Cole Porter - It's De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.55 You Save: $2.40 (27%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for It's De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection
Free Music Review: Very good Porter collection, wide range of artists and musical styles
Hit: 4 Stars
This collection presents a wide array of top jazz and jazz/pop artists performing some of Cole Porter's best songs, in recordings from 1928 to 1962.
The recordings range from late 20s and early 30s renditions that were probably some of the first recordings of those songs (Irving Aaronson & His Commanders on the excellent "Let's Misbehave"; Fred Astaire's masterful "Night and Day," which he introduced on Broadway) TO 40s swing and 50s pop (very young Frank Sinatra on "Night and Day"; Roy Rogers' "Don't Fence Me In"; Rosemary Clooney on a latin-tinged "You Do Something To Me") TO straight jazz and jazz/pop from the 50s and early 60s (Lena Horne, "Just One of Those Things"; Sonny Rollins, "You Do Something to Me").
The tracks on this CD aren't chronologically ordered by recording date, so, for example, you jump from Paul Desmond's 1962 sax/strings arrangmement of "I've Got You Under My Skin" back to Tommy Dorsey's late big-band version of "I Get a Kick Out of You" from 1950. While it can be fun to go from one style to another and then back around again, I also like programming the disc to play according to the recording dates, which produces a more consistent development of jazz-based styles.
I understand how the significant variations in style and genre brought on by the broad range of recording dates may dismay folks who were looking for a collection of, maybe, the earliest versions of each of these songs, which would have been more consistent in style. If you want something that's more strictly chronological and historical, I'd strongly recommend looking for a used copy of the Smithsonian's excellent (but out-of-print) 4-CD Cole Porter box set from the early 90s, or maybe one of the 3-CD boxes that the Indiana Historical Society and Koch issued (although the cuts are arranged by the date of the song, not the dates of the recordings). There's also "Cole Sings Porter," out-of-print but available used, which has Porter's own recordings of his songs. Or, look for a single-artist Porter collection that will be more stylistically consistent, like the excellent Sinatra/Porter disc on Sony/Columbia, one of Bobby Short's Porter albums, or Ella Fitzgerald's "Cole Porter Songbook."
One of the unusual aspects of the "De Lovely" disc is that it has Cole Porter's original 1934 voice/piano recordings of "Anything Goes" and "You're The Top" with an instrumental backing added in 2004 by Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks. I usually don't like tampering with original recordings, but here, Giordano has done an outstanding job of embellishing Porter's bare-bones recordings with historically accurate arrangements and a recording production that comes close to blending seamlessly with the originals. Since I have the unembellished recordings in the Smithsonian box set mentioned above, I like having the Porter/Giordano "collaborations" here.
Although Porter is remembered primarily for his work in the 30s and 40s, he lived into the 60s, so he was indeed around when all of the renditions on this disc were recorded. I don't know whether he actually did listen to these artists, but he might well have admired their undoubtedly superb artistry. Although some of the recordings here are instrumental and therefore omit Porter's marvelous lyrics, I'd like to think that Porter might have enjoyed jazz renditions of his songs, like his peer George Gershwin did.
These are all great artists, so if you want a collection that shows the wide-ranging jazz and pop styles that have been applied to Cole Porter's songs, this is a very good one.
Free Music Review: Anything they could do, Cole Porter could do better...
Hit: 4 Stars
Cole Porter remains one of the brightest stars of the 20th century and this CD shows us why. You get a whopping 19 tracks on just one CD and the variety of these numbers reinforces the belief that Porter's music could be found in just about any genre of music.
The CD opens with two classic Porter numbers entitled "Anything Goes" and "You're The Top." Although these songs are well performed with terrific musical arrangements they are actually reconstructions of what these tunes would have sounded like if Porter were recording them today. They let us hear what Porter probably would have sounded like were he recording today using older equipment; but please make a note that this "reenactment" of Cole Porter singing to his own music may not work for some people.
Other gems on this CD include "Let's Misbehave" performed by Irving Anderson and His Commanders; the great Lena Horne singing so sweetly her renditions of "Just One Of Those Things" and "From This Moment On" and the incomparable Frank Sinatra crooning "Night And Day."
"I Love Paris" gets the royal treatment by Coleman Hawkins who plays that tenor saxophone to perfection! Manny Albam and His Orchestra provide the rest of the flawless musical arrangement for this instrumental track. In addition, fans of Cole Porter music will surely love Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra performing "I Get A Kick Out Of You." Moreover, one of the three bonus tracks features Fred Astaire singing "Night And Day" very well. Another bonus track features Rosemary Clooney delivering a powerful rendition of "You Do Something To Me" while Perez Prado and His Orchestra bat out a winning Latin style musical arrangement. Great!
The liner notes include an essay about Cole Porter and his career in the arts by Will Friedwald; and you see portions of Porter's recording contract with RCA Victor as part of the art work. You get all the song credits and there are very nice black and white pictures of Cole Porter himself, too.
Overall, Cole Porter fans will consider this CD a "must-have" for their collections. People who enjoy classic pop vocals will enjoy this CD as well.
Free Music Review: A True Cole Porter Treat
Hit: 4 Stars
Okay - let's just get this out in the open: If you're looking for the real thing, skip the Delovely soundtrack that everyone's talking about. It'll leave those of us who know and love Porter's work sorely disappointed. However, there is a happy alternative, and you've found it.
This album, exploring many period interpretations of Porter's great songs, is a real delight. Although it does have some weak points (cough - Esquivel on track 19 - cough), overall it serves as a wonderful serving of musical hors d'oeuvres.
We start out with period Victor recordings of Porter's voice complemented by the great Vince Giordano & his Nighthawks - I'm a diehard fan of this band, and they've done nothing but justice to "Anything Goes", and raise "You're the Top" to a completely new level. I've come to believe in the musical mantra that Vince Giordano Can Do No Wrong, and these tracks are great examples of that.
Other high points include Lena Horne's "From This Moment On", Irving Aaronson's "Let's Misbehave" (by far the best version anywhere), Roy Rogers' "Don't Fence Me In" (a really addictive little tune - you'll catch yourself humming it when you least expect), Dinah Shore's lusty, swooning "You'd be So Nice to Come Home To", and, best of all, Fred Astaire's "Night and Day" - no one can touch his rendition of this great. The pieces interspersed amongst these are just grand, as well.
So, if you've just come to discover the wonders of Cole Porter thanks to the recently released film, please turn your attention to this album. This collection shines as an introduction to how his work really should sound, as opposed to the rather unfortunate attempts made by current pop stars. They're fine at what they do - but please, keep them away from this department. It takes a highly refined, trained and gifted sense to perform Porter correctly - a fact that this album proves effortlessly. Enjoy.
Free Music Review: Simply . . . DeLovely
Hit: 4 Stars
The biggest surprrise: each song is by the original artist! The CD label even bears the old RCA Victor Trade Mark . . . and THAT goes back quite a ways! But all the arrangements and artists are wonderful to hear from
Cole Porter, himself, to Sinatra, Lena Horne, Rosemary Clooney, and others, all singing the "old favorites" as done originally by themselves! And . . . there's Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and other favorites of those bygone days. If you saw the Movie "It's Delovely" and liked it, then you'll LOVE this CD: "IT;S DeLovely: The Authentic Dole Porter Collection."
Free Music Review: Lovely
Hit: 4 Stars
Good collection of Cole Porter songs. The CD arrived very shortly and was in perfect condition