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ANN MARGRET & AL HART - Beauty and the Beard - Amazon.com Music
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Ann-Margaret's vocals are great here - as good as they ever were, and Hirt plays well and sings... well, surprisingly well. The playful chemistry between the talents of the two on this album is terrific. The song selection plays to their pairing, and Marty Paich & Orchestra also are excellent. Production is good. All in all this is a great listen, and should be regarded as a classic.
I don't normally review CD's but this is one of my all time favorites - I still have the old 33 RCA record album. Ann Margret was young, beautiful, and had this sexy, seductive voice and Al Hirt, known as a great Jazz trumpet player and band leader, has a fairly good bass voice. Al Hirt, while not exactly a white Barry White, does a tremendous job of contrasting Ann Margret's girlish voice while playing the trumpet also.
The song selection is old classics of the 40's and 50's but lend themselves well to the jazz interpretation by Ann and Al.
The producer or sound engineer should have won an award for the unsurpassed sound separation on this album. Ann Margret's voice comes out one speaker and Al Hirt's voice and trumpet comes out the other speaker with the band's music in between - truly what all stereo should be but seldom is. At the end of song # 7 Best Man, you can actually hear Ann Margret move across to Al Hirt which really makes the song funny and cute. Buy it for the unique sound separation and,of course, the fantastic music.
The beauty of "Beauty and the Beat" is its camp-appeal. What could be more fun than beautiful Ann-Margret singing in her perky-you-can-tell-she's-smiling way, joined by big ol' hairy Al Hirt? Ann-Margret's performance is, well, vintage mid-1960s sex-kitten. If you loved her in "Viva Las Vegas," this might be right up your alley. Al Hirt's vocals are actually quite good (for a trumpeter). If you're a fan of Hirt's New Orleans style trumpeting and his hits such as "Java," "Cotton Candy," "Sugar Lips," and "Fancy Pants," you might be disappointed to find that he seems to be singing here more than he's playing. If you don't mind hearing Hirt's vocals with limited solos on trumpet, then you will enjoy the CD very much. Certain numbers are charming by any standard: "Personality" stands out, as does "Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don't Love Nobody But Me)."
I love Al Hirt and his mellow trumpet. He is the King! However this album is full of singing by Ann Margeret, a beauty when she was young, but I don't enjoy her singing style. Add to that and Al Also sings! While I love his trumpet, his singing I can do without! Of all of his beautiful albums that have long been out of print or never available on CD and they picked this one to release! Big mistake. Get Honey In The Horn, or Jazzin' At The Pops and pass on this clunker!
I loved it, loved it, loved it! Its soothing, pleasant and delightful to listen to, and Ann Margret's diversity in her style of singing to many types of music, including jazz, is something that I have just recently discovered. The combination of Ann Margret and Al Hirts duets are a sensation. Together singing wise, they are like strawberries and cream. Now I know what all the fuss is about! This CD, is well worth every penny! As I am a great lover of jazz, I would recommend this to any Jazz fan. And I say, buy it now!!
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