''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer

Marilyn Maye Marilyn Maye McLaughlin (born April 10, 1928) is an American singer, musical theater actress and masterclass educator. With a career spanning eight decades, Maye has performed music in the styles of cabaret, Jazz music, jazz and Pop music, pop ...

. It was released in August 1965 via

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

and contained 12 tracks. It was the second album of Maye's career and her first with the RCA label. It contained songs from musicals and also featured covers of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocal standards. It was reviewed positively by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine following its release in 1965.

Background

Marilyn Maye was performing in nightclubs throughout the Midwest United States. In 1961, she recorded her debut studio album titled ''Marilyn...the Most'', which attracted the attention of

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and ...

. Exposure on his nationally syndicated

television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

brought her to the attention of RCA Victor. Maye then signed a recording contract with the label. Maye recorded several albums with the RCA label between 1965 and 1970. Her debut album with the label was issued in 1965 called ''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye''.

Recording and content

''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye'' was recorded in 1965 at

Webster Hall Webster Hall is a nightclub and concert venue located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth avenues, near Astor Place, in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. It is one of New York City's most historically significant ...

, a performing venue and nightclub in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Although not recorded at an official studio, the project was not recorded as a live project. Instead, the album was given arrangements and recording procedures that would categorize it as a studio recording. The project was produced by Joe René, with arrangements by

Don Costa Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including '' Sinatra and Strings'' and '' My Way'' ...

and

Manny Albam Manny Albam (June 24, 1922 – October 2, 2001) was an American jazz arranger, composer, record producer, saxophonist, and educator. Early life A native of the Dominican Republic, Albam grew up in New York City. He was attracted to jazz at an ea ...

. The

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

were written by Steve Allen, who concluded by calling it "the best damned vocal album of 1965". ''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye'' consisted of 12 tracks. It included several covers of

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

songs, opening with "

Get Me to the Church on Time "Get Me to the Church on Time" is a song composed by Frederick Loewe, with lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1956 musical ''My Fair Lady'', where it was introduced by Stanley Holloway. It is sung by the cockney character Alfred P. Doolittl ...

". The song originally appeared in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

musical ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

''. Also included was the

title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

from the musical '' Hello, Dolly!''. "I Love You Today" was a song that originally appeared in an eight-show musical about the life of

Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was a Russian-born American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popula ...

called ''Sophie''. " Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" had originally appeared in the film '' Cabin in the Sky''. Other tracks were covers of Jazz songs, such as "

Take Five "Take Five" is a jazz standard composed by Paul Desmond in 5 beat per measure, the melody relying on the blues scale, with harmony E-flat minor. It was first recorded in 1959 and is the third track on ''Time Out'' by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. ...

", which originally had been successful for

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

. It also featured a cover of "

Misty In cryptography, MISTY1 (or MISTY-1) is a block cipher designed in 1995 by Mitsuru Matsui and others for Mitsubishi Electric. MISTY1 is one of the selected algorithms in the European NESSIE project, and has been among the cryptographic tech ...

", which had been a commercial success for

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

. Other Jazz and theater covers included "

The Song Is You "The Song Is You" is a jazz standard composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for their musical '' Music in the Air'' (1932) and sung in that show by Tullio Carminati. In the subsequent 1934 film, the song was re ...

", " Put On a Happy Face", " Make Someone Happy", " Washington Square" and "

Where Are You Where Are You may refer to: Albums * Where Are You? (Frank Sinatra album), ''Where Are You?'' (Frank Sinatra album), 1957 * Where Are You? (Mal Waldron album), ''Where Are You?'' (Mal Waldron album), 1989 Songs * Where Are You? (1937 song), "W ...

Release, reception and promotion

''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye'' was originally released in August 1965 on RCA Victor. It was offered as a

vinyl LP The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

in both mono and stereo formats. Six songs appeared on either side of the record. It was her first album with RCA Victor and second studio album in her career. It has since been re-released digitally to retailers that include

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

. According to an article from ''

'' magazine, ''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye'' was given regular promotion from RCA Victor shortly after its release. This included a performance at

The Living Room The Living Room was a music venue on Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was originally established on Stanton Street of the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City in 1988. The Living Room was co-owned ...

venue in New York City, where Maye performed the entire album track listing. After its original release, ''Billboard'' magazine highlighted the album as a "Pop Special Merit" pick. The publication described Maye as "a talented girl who will be heard from". Will Friedwald of the book ''The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums'' praised the project by saying, "Nearly every other aspect of her work is already in place here in 1965." Friedwalkd further highlighted Maye's vocal delivery and found her to be a seasoned Jazz vocalist by the time of the album's release.

Track listing

Technical personnel

All credits are adapted from the

of ''Meet Marvelous Marilyn Maye''. * Steve Allen – Liner notes * Manny Albam – Arranger * Don Costa – Arranger * Mickey Crofford – Recording engineer * Joe René – Producer

Release history

References

{{Marilyn Maye 1965 albums Albums arranged by Don Costa Albums arranged by Manny Albam Marilyn Maye albums RCA Victor albums