St. Paul recorder., 1963-11-21
THE WEEK IN
RECORDS
BY ALBERT ANDERSON
Ray Charles, June Chrsty In
Vocal Spotlight


about Ray Charles and June Chris
ty. Along with the matchless Ella
Fitzgerald and Lady" Vaughan
they are to me among the finest
singers ever to grace the jazz
scene.
Charles and Miss Christy hold
the spotlight in the review column
this week. Details of their latest
record albums, and another fine
LIP by Eta Jones follows:
ingredients In A Recipe For
Soul: - ABC-Paramount LIP
(465) featuring singer-pianist Ray
Charles and the Rayletts with var
led background music. Tunes in
clude 'tOP Man River" "Over the
Rainbow" That Luck Old Sun"
You'll Never Walk Alone" "a
Stranger in Town." Where Can
Coz" and Born to be Blue"
Every song, as sung here by this
great artist, carries a different
message" as Charles puts soul
feeling into them He reaches
his zenith on "Over the Rainbow, ,"
which he sings with both longing
and romanticism His singing
Of this song alone Is well worth
the price Of the disc But then
Charles continues his touching per-
formance He sings "Ol' Man
River" as 1t has never been sung
before - with novelty, suspense
emotionalism and indiWidualism -
saving the charge de force for the
climax Deep desire is the fea-
ture of You'll Never Walk Alone;
earthiness, in Born to Be Blue;
appeal, in "a Stranger In Town" "
and appropriate voice probing and
phrasing, in Where Can Coz
On most of the tunes Charles is
backed delightfully."- by the Rae
let's, against fine musical back
drop The fine arrangements
are by Benny Carter, Sid Feller.
Marty Patch and Johnny Parker
E. . Here's Ray Charles at his sing
ing best Without question, A
Great Album.
The Intimate Miss ChriSty":-
Capitol LIP 1889 featuring sing
er June ChriSty backed by Al
Viola, guitar; Don Bagley, bass;
Bud Legge, flute. Tunes: Spring
Is Here" FLY Me to the Moon,
Il FAN In Love Too Easily" Time
after Time" THE More I See
YOU" Don't Explain" 1T Never
Entered My Mind" You're Near
err" Misty" Suddenly IT'S
Spring, II Get Along Without
You Very WelP', and Every
time"
Quizz any true jazz fan and
he'll probably tell you he never
tires Of hearing June Christy sing
Misty" . Ditto for this review
er Although I have heard her
sing the tune many times, I still
consider 1t her best effort In this
set Of a dozen well-chosen ballads
On all the songs, however,
June's voice rides majeSttcally on
the stream Of fine background mu-
sic . She is pensive on Misty; ;
downright romantic on ". FAN IN
Love :" and FLY Ne -; sub
tie on Entered -, and
plaintive but lyrical on Get
Along This waadng should
put another jewel in June's already
star studded crown A great
effort.
Love Shout: - Prestige LIP
(7272). Personnel: Eta Jones.
featured singer; partially unidenti-
fled jazz group, including guitar
ist Kenny Burrell, tenor saxophon-
ist Jerome Richardson, and pian-
ist Kenny Cox.
HuslIy-votced Eta Jones, on this
waxing, comes through with what
I consider her best effort since her
Don't Go to Stranger hit album
Her top tune here is the Miles
Davis revived tune Some Day MY
Prince VIII Come" on which she
phrases magnificently A YER
satile artist, Miss Jones also pro-
vfdes several lively moments, as
on such tunes as the up tempo
number, Love Walked In, and
the title tune Other tunes In
the set (all Of which she sings
welD include Hi Lii HI Lo", a
sort Of riffer; the sentimental bal
lad There Are Such Things, IT'S
Magic, If I loved you, The Gal
from Joe's", and Like Someone In
Love" Eta gets good backing
throughout the session from Bur-
ren, Richardson and company
Eta Does 1t Again.