Chris Connor (album) - Misplaced Pages

Chris Connor is an album by jazz singer Chris Connor. Atlantic Records released the album, Connor's first for the label, in 1956. The recording was Atlantic's first jazz vocal LP record.

Recording

The tracks appearing on Chris Connor were recorded over the course of three sessions. The first of these occurred on January 19, 1956, with a small orchestra accompanying Connor, using arrangements by Ralph Burns. On January 23, Connor was accompanied by a quartet led by pianist John Lewis with Oscar Pettiford on bass. On February 8, Connor's accompanists included Nick Travis, Zoot Sims and Milt Hinton, with arrangements by Burns. The album comprises four tracks from each recording session.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	(Core Collection)
allmusic

The Penguin Guide to Jazz includes Chris Connor in its "Core Collection", and assigns it a four-star rating (of a possible four), noting that " 'Ev'ry Time', 'It's All Right With Me', 'I Wonder What Became Of Me', and several more are unlikely to be bettered". John Bush, writing for allmusic, calls the album one of Connor's best, giving the album a rating of four-and-a-half stars (of a possible five).

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Arranger	Length
1.	"I Get a Kick Out of You"	Cole Porter	John Lewis	1:50
2.	"Something to Live For"	Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn	Ralph Burns	3:13
3.	"Get Out of Town"	Cole Porter	Burns	3:04
4.	"Where Are You?"	Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson	Lewis	3:32
5.	"Anything Goes"	Cole Porter	Burns	2:11
6.	"When the Wind Was Green"	Don Hunt	Burns	3:24
7.	"He Was Too Good to Me"	Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart	Burns	3:41
8.	"You Make Me Feel So Young"	Josef Myrow, Mack Gordon	Burns	2:46
9.	"Everytime"	Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin	Lewis	3:47
10.	"Way Out There"	George Wallington, Buddy Goodman	Burns	2:27
11.	"My April Heart"	George Wallington, Buddy Goodman	Burns	2:41
12.	"Almost Like Being in Love"	Frederick Loewe, Alan Lerner	Lewis	2:09

Personnel

On "Something to Live For", "When the Wind Was Green", "He Was Too Good to Me" and "My April Heart" (recorded January 19, 1956):

Chris Connor – vocals
19-piece orchestra (Ralph Burns, conductor)

On "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Where Are You?", "Everytime" and "Almost Like Being in Love" (recorded January 23, 1956):

Chris Connor – vocals
John Lewis – piano
Barry Galbraith – guitar
Oscar Pettiford – bass
Connie Kay – drums

On "Get Out of Town", "Anything Goes", "You Make Me Feel So Young", and "Way Out There" (recorded February 8, 1956):

Chris Connor – vocals
Nick Travis – trumpet
Zoot Sims – tenor saxophone; solo on "Way Out There"
Al Young, Sam Marovitz, Ray Beckenstein, Danny Banks – saxophones
Moe Wechsler – piano
Barry Galbraith – guitar
Milton Hinton – bass
Osie Johnson – drums

References

^ Bush, John. Chris Connor: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
^ Shadwick, Keith (1956). Chris Connor (booklet). Chris Connor. United Kingdom: Warner Music UK Ltd. 2005 reissue notes. 8122731382.
^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008) . The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.

v t e Chris Connor
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, except for compilations.
Albums	Chris Connor (1956) Double Exposure (with Maynard Ferguson, 1960 & 1961) Two's Company (with Maynard Ferguson, 1960 & 1961)
Compilations	Nina Simone and Her Friends (1960)
Singles	"You're the Cream in My Coffee" (with Jerry Wald, 1952) "Lullaby of Birdland" (1953) "Trust in Me" (1956) "Under Paris Skies" (1958) "Flying Home" (1959) "That's My Desire" (1960) "Invitation" (1960) "The Lonesome Road" (with Maynard Ferguson, 1961)
Related articles	Discography

