LP-619

Melavano and Orchestra - My Memories

Released 1958

Recording and Session Information

Tony Osborne, piano?; unknown Orchestra;
London?, 1958?

Falling Leaves
Me And My Shadow
I'll Be Around
I'm Walking Behind You
I Only Have Eyes For You
To Each His Own
If We Should Meet Again
You Tell Me
What Shall I Tell Paris
Who Am I
This Is Love
When Somebody Says I Love You

Falling Leaves	Knippel-Decimber-Marritz	1958
Me And My Shadow	Rose-Jolson	1958
I'll Be Around	Wilder	1958
I'm Walking Behind You	Reid	1958
I Only Have Eyes For You	Dubin, Warren	1958
To Each His Own	Livingston, Evans	1958
If We Should Meet Again	Osborne	1958
You Tell Me	Osborne	1958
What Shall I Tell Paris	Osborne	1958
Who Am I	Osborne	1958
This Is Love	Osborne	1958
When Somebody Says I Love You	Osborne	1958

Liner Notes

Out of England comes an album designed for easy listening...music with a message that says relax, be comfortable, and remember. And the selections that Argo's talented young Englishman has chosen enable you to do just that...for he brings you standards on the first side, standards that have withstood the test of time; and on the other, the pleasingly original comrositions of Tony Osborne, of whom we'll speak more later. At any rate, both sides seem to mold to your listening tastes with the flexibility and glove-soft quality of a well-worn shoe.

And Melavano has added a new formula here composed of equal parts delicate restraint and skilled musicianship. Listen for example. to "Falling Leaves" and it becomes a new thing...a means of transporting you back, back to a time and place when things were different... when time perhaps stood still and an eternity could have swept by with the roar of a jet; or "Me and My Shadow" — it carries with it the wistfulness of the early 30's when people had almost forgotten what a war was all about. Things were really different then and reality was not something to be afraid of. And then there is "To Each His Own", a song that first appeared at a time when ballroom dancing was at its peak and no one had ever heard of TV. Each of the other selections, too. has a special time and place for remembering, and remembering is good for it gives balance and context to the present.

Now these memories are shrouded by war and the atom, but Melavano restores them to you in a gentle soft-focus which only one of his skilled artistry can create. He catalogs these memories of what was once perhaps, a better time in such a manner that one listening enables you to cover the broad span of twenty years in the space of a half-hour's time.

And if you've ever experienced one of those "intimate affairs" that seem common to us all, identified a certain song with a love that remains carved indelibly in your heart, then one listening of this album will lead to another and then another. Because Melavano has the ability to touch the catch-spring that releases a flood of bitter-sweet memories, the remembered intimacies that only two can share.

Perhaps as you listen, catch phrases of a lyric will come to mind — haunting refrains, autumn, smoke. Paris in love...lyrics only lovers sing and if they are bittersweet, if they do spell out the rain of unrequited love, they are much the better artistically, for they convey a mood that has meaning for all of us. Chances are you won't want to play this album often, or for friends. Rather, it is music to be alone with and you will play it more when you arc receptive to the special mood it creates. But, whatever the mood. Melavano and his Orchestra have definitely produced an album of infinite good taste and one that Argo Records is pleased now to present for listeners on this side of the Atlantic.

Tony Osborne, whose compositions you will hear on the other side of the album, is without doubt, one of the most talented composer-arrangers yet to come out of England and Melavano exposes six of his works in the just light they deserve. Though they are all originals, they have about them all the necessary qualities to make of them. standards in ten or twelve years time; for example, soft lyric lines which are given voice at first through violins, then restated later in full orchesration. This is no mean feat musically, yet Melavano and Tony Osborne have melded their respective talents quite ably, and successfully continue the mood of the first side with gentle consistency.

As you put the album away, you may well find yourself humming Osborne's tunes. Perhaps you'll wonder why they sound so much like something else you've heard. Well, rest easy, they're new and original, but they have a staying quality which is absorbing — again, a tribute to the artistry of this man and to Melavano, who brings his music to life. Argo Records can well be proud of adding two such distinguished musicians as Melavano and Tony Osborne to its talent roster.

The fact that this album is strictly instrumental reflects a strong awareness of the delicacy of musical taste as expressed by Melavano. More is left to the imagination, and without being aware of it, the listener is drawn into the mood of the music — he becomes an active listener. A musician can't ask for much more from his audience because, after all, this is the true measure of enjoyment!

MUNRO VAN SWERINGEN
RECORDED IN ENGLAND
ALBUM PRODCCTION— DAVE USHER

OTHER NEW ARGO LP RELEASES

MAX ROACH. KENNY DORHAM. HANK MOBLEY LP624
JIMMY WOODE — LP630
RALPH SHARON AND FRIEND — LP635
AHMAD JAMAL — LP636
JAMES MOODY — LP637
PORTFOLIO OF AHMAD JAMAL— DLP638 (2 Record Album)

AND INTRODUCING THE NEW ARGO KANGAROO-SPLIT-PAK

JOHNNY GRIFFIN. WILBUR WARE, JR. MANCE — LP624
J. C. HEARD. JOE NEWMAN, FRANK WESS & OTHERS LP633
YUSEF LATEEF — LP634

Other Stuff

Billboard Review: 10 November 1958:

MY MEMORIES - Melavano Ork. Argo LP 619
Here's an album for easy listening, consisting of relaxed and warm arrangements of a collection of standards and originals played in smooth style the by Melavano Ork, a new English organization. The set could be called background music, but it's much better than the average background music set and the performance is also much better than average. Tunes include "Falling Leaves," "Me and My Shadows," and "To Each His Own." Release could grab sales if displayed and exposed.