Susannah McCorkle - Someone To Watch Over Me: The Songs Of George Gershwin

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:35
Size: 141.0 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[5:23] 1. They Can't Take That Away From Me
[4:15] 2. Who Cares
[4:18] 3. Someone To Watch Over Me
[4:51] 4. It Ain't Necessarily So
[5:20] 5. How Long Has This Been Going On
[1:13] 6. I Got Rhythm Intro
[3:37] 7. I Got Rhythm
[3:37] 8. Love Walked In
[3:44] 9. I Loves You Porgy
[4:58] 10. They All Laughed
[3:07] 11. Summertime
[4:13] 12. 's Wonderful
[4:49] 13. I Was Doing All Right
[4:01] 14. I Got Plenty O' Nuthin'
[4:03] 15. Will You Remember Me Drifting Along With The Tide

Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax], Flute [Alto Flute] – Jerry Dodgion; Bass – Dick Sarpola, Steve Gilmore; Drums – Rich DeRosa; Guitar – Howard Alden; Tenor Saxophone, Flute [Alto Flute] – Chris Potter;Trombone – Conrad Herwig; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Randy Sandke; Vocals – Susannah McCorkle.

Throughout her career, singer Susannah McCorkle recorded many "songbook" sets dedicated to the music of a particular composer or lyricist. She followed up sets of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin in 1997 with a full program of George Gershwin's music. On this CD, McCorkle performs 15 Gershwin songs in settings ranging from an octet that includes tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Randy Sandke, trombonist Conrad Herwig, and altoist Jerry Dodgion to duets with guitarist Howard Alden ("I Loves You, Porgy"), bassist Dick Sarpola ("I Was Doing All Right" and "Love Walked In"), and her musical director, pianist Allen Farnham (a medley of "Will You Remember Me?" and "Drifting Along with the Tide"). Even when singing such well-known tunes as the title cut, "How Long Has This Been Going On," "I Got Rhythm" (to which she adds an introduction explaining Ira Gershwin's method of coming up with lyrics), and "'S Wonderful," McCorkle comes up with fresh variations and subtle creativity. Although one wishes that she had unearthed more Gershwin obscurities, listeners should be grateful that Susannah McCorkle recorded a long string of easily recommended vocal jazz albums during her lifetime. ~Scott Yanow

Someone To Watch Over Me

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Various - The Colors Of Latin Jazz: Corcovado

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:40
Size: 143.5 MB
Styles: Bossa Nova, Latin jazz
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[6:46] 1. Karrin Allyson - Corcovado (Quiet Nights)
[6:41] 2. Manfredo Fest - Tristeza De Nos Dois (Sad For Both Of Us)
[5:16] 3. Marcos Silva - So Far Away
[3:35] 4. Tania Maria - Triste
[3:31] 5. Charlie Byrd - How Insensitive
[5:07] 6. Manfredo Fest - Ela E Carioca (She's A Child Of Rio)
[4:28] 7. Susannah McCorkle - Caminhos Cruzados
[5:00] 8. Hendrik Meurkens - A Summer In San Francisco
[4:26] 9. Karrin Allyson - Coração Vagabundo
[5:28] 10. Trio Da Paz - Vera Cruz
[5:04] 11. Tania Maria - Comecar De Novo (To Begin Again)
[7:14] 12. Charlie Byrd - Corcovado

Not many artists have immersed themselves in quite the cultural combination that Concord Special Products has assembled for the Colors of Latin Jazz series. This six-CD series captures the sweet, hot, happy, and rhythmic joys of Latin jazz. Colors of Latin Jazz: Corcovado! is the perfect culmination for the initial offerings of this splendid and exciting series. The perfect nightcap is the sweet voice of Karrin Allyson originally heard on Daydream and here on "Corcovado." She's as soft as the tear of a raindrop. Her serene essence is heard again in Portuguese singing Caetano Veloso's "Coracao Vagabundo," a soft bossa nova originally issued on From Paris to Rio. Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, and Duduka Da Fonseca join Trio Da Paz on the five-minute reprise of "Vera Cruz" featured from Brasil From the Inside. By the time you hear "Summer in San Francisco" by Hendrik Muerkens or Manfredo Fest and Susannah McCorkle emanating their resonant beauty on a pair of Antonio Carlos Jobim classics, you will have enjoyed the fluid, relentless pull of great bossa novas that have evolved into modern day Latin jazz classics for the 21st century aficionados and keepers of the Latin jazz flame. Tania Maria's sweet edge on "Triste" and "Comegar de Novo" prove why you have to blame it on the bossa nova, since she leaves you with such a pleasant feeling that expands with each listen. The great Charlie Byrd strums a beautiful "How Insensitive" originally issued on his The Bossa Nova Years. The clarinet solo of Ken Peplowski is a glowing example of the beauty and adaptability of the instrument in a Latin jazz ensemble. Charlie Byrd also closes the set with a reprise of "Corcovado," playing with the quiet, cool restraint that he is known for. Colors of Latin Jazz: Corcovado! is not only beautiful for the sheer range of the bossa novas it includes, but it is the spring amidst the rocks and a tree with its first leaves bearing The Colors of Latin Jazz. A generous gift from some of the finest artists performing Latin jazz. ~Paula Edelstein

