PEGGY LEE & BENNY GOODMAN - The Complete Recordings 1941 - 1947 (1999) 2CD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Although the whole collection ranges across six years, 32 of the 35 cuts on this two-CD set were recorded within a year of Peggy Lee's joining Benny Goodman's band, and the vast majority within a six month period through the winter of 1942. It is possible during that span to hear Lee evolve from a competent but scarcely confident vocalist ("Elmer's Tune") into a bold interpreter, equally adept at blues ("Blues in the Night"), ballads ("When the Roses Bloom Again"), rhythm numbers ("My Little Cousin," "I Threw a Kiss in the Ocean"), and everything in between. Aside from an improvement in sound over 1993's Best of the Big Bands: Benny Goodman Featuring Peggy Lee, the real beauty here is in the material that wasn't on that earlier disc, most notably the small-group sides "Where or When" (perhaps the most beautiful rendition of that song ever cut), "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and "Blues in the Night," the latter one of Lee's earliest blues numbers. Equally important, the band is captured in a nice, close rich sound, which goes double for the solos by Goodman, Mel Powell et al. Speaking of Powell, the timing of recording of the songs on this set makes it one of the best showcases of Powell's piano playing and arranging. Lee's 32 sides with Goodman on Columbia and OKeh have been augmented by three additional numbers, cut by the two as part of Goodman's postwar Capitol Records contract -- they're brighter and fuller, but not outrageously superior to his early Columbia sides; but they show off the work of a fully mature artist with five years' more confidence and skill. by Bruce Eder  
Tracklist 1 :
1     Elmer's Tune 2'51
Elmer Albrecht / Sammy Gallop / Dick Jurgens
2     I See a Million People (But All I Can See Is You) 2'42
Una Mae Carlisle / Robert Sour
3     That's the Way It Goes 3'09
Sydney Robin / Alec Wilder / Alexander Wilder
4     I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 3'14
Duke Ellington / Paul Francis Webster
5     My Old Flame 3'08
Sam Coslow / Arthur Johnston
6     How Deep Is the Ocean? 3'04
Irving Berlin
7     Shady Lady Bird 2'45
Ralph Blane / Hugh Martin
8     Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love) 3'16
Cole Porter
9     Somebody Else Is Taking My Place 3'09
Bob Ellsworth / Richard Howard / Russ Morgan
10     Somebody Nobody Loves 3'20
Seymour Miller
11     How Long Has This Been Going On? 3'16
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
12     That Did It, Marie 2'29
Irene Higginbotham
13     Winter Weather 3'00
Ted Shapiro
14     Ev'rything I Love 3'05
Cole Porter
15     Not Mine 3'18
Johnny Mercer / Victor Schertzinger
16     Not a Care in the World 3'22
Vernon Duke / John Latouche
17     My Old Flame 3'16
Sam Coslow / Arthur Johnston
18     How Deep Is the Ocean? 3'20
Irving Berlin
19     Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love) 2'01
Cole Porter
Tracklist 2 :
1     Blues in the Night 3'15
Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer
2     Where or When 3'21
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
3     On the Sunny Side of the Street 3'11
Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh
4     The Lamp of Memory (Incertidumbre) 3'17
Gonzalez Curiel / Al Stillman
5     If You Build a Better Mousetrap 3'02
Johnny Mercer / Victor Schertzinger
6     When the Roses Bloom Again 2'52
Nat Burton / Walter Kent / Traditional
7     My Little Cousin 3'17
Peggy Lee feat: Benny Goodman          
8     The Way You Look Tonight 4'18
Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern
9     I Threw a Kiss in the Ocean 3'00
Irving Berlin
10     We'll Meet Again 3'17
Hughie Charles / Ross Parker
11     Full Moon (Noche de Luna) 3'17
Gonzalez Curiel / Odette and Ethel / B. Russell
12     There Won't Be a Shortage of Love 2'40
John Jacob Loeb / Carmen Lombardo
13     You're Easy to Dance With 3'15
Irving Berlin
14     All I Need Is You 3'22
Benny Davis / Peter DeRose / Mitchell Parish
15     Why Don't You Do Right? 3'12
Kansas Joe McCoy
16     Let's Say a Prayer 3'10
Charles Farrow
17     The Freedom Train 3'10
Irving Berlin
18     Keep Me in Mind 2'50
Benny Goodman / Al Zink
19     For Every Man There's a Woman 2'46
Harold Arlen / Leo Robin