The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography And Videography:
The Chesky Contract And The Guest Vocals
by Iván Santiago-Mercado

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Peggy Lee's Recording Career, 1992-1995

Michael Franks (ldr), Ben Sidran (pdr), Chris Hunter (as), John Pisano (g), John Patitucci (b), Warren Bernhardt (p), Alex Acuña (d, per), Michael Franks, Peggy Lee, Other Individuals Unknown (v)

At The Recording Session

Interviewed over the phone for the aforementioned article, Michael Franks shared some impressions about the two voices heard in the duet:

"Considering the feminine voice and the male voice, there were moments I thought they were so close. And she came up with all those really pretty harmony parts at the end. She ad-libbed that. It was amazing to be there with her and just to observe at such close range how she worked."

Interesting if less gracious comments are offered by producer Ben Sidran in his biography On The Rim Of The Well: A Life In The Music. Sidran states that the session took place in the summer of 1992, when Lee arrived at the studio "in wheelchair, in such fragile health that she clearly could not sing the way she would have liked."

Sidran adds that Lee "insisted she wanted to sing the duet with Michael live," an idea that Sidran did not find worthwhile. He remembers telling Franks (presumably outside of Lee's listening range): "We are going to have to spend a lot of time getting her parts right, and Michael, you can do yours later. So I'm going to go out there and tell her I have some technical problem in here and that it isn't possible to do both vocals at once." Sidran then approached Lee, and allegedly told her: "Miss Lee, that was lovely but could I ask you to sing that live again because we're still having problems in here." The producer says that he kept repeating the same words "for an hour."

Sidran continues: "she was a real trooper and when it was over, we had the makings of a very poignant vocal track." He professes to have spent "the rest of the day [after lunch] sampling, timing and editing each of her words, syllables, and phonemes, taking extra care that none of the sutures would show, giving her vocal the greatest facelift known to man or woman. It was a prime example of what the technology was for: creating a new reality." The producer concludes this rather self-congratulatory account by calling the end result "tragic and bittersweet."


Dating And Masters

The basis for the dating that I have assigned to this session's master is a San Francisco Chronicle article, published on July 25, 1993, in which reporter Lee Hildebrand states that Michael Franks and Peggy Lee recorded their duet "in New York last August." As mentioned in the preceding session, there is also an Associated Press article published on September 14, 1992 in which it is mentioned that, during her stay in New York, Lee sang "a duet and made a video with Gilbert O'Sullivan and also recorded with Michael Franks, at their request, songs each of them wrote."

The Associated Press quote points to the possibility that Franks and Lee recorded not only his own composition "You Were Meant For Me" but also one or more of Lee's own lyrics. But, if Franks recorded any lyrics penned by Lee, whether with her or solo, the recording(s) must be unreleased, or must have been erased.


Personnel

1. Source
My only source of information for this session's personnel is the only issue to date (Reprise CD #9452274), in which there are, fortunately, separate personnel credits for the songs. Two of them are duets, and feature the same personnel. In addition to "You Were Meant For Me," the album's other duet is "Keeping My Eye On You," co-interpreted by Franks and Dan Hicks.

Gilbert O'Sullivan (ldr), Gilbert O'Sullivan (pdr, key, v), Allen Branch, Mark Flannery, John Gallen, Steve Lowe (eng), Laurie Holloway (ccm), Geoff Whitehorn (g), Bob Skeat (b), Mick Parker (pac), Roly Kerridge (per), Peggy Lee (v, spk), Other Individuals Unknown (v)

Songwriters

1. Raymond O'Sullivan
Raymond O'Sullivan is the birth name of Gilbert O'Sullivan. It is also the name under which BMI lists his compositions.


Dating

The basis for the approximate date that I have assigned to this session's master is the following comment, found in an Associated Press report published on September 14, 1992: "Singer Peggy Lee ... just finished selling out a five-week engagement at Club 53 in the New York Hilton ... While in New York, [Peggy Lee] sang a duet and made a video with Gilbert O'Sullivan ..." Since the engagement had begun around July 29 and had ended on August 29, 1992, Lee's recording activity for O'Sullivan probably took place in August or otherwise in early September of that year. Late July is a possibility, too, though a less likely one. (n.b.: Further details about the video that is mentioned in the AP quote will be found in this discography's television pages, once those pages are completed and ready for viewing.)


