In the early 1970s there was a short-lived trend of Jazz singers recording with acoustic guitarists - probably as a conscious break from Big Bands - that resulted with some beautiful, meditative and reflective music in the intimate settings. Ella Fitzgerald recorded several of those with Joe Pass and glamorous beauty Lena Horne had another with Hungarian guitarist Gábor Szabó so this is similar attempt to tackle vocal-and-guitar repertoire while simultaneously bridging the gap between Jazz standards and contemporary pop music.
Long known for her vocal acrobatics and stratospheric high C, Cleo Laine could indeed tone it down when occasion demands as shown during her performance in "Showboat" on a theatre stage, where she surprised and delighted everybody by singing classic Jerome Kern score without jazzing it up. Here she teams with classical guitarist John Williams on repertoire consisting mostly on current pop ballads - closer in spirit to Horne/Gábor collaboration than Fitzgerald/Pass as music selection leans decidedly to easy listening ("Killing me softly", "Eleanor Rigby" , "If") while Jobim's "Wave" and few less known John Dankworth originals fare much better. More subdued and reflective in this setting, Laine presents different side of her art - without orchestra blasting behind her, she is actually completely new artist, particularly on famous "He was beautiful" (movie theme from "The Deer Hunter") for which she wrote her own lyrics. Collaboration was perhaps not strictly Jazz as both artists don't stray too much from original melodies but it proved successful enough to produce 1983. sequel which was perhaps even better as it includes more original material.
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