fine" doesn't rhyme with "mine" and "love you" doesn't rhyme with "I do"- or even "I know you know I know you do", as happens more than once. As an assemblage of shtick pieces and ephemeral sentimental or nonsensical ditties, this collection cannot be topped and it represents a monumental effort. Without it and its very generous and informative liner notes, I would not have the same appreciation for the absolute genius of Victor Herbert's operettas ("Babes in Toyland" came out the same year) where the more memorable songs are plot-driven and introduced and linked by the most luscious, inventive and varied incidental music ever heard outside an opera house. This sort of unified concept would culminate in Jerome Kern's "Show Boat" and it remains a truth today that the integration of plot and music - reminiscent of opera - is the true secret of successful and perennial musicals, whatever the current idiom. This collection also makes one appreciate the complete originality of the Hollywood film for actually going back to Baum's books, entrusting the songs, lyrics and music to Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg and Herbert Stothart and scrapping the musical's colourful but checkered history (except for casting ex-vaudevillians as the main characters, of course!). Highly recommended for its nostalgia value, its irreplaceable rarities and a better understanding of the history of American popular music.

A long overdue revisit to a classic American musical.......2003-09-30

Although it was one of the most financially successful stage musicals of the early 1900's, very little information is presently available on the 1903 production of THE WIZARD OF OZ. In what was obviously a labor of love, David Maxine has done much to correct this oversight by releasing a 2-CD set with over 145 minutes worth of extremely rare recordings of music from this and other OZ-themed musicals dating back to before World War I. Recorded materials include vintage acoustical disc and cylinder phonograph records, piano rolls, and music box discs, many of which go back almost a century. In addition, he has included two booklets worth of historical background information on the 1903 WIZARD OF OZ production, its stars, the individual musical numbers, and lyrics for the songs included on the CDs. (Lavishly illustrated with rare old black and white photos and artwork, these booklets, and the information they contain, are themselves worth the price of the set!) Several bonus CD tracks are included that offer rare recordings by Montgomery & Stone (the original Tin Woodsman and Scarecrow) and Bessie Wynn, who was also in the 1903 cast. Not just for dedicated Oz fans, this set is a "must have" for anyone interested in the history of American musical theater and American popular culture of the early 1900's.

Long-Forgotten Broadway Hit Gets First Rate Revival.......2003-09-17

One hundred and three years ago, author L. Frank Baum published the best-selling children's book of the 20th century, THE WIZARD OF OZ. Although the book was adapted several times as plays, silent motion pictures, animated cartoons, and radio shows in the next few decades, it is the 1939 MGM film that most people think of as THE WIZARD OF OZ. The success and popularity of that film completely eclipsed the memories of previous incarnations and even the book itself in popular culture. However, prior to the film's release, there was a successful stage version which premiered on Broadway in 1903 and delighted audiences for many years, making stars of Fred Stone and David Montgomery, the original Scarecrow and Tinman. As with the MGM film, chilren who saw THE WIZARD OF OZ on stage carried fond memories of the production into adulthood. Ray Bolger was so impressed with the Fred Stone's Scarecrow, that he remembered it vividly as an adult and based his own protrayal of the character in the movie on Mr. Stone's stage version.

Unfortunately, time and Judy Garland have pushed the once popular Broadway Smash into history. It has been all but forgotten...until now.

As the show moved from theater to theater and casts changed, so did the songs. Many of these were recorded on the primative equipment of the day: Wax cylinders, 78-RPM records, piano rolls, and music Boxes, and surprisingly many of these still exist. Now, thanks to those hard-working gents at HUNGRY TIGER PRESS, you can own these historic recordings on this awesome 2-CD set. THE WIZARD OF OZ: Vintage Recordings From The 1903 Broadway Musical contains over 145 minutes of terrific early 20th century music. You won't find "Over the Rainbow" or "Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead!" here. Instead, this WIZARD OF OZ contains tracks like "Budweiser's a Friend of Mine", "Sammy", "Hurrah for Baffin's Bay", and "Rejoice! The Wizard is No Longer King", each one a portal over the rainbow to the Broadway stage of a century ago.

Tracks:

The Circus Is Coming to Town
Araby
I've Got a Sweet Tooth Bothering Me
Until I Fell in Love With You
Cohen Owes Me Ninety Seven Dollars
When I Leave The World Behind
Down Where The Jack O'Lanterns Grow
Polly Pretty Polly (Polly With A Past)
The Eyes Of Youth See The Truth
The Sterling Silver Moon
While The Band Played An American Rag
The Voice Of Belgium
The Devil Has Bought Up All The Coal
They Were All Out Of Step But Jim
Smile And Show Your Dimple
Dream On Little Soldier Boy
When I Get Back To The U.S.A.
I'm Gonna Pin My Medal On The Girl I Left Behind
Yip-Yip-Yaphank Medley: Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning/Kitchen Police (Poor Little Me)...
We're On Our Way To France

Customer Reviews:

Great for home and classroom.......1999-03-21

No other composer so closely kept his fingers on the pulse of American thinking and gave the country so much of what it thought it wanted. "Yiddle on Your Fiddle" tells us more of the second-generation immigrants' desire to become Americanized than all the history and sociology books can ever do. So it is a double pleasure to announce the appearance of "Come on and Hear!: Early Songs by Irving Berlin, 1909-1915" and "Keep on Smiling: Songs by Irving Berlin, 1915-1918," two fantastic CDs or tapes on Oaktown label and released through a friendly little Connecticut company calling itself Original Cast Records. Between the two sets, you have 41 tracks of the Berlin output from "Everybody's Doing It Now" to "We're on Our Way to France." The soloist is Benjamin Sears, who with pianist Bradford Conner has something of a reputation around the Boston area. Now some of this material is duplicated by the more widely known Joan Morrison on two RCA Victor releases, possibly out of print by now; and like those discs could use another voice now and then. (Conner does join in where a duet is called for, but my point remains.) Sears is a capable if not an outstanding baritone, who does justice to these historic expressions of Americana. So not only do I recommend both of these sets for their enjoyment value, but I wish to continue to point out to Social Studies teachers how valuable sets like this would be to classes who have no concept of how people really felt (as opposed to what they merely said and did) "way back when." And I might even stick out my neck so far as to offer to come to any school (in reasonable distance of where I live) to give a sample lesson on how these sets can be used.