Julie London - Latin In A Satin Mood (1963/2024) [Official Digital Download 24/176]

Actress Julie London parlayed her movie fame into a successful career as a prolific recording artist, releasing some 30 albums between 1955 and 1969. "Latin In A Satin Mood" came out in 1963 and features an authentic Mexican vocal trio and mariachi-style trumpets on songs like "Besame Mucho" and "Vaya Con Dios", in arrangements that showcase London's sultry voice.

Exotic and Latin albums were big deals in the 1950s and early '60s, and singers as diverse as Dean Martin, Lena Horne, and Peggy Lee were recording with castanets and bongo drums. Peggy Lee was so successful at the style that she cut two albums of light pseudo-Latin jazz in 1960. Like Peggy Lee, Julie London combined a restrained vocal approach with jazz phrasing and a cool attitude with icy sex appeal. But while London had Lee's stripped-down musical approach, she just didn't share her unrelenting rhythmic vocal drive or her innate feeling for exotic rhythms. It doesn't help that London is paired with arranger Ernie Freeman, who was usually better at crafting Nashville and soft rock style charts than Latin jazz arrangements. This isn't a bad album – London sounds casual and confident throughout – but it is a rather bland one, and isn't blandness what these types of exotica albums are supposed to be fighting against? Latin in a Satin Mood ends up sounding exactly like what it was intended to be – an aid to put a little vanilla Latin sparkle in suburban American bedrooms. If you want your London in the Latin style, then try her excellent Getz/Gilberto-style tribute to Cole Porter, All Through the Night. Julie London's affinity for West Coast jazz and her melancholy emotional pull were much better suited to bossa nova than to Caribbean Latin music.

TRACKLIST

1. Julie London - Frenesi
2. Julie London - Be Mine Tonight
3. Julie London - Yours
4. Julie London - Besame Mucho
5. Julie London - Adios
6. Julie London - Sway
7. Julie London - Perfidia
8. Julie London - Come Closer To Me
9. Julie London - Amor
10. Julie London - Magic Is The Moonlight
11. Julie London - You Belong To My Heart
12. Julie London - Vaya Con Dios



Thanks to the Original customer.