Personnel:
Peggy King, Pam Garner (vcl), Henri René, Pete King, Jack Marshall, Johnny Williams (arr, cond), Jack Sheldon (tp), Jimmy Rowles (p, celeste), Red Mitchell (b), Larry Bunker (d)
Reference: FSR V105 CD
Bar code: 8427328641050
The Best Voices Time Forgot
Collectible Albums by Top Female Vocalists
· Collector's Edition
· 2 Original LPs on 1 CD
· Original Cover Art, Liner Notes
· Complete Personnel Details
· Stereo Recordings
· Newly Remastered in 24-Bit
Lazy Afternoon
Peggy’s singing is warmly intimate and sophisticated. All her charms are sheathed in highly imaginative and brilliant orchestral settings, by such gifted arrangers as Henri René, Jack Marshall, and Pete King.
Sings Ballads For Broken hearts
Pam’s creamy voice is as expressive and surprising as a jazz solo. The accompaniment Johnny Williams devised for Pam expresses her style exactly. Interwoven with strings is the excitement of a first-class rhythm section, and along with the freewheeling improvisation provided by Jack Sheldon’s trumpet, the beat and the lightness of jazz are always present.
"The titles above will give you an idea of what to expect from these two in Fresh Sound’s “Best Singers That Time Forgot” series. Both King and Garner are in laidback mode, singing for late night or romantic date type listening and the tempos never move above medium.
Actually, Peggy King hardly qualifies as forgotten as she recently released a new CD in her late 80s – Songs Á La King, also on Fresh Sound Records – and proved that she still had it. Sounding not unlike early Peggy Lee, King begins with the slow ballad Rain and then smoulders warmly and lyrically through You’ll Never Know before caressing the words to Till There Was You as the orchestral strings surround her sympathetically. The lesser known Sure Thing is even more relaxed and at this point many listeners will regret there are no tempo changes to liven things up. Ideal for that late-night record session though. The string orchestra is punctuated with the occasional jazz trumpet solos. Verdict: superior jazz mood music.
Much the same comments apply to Pam’s record. She glides smoothly through her 12 slow ballads and jazz standards. Her voice is strong in all registers and she sings confidently on the beat with good support from Jack Sheldon sounding relaxed on muted trumpet. The jazz quartet is augmented by a full set of strings and again the tempi stays in the slow to medium range. She manages to convey the inherent mood in these selections and is particularly impressive on Talk Of The Town. Sheldon’s backing is spot on and the jazz quartet get more of a look in here.
Both of these sets confirm just how many really good jazz singers had a brief moment of fame in the 1950s and then faded, not because they ceased to be good but because popular music changed so radically."
Derek Ansell (July 11, 2019)
https://jazzjournal.co.uk
