Information/Write-up
vocals from "The Gossips" (Billy Van's wife Patti Van Evera and Aura Rully, aka "Aura")
A young man of medium build, Jerry Toth was steady in all his ventures. One which especially was his stature on a black ebony sax, or with his friend Charlie Mountford, the two combining to be a tenor-tormentor-Morris-Carn mish fusion for the Norm Press Gallery in those salad days of the forties.
In those same days, and a budding instrumentalist at that, he was awarded the BMI Prize at the Canadian National Exhibition, in 1949. He also won the CBC Talent Festival in 1956, and his music was considered in a “Listen to the Music” episode in 1962.
Someone wrote of him “The Jerry Toth Story: it would probably begin with ‘He was a virtuoso ten years of age’ and just starting to receive plaudits for his prowess as a saxophone and woodwind player specializing in first chair.” He would see in the next two decades selections as a featured solo instrumentalist and author of studio music-based theme bundles, and as a sound effects creator in number of television shows.
He would be a solid musician in the studio sessions that would take him to Los Angeles, New York and London, and ultimately the recording session studios in Toronto and Montréal where he would become one of Canada’s top jazz musicians, composers, and producers.
He would also be noted for his 1969 orchestration and arrangement of Anne Murray’s hit single Snowbird, as well as for albums by Gene MacLellan, James Leroy, Eddie Duke, Peter Appleyard, Shirley Eikhard, Papa Muteo, Moe Koffman, and Tommy Ambrose.
In the sixties he joined such talents as Ron Collier, Guido Basso, Doug Riley, Guido Luciani, and Rob McConnell on the Capitol label’s Canadian Talent Library, a project that took off in the mid-sixties under the guidance of Toronto music director Ben McPeek.
This album is the result of Jerry Toth’s long music career and his selection of compositions from pop and jazz standards, film, and even classical interpretations. But it also features four of his own compositions written especially for this disc.
As you will hear, the absolute mark of the Jerry Toth pen is in all of these examples. There is presented here a sense of humour, a thoughtful sense of structure, and a keen insight into the basics of good music. Here’s Jerry Toth as few have heard him before.
The Gossips (backed by arrangements by Jerry Toth) are featured on the title tune Tell Me Now, as well as “But For Love.”
The arrangements and musicianship are top drawer, based upon the combined talents of some of Canada’s most accomplished studio performers, the same group of men and women who graced Capitol’s now legendary “Library” sessions. These include Moe Koffman, Guido Basso, Peter Appleyard, and others who continue to contribute valued selections to this day.
Recording Engineer: Peter Houston
Technical Supervisor: Bill Baler
Recorded at Hallmark Studios, Toronto, Ontario
Executive Producer: J. Lyman Potts
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