Kay STARR – A Rising Starr

These two CD’s contain Kay’s earliest recordings, mainly from 1944 to 1946, but beginning with two tracks she recorded in 1939 with Glenn Miller when his regular female singer, Marion Hutton, was ill. While Kay’s later recordings were much more in what was then mainstream pop, these recordings are firmly rooted in jazz. During the period covered, Kay was the female singer with several bands, including Charlie Barnet and his orchestra, Les Paul and his trio featuring Joe Venuti and Ben Pollack and his orchestra. The songs recorded with these bands fill most of the first CD. The other tracks are the two with Glenn Miller, one with Wingy Manone and his orchestra and two with the Capitol International Jazzmen - they were a star-studded line-up, including Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins and Nat King Cole. These tracks were recorded for several different labels and it is a credit to the compilers that they have been able to bring them all together. The second CD features Kay’s recordings for the Lamplighter label in 1946, after which she moved to Capitol where she had a successful solo career. Those tracks are available on several other compilations. Because this compilation attempts to include everything that Kay recorded before signing for Capitol (except alternate takes), some songs are duplicated because Kay sometimes recorded the same song for different labels, usually with different bands. This does not detract from what is a wonderful collection of Kay’s early music.

Track Listing

Disc One:
1. LOVE WITH A CAPITAL YOU
2. BABY ME
3. SHARECROPPIN' BLUES
4. IF I COULD BE WITH YOU (One Hour Tonight)
5. SHARECROPPIN' BLUES
6. COME OUT, COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE
7. WHAT A DIFF'RENCE A DAY MADE
8. INTO EACH LIFE SOME RAIN MUST FALL
9. YOU ALWAYS HURT THE ONE YOU LOVE
10. IF I COULD BE WITH YOU (One Hour Tonight)
11. STORMY WEATHER
12. FLYIN' TOO HIGH (What Goes Up Must Come Down)
13. MY FUTURE JUST PASSED
14. WHAT CAN I SAY AFTER I SAY I'M SORRY
15. BETCHA I GETCHA
16. NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN
17. AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'
18. HONEYSUCKLE ROSE
19. WHAT A DIFF'RENCE A DAY MADE
20. DIXIELAND BAND
21. THERE'S A LULL IN MY LIFE
22. SHOULD I
23. HONEY
24. I AIN'T GONNA CRY
25. DON'T MEDDLE IN MY MOOD

Disc Two:
1. LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME
2. SWEET LORRAINE
3. HE'S FUNNY THAT WAY
4. STORMY WEATHER
5. BABY WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME
6. HONEYSUCKLE ROSE
7. I'M CONFESSIN' (That I Love You)
8. ALL OF ME
9. WHO'S FOOLIN' WHO
10. I CRIED FOR YOU
11. YOU'RE JUST ABOUT RIGHT FOR ME
12. FRYING PAN
13. SUNDAY
14. AFTER YOU'VE GONE
15. ST. LOUIS BLUES
16. STARDUST
17. WHERE OR WHEN
18. I'VE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM
19. A WOMAN ALWAYS UNDERSTANDS
20. IT'S WHATCHA DO WITH WHATCHA GOT
21. PRETTY BABY
22. SO TIRED
23. PLEASE LOVE ME
24. THEM THERE EYES
25. THE LONESOMEST GAL IN TOWN
26. IF I COULD BE WITH YOU (One Hour Tonight)
27. YOU'VE GOT TO SEE MAMA EVERY NIGHT