The Colors Of Latin Jazz: Corcovado

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Susannah McCorkle - Ballad Essentials

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:26
Size: 129.2 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[5:18] 1. How Long Has This Been Going On
[4:07] 2. You Go To My Head
[3:10] 3. For All We Know
[4:25] 4. Why Don't We Try Staying Home
[3:31] 5. Skylark
[4:47] 6. Manha De Carnaval
[5:00] 7. Nuages
[5:09] 8. The People You Never Get To Love
[5:38] 9. Let's Face The Music And Dance
[6:04] 10. There's No Business Like Show Business
[5:02] 11. It Never Entered My Mind
[4:10] 12. P.S. I Love You

Noted for the beauty of her voice and ability to freshen up the most tired lyric, Susannah McCorkle left behind an impressive and large body of work at the time of her death in 2001. Ballad Essentials concentrates onMcCorkle's softer side, collecting a dozen pieces recorded for Concord between 1983 and 2000. A remarkable cadre including Ken Peplowski, Emily Remler, and Bucky Pizzarelli join her on a variety of standards by Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and the Gershwin brothers. The arrangements vary from vocal/guitar duets with Howard Alden and Al Gafa to the small-orchestra backing of "Let's Face the Music and Dance." There's an enjoyable, intimate version of "Why Don't We Try Staying at Home" and an elegant rendering of "Skylark." It's notable that McCorkle, like Ella Fitzgerald, chooses to include the verse, or beginning, of songs like "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "It Never Entered My Mind." A lovely rendition of Django Reinhardt's "Nuages," complete with French and English lyrics, provides a pleasant surprise, while "Manhã de Carnaval (Sunrise)" displays McCorkle's ability as an interpreter of South American material. For those less familiar with the great vocalist's work, Ballad Essentials serves as an excellent primer. For fans, the album gathers a dozen similarly toned pieces, or an hour's worth of music, in one place. A fine collection. ~Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.

Ballad Essentials

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Susannah McCorkle - Dream

Size: 101,1 MB
Time: 39:18
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1987
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. At Long Last Love (3:37)
02. Just For A Thrill (5:08)
03. Train In The Distance (4:07)
04. Bewitched (4:33)
05. All Of Me (3:20)
06. Dream (5:09)
07. I Get A Kick Out Of You (3:04)
08. Sleepy (3:24)
09. Triste (2:59)
10. Longings For A Simpler Time (3:52)

Susannah McCorkle, one of the finest jazz-influenced vocalists to emerge during the 1970's and 80's, sings a wide variety of music on her Pausa disc. In addition to some prebop material (including Cole Porter's "At Long Last Love," a vocalese version of "All Of Me," "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and Johnny Mercer's title cut), she also tackles tunes by Paul Simon, Oscar Brown Jr, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Leiber & Stoller. No matter what the style (she is essentially a swing singer), Susannah McCorkle uplifts each song. She is assisted by the Ben Aronov trio, and occasionally guitarist Gene Bertoncini and tenor-saxophonist Frank Wess. ~by Scott Yanow

Dream

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Susannah McCorkle - As Time Goes By

Styles: Vocal Jazz

Year: 1986

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 44:26

Size: 104,0 MB

Art: Front

(3:34)  1. September In The Rain

(4:16)  2. I Can't Give You Anything But Love

(4:03)  3. Taking A Chance On Love

(4:56)  4. For All We Know

(5:12)  5. As Time Goes By

(3:12)  6. I Get A Kick Out Of You

(6:03)  7. Alone Together

(4:16)  8. Pennies From Heaven

(4:52)  9. You Don't Know What Love Is

(3:57) 10. Blues In The Night

McCorkle was born in Berkeley, California. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday in Paris in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels, but moved instead to London in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation. In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critics.

