Alan Seidler

I. Alan Seidler : Discography of Concert Works on CD 1997-2009

This discography of the few of Seidler’s works for the concert hall recorded on CD to date contains few comments and verbal elaborations, as nearly all which need to be said are included in “Through Alan’s Eyes” or the “Catalogue of Serious Works” (see Other Credits chapter.)

Alan Seidler: Chamber Music

Recorded at PPI Recording Studios, New York, New York, April-June 1997. Produced for Original Cast Records by Robert Sher. Assistant Producer: Joe Gianono. Engineered and Mastered by Chip Fabrizzi.

1. Sonata for Violin and Piano (Patmore Lewis, violin; John Nauman, piano.)
2. Quartet for Piano and Strings (Patmore Lewis, violin; Katherine Greene, viola; Mary Wooten, cello; John Nauman, piano.)
3. String Quartet #1 (Patmore Lewis, Terry Woitach, violins; Katherine Greene, viola; Mary Wooten, cello.)

Though recorded for and partially funded by Original Cast Records, continuous haggling between Seidler, Sher, and the label’s owner over financial arrangements for the CD release led to the shelving of the project in January 1999 without commercial release. The few advance copies given to Seidler, Sher, and the performers are collectors’ items.

From The Soul: Patmore Lewis (AZ-5119)

Issued by Azatlan Records, 1998. Includes Seidler’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano” in its original 1995 recording at Clinton Studios, New York, NY; Patmore Lewis, violin; John Nauman, piano, as well as works of Richard Strauss and Karol Szymanowski. The latter two were recorded in Europe with a different pianist.

Still available throughout Western Europe; U.S. availability currently unknown.

The Rillito River Project (2008) (You-Entertainment Recordings B-0017RIE 3M)

A fundraiser recorded live in Arizona and produced by Patmore Lewis as part of a project to re-irrigate the virtually dry Rillito River. Includes the same program as “From The Soul”, with Seidler’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano” reproduced yet again, as well as a new work by violinist Lewis himself.

Widely available online at Amazon.com and many smaller sites and record outlets in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Alan Seidler: Vocal and Choral Works 1990-2006 (Troy-1093)

Released by Albany Records, 2009. Re-recorded from a rough cut live recording of eidler’s October, 2006 concert at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. Produced for FHE Creative & Performing Artists, Inc. by Joel Thome, Alan Seidler and Chip Fabrizzi.

Co-Producer and Executive Producer: George Gilbert. Engineered, mixed and mastered at PPI Recording Studios, New York, N.Y. by Chip Fabrizzi.

1. In the Arc of Your Mallet: Four Love Poems of Jelaluddin Rumi (1999) (17:22)

   I. Bonfire at Midnight

   II. Maybe They’re Shy

   III. Folded Into the River

   IV. In the Arc of Your Mallet

   Laura Last, soprano; Linda Wetherill, flute; Ayako Oshima Neidich, clarinet; Susan Jolles, harp; William Trigg, Chris Nappi, Frank Cassara, Jeffrey Kraus, percussion; Martha Mooke, viola; Michael Finckel, cello; Joel Thome, conductor.

2. Two Sacred Pieces (1990; rev. 1995) (7:20)

   I. Our Father [The Lord's Prayer] (Liturgical)

   II. Psalm XXIII (Liturgical)

   “The Collegiate Chorale” under the direction of Frank Nemhauser

3. Playthings (Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind) (1990) (9:54)

   (Poem by Carl Sandburg)

   Laura Last, soprano; Linda Wetherill, flute; Ayako Oshima Neidich, clarinet; Anthony Cecere, horn; William Trigg, timpani; Kory Grossman, Chris Nappi, perussion; Daniel Spiegel, piano; Gregor Kitzis, violin; Michael Finckel, cello; Joel Thome, conductor.

