She has never failed me.
Every time I do a “Blindfold Test” for a friend, and play a Peggy Lee song from the 40s, their first guess is ALWAYS “Billie Holiday”.
Without a doubt, Peggy Lee is the most overlooked and underrated of jazz singers, and maybe at 100 years from her birth, these two “Centenary” sets will start some appreciation headed her way. Like the greatest of actors and actresses, she was one of the very few who could play a wide variety of roles, being one of the very few who sounded convincing whether to mood was cheerful, desultory, romantic, intimate, frivolous and always making it swing in a completely unique way. She changed with the times, and as these two 4 disc box sets prove, she always made every note count.
The two sets are divided into a collection of her singles, 101 of them, and then a cherry picking of 109 of supreme cuts from her plethora of releases, ranging from swing to Latin to live. What’s not included are her earliest years with Benny Goodman, but those are found in another Acrobat release Peggy Lee With The Benny Goodman Orchestra 1941-47, so don’t forget to pick that one up as well.
Let’s start with the 4 disc Singles album. Of course you’re going to find the big hits like “Manana”, “Fever” “Golden Earrings” “Why Don’t You Do Right?”and “Riders In The Sky”, but just think about the variety of those: kitschy Latin, seductive blue, pop, swing and Country Western. Who else could pull that off?
Possibly the most underrated of jazz vocals are included here, her sublime teaming with guitarist/husband Dave Barbour and his Orchestra, delivering the cheery “Aren’t You Glad You’re You” and “It’s A Good Day’ along with the sensuous “Linger In My Arms A Little Longer, Baby”. WHEW! She gives Holiday a run for her money with a take of “Them There Eyes” that is at least as alluring as Lady Day’s, if not more nuanced. She wears the deshabille of satiny strings well, teamed with Gordan Jenkins or Alex Stordahl on the draped “Lover”, “Be Anything (But Be Mine)” and “Moonflowers” while changing into some dungarees for campy duets with Bing Crosby on “ Merry Go Runaround” and “Watermelon Weather”. She even fits into a Disney role for “He’s A Tramp” while later in her career going a bit R&B for “Hallelujah I Love Him So” and flexing her muscles on “Alright, Ok, You Win”. The James Stewart of vocals, playing every role perfectly while remaining herself.
The 4 disc collection of albums includes a healthy dose of the songs from her strongest albums such as Black Coffee, Dream Street, Blues Cross Country and Jump For Joy, but remind us of the strengths of her lesser known albums such as the salsa’d gems Ole’ ala Lee and Latin a la Lee, her nightclub session Basin Street East and her summit meeting with George Shearing’s Quartet, Beauty and the Beat.
Each album had its own mood, and Lee wore the outfits like a Milano model walking the runway. The Shearing team iw a work of art, ranging from the novelty (which she also did convincingly) ‘I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City” to the hip “Get Out of Town”. Backed by Quincy Jones’ Orchestra, she swings like Big Mama Thornton on “Kansas City” and “Basin Street Blues” then changing into her evening dress for sophisticated charts by Benny Carter on “I’ve Got The World On A String”. She’s a perfect fit for Nelson Riddle’s support on an “Old Devil Moon” that rivals Sinatra. And speaking of Ol’ Blue Eyes, he conducts an orchestra for Lee for a scintillating collection that includes “The Man I Love” and gorgeous “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe”.
And, while I compared Lee to Holiday in interpretation and feeling, the major difference between the two is that Miss Lee never had a loss of her vocal strength. People have argued if the latter days of Holiday were better or worse because of her personal decline, but Lee’s trajectory went from strength to strength, all the way through the Kennedy years and beyond. After listening to these 8 discs of over 200 songs, all I could think of was a song from her later days, “Is That All There Is?” ESSENTIAL!