Roaming through musical history.
The Silent Temptation of Peggy Lee in The Palace.
She understood the Art of Omission like no other. The sound of her voice was often referred to with terms like smokey or breathy – sensual to the highest degree. With just a small voice, she was able to give large concert halls the intimacy of a nightclub.
The remarkable thing is that Peggy Lee not only became one of the greatest names in pop culture (she is the only singer to have had top-10 hits in the forties, fifties and sixties, with songs like “Fever” and “It’s a Good Day”), but that she also managed to achieve the same thing in jazz culture.
She was a great interpreter of listening songs (think of “Black Coffee”, “Don’t Smoke in Bed” or “Is That All There Is?”) and could just as easily handle the comical repertoire (“Mañana” for example). Despite her small voice, she effortlessly managed to hold her own next to the violence of Benny Goodman’s big band, and she could swing infectiously next to George Shearing’s combo.
“If you feel nothing when Peggy Lee sings,” said jazz author Leonard Feather, “it means you’ve died.” You will hear why this is the case in this first part of a diptych about The Silent Temptation of Peggy Lee.
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