Nancy Wilson THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK. Capitol Jazz

The final CD in the trilogy of Nancy Wilson’s best songs is the most mouth-watering for her fans. This 2 CD collection’s title gives the game away but I was more than surprised to find that no less than forty-four classic songs are included. They have been garnered from nineteen Wilson albums released between 1959 and 1969; that’s nineteen albums in ten years and sort of makes current day artists look comatose recording-wise.

Not content with just cleaning the songs up a bit for the digital age, they’ve employed the maestro, Ron McMaster, to re-master the recordings in 24 bit format. Now these were already great quality vinyl recordings (and I know because I own most of them) and in my experience much of the vibrancy and detail in a vinyl recording can be lost in the translation (remember how awful the Beatles vinyls were when transposed to the dreaded CD format?). With McMaster’s ear and much improved technology, I’m happy to report that the sound evidenced here is quite beautiful Wilson’s voice is pristine as she delivers a wide variety of material in the way only she can. The instruments also sound stunning as they support this wonderful artist through an emotional maze of some of the finest songs ever written.

Every major US writer is included here including Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Ellington, Arlen, Van Heusen, Rogers/Hart, Noble, Rogers/Hammerstein, Lerner/Loewe and Bernstein/Sondheim . The glittering array of instrumentalists include Cannonball Adderley, George Shearing, Hank Jones and just about every other major jazz musician of the age. Ultimately, this is an album that wraps up a majestic musical age through the lips of one of its finest interpreters.

I refuse to list all the songs on this breathtaking collection (there’s too bloody many!) but would ask you to name your favourite period piece, and it’s probably here. Personal favourites are The Things We Did Last Summer, The More I See You, The Nearness Of You, Tonight, Fly Me To The Moon, People Will Say We’re In Love, Try A Little Tenderness, I Thought About You, The Very Thought Of You (stupendous!), Angel Eyes, My One And Only Love (my most favourite), Time After Time (or is this my most favourite?), By Myself, Hello Dolly, Supper Time, Someone To Watch Over Me, and You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To.

One question remains. Which modern-day artist can match this lady in 2005? I think we all know the answer to that little question… This is an essential album for ALL music lovers.

5/5