Al Caiola Albums

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Breanna Mangels

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Aug 4, 2024, 7:17:46 PM8/4/24

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Ata young age, Caiola first expressed an interest in a musical career solely as a vocalist. He was soon persuaded by his father to also pursue professional opportunities as an instrumentalist instead. This led Caiola to take up the banjo and subsequently the guitar.[5][4]

By the age of 11, he emerged as a child prodigy on the guitar and undertook formal studies with Anthony Antone in New York City and subsequently with the guitarist Peter Milano in Jersey City. As a young teenager, he was influenced by the performances of Eddie Lang and Bing Crosby and studied Lang's method book for guitarists closely. By the age of sixteen he appeared as both a vocalist and guitarist on the children's radio program Sally and Sam in collaboration with Tony Mottola. During this time Mottola encouraged Caiola to master new performance techniques.[5][4]

After returning from military service during World War II, Caiola pursued formal musical studies at the New Jersey College of Music. Over the years, he also completed studies with the guitarist Harry Volpe.[6][5]

After returning from the war, Caiola embarked upon an extended engagement as a staff musician on the CBS network from 1946 until 1956. As part of his audition, he was required to appear on shows with Gordon MacRae, Archie Bleyer and the vocalist Patty Clayton. After signing with CBS, Caiola also collaborated on several major network TV productions with Arthur Godfrey (Talent Scouts), Ed Sullivan (Toast of the Town) and Jackie Gleason (The Jackie Gleason Show) under the direction of the conductor Ray Bloch.[5]

Caiola was also a successful studio musician in the 1950s in New York City. He released some minor records under his own name in that decade. In addition, he performed under the musical direction of John Serry Sr. on an easy listening album for Dot Records in 1956, which received favorable critical reviews in The Billboard magazine and The Cash Box magazine.(Squeeze Play).[7][8][9][10] Later in the decade in 1959, his collaboration with Tony Mottola and Johnny Mathis on the smash album Open Fire, Two Guitars for Columbia Records also received favorable reviews.[11][12]

In 1960 he became a recording star on the United Artists label for over ten years. He had hits in 1961 with "The Magnificent Seven" (#35 in USA[13] and #27 in Canada.[14]) and "Bonanza" (#19 in USA[13] and #19 in Canada.[15]) The arrangements were typically by Don Costa, using a large orchestral backing.[5][4][16][17][18]

Caiola released singles and albums throughout the 1960s and beyond, though no others appeared on the charts except for an entry in 1964 with "From Russia with Love". United Artists used him to make commercial recordings of many movie and TV themes: "Wagon Train (Wagons Ho)", "The Ballad of Paladin", "The Rebel", and "Gunslinger". His album Solid Gold Guitar contained arrangements of "Jezebel", "Two Guitars", "Big Guitar", "I Walk the Line", and "Guitar Boogie".[19]

At the urging of the talent agency Ashley-Famous, Caiola appeared in concert in Las Vegas during the 1960s in addition to operating his own music publishing firm Alpane Music. He is credited with serving as both an arranger, conductor and soloist on many of his recordings.[20] In later years, Cailo continued to perform and even toured with Frank Sinatra in 1991.[21] During the course of his professional career, Caiola also performed under the musical direction of several leading conductors including: Percy Faith, Morton Gould and Andre Kostelanetz.[21]

Al Caiola has been described as an artist who projected a "light" or "liquid" touch during his performances on the guitar. His pianist, Mo Wechsler observed that he was a versatile well rounded musician who was comfortable playing either jazz, rock and roll and even classical music.[21]

Al Caiola is a guitarist who initially made his reputation as a session musician, playing on records made by Percy Faith and Andr Kostelanetz, among others. Caiola was the conductor and arranger for United Artists Records in the late '40s and early '50s. After leaving UA, he signed with RCA, where he released a number of singles in the '50s. In the early '60s, he went back to United Artists, which is where he scored his first hit with the theme to the film The Magnificent Seven. The single peaked at 35 in early 1961 and it was quickly followed by the theme to the television series Bonanza, which climbed to number 19. For the rest of the '60s, Caiola released a number of easy listening instrumental albums. During the decade he also hosted a television show, which was only aired for a short while. Caiola continued to record throughout the '70s and into the '80s.

Stephen Thomas Erlewin...

