Track Listing

1. Steppin' Out With My Baby
2. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
3. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
4. They Can't Take That Away from Me
5. Dancing in the Dark
6. 'S Wonderful
7. Way You Look Tonight
8. They All Laughed
9. I Concentrate on You
10. Night and Day
11. Fine Romance
12. Nice Work If You Can Get It
13. Continental
14. I Won't Dance
15. You're Easy to Dance With
16. Change Partners
17. Cheek to Cheek

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13621 in Music
• Released on: 1994-06-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
In 1952 Fred Astaire joined Oscar Peterson and some of Verve's best sidemen to lay down jazzy, laid-back versions of songs he had made famous in his Broadway and film career. Those 38 tracks, released as The Astaire Story, have been condensed into this collection, Steppin' Out: Fred Astaire Sings. While Astaire was not blessed with great vocal chops, the best American songwriters including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter loved him for his unerring sense of rhythm and sympathetic treatment of lyrics, qualities that are well displayed here. Tony Bennett hit the pop mainstream with his 1994 album of jazzy Astaire standards. Here's the original. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

A Great American Songbook
In an album that contains many of the finest songs ever written by Berlin, Porter, Gershwin and others, Fred Astaire proves that it phrasing and timing, and not voice, that make a great singer. This is a truly remarkable CD in all aspects. The sound quality, considering it was recorded in 1952, is superb. Astaire is in incomparable form, with the songs sounding much better than some of his earlier versions. And the sextet supporting Astaire, including the marvelous Oscar Peterson at the keyboard, is as fine as any. Not to be missed for anyone who loves this genre. There is also a 2 CD, complete recording of this session on Amazon.com called The Astaire Story.

Classic Jazz With Fred Astaire
According to Hollywood legend, Fred Astaire's 1933 screen test for RKO resulted in this studio memo: "Can't sing. Can't act. Can dance a little." In reality, the dance visionary was an underrated vocal stylist who brought out the best in the compositions of George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Originally produced by Norman Granz, "Steppin' Out" compiles 17 recordings from Astaire's classic 1952 session - accompanied by a stellar jazz combo featuring pianist Oscar Peterson. The sound quality and musicianship are impeccable, with Fred smoothly gliding from one standard to another. A particularly nice touch is the three-minute interview that follows "Cheek to Cheek." If you cannot find the 38-track "Astaire Story," this hour-long Verve CD makes for an excellent overview.

A Bridge Between the 1930's and 1950's
The Great American Song Book reached its highest point in the 1950's with Verve's Jazz recordings of the classic American music of the 1930's. All the Jazz greats stepped back twenty years and breathed new life into the works of Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter.

"Steppin' Out" is brilliant because it serves as a link between the Broadway and Hollywood Music of the 1930's and the new Jazz interpretations of the 1950's. Many of the songs covered in this album were written for and first performed by Fred Astaire.

Verve had a first rate idea in asking Fred Astaire to work with Oscar Peterson. The arrangements show all the brilliance that Peterson was capable of achieving and Astaire stepped up to the musical challange. The jazz pace and phrasing worked perfectly for Astaire. His voice and delivery had only improved with time. In my opinion, his voice in the 1930's had a tinny quality to it. But by the 1950's he had matured and there is deepness to his voice that works well in a jazz setting.

There can be little argument that Fred Astaire was one of the great dancers of the Twentieth Century. Although not as well respected as a vocalist, this album quite clearly shows that Astaire could do it all.