LP-682

Lorez Alexandria - Sing No Sad Songs For Me

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Lorez Alexandria, vocals; strings, arrangement led by Riley Hampton
Chicago, 1960

10672 Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
10673 Trouble in mind
10674 Gloomy Sunday
10675 Lonesome road
10676 Who

Chicago, 1961
10828 A losers lullaby
10829 All my love
10830 No sad songs for me
10831 I'll remember April
10832 They can't take that away from me

Track Listing

A Loser's Lullaby	Edwards, Wayne	1960, 1961
Trouble In Mind	R.M. Jones	1960, 1961
Sing No Sad Songs For Me	Dino Courreay	1960, 1961
Gloomy Sunday	Javor, Seres, Lewis	1960, 1961
Motherless Child		1960, 1961
Who	S. Lewis	1960, 1961
I'll Remember April	Raye, DePaul, Johnson	1960, 1961
Lonesome Road	Austin, Shilkret	1960, 1961
They Can't Take That Away From Me	George & Ira Gershwin	1960, 1961
All My Love	S. Lewis	1960, 1961

Liner Notes

EVERY BODY knows that the record reviewers don't know what they're talking about. If they give rave reviews, they have no taste or they're prejudiced in favor of...If they don't like the record, they have no taste and they're prejudiced against...If they are luke-warm. they have no taste and they are copping out.

With this succinct, pacifying attitude the average entertainer eagerly thumbs through every minute line of type relating to appraisal of his or her work, vindicating those discerning idiots who accidentally recognized talent and damning deaf, unready idiots who missed the entire point.

About a year ago I had occasion to review Lorez Alexandria/Early In The Morning (Argo LP 663). I liked it, but I bemoaned the fact that much of the beautiful, soulful Lorez I remembered from those early lean days in Chicago was missing. In an historic meeting of the minds, the artist agreed. She went further. She decided to really and truly "sing what ever I feel, as I feel it." The in-person performance results have been nothing short of devastating. This recording contains some captivating moments of Lorez Alexandria at her natural best. Stripped naively bare of worldliness and suavity, Miss Alexandria breathes warmth and conviction throughout the album.

Listeners and writers often casually toss out the word flexibility. There is nothing casual about the unusual gift of flexibility. Hearing Miss Alexandria run the gamut of expression, phrasing and vocal mechanics here is Lesson No. 1 toward understanding the significance of the value of flexibility in singing.

Don't waste precious time critically analyzing the warm, good feeling that just oozes out when she sings; but for a brief moment hear her make the subtle shift from voice as singing equipment on the string background numbers to voice as vocal hornlike instrument on the trio tunes.

As a vocalist, she is diligently word conscious and at all times faithful to message communication. As an instrumentalist, she is equally music conscious, free wheeling, and capricious, using words and phrases mainly as guideposts to get around the changes. This album contains some of her best work at combining the two arts into a charged, emotion packed whole. Trouble In Mind, the eerie, fascinating Gloomy Sunday, the bright, crisp phrasing in I'll Remember are cases in point.

The encompassing scope of her material is a model showcase for her many sparkling facets. The general tone of the album is quiet; yet the undercurrent of excitement and smoldering embers never allows the mood to sink into maudlin self pity. At her heartbroken bluest, there is that rosy lilt in her delivery which promises that everything is going to be all right, after all.

The entire album was, for this listener, a happy reunion with a voice styling which I had beliwed was lost forever to model urbanity. There are moments recorded here typat I am jealously reluctant to share. Gloomy Sunday contains many of them. The beauty captured here, particularly in the bridge, is priceless. There are, of course, highlights which absolutely must not pass your attention. Since much of the joy of listening rests in personal discovery, permit me to tantalize you with a single word about each tune.

Loser's Lullaby — reflective; Trouble Blind — groovey; Sing No Sad Songs — philosophical; Gloomy Sunday — haunting; Motherless Child — meditative; Who — Lorez?; I'll Remember April — fresh. Lonesome Road — saucy; They Can't Take That Away Me — imaginative; All My Love — surprise!

The extra goody in the pie is the fact that all we have here are bits of the best of Lorez. There seems to be so much more to hear. But until she records another, sit back and enjoy this one as we borrow the words of jazz trumpeter Harry (Sweets) Edison and warn you to stop looking, "you iust can't get one no better than this."

Barbara J. Gardner