Search - Joni James :: I Feel a Song Coming on / Put on a Happy Face

Two jazzy outings from Ms. James!

Darryl Geddes | 04/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Song" came out in 1962 and featured Jimmie Haskell's arrangements; Chuck Sagle arranged the Dixieland-ish "Happy Face", which was released in 1964. A Collectors' Choice Music exclusive!
Includes from "I Feel a Song Coming On"-"`Deed I Do," "You Came a Long Way from St. Louis," "Fly Me to the Moon in Other Words," "I Feel a Song Coming On," "Lullaby of Birdland," "You Do," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "My Melancholy Baby," "Basin Street Blues," "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)," "By the Way," and "September in the Rain." From "Put on a Happy Face"-"I'm Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover," "April Showers," "In the Middle of an Island," "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," "Exactly Like You," "Swanee," "Hello Dolly," "On the Boardwalk in New York City," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," "Put on a Happy Face," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and "Whispering." 24 tracks!"

Unfortunate pairing mars Jones's stylish outing

Darryl Geddes | Syracuse, NY | 05/28/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Collectors Choice Music should be congratulated for reissuing these Joni James treasures. Listeners can realize what a gifted vocalist James was, especially when she performed in the jazz setting. But this twofer presents such an unfortunate pairing that it mars Jones otherwise esteemable performance. In the first album, James is backed by plucking banjos and a Dixieland band for workmanlike reworkings of I'm Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover and Hello Dolly. The second album offers James a superb arrangement and backing by "West Coast musicians" who offer Jones a backdrop of dramatic bass, jazz-inspired drums and piano. These tracks are a delight, especially You Came A Long Way From St. Louis, Lullaby of Birdland and By the Way. Listening to this CD is jarring when one goes from Swanee and its dixieland arrangement to the jazzier feel of Fly Me to the Moon."