In February, Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises, in conjunction with Peggy Lee Associates, released the fourth and final volume of Peggy Lee: From the Vaults. Taken together, these recordings provide a fascinating look at the first female vocalist to turn pop singing into an intimate expression.
While Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were towering jazz singers who started out before Lee, one was known for exploring her pain and the other expressing her joy. Peggy Lee found space in between, delivering songs similar to the way Frank Sinatra did at the start of the 1940s—as intimate postcards from the heart.
Volume 1 of this Lee series features songs recorded from 1944 to 1948, starting when she was 24. Volume 2 features recordings made between 1948 and 1951. Volume 3 includes tracks recorded between 1951 and 1972. And Volume 4 features duets and other specialties recorded between 1947 and 1967. All were for Capitol or Decca, and all are rare and had been previously unavailable on streaming platforms.
Lee's career can be divided into four broad categories: her years with Benny Goodman (1941-1944), her tasty small-group years with guitarist-husband Dave Barbour (1944-1949), her jazz-pop era (LPs in the 1950s and early '60s) and her contemporary era (late 1960s and '70s). Peppered throughout her career, there were plenty of radio and TV performances along with one-off recording sessions with small groups and orchestras.
Remarkably, Lee was routinely backed by excellent orchestras, with arrangements that generally featured rich and compelling song openings. What also remained constant was Lee's hip, cool delivery. Her voice often came in late on the beat and didn't linger long on notes. She had little use for vibrato, and everything she wanted to put forward came in the sweet and sophisticated way she delivered the individual notes themselves.
Like all prolific pop singers, Lee had her share of dreadful choices, and a few managed to surface on Vol. 4: Two songs center on Mister Magoo, and there are gummy novelty numbers such as a Batman tribute, That Man, and My Small Senior. But the rest are warm gems from a vocalist who has never been given full credit for being a masterful songwriter and a singer who broke barriers.
Peggy Lee died in 2002 at age 81.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find all four volumes of Peggy Lee: From the Vaults on all major streaming platforms.
JazzWax clips: Here's He's Just My Kind, with Dave Barbour, on Volume 1...
Here's Helpless from Volume 2...
Here's A Taste of Honey from Volume 3...
Here's This Could Be the Start of Something Big from Volume 3...
This Could Be the Start of Something Big
And here's You're Driving Me Crazy from Volume 4...
