Audio CD review:
Jonathan & Darlene Edwards - Jonathan and Darlene's Greatest Hits

Jonathan & Darlene Edwards - Jonathan and Darlene's Greatest Hits

Band: Jonathan & Darlene Edwards Title: Jonathan and Darlene's Greatest Hits Rating: Release Date: 1993-09-11 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: I Love Paris - Jonathan Edwards, Porter, Cole 2: Dizzy Fingers - Jonathan Edwards, Confrey, Zez 3: Take the "A" Train - Jonathan Edwards, Strayhorn, Billy 4: You're Blase - Jonathan Edwards, Hamilton, Ord 5: Alabamy Bound - Jonathan Edwards, DeSylva, Buddy 6: Nola - Jonathan Edwards, Arndt, Felix 7: I Am Woman - Jonathan Edwards, Burton, Ray 8: Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Jonathan Edwards, Ellington, Duke 9: The Last Time I Saw Paris - Jonathan Edwards, Hammerstein, Oscar 10: Honeysuckle Rose - Jonathan Edwards, Razaf, Andy 11: Autumn in New York - Jonathan Edwards, Duke, Vernon 12: Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee - Jonathan Edwards, Murphy 13: April in Paris - Jonathan Edwards, Duke, Vernon 14: Stayin' Alive - Jonathan Edwards, Gibb, Maurice

A Heavenly Musical Marriage Out of Hell From her days with Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers through her long association with Johnny Mercer and Capitol records, Stafford sang much quality material from the Great American Songbook, but she also recorded a lot of pop ephemera (Jumbalaya, Shrimp Boats) and sentimental schmaltz (Serenade of the Bells). It took a few years, but finally the secret was publicly out: Darlene Edwards was not Margaret Truman, as many had guessed, but none other than the vocalist with the serene and silky, solid and reassuring voice on so many top-ten recordings of the '40s and '50s ("You Belong to Me" being her most remembered): Jo Stafford, accompanied by her husband (not Jonathan Edwards but Paul Weston). If redemption were in order, the present recording certainly provides it. It's good to know that all along she had a sense of humor about the whole business. As early as 1947 Stafford showed her light side with a hillbilly version of the exotic scorcher "Temptation," which she called "Timtayshun. " (Especially hilarious if you know the original. I once played Hammond organ in Boston's combat zone for a humorless and bossy, featured exotic artist who insisted on the same 4 numbers: "Shangri-La" (the arouser), "Harlem Nocturne" (the seducer), "Misirlou" (the exciter), and finally the overpowering climax: "Temptation"--"you came, I was alone, you were my own, it was thrilling, I was willing. " Wish I'd had the guts to do a Jo Stafford variation on the tune). But her three albums (recorded in the 50s, 60s, and 70s) under the alias Darlene Edwards rank among the greatest musical send-ups of all time (slightly ahead even of Florence Foster Jenkins and Mrs. Miller). This compilation is a good representation of songs from all three albums--from "Take the 'A' Train" (I wonder what Duke and Billy Strayhorn thought at the time) to her hilarious take on the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive. " Sandwiched in between are a couple of songs about Paris that all but permanently puncture the romantic mythos surrounding the city. Musicians will undoubtedly find this collection funnier--and paradoxically impressive (try singing the melody a half step above or below the piano's pitch!)--than non-musicians. But anyone who's attended amateur recitals or performances that didn't go as planned should get sufficient chuckles out of the recording to make it a worthwhile pick-up. As painfully funny as these performances are, it's "earned" humor. Rarely do the performers resort to slapstick and over-the-top gags (P. D. Q. Bach I find decidedly unfunny for this reason). With humor, less is more, and understatement serves both of the Edwardses especially well. Time will tell, but for some of us this musical parody could indeed turn out to be Jo Stafford's most memorable legacy (though her exquisite reading of the underrated, sublime "Haunted Heart" certainly deserves enshrinement), out-lasting even those Egyptian pyramids she sings about in "You Belong to Me. " (Romantic love, as many discover, is not nearly as eternal as well-conceived and deftly-executed satiric humor. ). BE My LIT-tle BA-by BUM-ble-bee... JaDEheads know the first lp offers treasures not here; at one point when the men's chorus sings "has anybody seen my gal?" darlene replies with the priceless "has anybody seen their gal?". JaDE's first album, my preference, is part of why i love things intelligently absurd and generally uncalled-for. amazon reviewers use terms like "wrong note" and "bad rhythm", but it's the polish that makes the illusion work. what seems like a feeble accident is jo and paul's exact choice even in their shining adlibs. you enjoy the contradiction. plus the willingness of the chorus to soldier through just adds extra charm. you can learn a lot about rightness when you revel in the right kind of wrongness. Delightful... Even my four year old grandson laughs until he cries listening to 'Darlene' sing Stayin' Alive. My family loves this DVD. Don't miss the chance to buy this!. Hilarious! Fabulous party music!. If you are a musician or a singer, you will die laughing at this album. Grammy Award winner Also, what makes these recordings even more hysterical is the fact that they constantly have musical "foils" -- in the French songs, a string section, in the Roaring 20s songs, a trumpet and tuba, and in the sing-along songs, a sing-along gang. Paul Weston and Jo Stafford did such a brilliant job as Jonathan and Darlene Edwards that their first release won the Grammy Award in 1957 as the best comedy album! While every reviewer thus far has discussed Darlene's off-key singing and Jonathan's lack of rhythmic expertise, nobody has mentioned his unusual, yet dreadfully wrong harmonies, a very subtle, yet hilarious musical faux pas. These "foils" go straight ahead, despite all the musical chaos going on around them. They play it absolutely straight and it makes the Edwardses musical mayhem even funnier! These CDs reflect some of the finest and wittiest musical artistry even committed to vinyl! Such musical brilliance is very rare. You can see a complete list of all Jonathan & Darlene Edwards discography, or go back to the Jonathan & Darlene Edwards tabs