Customer Reviews

All Through the Night

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have no idea what the other reviewer didn't like about this CD. I'm convinced he must have been listening to a different album. Besides, anyone who says an album "really stinks" but says NOTHING as to why, really makes me suspicious.

In any case, this album is one of Julie London's very best. It's Julie performing what she does best...mid tempo ballads with a small group (The Bud Shank Quintet). Her smoky, sultry voice oozes over Bud Shank's alto sax, and intertwines with Joe Pass's guitar work. It's a romantic album, with a naughty temptation in London's voice.

The album has also been remastered in 24-bit by Ron McMaster at Capitol Studios, and the result is crystal clear audio.

This 1966 album of Cole Porter songs ranks among Julie London's finest albums. Recorded with the Bud Shank Quintet, "All Through the Night" is a perfect blend of hypnotic ballads and toe-tapping uptempo numbers. The affair kicks off with a delightful "I've Got You Under My Skin" and glides into a quick-as-lightning "You Do Something to Me." "Get Out of Town" shows Julie in one her finest elements with a seductive bossa nova arrangement, and the title track entices and seduces from beginning to end. "So in Love" is another Bossa Nova workout, this time twice as fast but just as smooth. Elsewhere on the album Julie swings in grand fashion on "Easy to Love" and particularly well on "In the Still of the Night," and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" is arguably Julie's finest ballad ever. The arrangements are top-notch, the musicians impressive and Julie's vocals are, as always, first class. This is one album you'll want to listen to all through the night.

Julie London's husky, seductive tones are a perfect playmate to some of Cole Porter's best tunes. Backed by the Bud Shank quintet, London smoothly takes us from "I've Got Your Under My Skin" to "In the Still of the Night." Celebrated guitarist Joe Pass helps cool the outing whether it be supporting London's bluesy versions of "Every Time We Say Goodbye" or her swinging send up of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." The only drawback to this disc is it clocks in at only 32 minutes. While some listings say this disc is out of stock, it can be found if one is persistent. It's a great addition to any London library.

It had been a long, long, time since I'd heard, or even thought about, Julie London. I heard this album featured on a late-night radio program, called "Afterglow," hosted by David Brent Johnson on our local NPR affiliate station, WFIU. It is terrific! If you like Cole Porter music, you'll love Julie London's renditions of these classic Porter songs.

I recently acquired "Julie London Sings the Standards" from Amazon.com, and found it to be a definite 5-star experience. Her sensuous and sultry way with a song is addictive. I recently acquired this CD hoping she would do for Cole Porter what she had done for other great song-writers. While there were a couple of memorable tracks, I was disappointed by the number that just didn't jell. I had the impression that most of the songs were recorded before everyone had gotten to the level of mastery where they had "made them their own." The only 5-star Julie London album I have personally come across is the one I mentioned above: "Julie London Sings the Standards."

Imagine a hushed, smoke-filled Hollywood nightclub, one-thirty in the morning, 1965. From a corner booth, Frank Sinatra signals for a last round as a combo takes the small stage to close the night out with a loose, sexy half-hour set of Cole Porter standards. Russ Freeman slumps at the piano, delicately leading the way. Bud Shank closes his eyes and weaves his typically fluid sax lines, while the great Joe Pass follows on guitar. And at the microphone, smooth-as-silk, cool-as-ice, Julie London, enthrallingly world-weary, deliciously pitch-perfect. Who could ask for more?

Although not really a live set, "All Through The Night" evokes just this type of atmosphere (much better, in fact, than London's actual live recording of the previous year, the uncharacteristically goofy "In Person at The Americana".) Ignore the insipid new liner notes and the incongruous bonus cut from a recording session five years prior, pour yourself a cocktail, turn down the lights, and enjoy!

Yes, this is very interesting cool jazz, applied to one of the greatest authors of American pop songs (and jazz-standards) - the one and only Cole Porter...

This is my first Julie London experience and, although she's not Ella or Anita O'Day, I like her sensuous interpretations, in the intimate setting of an ad hoc assambled Bud Shank quintet, arranged by Russ Freeman. Shank plays ellegant (although at times bland) alto and flute, Freeman plays effective piano, Joe Pass has some very nice moments on guitar (although at times he does sound a bit at odds with the rest of the group), Monte Budwig is the bass player and the Britton Colin Bailey is on drums...

All in all, this is a fine album, but I don't feel it should belong in the jazz pantheon... The liner notes mention some overdubbing done by London after the recording with the boys from the band and I think I can see why (and even at least at point where) - she is not equally in command at every song... For instance, the faster pace set by Bailey on " In the Still of the Night" makes her glide over her lines disinterestedly...

Additional track " You'd be so nice to come home to", recorded few years earlier (with Jimmy Rowles on piano, Emil Richards on vibes...) is actually one of the best tracks (in my opinion).

All in all, in spite of some very fine moments - 4 stars from me.

I'm a fan of Julie London but this CD is without a doubt the worst of Julie's efforts. Buy it if you must but the entire CD really stinks.