Search - Carroll Gibbons :: Sand in My Shoes

CARROLL DOIN' WHAT COMES NATUR'LLY

Barry McCanna | Normandy, France | 10/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Given the proliferation of reissues of Carroll Gibbons from Vocalion, it would be easy to overlook this offering from Memoir. Which would be a pity, because it's an equally fine compilation, comprising three elements. The Savoy Orpheans recordings date from between 1937 and 1946, those with the Boyfriends fall between 1931 and 1934, and two piano duets with Harry Jacobson date from from late 1933.



Carroll's distinctive piano style is aptly described by Malcolm Laycock in his informative liner note as "the pivot around which everything else hung". Anne Lenner is much in evidence, of course, but some of the later tracks give us the welcome opportunity to hear Edna Kaye and Billie Campbell. George Melachrino puts in an appearance, but so do Harry Bentley, Leslie Douglas and Paul Carpenter, whilst Carroll himself takes vocal honours on "Moonlight Cocktail".



The songs were penned by some of the finest songwriters around, and their pedigree is obvious. As recorded by Carroll Gibbons, they sound as fresh now as the day they were minted.



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