★The famous waltz "Bluesette" composed by guitarist and harmonica player Toots Thielemans, who is famous as the Harmonica Uncle. ★Toots Thielemans is a jazz harmonica player, whistler and guitarist from Brussels, Belgium, and composed the famous jazz waltz "Bluesette" (#^.^#) He is also a Belgian aristocrat with the title of Baron Thielemans (#^.^#)
★This is the famous Latin jazz song "MAMBO INN" composed by Mario Bouza. ★Mario Bouza is the man who built the foundation of Latin jazz and coined the term "Afro-Cuban". Born in Havana in 1911, he moved to New York in 1930 and was a member of Machito's band, praised as the founder of New York salsa. The masterpiece "MAMBO INN" is a classic Afro-Cuban jazz song, and is a representative work of Mario Bouza, who is nicknamed "the magician" for his outstanding arranging sense. (^O^)/ ★Famous performances by jazz guitarists Grant Green, Ronnie Jordan, and George Benson. I used my favorite George Benson's version as a reference (*^_^*)
"Autumn Leaves" (1945, J. Cosma) was originally a chanson song called "Les Feuilles mortes". It was sung by Yves Montand and used as an insert song in the 1946 French film "Les Portes de la Nuit" directed by Marcel Carné, and Jacques Prévert, who also worked on the screenplay for the film, wrote new lyrics for it.
It was brought to the United States in 1949, and released as "Autumn Leaves" with English lyrics. Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley are also famous for their performances.
★The English lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer, who worked with Henry Mancini on songs such as "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses".
★There aren't many other jazz guitarists playing on the album. I don't know why, but have you ever listened to records or CDs featuring Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, or Pat Martino? I can only remember three: Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, and Jim Hall.
★"Caravan" was written in 1935 by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol, a trombonist in his band. It was a big hit with the Ventures, a famous electric guitar band, but Caravan is also popular with big bands and combo jazz. With its distinctive, intense beat, it can be said to be a representative song of Afro-Cuban jazz.
★"Yesterday Once More" is a single released by the Carpenters in 1973, with lyrics by John Bettis and music by Richard Carpenter (#^.^#) It's a nostalgic song that I loved when I was young, and it's one of my favorite songs among the Carpenters' works (*^_^*)