Search - June Christy :: Ballads for Night People/The Intimate Miss Christy

Pared-down but still commanding

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 05/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"June Christy is probably always going to be remembered above all for her work with the arranger Pete Rugolo on classic Capitol discs like _Something Cool_, but the two albums compiled on this reissue deserve to be better-known. The first, _Ballads for Night People_, dates from 1960, with arrangements by her husband Bob Cooper. The liner notes don't include personnel listings, but the instrumentation is a conventional piano trio augmented with a variety of instruments--saxophone & trombone, of course, but more often with instruments giving something of a "chamber" feeling: flute, bass clarinet, harp, & occasionally some kind of plucked keyboard (a harpsichord, I guess). There are a number of tunes that are akin to the complex, dark-hued ballads that were standouts with her work with Rugolo--e.g. "Bewitched", "Night People" (a Landesman/Wolf tune that is a worthy companion to Christy's reading of their "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" on _The Song Is June!_), "Shadow Woman". But the mood is mostly lighter than the Rugolo work, & one gets to hear Christy's (badly underrated) skill in delivering swinging material like "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". There's one highly unusual selection in the performance of Cooper's setting of an Edna St Vincent Millay poem, "I Had a Little Sorrow"--this is done as a duo with harpsichord, & is excellent._The Intimate Miss Christy_, the second album, dates from 1963, & is a compelling showcase for Christy's voice with the barest of accompaniments: Al Viola's acoustic guitar & Don Bagley's bass, supplemented on a few tracks by flute from Bud Legge. The tunes are given complete with verses--terrific to hear "It Never Entered My Mind" with its introduction, for instance. The bravura showcase here is certainly "Don't Explain", which is read straight then capped off with a wrenching coda that's as inventive as anything by Sheila Jordan.Listening to both these recordings, I'm struck by the firmness yet subtlety of Christy's rhythmic sense. Despite the bareness of the format, the ballads on the _Intimate_ collection are compellingly done--anything but sleepy or merely pretty. Put the _Intimate_ session beside Sarah Vaughan's _After Hours_ & Sheila Jordan's _Portrait of Sheila Jordan_ from the some period--it's that good, & certainly better than an album like Ella Fitzgerald's _Take Love Easy_. _Ballads for Night People_ is no less rewarding an album. An important reissue."

Worth the premium import price

Phil (San Diego, CA) | San Diego, CA | 12/12/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These two were produced by Bill Miller, and come from 1960 and 1963. The first time I heard this CD I was wowed. As the titles indicate, this is night music, the intimate side of the Misty Miss Christy. On "The Intimate Miss Christy", June is accompanied only by a guitar and bass. From this collection, "Don't Explain" is a smoky number that would be in the running for my favorite June Christy recording of all time. From "Ballads for Night People", "Make Love to Me" (not the Jo Stafford hit) is a perfect firelight moment, though this entire CD is a gem."

Soft romantic music at its finest

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"June Christy's career began in the forties when she sang with the Stan Kenton band. She went solo and released a series of outstanding albums in the fifties. The two albums here, from 1960 and 1963, maintain the standard of her fifties music, but they are among the last she recorded. These albums were not produced by Pete Rugelo, famous for producing many of June's fifties albums, but by Bill Nelson, who proved to be a very capable replacement.The first album, Ballads for night people, is not quite as low-key as the title suggests, but opens with a very low-key version of Bewitched, almost unrecognisable compared with the more famous Doris Day version. Elsewhere, there are a couple of Duke Ellington compositions including Don't get around much anymore on which June picks up the tempo a little. Even so, this song is still performed with restraint, and it works well. The other songs are excellent, but none of them are instantly recognisable.The second album making up this twofer, Intimate Miss Christy, is much sparser, more intimate, and therefore (to my ears) even better, with just a guitar, a bass and sometimes a flute to back up June's lovely voice.There are several songs on this album that will be familiar to fans of the Great American songbook including Spring is here, Fly me to the moon, Time after time, The more I see you, It never entered my mind, Misty and I get along without you very well. Although the songs may be familiar, June's versions are as good as any.This is a truly wonderful twofer that no June Christy fan should be without."