THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,989) Marty Paich and His Orchestra: “Swinger’s Holiday”
From an ultra-groovy movie — Ann-Margret’s ’66 swinging flick The Swinger, comes an ultra-groovy number, a “great” (https://www.dustygroove.com/item/382329/Ann-Margret-Marty-Paich:Songs-From-The-Swinger-Other-Swingin-Songs), “brash” instrumental that “showcases the talents of composer Marty Paich” (A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed, www.apessimistisneverdisappointed.com/2017/02/a-quick-review-of-reissue-of-soundtrack.html?m=1) The soundtrack music, “mostly “produced and composed by . . . Paich—is superb”. (The Recoup, https://therecoup.com/2017/03/02/ann-margret-songs-from-the-swinger-and-other-swingin-songs-el-records/)
Stevearh explains The Swinger:
In this 1966 comedy about a “good girl” trying to get published in a “bad girl” magazine, Kelly Olsson (Ann Margret) plays a newbie writer with an obsession to get published. Figuring on the “sex sells” angle Kelly writes a sexually provocative story called “The Swinger” for a popular girlie magazine. When she is turned down by the magazine’s sexist editor because she is “too innocent to know about such things”. Kelly sets out to prove him wrong by setting up an elaborate hoax to show him just how “debased” her life really is. . . . I loved the movie, although I love most campy 60’s flicks! …and Ann Marget is absolutely gorgeous!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061052/reviews/?featured=rw1173258&ref_=tt_ururv_c_1
Of course, The Swinger has its detractors. Stephen Vagg writes:
[It is] a hopelessly confused comedy with a few musical numbers where the star plays a girl who for some reason wants to impress the publisher of a girlie magazine so they publish her stories…? Or something. It feels like it was written by someone while drunk and Tony Franciosa is yet another male lead not worthy of the star. There’s a scene where Ann-Margret is in a bikini and rolls around in pint with beatniks. Teri Garr doubled her, which is cool. I think this film, a vehicle geared entirely around Ann-Margret’s talents, came close to killing her Hollywood career more than any other by virtue of its sheer incompetence.
https://www.filmink.com.au/surviving-cold-streaks-ann-margret/
Steve Huey tells us Marty Paich’s story:
One of the best-known arrangers of the post-World War II era, Marty Paich had much stronger jazz credentials than many of his peers, thanks to his active presence on the West Coast scene during the ’50s. Paich was born in Oakland, CA . . . . [H]e started out as a pianist, and was performing professionally at age 16. . . . [H]e wrote arrangements for local bandleader Gary Nottingham. Tapped for military service in 1943, he continued to arrange while serving as the leader of the Army Air Corps band through 1946. Following his discharge, he used the G.I. Bill to further his musical education, enrolling at UCLA to study arranging . . . . He earned a master’s degree from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music in 1951, and quickly found work in the industry as both an arranger and pianist . . . . Paich soon graduated to higher-profile gigs, playing and arranging for Shelly Manne and Shorty Rogers . . . over 1953-1954, and also serving a stint as Peggy Lee’s accompanist and musical director. He led his own groups as well, and in 1955 he began recording for a succession of labels . . . . He also toured with Dorothy Dandridge, and arranged (and performed on) the soundtrack to the Disney film Lady and the Tramp (1955). During the mid- to late ’50s, Paich wrote arrangements for a who’s who of West Coast jazz . . . . Perhaps his most notable work came with Mel Tormé, whom he often backed with a ten-piece group dubbed the Dek-tette . . . . Paich contributed the arrangements to altoist Art Pepper’s 1959 masterpiece Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics. . . . [O]ne of his greatest strengths as an arranger[ was] making relatively small groups sound like full-size orchestras. . . . Around 1960, he elected to move away from his own recording career to focus on arranging for pop (and sometimes jazz) vocalists. Over the course of the decade, he worked with the likes of Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Helen Humes, Al Hirt, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra [see #1,455], Barbara Streisand, Astrud Gilberto, and Mahalia Jackson, among many others. He also composed music for films . . . and television shows, winning an Emmy for his work on Ironside. In the late ’60s, he served as musical director on a succession of variety shows, including The Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour . . . and The Sonny and Cher Show. After the early ’70s, Paich’s activity began to tail off, though he still worked sporadically as an orchestra conductor and string arranger, both on movie soundtracks and for artists like George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John [see #175, 1,598], and Kenny Loggins . . . not to mention his son David Paich’s album rock supergroup Toto.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/marty-paich-mn0000858709#biography
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,300 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations😊 