1. Little Things Mean A Lot
2. Love for Sale
3. You, You Darlin’
4. The Moon And The Willow Tree
5. Besame Mucho (with Bob Eberly)
6. Star Eyes (with Bob Eberly)
7. They’re Either Too Young Or Too Old
8. When They Ask About You
9. I’m Beginning To See The Light
10. Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
11. I Don’t Care Who Knows It
12. 11:60 PM
13. Yah-Ta-Ta, Yah-Ta-Ta, Talk, Talk, Talk
14. I’ll Buy That Dream
15. It’s Been A Long, long Time
16. The Wonder Of You
17. Waitin’ For The Train To Come In
18. Shoud I Tell You I Love You?
19. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
20. Juke Box Annie
21. To Be Loved By You
22. When I Dream I Always Dream Of You
23. Heartless heart
24. In the Chapel In The Moonlight
25. I Want You All To Myself
26. My Colouring Book
Jack Pleis and Orchestra; 1, 23-25
Jack Teagarden and his Orchestra; 2-4
Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra; 5-8
Harry James and his Orchestra; 9-17, 21, 22
Sonny Burke and his Orchestra; 18
Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; 19
Harry Geller and his Orchestra; 20
Ray Ellis and his Orchestra; 26
Katie “Kitty” Kallen holds the distinction of being the only girl singer featured with five of the famous Big Bands; Harry James, Artie Shaw, both Tommy
and Jimmy Dorsey, and Jack Teagarden. Born in Philadelphia, Kitty began singing professionally in 1935 at the age of 14 with the Jan Savitt band on KYW-CBS
radio station. In 1940 jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden recruited her to join his Orchestra, calling it “Sixteen Men and a Girl”. Three numbers from their
1940 Varsity recording session in New York are on this disc, including an easy swing version of “The Moon and the Willow Tree”, a Victor Schertzinger-Joe
Burke composition, which was introduced by Dorothy Lamour in the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby film Road To Singapore. Kitty sang with a sweet, swinging
style that reflected her personality, which seems to come out in nearly every song she sang. By 1943 she and singer Bob Eberly had joined Jimmy Dorsey’s
Orchestra, and Bob and Kitty have a great duet with “Star Eyes”, originally recorded on the Decca label. In 1944 she began performing with Harry James and
his Orchestra after Helen Forrest left Harry’s band. Harry and Kitty’s collaboration on “I’m Beginning to See the Light” became a No.1 hit, as well as one
of the all-time great swing standards. The version heard here was recorded on Columbia Records during a November, 1944 session in Los Angeles. From another
Columbia session in January, 1945 comes the Jule-Styne-Sammy Cahn classic “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry” with a sweet, edgy Harry James trumpet
introduction followed by Kitty’s wistful longing verse, accompanied by a 16 string section and the band. The song “11:60 PM”, one of my favorites from this
session, is a Harry James composition in which Kitty appears to sing eight bars without taking a breath. Some of her biggest hits came later in her career;
“Little Things Mean A Lot” was a million selling No.1 hit recorded by Decca in 1953 with Jack Pleis and Orchestra, and “My Colouring Book”, recorded on RCA
in 1962 with Ray Ellis and his Orchestra. Both numbers highlight her transition from the Big Bands to a more individual pop singing style to move with the
times.
This CD is a great addition to the Retrospective series. The 12-page booklet has interesting liner notes by Peter Dempsey. Ray Crick compiled the music,
and Martin Haskell handled the audio restoration and remastering. Highly recommended for Kitty Kallen fans.
Bruce McCollum
CD Reviews
RETROSPECTIVE
RTR4290 [78:17] 
