My Baby Loves to Swing

AMG Review of My Baby Loves to Swing

Nick Dedina
All Music Guide

This is another fine collaboration between the buttoned-down Damone and the jazzier arranger and guitarist Jack Marshall. The concept around which the album is built is illustrated by its title, My Baby Loves to Swing. This is basically a session of ig-band rhythm tunes that feature the word "baby" in them; it is an admittedly bizarre theme and three numbers ditch it altogether (two of these are slow dance numbers used to close each side of the original LP on a more romantic note). Damone's smooth delivery contrasts nicely with Marshall's charts, which find a middle ground between the ones Nelson Riddle and Billy May crafted for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. This isn't an essential session, but it is a good one, proving that the sides Damone cut for Capitol Records have much to offer. The British wing of EMI has re-released this album on a two-for-one budget CD with the even finer Linger Awhile With Vic Damone, another collaboration with Jack Marshall.