Former Seekers lead singer Judith Durham returned to her jazz roots with this extraordinary album (originally released in 1973) of big-band blues and jazz standards, augmented by three excellent originals by the singer herself. Durham belts these numbers out like a latter-day Ethel Merman, only bigger voiced and with an excellent feel for the genre and the sound in which she's working. "Body and Soul," "Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer," "Am I Blue," "Sister Kate (I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My)," "The World's Jazz Crazy ...
Read More
Former Seekers lead singer Judith Durham returned to her jazz roots with this extraordinary album (originally released in 1973) of big-band blues and jazz standards, augmented by three excellent originals by the singer herself. Durham belts these numbers out like a latter-day Ethel Merman, only bigger voiced and with an excellent feel for the genre and the sound in which she's working. "Body and Soul," "Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer," "Am I Blue," "Sister Kate (I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My)," "The World's Jazz Crazy," and "Cakewalkin' Babies from Home" are overpowering evocations of a sound that was just about current when Durham was born, and that she's taken to heart as her own, even more natural than her folk-based stylings with the Seekers. Her originals, "I Wanna Dance to Your Music" and "Mama's Got the Blues" are a match for any of those standards, at least in Durham's hands as a singer, and lead one to believe that she could've had a career scoring musicals, had she been born 40 years earlier (and she still could on TV -- "I Wanna Dance to Your Music" sounds like a television series scenario set stunningly to music). One of the two new bonus tracks on the CD, "Gloryland," is a doubly interesting cut as well as a killer performance, for it is the kind of song that the Seekers might've done, and would've done as four big voices with acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars -- here, it's got a jazz band accompaniment and give Durham a chance to soar as a solo vocal in ways that her Seekers fans could drop their jaws over. The album is also a dazzling showcase for the Hottest Band in Town (especially pianist/arranger Ron Edgeworth), who display a love and familiarity with this repertory the equal of Durham's. There's not a weak moment on the album, which is a must-own for fans of big-band jazz or blues vocals. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
Read Less
