Nancy Harrow; Buck Clayton s Jazz Stars; Gary McFarland Orchestra; John Lewis Quartet; John Lewis Quintet STEREO 24 BIT DIGITALLY REMASTERED 2 LPs on 1CD On Wild Women Don t Have the Blues, her debut album on Candid Records, Nancy Harrow showed she was a jazz singer to the manner born, with a straightforward, uncluttered approach and a sweet, unsentimental voice that recalls Mildred Bailey. To that add an easy swing and a faultless sense of dynamics, all of which earned her critic Nat Hentoff s accolade; she is without qualifications a jazz singer all the way. An all-star band assembled by Buck Clayton, who also did the impressively elegant arrangements, included Clayton s eloquent trumpet, Dickie Wells s provocative trombone and fine work by pianist Dick Wellstood in a grooving rhythm section of New York s finest. On her second album You Never Know, recorded for Atlantic, she got another this time unwritten accolade in the form of John Lewis, who seldom, if ever, chose to record with singers. The MJQ s pianist arranged much of the material, and his economical, delicately nuanced writing and playing produced performances that balance complexity with clarity. His austere settings offer the perfect context for Harrow s imaginative vocals, which exhibit the kind of restraint rare for a stylist with such abundant talent. The consistently on-message soloists are Phil Woods, alto saxophone and clarinet, Jim Hall, guitar, and Lewis.
