Revisiting A&M Records No. 38
Artie Butler: ‘Have You Met Miss Jones?’ (May/June ’68)
First of all: get a load of that groovy cover! Easily my favorite from this late-‘60s run of CTI releases circulated by Mr. A’s & Mr. M’s burgeoning boutique.
Couldn’t tell you a thing about it other than veteran photographer Pete Turner got the shot, and from underneath what appears to be a sun-shading umbrella. But with a smile like that, this flower child surely belongs somewhere on Arthur Fleck’s family tree.
Now, about Mr. Butler, who turned 82 earlier this month …
He ranks well among those industry movers and shakers whose careers were storied yet largely flew under the radar. A Leiber & Stoller protégé who began as a Brill Building pianist, Butler went on to produce a solid, often sparkling body of work, principally as an arranger.
Among his credits as such: ‘Leader of the Pack’ and ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’ for the Shangri-La’s, ‘Solitary Man’ and ‘Cherry, Cherry’ for Neil Diamond, ‘Chapel of Love’ for the Dixie Cups, ‘Copacabana’ for Barry Manilow, ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia’ for Vicki Lawrence … perhaps most notably ‘What a Wonderful World’ for Louis Armstrong.
And do you, like me, really dig that piano lick on Joe Cocker’s version of ‘Feelin’ Alright’? That’s also Artie Butler.
Strictly a behind-the-scenes man — which is why this snazzy easy-listening gem, very much in the Alpert/Mendes/Quincy vein, is the only album for which he’s headliner, not counting later film scores like ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ and ‘The Rescuers.’
It isn’t hard to understand why Butler would score a starring role at this point in his career, for he was clearly soaring fast. His arrangements of so many mid-‘60s pop hits had brought him to A&M’s rapidly expanding roster of burgeoning talents; Alpert and Moss started tapping him for sessions shortly after the success of Armstrong’s indelible chart-topper.
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Butler leapt into ’68 head first with this set, calling in an expansive ensemble capped by Herbie Hancock (on loan from Blue Note) and bassist Ron Carter for three sessions at the start of the year. They regrouped a fourth time in late February. That date plus the timeframe and catalog numbering that places releases from Wes Montgomery (SP 3006, April) and Nat Adderley (SP 3005, earlier) ahead of Butler’s LP (SP 3007) is why I suspect ‘Miss Jones’ arrived sometime in May or June, maybe later.
Is it worth hearing? Sure, even if this kinda kitsch isn’t your bag even when it’s played impeccably. The keys work from Hancock alone is worth at least four or five songs’ worth of attention, and it’ll grab ya within the first minute of marimba-dappled opener ‘The Loop’; tons o’ fun to hear Herbie making like Ramsey Lewis just because he can.
I could do without the flute-filled rendition of ‘When I’m Sixty-Four,’ an already cutesy tune Butler arranges into a ‘Dating Game’ theme. It’s also fairly interchangeable with the Latin lilt he applies to the Frank & Nancy favorite ‘Something Stupid.’
But with time-capsule fodder like this, I nitpick less. If it makes me smile, it merits a second spin.