That Satin Doll - Carol Stevens

 

Lureleli

That Satin Doll

Carol Stevens

With Phil Moore's Music

Musical Director: Phil Moore

Recording Engineer: Tow Dowd

Cover Photo of Carol Stevens: Jerry Schatzberg

Cover Design: Marvin Israel

Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun

Atlantic Recording Corporation 1256

1957

Personnels: On every take except Living In The Hay, In A Mellowtone and Saved It All For You, Carol Stevens is accompanied by Phil Moore or Frank Berry, piano, Berry Galbraith, guitar; Milt Hinton, bass; Osie Johnson, drums; Don Elliott, trumpet or mellophone; Romeo Warren Covington, trombone and Bernard Kaufman, bass clarinet or flute.

On Lying In The Hay, In A Mellowtone and Saved It All For You, Carol Stevens is accompanied by the same rhythm section and Nick Travis, trumpet; Eddie Bert, trombone; Herbie Mann, alto flute; Sol Schlinger, bass clarinet; Phil Bonder, English horn or clarinet and Phil Kraus, percussion.

From the back cover: "The thing that intrigued me about Carol Stevens", say Phil Moore, "was that her name was first mentioned to me by another singer. Now it's rare enough for one girl to compliment another, but when a female singer starts to rave about another female singer, you have to have a look-see-hear".

Phil admits that when Carol Stevens was brought to him, he understood instantly why even another female singer could praise her unselfishly and try to  help her. The sound of her voice makes an electrifying first impression. It ranges down to D below middle C and in its lower octave has the dark, haunting tone color of the bassoon; in the middle register it is not unlike the viola. Her voice takes on an astonishing range of hues in ascending of descending, and to a masculine ear, its vibrant sensuality is disturbing in the nth degree. The color combinations possible with a voice like Carol Stevens' in the framework of the unique ensemble assembled by Moore for this LP proved to be almost unlimited.

When Phil began to work with Carol, her professional experience had been limited almost entirely to singing with a society orchestra, yet he realized that she did not need a vocal coach. "My part was psychological", he said. "When you start with persons who have a great natural talent, the problem is not so much to reach them, but to free them from their inhibitions and help them to discover their own ways of expressing themselves best. Then it is simply a question of finding the best setting for such a talent. Of one thing I was sure", he added, "She was highly responsive to jazz rhythms and I knew she'd been completely miscast in the role of the conventional pop singer".

Carol is very striking in looks and personality. Everything about her has the stamp of a woman born to star. Her jet back hair and eyes, her enigmatic Mona Lisa smile, her expressive features, her trim figure – all produce that forceful visual effect that is summed up in the word "glamour". While all this may be of secondary importance on records, it is uncanny how much of her visual magnetism is projected on the LP.

The songs picked of this album are songs of high-voltage emotion, and run the whole gamut from under-the-lamp-post seduction to Liebesschmerz of near-tragic proportions. One side of they LP is going to provoke much comment, for in the selections on it Carol does not sing words at all; her voice is used instrumentally and with tremendous effect. Phil said of those particular songs, "A voice doesn't have to use words to communicate – especially when it's projected through a wonderful instrument called woman. Most of the real meaning that words conveyed is done by stress and inflection in spoken speech, and by what we read been the lines' in written discourse. In the wordless but vocalized songs here, the listener must participate, he must create his own image of what Carol is expressing. For the listener to participate in the creative act is a fare more satisfying experience than to have everything spelled out literally".

This device has been used before, of course. In the classical music field, Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 comes to mind; in jazz, there is Ellington's Transblucency. Phil's use of this idea, nevertheless, is novel, and one of the few extensive used of it in the last decade of jazz, other than what was called "bop singing" a few years ago. It I were to indicate a favorite in this group, I would pick out Everywhere, Bill Harris' great trombone classic, with Carol soloing here. It is a thing of rare beauty, and, I surmise, likely to be a joy forever.

Again, in the six songs that are fully verbalized, this album of Carol Steven's turns out to be quite a surprise package. To revive Lil Green's slink black dress number, Romance InThe Dark, was certainly  an inspired thought. The originality of Carol's treatment of the tune makes it freshly appealing. The same holds true for another standard, At Last, taken at the murderous upbeat tempo and styled against a very difficult rhythm pattern. The most impressive selection of all is undoubtedly Tender As A Rose, an original composition of Phil Moore's. At first, he conceived of this as a vocal blues without lyrics; later, however, he wrote a text for it, one that is unusual for its modern psychological approach (I guess Joe was pretty sick.) Phil's arrangement, with its curious "night sounds" is a masterpiece.

When Carol sings, a world of tormenting sensuality is evoked by means that seem to verge on black magic. Underneath it all are the solid craftsmanship and imaginative art of two purposeful musicians. They compliment the listener by appealing to his highest taste and his ability to share their most volatile poetic flights.  – Gary Kramer

In A Mellowtone

Satin Doll

Saved It All For You

Everywhere

Mood For You

Lurelei

Romance In The Dark

Lying In The Hay

I'm Playing With Fire

Tender As A Rose

Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'

At Last