CD REVIEW
– FERRANTE
& TEICHER
Grand Twins of The Twin Grands
1952-1962
Jasmine JASMCD2781
[75:11]
It was a delight
to find in the recent releases
from Jasmine Records, along with
Gene Vincent, Marty Wilde, Sleepy
LaBeef, The Mudlarks, The
Goofers, Arthur 'Big Boy' Cudup,
Jimmy McCracklin, Slim Willet and
June Carter, an album of our kind
of music – a rare occurrence
nowadays and a definite blast
from the past.
The American piano
duettists, Arthur Ferrante
(1921-2009) and Louis Teicher
(1924-2008), were active from
1947 to 1989 and really
"big" in the 1950s, 60s
and 70s with their clever easy
listening arrangements as well as
their distinctive playing style.
Achieving sales of 90 million
LPs, they could probably have
claimed to be the highest selling
piano duo of all time.
The 28 mono and
stereo tracks here were on labels
that released the couple's music
between the start of 1952 and the
end of 1962. These include
Columbia, ABC Paramount and
United Artists. It is a unique
compilation of 7" singles
and includes seven Billboard Hot
100 chart entries – Theme
from 'The Apartment' (aka
Jealous Lover), Exodus
(No.2), Love Theme from
'One Eyed Jacks', Theme
from 'Goodbye Again', Tonight,
Smile and Lisa
– with the first two also UK
chart hits.
Other tracks
include Susanna's Last Stand
(after Stephen Foster arranged by
Ferrante and Teicher), John
Philip Sousa's Semper Fidelis,
How High the Moon, Side
Saddle, two Tchaikovsky
works: Dream Concerto
and Lover's Symphony,
the latter arranged by Don Costa,
Tara's Theme (from 'Gone
With The Wind'), The
Continental, No Other
Love, Till There Was You,
Never on a Sunday, Franz
Waxman's Theme from Taras
Bulba (The Wishing Star) and
the two pianists' own
compositions: Aflame and
Street of Palms (Via
Margaiene).
The liner notes
track listings are exceptionally
detailed, but most of these
involve other musicians and I
would have liked to have been
able to name them.
Jasmine issue
quite a number of discs each
month and the hope is they can
include the occasional one like
this more often.
©
Peter Burt, June 2024
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