Russ Garcia CDs with Maynard Ferguson


RUSS GARCIA AND HIS ORCHESTRA, LOS ANGELES RIVER (SPANISH RELEASE) -- Fresh Sound Records FSR 2003

Here's the 2005 Fresh Sound CD reissue of tracks from some of the early Russ Garcia LPs. From 7/5 and 7/23/56 we have Maynard with the Garcia Orchestra on the following tracks: Worry-Go-Round, Carefree, Palo Alto, Aren't You Glad You're You?, One Love, Good Humor, When I Go I Go All the Way, Coronade, The Boy Next Door, I'm Confessin' That I Love You, Neer Never Land, and I Lead a Charmed Life. From 11/2/56, Maynard is also on the session on the following tunes: Music City, Fish Tail, Smoggy Day, Los Angeles River, Number Four. A must-have for every serious MF collection! These were not shrink wrapped at the factory, so all copies, even MINT ones, will be open when purchased.
SORRY! NO COPIES AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

RUSS GARCIA, FOUR HORNS AND A LUSH LIFE (JAPANESE RELEASE) -- Toshiba TOCJ-62052

Either in 1999 or 2000 (sorry, can't decipher the Japanese enough to be sure of which) this re-issue of the Bethlehem BCP-46 LP came out in Japan. I've tried like MAD to get some of them. They are very, very elusive. Recently one of the Maynard fans in Japan traded me two copies that he was able to come up with. I already had one copy in my possession which I listened to extensively while traveling a couple of month ago. I listened to it in my car in eastern Virginia two weeks in a row. What a GREAT CD!!! Garcia wrote some beautiful arrangements, and the trombones (including MF) were just superlative! Frank Rosolino, especially, is just awesome! Don't miss out on owning this ultra hard-to-find CD! It's a must!
SORRY! NO COPIES AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

VARIOUS ARTISTS, GEORGE GERSHWIN'S PORGY & BESS -- Avenue Jazz (Rhino) R2 75828

Most of you know that MF played in the Russ Garcia Orchestra backing Mel Torme and Frances Faye on the jazz opera Porgy & Bess. You probably also know that it was released as a 3-LP boxed set in the mid '50s. In 1999, Rhino (Avenue) re-released the entire recording on a 2-CD boxed set with booklet. This is it! I hesitated to stock them, at first, but now I can't find them anywhere commercially, and they appear to be out-of-print. Some critics don't like the recording since Mel Torme and Frances Faye sing what is traditionally a black opera, but others really like it. I'm sort of in between, myself. If you're an MF completist, this one should be on your list.
COPY #1. This is the first copy of this CD set that I've had in some time. The outer cardboard box and the inner booklet show just a tiny bit of wear on the corners, but it's really minimal. Both are still easily NMINT. The CDs are NMINT++. A very, very nice set, this one is $17.00.
COPY #2. This is only the second copy of this CD set that I've found in some time. The outer cardboard box and the inner booklet show just a tiny bit of wear on the corners, but it's really minimal. The only detracting factor is a single black line over the barcode on the back of the box. Due to that one issue, a NMINT box and booklet are just EX+. The CDs are NMINT++. A very, very nice set, due to the one flaw on the box, this one is just $13.00.

VARIOUS ARTISTS, GERSHWIN'S CLASS FOLK OPERA PORGY & BESS (UK RELEASE) -- Hallmark 310972

Most of you know that MF played in the Russ Garcia Orchestra backing Mel Torme and Frances Faye on the jazz opera Porgy & Bess. What you may not know is that this recording was recently issued in England on the Hallmark label, and here it is. Very, very hard to get here in the U.S.
COPY #1. Just in, this copy is FACTORY SEALED. I do see one problem under the shrink wrap. The front cover has a slight crack. If you'd like, I'll open it and put it in a new case prior to shipping. Yours for $14.00.



Back to main page

Email: johnwhimes@yahoo.com