Nelson Riddle (7)

LINDA RONSTADT WITH NELSON RIDDLE & HIS ORCHESTRA - 'ROUND MIDNIGHT (1990)

For my friend Tanktop.

Disc: 1
1. What's New
2. I've Got A Crush On You
3. Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
4. Crazy He Calls Me
5. Someone To Watch Over Me
6. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You
7. What'll I Do
8. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)
9. Good-bye
10. When I Fall In Love
11. Skylark
12. It Never Entered My Mind
13. Mean To Me
14. When Your Lover Has Gone
15. I'm A Fool To Want You

Disc: 2
1. You Took Advantage Of Me
2. Sophisticated Lady
3. Can't We Be Friends
4. My Old Flame
5. Falling In Love Again
6. Lush Life
7. When You Wish Upon A Star
8. Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
9. You Go To My Head
10. But Not For Me
11. My Funny Valentine
12. I Get Along Without You Very Well
13. Am I Blue
14. I Love You For Sentimental Reasons
15. Straighten Up & Fly Right
16. Little Girl Blue
17. 'Round Midnight


NELSON RIDDLE - COMMUNICATION (1971)

1.Born Happy
2.A Night of Love
3.Uptown Dance
4.Time and Space
5.Dedication
6.Vulcano's Daughter
7.Romantic Places
8.It's Your Turn
9.Rachel
10.Greenwich Village

Communication is a 1971 album by Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. It was Riddle's first album for German record label MPS preceding Changing Colors (1973).

The Allmusic review by Jason Ankeny awarded the album four and a half stars and said the album is an "intoxicating mosaic of jazz, pop, and Latin elements...stands as a monumental testament to Riddle's consummate skill as an arranger and his almost alchemical faculty for creating a seamless whole from disparate parts".

TOP HAT (O.S.T.) - Yehudi Menuhin, Stephane Grappelli, Nelson Riddle Fred Astaire (1981)

Arranged & Conducted By Nelson Riddle

Puttin' On The Ritz
The Way You Look Tonight
He Loves & She Loves
Isn't This A Lovely Day
The Piccolino
Alison
Change Partners
Top Hat , White Tie & Tails
They Can't Take That Away From Me
The Continental
They All Laughed
Amanda
Funny Face
The Carioca

NELSON RIDDLE - THE JOY OF LIVING (1959)

1. Life is just a Bowl of Cherries
2. You make me feel so young
3. Makin' Whoopee!
4. Bye Bye Blues
5. It's so Peaceful in the Country
6. The Joy of Living
7. It's a Big Wide Wonderful World
8. June in January
9. Isn't this a Lovely Day
10. Indian Summer
11. It's a Grand Night for Singing
12. I got the Sun in the Morning

Nelson Riddle was quite possibly the greatest arranger in the history of American popular music. Over the course of his long and distinguished career, he was also a popular soundtrack composer, a conductor, a trombonist, and an occasional hitmaker in his own right. He worked with many of the major pop vocalists of his day, but it was his immortal work with Frank Sinatra, particularly on the singer's justly revered Capitol concept albums, that cemented Riddle's enduring legacy. Riddle was a master of mood and subtlety, and an expert at drawing out a song's emotional subtext. He was highly versatile in terms of style, mood, and tempo, and packed his charts full of rhythmic and melodic variations and rich tonal colors that blended seamlessly behind the lead vocal line. He often wrote specifically for individual vocalists, keeping their strengths and limitations in mind and pushing them to deliver emotionally resonant performances. As such, Riddle was perfectly suited to the task of framing vocal interpreters, as opposed to just singers; he was most in sync with the more nuanced and artistically ambitious vocalists, like Sinatra. Riddle knew how to lay back and bring certain lyrics or vocal subtleties to the forefront, and how to add countermelodies that emphasized other lyrics, or made important transitions. He could draw the listener in with catchy embellishments, challenge them with adventurous harmonies, and build to climaxes that faded into surprisingly restrained endings. In short, Riddle was everything a top-notch singer could ask for.

