Serendipity
Dec. 13th, 2022 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vr_trakowskiSomething really nice happened this week.
So I'm a child of the '70s, but my parents don't care for the music of their generation, so I grew up on ragtime and classical music and traditional jazz. I don't think I even heard of The Carpenters until 1983, but I knew Blossom Dearie and George Shearing and Charlie Byrd.
Most of that didn't carry over to me as regards taste; I have a soft spot for "You've Got to See Mamma Every Night" but my interests lie elsewhere.
Except for Dame Cleo Laine.
Unless you're of a certain age, you've probably never heard of her. She performed with her husband, Sir John Dankworth (yes, that Johnny Dankworth) from 1951 until his death in 2010; he was her bandleader, but she was the star. She has an incredible vocal range, and unparalleled skill at jazz and scat singing, and while I've probably not even heard half of her discography*, I listened to my parents' albums so many times that I have bits memorized even now.
I've collected a number of her CDs over the years - my favorite is a live double album, her 10th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, but the duet album with James Galway is a close second. I've had the privilege of seeing her in concert several times; once with Mel Tormé, which was sublime, two artists at the height of their powers having enormous amounts of fun together.
To the best of my knowledge, she no longer performs. Which makes sense - she's 95 years old and no longer has her lifelong music director and partner. So I treasure the times I've seen her all the more.
Eleven months out of the year, my music tends towards gaming and movie soundtracks, instrumental piano, and songs in non-Romance languages.** But as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over, I break out the Christmas music. At this point, my collection is over five days' worth of songs, more gigabytes than my laptop can hold.
I tend to pick up holiday albums by artists I never listen to otherwise. But it took me an embarrassingly long time to wonder if Cleo Laine and John Dankworth had done a Christmas collection.
As it happened, they did, back in 1999. It appears to have had a fairly limited release and it isn't widely available now. But I found a seller who had at it a reasonable price, and this year I had the money.
It arrived this week, and I opened it up - case intact, CD booklet in excellent shape...except for the marker scrawl on the cover.
It's autographed.
Dame Cleo's signature on the front. Sir John's inside. The seller didn't mention that part.
I can't wait to listen. :D
*My parents only had so many records, and a lot of her early stuff has not yet made it to CD. And I don't have a record player.
**I can't understand a word of them, so the lyrics aren't distracting.
So I'm a child of the '70s, but my parents don't care for the music of their generation, so I grew up on ragtime and classical music and traditional jazz. I don't think I even heard of The Carpenters until 1983, but I knew Blossom Dearie and George Shearing and Charlie Byrd.
Most of that didn't carry over to me as regards taste; I have a soft spot for "You've Got to See Mamma Every Night" but my interests lie elsewhere.
Except for Dame Cleo Laine.
Unless you're of a certain age, you've probably never heard of her. She performed with her husband, Sir John Dankworth (yes, that Johnny Dankworth) from 1951 until his death in 2010; he was her bandleader, but she was the star. She has an incredible vocal range, and unparalleled skill at jazz and scat singing, and while I've probably not even heard half of her discography*, I listened to my parents' albums so many times that I have bits memorized even now.
I've collected a number of her CDs over the years - my favorite is a live double album, her 10th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, but the duet album with James Galway is a close second. I've had the privilege of seeing her in concert several times; once with Mel Tormé, which was sublime, two artists at the height of their powers having enormous amounts of fun together.
To the best of my knowledge, she no longer performs. Which makes sense - she's 95 years old and no longer has her lifelong music director and partner. So I treasure the times I've seen her all the more.
Eleven months out of the year, my music tends towards gaming and movie soundtracks, instrumental piano, and songs in non-Romance languages.** But as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over, I break out the Christmas music. At this point, my collection is over five days' worth of songs, more gigabytes than my laptop can hold.
I tend to pick up holiday albums by artists I never listen to otherwise. But it took me an embarrassingly long time to wonder if Cleo Laine and John Dankworth had done a Christmas collection.
As it happened, they did, back in 1999. It appears to have had a fairly limited release and it isn't widely available now. But I found a seller who had at it a reasonable price, and this year I had the money.
It arrived this week, and I opened it up - case intact, CD booklet in excellent shape...except for the marker scrawl on the cover.
It's autographed.
Dame Cleo's signature on the front. Sir John's inside. The seller didn't mention that part.
I can't wait to listen. :D
*My parents only had so many records, and a lot of her early stuff has not yet made it to CD. And I don't have a record player.
**I can't understand a word of them, so the lyrics aren't distracting.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-14 04:04 pm (UTC)