Similar Albums:
- Artist: Barbara Cook
- Rating:
- Release Date: September 06, 2005
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Vocal Music
Review
In October 2004, songwriter, arranger, and pianist Wally Harper died, robbing Barbara Cook of her accompanist and musical partner of more than three decades' standing. Not surprisingly, she has reacted by dedicating this album to him and including on it four of his songs ("The World Must Be Bigger Than an Avenue," written for the 1973 Broadway revival of Irene; "I Never Knew That Men Cried" from the 1974 musical White Nights; "Another Mr. Right Left"; and "Sing a Song with Me," performed as a medley with Irving Berlin's "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy," which she has recorded several times before). But the selection can also be taken as a tribute to songwriter Harold Arlen at his centenary ("I've Got the World on a String," "Out of This World," "Last Night When We Were Young") and to Arthur Schwartz's 1951 musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ("I'm Like a New Broom," "I'll Buy You a Star," "Make the Man Love Me"). And then there is a handful of great show tunes Cook somehow has never recorded before (Lerner & Loewe's "Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here" from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever; George Gershwin's "Nashville Nightingale" from Nifties of 1923; Jerome Kern's "Bojangles of Harlem," first sung by Fred Astaire in the film Swing Time; Charlie Chaplin's "Smile"). In Harper's absence, Cook is accompanied by Michael Kosarin, augmented by a small orchestra. While there are certainly moments of sadness, particularly in "Last Night When We Were Young" and "Smile," that will call to mind Harper's passing to those aware of it, this is hardly a melancholy album, and anyone hearing it without knowing the context is liable to take it simply as another Barbara Cook album in which her sweet voice caresses another set of high-quality songs mostly borrowed from vintage musicals in a mixture of standards and little-known gems. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I've Got the World on a String | Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler | Barbara Cook | (2:42) |
| Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here | Burton Lane, Alan Jay Lerner | Barbara Cook | (3:21) |
| Out of This World | Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer | Barbara Cook | (3:01) |
| Last Night When We Were Young | Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler | Barbara Cook | (2:52) |
| The World Must Be Bigger Than an Avenue | Barbara Cook | (2:21) | |
| I Never Knew That Men Cried | Barbara Cook | (1:22) | |
| Another Mr. Right Left | Barbara Cook | (3:42) | |
| Nashville Nightingale | George Gershwin, Irving Caesar | Barbara Cook | (2:17) |
| Bojangles of Harlem | Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields | Barbara Cook | (3:20) |
| I'm Like a New Broom | Dorothy Fields, Arthur Schwartz | Barbara Cook | (2:20) |
| I'll Buy You a Star | Dorothy Fields, Arthur Schwartz | Barbara Cook | (3:07) |
| Make the Man Love Me | Dorothy Fields, Arthur Schwartz | Barbara Cook | (4:07) |
| Sing a Song with Me/Let Me Sing and I'm Happy | Irving Berlin, |
Barbara Cook | (3:39) |
| Smile | Barbara Cook | (2:17) |
