Jazz Articles about Rosemary Clooney

Rosemary Clooney: Songs from the Girl Singer: A Musical Autobiography

by Jack Bowers
January 1, 2000

The debate goes on. What is a “Jazz singer”? Does Rosemary Clooney qualify? I’m afraid I have no answer for that. To me, there are two kinds of singers — those I like, and those I don’t. Rosemary Clooney is among the former and always has been, since I first heard her back in the ’50s putting her stamp on inane novelty songs (“Come On–a My House,” “Mambo Italiano”) or lovely ballads like “Hey There” and “Tenderly.” Those tunes and ...

Rosemary Clooney: Songs From The Girl Singer: A Musical Autobiography

by Jim Santella
December 1, 1999

This compilation provides a summary of Rosemary Clooney’s singing career. Intended to serve as a companion piece for her Doubleday autobiography Girl Singer: An Autobiography which was be released last month, the 2-CD set is organized into two logical volumes. Disc one begins with a 1946 radio session with Tony Pastor and concludes with a 1961 studio session with Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. Disc two is an overview of her Concord Records years up to the present.

Rosemary Clooney’s ...

Rosemary Clooney: At Long Last

by Jim Santella
November 1, 1998

Rosemary Clooney’s voice sparkles today as it has for the past 50 years. Starting her career with Tony Pastor’s big band and garnering wide popularity with her no-nonsense style, the singer has devoted her career to delivering a lyric’s message with just the right amount of expression. Similarly, the Count Basie Orchestra has a long record of swinging the melody along with powerful punctuation marks from the brass sections. Now under the leadership of Grover Mitchell, the band maintains the ...

Rosemary Clooney: Seventieth Birthday Celebration

by John Sharpe
July 1, 1998

This compilation pays tribute to Clooney, who celebrated her 70th. birthday on May 23 of this year, and includes some of her best work for the Concord label. Since this fine, jazz-based vocalist, has recorded 24 albums for the label, this 19 song collection represents just a smidgen of her remarkably consistent output. Clooney has always been drawn to the works of America's great pop composers and this CD includes some classic tunes by Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter ...

Rosemary Clooney: A Seventieth Birthday Celebration

by Jack Bowers
June 1, 1998

Mixed emotions - on the one hand, surprise that Rosemary Clooney has reached the age of 70; on the other, gratitude that she remains at 70 one of our finest interpreters of American popular song. There aren't many who are in Rosie's league (and one less since Sinatra's passing). Mel Tormé is still on the scene, as are Tony Bennett, Vic Damone and Bobby Short, and there are some younger lions and lionesses prowling the forest - Karrin Allyson, Susannah ...

Rosemary Clooney: A Seventieth Birthday Celebration

by Robert Spencer
June 1, 1998

Rosemary Clooney's career spans the decades, and you can see it on this disc: from “It's Only a Paper Moon" and “Ol' Man River" to James Taylor's “Secret of Life." Other tracks include Rodgers and Hammerstein's “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," Gershwin's “(Our) Love is Here to Stay" and “Long Ago and Far Away," Irving Berlin's “I Got Lost in His Arms," Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's “Come Rain or Come Shine" and “One for My Baby," Ellington's “I'm Beginning ...