专辑简介

To describe the art of Billy Eckstine it will be best to quote some of the musicians who know best: Lionel Hampton wrote: "He was one of the greatest singers of all time.... We were proud of him because he was the first Black popular singer singing popular songs in our race. We, the whole music profession, were so happy to see him achieve what he was doing. He was one of the greatest singers of that era... He was our singer." Quincy Jones states: "If he'd been white, the sky would have been the limit. As it was, he didn't have his own radio or TV show, much less a movie career. He had to fight the system, so things never quite fell into place." And finally the "grandmaster" of jazz, Duke Ellington: "Eckstine-style love songs opened new lines of communication for the man in the man-woman merry-go-round, and blues a la B were the essence of cool. (...) A remarkable artist, the sonorous B. ... His style and technique have seen extensively copied by some of the neocommercial singers, but despite their efforts he remains out front to show how and what should have been done. When Billy Eckstine is joined by his female "counterpart in singing" on several tracks of this album, Sarah Vaughan, we have 200 percent vocal power! My Billy's voice, may Sarah's voice - may THEIR voices sound forever and never be forgotten!