Search - Peggy Lee :: Latin Ala Lee

Latin ala Lee! Don't wait until "Mañana" to buy this !!!

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 07/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Peggy Lee was one of the first great singers of the 20th century to seriously integrate a Latin beat into her music; and this CD proves that she was very successful with it!



The CD starts off with the beautifully arranged "Heart (From Damn Yankees)." Another particularly striking song is "Til There Was You (From The Music Man)" although "On The Street Where You Live (From My Fair Lady)" and "Hey There (From The Pajama Game)" are also simply beautiful. These songs and all the others have a wonderful Latin beat integrated into the musical arrangement which lends a certain elegance to them that I simply haven't heard before.



This collection of songs was originally released as a record album in 1959 with show tunes from the great Broadway plays of the day; but a really nice plus comes our way with the addition of three bonus tracks at the end: "From Now On," "Ole" and "Sweet Happy Life." Bravo, Peggy!



The remastering of these terrific songs with that classy Latin late 1950s/early 1960s beat is by Steve Hoffman and Cy Godfrey. You would never guess these recordings were made several decades ago; there is virtually no surface noise, for example.



The liner notes boast an essay by Will Friedwald and offer wonderful copies of both the front and reverse covers of the original record album. The front cover is great--so well done, in fact, that this album won a Grammy for "album cover of the year" in 1960. Unfortunately, because the CD liner notes are on small sized paper the copy of the reverse of the record album is in rather small print but it is still legible. Nice graphics, too!



I guess my only disappointment was the omission of a song that is a personal favorite of mine entitled "Mañana." However, this is an album of Broadway hit songs originally recorded in 1959. "Mañana" was certainly not Broadway and it certainly wasn't from that era, either. Just a personal note.



I highly recommend this CD for Peggy's fans (obviously), fans of classic pop vocals and fans of that Afro-Cuban beat from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Terrific work, Peggy!



¡Es un disco compacto fantástico!

"

One Of Peggy Lee's BEST albums

Matthew G. Sherwin | 03/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having been born in the mid-50s, I literally grew up listening to thisalbum. In fact my mom had to replace it after playing the groovesoff. No matter how many times you hear it, though, you'll never tire of it. You can tell Peggy truly enjoyed recording this, every song is sensational. This is the kind of music to put on whether you just get home from work & kick your shoes off or have some friends over for a relaxing evening. Highly recommended! END"

Absolutley one of peggy's best recordings...

Aaron | Aaron | 03/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"aside from "black coffe with peggy lee(decca)" latin ala lee is her best lp, reisuue on cd. This cd reissues the origional lp with orig. cover. The music is authentic afro-cuban jazz(in the cal djader manner) it swings and lee is ala latin. This is wonderful stuff, her fans back in the late 50's must have thought she was crazy, however jazz and jazz vocal lovers will enjoy this gem.Note: Also highly recommeded on the verve label is Anita O'Day "Time For Two" with cal Tjader's jazz combo for some real afro cuban-jazz singing."