All About Percy Faith

On Saturday, March 18 there will be a free online event titled Life and Music of Ray Conniff, Comparative Listening: Great Arrangers. 

This morning I learned of the passing of Terry Woodson. Among his many musical accomplishments, Terry had worked as a trombonist with Percy Faith and later conducted Percy's arrangements on concert tours of Japan. His obituary provides details of his professional career and personal life.

One month ago today I was performing research at Sony Music in New York City and discovered a few things about Percy Faith…

Percy Faith was born 114 years ago today. I'm celebrating by listening to his best quadraphonic album.

I was cleaning out my basement and came across this long-forgotten item from my collection: Percy Faith as guest conductor on The Andre Kostelanetz Show back in 1944. These programs (and many more) are available for free download.

Percy Faith created some of the best Christmas music ever recorded. This article provides links to listen on YouTube or purchase from online resellers.

While perusing Alan's discography, I came across an obscure reference to a various-artists compilation containing Percy's second arrangement of "Swedish Rhapsody." Of course, I couldn't resists buying a copy...

I haven't listened to a Percy Faith album in more than six months so I took advantage of a rainy day here in Manassas to put up my feet and play a few sides. As I looked over album jackets, I was reminded about something we lost when converting from Lp to CD: all that space that the packaging afforded for photos and liner notes. Even when photos were included on CD reissues, they were often reproduced too small to make out any detail.

I've finally embarked on the project to preserve some of those old photos. Most of what I have is from old Lps so the scans aren't very good. If you have old publicity photos that you'd like to scan and share, please send me an email.

Fans wishing to purchase The Great Concert, included as a bonus on The Best of Percy Faith (12-CD set), may find my experiences helpful.

This set can be easily obtained and would make a great Christmas gift for any Percy Faith fan.  (updated June 17)

One year ago, Rick Gleitsman (Percy's grandson) emailed me that Sony Japan was about to release a 12-CD box set. This morning I was delighted to learn from a Japanese fan that this set was indeed released last year! (updated May 19)