Stephen Thomas Erlewin -All Music Guide

Guitarist Al Caiola was one of the busiest and most respected session men in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. At the age of twelve he was already a guitar prodigy and by his sixteenth birthday he was an established guitarist and performer throughout the Jersey City area. During World War II, Caiola joined the Marine Corps and became part of the Parris Island base band until he was assigned to active combat on the island of Iwo Jima. After the war he used the G.I. Bill to study music composition and theory at the New Jersey College of Music. Not long after graduating, Caiola moved to New York City, where he was hired as a staff musician by CBS Radio, working under Archie Bleyer. He stayed with the CBS Radio orchestra until 1956, participating in many shows in the early days of television (Toast of the Town, Jackie Gleason Show, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts).

The first record under his own name was "Mambo Jambo"/"Bim Bam Bum" (RCA 5143) in 1953, followed by three other RCA singles. Al had four LP's released in the second half of the 1950s, two on Savoy, one on Atco and one on RCA. Being an extremely versatile guitarist who could handle any genre, Caiola easily adapted to the changes brought about by the advent of rock 'n' roll and was much in demand as a session guitarist. Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun was particularly fond of him and used him on sessions by (among others) Ruth Brown, Chuck Willis, LaVern Baker, The Coasters and Bobby Darin. But Al also played behind many non-Atlantic artists, like Paul Anka (I'm almost sure it's Caiola doing the arpeggios on "Diana"), Buddy Holly, Frankie Avalon, Fabian (great guitar solo on "Tiger"), Connie Francis and Del Shannon.

In 1960, Al Caiola began an 11-year affiliation with United Artists, during which period he had 32 singles and 34 albums released. At the suggestion of his producer / arranger, Don Costa, he began to play the melodies on the lower strings, creating a guttural sound similar to Duane Eddy. Al himself called it the "tuff guitar" and became identified with that sound. His first two singles for United Artists were his biggest (and only) hits. The theme from the classic Western film "The Magnificent Seven" (later well known from the Marlboro commercial) reached # 35 on the Billboard charts and one position higher in the UK, where Al had to compete with a cover version by the John Barry Seven. This success spurred Caiola and Costa to record another Western-themed instrumental, the opening music to the TV series "Bonanza" (United Artists 302). This was an even bigger hit, peaking at # 19 in April 1961. Caiola used a Gretsch on those two hits. In the mid-sixties he would sign with Epiphone Guitars, who created their own Caiola model guitar. Because United Artists was an arm of the United Artists motion picture studio, more often than not Caiola recorded albums that contained "tie-ins" to UA's film and television projects. "You're obligated to do those things for the company." After years of interpreting existing movie soundtracks, Al got to generate one of his own. With composer / conductor George Romanis he came up with the entire score (and soundtrack album) for the 1967 comedy motion picture "Eight On the Lam", starring Bob Hope and Jonathan Winters. In between his recordings for United Artists, Caiola also performed a series of "Living Guitar" albums for the RCA Camden label, as well as a collection of easy-listening albums for Time Records.

In 1971, Al bought out the rest of his UA contract and left the company, as he felt the need to explore his own new frontiers. He recorded some sides for the Avalanche label, performed with the Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra, scored and performed on hundreds of TV commercials and jingles and wrote the popular Al Caiola Presents series of guitar instruction books. When he was interviewed by Chuck Miller in 2002, he was still performing, sometimes touring with the equally tireless Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.

CD : In 2002, Raven Records in Australia released a 33-track selection from the United Artists years : Al Caiola, Bonanza! 1960-1969.

A mix of film tunes and covers of rock n roll songs. Sax man King Curtis appears on six tracks and steals the show on "Guitar Boogie", "Honky Tonk" and "Experiment In Terror".

