Johnny Costa was the musical director for the "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" for many years, starting in 1967. He played the background music for the show. His playing was in the style of Art Tatum and Fats Waller, sophicated, smooth, and elegant. I was quite impressed with it.
During the years from 1955 to 1959 he produced a number of LP records. Unfortunately, I didn't know about him at the time, and the LPs are no longer available. Fortunately, he recorded 5 CD's from 1992 to 1995. Free sample tracts from four of them are reproduced here. Each of the samples plays for about a minute, but are recorded at fairly high bit rate. You may need cable or DSL to prevent breakups. On a slow (56k) modem, you may need to download them and then play them later. The album names link to the sources of these clips. A Google search for 'johnny costa cd' will reveals other sources for the CD's.
From the Classic album (1992):
Track:
01
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03a
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06
06a
07
07a
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16a
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18
Play all of the above samples in one STREAM. (22 minutes).
From the
Flying Fingers album (1992):
Track:
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
08a
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09a
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11
11a
12
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17
Play all of the above samples in one STREAM. (19 minutes).
From the
Dream: Johnny Costa Play Johnny Mercer album (1995):
Track:
01
02
03
04
05
06a
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
13a
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16
Play all of the above samples in one STREAM. (17 minutes).
From the
Portrait Of George Gershwin album (1993):
Track:
01
01a
02
03
04
05
06
07
07a
08
09
09a
10
11
12
13
14
15
Play all of the above samples in one STREAM. (17 minutes).
Play the entire collection above in one STREAM. (1 hour, 17 minutes).
Links:
1. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
2. Johnny Costa's home page.
3. You can buy the four CD's above here:
4. His last CD, "Christmas Reflections" is here (no samples):