Personnel:
Irma Curry (vcl), Don Elliott (mellophone, vib, scat), Hal McKusick (as), Barry Galbraith, Chuck Wayne (g), Bill Crow (b), Jo Jones (d), Al Cohn (arr), Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton (dir)
Reference: FSRCD 851
Bar code: 8427328608510
Irma Curry was an aspiring blues and jazz singer from Baltimore who landed the vocalist spot with Lionel Hampton and his orchestra in 1950. She soon revealed herself as an impressive singer, with a vocal personality that was her own the Little Mite with the Big Voice.
On her 1962 album Love Is a Necessary Evil, she was accompanied by a very swinging band assembled by Don Elliott to play Al Cohn's freshly conceived arrangements, which form an excellent frame for her voice. All the lyrics are by Jack Segal, who wrote them in collaboration with four composers, among them George Handy, who contributed with Forgetful and Leavin Town. Elliott played vibes, mellophone, and did some scat singing on the main title, while the group is completed by altoist Hal McKusick, guitarists Barry Galbraith and Chuck Wayne, bassist Bill Crow, and drummer Jo Jones.
One side of the bonus single is A Heart Must Learn to Cry, Dimitri Tiomkin's love theme for the 1965 film 36 hours, arranged by Benny Carter, who composed and arranged the other, We Were In Love. The remaining tracks are four ballads from 1950-1951, beautifully delivered by the singer while she was with Hamptons band. Driven by clear diction and imaginative phrasing and a fine range, her voice has an insinuating, slightly nasal and sensuous edge. Comfortable at any tempo, she was quality personified.
"The first 13 tracks come from the LP of the same title (Columbia CS8554) and present this very good jazz and ballad singer in one of her very few starring appearances on record. The songs are interesting, all tracks being co-compositions of lyricist Jack Segal with music mainly by Marvin Fisher (also Evelyn Danzig, George Handy and Maddy Russell), with Al Cohns arrangements.
Then come both sides of a single (We Were In Love is Benny Carter composition), while the final four tracks come from her spell with Lionel Hampton that introduced her to the jazz world. Many of the songs for which Segal wrote lyrics enjoyed great success but few regularly feature in a jazz artists repertoire and there is thus a fresh air to the set with Elliott. Currys voice is strong and melodic, she phrases beautifully, enunciates clearly, interpreting lyrics with understanding, and altogether sings with real jazz feeling.
Twenty years after the (3) tracks Curry recorded again, this time with the Alan Simon Trio, but Tom Lord lists this as appearing only on cassette. She also released Seasoned With Curry, an album of songs she co-wrote with her daughter, Kim, and which is dedicated to Benny Carter. After some decades away from the spotlight, in March this year Irma Curry was interviewed by Marc Myers for his JazzWax website. On the strength of this hugely enjoyable album she richly deserves to be much better known. This release is a good (very nearly the only) place today to hear her and is very warmly recommended."
-Bruce Crowther (Jazz Journal, June 2015)
http://www.jazzjournal.co.uk
