I'd Like to Set You to Music

by Ginny Simms

Overview

Twenty-six songs by the late big-band singer of the 1930's and 1940's, opening with the intoxicating "You Go To My Head," from 1938. A lot of the material here is from Simms' film appearances, from the actual soundtracks, so there are occasionally sound effects and extended instrumental breaks (covering dance sequences) included. The obvious magnum opus in that body of Simms' work was Night And Day, the Cole Porter pseudo-biography, and four of those five songs -- "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Just One Of Those Things," and "I Get A Kick Out of You" -- constitute the centerpiece of this collection. But there are other worthwhile cuts, including the playful "I'm Fit To Be Tied" from the movie That's Right, You're Wrong. As becomes obvious listening to this CD, Simms was often better than her material, imparting more feeling than the composers gave her lyrics or music to work with, as in "Somebody Loves Me." She seemed to hit her stride working with Kay Kyser & His Orchestra, and then with Johnny Long & His Orchestra -her two cuts with Long and company, "I'm Like A Fish Out of Water" and "I'd Like To Set You To Music," are additional highlights of this disc, along with her performance of Vincent Youmans's "Great Day, Arthur Schwartz and Frank Loesser's "How Sweet You Are," and Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather." Most of the non-film material comes from radio transcriptions, and among the best of those are Simms' achingly impassioned renditions of "Embraceable You" and "Don't Worry 'Bout Me," accompanied by Frank DeVol and his orchestra. The best vehicle for her work, however, was clearly Cole Porter's music, of which this disc saves the best for next-to-last, a version of "I Love Paris" in which she wraps herself like a second skin around the words. The sound quality is surprisingly good, with clean sources used throughout and healthy volume. The annotation is a little general in nature, with little said about the songs or the performances. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	05/08/2001
Label:	Jasmine Records
UPC:	0604988011821
Rank:	251136

Tracks

1. You Go to My Head
2. I'm Fit to Be Tied
3. I'd Know You Anywhere
4. Somebody Loves Me
5. Can't Get Out of This Mood
6. Until I Live Again
7. I'm Like a Fish Out of Water
8. I'd Like to Set You to Music
9. Great Day
10. How Sweet You Are
11. Stormy Weather
12. Medley: My Heart Tells Me/Paper Doll/Shoo-Shoo Baby
13. Amor
14. All the Things You Are
15. What Is This Thing Called Love?
16. I've Got You Under My Skin
17. Just One of Those Things
18. You're the Top
19. I Get a Kick Out of You
20. Blow, Gabriel, Blow
21. Fools Rush In
22. Embraceable You
23. Don't Worry 'Bout Me
24. Medley: On the Sunny Side of the Street/This Can't Be Love
25. I Love Paris
26. This Is Always

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ginny Simms   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Harry Warren   Composer
Ricardo Lopez Mendez   Composer
Edward Eliscu   Composer
Rube Bloom   Composer
George Gershwin   Composer
Frank Loesser   Composer
Paul Pelletier   Coordination
Ballard MacDonald   Composer
Jerome Kern   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Billy Rose   Composer
J. Fred Coots   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Geoff Milne   Producer,Transfers,Liner Notes
Ira Gershwin   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Richard A. Whiting   Composer
Arthur Schwartz   Composer
Buddy DeSylva   Composer
Haven Gillespie   Composer
Vincent Youmans   Composer
Ted Koehler   Composer
Jimmy McHugh   Composer
Dorothy Fields   Composer
Mack Gordon   Composer
Oscar Hammerstein II   Composer