Satin Doll Trio - Cottage for Sale (1999)

It's a difficult job to to come up with fresh arrangements for an album of well known and often recorded Standards.. The Satin Doll Trio was able to do it on their CD, "A Cottage For Sale". Using only jazz guitar and acoustic bass behind the vocalist, Patrice Ferris, they produce a nice, smooth and easy going sound for these songs, all of which were recorded at some time by Julie London. Ms. Ferris' clear voice gives the listener a chance to hear each word, a must for songs where the lyric, and the story it tells, is really the heart of the work.
The liner notes state that the early Julie London recordings used instrumentation similar to that employed here by The Satin Doll Trio. I'm personally more familiar with the recordings Ms. London made with an orchestra, but enjoy the more free and open sound of the trio format.

I have to comment on the rendition of the title song, "A Cottage For Sale". Too often this very sad song is performed at a fast tempo, in almost a "swing" style. The Satin Doll Trio arrangement is slow, the way it's supposed to be, giving the listener a chance to think about the message the lyricist is presenting. My dad, Larry Conley, would have loved it, and he was the one who wrote the lyric! ~A Customer.

Personnel :Ken Kilpatrick on guitar, Fred Ferris on bass, and vocalist Patrice Ferris.