BEVERLY KENNEY - Complete Decca Recordings (3LP on 2CD) + Bonus Tracks (2012) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Over fifty years after her death, singer Beverly Kenney (1932-1960) remains a cult figure for her fans around the world. Her career was tragically briefshe took her own life when she was 28. She possessed a sweet, child-like vocal quality and a nuanced, pleasant jazz-styled phrasing that won her favour with both pop and jazz audiences.

On these outstanding Decca sides, recorded few years before her death, she displays the smooth, smart and bittersweet touch that defined her personal style.

In addition to the fine small group performances with front-rank jazzmen and orchestral settings with Ralph Burns and Hal Mooney, this set also includes all the sides she recorded with the Eddie Safranski orchestra for the Sesac publishing and record label. All the critical hosannahs they earned her, however, never quite translated into widespread public acceptance, due, at least in part, to the burgeoning rock & roll movement, which she loathed, even composing a song called I Hate Rock and Roll, which she performed on the Steve Allen TV show on May 18, 1958making the perfect addition to this collection.

The closer of the set is a highly valuable document, taped from a Playboy Penthouse TV show, where she is interviewed by Hugh Hefner and sings with her distinctive sophisticated phrasing and cool jazz sensibility. Jordi Pujol
CD 1
01. Your Love Is My Love (Norman Mapp) 3:07
02. The Magic Touch (Livingston-Evans) 2:23
03. Its Magic (Cahn-Styne) 2:27
04. You're Adorable (The Alphabet Song) (Kaye-Lippman-Wise) 2:30
05. Time Was / It's So Peaceful (Prado-Russell) 3:05 *
06. A Summer Romance (Taylor-Judson) 3:06
07. Try a Little Tenderness (Woods-Campbell-Connelly) 3:12
08. What Is There to Stay (Duke-Harburg) 3:54
09. A Lover Like You (Clements-Judson) 3:27
10. It's a Most Unusual Day (McHugh-Adamson) 1:46
11. You're My Boy (Cahn-Styne) 2:57
12. What's It Like in Paris (Clements-Judson) 3:17
13. Sing a Rainbow (Archer) 3:01
14. Brooklyn Love Song (Kaye-Lippman) 2:55
15. Do It Again (Gershwin-DeSilva) 2:35
16. A Woman's Intuition (Young-Washington) 3:30
17. Life Can Be Beautiful (McHugh-Adamson) 2:57
18. Mama, Do I Gotta? (Mizzy-Curtis) 2:04
19. Again (Newman-Dorcas-Cochran) 2:18
20. Isnt It a Pity (George & Ira Gershwin) 2:32
21. Where Can I Go Without You (Victor Young-Peggy Lee) 2:26
22. Beyond The Next Hill (Haymes-Worth) 2:54
23. You Couldn't Be Cuter (Kern-Fields) 2:22 (+)
24. Born to Be Blue (Wells-Tormé) 3:32
25. I Walk a Little Faster (Coleman-Leigh) 2:51
26. It's a Blue World (Wright-Forrest) 2:19
27. Somewhere Along the Way (Sammy Gallop-Kurt Adams) 3:05

CD 2
01. For All We Know (Coots-Lewis) 3:09
02. It Only Happens When I Dance With You (Irving Berlin) 2:43
03. Vanity (Woods-Manus-Bierman) 2:58
04. Go Away, My Love! (Livingston-Evans) 2:33
05. Undecided (Shavers-Robin) 2:12
06. A Sunday Kind of Love (Bell-Leonard-Rhodes-Primo) 3:31
07. Somebody Else Is Taking My Place (Howard-Ellsworth-Morgan) 2:02
08. I Had the Craziest Dream (Warren-Gordon) 3:21
09. What a Diff'rence a Day Made (Grever-Adams) 2:18
10. Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe (Harold Arlen-E.Y. Harburg) 2:20
11. Tampico (Roberts-Fisher) 2:01
12. Sentimental Journey (Brown-Homer-Green) 2:07
13. Any Old Time (Artie Shaw) 2:35
14. And the Angels Sing (Elman-Mercer) 1:45
15. More Than You Know (Youmans-Rose-Eliscu) 2:39
16. The Dipsy Doodle (Larry Clinton) 1:46

Bonus Tracks (The Sesac sessions):
17. Lonely and Blue (Johnson) 2:38
18. Yours Sincerely (Sivers) 2:35
19. Long, Lean and Lanky (Rudy Toombs) 2:54
20. Too Bad (Washington-McRae) 2:45
21. Too Late to Be Sorry (Washington-McRae) 2:03
22. It's a Mean Old World (Doug Bagby) 2:10
23. Tall, Dark and Handsome (Langworthy) 2:15
24. Let's Try Again (Unknown) 1:59
25. The Stars, the Night, the Moon (Unknown) 2:32
26. That Pyramid Jazz (Zuber-Fields-Panella) 2:16
27. I Hate Rock and Roll (Beverly Kenney) 1:50
28. What Is There to Say (Duke-Harburg) 2:42

Playboys Penthouse TV Show:
29. Interview 0:42
30. Everything Happens to Me (Adair-Dennis) 2:25
31. Interview continues 1:06
32. Mountain Greenery (Rodgers-Hart) 1:38
33. Makin' Whoopee [Duet with Hugh Hefner] (Donaldson-Kahn) 1:51
34. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Mann-Hilliard) 1:41