I continue to work on some research projects and hope to post some more substantial Creed Taylor-related material soon. I’ve also been promised another fascinating piece on the CTI All Stars. I am also lucky enough to have a mostly complete draft of the biography of Creed Taylor in my possession, so despite the lack of substantive posts here, things continue to progress.
For today, here is the first of three interesting things I’ve come across recently on the Internet.
Kenyon Hopkins & Creed Taylor Go Digital
UK based Bandcamp member “Moochin’ About” [1]https://moochinabout.com/ has released two sets of digital releases containing Hopkins work.
Launched in 2011 by Barrow producer and musician Jason Lee Lazell, the world and jazz buyer for Tower Records (1993-2003), the largest record store in Europe, and the self-titled and critically acclaimed label Moochin’ About has launched two sets of Kenyon Hopkins arranged and Creed Taylor produced musical tracks. It represents pretty much everything they did together, including the “Sound Tour” collection, originally produced for Verve in association with Esquire magazine, and the various “Shock,” “Lonelyville,” “Ping, Pang Pong,” “Son of Shock,” and “Nightmare” albums, as well as other tracks.
I have not listened to or purchased these since I already have all the albums in both sets on vinyl and have ripped my own digital files for use in the car, on vacation, etc. I did, though, listen to a substantial number from both sets, streamed directly from Bandcamp. I found them to be very clear, with no real surface noise or other distractions. This is, of course, very important when you are listening to “mood music” and soundtracks at the intersection of jazz, big band, and sound effects.
I typically use a Sony, noise cancelling WH-1000XM4 headset when working on anything release related. They are excellent tonally and combined with the noise cancelling an excellent way to hear noise and sound frequency.
I emailed “moocin about” via Bandcamp and Jason replied to confirm the digital versions were fully licensed and had been remastered from the original tapes. Jason tells me is hoping to get them out in physical form sometime soon.
Sound Tour
The first set is “Sound Tour” – the complete set of the four “Sound Tour” albums, minus the fifth, which was a compilation [2]https://www.discogs.com/label/683936-Sound-Tour. The £12, or as of today, $16 set, also includes the earlier “The Sound Of New York” album, which provided the idea and sales impetus for the Verve “Sound Tour” series. The set is available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
The sequencing in this set is album by album: “France”, “Spain”, “Hawaii”, “Italy,” and finally “The Sound of New York.”
I wrote about Creed’s work on these records and with Hopkins briefly in “The ABC Of Specialty Recording” [3]http://ctproduced.com/the-abc-of-specialty-recording/ including the work of Keen Crockett and others. “The Sound Of New York” was also the first time Creed used a Pete Turner photograph for cover art.
Shock, Horror and “In Bedlam”
The second set is a bonanza 83-track “In Bedlam” collection. The set is available as a high-quality download in MP3 and FLAC in 16-bit/44.1kHz. The only sequencing in this set is again, album by album. I think in this case there is an argument to be made that they could have been sequenced by track. However, as presented in this £9 / $12 massive, they preserve the sequence Taylor originally released them in.
Kenyon Hopkins
Kenyon Hopkins may not be a household name, even among jazz aficionados, but for soundtrack collectors, he’s a cult figure whose moody, noir-inflected scores helped define the sound of postwar urban America. Born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1912 and raised in Michigan, Hopkins trained in classical composition before diving into the jazz world via Paul Whiteman’s orchestra in 1930s New York.
Hopkins, like actress Toni Darnay – who appears on the original cover for “Shock”, deserves his own post. I will get to it; there are some parts of the story that deserve a more complete examination. His personal life, like that of Darnay’s, took an unexpected turn during either his first or second divorce, depending on who you believe. Hopkins’ third wife was Geri Beitzel; Beitzel and variously her choir or singers can be heard on a couple of the “Sound of New York” tracks. Beitzel, born Geraldine Virgina Beitzel was perhaps more famous for singing and recording children’s music and nursery rhymes as Gerry Beitzel [4]https://www.discogs.com/artist/1369061-Gerry-Beitzel.
Hopkins’ breakthrough came with Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll (1956). Hopkins’ collaborations with producer Creed Taylor, featured here, are mostly now collector’s items. Some were released under “The Creed Taylor Orchestra” due to Hopkins’ Capitol Records contract.
Hopkins died in 1983, largely forgotten by the mainstream, but his work remains a touchstone for those who appreciate jazz’s cinematic potential. His scores didn’t swing—they simmered. They didn’t dazzle—they haunted. And in that space between jazz and drama, Hopkins found a voice that still resonates with listeners who crave atmosphere, tension, and the sound of a city that never sleeps.
Again, some of these albums were discussed in a number of posts [5]http://ctproduced.com/tag/kenyon-hopkins/.
Got any other interesting Internet finds, leave a comment or let me know via the contact form. Another tomorrow from me.
References
UPDATES:
8/12/2025 – Updated detail from moochin about on license and physical release.
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