03 Wagon Wheels

From Wagon Wheels – Morton Gould & His Orch (1954), Columbia Masterworks ML-4858 “Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, Long Island, in 1914. For the first five years he just fooled around, finally getting down to composition with a piece entitled “Just Six,” which he was. At eight he was awarded a scholarship at the New York Institute of Musical Art, began giving piano recitals at fifteen and at seventeen was enjoying his first successes as a composer. “He played piano in vaudeville pits and movie houses for a while and worked out in dance bands as well. He became a member of the music staff of the Radio City Music Hall and then staff pianist and musical arranger for the National Broadcasting Company. He was also doing arranging for the Mutual Broadcasting System and went on there to conduct a weekly radio program which quickly became a marked success. A move to Columbia Broadcasting System was followed by even greater popularity with this venture. “As an arranger, Morton Gould has turned out shimmering orchestral settings of a huge range of contemporary and folk music. Here is, finally, another sophisticated composer-arranger that seems to turn his hand with equal finesse with music of the city or the wide open spaces.” From liner notes by Charles Burr