She has the knack of cool efficiency in the workplace, high rolling on the town, her own enviable good taste at home. She knows how to deal with the dog pound, how to walk the line with a swagger on her hips and kitten heels on her feet. She can fix her own Martini and can divine by intuition the hippest hangout in every town. How does she find time to relax? These inspiring sounds give you some kind of clue.
With
this CD the Bachelorette’s Pad becomes a multitude of locations,
all familiar to the sophisticated listener’s ear. There’s
South Sea island fantasy; Las Vegas showtime; beatnik cellar clubs where
sunglasses after dark are essentials; hot Mexican sundowns and Manhattan
roof top hideaways. Being that this is the domain of the bachelorette,
we meet every kinda tom cat along the way: the big fine señor,
the engaging raconteur, the wistful would-be lover, and, whaddaya know
– the ever-circling shark. But these ladies have a way of dealing
with each one, in her own indomitable style. Whatever fate throws her
way, she knows how to come out walking tall, even if that does mean walking
all over some poor sucker’s spine.
Why not spend an evening inside the Bachelorette’s Pad? The cocktails
are chilled, the music’s hot, there’s good company to be made
– and lessons to be shared. Kick off those heels and make yourself
comfortable on the leopard skin chaise longue.
| 1 Nino Tempo & April Stevens | Teach me Tiger | 
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| 2.Ann Richards | An occasional man | ||
| 3.Chris Connor | Free spirits |  |
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| 4.Herbie Mann | Fever | ||
| 5.LaVern Baker | Manana |  |
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| 6.Ella Fitzgerald | Mas que nada | ||
| 7.Barney Kessel Plus Big Band | Love for sale |  |
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| 8.Mavis Rivers | It don't mean a thing | ||
| 9.Lea DeLaria | Call me |  |
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| 10.Nancy Harrow | T'ain't nobody's bizness if I do | ||
| 11.The Sheik's men | Caravan |  |
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| 12.Mel Torme' | Coming' Home Baby | ||
| 13.Mable John | Able Mable |  |
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| 14.Carmen McRae | I love the life I live | ||
| 15.Herbie Mann | The honeydripper |  |
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| 16.Chris Connor | I'm gonna go fishin' | ||
| 17.Ann Richards | Evil gal blues |  |
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| 18.La Vern Baker | Senor Big and fine | ||
| 19.Barney Kessel & his men | Moon river cha cha |  |
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| 20.Mavis Rivers & Shortly Rogers | I'm gonna live 'till I die | ||
| 21.Ada Lee | Romance in the dark |  |
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| 22.Valerie capers | Hey, stuff! | ||
| 23.Lea DeLaria | Welcome to my party (from The Wild Party) |  |
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| 24.Lea DeLaria/Janette Mason | Dirty Martini recipe | ||
| April Stevens has some suggestions
for taming that big tom cat in ‘Teach Me Tiger’, the sly
bachelorette’s ultimate seduction soundtrack. Here is a dame
who knows the power of mystery and duplicity – she changed her
name from Carol LoTempio when her first recording ‘No, No, No,
Not That’ proved such an eyebrow-raiser it was likely to get
banned. Then her sultry alter ego April Stevens went on to fashion
some of the most sinsational songs of the ‘50s and ‘60s.
