Search - Mary Stallings :: Fine & Well

Fine and Mellow: Singer, repertoire and acompanists...

A. Del Rosario | Carolina, PR Puerto Rico | 02/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How lucky I was that this was one of the first blues records I purchased! Since then, it has attained tenuere in my list of records that get plaeyed consistently. Just listen to the title song and "You'll See" what I mean... and enjoy..."

Indeed It Is....

Gary L Connely | Hercules, CA | 11/08/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mary Stallings' album, "Fine and Mellow" is exactly that. But it is NOT, as my fellow reviewer A. Del Rosario describes it, a "blues" record. On the chance that people who are unfamiliar with Ms Stallings and her music, (unfortunately that includes most of the CD buying public), might pass this album by because of that description, I thought I'd set the record straight, (no pun intended)....



Ms Stallings may be, as the New York Times once described her, the "best jazz singer alive today." She has a swinging style and a voice that's often described as similar to Carmen McRae's. She has complete command of her voice, never pushes it beyond its limits and can communicate the emotional content of a song without all the "sound and fury" some of our younger singers bring to the party. She is, in short, a class act.



"Fine and Mellow" is a mix of standards and more obscure gems culled from the likes of Billie Holiday and Gigi Gryce. Compare Ms Stallings' version of "Lover Come Back to Me," to Ella Fitzgerald's - Ms Fitzgerald was the First Lady of Song, but Ms Stallings more than holds her own.



Ms Stallings has been on the San Francisco jazz scene for more than 40 years. Here she's joined by a group of SF Bay Area veterans: Merrill Hoover, piano; Noel Jewkes, sax, clarinet, flute and percussion; Gaylord Birch, drums; and Jeff Chambers on bass. These guys may not be household names, but they're real pros. And the music? Well, it's fine and mellow....



The sonics are excellent. Clarity Records used a two microphone, direct to disc recording system to capture Ms Stallings and the band "live in the studio" - no retakes, no over dubbing, no nuttin'. Put this disc in a decent stereo system and Wham! Ms Stallings is right there in the room with you."