4. The Mystic Trumpeter: A Symphony for Soprano and Tenor Soli, Solo Trumpet, Mixed Chorus and Orchestra (1999-2006) (Poem by Walt Whitman) (37:45)

   I. The Mystic Trumpeter

   II. Nature’s Calm

   III. Crusaders

   IV. Lovers

   V. War, Sorrow and Atonement

   VI. God and the Universe Calling the World to Joy

   Laura Last, soprano; Steven Goldstein, tenor ; Graham Ashton, solo trumpet; The Collegiate Chorale and The Orchestra of Our Time under the baton of Joel Thome.

Widely available direct from AlbanyRecords.com, Alan Seidler.com, as well as Amazon.com and other music sites and at Barnes & Noble Music Depts.

II. Seidler’s Pop, Blues and Ragtime Recordings 1971-1996

To the best of our knowledge, with the aid of Blue Goose Records historian Stefan Wirz, articles on the history of Takoma Records from a variety of Internet sources, and the assistance of fellow Blue Goose recording artists, Seidler’s sidemen and Seidler himself, what follows is a complete discography of recordings by Alan Seidler to date, both as performer and composer.

For the sake of simplicity, we have divided this section into two sections: CDs of Seidler’s serious work as a composer of concert music and Seidler’s Pop, Blues and Ragtime recordings. Wherever possible, brief historical comments are given following the list of songs or classically-oriented works on each album. In Section Two, all songs for which Seidler received full or partial writer credit are marked with an asterisk (*). All songs for which Seidler altered or parodied lyrics to another songwriter’s music are marked with a number sign (#).

Unless otherwise noted, all 33 1/3 and 45 RPM vinyl records and their reproductions on CD on which Seidler was either the featured performer or a sideman are currently out of print. The substantial majority of the non-concert music albums listed here were recorded and issued by Blue Goose Records, which ceased production in 1980 due to declining revenues, staff cutbacks and the beginnings of label co-founder and CEO Nick Perls’ long and ultimately fatal illness. Shortly before his death in 1987, Perls sold the entire Blue Goose catalogue to collector Stefan Grossman, from whom it eventually passed into the hands of Shanachie Records. In January 2006, the rights to “The Duke of Ook”, far and away Seidler’s best-selling LP, were acquired under license from Shanachie by FHE subsidiary Hoove Ape Records, which plans a fully re-mastered CD re-release in the near future. In addition, another 30 to 40 unreleased tracks featuring Seidler as pianist, vocalist or both, with or without additional backup musicians recorded by Perls during the last one and a half years of Seidler’s contract are either in Shanachie Records’ vaults or were retained by Grossman for his personal collection. Additional research is needed on these, as Seidler himself remembers only a few of the titles recorded.

1. Baby Your Mother (Like She Babied You) (Yellow Bee 106)
2. Temptation Rag (45 RPM single)

1. I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (Yellow Bee 107)
2. Steamboat Rag (45 RPM single)

1. I Wonder What’s Become of Sally (Yellow Bee 108)
2. Maple Leaf Rag (45 RPM single)

These collector’s items, released under the name of Blue Goose Records’ nominal ‘parent company’, Yellow Bee Productions, were recorded at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY on December 28, 1971 as test demos before label chief Nick Perls signed Seidler to a contract the following month. A small pressing was done for distributors, club owners, booking agents and other music industry professionals. The remainder was kept for Perls’ personal use and was never intended for large-scale distribution to the general public. On the “A” side of each record, Seidler does both vocals and piano. The “B” sides are all piano solos.

Jo Ann Kelly with John Fahey, Woody Mann, John Miller and Alan Seidler

Blue Goose Records LP (BG-2009), recorded at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY June-July 1972. Produced by Nick Perls. Jo Ann Kelly, vocals, gtr., John Fahey, Woody Mann, John Miller, gtrs., Alan Seidler, piano

1. *Pigmeat Blues
2. Stocking Feet Blues
3. Henry Miller’s Dream
4. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
5. *What’s The Matter?
6. High Sheriff Blues
7. Arrangement For Me Blues
8. Bothering That Thing
9. Soo Cow Soo
10. Jo’s Mistreated Blues
11. *Tricks Ain’t Walking No More
12. I Want You To Know
13. New Mindreader Blues

This album is only of importance as marking Seidler’s official Blue Goose debut as piano sideman. Seidler also receives partial writer credit on the starred songs. The album is still in print, having been re-released on CD in the U.K. under a non-exclusive arrangement. A bootleg edition was released on CD for air-mail sales only in 2002 by Japan’s AIRAC Records (AIRAC-1022). The extent of availability in the U.S. is unknown at this time.

