Originally released in 1963, For Swingers Only is singer Lorez
Alexandria's tenth album and her fourth for Argo. While Alexandria is
best known to ardent jazz fans, she was one of the great interpretive
vocalists of her time, and this set is proof of that. Alexandria was a
Chicago native who had established her reputation there. That said, she
was successful enough to relocate to Los Angeles in 1960 to lend her
voice work to soundtracks, television commercials, and recordings, and
to hold a club gig as a headliner. Unlike some of her previous Argo
dates, this one was recorded in Chicago at Ter-Mar Recording Studios.
Her band for the session included some regulars like guitarist George
Eskridge and drummer Phil Thomas. The great Chicago pianist John Young
and the amazing reed and woodwind studio player Ronald Wilson were also
on the date. Her bass player for the session was Jimmy Garrison from the
John Coltrane Quartet. The material is ambitious. Alexandria had cut
Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole," before on the Deluxe label, but
this version -- with its slippery, slightly Latin rhythm and popping
flute -- is more sultry and atmospheric, and carries within it a
loneliness that the earlier one doesn't touch. Her reading of Rodgers
& Hart's "Little Girl Blue" is, though this may seem blasphemous,
every bit the equal of Nina Simone's -- especially with its deeply
soulful a cappella opening. The flute adds exponentially as it softly
winds through the ends of lines, filling the space between the rhythm
section and the singer. The sadness literally drips from her mouth,
saturating the listener. These aren't all sad songs, however. The
strutting "All or Nothing at All" is a finger-popping swinger with
gorgeous work by Garrison, Young, and Wilson. Given that there are only
eight cuts on this set, each one counts -- though these are far from one
or two-minute selections, and they dig into their grooves and allow
Alexandria to stretch out. The beautiful guitar work on "Traveling Down a
Lonely Road" gives the listener the feeling that the protagonist
doesn't mind so much. It is the first known vocal recording of the song
-- it originally appeared as an instrumental in Federico Fellini's La
Strada. Eskridge and drummer Thomas, with his subtle breakbeat style in
the intro, set up a beautiful transaction for the piano, bass, and
lilting flute work. The true highlight of the set is "Mother Earth," a
12/8 blues with Wilson blowing a gritty tenor and Garrison strolling the
bassline in full gutbucket mode. Alexandria allows some of that large
throaty range of hers out of the box and lets it rip. This is simply
among Lorez Alexandria's most stylized, disciplined, soulful, and
satisfying recording sessions, and is highly recommended. [While this
fine album had been out of print in the United States for decades,
Chicago's own Dusty Groove imprint licensed the master from Universal
and had it remastered for release on compact disc for the first time in
2008.]
(This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa')
Tracklist :
1 Baltimore Oriole 3:09
2 Little Girl Blue 3:31
3 All Or Nothing At All 4:50
4 Travelling Down A Lonely Road 3:43
5 Mother Earth 4:54
6 Love Look Away 3:47
7 The End Of A Love Affair 2:48
8 That Old Devil Called Love 3:53
Credits :
Contrabass – Jimmy Garrison
Drums – Phil Thomas
Guitar – George Eskridge
Piano – John Young
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Ronald Wilson
Voice – Lorez Alexandria
6.7.21
LOREZ ALEXANDRIA - For Swingers Only (1963-2008) RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
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