Song:Always True To You In My Fashion
Album:Four Classic Albums Plus
British jazz pianist George Shearing moved to the US in 1947 and signed with Capitol Records in 1955. Though he had success leading his quartet, Capitol frequently used him to accompany some of their most popular singers including Peggy Lee in 1959. This would have been right after Peggy scored the smash hit Fever. Beauty and the Beat! was sold as a live recording at the 1959 Disk Jockey Convention in Miami. Though they did perform there, Capitol admitted on the 2003 CD reissue that the album was actually recorded in the studio and the audience noise was added later. I'm sure Capitol house producer Dave Cavanaugh was responsible. But I guess the bottom line is it's the only time Shearing recorded with Peggy so fans of both will be interested. The band on the album is Shearing's usual band of Toots Thielemans on guitar, Ray Alexander on vibes, Jimmy Bond on bass, Roy Haynes on drums and Armando Peraza on conga. Cole Porter wrote Always True To You In My Fashion for the show Kiss Me Kate. Beauty and the Beat! is available on CD in Japan so it's expensive. Fortunately, Avid has released it on its Four Classic Albums series. The other albums are the 1958 album In The Night with Dakota Staton, the 1961 album Nat Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays and the 1962 album The Swingin's Mutual with Nancy Wilson. I think Shearing was at his best accompanying great singers and this comp is worth checking out. Here's a video for Always True To You In My Fashion by George Shearing featuring Peggy Lee.
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