Customer Reviews

Della on Stage / At Basin Street East

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This two-fer from BMG is in important release, as most of Della's albums on RCA Victor have yet to find their way onto Compact Disc. The sound is great, and both albums showcase Della at her very best.

Della Reese - Della on Stage, RCA Victor, 1962

Della enters the stage, and the sound of the thundering applause is enough to make your eardrums burst. Della is in amazing form, and she wails her way through "Comes Once in a Lifetime", and afterwards the deliciously jazzy "Bye Bye Blackbird". Della is not as well-known in the UK, but you can think of her as kinda like an American counterpart to Shirley Bassey. Her voice: strong, powerful, and in total control. Her diction is near perfect, and nobody had a vibrato like that. On the third song, "Misty", she controls her voice with startling perfection, and she turns Erroll Garner's classic into something completely her own. Another example of her total control can be heard in the spiritual and lovely "His Eye Is on the Sparrow", in which she never skips a beat. The orchestra is tight, and they swing on a-long with Della, in what makes a fantastic evening. She closes the show with an absolutely beautiful song from Camelot, "If Ever I Would Leave You", and brings down the house with a ferocious rendition of "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You).

Della Reese - At Basin Street East, RCA Victor, 1964

Della on fire. Right from the opener, she swings her way through and never stops, until the fifth song. Hold on. Let's go back. Della's performance at Basin Street East is an eclectic performance that will leave the rest and the best of them miles behind. Her final album for a very successful stint at RCA Victor is a fine way to end an era. She doesn't sing a whole lot of ballads, and sticks to the swinging tunes, as if to say: "Hey, look at me, I've still got it!" And she sure does. But, her best moments comes with the tenderness of "Don't Take Your Love from Me", which is an absolutely stunning take. She wraps her pipes around the words, tenderly, softly, but always in total control. "Anything Goes" gets a swinging makeover to grand effect, and after a swinging version of the classic "Chicago", she ends the show with a tender, and naked version of her hit "And Now", which she ends with a beautiful "Goodbyyye!!". One small complaint is the editing, and the exclusion of her biggest hit "Don't You Know", which she DID perform, but for some reason didn't make it on the album.

This CD is full of good jazzy arrangements on some great old standards.
I particularly liked Della's rendition of You Came a Long Way From St. Louis, Someday, and Bye Bye Blackbird. If you like this kind of music,
this CD is sure to please