BOB FLEMING

Mr. Sax (Série A) (196?)

Bob Fleming, or Moacyr Silva (Moacir Pinto da Silva), born in Conselheiro Lafaiete, Minas Gerais on May, 10th, 1918.

With his father being the conductor of the Municipal Band, at the age of ten he used to play Piccolo at a local club, learning soon after to play the tenor saxophone. When he was 17, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he did his military service and played at the Army Band. By this time he started being invited to play in parties. After doing his time in the Army, he started playing at the Gafieira Elite under the conduction of Maestro Fon-Fon until 1947. Then he went to the Zacarias Orchestra and performed at the Copacabana Palace Hotel and also at the Rádio Mayrink Veiga, under the Maestro Peruzzi direction.

In 1953 he assembled his own group with Dom Um (drums), Célio (acoustic bass), and Sasha (piano), performing at the night club Vogue for Dolores Duran, and at the Au Bon Gourmet, playing for Francieth. Still in 1953, he recorded his first 78 r.p.m. for Copacabana, with the song "Crepúsculo" (Júlio Barbosa), releasing later on record a choro composed by him that was already a hit on the radio, "Sugestivo".

He started playing for Elizete Cardoso and Marisa, and soon he became a producer for Copacabana. As he was always being invited to play in parties, he released four volumes of the LP "Dançando Com Você". He then assumed the pseudonym Bob Fleming and suddenly his records skyrocketed and during the 1960’s he released the series "Sax Sensacional".

He went on, working for Copacabana, producing and playing up to the time of his retirement.

Mr. Sax (Série A)

According to the text above, which was extracted from the "Enciclopédia da Música Brasileira", published by Publifolha, this record was made during the 1960's, but it's quite clear that the album, or the reissue remastering was made in two distinct situations.  Though the whole album is stereo (and stereo recordings in Brazil started being available only from 1970 on), the first six songs seem to have been recorded live or with a limited equipment, while the remaining six songs, seem to have been recorded on a full multitrack studio.

01. Fascination (F. D. Marchetti) • 2:43

02. Indian Summer (Victor Herbert/Al Dubin) • 2:32

03. Can't I (Leroy/Lovett) • 2:24

04. Sonny Boy (Al Jolson/G. B. de Sylva/Lew Brown) • 2:04

05. There Goes My Heart (B. Davis/A. Silver) • 2:31

06. Tammy (Jay Livingston/Ray Evans) • 2:38

07. All The Way (Sammy Cahn/James Van Heusen) • 2:59

08. Deep Purple (Mitchel Parish/Peter de Rose) • 2:15

09. Laura (Gene Raskin/Johnny Mercer) • 2:12

10. It's Wonderful (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) • 2:02

11. Bat Masterson (B. Corwin/H. Wray) • 2:29

12. All The Things You Are (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein, II) • 2:09