THE INVITATIONS (w/ Russ Garcia and his Orchestra): R.S.V.P (1959)

THE INVITATIONS
(CB, de Londres)
Graças a mais uma inestimável colaboração do nosso amigo EDSON MENDES, aí está mais um álbum dos THE INVITATIONS - o primeiro da carreira deste ótimo quinteto vocal masculino, havaiano. Desta vez, são acompanhados pela orquestra do grande RUSSEL GARCIA.
Valeu, mais uma vez, EDSON!
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ALBUM REVIEW
Buddy Fo would cut class from Roosevelt High School to watch the Richard Kauhi Quartette perform. In the 1950s, the group-which included Sonny Kamaka, Johnny Costello and Jimmy Kaku-seemed to elevate four-part harmony to a new level.
After the Quartette eventually disbanded, Fo and Kamaka both wound up as beach boys on Kühiö Beach. "I told him I wanted to put a group together, but I didn't want it to sound like what he did with Richard," Fo says. "We needed to have a very unique sound. Our two strongest influences were two haole groups, The Four Freshmen and the Hi-Los." Fo recruited Quartette alum and bassist Costello and pianist Clem Low. "That was the beginning of The Invitations," Fo recalls. "We went to Liberty House and bought matching white pants and red shirts and had our names embroidered on them. And we'd jump in my old '36 Ford-the kine you needed to push to start-and we'd practice every day for hours, while we drove up and down Kaläkaua Avenue." The Invitations started out playing for free at the International Marketplace. When they started packing in the crowds, Waikïkï entertainer Martin Denny noticed and arranged a meeting for them with his label, Liberty Records. The execs were impressed
by The Invitations' distinct blend of traditional Hawaiian, jazz and four-part harmony. They signed them immediately. In Hollywood, the group was backed by the famed Russ Garcia orchestra, which included legendary musicians like Barney Kessel and Laurindo Almeida. Those sessions produced such classics as "Sweet Someone" and "Susie Anna E," songs you can still hear on local radio today. "Not many people can sing how they did, because it's so challenging," says local jazz guitarist Byron Yasui. "They were incredible vocalists and musicians, and they deserve all the recognition they can get."

(Text published on http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/June-2004/The-50-Greatest-Hawaii-Albums-of-All-Time/ )
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MINHA OPINIÃO: Este foi o primeiro álbum gravado pelos INVITATIONS. O modelo (canções havaianas devidamente "jazzificadas", ao lado de alguns "standards") foi mantido em seu segundo álbum - The Invitations w/ Billy May, postado no blog há cerca de um ano. Desta vez a orquestra foi arranjada e regida pelo excelente RUSS GARCIA, nome pouco conhecido do grande público mas respeitadíssimo entre músicos, principalmente pelo seu extraordinário livro de arranjos que, nos anos 50 e 60 era uma espécie de "bíblia dos arranjadores" (ao lado dos de Henry Mancini e Gordon Delamont). O trabalho de arranjos de Garcia neste álbum é muito interessante: armou uma "cozinha" convencional, presente em todas as faixas, ao lado de 3 naipes diferentes de instrumentos que atuam separadamente em diversas faixas, alternadamente: um quinteto de cellos, outro de guitarras e um terceiro, de trombones. Destaque para a presença de LAURINDO DE ALMEIDA & BARNEY KESSEL entre os guitarristas. Repetindo o que escrevi quando da postagem do outro álbum, os INVITATIONS e seu fundador BUDDY FO são legendas no Hawai. E não é para menos: afinal, a música havaiana, tal como a conhecemos, não havia ainda sido objeto de uma abordagem "jazzy", como eles fizeram, sob a saudável influência e inspiração dos Hi-lo´s e Four Freshmen. Beleza pura!
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THE INVITATIONS (w/ Russ Garcia and his Orchestra): R.S.V.P (1959)

The Invitations:
SONNY KAMAKA
ALEX KAECK
BUDDY FO
CLEM LOW
JOHN COSTELLO

Orchestra arranged and conducted by RUSS GARCIA

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
1.Nani Waimea
2.Pretty Red Hibiscus
3.Ka Makani Kaili Aloha
4.Mr. Wonderful
5.Hawaiian Hospitality
6.Invitation
7.Sweet Someone
8.Princess Poo-Poo- Ly
9.Hawaii Calls
10.Susie Anna E
11.Mauna Loa
12.Lei Aloha Lei Makamae (Hawaiian wedding song)

