Command 800
Producer: Enoch Light
Track listing: I’m in the Mood for Love / Whatever Lola Wants / Misirlou / I Surrender, Dear / Orchids in the Moonlight / I Love Paris / My Heart Belongs to Daddy / Tabu / The Breeze and I /Aloha Oe / Japanese Sandman / Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
April 25, 1960
13 weeks (nonconsecutive)
When veteran bandleader Enoch Light rounded up a group of session players, including Terry Snyder, Tony Mottola, Willie Rodriguez, Dick Hyman, Jack Lesberg, Teddy Sommer, Artie Marotti, Stanley Webb, and Domonic Cortese for a series of recording sessions in the summer of 1959, the musicians had no idea that the recording would change the way the world listened to music.
“We were all in the dark about it,” says guitarist Mottola, who along with Snyder was a member of the band on The Perry Como Show. “After we thought it was in the can,” Mottola says, “Terry kept telling me that he had gone in the studio again with Enoch to do some more things on xylophone, vibraphone, and bongos. He said, ‘I don’t know what the hell he’s doing, but I’m making a lot of money on these extra dates.'” Light wouldn’t even tell the session players the name of the album.
Although the musicians didn’t know it, Light, recording engineer Robert Fine, and arranger Lew Davies were on a mission. At the time, stereo technology was already more than a year old, but Light felt that no musical recording had yet taken full advantage of the two-channel separation of sound. With Persuasive Percussion, Light’s goal was to change that. For material, Light picked instrumental versions of a number of standards, including Cole Porter’s “I Love Paris” and “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.”
While Persuasive Percussion was in production, Light was also serving as the head of Grand Award Records, a label that he was a partner in that was eventually sold to ABC. Light offered Persuasive Percussion to ABC, but the label passed. Undaunted, Light started a new label, Command, whose first release would be Persuasive Percussion.
Light’s experiments perfecting stereo separation led to more than 30 recording sessions. When the album was finished, Light and Fine had trouble cutting the master recording. The duo went through more than a dozen Westrex cutters, since the machines weren’t built to handle stereo recordings. The problems resulted in a six-month delay in the album’s release as the master had to be cut 39 times before it met with Light’s approval.
The sound wasn’t the only atypical aspect of Persuasive Percussion. The album’s cover features an unusual modern art design consisting of black dots created by famed German artist is Josef Albers.
Upon its release, Persuasive Percussion was first embraced by the h-fi industry, as it became the perfect vehicle to show off stereo equipment. Of course, members of the music community, including the session players played on the album, were also impressed.
“The end result was fabulous,” says Mottola. “You would hear a rhythm section smack in the middle, and then on the left you would hear a bongo roll, and then on the right side you would hear a trumpet.”
Just after the release of Persuasive Percussion, Provocative Percussion by Enoch Light and the Light Brigade was issued. Both albums entered the chart on January 25, 1960, but Persuasive Percussion proved to be the favorite. Provocative Percussion spent five weeks at number two, but was unable to make it to the top. When Persuasive Percussion hit the top spot its 14th week, Provocative Percussion had dropped down to number six. Both albums spawned successful sequels. Volume 2 of Persuasive and Provocative reached numbers three and four, respectively, in 1960, while a third Persuasive set peaked at number three in 1961.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of April 25, 1960
1. Persuasive Percussion, Enoch Light/Terry Snyder and the All-Stars
2. The Sound of Music, Original Cast
3. Faithfully, Johnny Mathis
4. Theme From a Summer Place, Billy Vaughn
5. Mr. Lucky, Henry Mancini