Along with Tony Mottola, the "first call" guitarist in New York City for over thirty years. Both men were prolific studio musicians and the stalwarts of countless "Percussion" albums: Mottola's for Command, Caiola's for Time. Caiola served in the Marines during World War Two, where he played alongside Bob Crosby and toured much of the Pacific Theater, until the bandmembers were assigned to active combat in the assault on Iwo Jima. After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to study music composition and theory at the New Jersey College of Music.Not long after graduating, Caiola was hired as a staff musician by CBS radio in New York City, and he has spent much of the subsequent fifty years working in recording and broadcasting studios up and down Manhattan. The list of artists Caiola worked with is so long and so star-studded that it becomes a bit mind-numbing. It's safe to say that he worked with just about every other New York musician in these pages, as well as pop artists from Tony Bennett to Andy Williams, and most of the mainstream singers in between.Among his better known collaborations with a singer is the 1958 Columbia album, Open Fire, Two Guitars, on which he and Mottola, both playing acoustical guitars, accompanied Johnny Mathis on an exceptionally warm and beautiful set of ballads.Cailoa recorded under his own name on a variety of labels: singles on RCA in the early 1950s, small jazz groups on Savoy in the mid-1950s, but he's best known for his very long string of LPs--mostly covers of then-current hits--on United Artists in the 1960s. His covers of the theme songs from "Bonanza" and "The Magnificent Seven" were top 40 hits in 1960-1. Like the Ventures, though, Caiola's own original tunes were often far more interesting to listen to. At the same time he was recording under his own name for United Artists, Caiola was arranging and leading the Living Guitars for producer Ethel Gabriel's series of Living groups (Strings, Voices, Marimbas, etc.) on RCA's budget label, Camden. A quick glance at the discography below suggests that like fellow session maniacs Dick Hyman and Phil Kraus, Caiola never left the studio between 1961 and around 1972. Beginning in the 1980s, Caiola cut back on his schedule and began to take a few touring jobs. In 1985, he was the lead guitarist in the band that accompanied Frank Sinatra on his tour of Europe, and he regularly appears with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme in their nightclub and concert performances.Caiola's best album is undoubtedly Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes, which features a stellar Caiola original, "Underwater Swim," that rates as one of the all-time best spy music tunes and has been included on Capitol's Ultra Lounge series of compilation CDs. Most of the other UA albums are worth a listen, and The Power of Brass, which teams Caiola with a Miami-based brass ensemble of the same name, is a terrific example of genuine "now sounds" music.For more information on Al Caiola and how to arrange for him to play on your next world tour, check out --> RecordingsDeep in a Dream, Savoy MG-12033Serenade in Blue, Savoy MG 12057Music for Space Squirrels, Atco 33-117High Strung, RCA Victor LPM-2031 (mono)The Guitar Style of Al Caiola, RCA CAS-710 (probably a reissue of the above)Roman Guitar, Roulette R42008Salute Italia, Roulette SR-25108 Percussion and Guitars, Time S/2000Percussion Espanol, Time S/2006Gershwin and Guitars, Time S/2010Italian Guitars, Time S/2023Percussion Espanol, Time S/2026Soft Guitars, Time S/2052Guitars Woodwinds & Bongos, United Artists WWS8503Guitars, Guitars, Guitars, United Artists UAS 6077Theme from "The Magnificent Seven" and Other Favorites, United Artists UAS 6133Golden Hits Instrumentals, United Artists UAS 6142Hit Instrumentals from TV Western Themes, United Artists UAS 6161Solid Gold Guitar, United Artists UAS 6180Midnight in Moscow, United Artists UAS 6200Midnight Dance Party, United Artists UAS 6228Golden Guitar, United Artists UAS 6240City Guy Plays Country, United Artists UAS 6255with Ralph Marterie, Acapulco 1922 & The Lonely Bull, United Artists UAS 6256Paradise Village, United Artists UAS 6263Ciao, United Artists UAS 6276Greasy Kid Stuff, United Artists 6287Cleopatra & Jazz, United Artists UAS 629950 Fabulous Guitar Favorites, United Artists UAS 633050 Fabulous Italian Favorites, United Artists UAS 6354On the Trail, United Artists UAS 6362Tuff Guitar, United Artists 6389King Guitar, United Artists MS 189 (radio station promo release for "King Guitar Month," whenever and whatever that was. Not thesame as the commercial release of the same title. A sampler of his UA catalog.)Guitar for Lovers, United Artists UAS 6403Solid Gold Guitar Goes Hawaiian, United Artists UAS 6418Tuff Guitar English Style, United Artists UAS 6434Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes, United Artists UAS 6435Tuff Guitar Tijuana Style, United Artists UAS 6473Caiola Romantico, United Artists UAS 6527All Strung Out, United Artists UAS 6553The Return of the Seven, United Artists UAS 6560King Guitar, United Artists UAS 6586Sound of Christmas (with Riz Ortolani), United Artists UAS 6617It Must Be Him, United Artists UAS 6637The Power of Brass, United Artists UAS 6666Let the Sunshine In, United Artists UAS 6712Warm and Mellow, United Artists 21003Theme from The Magnificent Seven Ride, Avalanche AV-LA058-FBonanza Guitars, Avco Embassy AVE 33019Al Caiola and Don Arnone, Great Pickin', Chancellor CHLS-5008Italian Street Songs, Golden Circle PO2001CDLovers' Guitars, Mad Bag Productions R-BS 101 (TV marketed two-record set)Music from The Godfather, RCA Camden CAS-2569Al Caiola Plays Superstar, Two Worlds TW-9101The Master's Touch, Tree Top TTSLP 4001Los Mejores Exitos, Carib Musicana CCD-2084 (CD)Al Caiola.--> S p a c e A g e P o p M u s i c

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