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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

On The Rocks - Joe Mooney

Joe Mooney
On The Rocks
The Joe Mooney Quartet
Decca Records DL 8468

This one is available online for purchase/download so I will not be posting a sample. But I thought that the cover was pretty hot, so here you have it.

I'm not a big fan of the accordion but this album really worked for me. The recording is a bluesy,  swinging jive blend that is really a showcase for Mooney smokey vocal treatments.

Other members of Mooney's group include Gaetan "Gate" Frega - bass, Andy Fitzgerald - clarinet and Jack Hotop - Guitar.

Here's some info from the back cover that isn't to be found on Mooney's wiki page: Joe Mooney broke into music and radio simultaneously by working after school on a radio station in his native Paterson, New Jersey. Crossing the river to New York, Joe progressed to programs on CBS, NBC and other stations until he migrated to Cincinnati, where he worked on station WLW.

He left radio in 1936 and turned to the business of arranging. After writing for such bands as Buddy Rodgers, Paul Whiteman and Les Brown, he organized his first quartet.

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