Search - Shelly Manne :: My Fair Lady

Stunning music from an under rated trio

J. Janssen | San Diego, CA USA | 03/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For those of a certain age "My Fair Lady" was the definition of popular musical theatre. During it's heyday on stage and film a number of jazz ensembles added individual MFL tunes to their repetoire and a dozen or more jazz LP's covered the entire Lerner & Loewe score. (The Verve LP "Oscar Peterson Plays My Fair Lady" ranks at the very top.) One of the best is still with us and has been gloriously remastered with the K2 20bit process. These cuts sound like they were recorded last week rather than almost 50 years ago. While Shelly Manne (who, along with bassist Leroy Vinnegar, was THE rhythm of the "West Coast Sound") is one of my favorite drummers he often "takes charge" of his groups, which is fine in his horn based quarts and quints but he can overpower a trio with ease. Here he wisely dials it back a notch or two allowing Andre Previn and Leroy Vinnegar to investigate and develop some of the most beautiful music to ever enter the American (English?) Songbook.Previn, in particular, seem to be at home with this material. His tempo and harmonic interplay breath life and vitality into tunes that were pop hits of their day. While everyone's favorite will likely be the beautiful "On the Street Where You Live", my personal pick is the haunting and lovely "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" which Previn handles better than ANYONE (including the aforementioned Oscar Peterson).The ensuing album is a true classic that has withstood the test of time. Besides being a stunning take on what many consider to be the twentieth century's finest example of musical theatre (OK, that's my opinion) it is also a testament to mid century "modern jazz" before that term became perjoritive. Buy this CD, it's timeless."

Classic Review

Jon P. Schroeder | Cinnaminson, NJ USA | 02/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I owned this LP in my twenties, when I listened to mostly jazz and classical music genres. I had always liked show tunes and the the music from My Fair Lady, especially. Andre Previn's ingenious renditions and improvisations to these songs are typical 60's jazz. This CD reproduction is truly a classic and one that should make up any collection of late 50's and 60's piano-based jazz trios."