Location

According to O'Sullivan's official site (www.gilbertosullivan.net), the album Sounds Of The Loop was "recorded almost entirely at his home in Jersey in the Channel Islands." (For other details on O'Sullivan's discographical work, see also Joe DiMuro's fan site at www.gosullivan.com .) I do not know if O'Sullivan's vocal for "Can't Think Straight" should be included among the parts of the album that were recorded at the singer-songwriter's home. I do know, however, that Lee's guest vocal was recorded in New York and that O'Sullivan flew to New York for the occasion. We also know that the pair performed the aforementioned "Can't Think Straight" video together.

In a recent BBC radio interview (July 2007), O'Sullivan himself confirmed that he was present in the studio when Lee recorded her part for the number. Moreover, at some of his concert appearances, O'Sullivan has told his audiences that he and Lee spent two days together. However, the singer-songwriter's confirmed presence next to Lee in the studio does not necessarily mean that he too recorded his part of the vocal on the same day. According to an online admiror of O'Sullivan's who posted a comment at a fansite, there is another radio interview in which O'Sullivan clarifies that he and Lee actually sang their parts separately. The parts were then blended in the studio. I believe that the piece of information provided by this O'Sullivan fan is correct; it certainly agrees with my impression that the same O'Sullivan vocal is heard in the four versions of the song that are discussed below.


Personnel

1. Collective Personnel
Sounds Of The Loop (Park CD #19) lists a basic, collective personnel. Since it is not clear whether those credits thoroughly apply to "Can't Think Straight," they should be considered tentative.


Masters, Issues (And Collectors' Corner)

1. The Many (Fe)male Faces Of "Can't Think Straight"
"Can't Think Straight" was originally recorded for inclusion in Gilbert O'Sullivan's CD Sounds Of The Loop. Curiously, that CD has been issued in four editions whose songs are the exact same except for "Can't Think Straight" which, from one edition to the other, is partially a different number, partially identical. The elements which remain invariable are O'Sullivan's vocal and the music track. The element that varies is the duet partner -- or rather, since the number is not truly a duet, "the cameo partner." Each CD edition features a guest artist who has been obviously chosen on account of the international market to which the edition caters. Most of those guests sing in their respective native languages, and the lyrics that they interpret may also differ. (I can vouch for the fact that the lyrics sung by two of the four guests are different from one another. Further details below.)

The original edition of Sounds Of The Loop was released by Toshiba EMI (CD Tocp 6897). In that 1991 release for the Asian market, O'Sullivan sings "Can't Think Straight" in the company of pianist and vocalist Takao Tisugi. Tisugi sings his part in Japanese, O'Sullivan in English. All the numbers included in that edition of Sounds Of The Loop were recorded between June 24 and September 12, 1991.

O'Sullivan's version featuring Peggy Lee was initially released by the British label Park in 1992 as part of a single also entitled Can't Think Straight (Park CD #15). The single describes itself as an advance sample from the album. One year later, Park finally released its own CD edition of the Sounds Of The Loop album (Park CD #19), obviously meant for distribution in the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, the United States. (Significant differences between the Toshiba Emi and Park editions are discussed in point #3 below.)

O'Sullivan's two other guest partners were Kirsten Siggaard, from Denmark, and Silvia Tortosa, from Spain. The CD editions that contain their respective versions (Siggaard: Scandinavian Records CD #966 005 2; Tortosa: Bcn Records Un 22 0451F) were released in 1993. Tortosa sings her part in Spanish; Siggaard in English.

Details about how those duets were conceived and produced are fuzzy in all four cases. It seems likely that O'Sullivan and his partners recorded their respective parts separately, although in Lee's case O'Sullivan made a point of coming to the studio while she was recording her part. (See notes about dating and location, above.)

2. "Can't Think Straight" [CD Single]
Park's CD single "Can't Think Straight" actually contains not one nor two but three songs, all of them written by Gilbert O'Sullivan: "Can't Think Straight," "Sometimes," and "Divorce Irish Style." As already explained, the fine print in this CD single states that its three songs were "taken from the forthcoming album Sounds Of The Loop.

