Peggy at Basin Street East [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Peggy Lee may not have had the greatest pipes of her era, but few could equal her preternatural ability to underplay a song, finding nuance and new drama in even the most familiar material. This previously unreleased 1961 New York performance is not only ample evidence of that talent, but one of the most satisfying fixes of pure Peggy ever released. While previous Lee "live" recordings have been revealed to be largely fabrications, this treasure from the vaults offers up an intimate hour with the legend in all its unedited glory. It's a taut set, dotted with medleys that showcase Lee's jazzy charms and deceptively effortless ability to make each song her own, while delivering the hit "Fever" up as breezy, finger-snapping blues and casting Damn Yankees's "Heart" as loopy Cuban romp. If you need an introduction to the legend of Peggy Lee, this would be a lively, gratifying place to start. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description
Subtitled - The Unreleased Show - Closing Night February 8, 1961, New York City. This album is the entire show, 14 tracks, first time released. Included are pictures of the show and notes from the August Nat Hentoff. Collectors' Choice Music.

Tracks:

Overture
Day In-Day Out
Call Me Darling
Medley: One Kiss/My Romance/The Most Beautiful Man In The World
Medley: But Beautiful/The Second Time Around
Fever
I'm Gonna Go Fishin'
I Love Being Here With You
By Myself
Heart
I've Never Left Your Arms
Ray Charles Tribute: Hallelujah, I Love Him So/I Got A Man/Just For a Thrill
Peggy Lee Bow Music
Medley: I Dont Know Enough About You/Manana/Why Don't You Do Right?/It's a Good Day

Amazon.com

Peggy Lee may not have had the greatest pipes of her era, but few could equal her preternatural ability to underplay a song, finding nuance and new drama in even the most familiar material. This previously unreleased 1961 New York performance is not only ample evidence of that talent, but one of the most satisfying fixes of pure Peggy ever released. While previous Lee "live" recordings have been revealed to be largely fabrications, this treasure from the vaults offers up an intimate hour with the legend in all its unedited glory. It's a taut set, dotted with medleys that showcase Lee's jazzy charms and deceptively effortless ability to make each song her own, while delivering the hit "Fever" up as breezy, finger-snapping blues and casting Damn Yankees's "Heart" as loopy Cuban romp. If you need an introduction to the legend of Peggy Lee, this would be a lively, gratifying place to start. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description

Subtitled - The Unreleased Show - Closing Night February 8, 1961, New York City. This album is the entire show, 14 tracks, first time released. Included are pictures of the show and notes from the August Nat Hentoff. Collectors' Choice Music.

Customer Reviews:

Peggy Lee's only live recording, newly discovered........2005-02-28

Originally recorded on Feb. 8, 1961, the last night of Peggy Lee's show at Basin Street East, this is the only complete recording of a "pure," live performance by Peggy Lee--the entire show sung exactly as Peggy performed it, with every song included, warts and all. Lost for forty years in the Capitol Records vault, where it was mislabeled as a "backup" tape, it was finally discovered through the efforts of Cy Godfrey, Lee's attorney, and released in 2002.

And what it find it was! Here is Peggy, completely relaxed and joyfully interacting with her audience, at ease with her music, her orchestra, and her fans. Showing her range of styles, she moves from a slow, soft ballad like "The Second Time Around" to full-out wailing at the end of "The Most Beautiful Man in the World," and rock/swing/soul music in a Tribute to Ray Charles. In "I'm Gonna Go Fishin,'" which she wrote with Duke Ellington, Peggy is looser and more comfortable than on her formal recordings, and one can hear her mugging with her audience through the changes in her voice, as she sings with the full orchestra. In "You've Gotta Have Heart," she sings a section in a pseudo-Spanish accent, and in her own song, "Love Being Here With You," she even jokingly interrupts herself to ask, "I wonder what I meant by that line."

Here is Peggy Lee as you have never heard her before, an extraordinary find for the Peggy Lee fan. This is not to say there are no problems. At times, she wanders too far from her microphones, and the lyrics and her patter become almost impossible to hear; on other occasions, when she dramatically whispers her lyrics, she misses an occasional note. Still, her timing, her creative interpretations, and her ability to handle almost any tempo are at their peak here. This is a fantastic album for the Peggy Lee fan--the only opportunity ever to her "live." Mary Whipple

Exceptional Live Recording.......2004-06-18

I saw Peggy Lee four times in person (once at Carnegie Hall, three time in Cental Park), so know how good she could be in person. Still I was unprepared for the great jazz performance captured on this live CD and released only after Lee's death.
True Lee misses some notes and not everything is perfect, but
I have not heard Peggy swing like this before on a recording. Clearly, the live setting at the peak of her career brought out the very best in one of the greatest singers of the last century.

Best one, yet!.......2002-11-30

Having collected Peggy Lee records and discs nearly 50 years, I think this one is the best, yet.

Outstanding !!!.......2002-11-13

I have owned a previous incarnation of this recording for several years ---- the one where the tracks were recorded in the studio, but with applause added later to create a "live" effect. I wondered whether a true, live recording would be significantly different --- and worth the expense. I can say without hesitation that I am extremely grateful I took the risk. This current CD is something very special and very wonderful. It contains a vitality and immediacy that validates the trouble and effort that goes into the creation of truly live recording. Apparently an audience brought more out of Ms. Lee than a studio microphone could. She seems to invest more of herself here than she ever did in a recording booth. This album can legitimately be called a "must have" for any Peggy Lee fan.

Intoxicating, Tantalizing, Mesmerizing Miss Lee!.......2002-07-23

There aren't enough adjectives to let you know how wonderful this issue is. At last, the "real" live performance of Miss Peggy Lee at the NYC jazz club, Basin Street East, is available for all of us die-hards! (The familiar Capitol release is botched-up & partially studio "fixed".) Here is Peggy at the peak of her artistry, doing her usual spellbinding. Standout tunes are a mightily swinging "The Most Beautiful Man In the World" and the gorgeous "I've Never Left Your Arms". Marvelous liner notes by the esteemed jazz critic Nat Hentoff & rare photos make this package totally irresistable to all of us who regard Peggy Lee as the best popular singer of the 20th Century. A real treasure and not to be missed!

Music:

Music

Music