One of the underappreciated vocalists during the era of the heyday of female singers, Lorez Alexandra (1929-2001) had a unique style that successfully mixed jazz and gospel tones. Her long and successful career had her in a variety of settings, even putting out some rich material on the famed Impulse! label in the 1960s. This two disc set finds her in an R&B mood in her early days, and she comes out of the career gates swinging!
Her 1957 debut album features Ronald Wilson’s lovely flute and oboe for dreamy pieces like “Snow Storm” and “Penthouse Serenade” and she creates wondrous atmospheres during “Baltimore Oriole.” A real gas of a session follows with Alexandria giving a fantastic tribute to Lester Young with King Fleming’s driving sextet of Paul Serrano/tp, Cy Touff/btp, Charles Stpney/vib, Eldee Young-Earl May/b, Vernell Fournier/dr and Fleming having the singer dig deep on “No Eyes Blues,” scatting with delight on “DB Blues” and hip as all get out on “Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid.” Wish I were at this nightclub session!
Another incarnation of Fleming’s band has John Neely/ts, Russell Williams/b and Aubrie Jones/dr also adding vocals so that the ensemble sounds a bit like Lambert, Hendricks and Ross on toe tapping takes of Count Basie-inspired material such as “One O’Clock Jump,” “Williams’ Blues” and “Stompin’ At The Savoy.”
The second disc has her backed by Frank Hunter’s orchestra including Herbie Mann/ts-fl, Allen Eager/ts, Shadow Wilson/dr and Oscar Pettiford/b for a soulful juke joint take of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and a foot stomping “Love Is Just Around The Corner.” A couple tracks with Russ Garcia and His Four Trombone Band find Alexandria in a Kentonian mood for bold and brassy versions of “What Is This Thing Called Love?” “Just One Of Those Things” and “Dancing On The Ceiling.” The final album is a collection of sessions from Chicago and New York, ranging from sublime trio work lead by pianist Ralph Sharon on a penetrating “Angel Eyes” and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” to a dramatic orchestra lead by Johnny Richards on “Long Ao and Far Away.” In between is a tender “Spring Is Here” with guitarist Jimmy Raney in Ralph Burns’ Quartet and a fragrant “Then I’ll Be Tired Of You” with Richard Wess’ Orchestra of reeds and strings.
The liner notes give a sumptuous amount of background info on this important vocalist, and someone did their homework in listing all of the musicians. Because of the limits of TV, recordings and radio, a lot of artists got underappreciated during this golden era. Here’s a chance to see what we were missing.