*** Lee Wiley ***

[king ubu]

Yes, but some good music has been out on them that I've not seen elsewhere (like the Miles with Berryl Booker. . . )

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Huh? Miles with Booker??? Never even heard of this...

I assume that's a label similar to those cheapo LPs (Chakra, Ozone... those had a front cover, but nothing on the back, and no info on musicians and dates at all).

I hope Djangos will indeed deliver the four Devil's Music discs - still no mail confirming my order.

[jazzbo]

Don't panic yet! Give them a day!

(By the way, there is a package on the way to you CONFIRMED from this location).

The Miles with Booker is about 20 minutes of Miles sittin' in. . . not essential, and this is the only place I've ever seen it.

[ghost of miles]

I have TOUCH OF THE BLUES & hope some day to pick up WEST OF THE MOON, which I'm told is even better... I love Lee. First discovered her through the early songbook folios done for Liberty... I still love her version of "Down With Love." One of the reasons I'll probably pick up the Condon's Mob box is just to get those Wiley sessions in better sound.

She sure was hell on Bunny Berigan, though!

[Stereojack]

I assume that's a label similar to those cheapo LPs (Chakra, Ozone... those had a front cover, but nothing on the back, and no info on musicians and dates at all).

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Very similar. In fact, produced by the same guy - Boris Rose.

[frank m]

I'm delighted to find all you other Lee Wiley nuts out there. In response to King Ubo's question about late Lee recordings, I would urge you to skip the "Back home again" item. She had been out of the business for a number of years, had aged, and had not been in voice. I prefer to remember her for her previous work.

[Kalo]

Oh man, I love Lee, too.

(I know there's another thread on here somewhere on this topic, but I'm too lazy to search for it.)

I've got a passel of her stuff on vinyl, dating back to the inception of my Wiley obsession, in the mid 1980s.

I just got my first Lee on CD (at Stereojack's -- keeping it in the family), a compilation of her three 10-inchers on Columbia Night in Manhattan/Sings Vincent Youmans/Sings Irving Berlin (Collector's Choice Music). The sound is OK, the music is better (Bobby Hackett is all over Manhattan, but the dual pianists are a drawback on the other two, though Lee shines).

My favorites are still these, the first ones I got (on LP):

Edited August 20, 2005 by Kalo

[king ubu]

Bumping this up - got the Mosaic single reissue of Wiley's other RCA album yesterday and immediately gave it a spin - wonderful album, highly recommended!

After it was finished (much too soon!) I gave the Uptown another spin. That one does get a bit repetitious but with the changing bands/trumpet soloists, it's another fine Wiley CD!

[BruceH]

Bumping this up - got the Mosaic single reissue of Wiley's other RCA album yesterday and immediately gave it a spin - wonderful album, highly recommended!

After it was finished (much too soon!) I gave the Uptown another spin. That one does get a bit repetitious but with the changing bands/trumpet soloists, it's another fine Wiley CD!

Doesn't this Mosaic have strings on it? (If so, I'm assuming they're tasteful.)

[Shannon Dickey]

Anybody on here wise to the Lee Wiley IMPERSONATOR" There was at least 2 Wiley impersonators, the last being active up until 1999. Very strange stories!

I happened to know the 2nd Wiley "impersonator", funny thing was, older folks would come up to her at open piano nights, at a very posh Hotel here in Denver, and flat accuse her of being Lee Wiley, at at least (in my presence) she got up from around the piano and archly stated:"Yes, I am and don't say another word about it!"

She had a lot of "tells", some of which gave her away, but, most enhanced her story.

She had many stories of Joe Bushkin, Bix, Billie, ...jeez so many.

That lady, who I knew for at least 14 years, died around 1999/2000.

Very strange.

Anybody got any soup on this? Or even the bona fide Wiley hoaxter??

----HB

[Kalo]

Bumping this up - got the Mosaic single reissue of Wiley's other RCA album yesterday and immediately gave it a spin - wonderful album, highly recommended!

After it was finished (much too soon!) I gave the Uptown another spin. That one does get a bit repetitious but with the changing bands/trumpet soloists, it's another fine Wiley CD!

Doesn't this Mosaic have strings on it? (If so, I'm assuming they're tasteful.)

