Product Description2 LPs on 1 CD
24 BIT
DIGITALLY REMASTERED
STEREO
Frances Faye (1912-1991) was an underrated singer, gay icon and pioneer whose air of wild, emotional excitement continually generated inspiration. Not only did this excitement suffuse her records, it also filled her night club performances and her private life.
The palpably good repertoire in her two albums included in this set is evidence of her command in two different idiomatic settings. The Latin beat on Frances Faye in Frenzy, comes courtesy of arranger/conductor Russell Garcia, featuring his distinctive five-trombone orchestral sound, with Frank Rosolino as soloist and the wild trumpet of Cappy Lewis, along with Jack Costanzo or Mike Pacheco on bongos. Swinging All the Way, is a freely jazzy album that features her accompanied by three orchestras arranged and conducted by the unique Marty Paich, with good solos by Bud Shank, Stu Williamson, and Al Hendrickson. Her edgy, almost-raspy voice was the ideal instrument for a rewarding singer who put as much feeling into her work as humanly possible.
She was utterly unconventional. In the mid-1940s, a decade of prejudice, she began tossing off references to homosexuality in songs, hardly hiding her lesbianism, and by the late 50s was even more up front about her sexual orientations; her open bisexuality seriously hurt her career and legacy, according to her friends.