Search - June Christy :: Tampico

Fascinating album for the music historian.

Mary Whipple | New England | 09/20/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"June Christy joined Stan Kenton's Orchestra in 1945 at the age of twenty, and in this digitally remastered CD we hear Christy's very young voice and Kenton's very loud, brassy orchestra in arrangements from 1945 - 1947. Many of the songs Christy and Kenton made so popular in the aftermath of World War II appear here, bright, brash, and full of swing, often with a thumping drum and bass accompaniment--including "Tampico," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and "I Got the Sun in the Morning"--songs to get the toes tapping and the returning soldiers dancing.



There is nothing subtle about this album, which does not take advantage of Christy's strengths as much as it points up what she has yet to master. She and the band seem to operate on parallel planes, rather than as a unit, and although they alternate star turns throughout, Kenton's band is noticeably heavy when it is paired with Christy's young, clear voice. The best songs on the album are those which take advantage of Christy's youth--the delightful "Rika Jika Jack," as it switches keys from minor to major and back and gives Christy the chance to scat to a blues accompaniment, and another bluesy, minor-keyed song, "Curiosity," which allows her to be bright and cute.



Christy's lower range has not fully developed, at this point, and she sometimes misses low notes when she suddenly has to hit a note that is more than an octave below the range in which she has been singing. "Easy Street," "Soothe Me," and "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" are songs requiring more control than Christy has yet acquired in her lower range. Kenton is Kenton, using the full orchestra, giving his instrumental stars their chances to solo, varying his tempo, and promoting the full-out brassiness and thumping rhythm that civilians celebrating the end of the war are obviously demanding. Kenton and Christy each seem to be in their own worlds here, alternating the spotlight but not yet creating a unified sound. Mary Whipple

"