The Songbirds Archives

June Christy cut her teeth, musically speaking, singing and swinging with (or, more accurately, in defiance of) the brassy cacophony of the Stan Kenton band in the mid-1940s. But by 1962, when this, one her last albums for Capitol, was recorded, Christy had come a long way from these beginnings. Her 1950s collaborations with arranger Pete Rugolo showcased subtle ballad stylings set against muted string- and woodwind-dominated accompaniment, light years away from the big band sound and up-tempo novelties with which she made her name.

So a return to her roots at this stage of her career was unexpected. (Even her 1959 album that paid tribute to her "Kenton days" was very ballad-oriented.) Christy’s voice had darkened considerably since her band-singing days, and given her publicly expressed reservations about her own ability to swing – she appears to have taken to heart a critic’s accusation in this regard – one wonders that she agreed to this project, subtitled "Just a Swingin’ and a Rockin’."

And yet, despite a very slight sense of strain in certain places – you can hear her working to keep pace with the band on Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby, for example – Big Band Specials turned out to be quite splendid. The surprise is that the album’s two ballads, Prelude to a Kiss and Goodbye, are its least interesting tracks – very competently performed and easy on the ear, but no more than that.

Elsewhere, Christy sparkles with astonishing vivacity. You Came a Long Way from St. Louis has a driving energy, and she brings an almost aggressive warning note into her delivery of the last line. (Compare this with the more teasing and amused spin Anita O’Day gave the song on her 1962 album All the Sad Young Men.) The atmosphere of "fiesta time in Mexico" reverberates throughout Christy’s intoxicating Frenesi. She seldom sounds quite this unabashedly enthusiastic about love, yet the same quality is in abundant supply in her Skyliner which, though it abandons the entire first section of the song (including that part of the lyric which gives it its title), is still sublime: "I’m hurrying home to you… fast, fast, traveling fast…" sings Christy with giddy abandon, and the band matches the sense of urgency which intensifies as the song progresses.

The same all-or-nothing-at-all quality is also very much in evidence in the album’s best track. Time Was, with its nostalgic lyric, seems meant to be a ballad (two years earlier, Christy’s label-mate, Dakota Staton, had given it an exquisitely tender reading that’s hard to beat), but Christy’s whirling up-tempo take is dizzy-making in its joyousness. Her final "My darling, every tomorrow will be complete…" is just blissful.

Although the true essence of Christy may still be in earlier albums like Something Cool, The Misty Miss Christy and Gone for the Day, Big Band Specials has a verve that is irresistible, making it eminently deserving of your time and attention.

While every jazz-pop vocal reissue is to be welcomed, there’s a question begging with regard to this release. Given that Capitol Jazz’s two previous Christy reissues were twofers (The Song Is June paired with Off Beat, and Gone for the Day paired with Fair and Warmer), why did the label fail to pair this short album (a mere 33 minutes) with one of the remaining non-reissued Christys? June Christy Recalls Those Kenton Days would have been a logical choice.

Tracks

Recorded in Los Angeles, October 25-November 19, 1962. Arranged by Bill Holman, Bob Cooper and Shorty Rogers. With Conte Candoli, Lee Katzman, Al Porcino, Ray Triscari (trumpet); Vern Friley, Dick Nash, Frank Rosolino, John Halliburton, Lew McCreary (trombone); Ken Shroyer (bass trombone); Joe Maini, Charlie Kennedy, Bud Shank (alto sax); Bob Cooper, Bill Perkins (tenor sax); Jack Nimitz (baritone sax); Jimmy Rowles (piano); Joe Mondragon (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

The Misty Miss Christy

Capitol Jazz (Blue Note Records)