Sings Cole Porter [Bonus Tracks]

Personnel includes: Mabel Mercer (vocals); Cy Walter, Stan Freeman, Buddy Barnes, Jimmy Lyon (piano); Frank Carroll (bass).
Producers: Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Abramson, Nesuhi Ertegun.
Includes liner notes by George Frazier.
Recording information: Atlantic Recording Studio, New York, NY (1955); New York, NY (1955); Town Hall, New York, NY (1955).
Mabel Mercer was considered to be the greatest cabaret singer of all time. The British-American expatriate first made her name at Bricktop's in Paris in the '30s, eventually settling in postwar New York for legendary decades-long engagements at select rooms throughout the city. At the time, she could count Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett among her most passionate fans. Luckily, Atlantic Record's Ahmet Ertegun was also a devotee and saw to it that Mercer was recorded during her prime in the early and mid '50s.
SINGS COLE PORTER is the only Mabel Mercer album that is currently available. This is less scandalous than might appear since PORTER is Mercer's most representative session and a classic of the genre. With the exception of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," these Porter tunes were not particularly well known then or now, so Mercer is free to take personal possession of them. Once the listener gets past the singer's hoity-toity Margaret Dumont-like delivery, Mercer's bedrock commitment to a song's meaning reveals the dark psychological depths underlying Porter's witty music and lyrics. The unique dual-piano accompaniment provides a dashing and expansive musical sweep that perfectly complements Mercer's unadorned vocal art.