Here's a quote from the anonymous liner notes: "Ralph Burns' marvelous arrangements called for three different and widely varying orchestras: one accenting strings, harp, and light rhythm; another swinging much in the manner of the old Red Norvo band, with trumpeter Nick Travis and trombonist Urbie Green doing most of the solo work; and the third a tightly woven jazz band, starring Billy Butterfield on trumpet, "Peanuts" Hucko on clarinet, and Lou McGarrity on trombone."

The string arrangements rate as tasteful, in my book. I like this session a lot, but I still prefer her earlier stuff. By the time this session was cut, her voice sounds a touch more phlegmy and her vibrato more wobbly than before.

I have this on Japanese RCA vinyl LP from 1981 (RJL-2547(M)) . The weird thing about this version is that one of the LP sides has pronounced reverb on it and the other doesn't. I assume that this odd phenomenon is limited to this pressing and was not present on the original or later reissues. Anyone know what's up with this?

[BruceH]

Bumping this up - got the Mosaic single reissue of Wiley's other RCA album yesterday and immediately gave it a spin - wonderful album, highly recommended!

After it was finished (much too soon!) I gave the Uptown another spin. That one does get a bit repetitious but with the changing bands/trumpet soloists, it's another fine Wiley CD!

Doesn't this Mosaic have strings on it? (If so, I'm assuming they're tasteful.)

Here's a quote from the anonymous liner notes: "Ralph Burns' marvelous arrangements called for three different and widely varying orchestras: one accenting strings, harp, and light rhythm; another swinging much in the manner of the old Red Norvo band, with trumpeter Nick Travis and trombonist Urbie Green doing most of the solo work; and the third a tightly woven jazz band, starring Billy Butterfield on trumpet, "Peanuts" Hucko on clarinet, and Lou McGarrity on trombone."

The string arrangements rate as tasteful, in my book. I like this session a lot, but I still prefer her earlier stuff. By the time this session was cut, her voice sounds a touch more phlegmy and her vibrato more wobbly than before.

I have this on Japanese RCA vinyl LP from 1981 (RJL-2547(M)) . The weird thing about this version is that one of the LP sides has pronounced reverb on it and the other doesn't. I assume that this odd phenomenon is limited to this pressing and was not present on the original or later reissues. Anyone know what's up with this?

Found this used yesterday, and like it. Her earlier stuff (particularly the two songbook compilations that you posted which I have in both vinyl and CD) will probably always remain my favorite Wiley.

[medjuck]

Sometimes those web sellers knowing too much about us is a good thing. A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from CD Universe (subject line: "New Charlie Parker Release" -- don't get exited: it was about the Uptown release which has its own thread), but the e-mail also listed :

Lee Wiley Live On Stage Town Hall, New York CD

It's a bit of a misnomer. The cd contains 20 songs from separate Eddie Condon concerts most of which were at the Ritz Theater. But it's well worth getting if you're as much as a Wiley fan as I am.

[Randy Twizzle]

I was reading up on 1920's gangster news in the NY Times when I came upon a reference to young Lee Wiley and her supposed connection to dead Brooklyn mobster Frankie Yale. This appeared on 8/4/1928. It's not exactly breaking news but...

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

why is lee wiley considered the 1st jazz "cult" singer, + does it have anything 2do with that prevoious mob article?

[jazzbo]

Sometimes those web sellers knowing too much about us is a good thing. A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from CD Universe (subject line: "New Charlie Parker Release" -- don't get exited: it was about the Uptown release which has its own thread), but the e-mail also listed :

Lee Wiley Live On Stage Town Hall, New York CD

It's a bit of a misnomer. The cd contains 20 songs from separate Eddie Condon concerts most of which were at the Ritz Theater. But it's well worth getting if you're as much as a Wiley fan as I am.

Definitely worth getting that cd. . . if you don't have all the Eddie Condon Town Hall volumes as I do!

[Larry Kart]

why is lee wiley considered the 1st jazz "cult" singer, + does it have anything 2do with that prevoious mob article?

Probably 2not.

[BruceH]

why is lee wiley considered the 1st jazz "cult" singer, + does it have anything 2do with that prevoious mob article?

Probably 2not.

Are you talking 2day or 2morrow? (Got to play some Wiley 2night.)

[danasgoodstuff]

Another offshoot from reading about Harold Arlen is re-listening to Wiley Sings..., was she making purposefully obscure choices on this and her other songbooks, or was there no cannon yet?