Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Steve Allen - Plays Bossa Nova Jazz (1963)


Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that 2008 is the best year yet!

This album by Steve Allen is starting off a new year of musical postings. It's called "Steve Allen Plays Bossa Nova Jazz" and is really cool! I do love bossa nova, although I was very small when it became the rage and don't remember ever listening to it until I became an adult. I've also wanted to learn to dance the bossa nova, but it wasn't offered at the various dance studios where I spent seven years learning ballroom dancing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (If anyone out there knows of a video or something that teaches how to dance the bossa nova, please let me know!) Anyway, I really dig this album and it's perfect for cocktail parties or dinner parties. I posted another Steve Allen record last year (I love saying that when "last year" was only a few days ago), but I think I like this one better. You can read about the multi-talented Mr. Allen on Space Age Pop, where there's quite a detailed bio on him.

Here's the list of the other musicians that play on this album:
Donn Trenner, Leader
Bob Enevoldsen, Tenor Sax
Laurindo Almeida, Guitar
John Setar, Flute and Alto Sax
Herb Ellis, Guitar
Jules Bertaux, Bass
Bob Neel, Drums
Frank Rosolino and Jimmy Zito, Brazilian Rhythm instruments

Track listing for Steve Allen Plays Bossa Nova Jazz:

Side 1:
1. Dream
2. St. Louis Blues
3. This Could Be the Start of Something
4. Manhattan
5. The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else
6. Sweet Georgia Brown

Side 2:
1. Mah Mah Limbo
2. Time After Time
3. Impossible
4. Lovely to Look At
5. Imagination
6. Let's Fall in Love

10 comments:

Beppo said...

Great album! Thank you. Good songs, great recording quality, and you did a fantastic job with the rip and clean-up.

I'm curious as to who the other musicians are. Does the back cover give any details?

Also, any chance of getting a higher-res cover image? If you have a desktop scanner and want to do a quick scan of the top half and the bottom half, I'll volunteer to put them together into a nice image. (You can see some of my cover scans here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-images/by-author/ATIRDZ1VYMG1P )

Thanks again! - Tom

mel said...

And a very happy New Year to you, Esther!

Thank you for all your wonderful posts last year.

I'm looking forward to listening to the Steve Allen, as well as all the other forthcoming albums you will be posting.

All the very best for 2008.

Esther said...

Hi, Tom!
Glad you like the album! I've added the info about the other musicians to the post (I meant to originally, but I forgot in my hurry to finish the post). That's the best image I can do right now - my scanner is in storage and I have a very old digital camera.

Thanks for visiting!
Esther

Esther said...

Hi, Mel!

Glad you stopped by! I'm looking forward to posting some fun albums this year, too. Let me know if you have any requests!

Esther

mel said...

Hi, Esther,

Seeing that you asked, I have been looking for George Shearing – Blue Chiffon. If you ever come across it, please grab it and post it here!

Best regards.

Esther said...

Hi, Mel,

Well, I don't have that George Shearing album, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it!

Esther

cornellcrawford said...

Just came across this blog yesterday. I am blown away by, first of all, your fantastic taste in such a wonderful era of easy listening and exotica, and second, your amazing attention to detail. Thanks for your work!

Unknown said...

I'm a little late to the party, but *thank you* for making this (and all your recordings!) available...

Esther said...

Hi, Glenster!

You're never too late! Glad you found my little blog, and I hope you enjoy the records!

Thanks for visiting!

Baron said...

Thanks Esther for SA BNova ... Baron VB .. even later to the party.
Tomorrow I'll look at the other posts.