Sings Fred Astaire

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Mel Torme was at an early peak when he recorded this superb session with Marty Paich's 10-piece band in 1956, bringing a personal flair to a program of great Gershwin, Kern, and Berlin songs associated with Fred Astaire. While Astaire brought primarily charm to his vocals on this material, Torme is a superb vocal technician, bounding through the uptempo numbers with an absolute mastery of diction, pitch, and phrasing. There's a mix of enthusiasm and sophisticated ease here that makes this one of Torme's finest recordings. He's aided by Paich's lively, brassy arrangements and an excellent studio band with trumpeter Pete Condoli and saxophonists Herb Geller and Jack Montrose. --Stuart Broomer --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Steppin` Out With My Baby
Let`s Call The Whole Thing Off
Top Hat, White Tie, And Tails
They Can`t Take That Away From Me
Dancing In The Dark
`S Wonderful
The Way You Look Tonight
They All Laughed
I Concentrate On You
Night And Day
A Fine Romance
Nice Work If You Can Get It
The Continental
I Won`t Dance
You`re Easy To Dance With
Change Partners
Cheek To Cheek

Amazon.com

In 1952 Fred Astaire joined Oscar Peterson and some of Verve's best sidemen to lay down jazzy, laid-back versions of songs he had made famous in his Broadway and film career. Those 38 tracks, released as The Astaire Story, have been condensed into this collection, Steppin' Out: Fred Astaire Sings. While Astaire was not blessed with great vocal chops, the best American songwriters including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter loved him for his unerring sense of rhythm and sympathetic treatment of lyrics, qualities that are well displayed here. Tony Bennett hit the pop mainstream with his 1994 album of jazzy Astaire standards. Here's the original. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Fred and Oscar.......2007-06-27

This disc gives a good sample of the 4 LP set called "The Fred Astaire Story". Fred is in fine fettle with the small group of Jazz at the Philharmonic musicians, and the recording is of such quality that you can really hear his style. Also, Oscar Peterson's accompaniment gives the lie to those who say that he plays too many notes or that he doesn't swing. All is understated, in aid of putting Fred into the best light. Of course, you have a selection of some of the great popular songs associated with Fred's career.

Dancer AND Singer.......2006-11-12

Beyond the nostalgia of an eighty year old, "Steppin' Out: Astaire Sings" teamed with some of the great jazz players reveals a fine, gentle singer whose dancing overshadowed his singing in the original movies.

Fresh.......2006-09-05

For something recorded in 1952, this is some of the freshest music today. These songs from stage and movies are given new life by putting show tunes to the take-your-time, more sensitive, less hackneyed rhythms of jazz. Lacking the necessity to carry a movie, Astaire's phrasing and intonations have a very different quality than the original versions.

A certain subtlety comes through and the lyrics are freed from sentimentality, as Astaire masterfully burnishes a deeper and more heartfelt thoughtfulness. "Steppin' Out With My Baby" and "I Won't Dance" have a simpler, carefree quality, and the accompaniement by greats such as Oscar Peterson on piano and Charlie Shavers, Flip Phillips, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Alvin Stoller are first rate. This is a must have for not only Fred Astaire afficionados, but also for anyone who really wants to hear how to take an old hit, change it around and come out with something totally fresh.

Fans will like his interview on the final track, "Cheek to Cheek." As it says in the cover note, Tony Bennett proclaimed Fred Astaire our national treasure. Fred Astaire's versatility and willingness to risk putting these standards to a new rhythm should stand as both proof and inspiration.

A Bridge Between the 1930's and 1950's.......2005-09-09

The Great American Song Book reached its highest point in the 1950's with Verve's Jazz recordings of the classic American music of the 1930's. All the Jazz greats stepped back twenty years and breathed new life into the works of Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter.

"Steppin' Out" is brilliant because it serves as a link between the Broadway and Hollywood Music of the 1930's and the new Jazz interpretations of the 1950's. Many of the songs covered in this album were written for and first performed by Fred Astaire.

Verve had a first rate idea in asking Fred Astaire to work with Oscar Peterson. The arrangements show all the brilliance that Peterson was capable of achieving and Astaire stepped up to the musical challange. The jazz pace and phrasing worked perfectly for Astaire. His voice and delivery had only improved with time. In my opinion, his voice in the 1930's had a tinny quality to it. But by the 1950's he had matured and there is deepness to his voice that works well in a jazz setting.

There can be little argument that Fred Astaire was one of the great dancers of the Twentieth Century. Although not as well respected as a vocalist, this album quite clearly shows that Astaire could do it all.

A brilliant collaboration.......2004-11-07

If you like Astaire, Jazz or the American songbook you will love this. The understated virtuoso arrangements let the songs shine and Astaire is the real thing.

Average customer rating:

One of Jazz Music's Greatest Stars -- Fred Astaire!
Get in step with Fred!

Fred Astaire Sings
Fred Astaire
Manufacturer: Mca Special Products
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Tin Pan Alley | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Nostalgia | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Change Partners
Isn't This A Lovely Day (To Be Caught In The Rain?)
A Foggy Day
Afterbeat
They Can't Take That Away From Me
They All Laughed
I'll Walk Alone
One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
Lady Of The Evening
Something's Gotta Give

Customer Reviews:

One of Jazz Music's Greatest Stars -- Fred Astaire!.......2000-11-16

"Fred Astaire Sings" is one of the better jazz albums out there that feature the underrated vocal talents of Fred Astaire, the world's greatest song-and-dance man. Of course, Mr. A's primarily known for the dancing, but don't forget, our boy sang, too! And he was very, very good. It's true all the great songwriters of yesteryear (Berlin, Gershwin, and Porter to name a few) wanted to write songs especially for him. "Fred Astaire Sings" features some of those songs ("Change Partners" from Carefree, "Isn't This a Lovely Day" from Top Hat, and "One for My Baby" from The Sky's the Limit).

This album was made during the later years of Mr. A's career, and it's remarkable to point out how well Astaire's singing developed and improved as the years progressed. A couple of treats on this CD: Mercer's "Something's Gotta Give" from Daddy Long Legs and "The Afterbeat" written by Mr. A himself.

Get in step with Fred!.......1999-06-30

This is an excellent collection of Fred's tunes. Although he was known more for his dancing than singing, he could do both very well.

I only give this CD four stars because the CD is not the best ever made, and the recordings may irk the serious audiophile.

But I like the tunes, and Fred delivers. To me, the imperfect sound quality adds to the flavor. And it is not BAD, scratchy, hissy, or annoying, just not preemo processing.