Customer Reviews

Fine Romance: Jerome Kern Songbook

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

 

 

In his lifetime,Kern despised jazz versions of his songs. Many of the versions on this disc and on the two companion discs in this series are just that. Verve has reached for, it would seem, the lowest common denominator for its selections. In fact, some of the tracks have no vocals at all, which is strange considering this is a "songbook"! It is better than no Kern at all, but you will find more authenticity in KIRI SINGS KERN on EMI that anywhere on this or the other two discs. Sorry, but pass this one up if you are a purist.

This is one of my all-time favorite CDs. I originally bought this as a cassette but recently purchased the CD. I have listened to this for nearly 10 years and it's such a great mix of songs and singers that I have yet to grow bored of it. From what I've read, though, if you are a big Jerome Kern fan, you may not enjoy these renditions of his songs. I would suggest listening to the demos first before buying. My favorites are "All the Things You Are", "Yesterdays", "Bill", "They Didn't Believe Me", "I'm Old Fashioned", "Why Do I Love You?"... oh, who am I kidding.. all of them are my favorites!

Very nice assortment and arrangements of Jerome Kern songs released in 1994. This would have easily rated 5 stars if a couple of singers like Frank Sinatra were also included.

Charming songs, sung by a variety of talented performers. The audio quality is excellent, just as it is for every Verve CD that I own. This is a nice compilation, suitable both as an introduction to Kern and the various singers and as a compilation to play at a party.