Neal Hefti on Coral

Neal Hefti hasn't made many appearances on this blog, but his bands, arrangements and compositions are favorites of mine (well, maybe not the "Batman Theme").

Hefti made his name by composing and arranging for Woody Herman and other bands in the 40s. He directed a few sides for Mercury and Clef, but his first major contract was with Decca and its subsidiary Coral label, starting in 1951.

The young Neal Hefti

Hefti's initial output came out on singles, many of which were assembled on this 10-inch LP in 1953. It takes its title from "Coral Reef," the first instrumental the composer recorded for the label.

All songs therein are Hefti originals, mainly straight-ahead swingers that display the considerable skill and drive of his studio band. There aren't many solos, but you will hear contributions from Billy Taylor's piano and the leader's trumpet.

12-inch LP cover

Hefti moved on to RCA's new Label "X" at about the same time as this LP came out. (See my post of his Rudolf Friml album here.) But such defections don't deter record companies from capitalizing on their back catalogs, so in 1956 Coral repackaged Swingin' on Coral Reef as a 12-inch LP called The Band with Young Ideas by adding four songs from the same 1951-52 sessions. Two of these are Hefti compositions - "Waltzing on a Cloud" and "In Veradero." "Sahara's Aide" is one of the many classical Frankensongs that were popular about then, and "Charmaine" was a cover of Mantovani's British hit of the time. The latter has a vocal by the Cavaliers. I've transferred these added tunes from my copy of the 12-inch record, and have included them in the download.

Count Basie

During this time, Hefti was consolidating his reputation as a freelance band arranger and composer. He contributed "In Veradero" to the Stan Kenton band, and began his long association with the so-called "New Testament" Count Basie band. Among the first recordings for his reorganized band, Basie included Hefti's "Why Not?" and "Sure Thing," also assayed by the composer himself for this group of Coral sides. I've added the Basie recordings to the download so you can hear the considerable contrast between the two bands. The Basies are not my transfers, but I have remastered the sound.

Coral's sonics are well-balanced, but with a fair amount of reverb, which distances the band. You may notice the difference when you come to the Norman Granz-produced Basie sides. [Note (June 2023): These recordings have now been remastered in vivid ambient stereo.]

By the way, I believe the photo of Hefti on the 10- and 12-inch LPs is the same. Looks like they flopped the photo for the Coral Reef album, judging by the part in his hair.