Alan Seidler, vocals, piano. Recorded at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY, September 1973; Produced by Nick Perls

A small pressing of this record was done for the friends and patrons of Nick Perls’ parents’ friend and client, the celebrated sculptor and innovative mobile artist Alexander Calder (1898-1975) in honor of his 75th birthday at the behest of the Perls family. The tune to “That’s How A Mobile Is Born” is actually the 1912 chestnut, “Ballin’ The Jack”, with new (and awful) lyrics by Perls’ mother, the late Dorothea “Dolly” Strauss Perls. It is out of print and, due to Calder’s international fame, is a rare collector’s item.

Morning Impromptus/Evening Bacchanals (TAK-7040E)

Double album produced for Takoma Records by John Fahey under special arrangement with Blue Goose Records. Small pieces and piano improvisations release in 8-track format only. Recorded at unknown studio, Los Angeles, CA, February 1974. Alan Seidler, solo piano on all numbers except “Three Mute Kaws” on which Seidler sang a capella vocal.

1. *The Drunken Ballerina
2. *Impromptu #1
3. *Impromptu #2
4. *Wilopsinkadoly Street Strut
5. *Impromptu #3
6. *The New Rochelle High School vs. Iona Prep Football Impromptu
7. *Impromptu #4
8. *Early Evening Bacchanal
9. *Bacchanal #2
10. *Fantasies and Dreams
11. *Bacchanal #3
12. Sunday
13. *Yapskwuger Rag
14. *Nightshade
15. #Three Mute Kaws

This intended double album of Seidler at the piano was, for reasons (probably financial) now known only to ex-top Takoma execs, released only in a limited edition on then-trendy eight-track tape format before Takoma, then headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, was forced to sell out to Chrysalis Records. After a further series of buyouts and mergers in the 1980s and ‘90s, Takomas’s catalogue ended up in the hands of Fantasy Records, which merged with Concord Records in 2004 to form The Concord Music Group, in whose vaults the original master tapes to this album probably reside. It is significant in that the recordings, mostly extended piano improvisations, straddle a fine line between Seidler’s blues/ragtime and serious concert works. The only number for which Seidler received no writer credit at all is his rendition of the 1927 standard “Sunday”. The sole vocal on the album is the highly politically incorrect (even by 1974 standards) “Three Mute Kaws”, a parody of “Three Blind Mice”, with which Seidler insisted on ending the recording session, singing without accompaniment.

Alan Seidler: The Duke of Ook (BG-2015)

Blue Goose LP recorded at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY, November 1974. Produced by Nick Perls; Cover Art by R. Crumb; Liner Notes by Steve Calt; Glossary by Timothy Aurthur. All songs except “Duke of Ook” and “All By Myself” copyright by Simian Press, a div. of Ook Ook Productions, Inc. Copyright transferred to FHE Music Publishing, a div. of FHE Creative & Performing Artists, Inc., 2008. Songs for which Seidler was not sole lyricist are marked with a small cross (+) if partially or totally by Tim Aurthur and a percent sign (%) if partially by David Rosengren. For all others, symbols already indicated are used. Alan Seidler, vocals & piano on all numbers; Dave Mann, backup vocals on “Duke of Ook.”

