Larry Elgart was born in 1922 in New London, Connecticut, four years younger than his brother, Les. Their mother was a concert pianist; their father played piano as well, though not professionally. Both brothers began playing in jazz ensembles in their teens, and while young Larry played with jazz musicians such as Charlie Spivak, Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Freddie Slack, and Tommy Dorsey.

In the mid-1940's, Les and Larry started up their own ensemble, hiring Nelson Riddle, Bill Finegan, and Ralph Flanagan to arrange tunes for them. Their ensemble was not successful, and after a few years they scuttled the band and sold the arrangements they had commissioned to Tommy Dorsey. Both returned to sideman positions in various orchestras.

In 1953, Larry met Charles Albertine and recorded two of his experimental compositions, Impressions of Outer Space and Music for Barefoot Ballerinas. Released on 10" vinyl, these recordings became collector's items for fans of avant-garde jazz, but they were not commercially successful at the time. Larry and Albertine put together a more traditional ensemble and began recording them using precise microphone placements, producing what came to be known as the "Elgart sound". This proved to be very commercially successful, and Larry enjoyed a run of successful albums and singles in the 1950's.

In 1954, the Elgarts left their permanent mark on music history in recording Albertine's "Bandstand Boogie," for the legendary television show originally hosted by Bob Horn, and two years later, Dick Clark. Clark took the show national, to ABC-TV, in 1956 and remained host for another 32 years. Variations to the original surfaced as the show's theme in later years. Les and Larry reunited in 1963, but it would not last long; soon after, Les retired from performing altogether, while Larry continued to perform and record regularly for decades.

Larry's biggest exposure came in 1982, with the smash success of a recording called "Hooked on Swing". The instrumental was a medley of swing jazz hits - "In the Mood", "Cherokee", "American Patrol", "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Don't Be That Way", "Little Brown Jug", "Opus #1", "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart", and "String of Pearls" - that became so popular it even cracked the US Billboard Pop Singles chart (at #31) and Adult Contemporary chart (#20). Billed as "Larry Elgart and His Manhattan Swing Orchestra", the LP from which the tune was taken hit #24 on the US charts. The follow-up, Hooked on Swing 2, debuted at #89 on the album charts, and soon after Larry was back to the jazz touring circuit. He continued to tour internationally and record into the 2000's.
Source: Wikipedia
Also see: Space Age Pop

Our Guest writes:

I'm uploading it in the moment. It's ripped from an almost mint Japanese Lp-issue. It's a beautiful recording because of the big studio Capitol used for his big band recordings. The tunes sound so much better than Harry's originals for Columbia. But if you're for more "authenticity" you certainly will prefer the earlier versions.

All mp3's are in mono, ripped from vinyl with 160 kb/s, VBR-mono;

Enjoy it!

Track List
01 - The Mole
02 - Autumn Serenade
03 - Sleepy Time Gal
04 - Crazy Rhythm
05 - Melancholy Rhapsody
06 - September Song
07 - Carnival
08 - Strictly Instrumental
09 - Blue Again
10 - Don Cha Go Way Mad
11 - These Foolish Things
12 - Somebody Loves Me
13 - Street Scene

More Harry James in Hi Fi

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