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Saturday, April 05, 2014

0367 Sandra King [Warm And Swinging] FLAC 12(36.49)

Sandra King - vocal
Orchestra conducted by Ken Moule
personnel unkonwn except
Ike Isaacs - guitar

01 In The Arms Of Love (Mancini, Livingston, Evans) (2:44)
02 Too Little Time (Mancini, Rae) (3:51)
03 Mr. Lucky (Mancini, Livingston, Evans) (2:28)
04 Moon River (Mancini, Mercer) (3:14)
05 Mostly For Lovers (Mancini, Webster) (2:43)
06 Charade (Mancini, Mercer) (2:29)
07 How Soon (Mancini, Stillman) (3:22)
08 Dreamsville (Mancini, Livingston, Evans) (3:43)
09 A Slow Hot Wind (Mancini, Gimbel) (3:32)
10 We (Mancini, McKuen) (2:19)
11 Days Of Wine And Roses (Mancini, Mercer) (3:56)
12 Bye Bye (Mancini, Livingston, Evans) (2:38)

Avenue AVE 033
Recorded 1969
Contribued by bluebird, who writes:-
Sandra who? you might ask.
I'd never heard of her either but picked up a cd of her singing just with pianist Pat Smythe and a bass player live in Washington in 1982.
I really bought it for Pat Smythe's contribution but was so impressed by her singing that I explored further. In the cd sleeve note there was a reference to an obscure lp she made in 1969 when just 19. It was her first and made for the budget UK label Avenue.
Sandra was discovered singing in a small Ilford Club by American vocalist Mark Murphy which lead to an engagement at Ronnie Scott's and a BBC Jazz Club broadcast where she was accompanied by the Pat Smythe Trio. Tony Bennett was an admirer as was Richard Rodney Bennett, with whom she was to record later in her career.
This is that obscure first lp and it is one which you could easily pass up in the charity shop boxes. All the songs are by Henry Mancini and Ken Moule did the arrangements. Apart from Ike Isaacs on guitar, the other musicians are not identified but she is backed by a small jazzy group  and with strings and a larger Orchestra on a couple of tracks.
A fine debut album by this very assured 19 year old singer. She is the stunning redhead pictured on the sleeve.
Stand out tracks for me are 'Dreamsville' and 'Slow Hot Wind' but Mancini never wrote a bad song. I bet you never thought that the words Slow, Hot and Wind could be made to sound sexy but just listen to Sandra's version here.
So what happened to Miss King?
It seems that she worked mainly in radio and on the Continent and didn't record commercially again until the 1982 Washington concert mentioned above. There were a couple of tracks recorded in 1985, an album with Richard Rodney Bennett in 1986 and one more with him in 1996.  Then silence.
Anyone know anything about her - or has anyone even heard of her?  It is possible that she re-located to the USA as her other albums were recorded there.
FLAC from lp with cover scans.

17 comments:

  1. New one to me but am a fan of Ken Moule's arrangements, so worth a punt I'm sure.thanks bluebird and Rodney.

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  2. Working for me. I'll put up a Zippy link. Thanks for this interesting one bluebird.

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  3. Getting the same as bventure, 'not found'. This new source, 1fichier, seems problematic and I fear the worst. Whatever happened to the old sources, which worked well. Even zippyfile is preferable. Oh well, guess I'll have to miss out.

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  4. http://www72.zippyshare.com/v/53168357/file.html

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    1. Thanks for that, it works well.

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    2. Thanks for that, got it now. No idea why there is suddenly a problem with 1fichier - never had a problem with it in the past. I tried on 3 different computers with different operating systems & browsers, got the same on all.

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    3. Strange, very strange. I'm now hoping that uploading to "alter" rather than 1f will do the trick. Holding my breath.

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  5. I maybe wrong but did I read somewhere that if 1fichier doesn't work for you, change the url to https or click the blue SSL box in the top right hand corner?

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    1. Just tried that - clicking the SSL box - and Bob's yer Auntie, it works! Well done and thanks!

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    2. Happy Days!!

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  6. Thanks Rodney and Bluebird! Cheers!

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  7. A new singer to me, and very good. Along with Ike Isaacs' guitar there are also some fine unidentified trumpet and sax solos. Thanks Bluebird and Rodney. Download time using 1fichier was 11 minutes.

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  8. Thanks Rodney and Bluebird

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  9. Thank you Bluebird and Rodney, never heard of this girl but I've just tried a couple of tracks and I'm looking forward to the rest.

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  10. Sandra King moved to the U.S. in 1982 and gave a legendary performance of Vernon Duke songs at Washington's Cochran Gallery of Art. More information on her available at Allmusic:
    http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandra-king-mn0000316778/biography

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  11. https://cjoint.net/?rfq2131wwu

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