1. #Duke of Ook (Gene Chandler)
2. *+What Is The Use Of Calling Me San?
3. *Won’t You Come and Be Profligerate?
4. *Never Oh Never Whatever You Do, Sing A Gorilla Song
5. *+Oozing Cyst Blues
6. *+Oozin’ Just Oozin’ For You
7. *The Once-It-Was-Herbibiwis-But-Now-It’s-Anemic Rag
8. *Puv Hooves
9. *D-O-A-P
10. *Old Vitoville Blues
11. *Fash
12. #All By Myself (Irving Berlin; all lyrics except verse altered by Seidler)
13. *What Sort of A Vuv
14. *%The Universal Uk

Seidler narrowly missed what was far and away his only shot at a million-seller on this one. Originally pressed in a modest edition of 4000 copies, at least eight additional large pressings were done before the album finally went out of print in 1980. Aided by rave reviews in Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, and other now-defunct music mags of the era, the album was an immediate sensation with the college crowd, aging hippies and others due to its early 1900s piano stylings contrasted with hip, often double-entendre lyrics. Its popularity ensured Seidler large-scale college tours and club dates through most of the decade and made him a semi-regular guest on radio and TV talk shows and music programs from shortly after its release until roughly 1981 or ‘82. Royalties were funneled to Seidler through ASCAP not only from the U.S. and Canada, but from the Scandinavian Countries, the U.K., Germany, Japan, and, amazingly, for the political climate of the time, even the Soviet Union. The record’s popularity was greatly enhanced by R. Crumb’s cover artwork which is still available on a host of Websites as a poster, silkscreen, and various other incarnations. The original drawing has been included in gallery showings in NYC and elsewhere. A poorly reproduced and exorbitantly overpriced bootleg CD was issued by Japan’s AIRAC Records for air-mail sale only in 2002 (AIRAC-1025), but FHE subsidiary Hoove Ape Records ultimately purchased reproduction and distribution rights under license from Shanachie Records and a legitimate, fully re-mastered CD release should be available to the public before the end of 2009.

Blue Goose Sampler (BG-101)

Compilation of performances by Blue Goose recording artists containing following songs recorded by Seidler:

1. *+Oozing Cyst Blues
2. *+What Is the Use Of Calling Me San?

Pressed solely for distribution to concert promoters and radio stations, no further comments on this LP are needed as both Seidler numbers were already recorded on “The Duke of Ook.”

Alan Seidler: Funnies and Oldies (BG-4001)

Produced at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY by Nick Perls, August 1975. Liner notes by Steve Calt. Alan Seidler, vocals and piano on all numbers.

1. *Someone Stole My Hat at a Lebanese Wedding
2. Everybody Snap Your Fingers With Me
3. #Are You Lonesome Tonight? (parody; lyrics altered by Seidler)
4. Just A Gigolo
5. I’m Down In Honolulu Looking ‘Em Over
6. Ramona
7. *Bellevue Love Song
8. *We Gotta Chain-Chew
9. Schooldays (When We Were a Couple of Kids)
10. Ida
11. *Faw-ev-ah (With a Big Tongue)
12. Maybe
13. Ain’t Misbehaving
14. *Specatacatah Song

Despite containing some of Seidler’s wittiest originals and top-notch piano work, this LP’s attempt to capitalize on the popularity of The Duke of Ook didn’t fare more than a small fraction as well in sales. Its “neither- fish- nor- fowl” combination of songs, to quote one reviewer, confused both critics and Seidler’s younger fan-base, which was totally disinterested in the 1910s through ‘30s covers. The latter were marketed toward Seidler’s older (i.e., senior citizen) fans from his neo-Vaudeville piano-bar days. A random sampling of this group, which traditionally has always been the lowest record-buying demographic in any case, found that they saw the original numbers as totally bizarre. Due to the lackluster reception by both targeted populations, this one was off record store shelves within months.

NOTE: All of Seidler’s feature albums after “The Duke” were placed in the BG-4000 series, created for recording artists whose work didn’t fit the label’s founding criteria (‘pure’ blues and ragtime as performed by living artists, based on the aims of Perls’ pioneering sister label, Yazoo Records, which collected original 78s from the 1920s and ‘30s, restored them, and then issued them on LP). Ironically, no less than six releases issued on the BG-2000 series could arguably have been included in the 4000 series, all of which was deleted from the Blue Goose catalogue in 1981, by which time all recordings included were out of print anyway.

Rory Block: I’m In Love (BG-2022)

Blue Goose LP produced and recorded by Nick Perls at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY, 1976. Liner notes by Steve Calt.

