Morgana King - It's A Quiet Thing (1965)

A vocalist whose work unfortunately fell out of favor and went out of print for decades, Morgana King establishes such a brilliant presence on this album's opening and title track that in some ways it is impossible for her to live up to it throughout the program of ten titles. Blessed with incredible range, she operates in a vast dynamic range made possible not only by her technique, but by the sophisticated and classy, indeed outright lush arrangements by Torrie Zito. She gets to dive into "Useless Landscape," one of several bossa nova numbers from the DeOlivereira/Gilbert/Jobim songwriting team, with the strongly assuring backing of a lightly recorded string section, a steadily throbbing classical guitar, and a pungent French horn soloist. The arranger and producer really do seem fond of their bossa, also inserting the genre's trademark guitar waddle into the standard "Little Girl Blue." "Here's That Rainy Day" and "Gone With the Wind" also get nice treatments, with King showing plenty of flair for texture as well as rhythm. It's a consistently pleasing, professionally produced set of renditions, yet it can't be considered a good sign that a stranger wandering in the door would ask if it was a Tiny Tim record. This is most likely the result of the vocalist overdoing it "time after time," to paraphrase Cyndi Lauper, another stylish vocalist whose work in another era shares some similarities. At times one may wish it was Lauper and not the outrageous Yma Sumac that some of King's enunciation and pyrotechnics are reminiscent of. Any tendency to dismiss King outright would be a mistake, however. Like other somewhat eccentric vocalists, such as Al Hibbler and Betty Carter, aspects that seem inexplicable or tasteless at first listening are guaranteed to grow on the listener.