Customer Reviews

Duet

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stan Kenton and June Christy's DUET collaboration remains by far the most "difficult" album among Christy's top-notch Capitol recordings. While George Shearing was pairing up with other Capitol vocalists to produce satiny, slightly "cocktail hour" duet albums with the likes of Nat Cole and Peggy Lee, DUET finds Christy and her mentor Kenton in a series of jarring yet deeply-felt standards marked by their starkly contrasting instruments. Christy's sturdy-yet-vulnerable vocals nearly bounce off Kenton's complex, thick and often thunderous wall of chords. At the same time, the two are not battling it out, but instead somehow manage to produce a harrowing yet gorgeous set of beautifully realized songs. Like a late-career painting by Rembrandt -- dark, pschologically inward, intellectually challenging and ultimately deeply satisfying -- Stan Kenton and June Christy's DUET is a voice-and-piano masterwork that rewards increasingly with each listen.

June and Stan started this album the same day she recorded four new songs for "Something Cool" to expand the album from a 10-incher to 12-incher. For this C.D. edition Capitol has used an alternate shot from the cover session and added tracks recorded for but not used on the original L.P. After this C.D. appeared nearly a half dozen more tracks were discovered and they have been issued as part of other June Christy C.D.s. Maybe one day everything can be gathered and this C.D. reissued complete. Stanley's declarative, almost pounding style as a pianist is contrasted here by Christy's impassioned vocals. On every song she is a master storyteller, persuasive jazz stylist and above all an intelligent interpreter of lyrics. This is such a literate piece of work, but one which is also totally engaging from start to finish. It has stood the test of time remarkably. I bought it when it came out and today it sounds just as fresh and venturesome as at the beginning. Stan and June adored each other as people and musicians; Stan was so very proud of Shirley Luster scoring a number one record in her first outing with the band and then going on to make many more hits but also become one of the tiptop jazz singers of all time (though she thought she basically was a pop singer with jazz flavorings...the truth being she could sing anything--and Capitol did give her almost everything imaginable to record as singles--and make it sound remarkable). In person, June was strikingly pretty--her photos never did her justice--and a totally engaging personality. In the'50s when most recording artists in interviews sounded addled she was always honest and incisive. As were all her fabulous records. It is so rewarding to witness her rediscovery by younger generations. Did you know she is one of Capitol's top-selling artists today, an artist whose entire catalogue is being released on C.D., after nearly three decades when "Something Cool" the L.P. was all you could get by her? I'm sure she would have found it all most pleasing and rewarding. As is this landmark collaboration.

If you're reading this, you're either a Kenton fan or a Christy devotee, and most likely both. Don't miss this; Kenton's piano is seldom showcased so gracefully and Miss Christy is seldom working so hard (and successfully) as to please her mentor. The recording is typical Capitol Ampex tape re-issue- good recording, decent frequency response, lousy signal to noise.

Well I looked for this record from 1972 until I finally bought a Japanese reissue in 1985 in Greenwich Village. I have approximately 30 other Christy albums and I live in the small midwestern city she was born in. So no surprise I like the lady. This particular collection has her singing with Stan Kenton playing the piano. The renditions are extremely etched. People always talk about Sinatra's phrasing (well, he was the best) but June really evokes heart and soul on these songs. Special place in the heart: Angel Eyes. Heartbreaker: Lonely Woman. A good place to start on Christy. Not as pop as "Something Cool," not as much fun as "The Misty Miss Christy. But Shirley Luster sure could croon. Classic jazz, even if she was a white girl.

I've never heard a voice quite like Christy's--"cool" seems inadequate to describe a sound so direct, candid and honest, so human and devoid of artifice and posturing. Two comparable voices that come to mind are those of Chris Connor and Anita O'Day. But Christy's vocal placement is more "forward" and "center pitch" than Connor's and less self-conscious and elusive than O'Day's. Christy's round sound meets you head on, the fullness of its texture belying the slim, even petite, woman depicted on the album's cover. If there's an absence of sweetness, lightness, femininity and "play" in her approach, it's readily atoned for by the open and unguarded, full-bodied texture of each of her tones. And there's just enough of a lisp in her articulation to suggest the kind of vulnerability that was no less a part of Bogart's allure: cool, existential, to the point but with an undeniable lingering sweetness.

This is first-rate Christy, and Kenton's role is far more contributive that I could have expected. Less a "reactive" accompanist than a second "voice," stating thematic ideas and motives that serve as separate countermelodies to those of the vocalist, Kenton is still an extremely effective, and entirely musical, complement to the vocalist. His thickly textured chords, Rachmaninoff voicings and unremitting dynamic thunder are never too much for Christy, whose powerful projection and utter security with the material suggest that she could hold her own even with orchestration of Wagnerian proportions. (And it doesn't hurt that the engineers at Capitol have gone out of their way to favor Christy's voice in the mix.)

For the big band duo, this was an unusual format (June's vocals backed up only by Stan on piano), but there is no better showcase for June Christy's voice--bright, but, simultaneously, haunting with a sense of vulnerability and sorrow. If you're a June Christy/Stan Kenton fan, you will love this CD. It is really something!

Christy and Kenton combine in a flawless rendering of the pain and occasional joy of trying to connect with another human being. Kenton's dramatic solo piano is a perfect underscore to Christy's plaintif vocals. The selections, most of them seldom heard, are presented as an intimate confidence between two friends...like overhearing a private conversation: you want to draw away, but you're compelled to go on listening. Anyone who comes away from this CD not moved by the bittersweet experience isn't listening.

My pick for best-ever performances of these songs:
"How Long Has This Been Going On",
"(He called me) Baby, Baby, All The Time",
"Angel Eyes".

June Christie is incomparable.

This gets 5 stars because it is a gem in the tradition of jazz singing, female. It features June Christy in an intimate setting, with Stan Kenton at the piano. Christy was not a great voice, but her phrasings were wonderful, and her choice of repertoire generally excellent. Her version of "Baby, Baby All the Time", on this recording, is one of the standards. Kenton's piano style is a bit grandiose and flourishing for these tunes, but acceptable because, after all, that's his style. He does provide good support for Christy's singing.