All vocals by Rory Block; Artie Traum, Rory Block, guitars; Alan Seidler, piano; Roley Salley, bass; additional studio musicians on Disco tracks.

1. I’m In Love
2. You Broke My Heart
3. *Lonesome Girl
4. Strong and Lasting Kind
5. You’re Everything
6. Lovin’ Good Dream
7. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
8. Canned Heat
9. Why Should I Be So Lonely?
10. Powder Rag
11. Mississippi Blues
12. Three Is A Crowd

Seidler plays piano in a variety of styles on this record and shares writer credit with Block on “Lonesome Girl.” Though the original Blue Goose LP has been out of print for over 20 years, selections from this album were reissued on CD in 1989 as part of Munich Records’ release “Rory Block: The Early Tapes 1975/1976” (MRMCD-1) and is still available in record stores and online. A bootleg CD reissue of the original Blue Goose LP was released by Japan’s AIRAC Records for air-mail sale only in 2007 (AIRAC-1043).

Alan Seidler Sings Ukelele Ike (BG-4002)

Blue Goose LP produced and recorded by Nick Perls at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY, 1976. Liner notes by Steve Calt and Alan Seidler.

Vocals and piano on all tracks by Alan Seidler; Arnold “Fats” Kaplin, violin; Woody Mann, guitar; Robert Anderson, ukulele and bass.

1. Hard Hearted Hannah
2. I’ll See You In My Dreams
3. Insufficient Sweetie
4. Alabamy Bound
5. My Old Girl’s My New Girl Now
6. I Want To Walk In Again Blues
7. Charley My Boy
8. For No Good Reason At All
9. Who’s The Meanest Girl In Town, Josephine
10. Halfway To Heaven
11. That’s My Weakness Now
12. Paddlin’ Madeleine Home
13. Who Takes Care of The Caretaker’s Daughter (When The Caretaker’s Busy Taking Care)

Cliff Edwards (1895-1971), a/k/a “Ukelele Ike” was one of the most popular singers and jazz ukulele virtuosos from c. 1918 through the mid-1940s and is also credited as one of the originators of scat singing. Though he sold over 70 million records and earned millions of dollars in the course of his career, alimony payments to three wives and a series of lawsuits which he lost left him broke, and he died destitute in a charity nursing home. An attempted comeback in the days of early TV as host of “The Cliff Edwards Show” (1950-1952) was doomed by the alcoholism and drug addiction which plagued him throughout most of his career. Sadly, today he is remembered mostly as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney’s animated motion picture “Pinocchio” (1942).

NOTE: The spelling ‘ukelele’, in common use in the earlier part of the 20th Century has been replaced in modern dictionaries by ‘ukulele’, which has been accepted as the proper transliteration of the Hawaiian word for the instrument.

The release of this album was poorly timed by Blue Goose execs. Despite praise from most music mags of the era for Seidler’s singing and piano work and that of his sidemen, all fellow Blue Goose artists, sales were greatly hampered by Perls’ sister label Yazoo’s release the previous year of Cliff Edwards: I’m A Bear In A Lady’s Boudoir, especially since many of the same numbers were repeated on the Seidler LP. Only one medium-sized pressing was done, and both the Blue Goose and Yazoo releases are long out of print. As far as can be determined, neither has ever been re-released on CD to date. Seidler is credited as co-author of the liner notes for the Blue Goose LP as he was an Edwards fan since his teens and did a good deal of research on Edwards’ life and career.

Roy Bookbinder: Ragtime Millionaire (BG-2023)

Blue Goose LP produced and recorded by Nick Perls at Blue Goose Studios, New York, NY, 1977. Liner notes by Steve Calt.

Roy Bookbinder, vocals & guitar; Arnold “Fats” Kaplin, violin; Alan Seidler, piano.

