Somebody Love Me - Jerri Winters

 

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

Somebody Loves Me

Jerri Winters

With The Al Belletto Sextet (courtesy Capitol Records)

Recorded February and March, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois

Bethlehem Records BCP-76

From the back cover: Jerri Winters is a "new" singer, an exciting, vibrantly fresh new talent who has severed a strict apprenticeship in the Midwest, and who now has emerged from the fabulous spawning ground of Jazz as another important contribution to this most dramatic musical form. Unlike the myriad of girl vocalists who have been highly publicized in recent years, only to fade, for the most part, into oblivion, Jerri has been given little national exposure, and no high-powered press build-up. Bug whispers which had their beginnings in the small Chicago nightery where Jerri has been singing, have grown into shouts of praise wherever Jazz buffs gather.

What is it that sets Jerri apart from so many other young singers who never quite make the musical grade? Well, there's feeling in her singing, feeling for the lyrics she is singing, the story she is telling. And then there is the beat which is always present, always felt, but never over-powering. And finally there is an obvious knowledge of music and musicianship, a working marriage with the men who are performing with her to produce a finished product, complete with the styling that is Jerri's trademark.

In this, Jerri's first Bethlehem effort, she has carefully selected a program which can and does show off her command of every musical situation, her imagination, and her amazing versatility. Tunes which were meant to be emotional emerge emotional, while those denoting gaiety are happy, laughing songs maintaining the mood throughout. It's Always You, for example, gets a warm, soulful treatment which is rich and full to the earth, while All Or Nothing At All is vocally and instrumentally done in a wild Latin Beat that breathes for recognition.

While Jerri is a dominant singer, she has wisely used four male voices as background on several of the elections, including the all-time favorites, Sometimes I'm Happy, and the difficult Kind Of Moody ballad which handled in a most accomplish manners.

I Got It Bad is bound to bring comparison, for many of the great feminine Jazz singers have done this one, but Jerri gives it her own reading, and backed by some excellent trumpet work by Willis Thomas, it emerges as a sure winner.

Somebody Loves Me is an example of how well Jerri can change a mood, move from a ballad to an upbeat under, yet hold her audience in the palm of her hand. Here again strong instrumental support from the quint, plus a male vocal background are evident, but always subordinate to the effective Winters' style.

Dark Shadows perhaps is best known for the "Bird" (Charlie Parker) instrumental of several years past, but Jerri proves that as a vocal it also deserves recognition, giving it originality and strong interpretation, In the same vin, listen to Crazy In The Heart, which offers a perfect combine of vocals plus musical aptitude of the highest quality.

When Jerri sings There Will Never Be Another You, she is telling a lyrical story, telling it tastefully, excitingly an most importantly, convincingly. And in the same mood, who can doubt her when she ways "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me?" Certainly not the men who will be listening to this album in the semi-darkness of their home, listening to Jerri sing directly to them.

Finally there are two direct opposites in composition, and beat, Ridin' On The Mood, a fast, swinging tune, and In Other Words, a ballad, Both are given a well-rounded treatment, each welded into a Musial delight by the interpretation vocally and instrumentally.

As noted above, Jerri is obviously aware of, and deeply interested in musicianship, and for this reason she has selected one of the Windy City's finest groups to accompany her. Al Belletto, leader of the Belletto Quintet which has worked with Jerri at the Colisters, plays alto and clarinet, Jimmy Guinn, trombone, Williw Thomas, trumpet; K. O'Brien, bass, and T. U. Montgomery, drums, completing the grou. Gillette, Crane, Quinn and Thomas also combine to form the vocal background for Jerri.

Augmenting Belleto's fine aggregation are two of the Jazz giants, Ray Brown on bass and Louis Marion, drums, who are featured on four of the sides, Somebody Loves Me, Carzy In The Heart, Dark Shadows and It's Always You.

We hope you will listen to this album with one other through in mind – the excellence of the recording quality. Here is true high fidelity reproduction, the highs are high, the lows low, and the over-all sound quality is one we think is truly representative of the term high fidelity. The entire album was recorded in a series of sessions conducted at Universal Studios in Chicago during February and March, 1957, with Bill Putnam personally handling the controls. He has produced a frame of sound beauty for the piece do resistance, Miss Jerri Winters. – Norman Weiser, Music Editor, Family Weekly, Argosy

Sometime I'm Happy

It's Always You

I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good

Somebody Loves Me

Dark Shadows

Ridin' On The Moon

All Or Nothing At All

In Other Words

Crazy In The Heart

There Will Never Be Another You 

Kind Of Moody

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me