In the front cover, "Gilbert O'Sullivan & Peggy Lee" are jointly identified as the featured act, and the two artists are seen together. The more accurate billing for Lee would have been guest star, since the single's other two songs feature O'Sullivan alone (naturally).

The cover's photograph has a slightly fake appearance which initially led me to assume that two shots -- one of each singer -- had been pasted together. I still do not discard such a possibility, but now I feel more inclined to zero in on the backdrop as the element that gives the impression of artificiality. It is a blank yellow screen that is clearly substituting for the actual backdrop behind the singers. The clothes worn by the two artists in this photo are the same ones that they wore for their video. See the cover here.

3. Sounds Of The Loop [CD; Park Records]
The CD Sounds Of The Loop was first released by Toshiba EMI in Japan, then by Park in Great Britain. As previously mentioned, the Japanese edition contains O'Sullivan's "Can't Think Straight" version with Takao Tisugi. The Park edition contains, on the other hand, two versions of "Can't Think Straight": the duet with Takao Tisugi (track #12) and the duet with Peggy Lee (track #6).

4. The Best Of Gilbert O'Sullivan [CD, Rhino Records; Original And Reissue Editions]
Rhino Records has released a CD entitled The Best Of Gilbert O'Sullivan twice, first in 1991 and then in 1997. As far as I have been able to ascertain from online listings (I do not own copies of this disc), the catalogue number of both editions is the same (R2 70560). Each edition contains 20 tracks, but the 1997 reissue substitutes two of the numbers in the 1991 issue. One of the substituted tracks is "Can't Think Straight." In other words, only the 1997 edition includes "Can't Think Straight."

Further adding to the confusion surrounding this Rhino compilation is the fact that the first pressing of the 1997 edition erroneously included the Kirsten Siggaard version. Acording to worth of mouth from his fans, a very mortified O'Sullivan requested a recall of that first pressing. The second pressing is said to contain the Peggy Lee version.

5. Love Songs [CD; Compilation Of O'Sullivan Songs]
Various sources erroneously report that the 1998 Japanese CD Love Songs (Kitty Records Ktcm 1132) includes the duet version by Peggy Lee and O'Sullivan. This anthology of O'Sullivan ballads contains instead the version with Takao Tisugi.

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Chesky (pdr), Bob Katz (eng), Gerry Niewood (f, ss, ts), Jay Berliner (acg, elg), Steve LaSpina, Jay Leonhart (b), Mike Renzi (p), Tony Monte (snt), Peter Grant (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The Recording Sessions

Peggy Lee's studio sessions for Chesky Records were probably conceived as an attempt at recreating the magic of the very successful concerts that she had been giving at Club 53 during the month of August 1992. Accordingly, the songs chosen for the album were culled from her nightly repertoire at the club.

Perhaps fatigued after more than a month of concert performances, or perhaps beset by her various ailments, the seventy-second-year-old was not in optimal vocal condition at the time of these sessions. Acquaintances of the singer have privately reported that Lee wished to leave the album unreleased, but her contract commitment prevented any steps in that direction. Despite her misgivings about the quality of the work that she had turned in, Lee felt grateful to Chesky Records for their interest and for the opportunity that the label's owners had given to her.


Location

1. BMG Studios
2. RCA Studios
In the discographical notes of the CD Moments Like This, BMG Studio B is identified as the location at which the album's masters were recorded.

However, another Chesky CD would seem to suggest otherwise. Live From Studio A is a various-artists compilation whose tracks were all supposedly recorded in RCA's Studio A. Among those tracks is Peggy Lee's rendition of "Why Don't You Do Right?", taken from her Moments Like This album.

In other words, the two aforementioned CDs list a different location for at least one of Lee's masters. I have put more trust in the location stated by the Lee CD.

