American Look
Encyclopedia
American Look is a 1969 album
by the Swingle Singers on the Philips Records
label. All tracks from this album are also included on the 11 disk Philips boxed set, Swingle Singers
.
Rhythm section:
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by the Swingle Singers on the Philips Records
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...
label. All tracks from this album are also included on the 11 disk Philips boxed set, Swingle Singers
Swingle Singers (Philips boxed set)
The 2005 Philips boxed set, Swingle Singers is a compilation of all eleven of the Paris-based Swingle Singers' recordings made for Philips between 1963 and 1972...
.
Track listing
- Country Dances (invention for vocal ensemble: "Arkansas Traveller" / "College Hornpipe" / "Devil's Dream" / "Old Zip Coon" / "Virginia Reel" / "Pop Goes the Weasel") – 2:15
- "When Jesus Wept" (William BillingsWilliam BillingsWilliam Billings was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music...
) – 2:07 - Negro Spirituals (for vocal ensemble: "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" / "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" / "Little David" / "Deep River") – 3:52
- Patriotic Songs (invention for vocal ensemble: "Dixie" / "Yankee Doodle" / "Battle Hymn of the Republic") – 2:07
- "He's Gone Away" (trad.) – 2:12
- "Saint's Fugue" (based on "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" for vocal ensemble) (SwingleWard SwingleWard Swingle is an American vocalist and jazz musician.Swingle was born in Mobile, Alabama. He studied music, particularly jazz, from a very young age. He was playing in Mobile-area Big Bands before finishing high school. After high school, Swingle graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Cincinnati...
) – 2:18 - Stephen Foster Medley: "Old Folks at Home"; "Beautiful Dreamer"; "Camptown Races"; "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair" (FosterStephen FosterStephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
) – 3:26
- from the opera, Porgy and BessPorgy and BessPorgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
(GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
):
- "My Man's Gone Now" – 2:51
- "It Ain't Necessarily So" – 1:59
- "Summertime" – 1:58
- "I Got Plenty of Nothin'" – 2:03
- "Bess You Is My Woman" – 2:40
Personnel
Vocals:- Christiane LegrandChristiane LegrandChristiane Legrand was a French singer.Legrand was born in Paris, the daughter of film composer Raymond Legrand, who wrote "Irma la Douce."She studied piano and classical music from the time she was four...
– soprano - Nicole Darde – soprano
- Hélène Devos – alto
- Claudine Meunier – alto
- Ward SwingleWard SwingleWard Swingle is an American vocalist and jazz musician.Swingle was born in Mobile, Alabama. He studied music, particularly jazz, from a very young age. He was playing in Mobile-area Big Bands before finishing high school. After high school, Swingle graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Cincinnati...
– tenor, arranger - Joseph Noves – tenor
- Jean Cussac – bass
- José Germain – bass
Rhythm section:
- Jacky Cavallero – double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- Roger Fugen – drums