View source for West Side Story (Cal Tjader album)

{{Infobox album
| name       = West Side Story
| type       = Album
| artist     = [[Cal Tjader]]
| cover      = West Side Story (Cal Tjader album).jpg
| alt        =
| released   = January 1, 1961
| recorded   = October 18, 1960
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Jazz]]
| length     =
| label      = [[Fantasy Records|Fantasy]]<br><small>3310 (mono) / 8054 (stereo)</small>
| producer   =
| chronology = [[Cal Tjader]]
| prev_title = Demasiado Caliente
| prev_year  = 1960
| next_title = Live and Direct
| next_year  = 1961
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = ''[[Allmusic]]''
| rev1Score = {{rating|2.5|5}}<ref name=Allmusic>Yanow, Scott [http://www.allmusic.com/album/west-side-story-jazz-version-mw0000875003 "Cal Tjader: West Side Story (Jazz Version)"]. All Music. Retrieved 2014 -11-05.</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''
| rev2Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name=BB:SSP>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nx0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=Tjader+%22West+Side+Story%22&pg=PA38 "Reviews and Ratings of New Albums: Jazz LP's – ✭✭✭✭ Strong Sales Potential"]. ''Billboard''. December 31, 1960. Retrieved 2014-11-05.</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''
| rev3Score = favorable<ref name=CSM>Hufford, Kenneth. "Jazz View of Musicals'". ''The Christian Science Monitor''. February 14, 1961. Retrieved 2014-11-05 via Proquest.</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[High Fidelity (magazine)|High Fidelity]]''
| rev4Score = favorable<ref name=HiFi>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SOM5AAAAIAAJ&q=Tjader+%22West+Side+Story%22+intitle:High+intitle:Fidelity "Cal Tjader: 'West Side Story'"]. High Fidelity. Vol. 11, No. 1. January 1961. Retrieved 2014-11-05.</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Washington Post]]''
| rev5Score = favorable<ref name=TonyGieske>Gieske, Tony. "Accent on Jazz: Some Music Is Only Fit For That Pit". The Washington Post. January 15, 1961. Retrieved 2014-11-05 via Proquest.</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide]]''
| rev6Score = {{rating|2|5}}<ref name=RSJRG>{{Cite book
|editor-last=Swenson
|editor-first=J.
| author-link =
| year = 1985
| title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide
| publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone
| location = USA
| isbn = 0-394-72643-X
| pages = 192
}}</ref>
}}
'''''West Side Story''''' is an album featuring American vibraphonist [[Cal Tjader]], consisting of musical numbers from [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s ''[[West Side Story]]'' in jazz arrangements, by Tjader's pianist and musical director [[Clare Fischer]], without vocals. It was recorded in October 1960 and released on the [[Fantasy Records|Fantasy]] label in January 1961 as Fantasy 3310 / 8054 (reissued on LP in 1968, in stereo only, as Fantasy 8379). On July 30, 2002, Fantasy would reissue it – along with the 1962 LP ''[[Cal Tjader Plays Harold Arlen]]'' – on CD as ''Cal Tjader Plays Harold Arlen and West Side Story''.
Notwithstanding their respective billing, '''''West Side Story''''' devotes relatively little space to Tjader's – or any – improvisation, and thus remains notable, more as an early showcase for Fischer's arranging and orchestral prowess, and as the first recorded document of the pair's longstanding association.{{#tag:ref|Or, more accurately, the first such document made ''public''. While it's clear the Harold Arlen LP (3330 / 8072) was not released until  January 1962,<ref>[http://www.bsnpubs.com/fantasy/fantasy/03fantasy3300.html Fantasy Album Discography, Part 3]. Both Sides Now Publications. Retrieved 2013-02-07. See also:
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=RRYEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Harold+Arlen+%22Cal+Tjader%22&pg=PA26 "Special Merit Albums: Jazz"]. ''Billboard''. February 17, 1962. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
*Gieske, Tony. "New Arrangements are Long Overdue". ''The Washington Post''. January 24, 1962. "Fischer's arrangements for one side of ''Cal Tjader Plays Harold Arlen'' (Fantasy 3330) are marked by an unashamed eclecticism."</ref> if the 2002 CD reissue notes can be believed, it was actually ''recorded'' in June 1960, well before ''WSS''. Fischer himself did not play on the date; his participation was confined to arranging the five orchestral tracks which comprised the LP's second side.|group=lower-alpha}}
