Ferrante and Teicher

Considering they made their name recording background-ready easy listening records, Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher are a pretty interesting pair. True, the piano duo's output -- nearly a hundred records -- includes its share of sketchy judgment calls (Classical Disco, Rocky & Other Knockouts) and assembly-line productions: their lush, string-laden remakes of love songs and movie themes were practically seasonal arrivals for many years. A good portion of these titles, immensely popular in the 1960s, can be obtained in their original LP form at your local thrift store. However, when not overly encumbered by orchestrations, the two have unleashed some truly noteworthy acts of unselfconscious invention, with albums such as the 1958 prepared-piano kook-fest Blast Off! attaining cult-classic status among "Incredibly Strange Music" enthusiasts. The duo continue to perform sporadically, releasing albums on their own label, the somewhat ironically named Avant-Garde.