Saturday 17 September 2016

Ralph Sharon born 17 September 1923


Ralph Simon Sharon (September 17, 1923 – March 31, 2015) was an Anglo-American jazz pianist and arranger.
Ralph Sharon was a Londoner, born in Bethnal Green on September 17, 1923. His father was English and his mother American. She had been a professional pianist, accompanying silent films. On leaving school, Sharon worked in a factory before joining a series of professional dance bands, including those of Ted Heath and Frank Weir. He led his own recording and broadcasting sextet before emigrating to the US in 1953. He took American citizenship in 1958.
                  
             Here's "Friend's Blues" from above 1958 EP  


It was his devotion to jazz which prompted the move and, for the first few years, he was entirely immersed in the New York jazz world. Sharon had never even heard of Tony Bennett when the singer invited him to audition as his accompanist in 1957. He recalled: “I thought, 'This guy sounds pretty good.’ At the end, he said, 'How’d you like to come with me?’ I said, 'Come with you where?’ He said, 'Everywhere!’ ”
In 1961, Sharon was responsible for introducing Bennett to I Left My Heart in San Francisco, the song which made him an undisputed star. He had been given the sheet music some time before, but had put it in a drawer and forgotten it. He came across it while looking for a shirt.

They tried it out in a hotel bar one night and the bartender called out: “If you guys record that song, I’ll buy the first copy.” If it hadn’t been for Ralph, Bennett observed: “I wouldn’t have that song, which has made me welcome all over the world.” It’s success was so unexpected that it was originally a B-side of a single.
They parted amicably in 1966, when Sharon decided to move to Los Angeles, where he again found himself accompanying singers, among them Nancy Wilson and Rosemary Clooney. This was not a good period for Tony Bennett. He was involved in constant tussles with Columbia records over his choice of material.
By the end of the decade he was without a recording contract and increasingly out of the public eye. Eventually, with his son Danny as his manager, Bennett’s fortunes recovered and he and Sharon were reunited in 1979.
The next two decades saw one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of popular music. By sticking to what had now become recognised as the classic style of American song, with a strong jazz influence, Tony Bennett attracted a new audience among all age groups. Albums such as The Art Of Excellence (1986), a collection of songs accompanied solely by Sharon’s piano, and MTV Unplugged (1994), which won that year’s Grammy of the Year award, stood out in a long line of successful recordings.
“I got Tony into jazz – he’d say that himself,” Sharon told an interviewer in 1988. “He found a whole new audience and a whole new way to phrase and present himself. Now, he couldn’t be without it.”
Ralph Sharon retired from touring in 2002 and settled in Boulder, Colorado. Retirement did not, however, keep him away from the piano or from the bandstand. The already lively local jazz scene received him with open arms and he was soon leading his own trio, commuting regularly between Boulder and Denver.

In addition, he continued recording on his own account for some years. Between 1995 and 2007, for instance, he made 10 albums devoted to work of the great American songwriters. He was still performing until three months before his death.
He died from natural causes in his home in Boulder, Colorado, March 31, 2015. He was 91.
(Info mainly from the Telegraph obit) 

7 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Ralph Sharon's All-Star Sextet - Easy Jazz” (1954) go here:

http://www100.zippyshare.com/v/eS9Hrcle/file.html

1 Manhattan
2 Two Sleepy People
3 Have You Met Miss Jones
4 Man On The Couch
5 Just Because We're Kids
6 Darn That Dream
7 Mood for Mitch
8 There's A Small Hotel
9 Love Walked In
10 Can't Get Out Of This Mood
11 Plutocrat At The Automat
12 Slightly Oliver

Alto Saxophone – Jack Montrose
Bass – Charles Mingus
Drums – Kenny Clarke
Guitar – Joe Puma

A big thank you to SchnikSchnak blog for link.

For “Ralph Sharon Sextet - Around The World In Jazz” go here:

http://www50.zippyshare.com/v/vZWgsZOh/file.html

1 Tipperary Fairy 3:06
2 Strictly Occidental 3:37
3 Ask an Alaskian 3:16
4 Blue in Peru 3:00
5 Prettily Italy 3:08
6 Picadilly Panic 3:08
7 Sorta Spanish 2:54
8 Parisienne Eyeful 2:49
9 Stateside Panic 2:54
10 Hassle in Havana 2:38
11 Gibraltar Rock 3:16
12 Just a Japanese Side-Man 2:09

Personnel
Eli "Lucky" Thompson - ts
Ralph Sharon - p
Eddie Costa - vb
Joe Puma - g
Oscar Pettiford - b
Osie Johnson – dr

Recorded in New York City ; January 9 & 10 and February 5 & 7, 1957.

For “Ralph Sharon Sextet - Mr. And Mrs. Jazz” go here:

http://www52.zippyshare.com/v/pmn5jRP3/file.html

http://www52.zippyshare.com/v/WySdjte2/file.html

1 It Don't Mean A Thing (Ellington, Mills) 4:12
2 A Nightingale Can Sing The Blues (Marks, Charles) 5:36
3 A Fine Romance (Kern, Fields) 3:05
4 Huguette Waltz (Friml, Hooker) 2:11
5 I Could Have Told You (Sigman, Williams) 4:23
6 A Trout, No Doubt (Sharon) 3:14
7 Mynah Lament (Sharon) 5:59
8 With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair (Lawrence, Edwards) 2:58
9 Just You, Just Me (Greer, Klages) 5:08
10 Nothing At All (Frigo) 4:46
11 That Goldblatt Magic (Sharon) 4:44

Personnel
J.R. Monterose - ts
Eddie Costa - vb
Ralph Sharon - p
Joe Puma - g
Milt Hinton - b
Jo Jones - dr
Sue Ryan - vc [# 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10]

Recorded in New York City ; November, 1956

A big thank you to Melanchthon @ the Ploomysunday blog for links

blbs said...

Hi Bob,
Any chance to reup Ralph's Easy jazz, please?
Thank you in advance

boppinbob said...

hello blbs, Here's Ralph
https://www.upload.ee/files/14122402/Ralph_Sharon___Easy_jazz.rar.html

blbs said...

Thank you very much, Bob.
A true obscure gem worth looking for.
Saludos

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

Please reup

boppinbob said...

hello GSO, The only album I have is Easy jazz which I've reposted here:

https://www.upload.ee/files/14769426/Ralph_Sharon___Easy_jazz.rar.html

All the other links were active at the time of posting but I never downloaded them. The blog seems to be still active but you'll have to ask for the albums here:

https://plooomymonday.blogspot.com/search/label/Ralph%20Sharon

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

Many thanks