Holiday For Trumpet/That Old Feeling/Easy Street/Baby Won’t You Please Come Home/Till There Was You/ Margie/Swing Low Sweet Chariot/Theme From Carnival/Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me/Rumpus/Memories Of You/I’ll Take Romance
Trumpeter Al Hirt moves away from his traditional Dixieland fare on Horn A-Plenty to provide an eclectic mix of popular, standard and show tunes with arrangements by Billy May. (US:24)
"In an effort to showcase him in a different musical setting, Hirt was teamed with arranger and composer Billy May to record the album Horn A-Plenty. It was a departure from the Dixieland material that he was generally associated with. Covering an eclectic variety of popular, standard and show tunes, it featured a big-band supplemented by timpani, French horns and harp.”
“Backed by a big band arranged by Billy May, Horn A-Plenty was the label's push to establish Hirt as the virtuoso he truly was, rather than building on his reputation as a Dixieland horn-blower.”
“Coupled with Billy May and his arrangements and hand picked musicians, it is a powerhouse of brass and swing band performances. Just the trumpet back-up makes this a rare and sweet memory of big band trumpet music.”
“I'll Take Romance, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and That Old Feeling are done in a blistering up and down rendition that only Al Hirt can pull off. I'm sure Al was 'blowing away' the sidemen behind him with such high and low octave work at such rapidity that the boys were talking about this gig for years afterwards. Perhaps the most stimulating and bittersweet arrangement is on Memories Of You, which just flattens your mind and emotion with such intense feelings of a love lost.”
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