You Better Go Now! - Jeri Southern

 

Dancing On The Ceiling

You Better Go Now!

Jeri Southern

Decca Records DL 8214

1956

From the back cover: If you were to leaf through all the material written about Jeri Southern in the past five years or so by record reviewers, night club critics, newspaper columnists, and others, you would notice a constant recurrence of such word as delicacy, sensitivity, taste, subtlety and restraint. And if you find these qualities admirable, then it's a fine experience you have in store as you listen to these lyrical little milestones in Miss Southern's Decca career. On some of them she sound very close tears, on others she sound wise and profound and perhaps just a bit cynical. Sometimes she seems like a wistful little girl the next minute she's silken and sultry and seductive... The moods are many and complex, and they are all Jeri Souther's... They are all yours too, to share with her here in the album.

Still in her twenties, Jeri Southern was born in the tiny Nebraska town of Royal, then which there are few smaller. When Jeri (Originally Genevieve Herring) was born there, there were two general stores and the population was 190. Now that the population is down to about 140, there is only one store. Jeri thrived much better than Royal. Before she was out of high school, it was obvious that she was a musician and, though the family struggled in the grips of the depression, Jeri went to the Notre Dame Academy in Omaha. After graduating, Jeri became a piano teacher's assistant and, after three years of tutoring, became a feature player in various Omaha night-cubs and hotels.

So far she had been a pianist. When told that she would fare better if she sang a few songs with her playing, Jeri was willing. Audiences soon responded other unaffected and intimate style of singing; talent scouts began talking about her; and Decca added her to its list of eminent artist. A few months later disc jockeys all over the country were raving about a new record by Jeri Southern entitled "You Better Go Now." Critics exclaimed about her bitter-sweet, tender sort of voice, her true warmth and genuine feeling, and her ability to communicate a relaxed atmosphere which is alluring but never too obvious. Dick Williams summed it up in the Chicago Mirror-News: "This is one Southern breeze that is going to kick up quite a storm before she is through."

From Billboard - January 28, 1956: Most of the items cut here by the seductive-voiced thrush have been out as singles, and as such they lack some of the intimate, sensitive quality of her strictly-for-album endeavors. Fans, however, will like the idea of getting "Dancing On The Ceiling," the title song, etc. in LP form. Her following among jazz buyers should also be reckoned with.

You Better Go Now - with Orchestra Directed by Camarata

Give Me Time - with Orchestra Directed by Sy Oliver

Something I Dreamed Last Night - with Orchestra Directed by Sy Oliver

The Man That Got Away - with Orchestra Directed by Sonny Burke

When I Fall In Love - with Victor Young and His Orchestra - Piano Solo by Jeri Southern 

Just Got To Have Him Around - with Orchestra Directed by Lew Douglas

Dancing On The Ceiling (He Dances On My Ceiling) - with Orchestra Directed by Norman-Leyden

Speak Softly To Me - with Orchestra Directed by Camarata

What Good Am I Without You - with Orchestra Directed by Sy Oliver

I Thought Of You Last Night - with Orchestra Directed by Sy Oliver

That Ole Devil Called Love - With music by Camarata

Remind Me - with Orchestra Directed by Sonny Burke