Description
Released in 1958 as part of RCA’s pioneering Living Stereo series, remastered and improved!
Analogue Productions and Quality Record Pressings bring you this remastered and improved pressing so that a whole new generation of audiophiles and even casual music lovers can discover for themselves the wizardry, wit and wonder that is Music for Bang, Baaroom and Harp!
Now, revel in the enhanced clarity and sonic richness of a 200-gram pressing by Quality Record Pressings, and remastering and lacquer cutting by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, giving this classic a fresh, vibrant appeal. The superb remastering from the original 3-track master tapes brings out subtleties of the instruments, arrangements, performance and ambiance of Chicago's Orchestra Hall lacking from the original pressing and subsequent versions.
The concept for this album is simple: Dozens of standard and exotic percussive instruments (re: manifold from a 1946 Chevrolet) were employed in original and standard tunes arranged by Dick Schory, Bobby Christian, Mike Simpson, Willis Charkovsky and Skitch Henderson, who at the time was musical director for NBC's "Tonight Show." Three tracks are of particular note: the quirky "Tiddley Winks" and the exotic "Baia" and "Typee." The jacket, depicting Schory poking out from a pile of instruments, is a classic of LP art.
The recording, utilizing RCA Victor Record's Red Seal Classical Division's equipment — the same used to record the Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston Symphony orchestras at the time — was recorded in Chicago's Orchestra Hall on June 2 and 3, 1958. Two custom Ampex 300-3 half-inch 3-track tape recorders, running at 15 and 30 inches a second, captured the performances by Dick Schory's New Percussion Ensemble consisting of eight percussionists together with other performers from the Chicago Symphony on piano, string bass, guitar, banjo and harp.
Commercial success followed. Not only was the album an audiophile classic, it also became one of the best-selling instrumental albums of the late 1950s and early '60s with Billboard, Record World and Cash Box magazines listing it on their charts for more than two years, and in the "Top 10" best sellers for more than six months. The album kicked off an era of percussion recordings that tried to duplicate the success of Music for Bang, Baaroom and Harp with limited results.
