Billy Vaughn - 1962's Greatest Hits

I don't know about you, but today feels like a good day for some elevator music. I probably use that term more broadly than most people, and i rightly or wrongly include orchestral/big band arrangements of popular music regardless of intent. Today i'm listening to Billy Vaughn's arrangements of hit songs from 1962.

I could probably do a reasonable survey of musicians whose master recordings were cremated in the 2008 Universal fire, and Billy Vaughn is one of them. His story is pretty interesting. He enlisted in the National Guard for a year, but then that pesky WWII thing happened. Luckily, he was considered too important as a musician and composer to play dodge ball with bullets and heavy artillery, and pretty easily made a career out of playing any instrument lying around after it was over. He went to college, fell back on being a barber when he couldn't find a gig, and pretty much just made anybody who crossed his path happy and/or wealthy. By the numbers, he was the single most successful band leader of the "rock era," and people paid good money to have his arrangements of hit singles playing in the background. I can't argue, this is quite good. If i only had an adverb and an adjective to describe his style, "tastefully adventurous" might do the trick. He wasn't afraid to let the electric guitarist plink out a full chorus, then play a smooth but hip alto sax line while the choir does a subtle theremin impression. He's no Marty Paich, but this is after all mass market music with a distinct Country & Western foundation. You can tell he's being restrained, but he gets some real boozy jabs in there too.

Don't get me wrong, lots of people hate his work. I disagree with most of the negative things people say because i disagree with their approach to criticism in general. Most critics work from the notion that whatever type of music they are talking about has a canon, and anybody putting out a record gets scrutinized for inclusion. Vaughn sometimes gets told to stick his Country Schmaltz where the sun doesn't shine, but i don't think that's fair. Country Schmaltz is his thing. That's like criticizing Van Gogh for his visible brush strokes; you've completely missed the point, and i'll be the jackass who yells "air ball" as i walk by. Bandleaders who do this kind of thing aren't trying to appeal to you, they are actually telling their own audiences it's okay to like the new crazy stuff the kids are making, it's real music too and recontextualizing it is actually a good thing. Artists make statements about their subject matter, not the other way around. And, let me tell you, "Moon River" is pretty awesome as a harmonica solo.

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