"Lee Wiley was one of the greatest and most neglected American vocalists. Wiley began in the early '30s as a torch singer and was a formative influence on the young Billie Holiday. Wiley also pioneered the concept of the "composer's songbook" with her 1939 Cole Porter and Gershwin sets for the specialized Liberty Music Shop label. Still, it wasn't until the early '50s that Wiley recorded again in a commercial setting worthy of her stature.
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Several disparate Columbia sessions make up NIGHT IN MANHATTAN. One session features a small string section, another the great trumpeter Bobby Hackett, and another the piano team of Stan Freeman and Cy Walter. Still, the eventual LP was held together by Wiley's stylistically consistent and utterly honest delivery, an approach to song (and life) both wistful and sophisticated at once. "I've Got a Crush on You" rivals Sinatra's celebrated 1945 version (again with Hackett providing the trumpet obligato), but it is the moving, emotionally stripped-down versions of "How Deep is the Ocean," "Time on my Hand" and "More Than you Know" that provide the key to her art."(Joe Sarno, Muze)
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3 comments:
Just wonderful scans for covers. Many, many congratulations for you, for giving so much value to these art works
Thank you so much for posting such treasures. Cheers
send a bit late thank!
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