This, a collaboration with her equally mysterious brother Antonio
– also known as Nino Tempo – was a hit both in 1959 and
1965, and still leaves the listener feline groovy. Originally a pop hit from the 1955 film The Girl Rush, Ann Richards’ take on ‘An Occasional Man’ is presented like the perfect martini – sophisticated, dry, served with a twist and a loaded kick. Here, this former Playboy Playmate outlines a fantasy bachelorette Pacific island lifestyle, full of palm trees, beaches and soothing breezes where, come sundown she might just like to find herself in the company of a suitable male. If she’s not too busy swimming wearing only a smile. Anne’s unique singing style – both carefree and knowing – is like a siren call to any circling sailors. From the 1962 beat-chick wish-list, Chris Connor calls upon some ‘Free Spirits’ to conjure her up a sophisticated male: “Someone good lookin’ with a heart of gold / Someone who’ll never leave me out in the cold”. With hepcat backing from such swingin’ types as pianist Ronnie Ball, alto saxophonist Phil Woods and drummer Dave Bailey, she makes it crystal clear she ain’t the kinda gal who’s gonna take any messing. Are you gonna argue? Eligible bachelors, form a queue. Now what compilation for the seductive single could be complete without a rendition of that first date classic ‘Fever’? There’s no need to get cold chills when you can soak up Herbie Mann’s frothy, floating flute version, which is just the perfect vibe for a hot summer night. Recorded in the years Mann spent soaking in Bossa Nova and Latin beats with the best Brazilian and Cuban musicians of the early ‘60s, here is a man sounding light on his feet to the rhythm in his soul. Chicago’s LaVern Baker taught Johnny Ray how to sing the blues. But here, on the uptempo ‘Mañana’ she is in more of a Mariachi mood. This is a big, brassy tribute to putting off until tomorrow what need never be done at all – especially when that chore is learning how to be the perfect wife! Let the chilli burn in the pot, let the fence fall down, she shrugs with zesty abandon – this baby needs her beauty sleep right now. In a samba mood, Ella Fitzgerald is effortlessly classy on the dancefloor thriller ‘Mas Que Nada’, taken from her stunning 1971 album Things Ain’t What They Used To Be (And You Better Believe It). A revitalised Ella was back at her big voiced best on this flirtatious fling with the big Brazilian beat, capturing that loaded moment when eyes lock across a crowded floor and the music can only take you higher. Ella sounds about to wiggle her way right out of the CD player and into your bachelorette lounge itself. Keeping with that wild Latin mood, here is Barney Kessel and his big band’s 1961 rendition of ‘Love For Sale’, with Barney’s virtuoso guitar putting the twang into that thang. He had one aim in mind with this record: to create a sound that kittens and cats would “understand immediately and to which they will be unable to resist dancing – with or without a partner”. With Barney as a stand-in date, the urbane bachelorette can get dance practice aplenty with this joint. GI’s sweetheart Mavis Rivers executes timeless good taste with her effortlessly cool take on ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing’. With a band stripped down to the barest essentials, under the expert eye of arranger Marty Paich, this Anglo-Sino-Franco-Swiss-Samoan singer supreme tells it like it is. As a teenage singer during the War, Mavis wove her spell over thousands of soldiers stationed in the Pacific – and this jazz classic shows how. This is pure, unadulterated style. Lea DeLaria, today’s modern urban sophisticate, performs an uncanny trick with ‘Call Me’ – turning Blondie’s punk pop paean to unrequited lust into a late nite smokin’ jazz classic. With perfectly bittersweet vocals and swinging arrangements, what Lea distils from Debbie Harry’s original is the undeniable street spirit of New York City. This is one elegant surprise guaranteed to turn heads. Continuing with that Big Apple sound, Nancy Harrow takes us back to the days of the Cotton Club with a sublimely sophisticated, bluesy shot at ‘T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do’. Her saucy vocals are poured like sweet honey over the delightfully understated backing of the Modern Jazz Quartet’s John Lewis, a knowing wink in her eyes as she delivers. This is the beatnik’s version of Bessie Smith, music to tease the sophistication out of the bachelorette’s wardrobe and wear striped shirts to. Our next offering suggests a different set of attire – seven veils and a ruby to wear in your navel. Stepping into the bizarre bazaar, The Sheik’s Men’s rendition of ‘The Belly Dancer’ will tease an Egyptian midriff roll out of even the shyest of bachelorettes. Well, honies, they say the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach – and this is a centuries’ old, tried-and-tested technique in getting right there! Now – get those drinks chilled and turn the lights down low. Mel Tormé, the Velvet Fog, is ‘Comin’ Home Baby’. The epitome of the Renaissance man who is the bachelorette’s equal is captured here in 1962, at the height of his powers. Mel’s multi-talents will always assure a warm welcome in Swingin’ Single’s Street: here is a writer, arranger, actor and raconteur who knows just what to say, with a voice that truly