Bobby Short

Collectables Records' two-fer of Bobby Short's 1959 album The Mad Twenties and My Personal Property from 1963 matches up two quite different releases on the same CD, both pleasing works on their own. The Mad Twenties, as its name suggests, is a collection of songs from the 1920s. Short and arranger/conductor Phil Moore have put together small bands consisting of a few horns and a rhythm section to play the material in an authentic Dixieland style, and Short not only sings with his usual style but also effectively apes some of the styles of the day, including crooning on "Sweet So and So" and "I'm Bringing a Red, Red Rose," and plaintively reciting the pathetic sentiments of "Laugh, Clown, Laugh." The album is a wonderful evocation of a bygone era. My Personal Property, on the other hand, was close to contemporary at the time it was made, a songbook of the work of pop and theater composer Cy Coleman including standards such as "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come." Coleman's jazzy tunes proved a perfect match for a performer used to bringing out the best in an earlier generation of show music composers such as Cole Porter, with the lyrics, most of them by Carolyn Leigh, having a wit and emotionalism Short also responded to, so that, although he and his piano were performing with just bass, drum, and occasional percussion accompaniment, he held his own against such Coleman interpreters as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. As two-fers go, there isn't much to match up such differing albums, but they stand as two contrasting examples of Bobby Short's performing abilities. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide