Today's Great American Songbook Playlist

[Dennie]

Blue Gardenia -- CD

Etta James

2001 Private Music

The legendary blues singer indeed lives up to the silly cliché about being able to sing the phone book and make it sound rich, meaningful, and soulful. Still, it's always exciting to hear her tackle materials she's missed before. Here she shifts gears impressively into the intimate jazz club mode, performing beautifully arranged takes on a wide variety of standards (from "Come Rain or Come Shine" to "Cry Me a River") under the direction of producer John Snyder and arranger/pianist Cedar Walton. Those two gathered a handful of great jazz players and recorded the initial tracks without James, who had a touch of the flu. A few months later she had recovered and did the amazing vocal sessions which truly sound live and in synch with the music. Beginning with the redemptive theme of "This Bitter Earth," each song allows her to explore both tenderness and guttural emotions, even a little irony on clever twists like "He's Funny That Way." There are also perfectly placed spotlights for the featured musicians. "This Bitter Earth" and "He's Funny That Way" feature a thoughtful improvisation by Walton, while Duke Ellington's "In My Solitude" has a passionate interlude by tenor saxophonist Red Holloway. Most of the vocals are textured over a bed of simmering brass, adding to the old school big band flavor that creates the atmosphere for the project. It's certainly common for great artists to thank their parents for various influences, but James goes one step further on the title track, allowing her mom to sing the tune; mom is no match for her daughter, but it's still a unique touch that adds emotional dimension to an already emotionally rich affair. ~ Jonathan Widran

Track listing

1. This Bitter Earth
2. He's Funny That Way
3. In My Solitude
4. There Is No Greater Love
5. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
6. Love Letters
7. These Foolish Things
8. Come Rain or Come Shine
9. Don't Worry 'Bout Me
10. Cry Me a River
11. Don't Blame Me
12. My Man
13. Blue Gardenia

 

[Dennie]

Something Cool -- CD

June Christy with Pete Rugolo and his Orchestra

1954/1991 Capitol Records

The ultimate collection for fans of the Misty Miss Christy, Something Cool features June at her best. The twenty-four songs on this CD cover the period between 1953 and 1954, the most productive and successful years of her career.

Eleven of the selections on Something Cool are from the original album of the same name which gave June her first real commercial success and convinced the critics that she was a capable jazz singer. The odd title song, with its sad rhythm and its lyrics about a pathetic woman lost in the haze of her own mind, is truly a classic. Most of the songs that June recorded fell into the category of ''odd,'' in a good sort of way. Many of the numbers on this CD are relatively unknown and little recorded, but June, with the help of arranger and orchestra leader Pete Rugolo, turned these oddball numbers into true gems of the ''smoke-filled room'' jazz variety. Those numbers that are familiar, like ''Midnight Sun'' and ''The Night We Called It a Day,'' are given the same twist as the unknowns, making the album, from beginning to end, flow quite dreamily through the unique world of Miss June Christy.

A definite recommendation.

Track Listing

* 1. Not I
* 2. Whee Baby
* 3. Why Do You Have to Go Home?
* 4. You're Making Me Crazy
* 5. Something Cool
* 6. Magazines
* 7. Midnight Sun
* 8. Lonely House
* 9. I Should Care
* 10. It Could Happen to You
* 11. The First Thing You Know, You're in Love
* 12. A Stranger Called the Blues
* 13. I'll Take Romance
* 14. Look Out Up There
* 15. Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
* 16. Out of Somewhere
* 17. Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore
* 18. I'm Thrilled
* 19. This Time the Dream's on Me
* 20. The Night We Called It a Day
* 21. Kicks
* 22. Pete Kelly's Blues
* 23. Until the Real Thing Comes Along
* 24. I Never Want to Look into Those Eyes Again

 

[Infinitoid]

Baton and Bows

Morton Gould and his Orchestra

RCA Living Stereo Shaded Dog (1958)

Includes:
The Way You Look Tonight
Can I Forget You
I Dream Too Much
All The Things You Are
Yesterdays
Jockey on the Carousel

 

[Dennie]

But Beautiful - Standards Volume 1 -- CD

Boz Scaggs

2003 Gray Cat Records

A Match Made In Music Heaven!, May 14, 2003
By Mike King "Mike Vegas King" (Taunton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)


This review is from: But Beautiful, Standards: Volume 1 (Audio CD)

Many rock singers have released albums of standards with varying degrees of success. Where Nelson Riddle's big band arrangement perfectly suited Linda Ronstadt, who belted out the song "What's New?" for all she's worth, the small jazz combo backing Boz Scaggs perfectly suits his laid back vocals on that song. He sings the classic "Sophisticated Lady" as though Duke Ellington had written it for him to perform. Boz sings "For All We Know" with a world weariness that perfectly matches the mood of the lyrics. "So love me tonight; tomorrow was made for some. Tomorrow may never come, for all we know." No singer's voice is better suited to singing standards than Boz Scaggs. The musicians backing him are superb and the production is perfect. The subtitle of this album is Standards, Volume One. Personally, I can't wait to hear Volume Two!

1. "What's New?" (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 4:30
2. "Never Let Me Go" (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston) – 5:06
3. "How Long Has This Been Going On?" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 6:07
4. "Sophisticated Lady" (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish) – 5:14
5. "But Beautiful" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) – 5:36
6. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 3:29
7. "Easy Living" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) – 4:13
8. "I Should Care" (Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston, Sammy Cahn) – 5:25
9. "You Don't Know What Love Is" (Gene de Paul, Don Raye) – 5:46
10. "For All We Know" (J. Fred Coots, Sam M. Lewis) – 5:30

 

[DC]

Blossom Dearie - My Gentleman Friend

I was playing "Someone to Watch Over Me" at school today for a few students after Jazz Ensemble rehearsal after school today ...