The compilation's implicit claim strikes me as a mistake that stems from a faulty deduction. As indicated in the compilation's liner notes, RCA's Studio A was often used by Chesky, beginning with the label's debut session in November 16, 1988 and ending with a date that took place shortly before April 1, 1993, when the studio closed for good. Based on this general fact, the makers of the CD have apparently taken for granted that all Chesky masters recorded between 1988 and early 1993 originated at Studio A. The Moments Like This CD evidently shows that such was by no means always the case.

In a 1995 interview with David Chesky for Audio magazine, reporter John Gatski notes that "Chesky does not have a recording studio, preferring to pick venues that are comfortable for the musicians and provide a 'live' ambience." Whereas Studio A is likely to have been the facility that Chesky used most often until 1993, chances are that other studios were occasionally rented, even before the April 1993 cut date. With the passing of time, the occasional use of other locations might have simply been forgotten. (Moments Like This was released in 1992, Live From Studio A in 2006.)

Incidentally, the sound quality of the Lee track is much improved in the 2006 compilation.


Personnel

1. Steve Laspina
2. Jay Leonhart
Two bassists are listed in the personnel credits for the CD Moments Like This.

Steve Laspina played bass on "I Don't Know Enough About You," "Moments Like This," "Mañana," "Amazing," and "Always True To You In My Fashion."

Jay Leonhart's bass is heard in "Why Don't You Do Right?," "(Our) Love Is Here to Stay," " 'S Wonderful," and "Do I Love You?"

Underlying this Laspina-Leonhart distribution is the fact that the album was recorded over two days. Laspina was presumably available one day, Leonhart the other day.

3. Tony Monte
A keyboard synthesizer is played by Tony Monte in "(Our) Love Is Here to Stay," " 'S Wonderful," and "Amazing."


Masters And Sound Quality

Listeners' reactions to the CD Moments Like This vary considerably. The divergence of opinions can be gathered from the following five excerpts, written by Amazon's online customers:

1. "Peggy Lee's ... voice is a mere warble on this recording. But Lee's inimitable style is very present. Listen to her phrasing on [The] Folks who Live on the Hill and 'S Wonderful. The selections and musicians, led by Mike Renzi, are first rate."

2. "[T]he musicians are great and Peggy delivers some moving treatments on some of these songs, i do wished [sic] they had recorded Peggy live because i heard her sing in 1994 and she sounded wonderful!!"

3. "[S]he sounds barely awake and definitely not on key. In the the [sic] rare moments when she is animated, she is hardly recognizable as the Peggy Lee of years earlier. Also, the orchestration is virtually elevator music."

4. "I'm glad I ignored the critical pans of this, Peggy's last recording session. Indeed, she does sound older than her 72 years, and neither the breath support nor the enveloping breathiness are there any longer. The lyrics are delivered almost sotto voce -- an expiring sigh but with dead-on pitch and communicative story-telling. Don't come to this recording with preconceptions about how Peggy Lee should sound, and you'll discover some compelling revisions and revelations."

5. "If I'm not mistaken, this was Miss Lee's final recording. Unfortunately, her performance is not memorable and the sound quality of the disc is terrible."

For me, Moments Like This is the least successful of Lee's albums. I believe that the project's shortcomings stem from both the singer's diminished capabilities (vocal fatigue, poor health, aging of the vocal instrument) and the label's modus operandi.

Though highly noteworthy in and of itself, the label's recording methodology did not prove suitable the state of the singer's voice at this particular point in time. Like other Chesky CDs, the back cover of Moments Like This bears the legend "[r]ecorded using minimalist miking techniques and without overdubbing or artificial enhancement to ensure the purest and most natural sound possible." According to a biographical statement of purpose in the website of audio mastering engineer Bob Katz, he "specializes in minimalist miking techniques (no overdubs) for capturing jazz and other music that commonly is multimiked."

In assistant producer Steve Guttenberg's liner notes for the anthological CD Live from Studio A: The 1988-1993 Chesky Sessions, the commentary about the label's recording methodology is further expanded: "Instead of cloistering them in an isolated booth, we'd have [singers] Ana Caram, John Pizzarelli, or Kenny Rankin out in the studio, singing into the same AKG mike that we used for the rest of the band." As someone who preferred to carry her own mike, and who appreciated isolation booths because they allowed her to turn in more intimate-sounding interpretations, Lee might have objected. "The sound was committed to two-track analogue and digital tape live (without any overdubs)," continues Guttenberg, "so there was never any chance to 'fix the mix' ... The sound we heard over the monitor speakers was pressed onto the CDs."

