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Title: Absolute perfection, worthy of six stars, not just five!
Review: I read an interesting book by jazz critic Will Friedwald, and he mentions his favorite "desert island" jazz vocal albums, and Billy's Best is among those. So I decided to try it, and it is in every way perfect. There are some bonus tracks here whcih don't really take away or add anything from the original lp material. However Eckstine's rich baritone voice, with just the right amount of vibarato, always hits the spot(think of a male jazz singer with the talent equivelent to Sarah Vaughan). His voice soars thru songs of all eras leading up to the 50's, starting with the 30's hit Bouolevard Of Broken Dreams right up to Desi Arnez's theme song Babalu. Wonderful arrangements with orchestra and strings only compliment and uplift Billy's jazz phrasing, making this the essential jazz/pop vocal lp, by any non-Sinatra male singer from the late 50's. A great disc thru and thru.
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