Search - Manny Albam and His Jazz Greats :: Play Music From The Broadway Musical "West Side Story & Steve's Songs"

In the late 40s Emmanuel Albam laid aside his baritone saxophone because it was getting in the way of his pen. From that moment on, he established himself firmly as one of the most skilled, possibly the busiest, of all the free lance arrangers on the New York scene. Although he worked with great success in the pop field, he is usually associated with jazz. His originals for Basie, Herman, Gibbs, Ferguson, and other big bands are as familiar as the many remarkable LPs listed under his own name. With West Side Story, Albam achieved one of his greatest works. Most of the material is intensely emotional in a mood sense, but the precise execution of Albam's inspired arrangements, along with appropriate solos, injected considerably more life, jazzwise, into Bernstein's provocative score. Steve's Songs, the second album on this CD, illustrates how unpretentiously and functionally Manny's arrangements do swing. A worthwhile big band set.