Dave Pell

Shortly after it was formed in 1953, the Dave Pell Octet won best new combo of the year in polls conducted by America’s Daily News and Mirror newspapers. Six of its eight members were included in Down Beat magazine’s 1953 poll of the top musicians in the country. Pell and his group flipped fans everywhere they appeared, specializing in Proms and School Dances, and becoming the first name jazz group ever to play for dancing at one of the top Sunset Strip clubs, The Crescendo, and also the Hollywood Palladium. Its jazz was described variously as tasty, sophisticated, subtle, warm, bright, clean, friendly, inventive, happy, and a complete show and concert rolled into one. One successful Octet approach was to have the crowd gather around the bandstand to watch it play a fast jive number featuring the band’s excellent soloists.

PERSONNEL:

(1-12) from the album Jazz Goes Dancing (Prom to Prom) RCA Victor LPM-1320
DON FAGERQUIST  (trumpet)
RAY SIMS  (trombone)
DAVE PELL  (tenor sax)
MARTY BERMAN  (baritone sax)
ARNOLD ROSS  (piano)
TONY RIZZI  (guitar)
BOB BATES (bass)
IRVING KLUGER  (drums)
Arrangers: Bill Holman, Jack Montrose, Marty Paich, Wes Hensel, Jerry Fielding, and Jim Emerson

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, May 28, 31, and June 4, 1956.

(13-24): from the album: Jazz Goes Dancing (Campus Hop) RCA Victor LPM-1662
JACK SHELDON (trumpet)
BOB ENEVOLDSEN (valve trombone)
DAVE PELL (tenor sax)
MED FLORY (baritone sax)
PAUL MOER (piano)
TOMMY TADESCO (guitar)
BUDDY CLARK (bass)
MEL LEWIS (drums)
Arrangers: Shorty Rogers, Marty Paich, Bill Holman, Med Flory and John T. Williams

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, November 12, 14 & 27, 1957.

TRACKS:

01. Look Who’s Dancing (Schwartz-Fields) 3:16
02. East of the Sun (Bowman) 3:02
03. You (Donaldson-Adamson) 2:50
04. Young and Healthy (Gordon-Dubin) 3:20
05. The Continental (Magidson-Conrad) 2:34
06. Dance for Daddy (Pell) 2:42
07. When I Take My Sugar to Tea (Fain-Kahal-Norman) 2:58
08. If I Had You (Shapiro-Campbell-Connelly) 2:44
09. Cheek to Cheek (Berlin) 2:53
10. Let’s Face the Music and Dance (Berlin) 3:05
11. Prom to Prom (Pell) 2:53
12. Walkin’ My Baby Back Home (Ahlert-Turk) 2:58
13. Java Junction (Warren) 4:15
14. You’re My Everything (Warren-Young-Dixon) 2:47
15. Forty-second Street (Warren-Dubin) 4:14
16. By the River Sainte Marie (Warren-Leslie) 3:02
17. I Know Why and So Do You (Warren-Gordon) 3:55
18. We’re in the Money (Warren-Dubin) 3:29
19. Cheerful Little Earful (Warren-Rose-Dixon) 3:01
20. Would You Like to Take a Walk (Warren-Rose-Dixon) 4:34
21. Lulu’s Back in Town (Warren-Dubin) 3:21
22. I’ll String Along with You (Warren-Dubin) 2:33
23. Remember Me (Warren-Dubin) 3:02
24. Summer Night (Warren-Dubin) 3:01