Jazz Singer [Original recording remastered]

Rosemary Clooney | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 24, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00009VU2I
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,591 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

A superb sampling of Ro's essential '50s recordings! She interprets It Don't Mean a Thing (if It Ain't Got That Swing); I'll Be Around; Blues in the Night; The Lady Is a Tramp; Sophisticated Lady; Come Rain or Come Shine , and 12 more! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice set of early solo material, August 3, 2003

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jazz Singer (Audio CD)

A nice, generously programmed selection of Clooney's early jazz-oriented recordings made for the Columbia label between 1951-57, following her exit from her partnership with her sister Betty and bandleader Tony Pastor. At the time, Clooney was famous for singing novelty hits such as "Come On-A My House," which were masterminded by pop arranger Mitch Miller... As mentioned in this collection's liner notes, Clooney hated recording that type of cornball material Miller gave her, and after she established herself as a major star, she broke away from Miller, and lined up work with weightier talents such as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Billy Strayhorn. The results sound pretty nice to me! This is a great introduction to her work as a serious ballad singer and jazz stylist... recommended listening!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-done collection of her early jazz attempts..., December 30, 2003

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jazz Singer (Audio CD)

Rosie made her initial impact singing on novelty songs for Columbia, most of which sound dumb today. This Legacy collection avoids those, thank goodness, and gives us 18 tracks from six LP's issued between 1951 and '57. These are ballad and mid-tempo performances of less commercial songs, and most are wonderful. Four tracks have backing by Duke Ellington and his men, and three by Benny Goodman's group. The four weakest performances have vocal backing by The Hi-Lo's in the typical Fifties style, but by no means do they spoil the overall worth of the CD. If you like Rosie, and do not have CD versions of the source materials here, you will be happy with this purchase. My favorites are "Memories of You", "It's Bad for Me" and "Goodbye", all done with Goodman, and "I'll Be Around", a sparse ballad done in '51 and not issued until four years later.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't be "best of" when it's all good., January 8, 2006

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jazz Singer (Audio CD)

This is another one of those "Best of--" collections representing an artist's work from several different recording sessions. You can't blame Columbia/Sony for trying to capitalize on a revival of interest in what was at the time a comparatively neglected dimension of Rosemary Clooney's talent. Not until she later became identified as a "jazz singer" during her extensive tenure with Concord records did many listeners discover perhaps her very best, albeit "non-commercial," early recordings for Columbia--sessions with the likes of Nelson Riddle, Benny Goodman and, above all, Duke Ellington. This last session--"Blue Rose"--is such quintessential Ellington as well as Clooney that nothing less than the original recording will do.

Duke's biggest "hit"--"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" from the Newport 1956 album --was in many respects no more representative of his artistry than "Come On A My House" was of Rosemary's. As a result, "Blue Rose" was a rare opportunity for the public to catch a glimpse of both performers in full bloom. In the wordless vocals of the title song and the vocal harmonies of "Mood Indigo" as well as the rich woodwind choirs complementing the voice on "Sophisticated Lady" and "I've Got It Bad," Clooney and Ellington achieve a balance that practically erases any distinction between solo and accompaniment let alone the two "star" performers.

Which is not to say that each doesn't shine in their own light--but it's more a reflected luminescence picked up from an inspiring companionable source. Even Johnny Hodges' jaw-dropping, virtuoso playing on Strayhorn's "Passion Flower" (easily worth the price of the album all by itself) becomes an organic element in a programmatic whole. As for Rosemary, she's never sounded better--nor, for that matter, has Ellington.

The previous reviewers are on target concerning the quality of the music on the present anthology--which is all the more reason to skip this sampler and go to the original sources.