
In the Wee Small Hours
1955
Sixteen ballads in one unbroken mood, recorded after his marriage to Ava Gardner fell apart, and built to be heard in order.
★ 6.9

Sixteen ballads in one unbroken mood, recorded after his marriage to Ava Gardner fell apart, and built to be heard in order.

The trombone solo in I've Got You Under My Skin was played by a man standing on a box to reach the microphone.

The title song was already twenty years old, a Glenn Miller tune, when Etta James took it away from everybody for good.

Count Basie's orchestra behind him, Quincy Jones's arrangements, and a long unscripted monologue in the middle that is half the reason people keep it.

Her voice had gone by then, and she sings behind the beat and around the notes, which turns out to be the whole point.