Hi-Fi Nightingale, The

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Caterina Valente recorded for many years, and in several languages. So this 19-song disc, which only includes material recorded in 1954 and 1955, has too narrow a slice of her career to be considered a best-of CD. Still, it might not be a bad introduction to her more well-known output, as it does include three of her most popular recordings, "The Breeze and I (Andalucia)" (a Top Ten hit in the U.S. in 1955), "Ganz Paris Traumt von der Liebe (I Love Paris)," and "Malaguena." The majority of it's sung in English, but it also includes tracks in French, Italian, German, and Spanish, giving some idea of her cross-cultural appeal. Perhaps in an attempt to sell her to a younger generation, the back sleeve blurb compares her vocal range to Yma Sumac, but while her range is indeed wide, that's a somewhat misleading reference. The recordings here are far less odd and exotica-oriented than Sumac's; in fact, they're pretty solidly in the pop and jazz-pop mainstream, though they're more pop than jazz (and occasionally sprinkled with travelogue-type Latin/ethnic music touches). She does showcase her soaring voice to good bop scatting effect in "Just You, Just Me," and her strong vocals do a lot to give the songs a lift, though a few of them have a dated corniness that's difficult to transcend. Stylistically, this is a somewhat uneven grouping of tracks, but the drama projected by her voice, and at times by the arrangements, make Hi-Fi Nightingale above-average '50s pop vocal music. ~ Richie Unterberger