'S Wonderful!


S Wonderful! is a 1956 album by Ray Conniff, his orchestra and chorus. It was his first album released under his name. The album was produced completely in mono by Mitch Miller at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studios in New York City. The album became a hit and Conniff recorded three more albums in a similar style.

Overview

With S' Wonderful, Conniff "combined a chorus of four men and four women with a traditional big band mix of 18 instruments". The success of the album's format resulted in Conniff continuing the pattern over a number of subsequent albums, recording them in a similar style.

Chart performance

The album reached No. 11 on the Billboard Best Selling Pop Albums chart and No. 12 on the Cash Box pop albums chart, where it remained on the chart for 38 weeks. The title track, a recording of "'S Wonderful", was released as a single and peaked at No. 73 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart.

Critical reception

AllMusic rated the album 4.5 stars while its review by William Ruhlmann stated, "Conniff updated the big band sound to the '50s, retaining its danceable tempos and building upon the unison section innovations of Glenn Miller...Employing standards with familiar melodies, the imaginativeness of his work became all the more noticeable."

Recording dates

Recording dates based on Ray Conniff's diaries:

Charts

Chart Peak
position
US Billboard Best Selling Pop Albums11
US Cash Box Best Selling Pop Albums12