Cleo Laine (95 today) on BBC4 - Friday 28 Oct 9-11.55pm

[Serial_Apologist]

9pm - Cleo Laine at the BBC
A look back at the singer's finest moments on the BBC, showing to coincide with her 95th birthday today. Britain's "First Lady if Jazz" became a star after joining the John Dankworth Seven in the 1950s; she later married the bandleader. Internationally renowned for her mastery of the scat singing style, Laine has now enjoyed over six decades of success. Featuring renditions of Send in the Clowns and I Love You Porgy, and duets with John Williams, Dudley Moore, Tony Bennett and her late husband Johnny Dankworth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dhjg

10pm - Show of the Week: Cleo Laine
Jazz legends Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth in concert from 1974, at the Collegiate Theatre in London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dhjl

10.55pm - Sir John Dankworth at the BBC
In tribute to the jazz musician, big band leader and composer for TV and film, including archive footage of him playing the saxophone with his hero Duke Ellington in 1958, his Royal Variety Performance in 1962 and his appearance with wife Cleo Laine on Later... with Jools Holland in 2007.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tp21y

[smittims]

One of her more adventurous recordings was 'Pierrot Lunaire' in Cecil Gray's English translation, with I think Elgar Howarth conducting, a praiseworthy attempt to get more people to listen to this rewarding work which was still a hard listen in the 1970s.

[Bryn]

One of her more adventurous recordings was 'Pierrot Lunaire' in Cecil Gray's English translation, with I think Elgar Howarth conducting, a praiseworthy attempt to get more people to listen to this rewarding work which was still a hard listen in the 1970s.

Intriguing, I recall her Facade with Annie Ross and hubby Dankwirth but not a Pierrot Lunaire. I must search that out. Looks like it never made it to CD or download but there is a transfer from the LP on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDM4e7YNQc

Now to search out the 3 Ives songs from the same disc.

[eighthobstruction]

....it's challenging now and competing with Brighton 3 nil up on Chelsea....(R5)....better than being a lettuce....come on Cleo swing it out to the left wing Chelsea are falling apart....

[Serial_Apologist]

Intriguing, I recall her Facade with Annie Ross and hubby Dankwirth but not a Pierrot Lunaire. I must search that out. Looks like it never made it to CD or download but there is a transfer from the LP on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDM4e7YNQc

Now to search out the 3 Ives songs from the same disc.

Daryl Runswick was with the Nash Ensemble at around this time and worked with John and Cleo for a good dozen or more years. He wasn't involved in this particular recording - though his own regular pianist Tony Hymas was - and when he found out I had it in my collection asked if he could have it in return for him doing me a CD of it. This was in the days before I scrupulously cleaned all of my vinyl recordings, and for some reason Daryl did me the CD without attention to the copious dust and finger prints on it, thus giving me a very crackly recording. In my opinion Cleo gave a remarkably good rendering of the Sprechstimme part in a translation into English which to my mind preserved the singular spirit of the text Schoenberg used. And her rendition of the Ives songs was marvellous.

Below is Daryl's take on his collaborations with her, along with their recorded legacy and some amusing anecdotes. While not myself a fan of Cleo and John's more vaudeville stuff I did enjoy the duet of the two featured from one of the 1970s archive clips.

http://www.darylrunswick.net/cleo.html