Les Paul California Melodies Album Review, Songs, Rating

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Les Paul & His Trio
California Melodies
Release Date: 2003 12 09
Label: Collectors' Choice Music
Rating:

Les Paul was a guitar innovator before Chet Atkins learned his first three chords, but somehow, he never could match Mr. Guitar's publicity. California Melodies travels back to the mid-'40s when Paul and his trio appeared on a radio program of the same name with Frank DeVol & His Orchestra. The introductions to each song on these radio transcriptions are a bit cheesy ("Maybe swing is a whole lot older than we think it is"), and the orchestra -- when it chimes in -- pretty much turns the quartet's music into easy listening. But when Paul, rhythm guitarist Cal Gooden, bassist Clint Nordquist, and pianist Tommy Todd are left on their own, they do swing. The song selection is smart, including now accepted standards like "All of Me," "Oh, Lady Be Good," and "Ain't Misbehavin'." There are also interesting oddities like Tchaikovsky's "Andante Cantible" and Duke Ellington's "Caravan." Paul's a nifty guitarist who fits comfortably within the electric school of jazz following Charlie Christian's innovations in the late '30s and early '40s. California Melodies also includes four bonus cuts that were taken from various radio shows -- the Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall, the Andy Russell Show -- in 1945. For jazz guitar buffs and anyone addicted to the great standards of '30s and '40s jazz, California Melodies is a fun romp. Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Begin the Beguine	Porter	3:33
2	All of Me	Simons, Marks	2:33
3	Andante Cantible	Tchaikovsky	3:48
4	Oh, Lady Be Good	Gershwin, Gershwin	2:50
5	Brazil	Barroso, Russell	2:47
6	I Never Knew	Pitts, Egan, Marsh	2:24
7	For You	Burke, Dubin	2:45
8	Limehouse Blues	Braham, Furber	2:21
9	Song of the Islands	King	2:24
10	Forty Days and Forty Nights	Paul	3:37
11	Way Down Yonder in New Orleans	Creamer, Layton	2:26
12	Out of Nowhere	Heyman, Green	2:52
13	I've Been Working on the Railroad	Traditional	2:37
14	It Had to Be You	Jones, Kahn	3:09
15	Ain't Misbehavin'	Waller, Razaf, Brooks	2:36
16	Caravan	Ellington, Mills, Tizol	3:10
17	Way Down Yonder in New Orleans [*]	Creamer, Layton	3:07
18	Danger, Men at Work [*]	Paul	3:00
19	Blue Skies [*]	Berlin	2:28
20	(Back Home Again In) Indiana [*]	Hanley, MacDonald	2:36

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