Ray Noble And His Orchestra - Love Tales (Hot + Bowlly)

Ray Noble and His Orchestra play "Love Tales", featuring timeless vocals by Al Bowlly, a glorious trumpet solo by Nat Gonella and an exemplary arrangement by Ray Noble. Right from the violin-viola-trumpet intro, Ray Noble and the cream of the British dance band world create a record that transcends the ephemeral nature of popular music.

RAY NOBLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ray Noble, arranger, directing: Max Goldberg and Nat Gonella - trumpets / Tony Thorpe and ?Joe Ferrie - trombones / Ernie Ritte - alto sax, baritone sax / Bob Wise - alto sax / Reg Pink - tenor sax / Eugene Pini, Nobby Knight and Adolph Zimbler - violins / Harry Berly - viola (possibly 2nd tenor sax) / Harry Jacobson - piano / Bert Thomas - guitar / Tiny Winters - string bass / Bill Harty - drums / Al Bowlly - vocals

Recorded London, February 7, 1933

OB-6435-2 Love Tales HMV B-6319

After Bowlly's mellifluous vocals, Nat Gonella springs into action with a superb open horn trumpet solo. Of course, one detects the pervading influence of Louis Armstrong in Gonella's extemporisations, but Nat also tells his own tale of genuine passion. His solo is divided up in an interesting way - he starts off with an intro that almost interrupts Bowlly before he has finished, then launches into 16 bars of open horn, followed by Max Goldberg playing the middle eight release on straight mute trumpet (unusually for Max, he restrains himself!), then back comes Nat, not for the usual eight bars (to make up a 32 bar chorus) but six bars, allowing the sax section to play an intro into their chorus, which has all of Ray Noble's scoring hallmarks, especially in the way the question and answers passages are phrased. The coda features both the brass and sax sections, with Gonella riding over the top like a man set free.

The arrangement epitomises the way that both Ray Noble and Lew Stone scored for dance bands at the time - creating light and shade by using dynamics that drew from the classics as much as from jazz. These were not just golden years for British dance bands but also for British arrangers of dance music.

[anthonyfrew]

Al Bowlly - the greatest middle-of-the-night voice of them all - With Ray and Nat - such talents

[jaywolf]

This is wonderful. Every part of it. ❤️

[barrymccanna]

What a wonderful number, which I'd not heard for quite some time. My enjoyment, as always, is enhanced by your commentary on the arrangement and its interpretation. Many thanks.

[phaasch]

Bravo, Nick! This has always been one of my favorite Noble performances, too, and some of Nat's very best playing as a sideman (that fabulous lip-trill after Max Goldberg's middle 8 is stunning). IIRC, this was his first session with Ray, and he makes the most of it.
Lovely transfer, as ever, and assuredly more vibrant than the World Records reissue, albeit of 40 years ago. Salutations, and hope you have as happy a Christmas as is possible under this new world order.