Producer David Chesky indeed prides himself on following a purist approach to recording. When interviewed in 2004 for the webzine Allaboutjazz.com, he elaborated on his method as follows: "It’s sort of like black and white photography. We take a picture of an event and capture it in a moment of time. Through a clear lens, not through a rose-colored lens. We don’t sit there and say, OK, let’s overdub this. Call this guy in ... A recording is supposed to capture that moment in time. That’s what it’s supposed to do. That’s our mantra. We stick to that. Some people like it and some people don’t ... I worked for years in the studio, right? They always had 9 million microphones all over the place. One in the tuba bell, one in the piano, etc., etc. And when you hear it in the mix, it sounded so weird to me. You had to put the balance together. And when I was standing on the podium, it sounded fantastic. So I said, if I ever start a company I’m going to do an audiophile from a one-point perspective. Like you’re there. So that’s when we developed the stereo MS mic technique. So the orchestra gets the balance and that’s it." A musician through and through, Chesky's approach unquestionably deserves commendation; it has resulted in some wonderful albums.

But Lee's Moments Like This is not one of them. The following impressions, shared by fans of Lee at her official website, should give a fairly comprehensive -- if opinionated -- picture of the technical areas in which the CD scores low:

1. "[U]pon release [it] received criticism for its sound quality, suggesting that the Chesky label, in a quest for presenting a pure voice, allowed little or no reverb. Thus, we were told we were hearing Peg's undoctored voice. In any case, she sounds miles away from a microphone on this one."

2. "[I]f you turn up the volume to hear her more, the instruments become too loud, especially sax ... What I don't like with Moments is the recording technique. However I think Do I Love You and Always True are excellent, and some of the ballads, e.g. You're My Thrill and Then Was Then.

3. "The miking is appalling, the whole thing would have benefited greatly by editing Miss Lee's continual slurring."

4. "If you listen to Moments Like This with earphones you will hear a much better album. The sad part was that it was a studio album. The live performance at [Club 53] was the best Peggy performance I had ever seen. When they said they where doing an album, I assumed it would be live. She was in great form during that run."

5. "[T]he sound quality is a bit iffy and off. And sometimes, had I been the producer, I might have requested an additional take. For instance, Peggy's first notes on Amazing were a bit tentative as recorded, when they were more sure during her 'live' performances. Possibly by then she needed audience feedback for inspiration. She had become much more anecdotal during her appearances ... There are numerous satisfying details in Moments Like This, not the least of which are the personable, conversational elements in the title song. The brush-stroke minimalism contributes to the personal, confessional tone of the album ... 'S Wonderful has an authentic autobiographic air about it; the musing gratitude seems genuine. And Peggy's exquisite timing is still very much in evidence."

The last two comments, made by Sean Connors and Kevin Koerper, are particularly savvy. Since both gentlemen saw Lee perform shortly before the album was recorded, their comments carry special weight.

Benny Carter (ldr), Ed Berger, Danny Kapilian (pdr), Angel L. Balestier, Eric Cowden (eng), Benny Carter (as), John Heard (b), Gene DiNovi (p), Sherman Ferguson (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The Benny Carter Recording Sessions

MusicMasters' two volumes of The Benny Carter Songbook feature nearly 20 vocalists, each singing one or two songs by the eponymous composer, musician, conductor, and arranger. Some of those singers (Carmen Bradford, Diana Krall, Diane Reeves, Wesla Whitfield) came in after they were recommended by their managers or specifically recruited by producer Danny Kapilian, whereas Carter himself appears to have requested the presence of others who were friends or favorites of his (Peggy Lee, Nancy Marano, Marlena Shaw and, especially, Joe Williams). All but one of them recorded their respective numbers either in late June (NY) or in late July 1995 (LA). According to Kapilian, "Peggy Lee, one of Carter's oldest friends, made it to the studio last of all to deliver the most fragile version imaginable of Benny Carter's I See You."

