The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Hi, I would love to know who played the beautiful tenor sax solo on Dusty's recording of "The Look of Love". All I know is that it was recorded in 1967 and the arranger was Reg Guest. Last I heard, Reg lives in Hove, in England.

Dom,
The Reg Guest version(single 45 on Phillips) of Dusty's Look of Love is the best one, I think....(Burt did the soundtrack version)Those high strings in echo are so lonesome and senual sounding! The emptiness and echo on that record are amazing! Burt had a hand in most of Dusty's Bacharach records, but i think only as a co-producer/drop in kind of thing(if at all)
He certainly did not arrange any of her great hits...but they sound so Bacharach and fit beautifully!
The Sax player(who ever it was)did a great job!

Steveo

I agree. Dusty's single texturally improves upon the original soundtrack recording (despite the lyric gaffe) although, to be completely fair, virtually all of Reg's arrangement seems directly cribbed from Bacharach's original, save the exquisite string accompaniment and echo effect (although I've heard a mix of the single that lacks the reverb.)

Steveo, the things you pointed out about the single version are exactly what gives me shivers 40 years later. I just want to know who that player was and thank them, if I can. These talented arrangers, Reg Guest, Jonny Franz, Wally Stott, and their session-playing army have been overlooked for so long.

Scotsgreg, I confess I only know the single version but will try and track down the OST cut to compare the two. When was Burt's own arrangement first released? The versions of TLOL I have by BB are very different arrangements with far more swing than Dusty's single.


I did contact a Canadian tenor sax player (Art Ellefson) who was working in London at the time who I was told could be a good starting point, but he only remembers doing one session for Dusty.
He said, "I don't mean to sound blasè, but I don't remember which song - it was all just busy in-and-out session work for us. Dusty must have done about 25 takes and I still don't know if they were happy with it."
He said that day he was part of a brass ensemble, so not the single version of "TLOL" then.
Burt is coming here next month, but I doubt he would recall unless it was someone particularly memorable for any reason. Art Ellefson said send him a copy and he might know by listening!
Personally, I can't 100% drop the theory that it was Stan Getz. I don't know why, it just sounds like him to me.

Dom,
The sax solo is kind of breathy, like Stan Getz...so it's in that school of playing alright!
2 other great english arrangers (non-bacharach) but in that 60's kind of style are Tony Hatch and Bob Leaper...
Bob Leaper was a musical associate of Tony's and did a lot of work for him..
I had a standing interest in who did the wonderful arrangement on the
Bobby Rydell recording of the Tony hatch song "Forget Him"(If He Doesn't Love You)
After finally being able to speak with Tony, he said he produced the recording, and added his touch and changes to Bob Leaper's
arrangement.
There is a marvelous part toward the end when Bobby sings
the lyrics "Don't Let him tell you that he wants you"(2nd and last time)
This has a wonderful backing behind the vocal of what I thought were strings woodwinds, but Tony says it's strings and muted brass(probably horns)
Bloody good re-chord!

Steveo

Dom, the arrangements are virtually identical in instrumentation and pace, although Burt's track lacks the brilliantly haunting string accompaniment, features a slightly more staccato, lyrically and melodically exact vocal from Dusty (fewer of her expressive note bends, no doubt at Burt's direction), no closing vocal refrain of the 'chorus' and a tacked-on horn coda which, although very typical of Bacharach, feels like an afterthought, coming as it does on the heels of that last sax phrase. I think the single ultimately had a more cohesive, commercial sound for the time, but there's no denying, just as with her 'Wishin' and Hopin,' that the arrangement was strongly derived from the original. Of her Bacharach covers that I recall, only her 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself' and 'Close To You' strayed substantively from Bacharach's original arrangement. (Although, tit for tat, I always assumed he, in turn, took inspiration from her more rocking single of "I Just Don't Know..." when freshly arranging the song for Dionne for her 1966 remake.) It's certainly more punchy than what was originally presented with Tommy Hunt.

Steveo, I've always dug Tony Hatch!

Scottsgreg,
You are right about all this stuff....I agree that Dusty's punchy version
of "I Don't Know What to Do..."certainly made a mark on arrangements to come..

I enjoy the instrumental tag on the end of the Burt/Dusty Look of Love
soundtrack arrangement, but as you said, the single version was more suited for the 45 release...it's icy cool, timeless, and bone chilling!

Regarding Tony Hatch, he is one in a million, just like Burt!

Blue, thanks for the other Bacharach video post!

What is Tony Hatch doing these days?

And regarding saxophone solos: I have noticed all along that Burt writes some phenomenal music for the sax solo on all his records where there is one. It's not just TLOL where it stands out as being so great. The sax solo on "Freefall" is genius, IMHO.

Enormous,
I think Tony Hatch is involved in tv scoring, etc...and has an office in London...He has made his money and his mark, but continues at his leisure on certain british projects...

Regarding the sax solos on Burt's records...Burt always hired some of the best JAzz players...Don Menza comes to mind...and excellent jazz saxophone player He can be heard on Wives and Lovers Extended Version
on Burt's old album.

Warren Luening on trumpet, as well....Herb Ellis on guitar would do live dates... another great jazz player..Ray Brown, bass on a lot of Los Angeles record Dates...these guys are phenomanal!(I think Ray is no longer with us)

Thanks steveo. Question: Do you think these great players improvised their own parts, if not in whole, then to a lesser degree? Or were they reading Burt's notes?

I just came across a Stan Getz interview with Peter Madsen, so emailed Peter about the TLoL solo and his reply was, "I can´t say for 100% but I think it is Stan!" So, any other ideas out there?

The overwhelming thing I am getting from this thread is that other people are also in the vice-like grip of this track's haunting nature. That's quite something.

I was once in the middle of a five-hour drive and TLoL came up on the tape: within a minute I had to pull over and cry like a baby (which felt great!).
Enormous, you mentioned Dusty's wilful self-destruction (which is not that widely known about) and I guess that's what triggered my tears. Knowing she had subjected herself to that.

That and the realization that, for me, this recording is an Everest-like monument in the art of the recorded song. In it I hear a pair of writers at their absolute effortless peak, I hear a favourite singer's finest, most heartfelt performance and THAT solo (!), with everything pinned together by an arrangement so moving and haunting that we are discussing it 40 years later. Incredible.

(By the way, if any of you appreciate decent vinyl pressings, there's a 10" 200g Colgems demonstration single available that features this track on both sides, one at 33 and one at 45, which is reputedly a higher quality listen. I can post more details if there are any takers.)

sorry but i have to tell you that is not Stan Getz..once i was with Burt himself and we were speaking about musicians..and i remember perfectly he said a name of someone that was not him..i hope the memory will come out in the way to help you ok??cheers GABBA

Hey Gabba, no worries. This thread's about uncovering the answer from beneath the rocks of history and hearsay, so think away and let us know which name you come up with.
I hope everybody's sending Gabba some good-memory vibes!

Enorrmous,
they were improvising to a chord chart in the "improvising section"
of the arrangement.
Steveo