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"There is no good singing, there is only present and absent."
― Jeff Buckley ▼▼▼

LES AND LARRY ELGART
Both brothers started as journeymen instrumentalists who spent years playing night after night with some of the best ensembles at the height of the big band era. Surprisingly, although both their parents were accomplished pianists, neither Les nor Larry took an interest in music until their early teens. Music was coded somewhere in their DNA, though, because both were working professionally before the age of 20. Les went on to work with Charlie Spivak, Bunny Berigan, Harry James, and Raymond Scott, and Larry with Spivak, Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Freddie Slack, and Tommy Dorsey. Les never sought out the solo spotlight, but Larry earned a reputation as a master of technique, if not innovation, on the alto sax.
Occasionally the brothers found themselves playing in the same bands, and soon after the end of World War Two, they decided to get together and form their own group. From their years as sidemen, they'd come to know the work of a great many arrangers, and they hired some of the best then writing--including Nelson Riddle, Bill Finegan, and Ralph Flanagan--to build their book. Unfortunately, they soon learned that timing is everything: the Musicians' Union record ban, vets settling down to start on the Baby Boom, and the downsizing of venues and earnings for live performers left them deeply in debt within a few years, and they ended up disbanding and selling their arrangements to Tommy Dorsey.
For the next few years, Les and Larry went their separate ways, slogging through countless road bands and pit orchestras. While playing with one Broadway show band, Larry met the young Charles Albertine, who was playing sax but already dabbling with composition and arrangements. Inspired by his work, Larry approached Brunswick Records and convinced them to contract for two 10-inch albums featuring Albertine's original compositions: Impressions of Outer Space and Music for Barefoot Ballerinas. A few lucky hi-fi buffs who bought these records recognized the ambitious and modernistic ideas Albertine and Elgart were experimenting with, similar in some ways to Stan Kenton's championing of Bob Graettinger's "City of Glass," but the records were not particularly successful.
The experience gave Larry a chance to learn about the changes in recording technology and techniques that had taken place since his own band was working. With these in mind, Larry and Albertine took a different approach to constructing a big band and arrived at what became known as the "Elgart sound." More sensitive mikes and other features greatly improved the subtlety of sounds that could be brought out, and also reduced the need for a heavy rhythm section. Exploiting these features, they arrived at a group centered around two tightly-synchronized sax and brass sections, cut the piano from the rhythm section, and eliminated almost all solo turns.
This time, timing was on their side. Their more understated harmonies and lighter but consistent beat was a big hit with listeners and dancers. Beginning with Sophisticated Swing in 1953, they had a steady string of albums placed in the Top 20, competing with the likes of Sinatra and genuine and ersatz early rock-and-roll. One of their upbeat numbers, an Albertine original titled "Bandstand Boogie" was adopted by the then-truly young Dick Clark for his new show, "American Bandstand."

DID YOU KNOW ?
The song "Little Brown Jug" was written in 1869 (!) and is therefore one of the oldest jazz standards that is still being played by bands today.

MHO
Superb playful arrangement of this famous jazz standard with great sax "conversations" between the left and right stereo channels.