Search - Will Marion Cook, William Brown (tenor); Ann Sears (piano) :: Swing Along: The Songs of Will Marion Cook

Sad to say -- but buyers beware

John McWhorter | New York, New York United States | 02/08/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"In the wake of a full-length biography of Will Marion Cook that will be appearing in May 2008, there is likely to be a wave of interest in this set. However, potential buyers should know that it is a recording largely of encyclopedic interest.



One hates to mention this, because late tenor William Brown was a beloved figure in the musical community, and he performed the songs with endless passion, including going into alternate voices. He manages the delicate task, also, of singing in the minstrel dialect that many of the songs were cast in while retaining the humanity of character he was portraying. Brown also did us a service by even getting these songs on record at all, many of them for the first time, and for most, the first time in modern sound.



However, Brown was over 60 when he made this recording. Voices change as people get older, and this matters especially when negotiating pieces like Cook's, which were mostly written in a light classical-style idiom that requires holding notes long and steady and negotiating quick passages.



In this case, Brown's performances are well-intentioned but very rough, to a point that will put off many listeners (I notice that the first reviewer was not one of them, but I highly suspect that many other listeners would feel otherwise). To put it in technical terms, at this stage of his life, Brown could only support his tone when singing fortissimo, which is necessary only occasionally in these songs. Otherwise, there was shaky pitch, little vibrato, and so on.



I am not, I should note, being critical in a picky, audiophile vein. I am warning buyers in this case specifically because the problem -- as much as one doesn't want it to be -- is extreme.



Another problem is that comedy songs intended to go by at a trot are rendered at the deliberate tempo of a ballad, which takes away their comedic power (e.g. "Bon Bon Buddy," "Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd?").



So -- some listeners, if the first review is any indication, may not mind any of this. Others will want to hear these obscure songs in some form regardless of performance quality. Others, however, will likely feel that the quality of the performance was not worth nearly forty dollars. I highly suggest downloading one of the MP3 samples before deciding which category you fall into."

Shear pleasure from beginning to end

AfroAmericanHeritage | Wisconsin | 01/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Will Marion Cook (1869-1944) was one of the first African American composers to achieve significant commercial success in musical theater. To borrow a term from the visual arts, this collection provides a long-awaited major retrospective of his work, presenting many songs recorded for the first time.



With twenty-six tracks on two CDs, SWING ALONG presents a range of genres, including lullabies, parlor songs, ethnic "coon" songs and exquisite art songs. There are two songs from "In Dahomey," the first full-length musical written and performed by blacks to be presented at a major Broadway venue (1903.) Cook's collaborators include icons of African American letters such as Paul Laurence Dunbar and James Weldon Johnson, but the lyrics sometimes caught me by surprise, such as the lovely parlor song "Returned" with its plantation nostalgia. It reminded me that even icons have to make a living, which was no easy feat for a black artist at the turn of the century.



Melodically and stylistically, the music reflects the time (one hears influences of jazz, ragtime and the blues) while simultaneously looking ahead, employing striking harmonies later explored by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and others. Tenor William Brown magically alters his voice and intonation to suit each genre....you won't get much closer to time travel than this!



The excellent liner notes are written in a narrative style, with songs grouped and discussed in context rather than in the order of appearance on the CD. I found it helpful to program my CD player so I could listen while reading along the first time. But for sheer enjoyment, just let the songs flow. There's a reason this music was so popular in its day, and the CD is a pleasure from beginning to end."