Billy Eckstine - No Cover, No Minimum

Billy Eckstine defined the art of male ballad singing in jazz in the 1940s with the rich depths and soaring highs of his voice, his consummate phrasing, and his control of the subtlest pitch inflections. No Cover, No Minimum is a 1960 live recording from the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, and it's one of the great jazz vocal albums of the period, for Eckstine's delivery of medium and up-tempo swing tunes, as well as his ballads. After an irritating introductory flagwaver, "Have a Song on Me," Eckstine and the band settle into a strong program that includes two Ellington medleys with stellar versions of "Prelude to a Kiss" and "I Let a Song Go out of My Heart." The Ducal presence is strong here, with Eckstine also including a rendering of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" that's unusually faithful to the composer's original. The great ballad performances here include "Moonlight in Vermont," Eckstine's pitch control glowing in the final notes, and a superb version of Erroll Garner's "Misty." A flexible small band, with pianist Bobby Tucker responsible for the arrangements and musical direction, supports Eckstine wonderfully. Trombonist Bucky Manieri has a good solo spot on "I Want a Little Girl" and Eckstine himself plays convincing trumpet solos on "Lady Luck" and "'Deed I Do." --Stuart Broomer Amazon.com

BILLY IN YOUR LOUNGEROOM

A seamless collection of live performances by the best male voice in jazz. The quality of the sound (much better than his MGM Years double CD) transports the little genius into your loungeroom live. No other male singer had Billy's pure tone and rich vibrato. Treat yourself to sublime versions of classics like "Misty", "Moonlight in Vermont" and "Fools Rush In".....not that the man was just a ballad singer, Billy swings too on "Beginning to See the Light" and "Little Mama". Dare I say it, better than anything Sinatra or Nat King Cole could ever deliver.....ENJOY!!!!! November 9, 2002

Don't miss this one

Billy Eckstine had one of the sweetest voices in jazz singing. This CD is his best record in print. While many of his best songs appear on his "The best of the M-G-M years: Everything I have is yours", this CD is even better. This CD contains outstanding standards from the best songbooks (Kern, Ellington and a few of Rodgers and Hammerstein's best songs, including the almost hymn "You'll never walk alone"). The Excellent remastering of this CD (much better than the mentioned compilation of "The best of the M-G-M years") enables to fully enjoy the great baritone. In addition, 12 of the 21 tracks in this CD were previously unissued. If you're interested in Jazz or Jazz singing you'll enjoy every minute. June 13, 2000

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