Virtually forgotten these days, at one time Leslie Arthur Julien “Hutch” Hutchinson (1900-1969) was one of the most popular cabaret singers of the Golden Age. Born in Grenada and moving as a young man to New York and eventually to England, he became a darling of the upscale Brits and won them over with his unique and classy voice and piano stylings, with even the Prince of Wales King Edward VII becoming a big fan.
This 3 disc, 70 song collections finds him in a multitude of settings, sounding most comfortable at the piano on standards like “High Hat”, ‘Time On My Hands” and “Don’t Blame Me”. When backed by an uptown orchestra, he warbles with style on “Two Tired Eyes” and “(Let’s Do It) Let’s Fall In Love”. He also had a social aspect to his career, as he does an intriguing read of “Gloomy Sunday”. Most of the time, however, he was the kind of interpreter that the likes of Porter, Gershwin and Kern admired, as he respected the lyrics and melodies, keeping it straight. A blackbird sang in Berkeley Square