Customer Reviews

Yesterday's Love Songs Today's Blues

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Nancy Wilson can do it all--and does on this CD from 1963. A singer who sings some jazz, some pop, some blues, some soul, and some standards from the Great American Songbook, she manages to do everything well and appeal to everyone, a statement proven by the fact that during the sixties, she was second only to the Beatles in total sales at Capitol Records.

With her light, high voice and great feel for tempo and phrasing, she ranges here from an Eartha Kitt-like sound in "Bewitched" to the gorgeous ballad "Never Let me Go" and one of her best songs, the energetic "My Sweet Thing," with its syncopated pop rock sound. Throughout the album, Gerald Wilson, arranger and band leader, shows off her young voice (she is only 26 here) to its best advantage. Though he is leading a big band with unlimited potential for a big sound, he uses the orchestra almost as a quartet--the string section operates almost as a solo instrument, and the woodwind section sounds like a single sax or clarinet--despite its size. The result is that the huge orchestra never competes with Nancy Wilson, and despite its size, it sounds appropriate to a solo voice.

Some of the best tracks here are blues songs. "Sufferin' with the Blues" offers Wilson an opportunity to wail, while the five songs on the bonus tracks (the "Today's Blues" section), featuring Wild Bill Davis on organ as backup, are among the best on the CD. "West Coast Blues," a fast, off-tempo song, is a star turn for Wilson, with unusual phrasing, as she carries words across beats and measures, and fully lets go emotionally. "Tell Me The Truth," a song in which Wilson whispers that she wants the truth about her relationship, became one of her biggest hits. "My Sweet Thing," with its syncopated pop/rock beat, the most unusual song on the album, is one in which Wilson carries the tune and rhythm into pop dimensions.

If you are looking for a CD of great jazz, look at Sarah Vaughan's "Crazy and Mixed Up." If you are looking for a CD of soul, check out Aretha Franklin's many great albums. But if you are looking for a terrific album which offers a little of many genres--an album in which the vocalist can do it all--then play the samples of Nancy Wilson's "Yesterday's Love Songs" and buy this CD. This is a terrific album by one of the great, versatile singers from the last third of the 20th century. n Mary Whipple

I recently started listening to Nancy Wilson after for years being a devotee to Billie, Ella, Sarah and Dinah's music (no last names needed here in case you know whom I'm referring). Nancy deserves a spot on the jazz legacy because she is an original who carves her way into a song. Some say she sounds like Dinah Washington, but Nancy sheds a lilting, wistful and airy quality that Dinah does not possess. This is a very good CD to start with to Nancy's stuff, and there are quite a few standards here--"Very Thought of You" "Satin Doll" "Best Is Yet to Come" and "Bewitched Bothered" to name a few. But for me, the payoff is in the less familiar but no less rewarding hidden gems, especially "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" This sounds like a hokey title but Nancy's interpretation makes you wanna hit the "repeat" button time and again. I also enjoyed her lilting versions of "Tell Me the Truth" and "Sweet Thing", accompanied by a full organ. Sounds like an odd mix, but I guarantee you the result is an enticing mix of Nancy at her most memorable. I highly recommend this CD to anyone who loves Nancy.

This is a wonderful album. Nancy makes superb interpretations of some classic tunes: Never Let Me Go, The Song is You, Someone to Watch over Me, The Best is Yet to Come. How surprising that she wasn't on the VH1 top 100 Female Singer list, a list that included a wide variety of artist, including jazz singers; what a shame....

For nostalgia's sake, I wanted to hear 'Satin Doll'--and I felt that it wasn't enough. One of the last of the great song stylists, Nancy Wilson deserves to be played over, and over and over to get the full effect. A great voice.

Coming on the heels of Nancy's breakthrough Broadway and Hollywood My Way albums this one put the icing on the cake with a clever title, great selection of songs, scorching arrangements and totally hot vocals. Wilson swears she never changed her singing style but she did...as one reviewer put it, the affectations kept piling up like hangers multiplying in a closet. This was before all that happened. She's still contest the idea she did anything but grow as an artist but then she was much more the singer and now she's much more the vocal acrobatic. I have everything she's ever done so obviously I still adore her but this album probably is the greatest she ever did AND it has great bonus tracks including her best single, "New Year's Eve." Yesterday's magic and today's too.

There are classic renditions of The Best Is Yet to Come, Never Let Me Go, and The Very Thought of You, not to mention What Are You Doing New Year's Eve on this cd. I think Gerald Wilson has been quoted that these are the best arrangements he ever wrote for a singer. There's gobs of good music on this cd.

This album is again proof of why Nancy is simply the best. She may not be able to scat like Ella or sing 4 octaves like Sarah but her phrasing is second to none.

What makes this an amazing recording are the arrangements of Gerald Wilson! Listen to the samples to see what I mean. Every jazz fan should own this disc.

If you are a Nancy Wilson and/or Gerald Wilson fan; get this CD. Nancy goes back to her Ohio routes with her version of Joe Medlin's and Little Willie John's "Suferin' With The Blues" plus "Percy Mayfield's "Please Send Me Someone To Love". She gives some of the greatest performances to these older blues ballads.

Superb CD, esp. if you like Nancy Wilson and big band arrangements. Then again, what's not to like?