THE INVITATIONS: The Invitations w / Billy May and his orchestra

THE INVITATIONS
Vivendo e aprendendo...Graças á colaboração do nosso amigo EDSON MENDES, estou conhecendo agora este grupo vocal, formado nos anos 50 no HAWAI. É um quinteto vocal masculino, com nítida influência dos conjuntos vocais da vintage e dos Hi-lo´s, Mel-Tones, etc. E neste álbum, são acompanhados pela orquestra do grande BILLY MAY. Coisa finíssima, como vocês poderão constatar. Valeu, EDSON!
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THE INVITATIONS
It's been well over 50 years, since Buddy Fo put together the Invitations with Sonny Kamaka, Johnny Costello and Clem Low, and brought a new sound to Hawaiian music. Fo describes it as a blending of older styles of Hawaiian music with ideas culled from the American big band and pop music groups he heard at USO concerts during World War II. "Here you're raised with this Hawaiian music ... and then you hear these other ways that you can go about it. You hear harmonies, orchestration, horn sections doing these parts. Most of the local kids of my age at that time, they don't read music, we just get ear, and we'd try to imitate it on an ukulele or guitar. And then you get people like Mel Torme and the Mel-Tones, singing four-part harmonies, and you think, what if I took 'Roselani' and start using augmented and diminished chords," Fo, an engaging storyteller, said earlier this week, sharing his memories as we talked in his beachfront home adjacent to Kahana Bay. FO'S place in Hawaiian music history begins with the founding of the original Invitations after he returned
home from military service. He says it took a little bit of guile to get the group going. He and Kamaka had decided to start a vocal group that would draw on the musical ideas popularized by the Four Freshmen, the Hi-Los and Richard Kauhi. The Invitations got their first job by agreeing to play for free. Fo used the same
gambit to get the group a shot at a club in the International Market Place. That, too, paid off and the group moved up to the larger room. Martin Denny, who was rawing record crowds at Don The Beachcomber's nearby, noticed his new neighbors
and liked what he heard. Denny was already established as a national recording artist and arranged for the vocal group to sing at a party for some of the label's higher-ups. The "suits" liked what they heard and the Invitations were signed to a recording contract. The Invitations were a huge hit, and long after disbanding to
pursue other interests, their legendary recordings continue to inspire other Hawaiian and local pop vocal groups. Several groups have been known for their vocal arrangements over the years, but Fo says none have duplicated what the Invitations did during their heyday.
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MINHA OPINIÃO - pelo que se lê aí em cima, os INVITATIONS e seu fundador BUDDY FO são legendas no Hawai. E não é para menos: afinal, a música havaiana, tal como a conhecemos, não havia ainda sido objeto de uma abordagem "jazzy", como fizeram os Invitations. O grupo, nitidamente inspirado nos Mel-Tones, Hi-lo´s e Four Freshmen, (como podemos constatar nas faixas mais conhecidas, "Too marvelous for words" e "Love
Letters in the Sand"), também fez uma releitura de alguns temas típicamente havaianos. A tarefa, apesar de árdua e quase impossível - pois a tradicional música havaiana não tem a menor ligação com as sofisticadas harmonias jazzísticas - foi bem sucedida. Mais uma prova de que talento é talento, em qualquer parte do mundo, em qualquer época. E ainda conta com o auxílio luxuoso do grande Billy May. OURO EM PÓ.

(*) Reitero meu agradecimento ao amigo EDSON MENDES que nos proporcionou o acesso a essa raridade, uma relíquia e inestimável contribuição para o acervo do CBVG.

(**) Ao ouvir este álbum, me lembrei imediatamente de outra postagem antológica: a dos HERMANOS CASTRO, pois a sonoridade dos grupos, em alguns momentos, é semelhante.
E não é mera coincidência, pois ambos os grupos beberam nas mesmas fontes...
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THE INVITATIONS: The Invitations w / Billy May and his orchestra

The Invitations:
SONNY KAMAKA
ALEX KAECK
BUDDY FO
CLEM LOW
JOHN COSTELLO

Orchestra arranged and conducted by BILLY MAY

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
Beyond the reef
Lenuanani
Says my heart
Leani
Out in the cold again
Hilo heattie cha cha
Hawaiian war chant
Twilight in Hawaii
Hawaiian war chant
Bali Ha´i
Goodnight Leilani
Love letters in the sand
Too marvelous for words