Notes about this album:
We all met at the Kitchen Sync recording studio in Hollywood at 10 am on March 4th, 1993: Michael Orland (pianist and musical director), Michael Holmes (bass), Richard Martinez (drums), Maurice Gainen (flute and saxophone), and I. In the small, dark, and moody room, we began to rehearse 20 songs and worked steadily until one o'clock, to
break for lunch. During that lunch hour, I selected fourteen of the songs for recording that afternoon, including an original number I had written, which is the title song of the album.
All the songs are very personal to me. This album is dedicated to my father, William Robbins, who sang some of these songs to me when I was a very small child and who flavored my feelings about that style of music. Tootsie, being a particular favorite of my Dad's, was the very first song that I recall hearing. Some Of These Days, After You've Gone, and The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else, also favorites of his, made me very interested in Sophie Tucker. When I was eight, I had the good fortune to see her perform as a surprise guest on the Danny Kaye radio show, tickets for which my father, through some connection with the sponsor, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, was able to secure. At about that time, my older brother brought home a 78-rpm recording of Oh, But I Do!, made popular by Margaret Whiting. After listening over and over to that song, I learned it and decided then that I wanted to be a singer.
My mother was an avid fan of Bing Crosby's, so the Make Believe Ballroom show would be on our radio all day, every day. Because of her interest, my brother found in an old record store a vintage Crosby recording of I'm Through With Love. All By Myself, another Crosby hit, was the first song I sang in front of an audience (of other ten-year olds and some younger neighbor children). I performed it on the wooden ramp normally used by the super to roll garbage cans from the basement to the outside of our apartment building in Brooklyn, NY.
I've included some other vintage songs I recall hearing while I was growing up. Everything Old Is New Again, a relatively contemporary number by Peter Allen, expresses my feelings about these tunes and the times they were being performed.
I've tried to be true to the flavor of this music. We performed and recorded straight through, in one room, on one DAT tape, with no reverb added, to keep the sound as authentic as possible.
The recording was first released in 1994 as a cassette. This CD, which is based on a remastering of the original DAT tape in July 2004, regains the original freshness of the performances. I hope you enjoy it.
For more info, visit my web site: www.CaroleeSings.com
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