Okay, I Love Me Some Betty Lynn Buckley but...

why does she fiddle with the damned melody so much? I'm doing some solo disc catch-up and am now listening to Buckley's With One Look disc. She completely butchers the flawless melody to "Move On" and is just a tad amount off on Joni Mitchell's beautiful "River". Is this something she does consciously or is she just unaware she's taking such personal license. I thought I read that Sondheim was very upset with her for doing it to so many of his songs. I adore her voice, but would love to hear it on the actual song, instead of the new one she sometimes comes up with. I don't hear it on any of her cast albums or her first albums, so unsure when this started to happen.

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I guess it bothers me a bit more with Sondheim because his melodies are so specific and fiddling with them (and I'm talking beyond arrangement) in the melody can really make the song seem poorly constructed. I'd hate to think some of her version are people's only exposure to those songs.

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She's re-doing the melody. Interpretations and arrangements are fine, but she's not the writer.

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SSS: Will we be hearing much Sondheim material at your upcoming concert at the Carlyle?

Betty Buckley: Probably not. He doesn't like my arrangements and he let me know that when I was in London, which was heartbreaking because it was one of the biggest, one of the most shocking moments of my life. I'd sent him a couple of my CDs because we recorded a lot of his songs and he came backstage and congratulated me and I could tell that he seemed kind of uncomfortable and I said, "Mr. Sondheim, I sent you my CDs and you never responded." He said, "Well I wouldn't have brought it up but since you did, I'll tell you: I don't like what you've done with my songs." And I was just heartbroken. It was shattering to me. And he had some theories as to why I had arranged them that way and I said, "I honestly have been only inspired and only, completely...." I had no words to tell him how much I love his work. I can't even put it into language, how meaningful it is to me and how important his work has been for me.

http://www.sondheim.com/interview/buckley.html

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Thank God someone else said it... but I totally agree that Miz Buckley needs to stick to what she does best. I know for a fact that she doesn't get as many "big" gigs as she used to because too many people have been to things like her recent Fiensteins gig and not been happy with the "jazzy" renditions of Broadway Classics.

Having seen her a number of times with Kenny Werner and the band vs. a full orchestra- her voice is divine with a full orchestra. A voice that big really deserves to be matched in fullness from the orchestration.

I miss the Old Buckley stuff- especailly the sadly out of print concert CDs she did in London with the BBC Big Band and Concert Orchestra, and her amazing Carnegie Hall concert- both recorded while she was doing Sunset in London and NYC, respectively.

She is a lovely person, a little too introspective at times, but a wonderful lady- I think she just see's herself as a much different type of artist these days than what the core of her fan base would like.