Credits:

Julie London

Description:

Three years after her debut, Julie Is Her Name, Julie London returned to the intimate jazz guitar and bass backing that resulted in a Top Ten album and single (the still-popular “Cry Me a River”). You can almost see the cigar-smoking executives at Liberty Records planning this one out — “Hey, if the public loved it the first time, they’re bound to love it again, right?” Well, to give the cigar-chompers some credit, Julie London favored this backing for her live performances and she originally had to fight to be able to record with this intimate jazz backing. Plus, every uptown singer — from Johnny Mathis to Chet Baker to Sarah Vaughan — was recording with a guitar/bass duo after Julie Is Her Name hit big, so why not the lady who started it all? For once, pandering to the public equaled taking the artistic high road, because while Julie Is Her Name, Vol. 2 may not be as fresh or unexpected as