During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls five times and Carnegie Hall three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music. Thanks to her linguistic skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. She had a special affinity for Bossa Nova and often cited Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March" as her personal favorite. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Irving Berlin and Mae West.

A survivor of breast cancer, McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and committed suicide at age 55 by leaping off the balcony of her 16th-floor apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play. Suicide was ruled the manner of death. One year later, in a New York magazine tribute entitled "Jazz Bird", Gwenda Blair wrote, "Onstage, singer Susannah McCorkle exuded a sultry self-confidence that won her lifelong fans. But in private, she fought depression so deep and so well hidden that a year after her suicide, even some in her most intimate circle wonder how they missed the cries for help." Haunted Heart, a biography of Susannah McCorkle written by Linda Dahl, was published in September 2006 by University of Michigan Press. ~ Bio  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susannah_McCorkle

Personnel: Susannah McCorkle (vocal),  Jimmy Heath (ts), Ted Dunbar (g), Billy Taylor (p), Victor Gaskin (b), Tony Reedus (d)

As Time Goes By

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Susannah McCorkle - How Do You Keep The Music Playing? / The Beginning 1975

Album: How Do You Keep The Music Playing?
Size: 117,9 MB
Time: 50:24
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1985/2000
Styles: Jazz/Pop Vocals, Cabaret
Art: Front

01. While The City Sleeps (3:42)
02. How Do You Keep The Music Playing (4:05)
03. A Fine Romance (4:08)
04. There's No Business Like Show Business (6:04)
05. Blizzard Of Lies (3:27)
06. By The Time I Get To Phoenix (3:21)
07. Where Or When (4:21)
08. Ain't Safe To Go Nowhere (3:30)
09. Cheek To Cheek (2:39)
10. Poor Butterfly (6:51)
11. Slap That Bass (3:19)
12. Outra Vez (4:51)

Susannah McCorkle's second Pausa album is highlighted by a remarkable version of "There's No Business Like Show Business." Usually performed in razzle-dazzle style, the song is drastically slowed down and treated as a dramatic ballad by McCorkle, and she shows that the words are actually quite touching. Also on the diverse set are the singer's fresh interpretations of such tunes as "A Fine Romance," "Where or When," "Cheek to Cheek," "Slap That Bass," and even a tolerable rendition of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." Backed by the Ben Aronov trio and on a few numbers joined by either tenor saxophonist Al Cohn or guitarist Gene Bertoncini, Susannah McCorkle is in such fine form that one truly regrets that her first seven American albums (four on Inner City and three on Pausa) have yet to appear on CD. ~Review by Scott Yanow

How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

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Album: The Beginning 1975
Size: 148,7 MB
Time: 62:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2002
Styles: Jazz/Pop Vocals, Cabaret
Art: Front

01. I Won't Dance (2:14)
02. Easy Come, Easy Go (2:50)
03. A Lady Must Live (2:36)
04. Felicidade (2:26)
05. Losing My Hand (4:19)
06. Says My Heart (1:50)
07. Baby Don't Quit You Now (3:14)
08. Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer (2:31)
09. Men Are Like Streetcars (3:10)
10. The Second Time Around (2:29)
11. The Trouble With Me Is You (1:57)
12. Bim Bom (1:56)
13. By Myself (2:09)
14. Sweet And Lowdown (2:54)
15. The Other Woman (3:27)
16. 42Nd Street (2:35)
17. Don't Smoke In Bed (3:15)
18. Why Try To Change Me Now (3:35)
19. This Funny World (2:20)
20. I Love A Film Clice (3:34)
21. As Time Goes By (3:13)
22. Something's Gotta Give (3:46)