1. King Edward Blues
2. One Meat Ball
3. Travelin’ Man Blues
4. Keep A Knockin’
5. Wonder What’s The Matter
6. Long Tall Mama
7. *3X7
8. *Ragtime Millionaire
9. CC&O Blues
10. Stack O’Lee
11. Hesitation Blues
12. Maybe It’s Love

Seidler played his usual outstanding blues and ragtime piano on this record as well as receiving co-writer credit on two numbers on which he actually worked more as an arranger than a songwriter. Though it sold reasonably well for a while, the LP is long out of print and the masters are now the legal property of Shanachie Records, along with the rest of the still-existing Blue Goose catalogue. In 2002, Japan’s by-now-infamous AIRAC label issued a bootleg CD for air-mail sale only.

Alan Seidler: Four Walls (BG-4005)

Blue Goose LP produced and engineered by Nick Perls at East Side Sound Company, New York, NY, 1978. Liner notes by Steve Calt.

Alan Seidler, all vocals- piano only on numbers marked with a small “x”; Gary Lawrence and His Sizzling Syncopaters; Roy Smeck , banjo & ukulele solos.

1. Who Wants A Bad Little Boy?
2. Roll Along, Kentucky Moon x
3. My Gal Sal x
4. Four Walls
5. America x
6. Dirty Hands! Dirty Face!
7. We Three x
8. Among My Souvenirs x
9. I Wonder What’s Become of Sally x
10. The Green, Green Grass of Home
11. Together x
12. Marieke x

This was Seidler’s last Blue Goose LP, and in fact, one of the last issued by that label, due to declining revenues, staff cutbacks, and Nick Perls’ increasing lethargy, probably caused by the beginnings of his nine-year losing battle with AIDS. Unaggressively promoted by a skeleton staff from the label, this was certainly Seidler’s most atypical Blue Goose feature LP. In the words of one reviewer, he “shamelessly emotes” his way through a variety of genres and does no originals, singing songs first recorded between 1909 and the early 1970s, and in several numbers surrenders his usual place at the piano to Lawrence’s regular band pianist (or none at all). Even “Crawdaddy”, which usually gave Seidler’s work raves (and some hysterically funny comments) from The Duke of Ook onward, and interviewed him at length in 1976 was not amused, saying in part, “Don’t bring me down, Duke!….The confusing selection of songs on this LP have one thing in common—they’re SO depressing that if you listen from beginning to end, I suggest you spend the night on your shrink’s couch…….Even using his largest group of backup musicians yet can’t disguise the wear and tear beginning to show in Alan’s voice……Advice for even the most loyal Seidler fans: Save your money and skip this one. Better luck next time, Duke.” Shortly after its release, suits were brought against the label by three music publishers because Perls was by that point either unwilling or unable to make royalty payments to them. Rather than settle, the record was quickly recalled and consigned to oblivion along with the rest of the BG-4000 series three years later. Perhaps the most significant fact about this LP is that it marked the end of this phase of Seidler’s career for all practical purposes and spurred his return to full-time serious composition.

Tim Rose: Haunted (DTK 51)

Best Dressed Records CD partially recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, New York, NY, 1996; remainder recorded live at Royal Albert Hall, London and other venues in the U.K., Ireland and Norway, 1997-98. Released December 1998.

Tim Rose, vocals & guitar on all numbers; with David Zinno, Darrius Ditullio, Alan Seidler, David Clarke, Bill Wilson. (Seidler plays piano on studio tracks only.)

1. Blue Steel ‘44 (Hey Joe)
2. *Give Your Lovin’ To The Livin’
3. He Never Was A Hero
4. Natural Thing
5. A Mite Confused
6. I Ain’t Had No Lovin’ (Long Time Man)
7. *Because You’re Rich
8. The Dealer
9. Come Away, Melinda
10. Haunted (instrumental)
11. Four Dancin’ Queens
12. Hanging Tree
13. I Sold It With My Car (Goin’ Down In Hollywood)
14. Morning Dew

Alan Seidler briefly interrupted his composing career as a favor to a friend, singer/songwriter/guitarist Tim Rose (1940-2002), by playing piano on a few tracks on this album. Seidler also helped Rose complete two songs on the CD while he was Seidler’s long-term houseguest (1994-96).