Maria Muldaur has recently released an extremely entertaining tribute CD to the one and only, and incomparably irreplaceable, Miss Peggy Lee. This CD’s appropriately and simply entitled ‘A Woman Alone with the Blues … remembering Peggy Lee’. The tunes contained therein, can easily transport the listener back to a beautiful time when flamboyant ‘Publicity Princes’, like Miss Lee’s ‘Canadian Guru’, Gino Empry, booked her into opulent world-class pleasure palaces, like the Royal York Hotel’s sumptuous supper club, the Imperial Room, in Toronto. This and many other world-class venues played host to Miss Lee’s captivatingly enchanting vocal presence, throughout her long, illustrious career!
‘Remembering Peggy Lee’, begins with one of her best-loved classics, “Fever”. Ms. Muldaur sings an impeccable vocal rendition of this Peggy Lee classic, equally complemented by Neal Caine’s fine bass solos. Caine provides the intro to “Fever” as well. David Torkanowsky’s piano harmonies add beautiful body to this piece too!
Ms. Muldaur’s vocals on “I Don’t Know Enough About You” are slinky and seductive, and sung with finesse and a style all her own! Jim Rothermel’s clarinet solos flow along like water in a stream, and are backed admirably by Arthur Lalin ll’s percussive insight as well as Caine’s empathetic bass lines.
Ms. Muldaur sings “Moments Like This” with slow, sultry soul. She “melts the heart with a glance” with help from Caine’s beautiful bass travelling; while Danny Caron’s caring guitar solo, speaks rare musical moments! Torkanowsky’s tinkling of the ivories on “Moments…” can tingle the soul with fond memories of Miss Lee’s many live performances in person or on TV.
“Winter Weather” is a kick-your-socks-back, upbeat swing number that Ms. Muldaur sings with carefree abandon. Her rhythm section keeps up with her like there’s no tomorrow, while Rothermel’s clarinet soloing seemingly sings along. The horns add a nice touch too! Dan Hicks’ vocals solo responds to Ms. Muldaur’s – adding romantic atmosphere to the proceedings!
“Some Cats Know” is a multi-level weaving of lyrical reflections on relationships and musicianship. Caine’s bass lines are a strong point on “Some Cats.. “, with fine piano accompaniment by Torkanowsky. A very cool sax solo is provided by Rothermel. The pace quickens again, with super-swingin’ “Everything’s Movin’ Too Fast”! New millennium attitudes are brought into focus, with lyrics like “you never eat your spinach … because you can take it in a pill”. Everything’s fast-paced in this tune -- from Ms. Muldaur’s exquisite vocals to Torkanowsky’s out-of-this-world boogie-woogie piano solo and Caine’s frantically precise bass lines.
The brilliant horn section provides a musically vivid “train callin’” intro to “Waitin’ For the Train to Come In”. Ms. Muldaur sings of “being so melancholy since he’s been away … waiting in the depot by the railway tracks, waitin’ for that man to hurry back, waitin’ for the train to come in.” The empathetic horn section, echoes back Ms. Muldaur’s feelings, while Caron’s guitar solo cries out it’s own inner ‘longing’! Ms. Muldaur’s jazzy harmonic vocalizing, along with complementing harmonies from the rhythm section, caps this one off to a tee! Not all ‘train’ songs are laments – “The Freedom Train” is a vivid testimony to this fact! Maria’s vocals echo positive vibes throughout “Freedom .. “, ‘ridin’ on the Freedom Train’, for all it’s worth. The joy of “singing for Liberty, throughout the land … writin’ the President a letter … If you think you can do it better, then you can take his place.. he may disagree with what you’re sayin’, but will fight to let you say it”, is the reason why this and other emotionally upbeat songs and ideologies have made America and anywhere freedom is upheld, a great place to be!
“Black Coffee” casts images of a late night ‘caffeine nightcap’ or an early morning wake-up -- with vivid reality! Caine’s seemingly tired, lazy bass lines evoke the ‘no-energy’ mood, so well conveyed here. Lalin’s drumming is sluggish in a good way too, which adds to the “coffee and cigarettes, nicotine” late-night, early morning mood – just the right atmosphere here, while “waitin’ for my baby, to maybe come round”. Rothermel’s sax solo is sympathetic to Ms. Muldaur’s ‘cause’, as is the rest of this impeccable rhythm section, as they join in – ‘serenity within sluggishness’!
The slow ‘n tempestuous pace continues with “all this pain I feel”, in the title tune “A Woman Alone With the Blues”. Ms. Muldaur “pours her soul out in song”, as a “good woman who believed in her man right or wrong”, if he “comes back begging for forgiveness” – “breaking any heart he choose, leaving his woman alone with the blues”! Can’t get any better lyrics than these, which vividly reflect romance’s hard knocks!
My personal favorite is “For Every Man There’s a Woman”. Ms Muldaur declares “woman was made for man … for every prince there’s a princess … if you wait, you’ll meet the mate born for you alone”. Deep truths wrapped in and woven around fine harmonies, slinky vocals, and wise words. The song begs the question, ‘who can say it better’? Some beautiful, uplifting romantic imagery and enchanting musical harmonies, provide the necessary hope in the game of love!
Ms Muldaur “goes fishin’” in “I’m Gonna Go Fishin’”. The longing to find a soul mate is presented in a straightforward, yet metaphoric way that’s obvious, but fun. It comes across like an old ‘fish tale’ that’s always great to hear again … As is this finely collected package of vinyl gems, that Ms. Muldaur managed to cull from Richard Barone’s superb Peggy Lee collection. Thanks to Barone’s impressive collecting taste, and Ms. Muldaur’s discerning sampling and singing of it, we can all enjoy Miss Peggy Lee’s best-loved vocal moments, right here in ‘A Woman Alone with the Blues … remembering Peggy Lee’!
Artist: Maria Muldaur
CD: ‘A Woman Alone with the Blues…Remembering Peggy Lee’
Label: Telarc # 83568
Website: www.telarc.com
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