Encomium In Memoriam Vol 1 Jan Berry of Jan & Dean

As part of my larger research on the life of Jan Berry, I eventually got to his original music scores; and when I did, I realized they were the authentic parts used by the Wrecking Crew to record the original songs. Jan had also written out some of the more difficult vocal harmonies, as with "Anaheim."

So I wanted to do an album based on those -- kind an aural documentary highlighting some of Jan's best and most complex arrangements -- to augment my eventual biography. Jan & Dean are underrated, so it's a good project to explore the nuts and bolts of the music. Jan died . . . so it's a tribute to his life; but it's also meant to shed new light on his arrangements and productions . . . a way to get listeners to go back and listen a bit deeper to the original J&D recordings.

I transcribed the music scores and asked Cameron to helm the project as a co-production with me. Cameron was the hands-on producer, and sang many of the vocals. I do play and sing a bit on the album, but it's mostly others.

From my research, I had ready-made contacts, so I was able to get some great guest artists on board -- five of whom played or sang on original Jan & Dean material in the mid- to late Sixties.

Examples . . .

Vic Diaz of the Matadors, sang harmonies on J&D's Surf City and Drag City LPs in 1963 (along with Tony Minichiello and Manuel Sanchez, during J&D's early Screen Gems era). Jan -- thanks to his contracts with SG -- also produced the Matadors as a separate act for Colpix Records. Vic sang lead on the original Matadors version of "Ace of Hearts" (which he co-wrote with Jan and Gary Zekley) . . . so Vic came on board and sang lead on our new version of "Ace of Hearts."

Jill Gibson was Jan's girlfriend and songwriting partner. Jill co-wrote "It's As Easy As 1, 2, 3" and sang a duet with Jan on the J&D version. Jan also produced a solo version for Jill on Imperial Records in 1964. Jill's solo version had different lyrics, and that's the version we did for our album, with the amazing Lisa Mychols on lead . . . Jill also co-wrote "When It's Over" (the B-side of "Sidewalk Surfin'"), and she sings with Cameron on our version. This one also dates from 1964, and the lush string and woodwind arrangement was a foreshadow of Pop Symphony and Jan's changing style.

P. F. Sloan co-wrote "I Found A Girl" and does a cameo on harmonica for our version.

Tom Bahler (Partridge Family, Monkees, etc.) sang lead on the original version of "Carnival of Sound" (from the unreleased album of the same name, 1968). So Tom also sings lead on our new version of "Carnival of Sound."

Mike Deasy (former member of the Wrecking Crew) played guitar on the original version of "Love & Hate" in 1967 . . . So Mike plays lead guitar on our new version of the song.

Other highlights . . .

Paul Johnson (Belairs, "Mr. Moto") plays lead guitar on our version of "B Gas Rickshaw (Quasimoto)" . . . a Wrecking Crew instrumental Jan wrote in 1964.

David Marks (Beach Boys) did a sweet job on lead guitars for the Gothic short "Bat No. 1."

Don Grady (The Yellow Balloon) and Michael Carey Schneider (Sneaker) did an incredible job on 1967's "Fan Tan." One of our bonus tracks features an excerpt of the "a cappella" vocals for "Fan Tan").

And Clay, you're absolutely right . . . one of our big goals was to shed new light on Carnival of Sound. All people have heard are the poor quality acetate bootlegs . . . and the raw materials prove that those songs are really strong from a compositional standpoint. The seven "Carnival" tracks are grouped together on the album.

A big shout-out to Alan Boyd . . . who recorded some of our vocal and brass parts.

I sent Probyn Gregory the horn charts, and he nailed them in two sessions . . . October 2006 and March 2008 . . . totally blew us out on some of Jan's most important brass arrangements.

M.

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