Jazz / Vocal, Easy Listening
Art Shapiro Bass
Art Van Damme Accordion
Carl Fischer Piano
Chuck Calzaretta Vibraphone
Claude Scheiner Guitar
Dave Barbour Guitar
Fred Stulce Reeds
Harry Schuman Reeds
Heine Beau Reeds
Herbie Haymer Sax (Tenor)
Jo Stafford Vocals
Lou Skalinder Bass
Max Mariash Percussion
Nat King Cole Piano
Paul Weston Conductor, Arranger, Director
Ray Lann Trumpet
The Pied Pipers Vocal Group
Possibly the most technically talented of all the girl singers of the Golden Age of Popular Music for some three decades Jo Stafford provided something of a soundtrack to the lives of the young and not so young worldwide. She used the opera training she received as a youngster on which to build a voice that would take her from a third member of a singing sister trio, via a close harmony quartet, to featured band singer status and on to stardom as a major recording artist. Jo's biography was covered in our previous Jo Stafford box set JSP 950. That collection provided an overview of her recording career from the late 1930's to the mid-50s and included several of her major hits. This current issue of Jo's recordings fills in some of the finer detail and adds five of her best loved albums from the early to late 1950's. Jo is performing here primarily as a solo artist, but there are notable collaborations with Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Eddy and Frankie Laine - and that's just the first CD! For fans, this is essential - for everybody else, a fascinating insight into an era where skill, talent - and melody - were considered paramount. |
