Double Play!

Double Play!
Studio album by Russ Freeman and André Previn
Released	1957
Recorded	April 30 and May 11, 1957
Studio	Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles
Genre	Jazz
Length	41:50
Label	Contemporary
Producer	Lester Koenig
André Previn chronology
My Fair Lady (1956) Double Play! (1957) Pal Joey (1957)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[2]

Double Play! is a 1957 jazz album featuring pianists Russ Freeman and André Previn.[1]

It was recorded and released in 1957 on the Contemporary label, and re-released in 1993 in the Original Jazz Classics series.

Together with drummer Shelly Manne, the album, as its title suggests, includes eight baseball-themed original compositions by Freeman and Previn along with the standard "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".[1] (The rather risque-by-1950s-standards album cover features a model wearing a Hollywood Stars cap.) The album was advertised at the time as the first time that two pianists recorded "modern jazz" together.[1]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz suggested that the album was the best of Previn's early releases, being "the most uncomplicatedly jazz-driven".[2]

Track listing

1. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Jack Norworth, Albert Von Tilzer)
2. "Who's on First?" (Previn) - 3:37
3. "Called on Account of Rain" (Previn) - 5:11
4. "In the Cellar Blues" (Previn, Freeman) - 5:01
5. "Batter Up" (Freeman) - 3:58
6. "Double Play" (Freeman) - 4:58
7. "Safe at Home" (Freeman) - 6:03
8. "Fungo" (Freeman) - 5:42
9. "Strike Out the Band" (Previn) - 4:12

Track 1-5 recorded on April 30, 1957; tracks 6-9 on May 11, 1957

Personnel

• Russ Freeman - piano
• André Previn - piano
• Shelly Manne - drums

References

1. AllMusic
2. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1180. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.