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CYBILL SHEPHERD Cybill Getz Better Inner City IC1097

 

1. Triste

2. I Can't Get Started

3. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone

4. This Masquerade

5. Mad About The Boy

6. I'm Old Fashioned

7. It Never Entered My Mind

8. Speak Low

9. I'm Falling In Love Again

10. Do It Again

    Cybill Shepherd - Vocals

    Stan Getz - Tenor sax

    Frank Rosolino - Trombone

    Andreas Kostelas, Richard Spender, Mike Altschul, Arthur Smith - Flutes

    Oscar Neves - Acoustic guitar, Fender Rhodes

    Terry Trotter - Piano

    Monty Budwig - Bass

    Octavio Bailly - Fender bass

    Claudio Sion, Joe Baron - Drums

    Paulinho DaCostas - Percussion

    The actress Cybill Shepherd is known primarily for her work in the cinema and on television. She was awarded three Golden Globes, two for the television series Moonlighting in which she starred with Bruce Willis, the third for her show Cybill on CBS. The Memphis-born former model made her recording debut in 1974 with MCA Records on a disc entitled Cybill Does It To Cole Porter. The album under review here, recorded a couple of years later, features her singing alongside Stan Getz and other luminaries of the West Coast jazz scene such as Frank Rosolino on trombone, Monty Budwig on bass and the Brazillian Oscar Neves on guitar. The result is exceedingly easy on the ear.

    My personal favourites, among a rich selection of standards, areI Can't Get Started, Mad About The Boy and It Never Entered My Mind, although actually there are no weak links on the album. I Can't Get Started has Getz at the top of his game on one of the great standards while Shepherd's feel for the melody and clear ennunciation mean the lyrics are impeccably delivered. Noel Coward's Mad About The Boy again has Getz in fine form while Shepherd's intelligent interpretation of the song is very appealing and her voice here reveals unexpected power. That classic ballad, It Never Entered My Mind, receives a treatment of charm and grace. The exemplary Getz brings out the full beauty of the tune and Shepherd does the rest, supported in particular by some excellent work on piano from Terry Trotter. Trotter also shines on Speak Low where there is another engaging and relaxed vocal performance from Shepherd. When particular songs are associated with great artistes, comparisons are inevitable but Shepherd is not intimidated. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone where Billie Holiday, for me, gave us the all-time definitive version, is tackled stylishly by Cybill. The inimitable Frank Rosolino with his effortlessly swinging trombone sound is a welcome guest on this track. Monty Budwig on bass is noticeably good, too. For This Masquerade, there is a haunting Getz introduction, accompanied by Oscar Neves on guitar. Where, in more recent times, Diana Krall went for a sultry approach to Do It Again, Cybill Shepherd opts here for a wistful and lingering take of the song. Different, then, but just as effective.

    This disc was a delight to sample and represents another occasion when the discerning listener can be profoundly thankful for a particular reissue. Outstanding songs, vibrantly sung, and sensitively accompanied by a master of the tenor sax. Who could ask for anything more, as Ira Gershwin once put it?

    James Poore

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