v t e Zoot Sims
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
As leader or co-leader	The Brothers (and Stan Getz, 1949–52) Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims (1956) The Modern Art of Jazz by Zoot Sims (1956) Tonite's Music Today (and Bob Brookmeyer, 1956) Whooeeee (and Bob Brookmeyer, 1956) Zoot! (1956) Locking Horns (and Joe Newman, 1957) Stretching Out (and Bob Brookmeyer, 1958) Jazz Alive! A Night at the Half Note (and Al Cohn, Phil Woods, 1959) Down Home (1960) Two Jims and Zoot/Otra Vez (Jimmy Raney and Jim Hall, 1964) Inter-Action (and Sonny Stitt, 1965) Waiting Game (1966) The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World (multiple leaders, 1967) Nirvana (and Bucky Pizzarelli, Buddy Rich, 1974) Basie & Zoot (and Count Basie, 1975) The Tenor Giants Featuring Oscar Peterson (and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, 1975) Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers (and Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, 1975) Soprano Sax (1976) Hawthorne Nights (1976) If I'm Lucky (and Jimmy Rowles, 1977) For Lady Day (1978) Warm Tenor (and Jimmy Rowles, 1979) The Sweetest Sounds (and Rune Gustafsson, 1979) Just Friends (and Harry Edison, 1980) Art 'n' Zoot (and Art Pepper, 1981)
Recordings with Al Cohn	From A to...Z (1956) The Sax Section (Cohn led, 1956) Tenor Conclave (and Hank Mobley, John Coltrane, 1957) The Four Brothers... Together Again! (and Herbie Steward, Serge Chaloff, 1957) Al and Zoot (1957) Blues and Haikus (Jack Kerouac, 1959) SteveIreneo! (and Irene Kral, Steve Allen, 1959) Son of Drum Suite (Cohn, 1960) You 'n' Me (1960) Either Way (1961) Jazz Mission to Moscow (Cohn, 1962) Body and Soul (1973) Motoring Along (1974)
With Quincy Jones	This Is How I Feel About Jazz (1956) The Birth of a Band! (1959) Quincy Plays for Pussycats (1962) Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini (1964)
With Gerry Mulligan	California Concerts (1954) Presenting the Gerry Mulligan Sextet (1955) Mainstream of Jazz (1956) The Gerry Mulligan Songbook (1957) The Concert Jazz Band (1960) Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band on Tour (1960)
With others	Pepper Adams Plays the Compositions of Charlie Mingus (1963) Encounter! (Pepper Adams, 1968) Trigger Happy!/East Coast Sounds (Trigger Alpert/Sims, Cohn, Tony Scott, 1956) Chet Baker & Strings (1953–54) Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Loewe (1959) The Bosses (Count Basie and "Big Joe" Turner, 1973) Louis Bellson Quintet (1954) The Genius of Ray Charles (1959) Jazz Is Universal (Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band, 1961) Chris Connor (1956) The Book Cooks (Booker Ervin, 1960) Loose Blues (Bill Evans, 1962) The Aztec Suite (Art Farmer, 1959) South American Cookin' (Curtis Fuller, 1961) Creole Cookin' (Bobby Hackett, 1967) The Hawk in Hi Fi (Coleman Hawkins, 1956) Portraits on Standards (Stan Kenton, 1953) The Kenton Era (Stan Kenton, 1953) The Manhattan Transfer (released 1975) Profiles (Gary McFarland, 1966) Something to Swing About (Carmen McRae, 1959) Ms. Jazz (Carmen McRae, 1973) Metronome All-Stars 1956 (1956) The Complete Town Hall Concert (Charles Mingus, 1962) Arranged by Montrose (Jack Montrose, 1954) Encyclopedia of Jazz (Oliver Nelson, 1966) The Sound of Feeling (Oliver Nelson, 1966) Jazzhattan Suite (Oliver Nelson/Jazz Interactions Orchestra, 1967) All the Sad Young Men (Anita O'Day, 1962) Transition (Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, 1974) Shorty Rogers Courts the Count (1954) Samba Para Dos (Lalo Schifrin, Bob Brookmeyer, 1963) Moonlight in Vermont (Johnny Smith, 1952) Phoebe Snow (1974) Broadway Soul (Sonny Stitt, 1965) Vaughan and Violins (Sarah Vaughan, 1958) The Duke Ellington Songbook, Vol. 1 (Sarah Vaughan, 1979) Linger Awhile: Live at Newport and More (Sarah Vaughan, 1979) The Jazz Guitarist (Chuck Wayne, 1953) At Newport '63 (Joe Williams, 1963)

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