Los Angles Times, Saturday, Feb. 8, 1975, p. 8-9.
Though the tensions between the United States and Russia have eased somewhat in the
past few years, American pop music artists whose music might be considered disruptive
to the cloistered Russian society are still not welcome there.
According to arranger/conductor Ray Conniff, the first American pop artist to record in Russia, that government wants its populace exposed only to conservative music.
Last December, Conniff spent two weeks in Russia at the invitation of the state-owned Melodiya ñ the only record company in the country. He recorded an album in his own style, using a Russian crew.
"The government is in charge of everything that's recorded," said the youthful-looking 59-year-old artist in the living room of his sumptuous Laurel Canyon home. "They control as much as possible what the people hear. They only want people to hear music that won't start them thinking about things that would cause upsetting changes in their society. I'm sure they prefer not to let in hard-rock music with lyrics about drugs and revolution and other things they don't want their people exposed to.
"But I think they feel they're not going to keep Western music out. Communications and travel are too extensive. So all they can do is control as rigidly as they can what comes in and what records people can buy."
The Russian government is correct in assuming that Conniff's music will not cause foment in their society. Conniff is one of the top artists in middle-of-the-road music. On his albums, he guides a chorus through top-40 songs that, through his arrangements, have been softened and sweetened to the conservative tastes of the MOR crowd.
Conniff's trip was a byproduct of a distribution deal between Melodiya and CBS Records, for which he has made 55 albums since 1956. Albums by Igor Stravinsky and Miles Davis are also scheduled to be released in Russia, though those albums won't be recorded there.
Conniff, long on of America's best-selling artists, is also very popular in foreign countries because his music, which features lots of scat-singing and doesn't rely heavily on lyrics, is easily accessible to non-English speaking music fans. One of the reasons he was invited to Russia is that his music is well known there.
"People in Russia can hear my music on powerful stations in Europe that reach into Russia," Conniff explained. "Also, disc jockeys who travel outside of Russia have brought my records back with them. So I have fans there who will buy the album when it's released."
The album, "Conniff in Moscow," consists of four songs with Russian lyrics and eight instrumentals embellished by scat-singing. All the songs are Russian pop tunes. Except for the Russian lyrics, the album, which Conniff was playing during the interview, sounds just like one of his American albums.
"I did all the arrangements before I went to Moscow," he said. "It was interesting that all 25 songs they sent me to choose from were in minor key. This gives them more of a melancholy sound. Most of the Russian music I have heard has this kind of sound."
Conniff's all-Russian crew included 16 singers, 18 musicians and numerous technicians. He can normally record an album in nine hours, but this one required 20. The session was somewhat difficult because Conniff didn't speak Russian and his crew didn't speak English.
Discussing some problems caused by the language barrier, Conniff revealed, "On the instrumentals, the singers have to sing 'da da' quite a bit. But the Russians have no 'da' sound in their language. They say 'dough.' It took a couple of days for them to learn how to sing 'da' properly.
"It really slows things down having to speak through an interpreter when you are working with people you have never worked with before. But I was really impressed with the singers, musicians and all the modern equipment in the studio. There was no animosity. They were all trying very hard to please me.
"The finished product is good, but I still prefer my own singers."
"Conniff in Moscow," which will be released in Russia next month, won't be released here at all. Conniff would love to have it released in America, but the idea doesn't appeal to CBS executives, who contend their is no American market for an MOR album of Russian pop tunes.
Rather mournfully, Conniff said, "It's a shame that my friends and some record-company people are the only Americans who will probably ever hear this album."