Concord Records
2004
The Rosemary Clooney Show: Songs From The Classic Television Series
About This Album
Long after their favorite singers have passed, vocal fans still have many avenues to hear new (to them) recordings from the peak era of vocal jazz. Alternate takes aside, radio transcriptions and broadcast programs are the two usually plundered for reissue. While most are hastily packaged and terribly mastered, the best of them occur in settings that are artistically advanced compared to the artist's usual studio sides. (Vocalists, like all other musicians, used opportunities like these to experiment and play around with ideas that would only later become fully fledged releases.) The Rosemary Clooney Show, a compilation from Concord, is one of the most valuable releases on an underrated artist that's ever been seen. It features 26 recordings from 1956, when Clooney's TV program -- basically self-produced -- featured the singer backed by Nelson Riddle, the prime arranger/conductor of the era, and the Hi-Lo's, the best vocal chorus in action. (Due to frequent label conflicts, Riddle and Clooney recorded together elsewhere much less frequently.) Michael Feinstein, the disc's producer, found the tapes in Clooney's home, played them for her well before her death, and earned her approval for a release -- which dismisses the lingering suspicion that these performances wouldn't have appeared during her lifetime.
Track List (try tracks 4 and 6)

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