Customer Reviews

Mink Jazz

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got my first copy of this album used in the mid 70's. Since then I have probably added another 20 Peggy Lee albums to my collection trying to find something similar, but nothing I have found has come anywhere close.
This is an exquisite album. Not only Peggy's voice at her finest, both her swinging and sexy airy ballads, but some of the finest West Coast jazz players backing her from any era. Most notably on this album, Jack Sheldon plays some of the tastiest trumpet of all time, with no wasted notes and all brilliant, melodic, captivating ideas. Don't go through life without hearing this recording. It is a masterpiece.

The very title of the album suggests quality, and that's what you get here. Peggy plundered the Great American Songbook as usual (often selecting obscure but high quality songs), adding a couple of her own songs (Where can I go without you? and I didn't find love).

Peggy was, of course, in her element on the slow, seductive songs which were her trademark - just listen to her cover of Days of wine and roses - and which make up most of this album, but what really makes this album sparkle is the variation in pace. For example, on The lady is a tramp, Peggy went uptempo, not by dramatically raising her voice (that wasn't her style), but by singing more quickly than usual. The musicianship throughout the album is masterful, yet always secondary to Peggy's lovely voice.

This is a classy album by a classy singer who is sadly missed, but who has left an outstanding legacy in the form of a whole series of brilliant albums. I believe this is the best of the lot, but not by much - there are many others which are close behind. If you haven't got any of Peggy's music, this is a great place to start - but after hearing this, you will surely be tempted to buy more.

Peggy Lee snuck in the recording of "Mink Jazz" by recording tracks over more than a year's time at recording sessions for pop albums. Basically "Mink Jazz" was recorded at the sessions for "Sugar and Spice" and "I'm A Woman." Capitol did release it, though using the same cover photo as for "I'm A Woman," which was released on the same day as "Mink Jazz." As it turned out "Mink Jazz" was a big seller and Peggy Lee's best album. She simply is matchless as she perfectly interprets great standards to superb jazz accompaniments. The recording quality is excellent, too. This is one of the great albums of all time and still sounds fresh and exciting. Don't miss it.

Peggy Lee is my absolutely #1 female vocalist. Whatever she sings - it's a sheer delight to listen to those incredibly beautiful sounds she produces. But this particular recording is definitely one of Miss Lee's milestones: she rarely sang jazz. But when she DID she beat almost all "jazz-singers" hands down. Enjoy!

Peggy Lee's inimitable style is at its best with a swinging coolness that perpetuates this superb set. Mink Jazz smolders with sexuality. Lee is especially good on her own-penned, with Victor Young, "Where Can I go without You" and "My Silent Night."

In the 1970's, I grew up listening to this fine lady, and her ability to affect many generations is truly a wonderful gift of talent. She can make you experience the highs and lows of life in a positive way. Her uncanny ability to capture a beat and swing as a part of the band is something that this generation of new singers need to take heed to. You will most definitely miss out on one of life's greatest pleasures, if you have never listened to Miss Lee. Regardless of one's age, whether one is 33 or 83, Miss Peggy Lee transcends time and space and she will forever be a true swinger!

Mink Jazz is a must have collection of wonderful standards sung as only Peggy Lee could sing them. This lady could have sung the telephone book and it'd be great! Having grown up listening to my mom's records by Peggy, I now have been collecting whatever is available on cd. Timeless music by one of the most talented female singers in the history of recorded music. 'Nuff said!

Peggy Lee had a hypnotic sense of inner space. She could slow the blues down to a breathless stillness like a shimmering apparition to a dream; I'm A Fool To Want You is unforgettable. Whisper Not and Close Your Eyes are full of milk and honey swing, the trumpet of Jack Sheldon a perfect, delectable double. The overall orchestration is very satisfying with tastefully chosen instruments spotlit on several tracks. Peggy Lee was one of the few female singers who didn't incur the lashings of Billie Holiday's sharp tongue. Billie loved her and recognised Peggy's individual talent as an exception to so many of her imitaters. To emphasise the point, Mink Jazz could be seen as a counter poise to Billie Holiday's Lady In Satan, and even if this was fancifully the case, Peggy's own style shines through, thats why Billie loved her.

Peggy Lee has always been my favourite jazz singer, I love her silky, sultry voice. My favourite album of Peggy Lee is her "Latin Ah-La Lee" which really brings out her style and voice quality on the latin songs.

This CD album of the ever popular songs like The Lady is a Tramp, Days of Wine and Roses and many more is really a pleasure to listen to. The band accompaniment is also good and music are well arranged. The album provides a good selection of music for serious or easy listening whether during cocktail or dinner respectively.

As usual the CD quality of recording by Capitol really do justice to the album.

Not a compilation of her greatest "hits," this album from a musician's point of view ranks with Peggy's two mid-1950s Deccas, "Black Coffee" and "Dream Street," as one of her three most indispensable sessions (though no Peggy Lee collection is complete without the elusive but sublime "The Shining Sea," a tune Peggy penned with help from Johnny Mandel).

The truth of the matter is that practically anything by Peggy Lee from the early '50s to the late '70s is "can't miss." The exceptions are those recordings on which, like Sinatra, Ella, Carmen McRae and others, she tried to reach a larger audience by going to inferior material (hits of the day) or ephemeral-sounding instrumentation (electric bass, electric keyboards, Motown back-up singers, etc.). Otherwise, it's not that difficult to agree with (though I choose not to) Peter Richmond who, in his recent biography of Norma Delores Engstrom, tries to make the case that she is the single greatest female interpreter of American popular song. And it really wasn't until the 1950's that she cultivated that breathy, kittenish, exquisitely intimate sound that some of us find all but irresistible. (After 1980 her voice would lose its light and airy quality, sounding limpid and weak but demonstrating all the more the artistry required to "shape" the earlier sound we had become spoiled by.)

Special highlights on "Mink Jazz" are the tracks incorporating Jack Sheldon's inimitable trumpet, which is the instrumental equivalent of Peggy's voice. "Where Can I Go Without You" comes not only as a musical revelation--an underrated, overlooked treasure--but as a perfect vehicle for Jack's trumpet artistry and the complementary pairing of both musicians. The reason for the "Jazz" in the title is that the arrangements (half by the legendary Benny Carter) eschew strings and big orchestrations in favor of "jazz-instrumentation" ensembles of no more than 6-8 musicians. As usual, Peggy "cuts to the chase" of each song, with most of the improvisation delegated to Jack (the only musician common to the two supporting ensembles).

Some sources ("All-Music Guide") are dismissive of "Mink Jazz" and similar Lee sessions for not being more adventurous, extemporaneous, and "creative." It's true that Lee was an absolute perfectionist, but the result of that insistence on tightness and rightness was some of the freshest, most scintillating performances of American song ever committed to record. If none of the tracks on this generous program (17 tracks) runs over three minutes, the "miniaturist" scale of each is in no way reflective of a lack of creativity or of a lack of depth, thoughtfulness, and feeling on the part of Lee. (Go ahead, download just one. I dare you not to order the rest.)