==Reception==
In January 1961, having approached this ''[[West Side Story]]'' adaptation with few expectations, ''[[High Fidelity (magazine)|High Fidelity]]'''s reviewer was pleasantly surprised:
<blockquote> Just when it seemed that the idea of doing jazz versions of Broadway scores had been proven pointless, along come Tjader and arranger Clare Fischer with a brilliantly apt treatment of "West Side Story."<ref name=HiFi/></blockquote>
''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' concurred, citing Fischer's work in particular:
<blockquote>A highly polished and feelingful musical interpretation of "West Side Story" is the latest LP by Cal Tjader. The music has been specially arranged by Clare Fischer and his work is particularly in tune with the original.<ref name=BB:SSP/></blockquote>
Reviewing the album's first single, "[[Maria (1956 song)|Maria]]," ''Billboard'' was even more effusive, especially regarding the writing: "An intriguing arrangement... with strings and vibes featured. Delightful harmonies are introduced here." ''Billboard's'' B-side assessment (of the uptempo, non-orchestral rendition of "[[Cool (Leonard Bernstein song)|Cool]]") was likewise framed primarily in terms of Fischer's involvement: "... this time, much more in a driving framework. Another good arrangement."<ref name=BB:SSP/>
''[[The Washington Post]]'s'' Tony Gieske also focused on Fischer's contribution, and in somewhat greater detail:{{#tag:ref|Gieske also singles out Fischer's groundbreaking work on [[A Portrait of Duke Ellington#Reception|A Portrait of Duke Eliington]] and, in somewhat greater detail, Fischer's five tracks on [[Cal Tjader Plays Harold Arlen#Reception|Cal Tjader Plays Harold Arlen]].|group=lower-alpha}}
<blockquote>"And on a remarkable new album, arranger Clare Fischer does at least three things that I wish [[Sid Ramin|Ramin]] and [[Robert Russell Bennett]] would listen to. First, he makes a nice little combo of tuba, French horn, flute and trombone, adding fresh colors to a Bernstein score which is itself one of the few which seems to attend in the least to how the orchestra sounds. Second, he makes the fiddles cool it with that fruity vibrato, opening them up so they sound like a few violins instead of a bad imitation of a lot of violins.</blockquote><blockquote>And in the third, he has a real rhythm section – [[Shelly Manne]], [[Red Mitchell]], [[Mongo Santamaria|Mongo]] and himself – instead of two bored automatons.<ref name=TonyGieske/></blockquote>
==Track listing==
:''All compositions by [[Leonard Bernstein]] and [[Stephen Sondheim]], except as indicated.''
# "Prologue" (Leonard Bernstein) / "The Jet Song" – 7:42
# "[[Something's Coming (song)|Something's Coming]]" – 5:04
# "Maria Interlude" – 1:28
# "[[Maria (West Side Story song)|Maria]]" – 2:48
# "[[Tonight (1956 song)|Tonight]]" – 2:08
# "[[America (West Side Story song)|America]]" – 3:59
# "[[Cool (West Side Story song)|Cool]]" – 3:51
# "[[One Hand, One Heart]]" – 1:50
# "[[I Feel Pretty]]" / "[[Somewhere (song)|Somewhere]]" – 6:39
==Personnel==
{{Div col}}
*[[Cal Tjader]] – [[vibraphone]]
*[[Clare Fischer]] – [[piano]], [[celesta|celeste]]
*Lonnie Hewitt – piano
*[[George Roberts (trombonist)|George Roberts]] – [[trombone]] (tracks 1, 2, 6)
*[[Red Callender]] – [[tuba]] (tracks 1, 2, 6)
*Vincent D'Rosa, James Decker, Richard Perissi – [[French horn]]s (tracks 1, 2, 6)
*[[Paul Horn (musician)|Paul Horn]] – [[flute]] (tracks 1, 2, 6)
*Gerald Vinci, Marshall Sosson, [[Herman Clebanoff]], Amerigo Merino, Leonard Malarsky, Robert Barene, Jack L. Pepper, Henry Sugar, Alvin Dinkin – [[violin]]s (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 9)
*Virginia Majewski – [[viola]] (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 9)
*Victor Gottlieb – [[cello]] (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 9)
*Carol Gotthoffer – [[harp]] (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 9)
*[[Red Mitchell]], Victor Venegas – [[double bass|bass]]
*[[Shelly Manne]], [[Milt Holland]] – [[drum kit|drums]]
*[[Mongo Santamaria]] – [[conga]]
*[[Willie Bobo]] – drums, [[timbales]]{{div col end}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Cal Tjader}}
{{West Side Story}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:West Side Story}}
[[Category:1960 albums]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by Clare Fischer]]
[[Category:Cal Tjader albums]]
[[Category:Fantasy Records albums]]
[[Category:Orchestral jazz albums]]
[[Category:West Side Story|Tjader album]]