Sandy Stewart (2)

SANDY STEWART - MY COLORING BOOK (1963)

1.My Coloring Book    
2.Little Girl Blue    
3.Greensleeves
4.Tangerine    
5.Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)    
6.Over the Rainbow    
7.Deep Purple    
8.Scarlet Ribbons    
9.Little White Lies    
10.Beautiful Brown Eyes    
11.Ivy Rose
12.Red Sails in the Sunset

Sandy Stewart first sang "My Coloring Book" on the Kraft Music Hall television program on October 31, 1962. It was an instant hit -- Stewart's only hit over her long career -- and became the impetus for this LP. Although Stewart owns a very pretty voice and uses it to good effect, there's nothing about it, or Stewart's approach to the songs on this album, distinguishing her from the many other pop female singers of that or any other day. On this disc, she sounds a lot like Dinah Shore. Moreover, the heavy string orchestrations contrived by Don Costa and O. B. Massingill tend to make the music murky. In fact, Stewart is sometimes overwhelmed by the arrangements and sweet-voiced choral backing that show up on some of these tracks. Stewart was much better served in a small group setting, especially when backed by occasional playing partner Dick Hyman. She first appeared on record with Hyman in 1958 and then again in 1985. Stewart also worked with Hyman on NBC radio at the tender age of 16. While Stewart didn't make much of a mark as a vocalist, she produced a son who was to become a foremost jazz pianist, Bill Charlap.

BILL CHARLAP & SANDY STEWART - LOVE IS HERE TO STAY (2005)

1. Love Is Here To Stay    
2. After You    
3. The Boy Next Door    
4. Happiness Is Just AThing Called Joe/A Sleepin' Bee    
5. Always    
6. Here I Am In Love Again    
7. I've Got A Crush On You/Do It Again    
8. Where Is Me    
9. Dancing On The Ceiling    
10. It Might As Well Be Spring    
11. I'll Never Go There Anymore

Love Is Here To Stay” is the sort of album that major labels just don’t make anymore. In recent years, projects such as these have more often than not become the provenance of boutique labels such as Audiophile and DRG, whose catalogues are largely devoted to standards as performed by top-shelf cabaret vocalists like Sandy Stewart. In fact, not since the 60s and the Columbia album collaborations of Eileen Farrell and André Previn has the pop or jazz division of a major label actively undertaken a major release devoted to piano-vocal art song interpretations of the American Popular Standard repertoire. This is that sort of album.