ArtistInfo

Marian Montgomery
Sometimes In The Night

Album UK 1989 on Elgin label
Jazz (Smooth Jazz, Easy Listening)

Recorded at Twickenham Music Studios England. With special thanks to Keith Grant for his faith, friendship, patience and inspirational support. From the sleeve notes: This is not a critique by some student of the popular song. This is a tribute from a fan to a friend. I knew Marion Montgomery long before I met her. She was part of my American education along with Steinbeck, Hemmingway, The New Yorker, B Movies, Ellington, Bogart, Welles, Astaire, the Fitzgeralds (Scott and Ella), Frank Sinatra, Gerry Mulligan and Johnny Mercer. In case you might suspect I am overstating the proposition then let me inform you that I once sat in Marion's house next to Mr Mulligan while she sang duets with Johnny Mercer. The point is that by the time Marion Montgomery came into my life I had been properly weaned on the popular culture of her native land and was well able to tell the real thing from an imitation. She was and is the real thing. There is nothing phony about Marion Montgomery. Like all gifted singers she is difficult to categorise. Cabaret performer? Of course. Stylish, witty, poised, she's all those things and more. Jazz singer? Certainly. She can swing with the best of them and sings the blues like she knows where they come from. Pop singer? With the best of popular songs, by which I mean the classics, there are few singers with the range to be as at ease as she with either wit of Lorenz Hart or Sondheim at his most mordant. Singer/actress? Watch her work and you'll know the answer. So where does it all come from, where did she gather her considerable repertoire of gifts? Part of it is bred in the bone. She was born in Natchez, Mississippi. The music she grew up with - country, blues, the start of rock 'n roll, jazz - were her foundations. Her apprenticeship took her into strip clubs, gambling dens, black and tan clubs, establishments which were as much a test of nerve as talent. Today she is as at home at the Royal Festival Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Ritz Hotel or singing to Royalty. But then you know all about her as soon as you hear her sing. Her experience, her life story, is in her voice. She is a unique combination of Basin Street and Mayfair. For me one of her greatest attributes is her reverence for the lyricist. There are other singers of great gifts who treat words with indifference, who deliver them exactly as if they were reading aloud the contents of a street directory. Their main concern is to deceive us with a bag of musical tricks. Not Marion Montgomery. There are no gimmicks when she sings. Instead she concentrates on the sense of the song and the emotion created by the perfect blend of words and music. She once said " don't care where the material originates so long as it speaks to me and my condition, and believe me, I've got lots of conditions". "I'm not a babe any more and I guess that helps me to understand the emotion behind a lyric". So what we have is Marion Montgomery at her best, in all her conditions from happy to sad, lovelorn to giddy, sophisticated chanteuse to a life scarred woman singing the blues. She has been greatly assisted in this enterprise by the fact that she sleeps with her musical direct and accompanist, Mr Laurie Holloway. This is not as startling as it might be since she is married to Mr Holloway, a musician of great gifts and infallible taste. Together they make a formidable partnership. Their record is a celebration of style and further proof, if it be needed, that in music as in everything, there is no substitute for real talent. (Sir) Michael Parkinson

Musicians

	Marian Montgomery voc, 1934-2002 US album by, written by
	Laurie Holloway p, key, *1938 GB arranged by, directed by, piano, producer, synthesizer, written by
	Lennie Bush b, 1927-2004 GB bass
	Allan Ganley dr, 1931-2008 GB drums
	Lee Fothergill g, guitar

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