Search - Kay Kyser & His Orchestra Ginny Simms :: Simple and Sweet: The Best of Ginny Simms

Approved by Kyser historian, but...

S. Beasley | Northridge, Ca. | 04/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very nice collection w/ some rarities, but has its flaws. The good news is the first song Simms cut w/ Kay Kyser's band is here (THE GIRL ON THE LITTLE BLUE PLATE) and there ARE some alternate takes, including some that I think got past producer Dan Rivard, including ALL GOD'S CHILLUN GOT RHYTHM.The musical arrangement is the same, but the vocal phrasing is just different enough to tell. The early boy singer before Harry Babbitt was BILL 'SMILIN' STOKER. He's referred to here every time as BILL STOKES. C'mon guys!. If that was YOUR Granddad it would matter! The liner notes by Gary Theroux are wrong in some spots (like they were in the KK collection last year FUN W/ THE OLD PROFESSOR when he called CAROLINA BLUES, Kyser's last film, CAROLINA MOON (sheesh...)Here Theroux states that Simms returned to the fold briefly in '43 in the KK film AROUND THE WORLD. Not so, Theroux! After Ginny left in '41 she never returned. He also states that Kyser was shy and commitment-phobic. Kyser was a very private man, true, but not shy, and in '44 married one of the most beautiful women in the world, Georgia Carroll, a marriage that lasted 40 years. The cleaned-up sound is nice and crisp, but as a sound engineer of 20 years I must note that losing some of the surface noise also took away some of the vocal warmth and in spots the brass sounds thin and tinny. The art is great, even if the pic under the CD looks like Ginny's got her hand stuck in a Grecian urn! Finally, the pic on the cover, where Ginny, Kay, et al are standing in front of a plane waving to the camera- They don't tell you the band was on its way to Atlanta to play the premiere of GONE WITH THE WIND.Try to get it right next time, guys..."

Perfect pitch, perfect voice, perfect cd!

TJ jazz | 12/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ginny Simms was the best singer to come out of teh late 1930's, and continue into the 40's. She sang with perfect intonation, and has one of the sweetest voices of the period. She had knack of turning dreadful material into something spectacular without sounding like the song was beaneath her singing it. She is the dictionary definition of "song stylist", she has more style, then any other girl singer of the period. Really only Connee Boswell or Frances Langford were on her same level of singing. This cd is one of the few legit releases and should be acquired by any fans of 30's pop vocals."