In his liner notes for the first of the two songbooks, producer Kapilian further reminisces about the origins of the project: "Toward the end of 1994, MusicMasters president Jeffrey Nissim approached me with a new challenge. 'The legendary jazz altoist and arranger Benny Carter,' Jeff said to me, 'is an underappreciated songwriter. Would you like to help to bring together appropriate singers to record Benny's songs live in the studio with Benny and his group?' This was apparently a project that had been discussed for some time. I was then completing work on the album For The Love Of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson, an appreciation of a very different style of songwriter ... I'd never met Benny, though ... [I]n early January '95, I visited Benny at his home in Los Angeles for the first time ... This was plainly a project very close to Benny's heart. Together with his long-time friend and producer Ed Berger, and with assistance with Benny's wonderful wife Hilma, we started in earnest the task ... My requests for lead sheets of his songs yielded new ones which had never been put on paper, a few that had never been recorded, and others for which Benny wrote new lyrics."

In the second edition of his book Benny Carter: A Life In American Music (co-written with Morroe Berger and James Patrick), main author Ed Berger writes at length about the sessions. As the co-producer of the dates -- and as Carter's friend and road manager during the last period of his career -- Berger is particularly well qualified to talk about the project's development and completion. The extensive excerpt that follows comes from his book:

"As a first step, lists of potential vocalists were compiled and matched with lists of potential songs. A demo was prepared of new material that had never been recorded. Before contacting the vocalists, a weeding out process was undertaken. The label, Carter, and the producers proposed possible singers and eventually all parties agreed upon approximately 20 names. Danny Kapilian contacted the singers (or their managers) to work out the logistics. Carter had known some of them (Joe Williams, Peggy Lee, Bobby Short) for decades. Others he met for the first time in the studio. Because of the large number of usually highly paid performers involved, MusicMasters proposed to pay each singer a modest honorarium, plus expenses. The response was overwhelmingly positive."

"The singers were each given copies of a demo cassette, along with lead sheets for one or two suggested songs. In most cases, they went along with the selections ... Three days of recording were scheduled in New York and three in Los Angeles to produce enough material for two CDs to be issued a year or so apart. Since rehearsals had not been feasible, all the arrangements had to be worked out on the spot, although Carter occasionally sketched out an intro or ending for the horns."

"All the singers recorded live with the band. Apart from the occasional re-recording of a vocal passage, the only overdubbing occurred in We Were In Love, where some improvised fills between the two horns seems too busy behind the Diane Reeves - Joe Williams vocal duet. Some preferred to complete the songs in one or two takes. Others redid portions ... Bobby Short, for example, was not happy with his initial performance [and thus he asked for another take] ..."

"Carter was particularly grateful to hear Joe Williams' interpretation of I Was Wrong. Carter had written the song some 20 years earlier with Williams in mind and was visibly moved by the singer's rendition."

"Carter was also very pleased that his old friend Peggy Lee was able to take part despite serious health problems. She arrived in a wheelchair with a portable oxygen tank and her own microphone. True professionalism and indomitable spirit triumphed over physical frailty in I See You, a piece that Carter had written with Kay Parker in the 1940s but which had never been recorded. Whenever Carter tried to lay out, Lee insisted that he play continuously behind her throughout the track, seeming to draw strength from his presence."

"I'd say that Miss Peggy Lee is icing on the cake," added Carter himself during his Benny Carter Forever In Tune interview with Joseph Woodard, for the April 1996 issue of the magazine Jazz Times.


Songs

1. "I See You"
Peggy Lee was 75 years old when she sang "I See You," her final studio recording. (A handful of additional live appearances seem to have taken place between 1995 and 1997, but there was no more studio activity.) The evocative lyrics fittingly cap Lee's long, inspired career in the world of music: "I see you, everywhere / You're a flower blooming / A rose perfuming the air. / When I hear music played / There you are in every soothing serenade. / Like a star shining bright, / Near or far, you're never out of my sight. / From the sea to the sky above, / I see you through the misty eyes of love."

Peggy Lee At [David And Norman's] Chesky Records

Peggy Lee As A Guest Performer: With Michael Franks, Gilbert O'Sullivan, And Benny Carter

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