swirls around the brain, setting the night alight. The only response to such a come-on is to play it ultra kool, kitten, just like Mable John does on the succinct ‘Able Mable’. With a twitch in her hips and a promise on her lips “Hot in the morning / Real cool in the evenin’” Mabel’s got the goods to lure out any stray cat into the open. Follow her advice and you’ll be taking your pick, hep kittens. Sounding like a high roller flush from the tables and ready to spend,spend, spend, Carmen McRae swaggers in to the funky groove of ‘I Love The Life I Live’. This hot date recorded in 1970, rides on a roll of electric piano and the hot rhythm of the Dixie Flyers, with King Curtis on tenor saxophone, George Dorsey on alto and Carmen’s promise that tonight could be your lucky night – but tomorrow she’s gone. Riding that vibe, Herbie Mann works a funked up groove on ‘The Honeydripper’, weaving his deft flautist’s fingers between a chunky slab of electric piano and honky tonk horns. If you want a soundtrack for putting on your high heels and hot threads, painting that eyeliner on just so and getting ready to hit that town hard, then here is your perfect accompaniment. Looking to change her luck with a knowing version of Peggy Lee and Duke Ellington’s ‘I’m Gonna Go Fishin’’, Chris Connor is throwing the minnows back into the water and snagging herself a bigger catch altogether. Any gal can empathise with this old, old, story, delivered with no small measure of relish from the elegant Ms Connor, who forged a distinctive jazz career by merit of her restless spirit and desire never to stand still. Something wicked this way comes – Ann Richards returns with some ‘Evil Gal Blues’ and tells her hapless suitor exactly it how it is with her: “I’ll burn you like a candle / And I’ll burn you at both ends”. This black-hearted badass blues was first a hit for Dinah Washington, but when Ann got ahold of it, she stripped it down, added her own lyrics and a rockabilly twist, and came out with her claws unsheathed. Take it from Ann, man, she ain’t never been called a saint. But what gal in her right mind doesn’t want caviar for breakfast and champagne every night? Eyeing up a likely suitor with a tempestuous tango, LaVern Baker takes down the particulars of ‘Señor Big And Fine’, stepping backwards and forwards around him to take a better look and make sure he is everything he seems. Using a sultry Latin groove, big-voiced LaVern perfectly conveys the delicate opening steps of a dance made for two. Does every bachelorette dream of Breakfast at Tiffany’s like the heroine of Truman Capote’s celebrated novel? Barney Kessel can transport you there, to dance among the diamonds, with a lithe cha-cha-cha version of Holly Golightly’s theme tune ‘Moon River’. Said Capote of his creation: “She had a cat and she played the guitar. On days when the sun was strong, she would wash her hair, and together with the cat, a red tiger-striped tom, sit out by the fire escape thumbing a guitar while her hair dried.” Don’t we all, hepcat, don’t we all. In a similarly carefree manner, Mavis Rivers announces ‘I’m Gonna Live ‘Till I Die’, while her collaborator Shorty Rogers gets his horn and blows a wry accompaniment. The duo really let things swing on this number – as Mavis dreams of hitting the big-time, Shortly propels her into the limelight. “I’ll be a devil / Until I’m an angel” Ms Rivers promises, and you can see her name up there in glowing neon. This track is a contagious delight. Slinking into a sultry, late nite reverie, Ada Lee sings evocatively of ‘Romance In The Dark’, dripping cool, cool blues into jazz sophistication. From her 1961 Ada Lee Comes On! LP, this sensuous number showcases the multi-talented Miss Lee in full creative flight: “It was like those old-time after-hours jam sessions,” she said of the date, arranged by the celebrated Dick Hyman. “The musicians enjoyed me letting my hair down.” The feeling has not diminished with time. Valerie Capers was a piano teacher by day, a jazz preacher by night – that mixture of stern taskmaster and free spirit that sends men somewhat delusional. She had a masters degree from Julliard and a brother who played with Mongo Santamaria, exposing her to the jazz sounds she so effortlessly made her own. From her debut 1966 Atlantic LP Portrait In Soul, ‘Hey Stuff!’ captures Capers’ beatnik trio; herself on piano, John Daley on bass and Charley Hawkins on drums in a suitably artsy, coffee house mood. Finally, mistress of ceremonies Lea DeLaria gets the midnight mood going and sets the scene for high-jinks to come with ‘Welcome To My Party’. Lea has been both a stand-up comic and a Broadway singer, and can create a scandal out of thin air. This last song is like a clarion call to the bachelorette about town: “Creatures of the night / Have come here to play”. Lea knows whereof she speaks when she adds the killer line: “People like us don’t know when to stop”. That’s right, kittens, this party’s just getting started – you know us felines only really like to come out and play at night. Now the bachelorette party is swinging, this is the only place to be tonight. Let the hound dogs howl on out there in the alleyway – the hepcats can come on up to the Pad. CATHI UNSWORTH Author of The Not Knowing out August 2005 on Serpent’s Tail |
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