[review] The beginning of a fruitful collaboration with RCA Victor that went on for two decades and gave British singer a really wide exposure - she had released around 19 albums with them and even won a Grammy as the only British Jazz singer to do so. The main difference between now and her previous work was in the repertoire - like so many of singers raised on jazz as a popular music, Cleo Laine had to adopt the times and embrace current songs of the day. For the majority of her peers this was problem - people like Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae or Mel Torme bravely gave it a try - to be honest it is a bit of stretch to go from American Songbook to Donovan but Laine was a good sport. I am not completely sure what this strategy really meant, because crossover albums like these usually just annoy both sides - its neither pop nor jazz, though production, arrangements and performance are very polished. Perhaps the most interesting number here is funky update on 1966 original "Life Is a Wheel". >>
[review]
The beginning of a fruitful collaboration with RCA Victor that went on for two decades and gave British singer a really wide exposure - she had released around 19 albums with them and even won a Grammy as the only British Jazz singer to do so. The main difference between now and her previous work was in the repertoire - like so many of singers raised on jazz as a popular music, Cleo Laine had to adopt the times and embrace current songs of the day. For the majority of her peers this was problem - people like Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae or Mel Torme bravely gave it a try - to be honest it is a bit of stretch to go from American Songbook to Donovan but Laine was a good sport. I am not completely sure what this strategy really meant, because crossover albums like these usually just annoy both sides - its neither pop nor jazz, though production, arrangements and performance are very polished. Perhaps the most interesting number here is funky update on 1966 original "Life Is a Wheel". >>
[cover]
[charts]UK - | US 168 | DDD -
Current music: Life Is a Wheel
Tag: 474 albums of 1974
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