Cybill Shepherd - Vanilla (1979) [1990, Reissue]

Actresses who moonlight as singers often have difficulty being taken seriously and quite often, the skepticism is well-founded. But Cybill Shepherd, though far from breathtaking, is in fact, a decent and likable jazz-pop singer. From the balladry of "More than You Know" and "My Ship" to vibrant and surprisingly swingin' interpretations of "'S Wonderful" and Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin," Vanilla presents Shepherd as a very warm and enjoyable interpreter of standards whose phrasing at times suggests a more jazz-oriented Peggy Lee. Reissued on CD in 1990, the album also features solos by pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr., a masterful bebopper and Bud Powell disciple, also well worth hearing.

Cybill Shepherd got her first taste of Memphis Music singing folk songs with her brother Bill for the East High Assembly. When she won Model of the Year and left Memphis she had a "perfect little Southern voice." Filming "The Last Picture Show" Eileen Brennan encouraged her to sing and suggested a teacher. Cybill studied opera and learned discipline. After Cybill finished "Special Delivery" and "Silver Bears Bill" Shepherd came to Bel Air to visit. "One afternoon when we were all alone he showed me the film he produced of the Beale Street Blues Festival. I was flabbergasted by the whole sound of music in Memphis and how it fit historically and I knew I had to go home and connect with it." Orson Welles told her to forget her lessons - go and learn from doing it. August, 1978, Memphis, Tennessee, Sam Phillips Studio: Fred Ford, the man who howled like a dog on Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's classic record "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog," is there to produce Cybill's homecoming. He is surrounded by his Beale Street USA Orchestra, usually 20 pieces but "mortified down to 12 for the date." One of the main production goals for this album is to record live with no overdubbing. "Anything But Love" is the first song cut. Jamil Nasser's bass becomes the hub of the wheel playing straight ahead (Up Top, Charlie Freeman would have said). Fred does an 8 bar alto solo and Cybill takes command of the last verse. Then move over, here he comes "Infinity at the Keyboard" playing like "Patta-whiskey," dominating the moment with his incredible piano, Phineas Newborn, Jr. Afterward, everybody flipped. Cybill pulled the arrangement for "My Ship" out of her music case. Phineas said, "I don't play this much," which might mean he hadn't played it for thirty years. Fred said, "You can do it." Jim Dickinson turned on the tape recorder and that's what it is. (Cybill says the only problem knowing somebody as expert as Jim is you want to lean on him for everything). The last cut" Foggy Day In London Town" goes so far beyond the classic Frank Sinatra version it reaches a frenzy. The horn solos alternate at 4 bar intervals with Fred Ford on alto, William "No-Key" Taylor on trumpet, and Irvin Reason (teacher of Charles Lloyd and Frank Strozier) on alto. That's not a train rolling at the fade-that's Cybill Shepherd and the Rocking Memphis Underground. Cybill is "Fortune's favorite child" come home. Delta painter Walter Anderson wrote, "When the proper relation of two things produces a third which is completely satisfactory - that third thing is a miracle." This miracle will move you. Lay back and let the music do the rest.