Truth be told, no one introduced The Great American Songbook more than Fred Astaire. The reason is quite simple, as back in the day, songs were debuted on the Silver Screen, and the famed hoofer Astaire was used to sing to Ginger, Rita or whomever while holding her in his arms. In fact, Irving Berlin claimed to composed many of his songs with Astaire in mind, believing that the dancer had the perfect vocal delivery. While Bing and Frank get more credit, it is actually the podiatrically talented Astaire who first brought us many of the songs that we now consider standards.
This three disc, 74 song collection goes all the way back to 1923, with duets with Adele Astaire, and you can even hear Astaire’s tap dancing alongside George Gershwin’s piano on ‘Hang On To Me”. Through the years, he’s backed by various orchestras, mostly with Leo Reisman’s, but also teamed up with Johnny Green (who happened to compose “Body and Soul”) on pieces like “ A Fine Romance”, “Shall We Dance?” and “The Way You Look Tonight”. With Ray Noble, Astaire delivers a tasty “A Foggy Day” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It”, while Benny Goodman is the band behind Astaire on “Who Cares” and “Just Like Taking Candy From A Baby”. The attractive aspect of Astaire’s singing is not his range, which stays fairly consistent, but as expected, is his rhythm, as his articulation and verbal pulsation is an irresistible hook for each lyric. His singing is as perfectly timed as his tapping, making you want to sing along. Who could ask for anything more?