Blues Cross Country is a 1962 studio album by Peggy Lee, principally arranged by Quincy Jones, with some arrangements by Benny Carter. The album can be described as a concept album, consisting of a musical journey across the United States through swinging blues songs, many of which were written by Lee with other contributors.Blues Cross Country is a 1962 studio album by Peggy Lee, principally arranged by Quincy Jones, with some arrangements by Benny Carter. The album can be described as a concept album, consisting of a musical journey across the United States through swinging blues songs, many of which were written by Lee with other contributors.
Blues Cross Country was the second of Lee’s two albums featuring arrangements by Jones. He had also arranged her previous studio album, If You Go (1961). (by wikipedia)
Peggy Lee and Quincy Jones
One of Peggy Lee’s most intriguing concept LPs of the ’50s and ’60s, Blues Cross Country teams her with the Quincy Jones Orchestra on a set of swinging blues set all over America, almost like a continental version of Sinatra’s “Come Fly with Me.” She balances standards like “Basin Street Blues,” “St. Louis Blues,” “I Left My Sugar (In Salt Lake City),” and “Goin’ to Chicago Blues” alongside collaborations with Jones on “Los Angeles Blues,” “New York City Blues,” and “The Train Blues.” (She is also the lyricist of four other songs 
on the album.) Though Jones’ arrangements are often a touch brassier than the blues standards can handle, Lee contributes just the right blend of vigor and feeling to the songs. Blues Cross Country also includes her first waxing of the Leiber & Stoller song “Kansas City,” which looks forward to her successful performances of their “I’m a Woman,” “Is That All There Is?,” and the Mirrors album. At a little over half-an-hour, it is a brief LP, and the 1999 CD reissue has two additional tracks. From the same spring 1961 sessions that produced the album came Lee’s single recording of Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh’s “Hey! Look Me Over,” the most popular song to emerge from the 1960 Broadway musical Wildcat, also arranged by Quincy Jones. Skipping ahead five years, there was another Lee single, “The Shining Sea,” which she wrote with Johnny Mandel, who also arranged it. Neither song fits in with the album’s concept, but they at least add more than four minutes to its running time. (by William Ruhlmann)
This not only a hot easy listening album, but a great album with Big Band music with a real hot voice … Peggy Lee at her best !
Personnel:
Bob Bain (guitar)
Max Bennett (bass)
Hoyt Bohannon (trombone)
Aubrey Bouck (french horn)
Dennis Budimir (guitar)
Larry Bunker (percussion)
Pete Candolli (trumpet)
Benny Carter (saxophone, tuba)
Buddy Collette (saxophone)
Bob Cooper (woodwind)
Bob Fowler (trumpet)
Vern Friley (trombone)
Justin Gordon (saxophone)
Conrad Gozzo (trumpet)
Joe Graves (trumpet)
Bill Green (saxophone)
Chico Guerrero (percussion)
Bill Henshaw (rench horn)
Plas Johnson (saxophone)
Artie Kane (organ)
Harry Klee (woodwind)
Bobby Knight (trombone)
Peggy Lee (vocals)
Lou Levy (piano)
Stan Levey (drums)
Sinclair Lott (french horn)
Lew McCreary (trombone)
Dick Nash (trombone)
Jack Nimitz (saxophone)
Earl Palmer (drums)
Bill Perkins (saxophone)
John Pisano (guitar)
Al Porcino (trumpet)
Emil Richards (percussion)
George Roberts (trombone)
Howard Roberts (guitar)
Frank Rosolino (trombone)
Jimmy Rowles (piano)
Bud Shank (woodwind)
Jack Sheldon (trumpet)
Tommy Shepard (trombone)
Henry Sigismonti (french horn)
Frank Strazzeri (piano)
Toots Thielemans (guitar)
Ray Triscari (trumpet)
Arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones
Tracklist:
01. Kansas City (Leiber/Stoller) – 2:29
02. Basin Street Blues (Williams) – 3:04
03. Los Angeles Blues (Lee/Jones) – 2:38
04. I Left My Sugar in Salt Lake City (Lange/ Rene) – 2:53
05. The Grain Belt Blues (Lee/Raskin/Schugler) – 1:52
06. York City Blues (Jones/Lee) 3:21
07. Goin’ to Chicago Blues (Basie/Rushing) – 2:37
08. San Francisco Blues (Lee/Raskin) – 2:37
09. Fisherman’s Wharf (Lee/Raskin) – 3:11
10. Boston Beans (Lee/Raskin/Schugler) 2:05
11. The Train Blues (Jones/Lee) 2:42
12. Saint Louis Blues (Handy) – 2:15
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13. Hey, Look Me Over! (Cy Coleman/Leigh) – 1:55
14. The Shining Sea (Lee/Mandel) – 2:45
The Bregenz/Munich concerts were Jarrett’s most brilliant live solo recordings to date; his level of inspiration is quite extraordinary, and the music covers a wider musical and emotional range than ever. He takes fabulous risks, pushing everything to the limit.”
confused with the earlier, more consistently inspired Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lusanne from 1973, which made Jarrett a star, yet the pianist was far from tapped out in these performances. He is often in his best lyrically funky form, where he makes the most out of a single ostinato idea — particularly at the beginning of the Bregenz concert and in the middle of the Munich concert — and his touch and exploitation of the dynamics and timbres of a grand piano are always a pleasure to hear. Even the passages of stasis or seemingly aimless rippling do not cancel out the treasurable moments and have real worth — though for some, the string plucking near the end of the Munich show may be somewhat gratuitous. In any case, this is far more interesting and elevated music-making than that of the New Age navel-gazing imitators who were cropping up in Jarrett’s wake in the early ’80s en masse, and adds immeasurably to the historically unique portrait of the artist. (by Richard S. Ginell)
Live… With a Little Help from Our Friends is a live recording of Gov’t Mule’s 1998 New Year’s Eve concert at The Roxy in Atlanta, Georgia. It was released as a 4-CD set Collector’s Edition and as two separate albums.
Clapton; sideman Chuck Leavell was there, along with Parliament’s Bernie Worrell, former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, Aquarium Rescue Unit’s Jimmy Herring, Randall Bramblett, newly appointed Allman Brothers’ bandmember, Derek Trucks and Yonrico Scott, the drummer from the Derek Trucks Band. Talk about a stage full of talent. The set kicks off with a pair of Gov’t Mule originals, “Thorazine Shuffle” and “Dolhineus,” before counting down the New Year clock and launching into an unexpected but amazing rendition of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” Next comes a guitar rocking take on Steve Marriott’s “30 Days in the Hole” followed by Paul Rogers’ “Mr. Big,” featuring Marc Ford on guitar, followed by the blues laced “Look Over Yonder,” with some ultra fine piano work from Leavell. Haynes and the boys keep up the momentum by bringing out Worrell and Trucks, in addition to Leavell, to perform the Haynes-penned Allman Brothers favorite, “Soulshine.” Disc one closes with a hard rocking “Mule,” featuring Worrell again on organ, and incorporating a segment of Van Morrison’s “I’ve Been Working.” Dave Mason’s “Sad and Deep as You” is given the Gov’t Mule treatment to begin disc two, with Leavell’s and Bramblett’s sax enhancing the sound just that much more, and Herring and Worrell sit in on Haynes’ “Devil Likes It Slow.”
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