Sunday, June 08, 2008

Barclay Allen - Latin and American Piano Rhythms (1957)


Here's an album cover with a couple of beauties! (I'm kind of partial to the blonde - she's so perky!) And the tunes are familiar standards performed by "one of America's foremost piano virtuosos", Barclay Allen. Allen was a pianist and bandleader whose brilliant career was tragically cut short by an auto accident. He was a mainstay with the Freddy Martin band before forming his own highly successful orchestra. He became popular for his Latin-esque theme song, ''Cumana,'' which he co-wrote with Harold Spina and Roc Hillman. In 1949 Allen was paralyzed when he lost control of his car while driving all night between performances. This copy of the album has had its share of being played a lot, and I tried to remove the clicks and pops the best I could, but it still has some noise. Also, the first song on the second side has some skips. But, I think it's still well worth a listen - Barclay Allen could really tickle the ivories!

Track listing for Barclay Allen - Latin and American Piano Rhythms:

Side 1:
1. Cumana
2. It Happened in Havana
3. September Song
4. At the Crossroads
5. Green Eyes
6. My Adobe Hacienda

Side 2:
1. The Whole World is Singing My Song
2. Old Lamplighter
3. Stardust
4. Linda
5. For Sentimental Reasons
6. That's My Desire

6 comments:

zillagord said...

Esther:
Jsut saying hi! Hope all is well with you. I will be finished with spring term soon, hopefully have a little more bloggin' time.

Take care and thanks for all the great tunes.

Peace,
Zilla

Esther said...

Hey, Zilla!
Good luck on your finals!

Esther

mel said...

Esther,

Thank you for sharing these very rare recordings by Barclay Allen. It's a very nice LP and a good demonstration of his pianistic skills.

Esther said...

Hi, Mel!
Glad you liked it! Good to see you stopped by!

Esther

EXALUMNO said...

esther i do live at the city of cumana (venezuela)am amazing that there is a song and arranged over this city..... this man got to be here when he wrote this song with his partners because that is the style of the banda Libertad founded here at 1860 its nice, feels so proud

hopeless romantic said...

I just listened to Cumana on a CD my grandpa sent my parents. Barclay Allen is my paternal great grandfather. He was an amazing pianist.