has had an illustrious career, and because of his great humility, few know of his many achievements.
His early career was as a trumpet player for bands such as Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and others. He
orchestrated many hits for Jimmy Dorsey such as "Green Eyes" and "Tangerine." He also played, orchestrated or produced for other legendary performers including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday and Duke Ellington. During the daytime, he studied orchestration, arranging and composition at Julliard School of Music in addition to studying conducting under Cesare Sodero of the Metropolitan Opera. He conducted and orchestrated a recording of Jascha Hiefetz, the legendary violinist. In 1944, J. Arthur Rank summoned him to London, England, to write a musical score for the film "London Town." Camarata then joined British Decca and helped found London Records. One of his assignments was to see that London Records maintained the best classical catalog in the industry. He joined London Records as a classical artist orchestrating and conducting a number of classical albums including the works of Puccini, Verdi, Bach, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff. In 1958 Walt Disney hired him to form Disney Records and to be Music Director and producer for the label. During his 16 year association with Disney he produced over 300 albums for them. He scored several albums at Disney to help children gain a knowledge of and love for classical music. Because of his belief in this exceptional album, Camarata devoted four years of his life in bringing it to pass. He has stated, "This is the most important album I have ever done."
an accomplished and well known recording engineer/producer.
He has recorded many successful albums and motion picture soundtracks. To his credit are 26 gold albums, 5 platinum albums and a Grammy award. His career began in 1961 and includes artists such as: The Sandpipers, Brazil 66, Stevie Wonder, The 5th Dimension, Andy
Williams and Kenny Loggins. He has also recorded or produced over 75 major motion picture soundtracks which include: "E.T.", "Beauty and the Beast", "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", "Father of the Bride", "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Bruce brings his great talent to this recording. He agreed to work on "The Power and the Glory" because of his respect for Camarata and admiration for his work. Bruce found this music so endearing, he stated: "We have to get this out there - - the world needs the music in this album."
Larry Blakely went to work in 1966 as a recording engineer for Mr. Camarata
who was at the time the Music Director of
Disney Records in Hollywood, California. Camarata, Bruce Botnick and he worked on numerous Disney record albums
including: "Winnie the Pooh", "The Jungle Book" and "Mary Poppins." Several years later, Larry left Disney and developed a long and successful career in the professional audio industry working either directly for - or as a consultant to - such notable companies as dbx, Kurzweil, Ensoniq, Peavey, Electro-Voice, Yamaha, and industry notables as Stan Kenton, Mike Pinder (of the Moody Blues), Frank Zappa and Louis Prima. Larry is a well recognized expert in the recording and professional audio industries with many technical articles as well as books to his credit.
The Orchestra for this album was comprised of the best studio musicians in London,
including players from the London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. The same players were used that have performed on many major motion picture sound tracks. However, we used a larger orchestra. In most "usual" orchestras, there are perhaps two or three French horns - for this album, we used six; most orchestras have a brass section of perhaps 12 to 15 horns - again we utilized a larger brass section that was augmented by a dozen trumpets forming an antiphonal brass choir. There were over 100 musicians in the orchestra.
St. John's Smith Square was the recording venue used for this album.
The construction of St. John's was completed in 1728 and was rebuilt after the fire of London in 1742 and yet again after damage during World War II. Today, St. John's is not utilized for church services, but is used for classical music concerts and as a recording venue. The hall has superb acoustics and has been used for classical recordings by major symphony orchestras such as the London Symphony and London Philharmonic. Operas have been recorded here with such artists as Placido Domingo and Cheryl Studer on prestigious record labels such as Deutsche Grammophon and Phillips. A new German pipe organ was recently installed in the hall and was used on several selections in the album.
In order to maintain the entire beauty, warmth and excitement of this exceptional music,
we have utilized the most up-to-date digital recording technology. It was our goal to bring to the world a recording of great beauty and technical excellence that will last through the ages. On this CD, the full dynamic content and full frequency response of the music has been preserved. The original performances were recorded on a digital multi-track recorder, the album was mixed on a digital mixing console and recorded on a digital stereo master tape. This has preserved the entire recording process in the digital domain until the CD is played back on your music system.
"The Power and the Glory" has been an undertaking of epic proportions. Over 400 people have been directly involved and many more indirectly. It would be impossible to remember or mention every person who has given their assistance. So, to each of you, wherever you are, we say thank you with all our hearts. Without you, this could not have been possible. We would like to thank the following publicly for their help, support, prayers and time: Mr. Camarata and his wife Dorene who gave and sacrificed so willingly. Tonia Davall, (orchestra contractor) for so willingly taking on many additional tasks and giving her all to this project. David Hawkins of Eastlake Audio. Ray Prickett and Mike Hatch - Recording Engineers, London. Vic Frazier - Copyist. Ron Corp - Director New London's Children's Choir. Mary-Ann Mendenhall - Conductor Children's sessions - Hollywood. James E. Blakely and Jerry Blakely, who played a major role in making this album possible. There were also special friends who gave so freely of their time: Fred & Lydia McInnis, Randy & Sherry Guttery, Doug Blackwell, Markus Robinson, Bill Raventos, Dave Kelsey, Larry Phillips, Teresa McNair and many others. We thank each of you, so very much.