Primarily a collection of early demos, The Beginning 1975 takes listeners back to a time when Susannah McCorkle had yet to become well-known or record for Inner City, Pausa, or Concord Jazz. In fact, these recordings came a year before the jazz/cabaret singer's debut album, The Music of Harry Warren. McCorkle was in her late twenties in 1975, and although she wasn't nearly as well-known as she would be in the '80s and '90s, she had some very enthusiastic supporters in England -- namely, producer Chris Ellis and pianist Keith Ingham. Both of them help McCorkle out on these demos; with Ellis serving as producer and Ingham accompanying her on piano, McCorkle comes across as a singer who has some growing and developing to do but still has considerable potential. In 1975, McCorkle had a major Billie Holiday obsession and, at times, she goes out of her way to emulate Lady Day's '30s recordings (which is a mistake because it's best to be yourself). But more often than not, McCorkle is wise enough to let her own personality shine through, and one really hears her potential on material that ranges from "This Funny World," "As Times Goes By," and "42nd Street" to the Brazilian song "Felicidade" (which demonstrates that even in 1975, McCorkle was capable of singing in Portuguese). Meanwhile, McCorkle's version of "I Love a Film Cliché" is too campy for its own good; this is the sort of performance that gives certain types of cabaret a bad name. Again, McCorkle still had some growing and developing to do in 1975, but excellence was just around the corner -- and Ellis was among the people who helped her achieve it. Although inconsistent and not recommended to casual listeners, The Beginning 1975 is a disc that McCorkle's hardcore fans will find fascinating. ~Review by Alex Henderson

The Beginning 1975

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Susannah McCorkle - Adeus: The Berlin Concert

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:09
Size: 142.3 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[2:28] 1. Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart
[3:53] 2. Still Crazy After All These Years
[7:56] 3. Adeus America
[4:59] 4. Get Out of Town
[3:42] 5. That Ole Devil Called Love
[5:39] 6. Don't Fence Me In
[0:54] 7. (instrumental)
[5:33] 8. I Thought About You
[4:14] 9. Swing That Music
[5:01] 10. That Old Feeling
[4:09] 11. You Do Something to Me
[5:06] 12. P'rá Machucar Meu Coracao
[3:26] 13. (Instrumental) S'Wonderful
[3:33] 14. Bye Bye Baby
[1:27] 15. (instrumental) outro

Exceptional musical legacy of one of America`s greatest yet misunderstood songbirds: jazz singer Susannah McCorkle (1946 - 2001) and quartet live in Berlin 1996, recorded at the pinnacle of her career in front of an enthusiastic audience. “Susannah McCorkle is in the forefront!” (Tony Bennett, 1986). Some of the finest songs from her repertoire, mastered from lost tapes recently discovered in the archives of music journalist and writer Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, with Kai Rautenberg (p & arr), Walter Gauchel (ts), Dave King (b) and Ned Irving (dr) - her first live release!

Adeus: The Berlin Concert

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Susannah McCorkle - Hearts And Minds

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 66:08
Size: 151.4 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz, Easy Listening
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[4:25] 1. I Can Dream, Can't I
[4:59] 2. Love Is Here To Stay
[4:39] 3. Love, Look Away
[4:02] 4. My Attorney Bernie
[3:14] 5. For All We Know
[4:19] 6. It Could Happen To You
[5:17] 7. Haunted Heart
[4:05] 8. What Did I Forget
[4:26] 9. Down
[5:29] 10. The Computer Age (In Motion)
[5:47] 11. Evolution
[3:14] 12. Feet Do Your Stuff
[5:26] 13. Do You Miss New York
[3:10] 14. Scars
[3:30] 15. I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire

Susannah McCorkle's 16th release available through Concord begins with "I Can Dream, Can't I" and ends with "I Don't Want ro Set the World on Fire," two highly desirous songs that may reflect the intentions of the dynamic vocalist, but needless to say after 15 successful releases cannot begin to measure the tremendous impact she has had as one of the most expressive singers on the jazz scene since the mid-'70s. McCorkle utilizes two rhythm sections, her longtime musical director/arranger/pianist Allen Farnham, guitarist Paul Meyers, and tenor saxophonist Dick Oatts on straight-ahead, Brazilian-influenced and swing compositions. They span nearly 70 years say a lot about human nature and what people feel and think about. She handles humor on three Dave Frishberg songs, tackles a funny song about depression on "Down," sings of fleeting romance and contemporary relationships on "For All We Know," and "Haunted Heart" and the Ivan Lins song "Evolution." Susannah McCorkle has the remarkable capability to bring rarely heard songs back to life through updated interpretations and 21st century appeal. ~ Paula Edelstein

Recorded at Sound On Sound Studios, New York, New York from March 28-30, 2000.

Susannah McCorkle (vocals); Allen Farnham (arranger, piano); Dick Oatts (tenor saxophone); Paul Meyers (acoustic & electric guitars); Steve Gilmore, Dennis Irwin (bass); Tim Horner, Vanderlei Pereira (drums); Thiago DeMello (percussion).

Hearts And Minds

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