PERSONNEL:
Robert Filane, electric guitar
*The 3 Dons (Don Murray, Tony Marro, Bob Filane), vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, bongos

TRACK LISTING:

Side A
1. Unforgettable (Gordon, 1951)
2. Once In A While (Edwards & Green, 1937)
3. (Everything I Have Is) Yours (Lane & Adamson, 1934)
4. My Funny Valentine (Rodgers & Hart, 1937)
5. Pennies From Heaven (Burke & Johnston, 1936)
6. From Moment To Moment (Mancini, 1965)
7. Dream (Mercer, 1944)
8. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Porter, 1929)
9. What A Difference A Day Makes (Grever, 1934)
10. Who’s Sorry Now? (Snyder, Kalmar & Ruby, 1923)
11. Meditation (Jobim, Mendonça & Gimbel, 1965)
12. Stardust (Carmichael, 1927)
13. I Will Wait For You (Legrand, Demy & Gimbel, 1964)
14. There Must Be A Way (Gallop, Saxon & Cook, 1945)
15. Poor Butterfly (Hubbell, Golden, 1916)
16. I Left My Heart In San Francisco (Cory & Cross, 1953)
17. You Belong To Me (King, Price & Stewart, 1952)
18. I’ll Remember April (de Paul, Johnston and & Raye, 1942)
19. Harbor Lights (Williams & Kennedy, 1937)
20. The Autumn Leaves (Kosma, Prévert & Mercer, 1945)
21. Mona Lisa (Evans & Livingstone, 1950)
22. Anytime (Lawson, 1924)
23. I Can’t Stop Loving You (Gibson, 1957)
24. If (They Made Me A KIng) (Evans, Hargreaves & Damerell, 1934)
25. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? (Bergman, Bergman & Legrand, 1969)
26. You Don’t Know Me Now (Walker, 1955?)
27. Sealed With A Kiss (Udell & Geld, 1960)
28. Malafemmena feat. vocal by Tony Marro (de Curtis, 1951)*

Side B
1. My One & Only Love (Wood & Mellin, 1952)
2. A Day In The Life Of A Fool (Bonfá & Maria, 1959)
3. There Goes My Heart (Davis & Silver, 1934)
4. Girl From Ipanema (Jobim, de Moraes & Gimbel, 1962)
5. It Had To Be You (Jomes & Kahn, 1924)
6. Day By Day (Weston, Stordahl & Cahn, 1945)
7. Red Sails In The Sunset (Williams & Kennedy, 1935)
8. Blue Moon (Rodgers & Hart, 1934)
9. What Will I Tell My Heart (Lawrence, Tinturin & Gordon, 1938
10. The Shadow Of Your Smile (Mandel & Webster, 1965)
11. Somebody Loves Me (Gershwin, MacDonald & DeSylva, 1924)
12. Moonlight In Vermont (Blackburn & Suessdorf, 1944
13. Body and Soul (Heyman, Sour, Eyton & Green, 1930)
14. Malafemmena/Jealousy ‘Gypsy Tango’ (de Curtis, 1951)/(Gade, 1925)
15. That Old Feeling (Fain & Brown, 1937)
16. I Only Have Eyes For You (Warren & Dubin, 1934)
17. Someday (Hodges, 1944)
18. How High The Moon (Hamilton & Lewis, 1940)
19. Canadian Sunset (Heywood & Gimbel, 1956)
20. Non Dimenticar (Redi, Galdieri and Shelley Dobbins, 1951)
21. September Song (Weill & Anderson, 1938)
22. How Deep Is The Ocean? (Berlin, 1932)
23. Take The ‘A’ Train (Strayhorn, 1939)
24. What Is This Thing Called Love (Porter, 1929)*
25. Monterey (Wayne, Rose & Whiteman, 1930)*
26. Sweet Georgia Brown (Bernie, Pinkard & Casey, 1925)*
27. Fly Me To The Moon (Howard, 1954)*

Robert Filane was the professional name of Rocco Filangeri (1916-2004), grand uncle to my wife, Dr. Carole Filangieri, and her cousin, bassist Gerard Smith. He gave me this tape many years ago, at a family gathering, likely a wake. (“Why must we always meet at these shabby affairs?” he once asked me.).

Filane’s guitar tone, overdriven and often heavy on the tremelo, is a striking approach to this collection of standards from the Great American Songbook, having more in common with Muddy Waters than Charlie Christian. And his choppy, idiosyncratic technique anticipates cats like James Blood Ulmer and John Scofield.

I’ve no idea when this was recorded, nor under what conditions; the sound quality varies considerably from song to song, but none of it sounds professionally recorded. It’s likely he recorded these at different periods, but judging from the cassette, a TDK CD Power, this collection was dubbed near the end of his life.

Let’s be honest: listening to 50 jazz guitar solos is a bit of a slog. But stick around for The 3 Dons, Filane’s group with Tony Morro and Don Murray! Morro’s vocal on “Mala Femina” is sweet like zeppole, and Don Murray takes the mic for a swinging set at the end of Side B, featuring tight trio harmonies.