Paul Bacon’s Girl Crazy is a swinging vocal jazz collection of 17 popular songs inspired by women’s names.

Among the most convivial and talented personalities in the Chiaroscuro family is Bacon, (1923-2015), whose career in graphic design is reflected in thousands of book jackets and hundreds of LP and CD covers.

His original artwork has been part of American Popular Culture since 1949 and is indelibly marked in our nostalgic memory. Known for introducing the “Big Book Look” in book jacket design, he designed about 6,500 jackets and more than 200 jazz record covers. The artwork for Girl Crazy is exactly as he had originally intended, before his death in 2015.

Bacon is a charming interpreter of vintage songs, a talent conclusively demonstrated in his project Girl Crazy. He was also one of the few recorded “hot comb” players. The “hot comb” is a novelty device made by affixing cellophane (from a Lucky Strike cigarette pack) over a standard pocket comb which gives the practitioner a unique sound that is a variation of scat singing with jug band overtones.

The album demonstrates the effect which caused trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso to remark, “You're really a trumpet player!” Recorded in the 1990s, Girl Crazy is a thematic compilation of 17 vintage popular songs written between 1903 and 1944 by such celebrated tunesmiths as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Harold Arlen.

For this recording Paul Bacon and musical director Keith Ingham assembled the Manhattan Serenaders, a group of compatible, world-class musicians and ‘musical pals’ to create wonderful settings for the varied lyrics and referenced ladies. All of the players provide swinging accompaniment and memorable improvisations that compliment and enhance the lyrics, and make for an album that will surely make you smile.

TRACKS

Waitin’ At The Gate For Katie

Emaline

Rosalie

Marie

Ida

My Gal Sal

Evalina

Margie

Clementine

Dolores

Mandy

Linda

Mary Medley

Hard Hearted Hannah

Maria

Elena

Candy

Dinah