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Amazon.co.uk Review
It has never been necessary to make the distinction between Peggy Lee's jazz and "popular" singing since it all comes out as jazz anyway! These tracks, with ideal accompaniment from George Shearing's Quintet, rank with her Decca Black Coffee as from her greatest work. Gifted with perfect pitch, she was a perfectionist and made great demands from her musicians, but her insistence paid off and all her recordings are close to perfection. The ones with Shearing were done live at a convention in Miami in May 1959. They were 72 hours in rehearsal and even then used informal "head" arrangements. At such a pace there was only time to create 12 numbers and so the concert on the album is complete. Some of the announcements were off-mike, so Shearing and Lee met days later in the studio to re-record them. They decided then to record two duet tracks and these have been added. One of them is the beautiful Rodgers and Hart "Nobody's Heart". Despite any artifice, the music is wonderful and Lee has never swung harder or sung more moving ballads. This is one of those that you have to have. --Steve Voce
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Please note that one of the fantastic developments that this new edition has brought is the dropping of the pretence that this is a live recording, yes they performed live and yes this was meant to be a recording of that concert but technical failure lead to the release of studio recordings with Peggy Lee's transparently false spoken intro's added. This really did spoil the album for me as I could tell that I was being sold a lie. I am delighted to say that they are gone from this new version and that the sound quality is much improved. The whole album now has integrity and I love it!
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I always found the original 'live' version of this album unlistenable to because of the obviously fake applause and announcements and worse, the nightclub 'ambience', a continual background hubbub of chatter and cutlery that was dubbed in even under the actual songs!
What a joy to find the album released at last with all extraneous noise deleted, so we can listen to these pure, perfect, beautifully recorded studio recordings, for my money some of the finest work Lee and Shearing ever created. What a pity they did not do a series, as Shearing was later to do with Mel Torme.
The song choices and their considered interpretations are models of good taste. Lee's astonishing dramatic gift, singing at times in barely a whisper and yet so affectingly rich in tone and nuance, is in its full maturity here. Her ability to swing hard without ever raising her voice or straining for effect is likewise at its most potent.
At last, this can be classed as one of the greatest Peggy Lee albums.
What a joy to find the album released at last with all extraneous noise deleted, so we can listen to these pure, perfect, beautifully recorded studio recordings, for my money some of the finest work Lee and Shearing ever created. What a pity they did not do a series, as Shearing was later to do with Mel Torme.
The song choices and their considered interpretations are models of good taste. Lee's astonishing dramatic gift, singing at times in barely a whisper and yet so affectingly rich in tone and nuance, is in its full maturity here. Her ability to swing hard without ever raising her voice or straining for effect is likewise at its most potent.
At last, this can be classed as one of the greatest Peggy Lee albums.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Originally recorded in 1959 and re-released in 1992, this landmark CD features all new arrangements developed during in an intense three days of rehearsal before this live performance. Shearing was relatively new to the US and its audiences, but Lee became a fan the minute she heard him and was thrilled to make an album with him. A saloon-singer/composer/jazz artist, and always a professional, she was known for her attention to the smallest detail, not a trait that lends itself naturally to albums recorded "live," but with Shearing at the keyboard and his quintet in the background, Lee sounds relaxed, swingy, and light-hearted here.
Featuring songs from the Great American Songbook--by Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Duke Ellington, and Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern--with some Afro-Cuban, blues, and the debut recording of her own romantic ballad, "There'll Be Another Spring," the CD offers variety, at the same time that it maintains its mellow approach and overall lightness.
Shearing is the consummate accompanist on the songs the two do together. Her voice is always out front, with his chords, runs, key changes, and playfulness on piano remaining in the background to enhance her voice and songs. The bluesy "I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City" and "Blue Prelude," a blues song given an upbeat treatment here, are among the most exciting and interesting on the CD. "There'll Be Another Spring," a beautiful, romantic ballad written by Lee, is recorded for the first time on this album, taking advantage of her restrained passion and dramatic, whispery voice.
Shearing, whose quintet was famous for his early adoption of Afro-Cuban rhythms and the fine blending of piano and vibes, solos with Armando Peraza's "Mambo in Miami," in which Peraza himself supplies the unusual percussion and syncopated beat. In his second solo, "Isn't It Romantic," he matches his arrangement with the lyrics, creating one of the most romantic songs on the album.
Two bonus tracks, including "Don't Ever Leave Me," a dramatic and passionate plea by Lee, and "Nobody's Heart," both recorded earlier and not part of the live performance, are added to this CD. Fine music by two fine musicians make this an album for romance—if one can ignore the fact that the intros to all the songs were added after the fact when the album was edited. Mary Whipple
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Best ever Peggy Lee album
I have the original vinyl record with the dubbed background and introductions. It was the first stereo record I ever bought. Read more
Published 2 months ago by jazzer55
Velvet smooth
I bought this on Amazon's recommendation and this time they got me spot on! I've always loved Peggy Lee's voice, but never heard her teamed up with George Shearing until now -... Read more
Published 2 months ago by DOMINIC
nostagia
I have this in vinyl from a long time ago, but I hardly use my deck and mostly listen through my iPod. Read more
Published 5 months ago by david
A first Class CD
This is a superb CD by two all-time great artists in their own right, Peggy Lee and George Shearing, both were in great form when recording these songs, and the solo numbers by... Read more
Published 10 months ago by P. Davey
Peggy Lee / George Shearing
This is an excellent album, with two of the best in music. It was wonderful just to sit and listen.
Published 13 months ago by hotrod
Superb
This is an excellent CD bringing back great memories of two truly memorable artists. One of the great classic CD's of its era.
Published 14 months ago by M. L. Forster
Peggy and George Get Real
I READ ABOUT THE DEATH OF GEORGE SHEARING the day after I received this Capitol Jazz CD I had ordered--back in 1959, George and Peggy Lee had an album released 'recorded at the... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Chris Hughes
beauty & the beat
I first purchased this recording on vinyl in 1959 and not only did i wear it out by playing it excessivley it was that good it was eventually stolen from me!! Read more
Published 18 months ago by k bowes
Bacon and egg
Connery and Bond, peaches and cream, Peggy Lee and George Shearing! They are marriages made in heaven. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2006 by bugrit
First live album for Lee and Shearing, first one together.
Originally recorded in 1959 and re-released in 1992, this landmark CD features all new arrangements developed during in an intense three days of rehearsal before this live... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2006 by Mary Whipple
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