 

[Dennie]

This is the one that started my journey into these great songs.....

Stardust -- 2 CD Set

Willie Nelson

1978/2008 Columbia Legacy

Amazon.com essential recording

Willie Nelson has never been one to do the safe or expected, and this Booker T. Jones-produced album of pop standards from the '30s and '40s certainly fits the profile. It's also one of the better albums of Nelson's career, allowing Willie to dip his fragile, quivering tenor all around the beat in songs like "All of Me" and "Unchained Melody." Jones's organ, piano, and string arrangements are low-key and swinging (except on the almost wooden "On the Sunny Side of the Street"), and Nelson's vocals on "Georgia on My Mind" and "Moonlight in Vermont" are filled with a dignified and slightly jazzy country soul. --David Cantwell

1. "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish) – 3:53
2. "Georgia on My Mind" (Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell) – 4:20
3. "Blue Skies" (Irving Berlin) – 3:34
4. "All of Me", (Seymour Simons, Gerald Marks) – 3:54
5. "Unchained Melody" (Hy Zaret, Alex North) – 3:50
6. "September Song" (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) – 4:35
7. "On the Sunny Side of the Street" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) – 2:36
8. "Moonlight in Vermont" (John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf) – 3:25
9. "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell) – 2:33
10. "Someone to Watch Over Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 4:03

In 2008, Columbia Records issued a version of Stardust subtitled 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition. The album contained a 16 track bonus disc of songs Nelson's other albums. None of the bonus tracks date to the original Stardust sessions.

1. "What a Wonderful World" (George David Weiss and Bob Thiele)
2. "Basin Street Blues" (Spencer Williams)
3. "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)" (D. Dougherty, E. Reynolds and A. Neiburg)
4. "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" (Fred E. Ahlert and Joe Young)
5. "The Gypsy" (Billy Reid)
6. "Mona Lisa" (Jay Livingston and Ray Evans)
7. "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen)
8. "Ole Buttermilk Sky" (Hoagy Carmichael and J. Brooks)
9. "That Lucky Old Sun" (Haven Gillespie and Beasley Smith)
10. "Little Things Mean a Lot" (E. Calisch and C. Stutz)
11. "Cry" (Churchill Kohlman)
12. "You'll Never Know" (Mack Gordon and Harry Warren)
13. "Tenderly" (Jack Lawrence and Walter Lloyd Gross)
14. "Stormy Weather" (Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler)
15. "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen)
16. "Angel Eyes" (Earl Brent and Matt Dennis)

 

[Dennie]

Blossom Dearie - My Gentleman Friend

I was playing "Someone to Watch Over Me" at school today for a few students after Jazz Ensemble rehearsal after school today ...

That is very cool. I hope some of them Listened!
:thmbsp:


Dennie

 

[chicks]

Nat "King" Cole / George Shearing
Nat King Cole sings / George Shearing plays

Capitol (1961)

An appropriate spin for the 92nd anniversary of Mr. Cole's birth, and Mr. Shearing's recent passing. Easy listening? Yes. Schmaltz? Never. Excellent, jazz-based musicians, both. A real treat.

 

[chicks]

Rickie Lee Jones
Pop Pop

Geffen Records (1991)

Rickie Lee's unique stylings of pop songs (mostly) from the Songbook. Quite enjoyable. Charlie Hayden plays bass on several tracks.

 

[chicks]

June Christy
The Misty Miss Christy

Capitol T-725 (1956)

 

[chicks]

Sarah Vaughan
Great Songs From Hit Shows

Mercury MGP-2-100 (1958)

Of all the Songbook albums I own, I have to say that this double album is probably my favorite. And yet, per Will Friedwald's book, she has some even better ones. Whether Jazz or Popular Standards, Ms Vaughan's voice is simply incomparable. I need to add many more of her albums to my collection...

 

[chicks]

Nobody's mentioned Keely Smith yet. Rod Stewart either, but in that case it's a good thing.

Rod's voice is definitely wrong for the Songbook, but I'm now convinced that Elvis Costello is the worst possible singer of the Songbook.

I've been listening to him host Piano Jazz these past two Sunday's; his voice is utterly unsuited to this great music. Stick with whatever it is you do well, Elvis, please, and let your wife interpret these songs - she's great at it.

Elvis is very knowledgeable about this music, I must admit, and clearly a very smart guy.

 

[chicks]

Nancy Wilson
The Nancy Wilson Show!

Capitol (1965)

 

[chicks]

Maurice Chevalier
The Very Best Of

MGM (1964)

He talks as much as sings, but ah such an entertainer! They just don't make 'em like Chevalier anymore.

 

[chicks]

Frank Sinatra
In The Wee Small Hours

Capitol (1955)

 

[chicks]

Sarah Vaughan
In The Land Of Hi-Fi

Emarcy (1955)

 

[chicks]

Sarah Vaughan
Swingin' Easy

Emarcy (1957)

 

[chicks]

Roberta Gambarini
Easy To Love

Groovin' High (2006)

 

[chicks]

Risë Stevens / Robert Merrill
A Cavalcade Of Musical Comedy

RCA Victor WDM-1536 (195?)

Not the kind of Songbook singers I usually enjoy, but it's hard to argue with Risë Stevens' voice. She's my favorite Carmen. The title is a bit odd, nothing comedic about these Cole Porter, et al, songs. The translucent red 45 rpm disks are cool, and appears to be a rare collection, can't find any info about it on the web, just an LP version.

 

[chicks]

Peggy Lee
Sings With Benny Goodman

Harmony HL-7005 (1957)