Search - Mildred Bailey :: Me & The Blues

Pleasantly Underwhelmed

the hedgehog | Roseville, Minnesota | 01/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In all liklihood, Mildred Bailey SINGS "Me and the Blues" is not the sort of vintage popular American vocal record that has much of a past, present, or future to boast about. And yet it is one of those records that manages to hold its own on repeated listens. If there is a question to raise it would be in regard to the joy factor, as her blues sometimes sound like they want to come across with more of a triumphant delivery than the singer can summon. But her voice is transferred quite honestly and her clean, thin, sonorous tones are inflected with a genuine blue. I haven't heard her earlier material, so I can't compare these mid-forties sides to the highly esteemed recordings she made in the late 1930's with Red Norvo and others. Will Friedwald makes a disparaging remark or two about the arrangments on a few of these cuts, and the fourteen songs included are indeed drawn from four separate recording dates, ranging from March 1946 to May 1947. The good news is that Ellis Larkins plays a prominent role in much of the accompaniment, and to my ears, there is nothing overtly annoying in the band arrangements, even if, as Friedwald complains, Eddie Sauter is no Red Norvo. Besides, this is a vocal collection and the recordings honor that premise by allowing for Mildred Bailey to be heard in her own pleasantly underwhelming fashion, as a white blues singer eight to ten years past what proved to be her heyday. Not an essential recording; but a collection that serves to remind that Mildred Bailey had something to sing, and a voice that allowed her to put it across."