Fresh Sound Records keeps finding these obscure vocalists that had a brief time in the spotlight before drifting away. This latest discovery is of Betty St. Claire (1927-1972), who actually had a gig with Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner and Howard McGhee before stepping out on her own. This single disc contains the material from two 10” albums, and the supporting musicians are top notch, including Hal McKusick/cl-as, Barry Galbraith/g, Addison Farmer/b, Mundell Lowe/g, George Duvivier/b and Ed Shaughnessy.
She’s got a husky R&B-ish type voice, sort of like mid career Sarah Vaughan without the operatic overtures. She feels earthy and relaxed on adventurous reads of “Out of Nowhere” and “East of the Sun.” There’s an unpolished edge to her tone as on “My One and Only Love” and “Skylark” that give them a working class feel, while “Prelude To A Kiss” has her toying with the harmonies as if she wrote the piece. She does wonders with Galbraith’s accompaniment on “ I Hadn’t Anyone But You” and bops a bit with McKusick’s alto on “Almost Like Being In Love.” This one’s worth looking for!
Fresh Sound Records