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25 Apr

Always Busy

By  Robert Walton
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ALWAYS BUSY
(Tony Tamburello)
Analysed by Robert Walton

When Tony Tamburello died in 1992 at the age of 72, a brief obituary in the New York Times described him as a jazz pianist and vocal coach of the famous. His pupils included Tony Bennett (whom he once managed), Judy Garland, Juliet Prowse, Jerry Vale and Tommy Leonetti. The story goes he had a van permanently parked in a New York street for the purpose of teaching. The only recorded evidence I have that he played piano, was on a 10” LP of selections from Oklahoma and South Pacific by the Tony Burrello Trio, spelt you’ll notice with two r’s. When questioned about the identity of the pianist he immediately denied it. But his real love was composing, especially of the lighter kind but like songwriters Vivian Ellis and Jack Stachey who often strayed into the world of light music he couldn’t orchestrate, so it was necessary to seek the services of an arranger.

I only met him once but what a get together that proved to be. It was in London and I was showing him a few of my songs for Tony Bennett. It wasn’t long before the subject of light music came up, and just a mention of a certain Canadian soon revealed Tamburello was Farnon crazy. But when I casually threw in the title Melody Fair to get his reaction, Tony said “Now you’re talking, it might be only two and a half minutes but that’s my favourite piece of music of all time!” Clearly Farnon was his God! I had never met anyone who was quite so besotted.

There’s no doubt that ‘busy’ music if played well can be very exciting especially if it’s imaginatively arranged. Bach was one of the first composers to test musicians’ technique to the limit with lots of quick notes and if it came off the result could be thrilling.

In the field of light orchestral music the effect can be just as exciting. In the mid-1940s one of the first such British successes to appeal to the public was RunawayRocking Horse. Sidney Torch’s Shooting Star was another classic proactive piece. If you want to experience an exceptional roller coaster of a ride in a classical vein, have a listen to the opening bars of Glinka’s overture to Ruslan andLyudmila then you’ll understand what exceeding the speed limit means!

However when it comes to Tony Tamburello’s Always Busy it’s comparatively relaxed, not too fast but a very listenable composition. That’s because it has a good tune unlike many soundalikes of the period that were just thrown together with corny backings.

The flute is basically in charge of the introduction with a touch of the Scotch Snap - a rhythmic device in which a dotted note is preceded by a note of shorter value. And then it’s all systems go as this exciting string exercise gets underway, reminding us of the work ethic or someone who simply can’t relax. It’s a beautifully logical tune that you might find yourself humming. As soon as it’s finished we’re into Angela Morley country with a lovely contrasting jazz-influenced bridge, a sort of staycation for strings. And talking of string breaks, the David Rose influence is loud and clear. Right on cue the energetic strings return with another vigorous rendition.

What follows is an expansion of the previous ‘Morley’ section starting with the flute and then strings. Before leading back to the intro, the sound of another intro, that of RadioRomantic takes us back to AlwaysBusy for what effectively is a repeat from the top. More bustling strings of which I honestly can’t get enough. Then more ‘Morley’ but in elegant waltz time before the lively strings complete the workout. Radio Romantic is brought back to finish the job with the woodwind having the last staccato say.

Always Busy is a good example of a musical ‘baton’ being passed down from one composer to another. Robert Farnon gave it to Angela Morley while she handed it on to Tony Tamburello. Whatever Tony wrote was always of a very high standard indicating a real understanding of this unique genre with its refreshingly modern tunes, harmonies and implied decoration. I’m only guessing but I suspect the arrangement was by Bruce Campbell. I’m already looking forward to analysing more Tamburello, so watch this space.

Always Busy is played by The Telecast Orchestra on a Chappell 78rpm disc C598.

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