Track Listing

1. Fever
2. I Don't Know Enough About You
3. Moments Like This
4. Winter Weather
5. Some Cats Know
6. Everything Is Moving Too Fast
7. Waitin' for the Train to Come In
8. Freedom Train
9. Black Coffee
10. Woman Alone With the Blues
11. For Every Man There's a Woman
12. I'm Gonna Go Fishin'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54344 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .13 pounds

Amazon.com
From her beginnings in the sixties folk music scene in Boston, Maria Muldaur has continued to explore a range of American musics, first with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, followed by a pair of albums with then-husband Geoff Muldaur. The '70s brought her commercial success with the release of her debut solo album and the single "Midnight at the Oasis." The '80s found her recording sets devoted to jazz, gospel, and swing, while the '90s albums celebrated her love of New Orleans and blues. A Woman Alone With the Blues is devoted to 12 songs associated with Peggy Lee. From the slow burn of "Fever" to the swinging "Everything Is Moving Too Fast," this is a well-paced set with Muldaur backed by a supple eight-piece combo. Dan Hicks guests on "Winter Weather," trading verses with Muldaur over a snappy big band arrangement. Lee's career drew from a sufficiently diverse and uniformly potent range of songwriters (Ellington, Arlen, Berlin, Leiber & Stoller, etc.) and this album is likewise rich in its breadth. --David Greenberger

Customer Reviews

Sublime, sizzling and swinging - Peggy Lee is smiling!
Maria Muldaur does not sound at all like Peggy Lee. But imitation is not the point of this recording. The point is that this is a tribute album - and a first class one at that! Muldaur catches the essence of what Peggy Lee was with class and a bit of sass. From the opening cover of Lee's classic "Fever" one can tell that they're in for a treat. Backed by Harry Connick Jr.'s band Muldaur winds her way through a number of great songs associated with Ms. Lee. Most of them are not familiar. But not to worry, in the hands of Muldaur they feel as comfortable as an old shoe and illustrate just how versatile Peggy Lee was. Muldaur sounds better here than she has since her days at Warner Brothers. She's always been at her best vocally when she didn't push her voice and here she let's her instrument flow with ease. While listening to this I was immediately transported back to "Sweet Harmony" and "Sweet and Slow". This is a "must have" for any Muldaur fan, any fan of Ms. Lee and any pop music lover in general. Everything here is going in the right direction. Kudos to Maria Mulduar for taking the time to sort through the many recordings of Peggy Lee and coming up with the songs that make up this album. Kudos to her again for being such a supporter of the American music genre. She teaches us something new with each recording she makes. Somewhere Peggy Lee is smiling....and last November in Portland, Maine (not far from my home) a studio was quietly swinging and I didn't even know it!

Smokey Joe's
This is my 14th album by Maria Muldaur; and she keeps getting better, creating a diverse body of work. With her exquisite last CD remembering blues greats like Memphis Minnie on "Richland Woman Blues" and this set remembering Peggy Lee, she's becoming an interpretive musical historian of significance like the late John Hartford. With 21st century technical support, this set could be a blast from the 1930's - 1940's jazz era. Maria reinvents the music through her personality and makes it come alive. Among the many highlights on the CD is Peggy Lee's signature song "Fever" which burns and aches with libidinous longing. Dan Hicks duets on the swinging "Winter Weather" with the horns and brass pulsing to perfection. The two tracks that have me reaching for "repeat" come smack dab in the middle of the CD: Peggy Lee's penned "Everything Is Moving Too Fast" is a loose jazz & jive that'll set your toe to tapping while "Waitin' for the Train to Come In" highlights Maria's coos and sighs through a lovely melody. "Freedom Train," "Black Coffee" and the title track are also great highlights among an exquisitely strong set. This set will let you turn back the clock, imagine an earlier easier time when melodies were strong, Peggy Lee was one of her era's strongest vocalists, and somehow we are transported by Maria's magnificent performance to see that the music sounds as wonderful today as it did when it was first written. Enjoy!

Rediscovery
Back in the 70s, Maria Muldaur made a trio of fantastic albums for Reprise -- "Maria Muldaur," "Waitress In A Donut Shop," and "Sweet Harmony" -- that have grown better with age. They're essential and resonant music, as strong as any female interpretive singer in jazz or pop has recorded. Yet, a series of badly produced pop albums made this listener lose track of where the singer was headed. It's been years since I listened Maria Muldaur, and while her vocal timbre has changed -- losing her flexible sliding top notes -- her dexterous phrasing has only become more beautiful and playful with time. This an exquisite album, and a tribute to Peggy Lee -- not an imitation. It captures the spirit of the late great Ms. Lee, while remaining a unique and individual creation. The song choices, beyond the obligatory "Fever," are deep and surprising. Ms. Muldaur reveals herself to be a true fan and disciple, yet never subverts her own personality in the process. Like her early Reprise solo work, this new album gains in strength with repeated listening. Just wonderful.