Julie London - The Julie London Collection 1955-62 (2017)

Best-known for her classic 1955 Top 10 hit “Cry Me A River”, Julie London was a fine sultry-voiced jazz and pop singer, who enjoyed her greatest popularity during the “cool” era of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s – Billboard magazine named her as the most popular female vocalist of 1955, ’56 and ’57. Although she sang as a child with her parents’ vaudeville act on radio, the first decade of her career from 1945 was as a Hollywood movie actress, becoming a popular pin-up girl of GIs, and appearing with the likes of Gary Cooper. Beginning her recording career in 1955, she scored a hit with her first release for Liberty, “Cry Me A River”, and over subsequent years released around twenty singles for the label, as well as having a regular output of concept albums, showcasing her smoky and sensuous vocal style with a mixture of sophisticated pop and mainstream jazz material. This great-value 58-track 2-CD collection comprises her debut recordings on an EP recorded for the Bethlehem label (the tracks were later released as singles by Liberty), and all her A and B sides for Liberty through to 1962, some of which came from her LP releases, plus selected tracks from the seventeen albums she released during those first important years of her recording career. As well as “Cry Me A River”, it includes what was one of her best-known recordings, her vocal version of the jazz cha-cha “Desafinado (Slightly Out of Tune)” from 1962. “Cry Me A River” has been revived by many high-profile artists over the years. Julie London is an artist who has not received the accolades she deserved as a sophisticated jazz/pop singer to compare with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee, and this collection will help underline her distinctive talent.