NELSON RIDDLE - THE GIRL MOST LIKELY (1957 OST)

1. The Girl Most Likely (Main Title)    
2. We Gotta Keep Up With The Joneses    
3. I Don't Know What I Want
4. Beach Party    
5. Travelogue (Where Do You Come From?)/Balboa    
6. I Like The Feeling/Pink Cloud Music        
7. Crazy Horse    
8. All The Colors Of The Rainbow    
9. End Title

Though successful screen adaptations of My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, and West Side Story were yet to come at the time of this 1958 RKO musical, The Girl Most Likely was one of the last gasps of the original Hollywood film musical's golden days. This first-time CD release rescues the film's vibrantly kitschy soundtrack from oblivion, showcasing the studio's belated musical adaptation of its previous Ginger Rogers vehicle, Tom, Dick and Harry and a vibrant slate of songs by Meet Me in St. Louis composers Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Nelson Riddle brightens up the proceedings considerably with his romping title track and arrangements that crackle with jazzy big-band flair. As a bonus, the film's originally deleted duet between stars Jane Powell and Cliff Robertson, "I Like the Feeling," has been restored. New liner notes by composer Hugh Martin are included. --Jerry McCulley

NAT KING COLE & NELSON RIDDLE - WILD IS LOVE (1995)

1. Introduction
2. Wild Is Love
3. Hundreds And Thousands Of Girls
4. It's A Beautiful Evening
5. Tell Her In The Morning
6. Are You Disenchanted?
7. Pick-Up
8. Beggar For The Blues
9. World Of No Return
10. In Love Again
11. Stay With It
12. Wouldn't You Know (Her Name Is Mary)
13. He Who Hesitates
14. Wild Is Love Finale

The smoky, smooth pop vocals of Nat "King" Cole make us tend to forget that, at heart, he was essentially a jazz performer. His piano proficiency, vocal phrasings, and utter coolness all hark back to his jazz roots, even in his decidedly pop repertoire or arrangements. Whether singing "Nature Boy", jamming with guitarist Oscar Moore, or performing posthumous duets with his daughter Natalie Cole, Nat "King" Cole will always be an unforgettable titan of 50s.

NELSON RIDDLE - SEA OF DREAMS (1958)

1. Out Of The Night
2. My Isle Of Golden Dreams
3. Tangi Tahiti
4. Dream
5. There's No You
6. Drifting And Dreaming
7. Easter Isle
8. Let's Fall In Love
9. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
10. Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)
11. Autumn Leaves
12. Sea Of Dreams

Riddle was known as one of the best arranger for singers, and backed many of Capitol's vocalists, including Margaret Whiting, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, and Frank Sinatra on his swinging albums ("Songs for Swingin' Lovers," "A Swingin' Affair," "Sinatra's Swing' Session") and others. Sinatra said, "Nelson had a fresh approach to orchestration and I made myself fit into what he was doing." Many consider these albums each man's best work. Riddle's own recordings from this period aimed for the same audience as Jackie Gleason, and other "mood music" artists, with titles like "Love Tide," "Sea of Dreams," and "Hey, Let Yourself Go."

NELSON RIDDLE & HIS ORCHESTRA - RIDDLE ME THIS (2007)

Low Bitrate, sorry.

1. Lisbon Antigua    
2. In the Hall of the Mountain King    
3. Port au Prince    
4. Theme from "The Proud Ones"
5. The Love of Genevieve (Ah! Quel Bonheur)    
6. Moonglow    
7. Vilia    
8. All Er Nothin'    
9. Pore Jud Is Daid    
10. Brother John    
11. Martin Kane Theme    
12. Vera Cruz    
13. Never Never Land    
14. Love Letters    
15. As You Desire Me    
16. All or Nothing at All    
17. I Was Lucky    
18. Body and Soul    
19. The Touch of Your Lips    
20. Please Be Kind    
21. You're Mine Now    
22. Heaven Can Wait    
23. Symphony    
24. The Tender Touch    
25. Take It or Leave It [*]

Nelson Riddle, arranger, conductor and composer, worked with some of the greatest vocalists of the 20th Century from Frank Sinatra to Linda Ronstadt. He also found time to write and arrange scores for films and to release albums under his own name (with his orchestra). This collection features recordings from his own vast catalog including the complete The Tender Touch album plus 'Theme From The Proud Ones', 'Vera Cruz', 'Moonglow' and more. Remember. 2007.