Unlike most of the big band “canaries” of the Swing Era, Connie Haines (1921-2008) had a successful career both as a member of an orchestra and on her own. She had a cute little “boop boop a doop” voice, sort of like Mildred Bailey and Helen Humes, and she knew how to swing it. This two disc, 50 song set shows both her strengths and versatility, making her one of the singers of the pre-modern era that deserves to be revisited.
The set starts out with her giving a passionate and dark take of “Comes Love” from her 1939 stint with Harry James’ orchestra. From there, she hit the big time with Tommy Dorsey’s big band that included Buddy Rich/dr, Bunny Berigan/tp and a skinny cat named Frank Sinatra. With Sinatra, she became part of the vocal group The Pied Pipers which set the harmonic stage for most of the War Years, with the classic interplay between the two on the charged “Let’s Get Away From It All” and the sweet and innocent sounding “You Might Have Belonged to Another.” She’s cozy on “You’re Dangerous” and fun filled during “Will You Stil Be Mine”, graceful as all get out for “Isn’t That Just Like Love” and able to swing with depth on “What Is This Thing Called Love””.
Moving on to Gordon Jenkins’ orchestra, she’s dreamy with stirngs on “She’s Funny That Way” and a drop dead gorgeous “At Last”, getting elegant in a post WWII “You Made Me Love You” with Ray Bloch’s Orchestra. The combo continued to gel with rich horns and voice on a classy “Stormy Weather”.
She shows that she could still dig in deep as she claps and boogies hard on “How It Lies, How It Lies, and How It Lies” and “Me, Myself and I” and returns to Pied Piper country with her own group The Highlighters with a velvety “May It’s Because” . As the Big Band era faded, Haines looked for new territory, toying with C&W on a high pitched “ Along the Navajo Trail”, getting cozy with Bob Crosby on a Bobcatty “Destination Moon” and taking a turn to the Salvation Army with a revival meeting of “Make a Joyful Noise Unto The Lord”. Most alluring and tempting are a handful of intimate 1950 sessions, mature and understated with only piano accompaniment on “The Man I Love” and earthy in a small group with guitar on a deshabile’d “Lover Man”.
It’s collections like this that will make you wonder why you’re listening to any living female singers. “Call no one a success until their death”: Sophocles