george lewis

Description

1956/1957 (Two wonderful Jazz/Blues tracks from young Shirley Bassey's first LP, 'Shirley Bassey - Born To Sing The Blues'. Shirley was a teenager when she recorded these tunes. Born to Sing the Blues is Shirley Bassey's debut album, released on a 10" LP in 1957 by the Philips Records label. Long-playing records were newly introduced in the mid-1950s and the 10" album was briefly introduced as an album format. Within a few years the 12" album was the format offered to the record buying public, remaining so until the mid-1980s when the Compact Disc took the market by storm. Shirley Bassey had been signed, a year earlier, to Philips by Johnny Franz and had released three singles which failed to chart, including her debut recording "Burn My Candle (At Both Ends)". But 1957 would bring her first chart success with the top ten hit "The Banana Boat Song". Philips were not certain to which market Shirley Bassey should be directed. They had recorded her singing Great American Songbook standards, novelty songs and even the blues. The opening track from the album, the only one previously released, is the title song "Born to Sing the Blues". This track was one of the three singles issued in 1956, as the B-side of "The Wayward Wind". After a successful live performance of the song on British television, John Franz decided to present her in an album of traditional blues songs. Several of the compositions that appeared on the album were written by W.C. Handy, known as "Father of the Blues". The recordings appear here in mono, no stereo versions are known to exist. In the 1970s Philips did re-issue them in an "electronically enhanced" stereo (also known as "pseudo-stereo"), but these added echoes proved unpopular, and these versions have not been re-released. For many years the recordings made by Bassey at Phillips were not generally available on CD. Since the late 2000s they have fallen into the public domain and in the past few years several compilations have been released on CD. The most comprehensive is Burn My Candle - The Complete Early Years 1956-58 from Fantastic Voyage Music released in 2009. ABOUT Careless Love: "Careless Love" is a traditional song of obscure origins. Blues versions are popular; the lyrics change from version to version, but usually speak of the heartbreak brought on by "careless love." Frequently, the narrator threatens to kill his or her wayward lover. Hundreds of recordings have been made in folk, blues, jazz, country, and pop styles; some of the more notable versions include those by Bessie Smith, Marilyn Lee, Ottilie Patterson, Pete Seeger, and George Lewis. Big Joe Turner recorded it several times over his long career. Fats Domino made a recording of it in 1951, and it has also been sung by Elvis Presley, Entrance, Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Dave Van Ronk, Leadbelly, Odetta, Janis Joplin, Siouxsie Sioux, Joan Baez, Ray Charles, Dr. John, Madeleine Peyroux, Bob Dylan, Bill Monroe and Johnny Cash, Frankie Laine, Skip James, Harry Connick Jr. and of course, Shirley Bassey. ABOUT Wabash Blues: Wabash Blues, with words by Dave Ringle and music by Fred Meinken, was the first success for pianist, saxophonist and song composer Isham Jones (1894-1956). Recorded in 1921 by Isham Jones and his Orchestra, this million-seller stayed twelve weeks in the U.S. charts, six at No. 1. The author of the original melody of the Wabash Blues is unknown. Though the song was recorded by Isham Jones and his ensemble, the piece was written Joseph E. Maddy. Prior to being called "Wabash Blues", the first name of this significant early jazz standard was called "The Trombone Jazz" and was orchestrated by Joseph E. Maddy in the Summer of 1918 at Kansas City's Electric Park - a then Summer proving ground for vaudeville artists. At the beginning of Jones' career in Chicago he played in the Edgewater Beach hotel dance band with Maddy and the early jazz sax team of Jones on alto and Maddy on tenor were in...