CD Review – Ferrante & Teicher Grand Twins of The Twin Grands
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