Linda Purl's Songs Of Love

Linda Purl Songs Of Love

Bruce Von Stiers

I think the first time I remember seeing Linda Purl was in re-runs of Happy Days. She played Fonzie's girlfriend. But it seems that Linda had roles in several television productions and a couple of films before that. And since the girlfriend role, Linda has went on to be in a lot of television shows and a few feature films.

I knew Linda was a really good actor, but what I didn't know what kind of vocalist she is. Through a friend's recent social media posting, I had learned that Linda was a vocalist. But I didn't know if she was very good or not. I found out she is indeed a very good vocalist. Checking things out a bit, I learned that sometime in-between her acting gigs, Linda embarked on a second career as a jazz singer. She recorded a few albums over the years and has performed with people such as Desi Arnaz, Jr., Gregory Harrison and John Schneider.

This year finds Linda with a brand new album. The album is called Taking A Chance On Love. It has several classic jazz love songs along with a few newer ones.

The album has twelve songs and a play time of forty eight minutes. It was recorded and engineered by Ryan Streber at his Oktaven Audio studio. The album is being released on the Reaching Records label.

The musicians that are backing Linda on the album are David Finck on bass, Ray Marchica on drums, Nelson Rangell on reeds and Tedd Firth on piano. Finck has worked with Andre Previn, Elton John and Rod Stewart among others. I reviewed Finck's album, Basically Jazz, about a year ago. Marchica has worked with many artists, including Liza Minelli, Bernadette Peters and Joel Grey. Besides recording his own albums, Rangell has recorded with several groups, including one of my favorites, The RIppingtons. Firth has worked with a who's who of vocalists, including Melissa Errico, Christine Ebersole and Lucie Arnaz.

I've always liked the Anthony Newley song, Pure Imagination. Linda does a wonderful job with that song and mixing it with the great song from Peter Pan, Never Never Land.

Linda takes a nice turn at the classic Rogers and Hammerstein song, I Have Dreamed.

Both Petula Clark and Judy Garland recorded Lucky Day. Linda melds this song with the Jimmy Mchugh song I'm Shooting High. It is a toe-tapping, smile effecting offering.

Soft and gentle is Linda's mashup of And We Will Fly Away and Come Fly With Me.

Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald all recorded the Vernon Duke song Taking A Chance On Love. Linda does a wonderful job with her rendition of the song, which is the title track for the album. There is a nice bass and drum bridge in the song.

Peggy Lee had a nice hit with Too Late Now. Linda's rendition is a bit subtler here.

Throw It Away is a great song from Abbey Lincoln. Linda gives a gentle, melodic touch to the song.

I've a fan of just about every Jobim song. Linda gives a nice performance with the Jobim song, Wave There is some great flute music In the song.

Then Linda takes on the Jimmy Van Heusen song, Darn That Dream. Linda's styling of the song is somewhat similar to the Sarah Vaughan recording.

Liza Minelli is one of several artists who have recorded the Cy Coleman song, You Fascinate Me So. There is a nice rendition of the song on this album.

Try Your Wings is a soft and gentle song.

Nobody can really come close to Billy Joel in his song Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel). But Linda provides a gentle, endearing rendition of the song.

When I began listening to this album, I really didn't know what to expect. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, I knew of Linda Purl's acting, but nothing about her singing ability. Other than I had learned that she did sing and had club dates behind her. But from her terrific rendition of Pure Imagination to her performance on Wave, Linda Purl shows that her vocal abilities are just as good as her acting.

At the time of this writing, Taking A Chance On Love has not been formally released. But you can order it directly from Linda Purl's web site or most online or traditional music outlets.

To find out more about the album, and Linda Purl, visit her web site at https://www.lindapurl.com/

Linda also have a music page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LindaPurl/ and can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lindapurl

Back to the BVS Reviews Main Menu

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________