Hold on, kids! Miss Linda Hopkins may have recently departed, but she's as vital and rousing as ever on her 2006 live CD.
And, yes, I know, it's almost Halloween, and many stores (and even blogs) are already heralding the season, but
Just listen to how how this New Orleans-born star of B'way and night clubs (and a few questionable movies) works the crowd into an absolute fever with songs like "Black Drawers," not to mention her galvanizing opener, "Let The Good Times Roll." Oh, and she was in her mid-eighties when she recorded this LP. Can you believe? And can you believe she only recorded six CDs? That's just criminal.
You know what else is amazing? I've never seen the movie version of "Pal Joey."
I know, I know. How on earth have I missed Jo Ann Greer singing for Rita Hayworth, or Trudy Stevens singing for Kim Novak? I haven't even seen tiny bits of it while channel surfing over the years. Shoot me now. Or maybe not. Have you seen it? Should I bother?
In any case, I happened to get my paws on the restored and expanded 2000 soundtrack album and it's truly wonderful. No, really. It actually makes me want to see the movie, but I'm wary. Why, you ask? Maybe because of the 1957 New York Times review, which raves about Sinatra's "bouncy" screen presence, "bouncy" being one of several adjectives (like "bubbly" or "chipper") that I'd more than hesitate to apply to Sinatra. So let me know your verdict. Yea or nay?
I don't have to hesitate at all when it comes to the luffly Miss Bev.
We've chatted about Bev Kelly before. She's that celebrated jazz baby turned psychiatrist who's sadly all but forgotten nowadays - and she really shouldn't be. Her voice is gorgeously expressive, and when she slides up and down a note, twisting it this way and that with an atonal curl or a surprise jump in octave, it really is surprising. And she's not after "effects." She's digging deeper into the lyric - and sometimes giving them entirely new meaning. In 1959's "Love Locked Out" - a Cheerfully Buoyant Bev Exclusive! - her unique style is in full bloom. Like Linda Hopkins, I wish she recorded more.
The Secret Song File is now officially bored with the whole idea of Halloween, if only because it calls to mind a certain-awful-someone's head. Not to mention all those flavored atrocities. Will someone please stop this madness? What will sooth her pumpkin-spice-clogged heart?
Actually, The Secret Song File knows exactly what'll do the trick. And it comes by way of an American who grew up in Paris. That alone isn't enough to make this songstress worthy of your attention - the French do keep gifting us with awful Luc Bessan movies, after all - but it is the place where she first discovered jazz. So there's that. Some compare her to Billie Holiday, and while you could, um, dance to me to the end of love (*cough*hint*bawdy wink*) before I'd ever make that kind of comparison, she's still a superb jazz songstress. And her spanking new CD is a cool delight.
I loath pumpkin spice. There, I said it.
Add you own spice or two in the comments, if you like!
