“Instant Karma”, Les and Larry Elgart

This way: Instant Karma

In late 1952, Larry Elgart was working with fellow saxophonist Charles Albertine in the pit band for the Broadway play ‘’Top Banana’’. We wondered if this was it . . . if this was what we had to do to make a living in the music business. But we knew it wasn’t. And that’s why Les, I and Charlie started a new band with the determination that it had to happen. With $1,000, they gathered sidemen and recorded three demo tracks to shop the record labels. In April 1953, Columbia Records A&R executive George Avakian liked what he heard, and signed the band to the label. ‘’Sophisticated Swing,’’ the band’s first album, was released that year. It enjoyed immediate success. The Elgart ensemble was lauded as "a new band with a handsome sound and smart arrangements." The band came from nowhere to third place in the 1954 DownBeat Magazine popularity poll, behind the Les Brown Band and the Ray Anthony Orchestra. Elgart displaced Anthony for second place in 1955 and again in 1956.  

Among the band's popular tunes was "Bandstand Boogie", which was used by Dick Clark as the theme song for the ABC-TV dance show American Bandstand. 

The band's first stereo recording in 1957 reflected a name change to Les and Larry Elgart and Their Orchestra. After the 1958 release of “Sound Ideas,” however, the brothers parted ways, and Larry formed his own band.

[Spotify] Instant Karma