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Steppin Out Astaire Sings [Best of]

Fred Astaire (Artist) | Format: Audio CD
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 19.27 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
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Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Details
1. Steppin` Out With My Baby
2. Let`s Call The Whole Thing Off
3. Top Hat, White Tie, And Tails
4. They Can`t Take That Away From Me
5. Dancing In The Dark
6. `S Wonderful
7. The Way You Look Tonight
8. They All Laughed
9. I Concentrate On You
10. Night And Day
11. A Fine Romance
12. Nice Work If You Can Get It
13. The Continental
14. I Won`t Dance
15. You`re Easy To Dance With
16. Change Partners
17. Cheek To Cheek

Product Description

Amazon.ca

In 1952 Fred Astaire joined Oscar Peterson and some of Verve's best sidemen to lay down jazzy, laid-back versions of songs he had made famous in his Broadway and film career. Those 38 tracks, originally entitled The Astaire Story, have been condensed into this collection, Steppin' Out: Fred Astaire Sings. While Astaire was not blessed with great vocal chops, the best American songwriters including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter loved him for his unerring sense of rhythm and sympathetic treatment of lyrics, qualities that are well displayed here. Tony Bennett hit the pop mainstream with his 1994 album of jazzy Astaire standards. Here's the original. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

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4.9 out of 5 stars
9 reviews
4.9 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fred and Oscar May 6 2011
By J. I. Gow
Format:Audio CD
This CD is a selection from a 4 LP set commissioned in the mid 1950s by Norman Granz to get Fred to sing his greatest hits with a small group of musicians from the Jazz at the Philharmonic group. We are told that when Fred did a screen test in Hollywood, the verdict was "Can't act, can't dance. Can sing a little", Well yes, he can. He sings these songs so clearly and without apparent effort, with humour or wistfulness, that they bear repeated listening. We even hear him doing what he called "a little hoofing" in there. And leading the backup group is Oscar Peterson, whose work is all about setting off Fred's talent. Oscar was sometimes rapped for playing too many notes and showing off, but here he is all understatement and finesse. A real treat.
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5.0 out of 5 stars They can't take that away from me... July 8 2004
By leora
Format:Audio CD
All of the other good reviews speak of the outstanding quality and musicianship of this album: Fred's amazingly subtle and expressive voice, the finest words and music by America's greatest composers, and the exceptionally hip and hot Oscar Peterson Ensemble. But there is more to it than that, there's the way this music makes you feel. For those of us who missed the Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals and the Golden Age of Jazz, it is a total treat. Musicals--especially those starring Fred Astaire--and jazz, are the two most important and uniquely American contributions to the arts. This album reminds us of that fact once again. Listening to these songs conjures up a time when America was so very different. A time when we didn't need to be titilated, grossed out, or offended to be entertained. The attitudes, manners, and mores that defined early and mid-twentieth century America can be heard in the music and the lyrics found in this collection. I prefer romance to raunch, glamour to grunge, and class to corruption. Listening to Astaire sing these songs makes me feel happy, and proud of America's past. I am grateful it's been preserved on film and on this disc.
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5.0 out of 5 stars At the top of his game - incredible Dec 25 2003
By Eric J. Anderson
Format:Audio CD
If you want to see Fred Astaire dance, watch the movies. If you want to hear him sing -- this album (or the much pricier "The Astaire Story" 2-disc set from which these songs were selected) gives Fred the chance to match his many years of experience on stage and screen with just about the greatest jazz backup band in existence at the time. Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass, Barney Kessel on guitar, etc. This is an all-star jazz band who give their utmost to back up a singing star they respect, and Astaire, with his inimitable stylism, is obviously "in heaven" because he sings better than I've ever heard him sing. There is a palpable sense of mutual love and joy and respect between the musicians who made this album.

To hear it is to love it. Not to knock the big band and orchestra arrangements over which Astaire sang many of these songs in his musical films, but this modest-sized jazz ensemble is obviously more suited to Astaire's singing, in my opinion. It is warm, intimate, and thoroughly enjoyable. Of course, if you like bombast, look elsewhere. If you love subtlety and the highest levels of technical improvisational musicianship, this is it.

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