INSTRUMENTAL MELODIES

Someone asked me recently to name some vintage Instrumental Hits in the EMI publishing catalog. That request actually calls for clarification because
in the past, many non-vocal hits have been movie themes, such as the Ferrante & Teicher records in the 60's ("The Apartment", "Midnight Cowboy", etc) or the John Williams single of "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind".
To include all the key EMI-published film themes in the list which follows would extend it by several pages and this category is extensively covered
in an upcoming Motion Picture Theme breakdown.

Here then is a selected, alphabetical list of EMI INSTRUMENTAL THEMES which were composed and initially published without a lyric, and were not specifically created for motion pictures.

BLUE TANGO (Leroy Anderson)
A major million-selling instrumental hit in 1952 via four orchestral versions: Leroy Anderson's original on Decca, Hugo Winterhalter on RCA, Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians also on Decca, plus Les Baxter & His Orchestra on Capitol.

BREEZIN' (Bobby Womack)
Initially a hit for Gabor Szabo & Bobby Womack on Blue Thumb in '71 and then for George Benson on Warner Bros. in '76. The Szabo track comes
from his "High Contrast" album and, apart from he and Womack being on guitar, the session also featured Phil Upchurch on bass and Jim Keltner on drums.

CANADIAN SUNSET (Eddie Heywood)
Pianist Eddie Heywood wrote and initially recorded this composition with
Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra on an RCA hit single in 1956. Other versions include George Shearing (Capitol), Earl 'Fatha' Hines (Columbia), Floyd Cramer (RCA), plus Eddie Heywood's remake on his Liberty album "Golden Encores."

CARAVAN (Duke Ellington/Juan Tizol/Irving Mills)
Written in 1937 by Duke Ellington with one of his finest sidemen,
trombone player supreme, Juan Tizol. Among the many, varied recordings
of CARAVAN: Duke Ellington (Master/Columbia, RCA, Capitol & United
Artists), Dave Grusin (GRP), George Shearing (Capitol), Les Paul (Capitol), The Ventures (Liberty) and Duake Eddy on Gregmark.

DIAMONDS (Jerry Lordan)
Written by the same British composer who authored the Shadows/Jorgen Ingmann smash of 1960/1961, "Apache", DIAMONDS was a #1 UK smash
for the instrumental duo of bass guitarist Jet Harris and drummer Tony
Meehan (both former members of The Shadows) on British Decca in '63.
The Ventures cut DIAMONDS on one of their Liberty albums. Another
British beat-group instrumental favorite which The Ventures covered was
THE CRUEL SEA: a Top 20 hit on EMI's Parlophone label in '63 for The Dakotas (Billy J.Kramer's backing band) which was written by their lead guitarist, Mike Maxfield.

FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Leroy Anderson)
Never a chart hit in the US, this was a major pop seller in Europe in 1957 when two records of it were on the British hit parade: Leroy Anderson's
original Decca version and a local cover by Cyril Stapleton & His Orchestra. So popular was the tune that several other British artists also recorded it including Joe 'Mr. Piano' Henderson on Pye, EMI Columbia's pop pianist
Russ Conway, and classical pianist Semprini on HMV. (In 1959, Russ Conway became one of British EMI's biggest-selling artists with no less
than seven chart singles that year including two #1 hits: his self-composed,
under his real name Trevor Stanford, jangly piano pieces: SIDE SADDLE
and ROULETTE, both of which we publish here in the U.S.)

LET THERE BE DRUMS (Sander Nelson/Richard Podolor)
Following "Teen Beat", LET THERE BE DRUMS was a Top Ten smash-hit here and in Britain in '61 for west coast rock drummer, Sandy Nelson.
The tune was covered by, amongst others, The Ventures on Liberty, Cozy Cole on Love and years later, by ELO's Bev Bevan on Jet. Incidentally, co-writer (and Sandy's producer) Richard Podolor, who in later years produced such acts as Three Dog Night & Steppenwolf, cut a slew of instrumental records himself in the early 60's (he plays guitar) including the self-
composed THE RISING SURF, credited to Richie Allen & The Pacific
Surfers on an Imperial 45 in 1963.

ON THE TRAIL (Ferde Grofe)
The most memorable melody from Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite,"
this light classical favorite made the best-seller charts twice...first in 1932,
via an RCA recording by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra for whom
composer Grofe originally worked as a staff arranger; then in 1953, on
Capitol, by Ray Anthony & His Orchestra. Standout of the more
contemporary versions is one by Itzhak Perlman together with Oscar
Peterson on a Telarc album.

SLEIGH RIDE (Leroy Anderson)
All-time Christmas favorite, initially recorded by maestro Anderson himself
on Decca and then successfully 'covered' by The Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler on RCA in 1949. (Johnny Mathis's record of the lyric version (words
by Mitchell Parish) is played every yuletide).

STRANGER ON THE SHORE (Acker Bilk)
This evergreen favorite was written by British clarinet player Mr. Acker Bilk
for a BBC TV show. Former trad jazz bandleader Bilk then began a whole
new recording career playing sweeping melodies with a string chorale. His record of STRANGER ON THE SHORE was a monster hit around the world
in 1962 and, with a lyric added by publisher Robert Mellin, the song version
as recorded by The Drifters and by Andy Williams, also made chart noises that same year. Among the many other interpretations of the melody: Herb Alpert (A&M), Richard Clayderman (Columbia), Zamfir (Philips), Felix
Slatkin (Liberty), Martin Denny (Liberty) and Si Zentner (Liberty).

WHIPPED CREAM (Allen Toussaint)
In addition to his string of unforgettable rhythm & blues hit songs ranging
from "Working In The Coalmine" to "Mother-In-Law", Allen Toussaint also authored two lasting instrumental themes...one which EMI publishes,
namely "Whipped Cream" used by TV's "The Dating Game" it became a
Top 20 AC hit in 1965 for Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass on A&M.

WONDERLAND BY NIGHT (Klauss-Gunter Newman)
Bert Kaempfert & His Orchestra sailed to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in the first weeks of 1961 on Decca with this melody composed by fellow German, Klauss-Gunter Newman. It was also recorded by Richard Clayderman (Columbia) and Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra (Dot).

ROCK ON !
Alan Warner