Mark Duval And His Music – Action Man (1974)

From the 1974 Chappell LPC 1070 release Brass And Rhythms, this is exactly that.

This is a quite sought after library release and for good reason; it’s packed with funky tracks featuring brass and guitars.

Mark Duval by the way is an alias used by Chappell.
It is a bit unclear who exactly is behind the alias and maybe it was just a house name used by different artists at Chappell.

Syd Dale – Sunshine Express (1974)

Very happy tijuana piece from library legend Syd Dale.
The track is from the Amphonic 107 release The Happy Beat which also includes tracks from Lew Warburton and Tony Hatch.

Ralph Marco Band – Girl On The Beach (1974)

Ralph Marco Band is none other than jazz musician and German composer Werner Drexler.
This track is from what I believe is an extremly rare album – Mister Marco’s Music – issued on German library label Happy Records.

Kick back and enjoy a piece of funky music.

Steve Gray – Winning Is Easy (1973)

This nice piece from British composer and session keyboard player Steve Gray has the sweetest low key Fender Rhodes solo.

It has been pretty hard to find out when this track was originally released but it has been included in a 2001 compilation called Cinemaphonic Volume 2: Soul Punch.

Gray has worked with such prominent people as Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, Sammy Davis Jr and John Barry.

Cliff Johns – Hi, Bird (1970)

From British library label Studio G comes this great track.
Apparently issued in 1970 on the release “Beat Group” in Discogs the track is attributed to Cliff Johns.

However in the comment section on YouTube a user by the name “mikesilurilease” who seem to be the composer of the track writes the following:

Just for the record…. the line up for this 1967 recording was Big Colin Pincott – guitar . Don Gillies – bass, Peter Trout – drums, Mike Lease – organ & composer/arranger. Whilst visiting my parents in South Wales, I was contacted by Studio G at lunch time about doing this session in London the same evening. This and 5 other titles were feverishly “composed” on the train journey, then recorded in a 3-hour session. I’m truly amazed at this response… ! – Mike Lease.

Beat Group was reissued in 1996 on label Tenth Planet in 600 copies.

René Costy and His Orchestra – Scrabble (1972)

Fiddle-funk from French composer René Costy with some nice Fender Rhodes thrown in.
This track is from the Chapell release “Chappell Mood Music Vol. 26“.

The track was heavily sampled by J Dilla on his “Fuck the Police” from 2001.
Guess Costy didn’t see that comming :)

Janko Nilovic – Golf Open (1973)

Minimalistic piece from composer and pianist Janko Nilović who made a lot of library stuff in France in the 1960s and 1970s.
This track is from the Editions Montparnasse 2000 release Stylissimo

I remember this particular track being used as intro for the study kit “Impuls!” in my German lessons during the school years.
Weird :)

Ugo Calise – Prefercise L’Aragosta (1973)

Italian library track from the CAM release “Mappamondo (Musiche Di Terra E Di Mare)“.
If you like it short ‘n’ sweet with vibraphone and muted trumpet – as I do – this is for you.

Caravelli – Bas Pour Travaux Rythmiques (1977)

Nice bass piece from French composer Caravelli whose real name is Claude Vasori.

This piece is from the release “April Orchestra Vol. 16“.
April Music – or April Orchestra – was a library sub-label to CBS and they released around 70 volumes from 1974 to 1986.