Personnel:

Harry Belafonte (vcl), Dennis Farnon (arr, cond), Don Fagerquist, Roy Eldridge (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bump Myers, Plas Johnson, Ben Webster (ts), Jimmy Rowles, Hank Jones (p), Laurindo Almeida, Howard Roberts (g), Red Callender (b), Osie Johnson (d)

 

Includes a 20-page booklet with accurate recording details, extensive annotations, original liner-notes and very rare photos.

 

This compelling set of vocal blues tunes by Harry Belafonte came as a pleasant surprise in his career. Never before had he sung on records as he did for this 1958 album. There is still much of the performer and the folk singer in his basic presentation here, but there is also rawness and fervor for the blues feeling.

 

Backed appropriately by superior groups, featuring outstanding jazz soloists Belafonte always dug jazzhe manages to come through as a fine, warm, moving blues singer of emotional smoothness and control. Included for comparison are six rare tracks that launched his brief career as a jazz-oriented singer in 1949, and an original Belafonte blues in two parts: The Blues is Man, recorded in 1955.

 

Tracklisting:

01. A Fool for You

02. Losing Hand

03. One for My Baby

04. In the Evenin Mama

05. Hallelujah I Love Her So

06. The Way that I Feel

07. Cotton Fields

08. God Bless the Child

09. Mary Ann

10. Sinners Prayer

11. Fare Thee Well

12. Lean on Me (*) Bonus Track

13. Recognition (*) Bonus Track

14. Whispering (*) Bonus Track

15. I Still Get a Thrill (*) Bonus Track

16. Night Has a Thousand Eyes (*) Bonus Track

17. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (*) Bonus Track

18. The Blues Is Man [Part I] (*) Bonus Track

19. The Blues Is Man [Part II] (*) Bonus Track

 

Sources:

Tracks #1-11 originally issued as RCA LSP-1972

 

Harry Belafonte sings in all tracks backed by:

Personnel on tracks #1,5 & 9: Dennis Farnon (leader, arranger & conductor), Don Fagerquist (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bump Myers (ts), Jimmy Rowles (p), Laurindo Almeida, Howard Roberts (g), Red Callender (b), Jack Sperling (d).

Recorded in Hollywood, California, on June 7, 1958

 

Personnel on tracks #2,3,7,8 & 10: Dennis Farnon (leader, arranger & conductor), Don Fagerquist (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Plas Johnson (ts), Jimmy Rowles (p), Howard Roberts (g), Red Callender (b), Jack Sperling (d).

Recorded in Hollywood, California, on June 5, 1958

 

Personnel on track #4: Alan Greene (leader & conductor), Charles C. Greene (p), Millard Thomas (g), Norman Keenan (b), George Guadango (d).

Recorded in New York City, on January 29, 1958

 

Personnel on tracks #6 & 11: Bob Corman (leader & conductor), Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster (ts), Hank Jones (p), Fred Hellerman (g), Norman Keenan (b), Osie Johnson (d), Danny Barrajanos (perc).

Recorded in New York City, on march 29, 1958

 

Personnel on tracks #12 & 13: Howard McGhee Orchestra, feat. Brew Moore (ts).

Recorded in New York City, 1949

 

Tracks #14 & 15: Pete Rugolo and his Orchestra.

Recorded in Hollywood, 1949

 

Tracks #16 & 17: Zoot Sims (ts), Al Haig (p), Jimmy Raney (g), Tommy Potter (b), Roy Haynes (d).

Recorded in New York, 1950

 

Tracks #18 & 19: Orchestra conducted by Tony Scott, feat. Buddy Childers, Maynard Ferguson, Conte Candoli, Conrad Gozzo (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bud Shank, Jimmy Giuffre, Ted Nash, Herbie Steward, buddy Collette (saxes), Irv Kluger (d), and other top West Coast Jazz names.

Recorded in Hollywood, 1955

 

Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol