The Dick Schory percussionists make use of 60-odd instruments (and we used the term “odd” advisedly!) and the sounds they produce are traded back and forth across the stereo stage, all clearly defined as to timbre and direction. But there’s much more here than tricks and gimmicks. Schory’s 12 percussionists are virtuosos. While their efforts at full volume can help you break your lease, toned down slightly this is a group of cleverly, brilliantly arranged musical numbers. It’s novelty, but it’s also “class.”

Chance are you’ve never heard many of these sounds before – at least not in these combinations – and certainly not in new Living Stereo. The recording was made in Chicago’s immense Orchestra Hall. According to producer Bob Bollard, “It took two moving vans to arm us with instruments – and these were in addition to the regular complement of timpani, chimes, gongs, etc., already housed at Orchestra Hall. The vast stage which comfortably accommodated the full Chicago Symphony was a jam-packed jigsaw puzzle of xylophones, marimbas, chimes, tambourines, tom-toms and tam-tams. Two guitars, harp and bass were the only plucked hybrids.

“Two large banquet tables were crammed with the little gadgets: blocks, horns, slapsticks, whistles, poppers, tuned automobile brake drums. Some had probably never seen a microphone before – the musical logs in Baia, for example, antique finger cymbals, and one polished metal item none of the musicians could identify. When conductor Dick Schory appeared with the scores he nonchalantly identified it as a manifold from a 1946 Chevrolet . . . and then handed its music to percussionist number 7. Between takes the men dashed for the tables to sort out their ammunition for the next number.

“Microphone placement was more like planning football plays than a recording session. There were twelve completely different mike set-ups and balances, one for each selection.

“We used as few microphones as possible, balancing the blend by changing the grouping rather than with the easy but treacherous ‘add-another-mike-for-what-you-don’t-hear’ approach. A three-track Ampex was used and mostly Telefunken 47’s, wide open.

“We experimented.”

“That’s why we tried movement – tap dancers ricocheting from one side to another (Buck Dance), and drummers marching in from a distance (National Emblem March). We tried to utilize space – to complete sets of dance band drums battling it out from different positions (Duel on the Skins). (We cheated on Tiddley Winks, which called for a soft-shoe chorus. We used sand blocks; the live dancer we tried with real sand on the floor just sounded gritty.)

“And there were other effects, some subtle (April in Paris), some contrapuntal (Skitch Henderson’s Holiday in a Hurry), and some just plain corny (Way Down Yonder in New Orleans) . . . all with the help of the remarkable acoustics of Orchestra Hall. This famous concert hall is a phenomenal and sensitive sound setting, one which very possibly can’t be matched anywhere. Moving a microphone or instrument only a couple of feet one way or another can change one color and texture.”