SATHIMA BEA BENJAMIN - A Morning In Paris (1963-2007) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

In 1963, singer Sathima Bea Benjamin persuaded Duke Ellington to see her future husband, Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand), play in a club in Europe. Ellington was impressed by both of the recent South African émigrés and arranged with Reprise to record them. While Brand's record came out within a year, Benjamin's debut was lost and not heard for decades, even by the singer. As it turned out, engineer Gerhard Lehner had made a second copy and kept it for all of these years, so the initial 1997 release of this important session was possible. Backed by pianist Ibrahim, bassist Johnny Gertze, drummer Makaya Ntshoko, and (on two songs apiece) Duke Ellington or Billy Strayhorn, and occasionally joined by violinist Svend Asmussen (who here plays exclusively pizzicato, as if he were using a high-pitched guitar), Benjamin's voice sounds quite beautiful. She performs two Ellington tunes, Strayhorn's "Your Love Has Faded," and nine standards, with the emphasis on slow ballads. The moody music is often haunting and quite memorable. by Scott Yanow

Tracklist:

1 Darn That Dream 3:50

Eddie DeLange / James Van Heusen

2 I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 4:37

Duke Ellington / Paul Francis Webster

3 I Could Write a Book 3:24

Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers

4 I Should Care 3:14

Sammy Cahn / Axel Stordahl / Paul Weston

5 Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year 2:04

Frank Loesser

6 Solitude 3:34

Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Peter Hammill / Irving Mills

7 The Man I Love 4:20

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

8 Your Love Has Faded 2:42

Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn

9 I'm Glad There Is You 3:21

Jimmy Dorsey / Paul Mertz

10 Soon 3:12

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

11 Lover Man 3:32

Jimmy Davis / Roger "Ram" Ramirez / Jimmy Sherman

12 A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square 5:13

Eric Maschwitz / Manning Sherwin

Credits:

Sathima Bea Benjamin - Vocals

Duke Ellington - Piano (tracks 2 and 8)

Billy Strayhorn - Piano (tracks 8 and 12)

Abdullah Ibrahim - Piano (other tracks)

Svend Asmussen - Pizzicato Violin

Johnny Gertze - Bass

Makaya Ntshoko - Drums

Recorded by Gerhard Lerner, February 23, 1963

Recorded at Barclay Studios, Paris

Duke Ellington, producer