Customer Reviews

The Complete Cole Porter Songbooks

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

 

 

First off, this is a 'Verve' jazz box set of Cole Porter tunes. Verve. The jazz label. Which means the box probably has jazz tunes on it. Right? Jazz renditions of Porter tunes. Now use that brain folks, God didn't put it there to keep the wind from making a whistling sound through your head... if you want original Porter tunes done pre-1940 in that scratchy 78 revolutions sound stay far away from this compilation (try the excellent 'You're The Top: Cole Porter In The 1930s' box instead). Classic Verve jazz fanatics know what they will find on this set, beautiful renditions of Cole Porter standards by 'jazz' (there's that jazz word again) greats. Renditions. Not tinny Artie Shaw recordings (don't get me wrong, I love Artie Shaw too) off of wax cylinders. Look at the listings, Louie Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Clifford Brown, Roland Kirk... no Frank or Dean or Tony BECAUSE they didn't record for Verve. It's a 'Verve' box set. And what you get is an extraordinary collection of jazz performances of Porter tunes.

While I can appreciate the opinions of the other reviewers I just had to write and disagree. Maybe I'm just not as much of a purist as the others, but it seems to me that music should be reinvented from time to time. It's what keeps it alive and vital.

The performances and performers on this CD are top-rate. It was in fact this collection of such talent that introduced me to Porter in the first place and I'm grateful to it's makers. Since first listening to it a few years ago I've developed more of a taste for thirties style musical numbers, but some of these tracks are still my favorite takes on his music.

I will agree that this collection will appeal to you more if you like jazz. If you do though, you can't go wrong with the material that these fine artists have worked with.

Be careful before you purchase this CD. If you enjoy Cole Porter because of the creative tempos, the mix of rythmns and lyrics, the way that words play together, and the great melodies - then this is not your CD. The musicians are jazz specialists who see a tune only as the base for them to express their own attitudes, and they destroy Cole Porter by employing their own tempos and melodies and inserting long segments of instrument skill demonstrations that have nothing to do with the song. If you like Jazz, it's probably decent. If you like Cole Porter, don't waste your money.

No lover of American song should be without these terrific Verve box sets. I agree that the Verve catalog is more jazz-oriented than some others. Listeners who prefer more straight-up renditions of the American song standards might prefer the "Capitol Sings" series. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!

The Verve sets aren't just for the jazz afficionado. Goodness gracious, there are performances by Fred Astaire, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald on these disks -- I love all of them, but I would hardly call them avant garde.

True, the instrumental disks (one in each 3CD set) bop a little harder. That's why Verve wisely also sells these songbooks as separate CDs, too. Buyers who prefer the vocal versions can save a little money by buying a la carte. The vocal CDs do mix in some Shirley Horn and Betty Carter, and other "progressive" artists, to good effect. Those less-familiar versions only serve to refresh the timeless wonder of of the talents of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and our other great songwriters.

I wasn't planning to review this, just wanted to check the artist listing for the instrumental disk as -- the only flaw here I would dare mention -- in that particular disc, the artists all are listed as "various" when one converts to MP3. Big deal. These extremely varied Porter renditions are, as other sensible reviewers have already stated, pure genius. How anyone could fail to appreciate the level of wit, style and musicianship on offer here is beyond me. I needed to help hike up the average rating as these discs have been in constant rotation chez moi since I picked them up in the early nineties and I hate to imagine any Porter fan missing out!

The set is exactly as it is billed: a compendium of Cole Porter covers by VERVE jazz artists. Want Frank's cover of Under My Skin? Don't like Ella's live performance in the VERVE set? Then burn your own CD. In doing so, the VERVE set will be an invaluable resource.

I can do nothing but reemphasize what the reviewers before me said -- these performers really do Porter an injustice by "reinterpreting" his melodies and lyrics. I originally had high hopes for this CD, but I should have read the Amazon reviews before getting it... If you want great Porter, with authentic 1930-era bounce, I recommend the CD "The Song Is...Cole Porter." There is a whole series of "The Song Is..." covering many different writers, and it is much better than the stuff here. But again, as the others said -- if you like hard jazz, this is the place to be.

If you are looking for the quintessential Cole Porter collection, keep looking. If you're looking for some classical renditions of Cole Porter favorites keep looking. What this is, in my opinion, is a collection of songs that were obviously easy to get royalty wise. A bunch of scat singing on the vocals by Ella Louie and Mel, and a bunch of challenges to the musical scales by improvisation-happy saxophonists. No Frank, Dean, Perry, Tony. In this collection you get Cole Porter lyrics but not enough Cole Porter music. Cole must be spinning in his grave so fast he could reach the center of the earth in a New York minute if he was interred vertically.