Cleo lane – Vocals
Dudley Moore – Piano
Ray Brown – Bass
Nick Ceroli – Drums
John Dankworth – Sop. Track 6
I did not know that this
recording existed and it brought back
very many memories for me. Maureen and
I married in 1961 and spent the evening
of our wedding day at the Marquee Club
in London. On the bill that night was
the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra supported
by the Dudley Moore Trio. Cleo was not
with the band that night, no doubt she
was already on her way to super stardom!
I think Joy Marshall did the vocal honours
with the irrepressible Bobby Breen.
Dudley had just left
the Dankworth band to develop a career
that took him first to television and
then Hollywood. As can be heard from this
record, it was a shame that Dudley did
not have the time to make more use of
his amazing talent as a pianist. But then,
no one expected him to die so young from
a crippling regenerative illness. On this
session was another superstar of the jazz
world, bass player Ray Brown whom recently
passed on after a long and illustrious
career.
Cleo has one of the most
amazing voices in jazz today and now that
Ella Fitz and Sarah Vaughan are no longer
with us, she must surely be the world’s
No1 female vocalist. She has an enormous
range, perfect intonation and diction
and she tells a story with every song.
The tune selection is
a nice mixture of the familiar and the
new, the rhythm section is perfect in
the accompanying roll, and Dudley even
does a bit of Eroll
Garner at the start of
I can’t give You anything but Love which
is then taken up by Cleo and the remarkable
Mr Brown.
The sleeve gives no clue
as to whether these tracks have been released
previously, but I am awfully glad to have
caught up with them now. It must have
been a monumental task to get Cleo, Dudley
and Ray all to the studio at the same
time, but a task that was well worth while.
This record will remain on my turntable
for some time; some of the tracks have
a bitter sweet feel about them, which
is most attractive. Husband Johnny Dankworth
is around to play soprano on one track
and Nick Ceroli plays his part admirably.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
Q Note QNT 10103
