|  | The artistry of Ferrante & Teicher: the darlings of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music PIANOS IN PARADISE On Pianos in Paradise Lou Teicher and Art Ferrante develop a concept of sorts, music for the tropics co-designed by the man conducting their orchestra, Nick Perito. Titles like "Taboo," "Shangri La," "The Breeze and I," "Jungle Drums," and "Adventure in Paradise" move the cocktails from out of the lounge and onto the beach. This isn't Roger Williams doing battle with Liberace; these maestros work in unison to blend a unique sound that at times reflects bits of Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack work. "African Echoes" rumbles with sound, a different sort of rumble than what they give to "Ebb Tibe." It's exciting stuff setting the duo apart from the muzak schlock that garage rockers of the day avoided. Read more here: |
| Close to a dozen artists used the title Broadway to Hollywood, but this early disc by the "duo-pianists with orchestra" (a description Columbia Records slapped on the front cover) made the most of the cliche. Four Cole Porter tunes and four selections from Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II make this album -- as advertised in the liner notes -- Ferrante & Teicher without the frills and explorations in sound they became known for. Read more here: |  |
 | LeRoy Holmes produced the piano duo on this installment of United Artists Fabulous Fifties series, recordings which featured artists like Otto Rodriguez crunching 50 Fabulous Latin Favorites onto two sides of a vinyl album, Sir Julian performing 50 Fabulous Organ Favorites, and so forth and so on. This 1964 release is called "a major advancement in the art of recording!" by Bob Rolontz in his liner notes -- "...50 selections, far more than have ever been included on any one LP since the Long Playing record was first introduced 15 years ago" is hyperbole supreme. Read more here: |
 | By Popular Demand (1965) The follow-up to Ferrante & Teicher's The People's Choice disc, By Popular Demand is a very mainstream collection of 12 titles that are predominantly taken from film and Broadway shows. Interestingly enough on this Larry Holmes produced disc, they include the themes from the films Jessica, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Goldfinger, all published by United Artists, the label they were recording for. No Top 40 hits emerged from this brew and the experimentation that made the duo so very special is absent. Read more here: |
| A BOUQUET OF HITS (Compilaton) Skillfully blending Nick Perito's orchestrations with the duo's always clever attack on their respective Baldwin pianos, A Bouquet of Hits strikes a delicate balance that gives a true musical definition for the term "middle of the road." The craftsmanship is evident with their taking composers Jimmy Webb and Bobby Hebb to different realms on intuitive readings of "MacArthur Park," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and a dramatic Perito arrangement of "Sunny." Read more here: |  |
 | On Getting Together, Louis Teicher and Art Ferrante go back to movie themes and show tunes as well as popular songs that Bob Crewe and others were bringing to life on the airwaves. In doing so they hit a home run with this LP. Getting Together is just the album title, so don't expect a cover of the Tommy James & the Shondells' hit of the same name, or the different tunes called "Getting Together" released by Bobby Sherman and Charles Mingus. Recorded at National Sound with production by Dr. George Butler, the boys bring back that "water guitar" found on the Box Tops "Cried Like a Baby," and their own "Midnight Cowboy," giving it to the Bob Dylan cover "Lay Lady Lay. Read more here:
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