Marian Bruce / Jacy Parker - Halfway To Dawn / Spotlight On Jacy Parker (2016)

This CD showcases two fine singers who, after starting promising careers, recorded only a single album each.

In similar, intimate settings aimed at both pop and jazz listeners, they showed their sophisticated talents on a series of quality songs. Marian Bruce had perfected her sultry style in the early 50s night clubs of New York, Paris and London. In 1958 trumpeter Clark Terry introduced her to the Riverside label, where she was able to make the most of her warm, strong and beautiful voice on a laid-back, late-night album, aptly titled “Halfway to Dawn”, backed by the superb accompanist, pianist Jimmy Jones, and the subtle, sensitive trumpet of Joe Wilder, with bassist Al Hall and guitarist Everett Barksdale.

Jacy Parker recorded her lone and lovely date for Verve in 1962. Having left her hometown, Chicago, in her mid-20s, she had been singing and playing piano around New York since 1954. “Spotlight on Jacy Parker” captured well the clarity of her voice and her jazz-oriented, musical phrasing. Her style—like that of so many singers of her generation—was marked by the influence of Sarah Vaughan, but her wry, sassy vocals and forward-thinking piano solos are in stark contrast to the prevailing girl singer sensibilities of the time. She is backed by an equally fitting rhythm section, and persuasively supported by Ernie Royal’s insinuating trumpet.

Marian Bruce - Halfway To Dawn

Tracklist:

01. Lucky To Be Me (3:03)
02. Let Me Love You (3:17)
03. It Never Entered My Mind (3:23)
04. Things Are Looking Up (2:42)
05. Something To Live For (3:07)
06. Looking For A Boy (2:58)
07. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good (3:17)
08. My One And Only (2:45)
09. A Ship Without A Sail (3:21)
10. No One Ever Tells You (2:12)
11. The Gentleman Is A Dope (2:19)
12. Don't Like Goodbyes (3:06)

Personnel:
Marian Bruce, vocals, accompanied by Joe Wilder, trumpet; Jimmy Jones, piano; Everett Barksdale, guitar; and Al Hall, bass.
Reeves Sound Studios, New York City, April 1958

Jacy Parker - Spotlight On Jacy Parker

Tracklist:

13. I Thought About You (3:02)
14. Guess Who I Saw Today (3:26)
15. Here Comes Trouble Again (3:39)
16. My Ship (3:22)
17. Time After Time (1:55)
18. You're The Cream In My Coffee (2:56)
19. Like The Likes Of You (2:21)
20. Sweet William (1:52)
21. Long Gone Love (3:29)
22. It's You Or No One (3:35)
23. You Mean Old World (2:04)
24. But Beautiful (2:57)

Personnel:
Jacy Parker, piano and vocals, accompanied by Ernie Royal, trumpet; Don Cinderella, bass; Sticks Evans or Roy James (#14,16,24) drums.
Recorded in New York City, March, 1962