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Various Artists: It's De Lovely: The Authentic Cole Porter Collection
ByThere are some true classics here, such as Artie Shaw's Begin the Beguine and Dorsey and Sinatra's Night and Day, where the marriage of a great song and great performance produced true magic. But there are also lesser-known recordings that are a good representation of how these songs sounded when Porter first composed them, such as "Let's Misbehave" by Irving Aaronson and his Commanders, and "Easy to Love" by Ray Noble & His Orchestra (and featuring vocals by the talented but obscure Al Bowlly). The producers really had to blow the dust off of some of these performances, and many of them sound appropriately dated, but more recent tracks from Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, and Rosemary Clooney still sound fresh today.
As an added bonus, there are two tracks featuring Porter singing his own compositions. Originally released as just Porter accompanying himself on piano, Vince Giordano has spiced up the tracks with new orchestration, which is not a bad idea since the composer was neither a great singer nor a great pianist. Thus, these aren't great performances, but still manage to be oddly charming.
In addition to the vocal numbers, there are straight-ahead jazz tracks from Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, and Shorty Rogers that show how many artists loved to work through the changes of Porter's songs. However, if there's one weakness in the collection, it's these tracks. While the performances are good, they just don't fit in with the rest of the selections. The pop tunes are much shorter and focus on the genius of Cole Porter's lyric writing and compositional skills, but the jazz tunes tend to focus more on the improvisers and thus dilute the purpose of the project.
Still, though, Bluebird has wisely crafted a disc that's a better find than the soundtrack to the movie, filled with great performances of Porter's songs the way he wanted them done.
Track Listing
1. Anything Goes 2. You're The Top (Cole Porter with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks) 3. Begin the Beguine (Artie Shaw and His Orchestra) 4. From This Moment On (Lena Horne) 5. You Do Something To Me (Sonny Rollins) 6. It's Delovely (Shorty Rogers and His Giants) 7. Night and Day (Frank Sinatra) 8. Let's Misbehave (Irving Aaronson and His Commanders) 9. Don't Fence Me In (Roy Rogers) 10.You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (Dinah Shore) 11. I Love Paris (Coleman Hawkins with Manny Albam and His Orchestra) 12. Easy To Love (Ray Noble and His Orchestra) 13. Just One of Those Things (Lena Horne) 14. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Loe Reisman and His Orchestra) 15. I've Got You Under My Skin (Paul Desmond) 16. I Get A Kick Out Of You (Tommy Dorsey and His ORchestra) 17. Night and Day (Leo Reisman and His Orchestra with Fred Astaire) 18. You Do Something To Me (Rosemary Clooney and Perez Prado and His Orchestra) 19. Night and Day (Esquivel and His Orchstra).
Personnel
Various Artists
variousAlbum information
Title: It's De Lovely: The Authentic Cole Porter Collection | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Bluebird
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