1 Takes Two To Tango |
14 Who? |
2 Tess’s Torch Song |
15 Ma, He’s Making’ Eyes At Me |
3 He Didn’t Ask Me |
16 Baby, It’s Cold Outside |
4 St. Louis Blues |
17 Ain’t She Sweet? |
5 Tired |
18 Johnson Rag |
6 Fifteen Years And I’m Still Serving
Time |
19 Saturday Night Fish Fry |
7 I Ain’t Talkin’ Though It’s All Over |
20 Vagabond Shoes |
8 Personality |
21 Nothin,’ Nothin’ Baby Without You |
9 Legalize My Name |
22 Let There Be Love |
10 It’s A Woman’s Prerogative |
23 As Long As You Live |
11 Row, Row, Row |
24 Me And My Shadow |
12 A Little Learnin’ Is A Dangerous
Thing |
25 She’s Something Spanish |
13 I’m Lazy, That’s All |
|
Pearl
Mae Bailey, (1918-1990), was born in
Virginia, and was the daughter of a
local preacher. She became a spirited
black singer who also made appearances
as a popular and talented actress on
both stage and screen. Today, Pearl
Bailey is not a name that readily comes
to mind when recalling ‘famous’ women
jazz singers and some of the acknowledged
reference books ignore her altogether
as an artist only coupling her name
with the last of her four husbands,
the drummer Louis Bellson. By the time
of her death they had been married some
forty years.
This
compilation opens with her two most
popular recordings, ‘Takes Two To Tango’
with the Don Redman Orchestra (1952)
and ‘Tess’s Torch Song’ with the excellent
Cootie Williams Orchestra (1944). The
whole album only covers nine years of
the singer’s career – a period when
she established herself as having a
"throaty, sexy voice, down-to-earth
personality and jokey mischievousness."
On seventeen of the titles she is accompanied
by either the Don Redman Orchestra or
the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra. As usual
for that period most of the orchestrations
are first-rate especially on ‘Let There
Be Love’ and ‘As Long As I Live’ and,
throughout, the album features some
of the finest musicians of the day.
If anything it is the choice of material
that lets things down.
Pearl
Bailey was a gifted artist and humanitarian
however her main accolades were not
earned as a vocalist but for her "outstanding
achievements in fostering the finest
ideals of the acting profession."
‘Takes Two To Tango’ is only an average
representation of the music of the 1940s
and 50s and as such will probably have
limited appeal.
Jack
Ashby
CD Reviews
Living Era CD AJA 5531
