beginning at 2:31
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,047) Ray Ellis and His Orchestra — “I Feel Fine”
I’m gonna lounge today with Ray Ellis and his Orchestra’s ultra-fine rendition of the Beatles’ [see #28-29, 113, 132, 374, 422-23, 520-22, 545, 669, 779-81, 840, 872, 942, 1,087, 1,256, 1,437, 1,473, 1,910] “I Feel Fine”, “[p]erfect for a mid-1960s living-room discotheque party.” (Lee’s Fake Hits, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I8v0ACk8lT8&list=RDI8v0ACk8lT8&start_radio=1&pp=ygUYUmF5IGVsbGlzIEknbGwgZmVlbCBmaW5loAcB&ra=m) I feel like Don Draper!
Not only was Ellis a master of jazz, pop, and standards, but he arranged rock, soul and R&B classic such as Bobby Darin’s “Splish Splash” and “Dream Lover”, Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem,” Brook Benton’s “There Goes My Baby”, and the Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk.” And then there were the cartoons, from The Archies to Fat Albert!
Jason Ankeny tells Ellis’s story:
Ellis began studying saxophone at age 12, mastering all of the reed instruments within three years. While stationed at Fort Knox during World War II, he handled arranging duties with the U.S. Army Band . . . . After the war Ellis returned to Philadelphia to work in radio, later fronting a live jazz showcase on local television station WCAU. He also played tenor sax behind bandleaders Gene Krupa and Paul Whiteman before relocating to New York City in 1954. Columbia Records producer Mitch Miller hired Ellis as a staff arranger the following year, where he assisted on a series of pop smashes . . . . Most notably, Ellis and his orchestra supported jazz icon [Billy] Holiday on her controversial 1958 LP Lady in Satin. . . . Ellis was appointed A&R director at MGM Records in 1959 . . . . He also headlined his own easy listening LPs . . . . Ellis changed musical direction during a stint at Atlantic Records under renowned R&B producer Jerry Wexler, briefly returning to Columbia long enough to arrange [Barbra] Streisand’s 1964 effort The Third Album. After relocating to Los Angeles during the mid-’60s, Ellis shifted his focus to television: . . . he composed for Filmation productions spanning from The Archie Show to Fantastic Voyage to The Hardy Boys, scoring dozens of cartoons across his 14-year tenure with the studio. He still accepted the occasional studio gig, however, and in 1970 produced Emmylou Harris’ debut, Gliding Bird.
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