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For tonight’s Bond on Vinyl post, we are still listening to music related to Goldfinger!
Harold (Hal) Serra was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1928. When Hal was in his teens, he went to New York City to study becoming a jazz pianist. Hal not only became a pianist, but also an arranger and a composer. He eventually formed his own trio, which was featured on NBC’s ‘The Today Show’ for more than two years, until the show changed its format. Besides ‘The Today Show’ performances, Serra wrote and recorded television commercials for multiple well-known products.
Serra played and conducted in the New York club scene for performers such as Woody Allen and Ella Fitzgerald. He even worked and traveled with singer Julie London. One interesting project that Serra oversaw was transcribing the music recordings from the album ‘Charlie Parker with Strings’ for a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall. Another unique jazz project would be recording albums in the 1960s and 1970s for Statler Records.
Formed in the 1940s by a professional dancer and dance instructor, the Statler Records label was known for recording popular music for use as dance instruction and gymnastics. While the early decades saw this music on vinyl records, it evolved into instructional CDs and DVDs before shutting down sometime around 2008. Fortunately, I was able to find this 1967 recording of Jazz “Hot and Cool” which features big-band jazz, ragtime, and swing covers for “dancing and physical fitness needs.” Now, I may not be dancing to this album, but it kicks off with a swing version of ‘King of the Road’ and also features yet another cool jazzy cover of ‘Goldfinger’ on it. I cannot find a recording of this album online, so you will have to seek out a physical copy if you want it for your own James Bond-themed physical fitness needs. 😛
133. Hal Serra And His Orchestra – Jazz “Hot and Cool”
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