6.25.2005

I'm in the Mood for Love




King Pleasure I'm in the Mood for Love 45 (Prestige, 1962)

One of the masters of vocalese (a singing style in which the vocals are sung to the solos of other instruments) who I had no idea existed until I got this little gem of a record. My reasons for buying it were pretty superficial: The guy's name and a 5 second needle drop made me think "over the top vocals." But the more I listened to the record, the deeper it got. With Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure was one of the first to do vocalese.

The story of this song goes a bit like this: Saxman James Moody recorded a version of I'm in the Mood for Love as Moody's Mood for Love. Eddie Jefferson adapted the words to Moody's solo and sang it in 1952. OR Moody recorded Moody's Mood and King Pleasure put words to the words and recorded it in 1952. OR Moody did his, Jefferson did his, and years later King Pleasure did his as I'm in the Mood for Love. Also unclear is who does the second vocal. I've read Jon Hendricks and I've read Annie Ross. (A reader hipped me that the answer vocal might be the excellently named Blossom Dearie. From what I can find, she did the 1952 version with King Pleasure. Is she on this one? Most likely so.)

(Please do not confuse King Pleasure with the lame UK swing band by the same name. Our King Pleasure dropped into obscurity in the mid Sixties and died in the early Eighties. Unfortunately, the Brits play on TV often and are still alive.)



Comments:
i'm not absolutely positive about that, but couldn't the female vocal be blossom dearie's? it really sounds like her voice.
 
Yes, I just did some searching and you are right....
 
hey
thanks for this blog and the great links u put up
i like this tune, it's a bonus to know the female vocals were dearie's
 
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