Complete Decca Recordings on Bonus Tracks

Beverly Kenney's story is a tragedy. She was a truly talented jazz singer who came along at a time when rock and roll was in the ascent and jazz singers found it difficult to reach an appreciative audience. She committed suicide at age 28 in 1960. In this 2 CD set you will hear a lot to like. She had great timing, an impish sort of playful delivery and always good taste. For those who know Stacy Kent, I think the similarities are obvious. Beverly was a smart, sophisticated stylist. There is much to like here.

Yes, that's just one of the many, many tracks on this 2-CD compendium of the almost-best of Beverly Kenney. If you're new to her, then I think that the other 2-CD set, "The Complete Roost Recordings," is more choice -- better song selection, generally more interesting accompaniments.But she has such a luscious voice that it'd be a shame to pass this one by. To be honest, a few too many of the songs are just real stinkers: "A Woman's Intuition," "Mama, Do I Gotta?," ""The Stars, the Night, the Moon." Cripes. But there are some solid performances in here, and she does spectacular reads of "I Walk a Little Faster," "I Had the Craziest Dream," and "Everything Happens to Me."The final tracks on CD #2 are the audio from an appearance Kenney did at "Playboy's Penthouse" in 1960, shortly before she killed herself. Watch the video on YouTube, it's worth it. Anyway, Hef interviews her and she sings a few numbers -- and on "Makin' Whoopee," she manages to get HH to sing along with her. A curious bit of Americana.The bottom line is that Kenney knew her way around a song like few other singers did. Sometimes it feels like she's swinging wildly back and forth between virginal/innocent and come-hither/vampish -- but that dichotomy simply reflects how female performers of the era were all too often pegged. It's a pure joy to have these two double-CD sets bringing her voice back into circulation for all of us to hear.

I'd never heard of this lady before. I found her on amazon. What a gem! If you like Blossom Dearie, or Doris Day you'll love Beverly. Lovely mezzo voice, a nice, light touch on every song. This is a really nice collections, lots of songs. A great deal on MP3 too, by the way.Highly recommended if you love jazz standards (some of which I had never heard off and i'm a jazz singer), nice cocktail music! Fun to discover new, old vocalists and songs.

The singer and most of the material live up to the on-line hype. The first disc and the first 16 tracks on the second are sonically great for that era. Beginning with track 17 on the second disc, the sound quality is not up to expectations. Particularly bad were the songs taken from the "Playboy's Penthouse TV Show."The first 43 tracks were worth the price so therefore they deserve 5 stars. Only 4 stars because of the end part of this 2-disc set.

Thank you, Thank you ! Finally These great recordings from this wonderful tragic performer are available at a price you can afford. One of our great undiscovered talents. Can't express how much I love the cd's. Great quality. American treasures. God bless Beverly Kenney.

Very pleased.

Beautiful, soft, tender - I love Beverly Kenney. She was before Karen Carpenter. I purchased this for my birthday. I was very, very happy to hear the extra tracks particularly on Sings For Playboys. I'm always listening to her. Very fortunate to have found this release!

good to catch up with Beverly.

Same as The complete Royal roost Recordings, this compilation includes some great and new (not even issued on Japanse cd re-issues) bonus tracks, such as the Playboy', Penthouse TV Show. Hugely popular by the Japanse, who have re-issued the records from Beverly Kenney in several formats (carboard Sleeve, SACD etc), but luckily not forgotten by Fresh Sound Records. Beverly Kenney is by far one of the greatest Jazz singers ever. A tragic life but what a beautiful heritage. Listen to Beyond The Next Hill. I would also recommend Jeri Southern.

a fantastic find. JM

Les sessions DECCA sont plus "commerciales" que celles de Roost. L'album "like yesterday" mérite 5 étoiles. Le pianiste Ellis Larkins est remarquable dans les deux autres albums.

彼女の音源を単発で揃えるのも勿論良いですが、deccaリリース音源の3アルバムに+オリジナルアルバム未収録(近年単独で数枚発掘された音源のcdはあるのですが)の音源等収録されたこの様に素晴らしい音源を手っ取り早く聴けるのは良いです。彼女のアルバムを全て揃えてる方にもこの様なかたちでボーナストラックを聴けるのは有り難い事ですね。2cdで61曲、ボーナストラックも沢山入ってます。このcdとあわせてもう1種出てる3アルバム+ボーナストラックの好企画盤、COMPLETE ROYAL ROOST RECORDINGSもオススメ。

『Born To Be Blue』については、オリジナル・アナログ（Mono）、しかも音の良いピンクラベルのプロモ盤（１ｓｔ）と聴き比べてみましたが、並みの装置で聴く分には、まったく聴き劣りしません。デジタル・リマスタリング技術の進歩ってすごいですね。良い時代になったものです。一緒に発売されている『COMPLETE ROYAL ROOST RECORDINGS』と併せてお勧めします。