Strictly Instrumental (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Strictly Instrumental
Type = studio album
Artist = Bill Haley and His Comets


Released = December 14, 1959
Recorded = June 3, 1958; January 7, 1959; April 27, 1959; September 17-24, 1959 New York
Genre = Rock and Roll
Length =
Label = Decca Records
Producer = Milt Gabler
Reviews =
Last album = "Bill Haley's Chicks" (1959)
This album = "Strictly Instrumental" (1959)
Next album = "Bill Haley and His Comets" (1960)

Recorded over the span of more than 18 months, "Strictly Instrumental" was the ninth rock and roll album by Bill Haley & His Comets, and their final album of new material for Decca Records (although Decca would release previously unissued recordings during the 1960s). Produced by Milt Gabler (the last full album he would produce for Haley), the album collects instrumental recordings made by Haley and the Comets between June 1958 and their final Decca recording sessions in September 1959. (The band subsequently began recording for Warner Bros. Records in January 1960.)

As the title of the album suggests, all of the songs on this album were instrumental in nature, with the exception of some ensemble singing on the track "Chiquita Linda". Bill Haley's involvement in the recordings was a matter of conjecture until research for the Bear Family Records box set "The Decca Years and More" in the early 1990s confirmed his presence. Recording session information compiled by music historian Chris Gardner reveals that no less than three different bass guitar players are heard on the varying tracks: Al Rex, Al Pompilli and Al Rappa.

The album contained two minor chart hits: "Joey's Song", which made the charts in 1959, and "Skokiaan", which became the band's last new North American charting recording when it was released as a single in 1960. This album also featured Haley's last recordings to be produced by Milt Gabler, with the exception of a single ("The Green Door"/"Yeah, She's Evil!") recorded for Decca in 1964.

Track listing

# Joey's Song
# Music! Music! Music!
# Mack the Knife
# In a Little Spanish Town
# Two Shadows
# Shaky
# Strictly Instrumental
# Skokiaan
# Puerto Rican Peddler
# Drowsy Waters
# Chiquita Linda
# The Catwalk

Personnel

* Bill Haley – rhythm guitar
* Franny Beecher – lead guitar
* Billy Williamson – steel guitar
* Johnny Grande – piano
* Ralph Jones – drums
* Rudy Pompilli - tenor saxophone
* Al Rex – bass guitar on 1 11
* Al Pompilli - bass guitar on 6 12
* Al Rappa - bass guitar on all others [ [http://thegardnerfamily.org/haley/discography/recordings.html Bill Haley Recordings ] ]

References

External links

* [http://thegardnerfamily.org/haley/discography/products.html Bill Haley discography]