When
Shelly Manne and His Friends (a trio starring pianist
André Previn) had a surprise hit with their interpretations of melodies from My Fair Lady, it started a trend toward recording jazz versions of scores from plays. For this LP,
Manne's trio (with
Previn and bassist
Red Mitchell) perform nine songs from the play
Bells Are Ringing. Although seven of the pieces remained obscure, "The Party's Over" (which is heard twice) and particularly "Just in Time" caught on. As is always the case with this group,
Previn's piano is the lead voice and his virtuosity, good taste, melodic improvising, and solid sense of swing are chiefly responsible for the music's success.